Prisoner-Dead

Chapter 3, Prisoner-Dead

From the temporary camp to the Waste Mine Society, it was a total of four and a half hours of travel.

The elites of the Marines, organized into five-man squads, were all spread out to serve as vanguards and scouts. Gu Hang, meanwhile, moved steadily forward with the victim Patel and his large contingent of Servitors.

Halfway there, Gu Hang received a report from a Marine reconnaissance team; they had discovered a small transport convoy that likely belonged to the Prisoner-Dead tribe.

Gu Hang authorized Yan Fangxu to lead the Marines and a portion of the Servitor soldiers to annihilate them and capture as many live prisoners as possible.

Captain Yan was a naval elite, and handling such a minor task was second nature to him; there were no surprises.

However, after Gu Hang finished listening to the confession of the captive, his mood could no longer be described as pleasant.

Gu Hang had someone bring Patel over and said to him, "It seems these bandits never intended to let you go."

Patel had also seen the state of the transport convoy, his expression filled with resentment: "Yes, they were transporting a large amount of high-grade explosives. Forget about blowing open the gate of the Waste Mine Society; it would be enough to collapse the mine shafts and bury us all alive inside."

Gu Hang shook his head and added, "It goes further than that. According to the intelligence obtained from Captain Yan's interrogation, they had long since negotiated with the Orks in the High Wall Ruins. Your nine hundred residents at the Waste Mine Society were all being treated as high-quality rations, prepared to be sold to those green-skinned beasts."

"What?!"

Patel knew that the Prisoner-Dead wasteland bandits were absolutely malicious toward them, but he was still shocked by their cruelty.

The description of "green-skinned beasts" was fitting for those mutants. They did not just exist on Nuxiao Planet; they existed widely throughout the universe and were also known as the "Cancer of the Universe."

They had no distinction between male and female; reproduction relied on spores symbiotic within their bodies shedding and then "growing" out of the ground. Their food source was the same.

Logically speaking, they did not need to buy rations, but these green-skinned beasts loved two things above all else: first, fighting, and second, eating the brains of sentient beings. The former was their nature, while the latter was the means by which they upgraded their technology.

These beasts that grew from the soil were indeed primitive and savage at first, fighting with stone axes and wooden clubs. But once they had eaten enough intelligent brains, their technology would develop rapidly—iron weapons, guns, cannons, and even the capability for interstellar travel...

Their warlike nature, which sought to destroy everything, meant that the stronger they became, the more they would turn into a natural disaster ravaging everything in their path.

Logically, such a race should be the enemy of all humanity. The Empire indeed had a kill-on-sight order for Orks: kill them on sight, then purify the land to destroy the spores to ensure they would not grow back.

But... policy is one thing, and execution is another.

On Nuxiao Planet, where taxes couldn't even be collected and basic sustenance couldn't be guaranteed, with various factions locked in conflict and the entire planet in a state of chaos—where even the Governor was forced to farm his own food—under such conditions, one could hardly expect bandits like the "Prisoner-Dead" to have any sentiment for the fate of all humanity.

However, not only failing to be hostile but actually doing business with these man-eating beasts was intolerable.

Clearing out the green-skinned beasts was something Gu Hang was determined to do.

Of course, not right now.

According to the confession, the Ork tribe in the High Wall Ruins numbered in the thousands and had at least evolved to the point of possessing automatic weapons; there was no significant technological gap between their equipment and that of the humans on the planet. To wipe out those animals was certainly not something Gu Hang could achieve with the forces currently at his disposal.

Fortunately, the "High Wall Ruins" were quite far from here, so there was no need to worry for the time being.

The priority was to deal with the wasteland raiders threatening the Waste Mine Society.

Now, Gu Hang had precise intelligence on them.

Four kilometers outside the mine where the Waste Mine Society was located, the "Prisoner-Dead" had constructed a temporary camp. These guys had never imagined that the Waste Mine Society would dare to come out and fight them in the field, so they hadn't made any preparations for defensive fortifications.

"A great opportunity! We can launch a surprise attack! Our mortars can cause excellent destructive effects!" Yan Fangxu appeared invigorated.

"Fine, let's do it."

After a short rest, they covered the remaining two hours of travel in just over an hour.

They increased their speed out of concern that if the transport convoy didn't arrive for a long time, the bandits might sense that something was wrong.

After a rapid forced march, they still needed some time to rest before launching the attack.

The thirty elite soldiers of the Marines were fine, but the Servitors actually needed rest. They wouldn't complain of fatigue, but they did get tired, and exhaustion would lower their combat effectiveness.

Following Yan Fangxu's suggestion, the soldiers would set off again in forty-five minutes, and one hour later, the mortar positions would commence shelling.

At a position where the "Prisoner-Dead" camp could already be seen in the distance, Gu Hang patiently led his team to rest, consuming nutrient paste and sitting in silence to replenish their strength while constructing the mortar positions...

He knew that his patience now was to ensure a decisive victory later.

Kaga felt inexplicably irritable at this moment.

These days, being a raider wasn't easy. They hadn't had a "score" in a while, and their reserves of various supplies were running low. Food was one thing; once they broke into the Waste Mine Society, they wouldn't have to worry. Even if those miners didn't have much food stored, there were hundreds of them—slaughter them and turn them into jerky, and it would last for a long time.

