He had planned to head straight for the evacuation point, climb out of the trench, and run toward the Hive City. Then he could hand in the guns, and hey, mission complete.
The fighting at Grain Station was still thunderous and fierce. The rebels did not have many heavy weapons, so they probably could not handle a Chimera Transport. The rebels at Grain Station were in for a miserable time.
Li Qinwu melted into the darkness, choosing low-lying ground whenever possible while keeping his ears pricked for distant movement, careful not to run into other armed personnel.
At some point, the gunfire at Grain Station stopped. Li Qinwu guessed the rebels had all been wiped out, and the PDF was probably clearing the battlefield.
Next time he went in, he could search Grain Station. Maybe there would be some valuable items left behind.
Just as he was thinking that, a burst of commotion approached from behind. At first, Li Qinwu paid it no mind because it was too faint, but gradually he realized something was wrong. Why was it getting louder and louder?
He hurriedly picked up his pace and prayed that the sound was not coming for him. Unfortunately, it was coming for him!
It was a Chimera Transport. Having dealt with the rebels at Grain Station, it was now charging straight toward Li Qinwu. Its two huge headlights shone at him like searchlights.
"Fuck!"
Li Qinwu cursed and immediately sprinted at full speed. His stamina bar dropped rapidly as seven guns swung wildly against his body.
But how could he, burdened with so much weight, outrun an armored vehicle? The roar of the engine drew closer and closer, and he thought he could even smell the gunpowder smoke from the Chimera Transport.
Li Qinwu's stamina bar quickly dwindled. He heard a clattering sound from the Chimera behind him. The turret was probably turning to aim precisely.
Panic seized him. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a canal not far away. With his last sliver of stamina, he leaped into it, vanishing below ground level.
But that only delayed his death. The surrounding area was nothing but flat farmland. There was nowhere for him to run, and he could only huddle in the canal.
The rumble of the Chimera Transport's tracks was approaching. Li Qinwu's life had entered its countdown.
He looked at the seven Autoguns hanging from his body, his eyes full of reluctance. Death meant he could redeploy, but the Autoguns would definitely be recovered by the PDF. That would be a huge loss.
He was deeply puzzled. The Chimera Transport had already gone all the way to Grain Station, so why had it come back? It was as though it knew he was here.
"Damn it! The Auspex! How did I forget that!"
He smacked his forehead, filled with regret.
An Auspex was a type of reconnaissance device in Warhammer 40,000, similar to radar. It could survey the terrain, climate, and number of enemies within a certain area.
A small Auspex could be carried by an individual soldier and scan a battlefield from several hundred meters to a kilometer away. The Auspex aboard a void warship could scan an entire planet.
A medium-small Auspex like the one on a Chimera Transport could easily scan a battlefield three to ten kilometers across.
The Chimera Transport had probably swept through the rebels at Grain Station, and then the driver looked at the Auspex. Huh? Why was there still a red dot near the trenches? So he hit the gas and came charging over.
"To hell with it. Whatever. Next round."
Hearing the Chimera Transport stop several dozen meters away, Li Qinwu sighed miserably and climbed out of the canal.
He had never tried getting killed by a 40mm Autocannon before. He wanted to see what it felt like, and he was actually looking forward to it.
He stood firmly on the ground. The Chimera Transport's two massive headlights illuminated him so thoroughly that he could not see a thing.
Better to lose his life than his nerve. Li Qinwu put his hands on his hips and shouted, "Come on! Fire a round right here! If I make a sound, I'm not a man!!"
After shouting that, he tensed his muscles, intending to savor exactly what a 40mm shell felt like.
But after a long while, nothing happened. No cannon fire, no gunfire. Only the two headlights kept shining on Li Qinwu, leaving him unable to see anything.
Li Qinwu waited for quite some time. What are they doing? Planning to capture me?
His expression changed. He was not afraid of dying, but he was afraid of being tortured. If they treated him as a captured rebel and took him back to torment him, he would not be able to stand it!
