Equipment upgrade

Watching the noisy green monsters in front of him, Cheng Mingrui felt that, savage and cruel as they were, they were also endearingly straightforward. Most importantly, they were happy, like a bunch of carefree big boys.

An Ork Boss, then. So be it. As an Ork, I've got nothing downstairs, so marrying a beautiful rich girl and reaching the pinnacle of life is out of the question. Constant fighting is dangerous, too. I could drop dead at any moment.

But would being reincarnated as a human be any safer? Rebels, Chaos, Tyranids, the Inquisition-every one of them could kill me. I might die even faster as a human.

Wouldn't it be nice to live as a happy Ork and enjoy the moment in this dangerous Galaxy?

Having made his peace with it, Cheng Mingrui stood up and straightened his back. His view instantly opened up. He really was the biggest and tallest one here.

Hanging the modified Plasma Gun at his waist, Cheng Mingrui raised his hand and slapped the head of an Ork Boy among a group wrestling together. The smack was crisp and loud. A fine head indeed.

No wonder Cleverhead had slapped his head, too. Once Cheng Mingrui started, he was hooked. He worked his way through the Ork Boyz, slapping their bald heads with both hands, and only stopped after several dozen.

It wasn't that Cheng Mingrui wanted to stop. He had slapped all the Boyz to the floor. They crouched there clutching their heads, making it clear that they gave in and wanted their Boss to stop hitting them.

At some point, Clever Git had started following Cheng Mingrui. Every time Cheng Mingrui slapped an Ork Boy down, he borrowed his Boss's authority to kick the Boy as well. As he kicked, he shouted, "Behave yourselves! You only fight when Boss Slick tells you to fight! You only Waaagh! when Boss Slick tells you to Waaagh!"

Once he finished kicking, Clever Git climbed onto Cheng Mingrui's shoulder and said with the most fawning smile and voice he could muster, "Boss Slick, Cleverhead Boss told us to go fight the Humies in the Engine Room. Are we heading out now?"

"No, wait a bit longer. Let the Boyz get more weapons and Dakka before we leave. Do you know where the Engine Room is?"

This was clearly an Imperium warship. Cheng Mingrui knew neither its size nor its class, but it seemed to be an enormous capital ship, roughly the size of a small city. Getting lost without a map would be perfectly normal.

"I don't..." Clever Git was just about to say he didn't know when he remembered that he was on Cheng Mingrui's shoulder. Ork Warbosses were brutal and could kill him at the slightest misstep, so he hurriedly changed his answer. "There's no way I don't know! Wait a bit, Boss. I'll take you there."

With that, Clever Git jumped off Cheng Mingrui's shoulder, summoned a group of Gretchin with Squigs in Boss Slick's name, and threaded through the Orks until he vanished from Cheng Mingrui's sight.

Only several minutes later did Cheng Mingrui realize that Clever Git might have run away! The possibility was all too real. Gretchin were crafty creatures like that.

The next time I see Clever Git, I'm crushing his head, Cheng Mingrui thought viciously.

"You! Yeah, you! Get over here!" Cheng Mingrui ordered, pointing at a relatively large Ork.

"What's your name?"

"Me? I'm Iron Claw."

Cheng Mingrui glanced at the Ork's mechanical claw and couldn't help marveling at how casually Orks chose their names.

"Go count the Boyz, then find more Boyz nearby and bring them over. More Boyz means a bigger Waaagh!"

After sending Iron Claw off, Cheng Mingrui called out to the crowd of Boyz, "Any Meks or Mekboys here?"

Before long, five or six slightly smaller but much craftier-looking Ork Boyz came up to Cheng Mingrui. They had brought along some Gretchin carrying wrenches and hammers.

"As you all know, I'm taking you to fight the Humies. To give the Humies a proper beating, we need better gear. I'm giving you three hours to prepare. I need more Shootas, Big Choppas, Big Booms, and Stikkbombs. Motorcycles and Killa Kans would be even better."

Cheng Mingrui still hadn't adjusted to Ork pronunciation, and his accent sounded a little strange to the Greenskins.

With that, Cheng Mingrui pulled out a handful of Teef and handed them to the Boyz before him. Clever Git had given him all of them earlier.

The Meks and Mekboys looked troubled. Some wanted to speak, but the Boss's intimidating presence kept them silent.

If you want your workers doing twelve-hour days, six days a week, you'd better pay them enough. Cheng Mingrui turned around and dragged several Boyz out of the crowd behind him. Each time he grabbed one, he punched the Boy in the face, knocking out his fangs.

By the time he reached the tenth Boy, the Meks' and Mekboys' solemn faces had blossomed into grins. They gathered up the Teef, thumped their chests, and assured Cheng Mingrui that they would get the job done.

Under Cheng Mingrui's successive orders, the noisy, chaotic Boyz all got moving, swiftly shifting into serious preparations for battle. Compared with the unruly mob they had been moments earlier, they seemed like an entirely different species.

They truly lived up to their origins as living weapons created by the Old Ones to fight the War in Heaven. Their talent for warfare was maxed out.

The three hours of preparation passed quickly. The Ork Boyz under Cheng Mingrui's command shed their earlier image as a savage, disorderly rabble and became a well-equipped force of even more savage killing machines.

Iron Claw had done a fine job rounding up more Boyz. Once the count was complete, Cheng Mingrui's Ork Boyz had doubled to over a thousand. There were even more Gretchin, but they were so weak that the Orks didn't care how many there were.

Fueled by Teef, the wrench-wielding Mekboys displayed astonishing initiative and creativity. Not only did they equip every Ork Boy with a Slugga for ranged attacks, they also put together several Dakka guns-recoilless cannons-and gave everyone Stikkbombs.

What delighted Cheng Mingrui most was that, using nothing but hammers, wrenches, and scrap salvaged from the warship, the Mekboys had somehow cobbled together two six-meter-tall Killa Kans. Their presence alone made the passageway cramped.

The Killa Kans were true killing machines. The huge claw on each one's left mechanical arm had a terrifying grip. A single snap could cut even an Ork Boss in half.

On the right mechanical arm was an astonishingly large circular Chainsaw. Its sheer size and insane rotational speed were far beyond anything a human body could withstand. It could easily saw a tank in half.

Each Killa Kan also had a pair of twin-linked Shootas mounted on its chest, though the Boyz preferred to call them Big Dakka. Two Gretchin sat atop them, ready at any moment to unleash their fury on the enemy in a hail of bullets.

Everything was ready; all they needed was the final push. With a force this full of Waaagh!, Cheng Mingrui believed nothing could stop them. The Green Tide would drown everything.

But where was the Engine Room? To find a fight, they first had to find the place and the enemy. Cheng Mingrui thought of Clever Git, who had run away.

Just as he was thinking about how to crush that crafty Gretchin to death the next time they met, a shout of "Boss Slick!" came from behind the Boyz.