Recaps

Li Qinwu returned to Agricultural World 496B, discussed building a Knight House with Miss Nightingale, and inspected the planet’s developing industry before considering how it could manufacture Lasguns to reduce its debt. He prepared to leave with the Inquisitor’s fleet, planning to seek advice on the Industrial World.

• Li Qinwu accepted that he could not stop others from claiming the Scimitar-class Frigate and hoped to find Black Uncle to help repair it.
• Li Qinwu told Governor Zeppelin that he had reduced the planet’s debt by ten years and urged him to preserve the planet’s ecology during repayment.
• Li Qinwu proposed that Miss Nightingale’s child could pilot a Knight Mech and joked about raising a legion of descendants, while Miss Nightingale insisted their children be born naturally.
• Li Qinwu confirmed that Miss Nightingale drank consecrated water daily and prepared to leave with the Inquisitor’s fleet.
• Li Qinwu toured the industrializing Lower Hive with Old Kai and learned that the planet could only produce cheap Autoguns, which would not count toward debt repayment.
• Li Qinwu considered asking advisors on the Industrial World to help Agricultural World 496B develop mass production of Lasguns.

After respawning aboard the Inquisitor’s flagship, Li Qinwu inspected the captured Knight Mechs and learned the extent of their damage and the risks of piloting them. He approved adding ranged weapons to three repaired Squire Mechs, which his aides were already piloting, and was asked whether they could paint them red, yellow, and green.

• Li Qinwu wandered into the cargo hold and asked the chief maintenance engineer to assess his captured Knight Mechs.
• The chief maintenance engineer reported severe damage to the Knights and warned that four purified, soulless Mechs would require exceptionally strong pilots.
• The chief maintenance engineer said three Squire Mechs assembled from eight wrecks could fight, but needed ranged weapons, and Li Qinwu ordered them equipped with as many as possible.
• Li Qinwu discovered that his aides, the Traffic Light Trio, were piloting the three Squire Mechs and had requested red, yellow, and green paint.

Li Qinwu and the Silent One tested a way to brand a Lesser Daemon’s soul and torment it with whispered Scripture, but the Daemon grew used to the sound. Li Qinwu then proposed bombarding it with bizarre videos, leaving its fate uncertain as they waited to see if it would break.

• The Silent One proposed using a soul mark to send messages into a Daemon’s mind, and Li Qinwu agreed to test the idea during their patrol.
• Li Qinwu and his team found a steel-armored Daemon attacking spacers, and Little Joel and Rudosen incapacitated it with Plasma Pistols.
• Li Qinwu weakened the Daemon with the Chaosbreaker Greatsword, while the Silent One branded its soul and sent it back into the Warp.
• The Silent One shared the marked Daemon’s perspective with Li Qinwu and tormented it with holy Scripture for two days, but the Daemon adapted to the whispers.
• Li Qinwu told the Silent One to replace the Scripture with a barrage of bizarre videos, and the stunned Daemon watched as the images flooded its mind.

Li Qinwu and the Silent One conditioned the Daemon Buru with bad memes and the promise that killing other Daemons would remove them. They later found that Buru’s relentless fighting had earned Khorne’s favor and made it grow into something extraordinary.

• Li Qinwu and the Silent One made Buru recite scripture and taught it that killing a Lesser Daemon would earn it the removal of a screen.
• Buru killed a passing Lesser Daemon, and Li Qinwu set a rule that each kill removed one screen while another was added every twenty-four hours.
• After Li Qinwu and the Silent One disconnected, Buru went on a rampage, dying and reforming while its screens multiplied.
• Buru’s relentless attacks attracted a Greater Daemon of Khorne, which blessed it and brought it into Khorne Company.
• Buru kept growing through Khorne’s blessings, and Li Qinwu and the Silent One later found that it had reached an extraordinary place.

Inquisitor Thraxol’s fleet joined forces with Inquisitor Bruno to aid 496a Industrial World, and Bruno invited Li Qinwu aboard his warship with the promise of cream cookies. Li Qinwu met the Living Saint Qiang Lei, whose claim to have slain fifteen Daemons he immediately misunderstood.

• Thraxol and Bruno agreed to combine their forces, with Thraxol taking command of the effort to save 496a Industrial World.
• Bruno invited Li Qinwu to visit his warship and meet Qiang Lei, a Living Saint, enticing him with cream cookies.
• Thraxol reluctantly took Li Qinwu to the teleport chamber, where Li Qinwu teleported successfully to Bruno’s warship.
• Bruno introduced Qiang Lei as a Holy Warrior who had slain fifteen Daemons.
• Li Qinwu asked whether Qiang Lei had slain fifteen Daemons that day and how many he had killed the day before, leaving Qiang Lei bewildered.

