The Demon Boss

The deep blue sky resembled an inverted sea, with one bright moon rising and another setting, below which stretched an endless sea of clouds. Two APOD transport ships, each carrying a main platoon of Marines, streaked across the night sky above Turaxis II, leaving behind two silver streaks like shooting stars.

At one point, the two transport ships suddenly accelerated, and the icy blue flames spewed from their thrusters grew even brighter. They swooped down and leaped into the clouds like gannets folding their wings and diving into the sea.

Augustus's seat swayed with the rocking of the transport ship. He held his breath and silently counted a string of numbers on the HUD display. Beside him, Marines, each carrying Electromagnetic Rifle and machine gun, sat neatly in their seats, their matte masks emblazoned with identical skull patterns.

The driver of that transport ship must be insane.

The spaceship was plummeting like a hunting eagle, the angle between the horizontal plane and the ground approaching ninety degrees. Augustus felt himself falling headfirst to the earth, and the weightlessness and dizziness of the rapid descent made his heart pound like a runaway pendulum.

Tychus Finley sat opposite Augustus, secured to his seat by two seatbelts. Even so, Tychus continued to smoke a cigarette he had swiped from Ward, the ash falling to the ground only to be blown away to the stern and disappear.

After several flashes of light from the ashes, the propellers on the side of the transport ship ignited again, and the bow of the ship gradually leveled out, its hull almost touching the ground as it sailed into the distance across the thorny white wilderness of Turaxis II.

The spaceship began to decelerate, and the side panels opened. Augustus could see the spaceship flying at a very close altitude to the ground, with the scenery on the ground being rapidly left behind. He unbuckled his seatbelt, grabbed the handrail, walked onto the aisle, and gripped the metal bar at the side exit of the ship.

"Jump!" Augustus gave the order as soon as the first house appeared. One after another, the marines in dark gray Power Armor jumped down. By the time Augustus leaped into the gale, the transport ship had already circled the gang's hideout several times.

Augustus landed steadily near a brightly lit concrete building, with two Heaven's Devils standing beside him, guarding their commander. In the sky, another ship full of Resocialized Soldier hovered above them, and heavily armed marines jumped from the air.

Before Augustus ' eyes, gang members dressed only in civilian clothes were fleeing in panic, clutching automatic rifles and even pistols; some were carrying only wooden sticks and pitchforks.

After Augustus fired a few shots with his rifle, the men began to flee in panic. His troops collapsed with almost no resistance, and the Marines herded the demoralized gang members like livestock; far more surrendered than dared to fire.

Ignoring the screaming crowd, Augustus, accompanied by two Heaven's Devils, circled around the concrete building to the main entrance. The main entrance was a thin, fragile piece of composite wood, which the Power Armor marines easily smashed open.

With a loud crash as the door was kicked open, a gang member clad in pure black Power Armor rushed out, bending low. His Power Armor was similar to that used by the Kel-Morian, but lacked the numerous insignia symbolizing family and lineage. Perhaps due to a flaw in the servo system, his movements were rather stiff, making him appear more like Kel-Morian copy of the Confederacy's Power Armor.

This Kel-Morian Ripper, resembling a rattling main battle tank, charged towards Augustus and tackled him.

"Damn it!" Augustus fell to the ground, and before he could stand up, the other man straddled him, rendering him unable to move.

Immediately afterwards, the gang member picked up his electromagnetic pistol and aimed it at Augustus's mask, preparing to fire. However, Augustus punched the gang member's arm away, causing both of his shots to miss.

In a flash, Henry, the squad leader of the third squad, sprinted and rammed into the crazed gang member. Another member of the Heaven's Devils then aimed at the enemy's helmet and fired after the enemy was knocked aside. With a sound like a light bulb shattering, the enemy's already shattered helmet was pierced by the shotgun bullet.

"Sir, you really need to practice. This isn't the first time you've suffered a setback in close combat." A Heaven's Devils extended his hand to Augustus.

"I owe you my life, Henry. You're right, my performance in this area was absolutely terrible." Augustus stood up, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu. He took a deep breath and said, "Thank goodness my swordsmanship teacher didn't see this, or he would be ashamed to admit that I was once his best student."

During his time in recruit training camp, Augustus scored very high in combat skills, but this did not contradict his repeated defeats.

"Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses," Henry tried to comfort Augustus, but a burst of noise on the communication channel interrupted him.

"This is 1st Squad. I'm the deputy squad leader Londerstein. I've found Jim and Max; they're both still alive."

"Where are you?" Augustus overjoyed at the news.

"It was a concrete building painted a deep red, and there was a deep pit behind it," Londerstein replied.

"I understand." Augustus looked up and found the crimson building. At the same time, he ordered all the Heaven's Devils to have the Resocialized Soldier clean up the battlefield.

When Augustus arrived, more than twenty disarmed gang members were standing in a row, hands raised, leaning against the wall, guarded by a Heaven's Devils in black and gray armor.

"I knew you'd come to our rescue, Augustus." Raynor had already been pulled out of the pit by Londerstein with ropes and seemed to be unharmed.

"There won't be a next time." Augustus seeing Raynor. His mask slowly opened, revealing an enraged face. "Heaven knows where I'll be rescuing you next time. Do you think you're a princess kidnapped by a dragon? Huh?"

From the moment he received the news, Augustus had been controlling his emotions to prevent them from affecting his judgment. But at this moment, Augustus no longer needed to control himself, because he had to let those two bastards know just how angry he was.

"Why didn't you discuss this with me beforehand? No matter what, you should at least have told me. Do you think I wasn't afraid? I can't even imagine the possibility that you're all dead; I can only deceive myself."

