Chapter Summaries

Liu Zhipeng’s Gretchin Liberation Army seized the Rust Fungus Mine in a swift assault, freeing its slaves and killing the Ork Warboss Dok. The victory supplied the army with resources and recruits, and Liu’s forces spent the following month conquering nearby Ork strongholds.

• Dok ordered the Orks to prepare their defenses, but hundreds of rockets devastated the mine’s walls and scattered his forces.
• Liu Zhipeng ordered a full assault, as the Red Comet and White Devil Gundams broke through the defenses for the Killa Kans, Ember Veterans, and Gretchin recruits.
• The attackers overwhelmed the Orks, and the mine’s Gretchin slaves joined the rebellion against their overseers.
• Dok tried to make a final stand, but the Red Comet killed him as the battle ended in less than fifteen minutes.
• More than ten thousand freed slaves pledged loyalty to Liu Zhipeng, bringing his army close to sixty thousand and giving it the mine’s equipment and supplies.
• Over the following month, Liu Zhipeng used the Rust Fungus Mine as a base to attack nearby small and medium-sized Ork strongholds.

Liu Zhipeng’s Gretchin army swept across Scrap World, growing to tens of millions and surrounding Grob Muchcoin’s final stronghold. As Liu prepared to attack Ironfang Fortress and proclaimed the planet would become Hope Star, Inquisitor Valerius ordered Imperial forces to the planet and considered a decapitation strike.

• Liu Zhipeng’s forces captured the Sour Swamp Refinery and surrounded the remaining fortresses under Grob Muchcoin’s control.
• Inquisitor Valerius learned that Liu’s army had grown beyond thirty million and ordered the Silver Spear Third Company to Scrap World.
• Valerius planned to observe Liu himself and authorized a decapitation strike if the Gretchin leader proved impossible to contain.
• Liu announced the final offensive against Ironfang Fortress and called for Grob Muchcoin’s death.
• Liu declared that Scrap World would become the Gretchin’s first home, Hope Star, as tens of millions of Gretchin roared in response.

Grob Muchcoin prepared Ironfang Fortress to withstand the approaching Gretchin army, trusting its defenses, Gorkanauts, and WAAAGH! field to secure victory. In orbit, Inquisitor Valerius sent Sergeant Maximian and the Silver Spears to assassinate the Gretchin leader, the Liberator, during the battle.

• Grob Muchcoin rejected a direct charge and ordered his Orks to defend Ironfang Fortress with every gun and all ten Gorkanauts.
• Grob activated the WAAAGH! totem, spreading a psychic field across the fortress and empowering its Orks.
• Inquisitor Valerius watched the approaching battle from an Inquisition frigate with Sergeant Maximian and his Silver Spears.
• Valerius ordered Maximian to strike the Gretchin command tower and kill the Liberator once the fighting reached its fiercest, then withdraw.
• Maximian and his squad pledged their readiness and began the operation at Valerius's command.

Liu Zhipeng’s army launched a massive rocket bombardment and assault on Ironfang Fortress, smashing its defenses and fighting into the city. Globb sent ten Gorkanauts to counterattack the Liberator Gundams, setting up a clash between the steel behemoths.

• Maximian led his squad toward the hangar while Liu Zhipeng prepared his army for battle below.
• Liu Zhipeng explained the WAAAGH! field to his commanders and rallied millions of Gretchin to attack Ironfang Fortress.
• Liu Zhipeng ordered a saturation rocket barrage that devastated the fortress’s walls and artillery positions.
• Liu Zhipeng followed with a creeping barrage and sent the Liberator Legion and Killa Kans through the breaches to attack.
• Globb ordered the Gork Legion into battle, and ten Gorkanauts advanced against the four Liberator Gundams.

The Liberator Gundams dismantled Grob Muchcoin’s Gork Legion while Space Marines launched a surprise attack on Liu Zhipeng’s command tower. Liu Zhipeng prepared to meet them and ordered his forces not to fire, hoping to change the Imperium’s view of him.

• Red Comet crippled and destroyed a Gorkanaut by attacking its knee joint and neck conduits.
• Infinite Freedom and Blue Lightning disabled two Gorkanauts’ weapons, while White Devil blinded another with a sniper shot.
• Grob Muchcoin watched his Gork Legion fall apart and realized his forces faced a formidable enemy.
• Sergeant Major Maximian led nine Space Marines in a high-altitude drop toward the skull command tower for a decapitation strike.
• Liu Zhipeng spotted the incoming Space Marines and ordered Sharpfang’s guards not to fire while recalling White Devil to the tower.
• Liu Zhipeng adjusted his trench coat and waited atop the command tower to meet the Space Marines.

