Recaps

Li Qinwu burned Horse Village’s Plague Walkers and the corrupted statue in the square, but the virus left him near death. Surrounded by the villagers and refusing their offer to join them, he pulled a rope hidden in his jacket and detonated an explosion for humanity.

• Li Qinwu killed the woman and the monster in her swaddling clothes, then spread fire across the village rooftops.
• He mixed Holy Wine with kerosene and poured the burning mixture onto the Plague Walkers, breaking their delusions and throwing them into panic.
• Li Qinwu reached the square and set fire to the flesh symbol that had replaced the God-Emperor’s statue, even as the virus weakened him.
• The Plague Walkers surrounded Li Qinwu, and their horse-human leader urged him to join their family.
• Li Qinwu rejected the Plague Walkers’ offer, honored the God-Emperor, and pulled a rope from his jacket, triggering an explosion.

Li Qinwu inspected the burned ruins of Horse Village, then returned to the church to report on the mission. Along the way, he rewarded the factory workers and soldiers with a share of its earnings, while Baron Colenarius’s butler gave him three months to prove he could maintain production.

• Li Qinwu visited the Chemical Plant, encouraged Little Joel’s training, and promised soldiers’ families Brewery jobs and a chance to regain Middle Hive citizenship.
• Baron Colenarius’s butler transferred Electronic Eye’s supply agreement to Li Qinwu, collected explosives and Plasteel powder, and set a three-month test of reliable production.
• Li Qinwu gave Old White the factory’s 800,000 Fertilizer Vouchers and ordered him to divide future earnings among operations, workers, and soldiers.
• Li Qinwu returned to Horse Village and found that his fire had reduced it to smoking ruins, then killed himself with a detonator to avoid risking infection.
• Li Qinwu reached the church after curfew and told a missionary to summon the priest because he had brought bad news.

Li Qinwu reported the corruption at Horse Village to the Imperial Cult priest, who asked him to arrange a purification mission despite the dangers of Rebel Army territory. The priest gave Li Qinwu a soul-bound Holy Seal, and Li Qinwu went to Parson to seek permission for the Imperial Cult to travel north.

• Li Qinwu told the priest that artillery had burned Horse Village, completing his mission and raising the priest's favorability.
• The priest asked Li Qinwu to help lead Imperial Cult personnel to Horse Village for a thorough purification, and Li Qinwu requested several days to arrange it.
• The priest gave Li Qinwu his childhood Holy Seal, which the system identified as a special soul-bound item with Warp Essence.
• Li Qinwu absorbed the Holy Seal's Warp Essence and drove back to the Rebel Army camp.
• Li Qinwu asked Parson to contact a Rebel Army marshal about allowing the Imperial Cult to purify Horse Village, and Parson sent a rider to make contact.

Li Qinwu negotiated with an official serving the rebel marshal for passage to Horse Village so a priest and missionaries could purge its corruption, but the two sides could not agree on armed protection. He left after warning the rebels to maintain their quarantine.

• Parson introduced Li Qinwu to a senior official of the rebel marshal, who questioned him about his PDF rank and whether he had killed rebels.
• Li Qinwu admitted he had killed rebels, and the official briefly ordered his riders to aim their guns at him before standing them down.
• Li Qinwu argued that the rebels should let him take a priest and missionaries into Horse Village to eliminate the corruption, which had already swallowed an earlier rebel force.
• The official offered passage only if Li Qinwu's party entered under rebel control and disarmed, while Li Qinwu insisted on bringing vehicles and armed guards.
• The official refused Li Qinwu's terms, so Li Qinwu warned him to keep the quarantine perimeter intact and left as the negotiations collapsed.

After negotiations with the rebels failed, Li Qinwu continued running the wine distillery while the priest prepared another way to purify the corruption. The priest brought Li Qinwu to a Hive City Fortress Gun, where three guns stood ready to fire shells after the priest’s final prayers.

• Li Qinwu told the priest that the rebels would not permit armed personnel to enter their territory, and the priest decided on another purification plan.
• Li Qinwu oversaw the packaging of the first batch of wine and paid the temporary workers for their day’s labor.
• A missionary summoned Li Qinwu to the church, and the priest took him by car to the edge of the Hive City.
• Li Qinwu discovered that the priest had brought him to a Fortress Gun firing position, where Major Blyrin reported that three guns were ready.
• The priest asked to see the shells, and Major Blyrin led the group to the loading chamber, where hundreds of workers hauled a nearly ten-ton shell into position by hand.