Inquisitor Bruno took Li Qinwu through the Admonition, showing him its defenses, captured Daemon artifacts, and imprisoned Daemons. The chapter ended as Bruno opened one captive Daemon’s helmet to reveal its twisted face.

• Inquisitor Bruno showed Li Qinwu the Admonition’s heavily armed, scripture-covered corridors and praised his crew’s resolve during long Warp pursuits.
• Inquisitor Bruno brought Li Qinwu to a protected treasury and showed him a gun that killed anyone whose name was known by spending a soul as ammunition.
• Inquisitor Bruno explained that the Book of Transactions traded away its user’s most valuable knowledge for answers, and recounted how it had stripped a Tech-Priest of everything without solving his problem.
• Inquisitor Bruno showed Li Qinwu a Daemon sword that fused to its wielder and demanded fresh blood every hour.
• Li Qinwu asked whether Bruno had captured any Daemons, so Bruno led him to sealed enclosures where scripture and Psychic Power suppressed the prisoners.
• Inquisitor Bruno opened the helmet of one metallic cocoon, exposing a twisted Daemon face.

Li Qinwu demonstrated that his Golden Psychic Flame could permanently destroy Daemons, and he helped Inquisitor Bruno eliminate the imprisoned Daemons aboard the warship. Bruno stopped him at the final enclosure because he needed to interrogate its bird-headed Daemon for information.

• Inquisitor Bruno explained that the captured Daemons had caused mass deaths and could not safely be killed by ordinary means.
• Li Qinwu used his Golden Psychic Flame and Demonbreaker Greatsword to destroy a Daemon permanently, impressing Bruno and Qiang Lei.
• Li Qinwu asked whether Bruno had more imprisoned Daemons, then permanently destroyed the others aboard the warship.
• Bruno stopped Li Qinwu from killing the last Daemon because he planned to torture it for fifty years to obtain important intelligence.
• Bruno opened the last enclosure, and the bird-headed Daemon spoke about sacrificing souls to the sea of knowledge.

Li Qinwu used a soul brand to torment a captured Tzeentch Daemon with frustrating puzzle games until the Daemon broke and revealed everything. Inquisitor Bruno then invited Li Qinwu to join his team and fight Daemons on the battlefield.

• Inquisitor Bruno told Li Qinwu that the bird-headed Daemon had refused to reveal information for nearly five years, and Li Qinwu promised to make him talk.
• Li Qinwu wounded the Daemon and carved a brand into his soul, causing screens of puzzle games to appear in his mind.
• The Daemon watched the games repeatedly fail through idiotic mistakes and grew increasingly frustrated.
• By the second day, the Daemon had been driven insane and began repeating the games’ taunts to himself.
• When Inquisitor Bruno interrogated him again, the Daemon revealed all his information, and Bruno invited Li Qinwu to join his team fighting Daemons.

Li Qinwu turned down Inquisitor Bruno’s attempt to recruit him, while Inquisitor Thraxol began looking for a way to keep him on the team. The fleet arrived at the Ork-ravaged Industrial World and immediately faced an approaching Xenos fleet.

• Li Qinwu told Inquisitor Thraxol that Bruno had offered him a warship if he switched fleets, but he had decided to stay.
• Thraxol resolved to win Li Qinwu’s loyalty and considered securing a Rogue Trader charter for him.
• Li Qinwu maintained his weapons and equipment, intending to remain with Thraxol’s fleet and continue taking private jobs.
• The fleet reached the Industrial World that night and received an alert that a Xenos fleet was approaching.

Seven Ork battleships fought Inquisitor Thraxol’s fleet, and the battle turned into a boarding assault when Orks breached a human warship. Li Qinwu led his troops to confront more than three hundred armored Orks who had already slaughtered nearby defenders.

• Seven Ork battleships charged Inquisitor Thraxol’s fleet, which turned broadside and opened fire with Macro Cannons and lasers.
• The human fleet crippled one small Ork ship, but six battleships reached close range and exchanged volleys with the humans.
• Ork boarding devices struck the warship, and more than three hundred Greenskins broke through near Cambridge A3.
• Inquisitor Thraxol ordered Li Qinwu to take his men to Cambridge A3, where the Orks had killed three anti-boarding squads.
• The armored Orks spotted Li Qinwu’s group and opened fire with their Big Shootaz.

