I Want to Fight Ten

"Are you saying you want me to fight all of you?" Lin Fan looked at the rough, burly men before him and found it quietly amusing.

He had been trained by the Adeptus Custodes, those ultimate monsters even fiercer than Space Marines. Taking on a few Astra Militarum soldiers would be easy. With that in mind, Lin Fan decided to show off a little. He cleared his throat and put on a cold, aloof expression.

"Come at me together. I'm in a hurry."

"Hm?"

The burly men looked as though they had heard an unbelievable joke. First, they flushed with anger at being slighted, then burst out laughing.

"Looks like this guy still hasn't realized he's no longer back home. Old Jock, come teach him a proper lesson."

"Hmph." The burly man called Old Jock rubbed his bald head, revealing a mouthful of steel teeth in a wide grin.

"Old Jock is a veteran. He once bit an Ork to death with his own teeth. You probably don't even know what an Ork is, huh? Hahaha! After that campaign, Old Jock specifically went to the Departmento Munitorum to have a whole set of steel teeth fitted."

Listening to them recount Old Jock's glorious history, Lin Fan felt as though he had stepped into one of those wish-fulfillment novels. The whole thing about boasting before a fight about how incredible someone was felt utterly bizarre. If Lin Fan had not found it so hard to brag about himself, he would have introduced his own impressive background long ago.

I've cursed Slaanesh, fantasized about The Emperor, and called the commander of the Adeptus Custodes my brother. Compared to that, your glorious history of biting an Ork to death is nothing.

The two of them wordlessly assumed fighting stances across from one another. Old Jock's gaze was sharp. His two sandbag-sized fists guarded half his face, leaving only his eyes exposed to observe Lin Fan's movements. He bent his knees slightly, lowered his center of gravity, and tensed his legs, like a bow drawn tight and ready to loose an arrow.

Lin Fan did not care about any of that. He broke into a run and charged straight into Old Jock's striking range.

"How foolish. And you want to fight several of us at once? Let me leave you with a memorable badge of honor!" Old Jock threw a swift punch straight at Lin Fan's face. If it landed solidly, Lin Fan would definitely end up looking like a pig.

Lin Fan merely shifted his position slightly, letting the imposing iron fist brush past his cheek in an instant. Then he drove a kick straight into Old Jock's abdomen.

"Urgh!" Old Jock discovered that his solid, dependable abs had failed to provide the defense they should have. He grunted and instinctively fired another quick punch at Lin Fan's easier-to-hit chest.

Lin Fan could not even be bothered to dodge. He opened his fist into a palm and caught Old Jock's punch. Tremendous strength flowed from Lin Fan's hand, leaving Old Jock unable to either push forward or pull back.

Seeing this, Old Jock finally put away his contempt. "What strength. Looks like you're no simple opponent either!"

He immediately grabbed Lin Fan's back with his other hand, then exerted force with both arms and viciously hurled Lin Fan behind him.

Lin Fan's back slammed solidly into the ground. Any ordinary person would have been left stiff and unable to move for a long time, but Lin Fan felt nothing at all. He rolled aside, avoiding Old Jock's follow-up attack.

Old Jock wiped the dirt from his hands and said to Lin Fan approvingly, "Kid, you're pretty capable! You've got strength, and you're quick and agile too. You're qualified to join our assault squad now. Let me introduce myself again. I'm Steel-Tooth Jock, squad leader of the assault squad. You can call me Old Jock, just like they do."

Having earned Old Jock's approval, the bald, muscular men who had all been acting fierce now revealed savage grins one after another, showing Lin Fan goodwill.

"Seriously, why are all of you bald?" After getting along with everyone, Lin Fan asked this question. Among the more than twenty men in the entire assault squad, everyone except Lin Fan was a bald, burly man, just like an Ogryn squad.

"Most of the people assigned to the assault squad are veterans. We veterans who survived the battlefield all have our own unique experience."

"Give it a rest. You just couldn't beat Old Jock, so he shaved your head."

"You bastard, as if you beat him yourself?"

The two immediately began bickering without giving an inch, and the cellar filled with cheerful laughter.

Only then did Lin Fan understand. Since Old Jock was bald, fighting him was not just a way to prove one's strength; it was also a challenge to protect one's hair under Old Jock's rule. Looking at it that way, at least Lin Fan would not have to shave his head bald.

Watching from afar, Commissar Aude nodded at Lin Fan's performance. He knew exactly how powerful Old Jock's punch was. Old Jock could kill an Ork with a single punch. Though he would not use his full strength when dealing with soldiers, it was more than enough to handle opportunistic fools with no real ability.

"I'll keep watching you, kid." Commissar Aude straightened his heavy, ornate commissar's coat and slowly vanished into the forest's shadows.

After a day of work, Matthew climbed down from the enormous combined agricultural harvester. This massive civilian harvester was like a moving metal hill, responsible for harvesting and sowing all the farmland in the Karmaklan Green Basin. When necessary, it could even spread high-energy fertilizer developed by the Adeptus Mechanicus.

"What's this?" Matthew found a brightly colored little stone in the freshly turned soil. He picked it up and examined it carefully. Its finely polished, gleaming surface reflected the sunlight, making the stone shimmer with countless wondrous colors.

"This really is a surprise." Matthew tucked the especially beautiful little stone into his pocket, intending to turn it into an ornament for his wife.

Everything about this agricultural world was good. The scenery was pleasant, and the climate was excellent. It simply lacked consumer goods too badly. Every year, vast quantities of grain were exported aboard huge transport ships to destinations everywhere. Yet the price of ensuring food production was that, aside from industrial districts producing the most basic daily necessities, the planet only had a small military factory that made enough equipment to maintain the Planetary Defense Force.

As a result, the people of this planet could only carve wood, pick up stones, or use the fruits of various plants to make small ornaments. Matthew believed this beautiful stone would make his wife happy for days.

Upon returning home, Matthew immediately began working on the stone. Yet no matter how he struck or ground it, he could not alter it in the slightest. He could not even scrape off a trace of powder. Left with no choice, Matthew temporarily set aside the task of processing the stone and decided to seek Dom, the town's specialist ornament maker, early the next morning.

Late at night, Matthew and his wife lay in bed asleep. The little stone in Matthew's trouser pocket flickered with an eerie blue light. The blue light slowly crawled out of the pocket, and it was difficult to imagine how light could twist and creep like a living thing. The ghostly blue glow gradually approached Matthew, entering him through his nostrils and mouth.

Matthew only felt slightly unwell. After coughing softly a few times, he fell into a deep sleep once more.