Li Qinwu helped the Imperial Cult bless and fire three Fortress Guns at Horse Village, then wondered why the PDF had not used its artillery against the rebels. Days later, a general summoned him to the PDF Camp, leaving Lieutenant Rudosen terrified that Li Qinwu’s false identity would be exposed.

• Li Qinwu and the preachers spent hours blessing three shells before the Fortress Guns fired them toward Horse Village.
• The major explained that the Incineration Shells would scatter burning chemicals over a wide area, while Li Qinwu questioned why the PDF had not used its artillery against the rebels.
• The priest thanked Li Qinwu for identifying the corruption, and Li Qinwu returned to the Hideout to oversee its operations.
• A few days later, Lieutenant Rudosen urgently summoned Li Qinwu to the PDF Camp, where a general had requested to see him.
• Rudosen warned that an investigation could expose Li Qinwu’s fabricated corporal identity, but Li Qinwu told him to stay calm and said he would handle it.

Li Qinwu impressed General Zeppelin by turning his account of a corruption-cleansing mission into lavish praise for the army and its leaders, earning a medal and promotion. He then persuaded the general to inspect the regiment and expanded a minor weapons-placement instruction into a tactical doctrine, prompting Zeppelin to call him a potential chief of general staff.

• Li Qinwu approached General Zeppelin and, when asked about his mission, praised the God-Emperor, Commander Leo, and Rudosen in an extended report.
• General Zeppelin ordered a colonel to record Li Qinwu’s speech, then awarded him a Silver Oak Leaf Medal and promoted him to sergeant.
• Li Qinwu announced that the regiment’s soldiers had assembled, persuading General Zeppelin to stay and inspect the troops.
• General Zeppelin instructed the regiment to move a machine gun five meters to the right, and Li Qinwu elaborated the order into a detailed explanation of firepower deployment.
• General Zeppelin praised Li Qinwu to a colonel as someone with the makings of a chief of general staff.

After General Zeppelin decorated Li Qinwu, Commander Leo promoted him to lead an expanded combat squad. Li Qinwu secured access to a warehouse of damaged guns and ammunition, then asked Rudosen to transport the entire stock to his forces in the Lower Hive.

• Commander Leo promoted Li Qinwu to sergeant and assigned him an expanded combat squad after General Zeppelin praised him.
• Li Qinwu asked Commander Leo for weapons and equipment, and Commander Leo sent Rudosen to show him the abandoned armory.
• Rudosen showed Li Qinwu a warehouse of damaged firearms and explained that the guns were old combat losses awaiting disposal.
• Li Qinwu negotiated for ammunition, and Rudosen agreed to provide one hundred thousand rounds.
• Li Qinwu asked Rudosen to send trucks to haul away all the junk guns, startling Rudosen with the scale of his Lower Hive forces.

Li Qinwu salvaged and manufactured weapons to arm his force while training in the Hideout. His newly made grenade launcher gained an armor-piercing attribute, and a Logging Gun emerged with a furious Machine Spirit that would keep firing until it was exhausted or everything ahead was destroyed.

• Li Qinwu had Little Joel’s soldiers dismantle nearly 600 junk firearms, assemble 83 usable rifles, and give the Black Merchant parts to repair into 50 more guns.
• Li Qinwu sent over 400 abandoned gun bodies to his Hideout and used the Workbench to manufacture heavy weapons, including a PDF Handheld Grenade Launcher and a Logging Gun.
• Li Qinwu trained in the Hideout, raised his Strength to 20, Endurance to 20, and Energy to 30, and improved his Psychic Power with a new Fitness Area.
• Li Qinwu retrieved a Masterwork PDF Handheld Grenade Launcher with the Armor-Piercing+ attribute from the Workbench.
• Li Qinwu retrieved a Machine Spirit-Raging Logging Gun whose Machine Spirit would keep firing until it grew weary or everything before its muzzle was destroyed.

Li Qinwu modified the Logging Gun into a heavily protected, water-cooled weapon and adjusted the Chemical Factory’s wages and benefits. The Chemical Gang occupied a Reactor and began repairing it, so Li Qinwu ordered his people to watch and wait for a chance to take it.

• Li Qinwu recognized the Logging Gun’s dangerous Machine Spirit and had Nipall help convert it into a water-cooled, shielded gun mounted on wheels.
• Old White showed Li Qinwu the Chemical Factory’s payroll sheet, and Li Qinwu allocated funds for children’s education and higher pay for Factory leaders.
• Li Qinwu rewarded the Factory workers and soldiers with wages, better food, and training, strengthening their loyalty.
• Little Knife reported that the Chemical Gang had occupied a Reactor and was building defenses while repairing its chemical facilities.
• Li Qinwu ordered his people to watch the Reactor and move in once the Chemical Gang finished its repairs.