Li Qinwu and his forces destroyed a large force of Power Armor Orks aboard the ship and rushed to defend the bridge. After clearing the Orks attacking Bridge Gate One, he learned that more than five hundred Orks had overrun the cargo deck.

• Li Qinwu and his elite troops used Bolt and Plasma weapons to kill nearly all three hundred Power Armor Orks, then cut down the survivors in close combat.
• Li Qinwu noticed that killing Ork Nobz advanced Khorne’s mission to sacrifice 888 valuable enemies, with 53 kills recorded.
• Inquisitor Thraxol called for help at Bridge Gate One, and Li Qinwu led his group there to protect the Astropath.
• Li Qinwu charged the Orks at Bridge Gate One alone and wiped out the attackers while his elite troops fired from behind.
• Thraxol reported that more than five hundred Orks had flooded the cargo deck and urged Li Qinwu to defend it.

Li Qinwu led the defense of the cargo deck and killed an Ork Warboss with a sliding tackle, helping the anti-Boarding troops eliminate the Orks. After the battle turned in humanity’s favor, he learned that the Orks had been sharing battle footage with those on the planet and ordered his engineer to hack their livestream.

• Li Qinwu arrived at the cargo deck and fired a Bolt Round that destroyed the Ork Warboss’s Boom Gun.
• The Ork Warboss charged Li Qinwu, who performed a sliding tackle and split the Warboss’s groin with his Power Longsword.
• Li Qinwu’s staff and the anti-Boarding troops wiped out the remaining Greenskin Orks after the Warboss fell.
• Inquisitor Thraxol’s fighters destroyed the incoming Ork Landing Pods, and the fleets exchanged artillery fire for more than two hours as the battle neared its end.
• The chief maintenance engineer told Li Qinwu that the Orks were sharing battle recordings with Orks on the planet, and Li Qinwu ordered him to hack their livestream and bring him cameras.

Li Qinwu interrupted the Orks’ battle broadcasts on 496a Industrial World and announced himself as the Gretchin Slayer. The Orks laughed at his nickname, but the Gretchin across the planet panicked at the news of his arrival.

• Orks on 496a Industrial World watched space battles in a makeshift cinema and cheered at the fighting.
• Li Qinwu hijacked the broadcast, waved the dead Ork Warboss’s head, and boasted about his exploits.
• Li Qinwu declared that he was the terrifying Gretchin Slayer before cutting off the broadcast.
• The Orks laughed at Li Qinwu’s nickname and called it a joke.
• Gretchin on Garbage Mountain heard that the Gretchin Slayer was coming and fell into terror.

Inquisitor Thraxol’s fleet destroyed the Orks’ remaining orbital stations around Industrial World 496A and began transporting a million reinforcements to the Hive City. As Li Qinwu heard how the Orks had overrun the planet, the pilot explained that their first tribe had formed under the Black Iron Boss.

• Inquisitor Thraxol’s fleet destroyed the Ork-held orbital platforms and reclaimed the space around Industrial World 496A.
• The Planetary Governor asked Thraxol to deploy his million troops to the Hive City, and Thraxol ordered the fleet to transport them.
• Thraxol declined to descend to the surface, while Li Qinwu put on power armor and joined a shuttle carrying troops.
• Li Qinwu gave the shuttle pilot cigarettes, and the pilot recounted how the Orks’ arrival had devastated the planet and scattered Greenskin Spore across it.
• The pilot explained that Gretchin cultivated mushroom fields until Ork Boys emerged and formed a tribe around the first Boy, whom they named Black Iron Boss.

Black Iron Boss’s Ork tribe grew from a force occupying a mine into an army that seized most of Industrial World 496A, while each human counterattack gave the Orks new weapons and technology. After twenty years of war, humanity relied on daily nuclear bombardments to defend its remaining territory, and the Hive City leaders feared the Orks might capture an unexploded shell.

• Black Iron Boss’s Orks killed the refinery militia, then defeated a PDF company and Power Armor elites, gaining Flintlock, Autogun, and Power Armor technology.
• Black Iron Boss expanded his territory and united with other Ork tribes as humanity struggled to recover from the disaster that had killed and wounded five billion people.
• Humans and Orks fought for nearly twenty years, with the Orks building Junk Tanks from battlefield wreckage and gradually gaining control of the planet.
• The Orks came to occupy sixty percent of Industrial World 496A, filling their territory with garbage mines and Mushroom Fields that produced waves of armed Ork Boys.
• Human forces began firing hundreds or nearly a thousand Nuclear Shells each day to repel Ork charges, leaving the planet polluted and hazardous to inhabit.
• Hive City leaders worried that an unexploded Nuclear Shell could fall into Ork hands and give them nuclear weapons.