Liu Zhipeng confronted Sergeant Maximian and his Space Marine squad, stunning them by speaking High Gothic and manifesting a golden flame that resembled the Emperor’s presence. Maximian halted the attack and decided the encounter required verification by the Imperium’s highest authorities.

• Maximian and his squad surrounded Liu Zhipeng on the command tower, but froze when he spoke flawless High Gothic and identified Inquisitor Valerius and his beliefs.
• Liu Zhipeng summoned a golden flame that the Space Marines recognized as carrying the Emperor’s presence and claimed he served the Emperor’s will.
• A Space Marine accused Liu Zhipeng of using a Warp illusion and raised his Boltgun, but Ghost appeared in a Liberator Gundam and warned him to lower his weapon.
• Maximian ordered his squad to stand down and chose to report the encounter for verification by the Chapter Master, the Inquisition, and possibly Terra.
• Liu Zhipeng extinguished the flame, accepted Maximian’s doubts, and told the Space Marines they could leave.

Liu Zhipeng forced Maximian and the Space Marines to withdraw after requesting diplomatic relations with the Imperium, then confronted Grob Muchcoin atop Ironfang Fortress. He killed the Ork warlord with a golden-powered punch as the battle for the planet continued.

• Liu Zhipeng invited Maximian to report his diplomatic proposal to Inquisitor Valerius and warned that the Imperium could face the same fate as Grob Muchcoin’s forces.
• Maximian ordered the ten Space Marines to withdraw, and Liu Zhipeng reflected that he had planted doubt in the Imperium and gained precious time.
• Liu Zhipeng placed Sharpfang, Ghazghk, and Snot in command, ordering them to defeat the remaining Orks, free the enslaved Gretchin, and seize Ironfang Fortress.
• Liu Zhipeng launched himself to the fortress summit and mocked Grob Muchcoin’s golden tusk statue, provoking the warlord into attacking.
• Liu Zhipeng dodged Grob Muchcoin’s autocannon fire and power claw, climbed onto his shoulder, and annihilated his head with a golden-powered punch.

Liu Zhipeng led the Gretchin to conquer Ironfang Fortress and ordered every Ork killed, while Inquisitor Valerius condemned the Gretchin leader’s golden flame as heresy and assembled an Imperial crusade against Scrap World. The fortress became the Gretchin capital, renamed the City of Hope, as the approaching threat gathered in the Warp.

• Liu Zhipeng ordered the Gretchin to occupy Ironfang Fortress and eliminate every Ork after the Warboss fell.
• Inquisitor Valerius watched a recording of Liu Zhipeng’s golden flame and declared it a scheme of Chaos that had to be purged.
• Valerius summoned Imperial Navy ships, Space Marines, Astra Militarum regiments, and Sisters of Battle for the Sin-Cleansing Crusade against Scrap World.
• Over the following year, Valerius’s Expeditionary Force assembled and sailed into the Warp toward the planet.
• Liu Zhipeng renamed Ironfang Fortress the City of Hope and declared it the capital of all Gretchin.

Liu Zhipeng imposed a brutal Hygiene and Order Act and organized the purging of Ork spores to protect the new City of Hope. Despite the city’s growing order and safety, a Gretchin squad discovered newly spawned Ork Boyz in an abandoned sewer.

• Liu Zhipeng issued the Hygiene and Order Act and created the black-armored Enforcement Squad to punish Gretchin who broke its rules.
• The Enforcement Squad executed violators, and the Gretchin gradually embraced the cleaner, safer city and began reporting those who disrupted its order.
• Liu Zhipeng established the Spore Purification Department under Snot to burn Ork corpses, fungal colonies, and contaminated soil across liberated areas.
• A Gretchin squad found newly sprouted Orks in an abandoned sewer, including several aggressive-looking Ork Boyz.

Liu Zhipeng advanced his plans to protect the Gretchin by building an interstellar fleet, mass-producing Vanguard mechs, and founding a religion centered on his godhood. The Gretchin Ecclesiarchy promised its followers that those who died fighting for him would return to his side, binding the population to his cause.

• A Gretchin veteran burned Ork hatchlings during a sewer purification, establishing a policy that prioritized Gretchin survival and eliminated Ork hatchlings.
• Liu Zhipeng ordered the construction of orbital shipyards from salvaged wreckage and designed the Ember-class Assault Cruiser for his first fleet.
• Ghazghk's Mekboy team developed the four-meter Vanguard mech, and one hundred units paraded through the City of Hope.
• Liu Zhipeng appointed an elderly Gretchin as High Priest, who proclaimed that the Big Boss was a god who would liberate Gretchin everywhere.
• The High Priest declared that Gretchin who died gloriously in battle would return to Liu Zhipeng's side, and the Gretchin Ecclesiarchy was formally established.