Li Qinwu arranged to claim the Neutral Reactor occupied by Poison Mother’s Chemical Gang by invoking the Lower Hive’s rules for gang conflicts. At mediation, he presented an Adeptus Mechanicus certificate declaring the Reactor entrusted to the Fertilizer Gang, leaving Poison Mother stunned as the dispute moved toward armed conflict.

• Li Qinwu learned from Little Knife that gangs had to seek Arbites mediation before fighting, then planned to take the Reactor after the Chemical Gang repaired it.
• Poison Mother and nearly a thousand Poison Insects repaired the Neutral Reactor, preparing to use it to expand the Chemical Gang’s chemical production.
• After the Arbites summoned Poison Mother to mediation, she assumed Electronic Eye had declared war on her and went to the Legal Affairs Department.
• Poison Mother discovered Li Qinwu, not Electronic Eye, waiting in the mediation hall and demanded to know why he had challenged her.
• Li Qinwu presented Father Anthony’s certificate stating that Reactor No. 531 had been entrusted to the Fertilizer Gang, then ordered Poison Mother to leave.

Li Qinwu forced Poison Mother to abandon the Neutral Reactor and agreed to settle their dispute in a sanctioned battle at the Duel Arena. He returned to the Chemical Plant and assembled his more than 220 combatants for the coming war.

• Poison Mother tore up the contract that gave Li Qinwu control of the Neutral Reactor, but Li Qinwu ordered her to leave within three days.
• Poison Mother challenged Li Qinwu to fight at the Duel Arena, and the senior Arbites confirmed they would muster their forces there in three days.
• Li Qinwu used his connections to win the senior Arbites's favor, then left and returned to the Lower Hive.
• Li Qinwu gathered his combat personnel at the Chemical Plant and organized recruits into Logging Gun and Chimera Transport squads.
• Little Knife took the Chimera Transport's driver role, while Little Joel became its gunner.

Li Qinwu prepared his soldiers and equipment for war with the Chemical Gang, while Poison Mother assembled a much larger force and devised a way to aim her Chemical Pigs at the enemy. Their battle began in the Duel Arena, where Li Qinwu opened fire on the charging Poison Insects with a Logging Gun.

• Li Qinwu promised to assign ranks based on battlefield performance and gave his soldiers three days of food and liquor before the battle.
• Poison Mother recruited more than three thousand Poison Insects and mercenaries, and used a new chemical to make her Chemical Pigs charge only toward enemies.
• Poison Mother's force entered the Duel Arena, followed by Li Qinwu's armed men and the Little Train carrying concealed machines.
• Li Qinwu and Poison Mother traded insults, and the Chemical Gang opened fire before Li Qinwu could finish taunting them.
• Poison Mother ordered her Poison Insects to inject themselves and charge, while Li Qinwu loaded a Logging Gun, poured Holy Oil into it, and fired.

Li Qinwu’s 150-strong force used searchlights and five heavy machine guns to devastate Poison Mother’s 3,000 charging Poison Insects in the Strategic Storage Warehouse. As the Chemical Gang’s gunmen began targeting his soldiers, Li Qinwu turned the Little Train’s turret on them.

• Poison Mother ordered the Poison Insects to charge Li Qinwu’s position, relying on their overwhelming numbers.
• Li Qinwu’s men blinded the charging swarm with searchlights, then opened fire with five Logging Guns and small arms.
• Chemical Gang gunmen shot out half the searchlights, and the Poison Insects resumed their charge while Li Qinwu’s turret continued firing without ammunition.
• The Logging Guns killed nearly all 3,000 Poison Insects, while enemy gunmen wounded several of Li Qinwu’s soldiers without penetrating their armor.
• Li Qinwu heard bullets striking the turret and swept its machine gun toward the concealed gunmen, shredding them with 20mm rounds.

Li Qinwu and his allies overwhelmed the Chemical Gang’s forces with their Logging Guns, killing the charging Chemical Pigs and driving Poison Mother into a tunnel. The Logging Gun’s furious Machine Spirit kept firing after the battle until Li Qinwu pointed it safely at the ceiling and it finally fell silent.

• Li Qinwu used the endlessly firing machine gun to kill Poison Insects and gunmen, prompting Poison Mother to awaken fifty Chemical Pigs.
• The Chemical Pigs avoided the foul-smelling Chemical Gang members and charged Li Qinwu’s forces, while the soldiers overcame their fear and opened fire.
• Li Qinwu and the other Logging Gun teams shot the Chemical Pigs through their armor, and the Kai family father and son directed Autogun fire at their legs.
• The combined barrage killed all fifty Chemical Pigs, and Poison Mother fled through a tunnel with her remaining trusted subordinates.
• The Logging Gun continued firing despite the enemies’ defeat, so Li Qinwu chained its grip and aimed it at the ceiling until its Machine Spirit stopped and fell asleep.