Li Qinwu joined Black Iron’s broadcast and provoked the Ork Warboss into revealing his location. He then ordered Inquisitor Thraxol to fire every Macro Cannon at the coordinates.

• Li Qinwu listened as Black Iron broadcast a boast about destroying human tanks.
• Li Qinwu joined the open channel, mocked Black Iron, and threatened to kill Gretchin.
• Black Iron recognized Li Qinwu as Old Fart Li and argued with him over the channel.
• Li Qinwu taunted Black Iron until the Warboss revealed his location as XXX.
• Li Qinwu contacted Inquisitor Thraxol and ordered him to fire all the Macro Cannons at the coordinates.

Li Qinwu arrived at the war-torn industrial world and learned about its harsh conditions, its fight against the Greenskin Orks, and the Crimson Bite Chapter's deployment. While seeking repairs for his knight mechs, he discovered the planet had a Titan and set off with Major Noah to visit its Temple.

• Li Qinwu landed in the polluted hive city, where Major Noah became his guide and explained how the planet's governor and the Adeptus Mechanicus shared control.
• Major Noah told Li Qinwu that the Crimson Bite Chapter had fought the Orks on the planet and that the Inquisitor's fleet had cleared the remaining ork warships from orbit.
• Li Qinwu asked to meet Brother Norn and the Crimson Bite Astartes, so Major Noah submitted a request for approval from higher command.
• Li Qinwu asked Major Noah to take him to a tech-priest to repair his knight mechs, and she drove him toward the Temple of the Machine God.
• Major Noah revealed that the planet had a Titan housed in the Temple of Titans, exciting Li Qinwu.

Major Noah explained how her planet received and repaired a damaged Reaver Titan, and why it remained inactive during the Greenskins invasion. She brought Li Qinwu to the Titan Temple, where the city’s inhabitants stopped work to pray as its bells rang.

• Major Noah told Li Qinwu that an Adeptus Mechanicus fleet had delivered a damaged Reaver Titan fifty years earlier, and the planet’s Archmagos kept it for repairs.
• Noah explained that her grandfather’s generation built the Titan Temple and that her family devoted themselves to restoring the Titan’s armor.
• Li Qinwu suggested the Archmagos intended to train Titan technicians and eventually make the planet a Titan-producing world.
• Noah revealed that the Titan’s Grand Commander had died when Orks crashed a warship into the Hive City twenty years earlier, killing two billion people and the planet’s leadership.
• Li Qinwu and Noah traveled by vacuum train to the Titan Temple, a vast factory pyramid in a desert industrial city.
• The Temple’s bells rang, and Tech-Priests, workers, and Servitors stopped to pray while Noah held her identification tags and joined them.

Li Qinwu visited the Titan Temple’s factories and learned that Tech-Priest Busi could repair his damaged knight mechs, though repairs and weapons purchases required a meeting with the Magos. While Li Qinwu meditated in his quarters, an Ork force used a sandstorm to breach the temple’s outer perimeter.

• Major Noah led Li Qinwu through the guarded factory complex to meet her brother, Tech-Priest Busi.
• Busi assessed Li Qinwu’s knight mechs and said the Temple could repair them, but he needed the Magos’s approval to discuss payment.
• Li Qinwu asked about buying weapons for his soldiers, and Busi said the factory would need to produce a new batch.
• Busi arranged quarters for Li Qinwu, who saw the temple’s extensive defenses and learned it stood near the Ork front line.
• As a sandstorm engulfed the area, Li Qinwu meditated and increased his mental power from 73 to 74.
• Busi warned Li Qinwu that Orks had breached the temple’s outer perimeter and told him to stay inside because the Skitarii might mistake him for a hostile.

Li Qinwu watched the Skitarii repel a massive Ork assault on the Titan Temple, then followed Busi to meet the Iron Skull Archmagos. The Archmagos demanded the use of Li Qinwu’s Knight Mechs until the Ork crisis ended, and Li Qinwu saw a Reaver Titan surrounded by praying Tech-Priests.

• Li Qinwu watched the Skitarii fire twenty-seven Nuclear Shells through the night until the battlefield fell silent.
• Busi told Li Qinwu that the Skitarii had wiped out three hundred thousand Orks, who repeatedly attacked the Titan Temple because Black Iron wanted its war machines.
• Busi led Li Qinwu past a lava river where workers melted Ork vehicles into iron for the Temple’s defensive walls.
• The Iron Skull Archmagos told Li Qinwu that he would repair his Knight Mechs but required them to defend the Temple until the Ork crisis was over.
• Li Qinwu emerged onto the Titan Temple’s upper levels and saw Tech-Priests praying before a forty-meter Reaver Titan.