But damaged weapons and consumed ammunition were hard to replenish. Major factions weren't very willing to do business with raiders like them; only those Ork tribes were willing. Although Ork technology wasn't very reliable—weapons had high failure rates, ammunition was prone to misfiring, and in their hands, it never had the same power as it did in the hands of the Orks themselves...

But it was better than nothing.

To be honest, Kaga didn't care for the ore that the Waste Mine Society produced in abundance. It was heavy and worthless, and hard to fence. But the nine hundred people in the mine were good goods; they could serve as his own rations, or he could drive them to the High Wall Ruins to sell in exchange for Ork weaponry—wouldn't that be wonderful?

Driving people was much easier than driving sheep.

For this reason, the "Prisoner-Dead" had practically mobilized their entire force. Except for a few old, weak, women, and children left to guard the lair, the main force had been brought out by Kaga—over a hundred men.

The Waste Mine Society had many people but few guns, so they weren't a threat. Their ability to survive in the wasteland for so long relied mainly on their favorable terrain. Kaga had personally scouted that mine; it was truly easy to defend and hard to attack. The entrance was sealed tight with ore and metal, and once the heavy gate was locked from the inside, no amount of human force could open it.

They had been trying to blow the gate since yesterday, but failed; the explosive yield wasn't enough. With no other choice, he had to send his trusted aides back to the lair to transport more, including even his last-resort concentrated explosives.

His patience was exhausted. If he couldn't trick those miners into opening the gate, so be it; once the explosives arrived, he would just blow it open and be done with it.

It was supposed to be a done deal today, and there was no need to rush, but Kaga still felt a sense of gloom. By the clock, his transport convoy should have returned by now, so why was there no movement at all?

He had already been urging his subordinates to try and contact the transport convoy via radio, but he had been unable to get through.

This made him feel even more uneasy.

Half an hour ago, he had dispatched a small squad to search the area according to the circuit, but until now, there had been no response, and even their radio had gone silent.

He became completely alert.

Such a bizarre situation forced him to feel fear and hesitation.

Anyone not cautious enough would have long been buried in the wasteland, leaving not even bones behind.

He made up his mind to send out four or five squads to scout; at the same time, he ordered the entire team to prepare, intending to move out collectively to investigate the situation back along the path.

Suddenly, a subordinate reported: "We've made contact with the transport team. They said they're on their way back and will be here soon."

Kaga's brow furrowed tightly: "Why couldn't we reach them before?"

"He said their radio had a malfunction and they just fixed it. They sent a message immediately because they were afraid we'd be worried."

Kaga pondered for a moment and instructed: "Go reply: You sons of bitches, did you fuck a zombie dog on the road? Why are you so slow? Get back here! If you're any later, I'm docking half your loot!"

After saying this, he walked quickly outside and shouted to the brothers who were preparing: "Hurry, hurry, hurry! We're leaving immediately! Stop stuffing your damn bullets, take what you can carry and dump the rest! Move! Get ready to break out! We're being watched!"

The subordinate who had just heard his orders was a bit confused. He chased after him for two steps and asked: "Boss, this... I..."

"What 'this' and 'I'? Get the hell out there and pass the word, then grab your gun and catch up with the team!"

"Why?" The kid was still stunned.

Kaga flicked him on the forehead: "Someone has definitely targeted us! If we can fool them, great; if not, the slow ones will be the first to die!"

With that, he stopped paying attention to the foolish kid, took his own gun, and signaled for his brothers to prepare to leave the camp.

Just as he reached the entrance, he heard a whistling sound coming from the sky.

His face turned green in an instant.

That was the sound of artillery shells!

"Get down!"

He dove to the ground, cursing incessantly: "Fuck! They're actually using artillery... ptooey... don't let me catch you... ptooey..."

The rumbling explosions made it nearly impossible for him to hear his own voice; he simply tried to vent the fear in his heart with profanity and bravado.

He had guessed that someone was watching them and even felt that the worst-case scenario might happen—that they were already surrounded.

But what he hadn't expected was that the people targeting him actually had artillery!

Fortunately, his luck wasn't bad; aside from his ears ringing and his head feeling a bit dazed, he was mostly fine.

He crouched up and looked around.

The artillery shelling them shouldn't have been large caliber; it seemed to be something like mortars. If it had been heavy artillery, this dense barrage of a dozen shells would have left no one in the entire camp alive.

But even so, in their crude camp without solid fortifications, these mortars still caused significant casualties.

A glance around showed at least twenty brothers either dead or missing limbs.

The rest of the men were also stunned by the blasts.

But now was clearly not the time to be dazed; staying here was just waiting for death.

He roared: "Charge! Charge! Break out!"

Yet, at that very moment, gunfire erupted from outside.

They really were surrounded! After the artillery fire came the infantry advance!

The only piece of good news was that, judging by the sound of the gunfire, it was still somewhat distant, which meant the small squads he had sent out earlier were playing their part and had engaged the enemy.

This was their only chance at survival.

He roared: "Provide support! It's the critical moment; if you don't want to die, fight like hell!"

Just then, the second round of shelling arrived.