Li Qinwu trapped and defeated Poison Mother's retreating forces, captured her, and took control of the Neutral Reactor and the Chemical Gang's territory. After executing a deserter and expelling his family, he led his army into Poison Mother's base, where her people surrendered.

• Poison Mother's fleeing gunmen ran into Li Qinwu's Chimera Transport and its infantry, who killed most of them and captured the survivors.
• Li Qinwu killed the wounded Chemical Gang members, but spared Poison Mother after she offered to reveal her supplier and help run her Factory.
• The Kai family father and son brought back a captured deserter, and Li Qinwu beheaded him and ordered his family expelled from the Factory.
• Li Qinwu resupplied his army and set out for the Neutral Reactor with Poison Mother tied to the Chimera Transport's front armor.
• Poison Mother's forces surrendered, and Li Qinwu acquired the Neutral Reactor and conquered the Chemical Gang's territory.

Li Qinwu seized the Chemical Gang's compound, exposed its deliberate toxic-gas scheme, and ordered its exhaust pipe repaired. He discovered the gang produced Stabilizer for ammunition and began planning to build a military-industrial operation.

• Li Qinwu marched into the Chemical Gang's territory, confronted its supervisor, and ordered workers to seal the leaking exhaust pipe.
• The workers repaired the pipe, cutting off the gas that had drawn more than a thousand Poison Insects to the compound.
• The deprived Poison Insects attacked the gang's walls, and Li Qinwu led his soldiers in killing them all.
• Li Qinwu learned that the Chemical Gang had 1,700 workers and had been using addictive waste gas to control them.
• The supervisor revealed that the gang produced Stabilizer for Propellant, and Li Qinwu saw a path toward mass-producing ammunition and expanding his power.

Li Qinwu seized Poison Mother's laboratory and Stabilizer Factory, killed her, and took control of her production and trade route. He reorganized the factories, expanded his workforce and army, and began planning to manufacture guns and ammunition.

• Li Qinwu questioned Poison Mother about her laboratory, and she explained that she had once been a doctor in the Spire before moving her equipment to the Lower Hive and taking over a factory.
• Poison Mother revealed that her factory earned 1.5 million a month, she had more than eight million in savings, and Red Lady supplied her.
• Li Qinwu rejected Poison Mother's pleas to spare her, swung her around and flung her into the air, then shot her; her death gave him the Neutral Reactor, four Reactors producing Stabilizer, and the Stabilizer trade route.
• Li Qinwu drove away Poison Mother's workers, transferred 1,500 of his own workers to take over the factories, and ordered both factories staffed with 3,000 workers each.
• Li Qinwu divided his 200 soldiers between the factories and planned to expand his army by 600 as he recruited workers and organized his forces.
• Li Qinwu considered using the factories' workshops and materials to manufacture PDF Automatic Guns and ammunition.

Li Qinwu upgraded the Hideout’s Medical Station and produced improved medicines while continuing to manufacture firearms. Summoned to Lieutenant Rudosen’s camp during a sudden First-Level Combat Readiness order, Li Qinwu spotted Rudosen’s artillery and insisted the cannons could be broken.

• Li Qinwu paid veteran workers to study an Autogun and brought equipment from the Poison Mother Institute to upgrade the Hideout’s Medical Station to lv2.
• The upgraded station unlocked Greater Strength Injections, Greater Endurance Injections, and Divine Cooling Balm, which Li Qinwu began manufacturing.
• Li Qinwu inspected newly made firearms for special attributes and gave several guns with modest bonuses to his subordinates.
• Lieutenant Rudosen summoned Li Qinwu to the PDF Camp, where inspectors had ordered the troops to assemble and enter First-Level Combat Readiness.
• Li Qinwu saw eight artillery pieces in Rudosen’s camp and tried to convince him that the cannons were broken, while Rudosen insisted they were not.

Li Qinwu followed Lieutenant Rudosen’s battalion into the Hive City after receiving orders to seal off several Middle Hive sectors, then met the twenty soldiers assigned to his squad. As Li Qinwu relaxed with them at their checkpoint, they spotted someone approaching.

