Withdrawal

"This ocean is truly beautiful!" The awakened Gers sat in the cabin, gazing through the thick, round glass at the glittering sea outside.

As the effects of the medicine gradually took hold, the less seriously injured Gers had already regained consciousness.

He could even speak now, but his voice had become severely distorted.

Quan Tiehua, clad in Power Armour, carried a huge stainless-steel basin and pushed open the cabin door.

For a moment, all the Astartes in the cabin turned to look.

Well... there were only three people in this cabin at the moment!

They were the unconscious Chapter Master Affos; Gers, who had just awakened but was still injured; and Vals, who had already lost an arm and was still fiddling with the electronic equipment.

This was actually the treatment and recovery room assigned to them.

After seeing the apothecaries leave, Quan Tiehua had carried this steaming basin of special food inside.

As Astartes, they needed to meet the energy demands of these weapons of war during continuous, high-intensity combat.

Their diet consisted primarily of foods that were extremely high in energy, minerals, and nutrients.

Of course, during ordinary times, they also ate normal food that ordinary people could eat, such as bread and roast meat.

If they came to a Garden World, they could even hunt in the jungle and have an outdoor barbecue.

But after landing on Les Star and undergoing high-intensity combat, they had come here and then gone through... high... medium-intensity combat.

At this moment, their bodies' lack of food and energy had already begun to affect their habits and behavior.

However, they were still retreating and drifting at sea. Li Muye and the others had made extremely thorough arrangements.

After traveling continuously for two or three days, they had finally been loaded onto this transport freighter bound for the Demon Capital in containers at several ports.

As a result, conditions aboard the ship were crude, and there was nothing that could rapidly replenish their energy.

Fortunately, they could at least fill their stomachs. Coupled with the Astartes' incredibly resilient standby physiques, there was no need to worry about anything else!

At that moment, various foods packed with extremely high-calorie fats had been mixed together in the stainless-steel basin.

Quan Tiehua had even ground some charcoal and steel scraps into a fine powder that could float in the air, then stirred it into the food.

Clearly, though, the energy supplied by this basin of food was nowhere near enough for an Astartes.

Still, having something to eat was already pretty good. After all, there was no energy-rich food here specifically suited to the needs of weapons of war like the Astartes.

Gers did not complain. After taking the basin, he picked up a small military entrenching tool and began shoveling down the food.

He had to admit, it tasted pretty good!

"I heard those mortals say there are sharks in this ocean dating back to the Terra era!" After seeing who had arrived, Vals tapped on the glass and said, "Maybe we can take a few back when we have the time and make those pale bastards bleed a little!"

Quan Tiehua thought the suggestion was excellent. Back then, his Chapter had indeed had a few minor clashes with the Maneater Shark Chapter.

It had happened on a planet that had practically been abandoned by the Imperium. Various intelligent xenos, factions of the Imperium, and even some Chaos Warbands had formed a fairly large trading market there.

Some Rogue Traders who dared to defy the law even came there to sell pure gene-seed, along with various weapons, ammunition, and supplies used by the Astartes.

At one of the irregularly held auctions, a mostly intact Imperial Dreadnought had been put up for auction without even undergoing basic repairs.

Both Chapters had wanted it, and the Crimson Angel Chapter still did not have a Dreadnought even now. Naturally, they had desperately coveted it.

But who could have expected those bastards from the Maneater Sharks to rob them halfway through and buy it at a higher price!

From then on, the two sides had formed a not-too-serious grudge.

At the time this happened, Quan Tiehua had still been in the recruit training camp. Later, he heard that because the Maneater Sharks had done a poor job painting the Dreadnought they had purchased, its original blue base coat had become exposed.

Some Chapter secretly leaked the information to the Ultramarines. As a result, the two sides had gotten into a firefight.

However, as Astartes from the same faction, they had not killed each other outright. Instead, they had settled it through a duel!

In the end, tragically... the Maneater Shark Chapter won!

Then those Ultramarines had left while cursing and grumbling!

Recalling this incident, the people present fell into reminiscence. Then they looked at one another and burst out laughing.

Although the two countries were very close across the sea, they secretly changed ships midway as a precaution.

The cruise ship slowly came alongside the shore, and the passengers began disembarking in an orderly fashion.

The cruise ship itself remained there, slowly coming to a stop as it began replenishing various supplies and undergoing repairs.

By nightfall, the cruise ship, which had originally only been lit by lights scattered across it, had a concealed hatch on the side facing the shore slowly open.

A man holding a firearm poked his head out and looked around. Then he pulled a radio from his waist and gave a confirmation.

Less than half a minute later, heavy footsteps echoed through the corridors of the ship.

Then a huge figure appeared at the cabin entrance. The first thing Quan Tiehua did after coming out was observe his surroundings.

He then carefully stepped onto the narrow steel passageway and headed toward the shore.

Ordinary people carrying guns and the tall Astartes followed close behind.

After reaching shore, they did not gather and organize as expected. Instead, they continued walking forward.

Only after turning through several intersections and spotting a container did they hurriedly walk over, open its doors, and enter.

The other personnel did the same.

Just like that, in less than five minutes, the silent night and silent harbor returned to silence once more!

It was not until the next morning, when the area resumed operations, that one ordinary transport truck after another arrived. With the help of gantry cranes, these containers were stacked onto the trucks together with the others.

At that moment, America and the satellites of every country around the world were watching the Fat Girl that had landed in Edo with rapt attention.

Under their expectant gazes, one pallet after another of relief supplies was hauled out of the aircraft's cargo hold.

Then, under their expectant gazes, the plane remained parked for an entire day and night. After refueling, it took off again and flew back toward Huaxia.

At the same time, Huaxia declared at the United Nations, "In view of humanitarian considerations, we..."

This left all the countries dumbfounded.

America wanted to drop bombs but did not dare, because Huaxia and the Great Bear's carrier fleets had already arrived near Edo.