For a moment, no one dared to speak. The only sounds were sporadic gunshots and breathing. The gang members, with their hands raised, stared blankly as Augustus reprimanded his men.

"Speak up!"

"Never mind, Augustus, they already know they were wrong," Londerstein he walked to Augustus's side.

Raynor was speechless. He knew Augustus must be very anxious. That was Augustus; he rarely showed negative emotions, but that didn't mean he didn't.

At that moment, Raynor suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu, like when he was a child and had gotten into trouble and been scolded by his parents. Little Raynor's mother would stand in front of him with a basket of freshly baked bread, detailing his misdeeds, sometimes even shedding tears. Only after his mother had finished scolding him would his father, who had been sitting silently on the sofa, say a few kind words in his defense.

Renault's experience of being reprimanded taught Raynor that when in the wrong, arguing, making excuses, or trying to find reasons to excuse oneself only adds fuel to the fire. Generally speaking, being a coward is the wisest choice.

"We thought you wouldn't agree," Zander said softly.

"Even knowing I disagree, you still have to say it." Augustus stared at Zander like a vicious wolf, his cold gaze causing Zander to take a few steps back. "Are you an idiot? Why don't you think things through more carefully, instead of making a decision on a whim and then using your ass to figure out how to do it!"

"I," Zander wanted to say that I knew I was wrong, but Augustus was furious and on the verge of exploding.

"What do you mean, 'what do you mean'?" Augustus stared at Zander with his cold gray eyes, like a lion suppressing its rage.

"Let's talk about it when we get back, Augustus. We still have to deal with those gangsters." Londerstein patted Augustus on the shoulder and winked at Zander.

"Shoot them all!"

Augustus shoved Londerstein's shoulder and turned away from Zander. He practically roared, scaring the gang members so much their legs went weak.

"Even if they all deserve to die, this job shouldn't be done by us," Londerstein said. "We inspected the warehouses here and found a lot of Vulture and Armored Vehicle parts besides food. I think this gang was involved in arms smuggling before, and the buyers were definitely the Kel-Morian people."

Augustus took a few deep breaths to temporarily suppress his anger, and then thought about how to deal with the things in the hands of these gangsters, "Take all the grain, and as for the weapons and equipment, leave them to the logistics officer in the fortress."

"Why let those office workers benefit?" Just then, Tychus, carrying Electromagnetic Rifle, walked over with several Heaven's Devils, a cigar he had somehow acquired dangling from his mouth.

"If you ask me, those bandits probably have a lot of good stuff," Tychus flicked his cigarette ash. "Equipment, ships, money. In their hideout, you could even find piles of cash and crates of drugs. Find their gang leader and force him to tell you everything."

Augustus and Tychus exchanged a glance, and in each other's eyes they saw cunning and greed.

"It's not a good time to make a move," Augustus shook his head.

"I have connections." Tychus's eyes lit up, and he moved closer.

"I've confirmed that the armored recording system is off," Augustus.

"I've been in the business of reselling military supplies for almost ten years. I know exactly who I can trust and where my customers are most willing to spend money," Tychus said, exhaling a puff of smoke.

"Absolutely foolproof?"

"It's impossible to be completely foolproof, but even if they investigate, the investigation will only lead back to me," Tychus replied.

"Hmm," Augustus.

"Alright, we'll split the money in half," Tychus Augustus.

Augustus shook his head.

"You take seven, I take three. I'm taking a bigger risk than you." Tychus looked unhappy.

A second later, he added, "You get eight, I get two."

"Keep the equipment, stockpile it for now," Augustus. "I'll need it someday. Besides, I'm not short of money, there's no need to take risks."

Tychus's throat was a little dry. The most crucial problem was that he was short of money. For a man like Tychus who would spend a lot of money on women, money always went by very quickly. Sometimes, Tychus would see four women in one night, and his Marine Corps salary wasn't even enough for his drinking.

"So what you're saying is true?"

"In a few years, you'll have plenty of opportunities to use your network to make money." Augustus simply trying to confirm whether Tychus had the ability to monetize the captured supplies.

"Go, Tychus, find that gang leader. Once you find him, all his valuables are yours."

"I won't give you another chance to back out." Tychus originally didn't want to pay attention to Augustus, but his feet moved on their own, so Tychus could only curse himself for being spineless.

A moment later, Tychus dragged a disheveled man in front of Augustus: "He only had a watch on him, Mengsk, I shouldn't have trusted you."

"That's just bad luck," Augustus said, then looked at Raynor, who was hiding out of his sight. "Jim, tell me how this guy treated you just now."

"He threw me in and then said he was going to pour water on me." Raynor breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Augustus no longer angry. He had no interest in revenge; he just hoped that Augustus calm down.

"Throw him down, just make sure his head doesn't hit the ground," Augustus said to the Heaven's Devils around him.

"Wait, you can't do this!" Silas Tasker cried out in terror as the Marines with skull patterns on their helmets approached. "I still have value! You can't do this!"

"You weren't saying that ten minutes ago," Raynor retorted. "You're a revolutionary, you're the son of a worker, you fight for the enemy."

"Then prove your worth." Augustus looked at Task and said calmly, "Otherwise, I'll hang you up and let the sun of Turaxis II bake you dry for a month. I swear I'll make you regret ever being born."

"I have twelve sets of Power Armor and several Vulture hidden in the warehouse and basement, as well as two retired Confederacy Goliath. I also have two million credits, all in cash, and I have one and a half million in my bank account." Tusk handed a hand-drawn map to Augustus.

"Very good." Augustus took the map and handed it to Londerstein beside him. "Go and check it."

"Tychus, give him a quick death."

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