• After failing to buy artillery, Li Qinwu learned that Lieutenant Rudosen’s battalion had been ordered into the Hive City to occupy Middle Hive D113 through D116 and block all passage.
• Li Qinwu followed Rudosen into the Hive City, where PDFs from other regiments were also deploying without knowing the reason.
• Li Qinwu went to the crossroads controlled by his twenty-man reinforced squad and told the soldiers to arrange shifts and keep watch.
• Li Qinwu relaxed with his soldiers, joined corporals Egghead and Black Charcoal in a card game, and quietly let them win back their lost pay.
• The soldiers at the sandbags shouted that someone was approaching before Li Qinwu could speak to them further.

Li Qinwu confronted a crowd of people corrupted by the God of Plenty while command forbade his soldiers from opening fire. He attacked the Cultists with a baton, shocking some back to their senses as he charged into the others.

• Li Qinwu spotted hundreds of people approaching his blockade and learned from their leader that they worshipped the God of Plenty.
• Li Qinwu recognized signs of Chaos corruption and was ordered by Lieutenant Rudosen not to fire without command authorization.
• Li Qinwu boosted his strength and endurance with injections, told Egghead to hold the blockade, and approached the crowd alone.
• Li Qinwu killed the woman leading the Cultists with his baton, startling some followers into regaining their clarity.
• Li Qinwu beat another follower who condemned him, then lunged at the remaining Cultists who shouted at him.

Li Qinwu and his soldiers beat back a crowd of Chaos God cultists, then received orders to join a larger PDF force heading to the Spire. The chapter ended with an officer requisitioning Li Qinwu’s squad for the battle.

• Li Qinwu charged into the cultists and killed more than twenty before they overwhelmed him and pinned him down.
• Egghead, Black Charcoal, and twenty PDF soldiers rushed in to rescue Li Qinwu and fought the cultists alongside him.
• Li Qinwu promised the soldiers ten-thousand red packets, and they drove the remaining cultists into a retreat.
• Li Qinwu applied Divine Cooling Balm to his soldiers as a radio order authorized firearms across the Hive City.
• A large PDF force of Chimera Transports and infantry moved toward the city center, and an officer requisitioned Li Qinwu’s squad to accompany him to the Spire.

Li Qinwu and his soldiers were ordered to join an elite PDF regiment fighting in the Spire, where they found a massive Plague Walker outbreak. As the regiment attacked the horde near Spire 23, Li Qinwu led his men away from the battle.

• An officer ordered Li Qinwu and his twenty soldiers to join the 9th PDF Regiment and fight in the Spire.
• Li Qinwu rode the Great Elevator with the elite regiment and warned his men to stay close to him.
• The regiment emerged into the Spire and encountered streets covered with corpses of heavily mutated Plague Walkers.
• At Spire 23, the regiment attacked tens of thousands of Plague Walkers with Lasguns, laser cannons, and flamers.
• Egghead and Black Charcoal asked Li Qinwu what to do, and he led his men away from the battle.

Li Qinwu hid with his twenty soldiers in a Spire shop, avoiding the fighting at the Great Elevator and convincing them that retreat was impossible and the PDF Elite Regiment would eventually be wiped out. As they waited for another route to the Middle Hive, the soldiers confronted the Spire’s vast wealth and prices, while Li Qinwu kept their fears of infection at bay.

• Li Qinwu led his men into a nearby shop to hide from the fighting and ordered them to keep quiet.
• Li Qinwu rejected the soldiers’ suggestion to return through the Great Elevator and planned to wait for the fighting to weaken both sides before finding locals to guide them down.
• Li Qinwu warned the soldiers that they might be infected and doomed, then reassured them that his Divine Cooling Balm protected them from the virus.
• The soldiers explored the shop and were shocked that its goods cost far more than their monthly wages.
• Li Qinwu reflected on the huge wealth gap between the Underhive, Middle Hive, and Spire.

Li Qinwu led twenty soldiers through the plague-ravaged Spire, where they found the streets dark and littered with corpses. After defeating a horde of Plague Walkers outside an apartment building, they drew out a survivor who could help guide them toward the Middle Hive.

• Li Qinwu ordered the soldiers to gather sealed food and water, then waited until nightfall before leading them out to search for a route to the Middle Hive.
• The group crossed streets strewn with bodies and wrecked vehicles, and Li Qinwu concluded that the Spire’s lighting facilities had fallen under Plague Walker control.
• Li Qinwu spotted nearly a hundred Plague Walkers surrounding a luxury apartment building and ordered his soldiers to attack, believing survivors were inside.
• Li Qinwu and the soldiers killed the Plague Walkers with a volley of Autogun fire, aided by Divine Cooling Balm that protected them from mental interference.
• Li Qinwu called for survivors to come out, then began leaving when a middle-aged man appeared at a window; the man hurried downstairs and ran after the group.