Li Qinwu's expression changed again and again. Just as he prepared to use an Autogun to kill himself and redeploy, the Chimera Transport's headlights shut off, leaving only several small lights on.
Li Qinwu rubbed his eyes, and his vision slowly recovered. He looked toward the Chimera Transport.
It was a creation of steel, painted gray-green, with the PDF emblem on its armor.
Its weapons consisted of a Logging Gun mounted at the front of the hull. Its caliber was enormous, looking close to over 20mm. Then there was an Autocannon turret with a 40mm Autocannon mounted on it.
Other Chimera Transport variants might carry 120mm howitzers, Twin-linked Laser Cannons, and the like, but this Agri-World clearly could not afford such advanced components. It could only settle for a 40mm Autocannon.
Li Qinwu looked the armored vehicle up and down, clicking his tongue in amazement.
Then came a sharp metallic clack. The hatch atop the turret opened, and a PDF soldier stuck half his body out. It was someone Li Qinwu knew...
A few minutes later, the Chimera Transport headed toward the PDF infantry line in the direction of the Hive City.
Inside the transport compartment, two PDF corpses lay on the floor. Five people occupied six seats, three of them wounded soldiers groaning softly in pain. The other two were Li Qinwu and Rudosen.
Li Qinwu glanced at Rudosen's left hand. The last time Li Qinwu had saved him, his palm had been shot to pieces. Now it had been replaced with a mechanical iron hand.
His rank had changed as well. He was now a lieutenant, a PDF lieutenant and company commander. He had led this raid against the rebels, commanding a company of 120 PDF infantrymen and a Chimera Transport to seize two rebel strongholds.
Li Qinwu looked Rudosen up and down, and Rudosen looked Li Qinwu up and down. The two faced each other in silence.
After a while, Li Qinwu could not take it anymore and spoke first. "Well, look at you, got promoted. Congratulations, congratulations. When are you treating me to a meal?"
Rudosen's eyelid twitched as he looked at the seven Rebel Autoguns hanging from Li Qinwu's chest.
"Do you know that hoarding weapons is a capital offense?"
Li Qinwu snorted with laughter.
"Then all the scum in the Lower Hive would have to be dragged out and shot."
Silence fell over the compartment again. Li Qinwu was certain Rudosen would not do anything to him. Rudosen was PDF, and Li Qinwu had saved the lieutenant company commander's life. He would definitely turn a blind eye.
The PDF were the planetary governor's watchdogs, stationed on a single planet for their entire lives. To put it bluntly, they were collaborators.
But if it had been the Astra Militarum, Li Qinwu would have killed himself on the spot.
The Astra Militarum were the God-Emperor's coin and the true foundation of the Imperium. If you broke the law in front of them, a commissar's Boltgun would come hunting for your head.
When Li Qinwu saw that Rudosen had not even confiscated the guns on him, he knew Rudosen remembered the debt of saving his life.
He pulled out a cigarette and lit it, then said as casually as though he were riding in a taxi, "Drive twenty kilometers west. I'll get off there."
A few minutes later, the Chimera Transport stopped several kilometers from the ventilation ducts. Li Qinwu jumped out with his guns on his back and brushed the smell of gunpowder smoke from himself.
He turned back toward Lieutenant Rudosen in the transport compartment and asked, "Let me introduce myself again. I'm Scavenger Li Qinwu. I like looking for high-value items on battlefields, and I also help people with certain jobs.
"So, do you have anything inconvenient that you need me to do?"
Lieutenant Rudosen looked seriously into Li Qinwu's eyes. Li Qinwu shrugged.
Lieutenant Rudosen said in a low voice, "Some of my comrades died on the battlefields where we fought the rebels. Those areas are controlled by the rebels, and we do not always have the chance to bring them home.
"That damned planetary governor, that despicable little man, that greedy rat!
"Not only is the compensation he provides pitifully small, it is also difficult to claim. Without their dog tags, my comrades' families cannot receive even that meager compensation.
"If you find the bodies of my comrades while scavenging the battlefield, please bring back their dog tags. I will make things easier for you."
Before you continue