Li Qinwu and Magos Bous agreed on a repair and weapons plan for Li Qinwu’s Knight Mechs. They settled the conditions for the Titan Temple’s support, including Li Qinwu’s promise to defend it if it came under threat.

• The Iron Skull Archmagos admired the Reaver Titan, then left to pray and gave Bous provisional Magos clearance to coordinate with Li Qinwu.
• Bous proposed repairing the eight Armiger Knights first, followed by the Vanguard Knight, the King Knight, and the three Knight Errants.
• Li Qinwu chose ranged-firepower modifications for the Armiger Knights, and Bous specified their weapons loadout.
• Li Qinwu required thirty years of ammunition and replacement parts and said his Knights would not take orders from the Skitarii or accept certain-death missions.
• Bous required Li Qinwu’s Knights to defend the Titan Temple to the death if it was about to fall, and Li Qinwu agreed.

After the Tech-Priests spent half a month ceremonially replacing a Squire Mech’s armor, Li Qinwu demanded faster repairs and learned the remaining Knight Mechs would be ready in four months. He claimed the repaired fourth Squire Mech for himself and began connecting its neural crown, leaving him poised to pilot it.

• Magos Bous and the Tech-Priests forged and consecrated new adamantium armor, then installed it on a Squire Mech.
• Li Qinwu stormed into the assembly plant and berated Busi for taking half a month to repair one mech; Busi promised the other Knight Mechs would be repaired in four months.
• Li Qinwu learned the three repaired Squire Mechs had been claimed by the Traffic Light Trio, so he took the fourth as his own.
• Busi instructed Li Qinwu to remove his Power Armor, put on a life-support suit, and enter the Squire Mech’s cockpit.
• Li Qinwu put on the Mechanical Crown and connected its three neural cables to the interfaces at the back of his neck.

Li Qinwu connected to the Knight Squire Mech and fought its Machine Spirit in a surreal battle of consciousness until it accepted him as its pilot. He awakened in control of the Mech and asked Tech-Priest Busi to take him to a firing range so he could test its power.

• Tech-Priest Busi explained the Neural Interface process, but Li Qinwu lost consciousness before hearing the instructions.
• Li Qinwu mistook the silent Machine Spirit's stare for a challenge and attacked it with a stream of bizarre moves.
• Li Qinwu overwhelmed the Machine Spirit, which accepted him as its honored pilot to avoid having its consciousness scattered.
• Li Qinwu regained his senses inside the Squire Mech and discovered its powerful body, wide field of vision, and sharp hearing.
• Li Qinwu told Tech-Priest Busi he had won the Machine Spirit's approval and asked to go to the firing range; Busi led the way.

Li Qinwu tested the Squire Mech’s weapons and movement at a firing range, demonstrating its devastating firepower against Ork targets and heavy armor. Busi explained that Li Qinwu could add more weapons as long as his mental power could control them.

• Li Qinwu used the Squire Mech’s Rotary Laser Cannons to destroy more than 300 suits of Ork Power Armor and shred an Ork light-armored vehicle.
• Li Qinwu tested the Heavy Bolter against an Ork heavy-armored vehicle, whose Heavy Bolt Rounds exploded inside its armor.
• Li Qinwu fired the Twin-linked Plasma Cannon through a one-meter-thick steel plate and destroyed the Ork Tank behind it.
• Li Qinwu tested the Hell Chainsword and the mech’s movement, finding that he could control it as smoothly as his own body.
• Busi explained that Li Qinwu could install more weapons if his mental power remained strong enough to control them.

Li Qinwu armed his golden Armiger Knight with extra weapons and nuclear missiles, then joined the Traffic Light Trio after an Ork armored force broke through the front line. The four pilots set out to intercept the approaching force in the Great Desert before it could reach the Titan Temple.

• Li Qinwu added a Plasma Cannon, a Promethium Flamethrower Canister, extra weapon mounts, and two Fireball Nuclear Missiles to his Armiger Knight.
• The Traffic Light Trio told Li Qinwu how they had connected with their Machine Spirits, and Li Qinwu shared his own violent story.
• Busi warned that nearly three hundred heavy Ork vehicles and countless light vehicles had broken through the PDF's front line and were heading toward the Titan Temple.
• Li Qinwu and the Traffic Light Trio climbed into their Armiger Knights and set out to stop the Ork force in the Great Desert.