Liu Zhipeng discovered that Deep Shaft Number 7 had pierced the outer wall of a sleeping Necron Tomb World, then ordered the mine sealed and Hope Star’s fleet and evacuation preparations accelerated. As Hope Star became a vast war machine, he prepared to flee with his people and resources if the Imperium refused his offer of goodwill.

• A Gretchin foreman reported strange black metal, glowing runes, and whispers from Deep Shaft Number 7, so Liu Zhipeng halted the excavation and investigated with Enforcement Squad veterans.
• Liu Zhipeng found a hole in an immense metal wall and saw a sleeping Necron army and its weapons beyond it.
• Liu Zhipeng ordered Ghazghk to seal and bury the mine, while Snot suppressed information about Number 77 Deep Well and designated it a restricted zone.
• Liu Zhipeng ordered fleet construction accelerated, nonessential projects suspended, and evacuation preparations made in case the Necron Tomb World awakened.
• Over the following year, Hope Star’s army surpassed three hundred million, more than a hundred Ember-class assault cruisers were completed, and millions of Vanguard-pattern mechs entered production.
• Liu Zhipeng prepared to demonstrate goodwill to the Imperium but planned to evacuate his people and possessions if it refused, leaving Valerius stripped of resources above the sleeping Necron Dynasty.

Valerius’s Imperial fleet launched a surprise assault on Hope Star while Liu Zhipeng began a mass evacuation and sent Gretchin cruisers on a suicidal attack to delay the invaders. The Imperial forces started landing near the City of Hope as the evacuation continued.

• Liu Zhipeng ordered maximum combat readiness, sent the fleet to engage, and began evacuating noncombatants under the Ark plan.
• Valerius ordered his ships to bombard Hope Star without offering surrender or warning.
• Twenty Ember-class cruisers charged through the barrage; fifteen reached the Imperial escort formation, where they rammed and attacked enemy ships before all were destroyed.
• The Gretchin attack destroyed two Imperial frigates and a destroyer, damaged other ships, disrupted the fleet, and bought the evacuation ten minutes.
• Valerius ordered landing forces to target the industrial core and command center, and Imperial transports, attack aircraft, and Iron Fist Space Marine Drop Pods descended toward the City of Hope.

The Imperium launched a three-pronged assault on the City of Hope, only to meet a massive Gretchin counterattack that turned the battle into a bloody war of attrition. Aboard the Silver Damnation, Valerius realized the Gretchin army was learning from the fighting and growing stronger as its recruits became veterans.

• Iron Fist Space Marines, the 88th Cadian Regiment, and the Sisters of Battle attacked the City of Hope from separate fronts, initially overwhelming its scattered defenders.
• Gretchin commanders unleashed a massive Katyusha Squig rocket barrage on the Cadians, then sent more than thirty thousand Vanguard mechs against the Imperial landing forces.
• Liu Zhipeng directed four Liberator Gundams to strike the Sisters of Battle, with Red Comet leading the assault and White Devil targeting their heavy weapons and relic bearers.
• The Imperial forces fought fierce battles across the city as Gretchin numbers and concentrated fire inflicted mounting casualties.
• Valerius watched the casualty reports and tactical feeds reveal that the Gretchin were adapting their tactics and producing experienced veterans as the battle continued.

Valerius ordered Exterminatus on Hope Star, accidentally awakening a Necron tomb that turned on his fleet. Liu Zhipeng evacuated with the Gretchin and departed for another Ork planet, leaving Valerius trapped in battle.

• Valerius ordered his ground forces to evacuate and fired the Silver Damnation’s Lance batteries at Hope Star to destroy the planet.
• Liu Zhipeng recognized the Imperial withdrawal as a prelude to Exterminatus and ordered the Gretchin army to retreat to its ships.
• A Lance strike hit the forbidden zone and awakened the Necron tomb beneath Deep Shaft Number 7.
• The awakened tomb unleashed gauss beams that damaged the Imperial fleet and disintegrated the frigate Loyalty.
• Liu Zhipeng taunted Valerius over a transmission, then ordered the Gretchin fleet to enter the Warp and head for an Ork planet.
• Valerius remained amid red alarms as Necron forces encircled his fleet.

The T'au fleet struggled against Warlord Skal Skullsplitter's Orks as an unexpected Gretchin fleet emerged from the Warp. Liu Zhipeng's out-of-control ship saved the Steadfast Heart from a boarding craft by accidentally ramming it, leaving both sides stunned.

• Commander Suisxing and Qingliu assessed the T'au fleet's worsening battle against Skal Skullsplitter's forces and the threat to Jade VII.
• An Ork landing craft broke through toward the Steadfast Heart while the T'au Crisis battlesuit teams were pinned down.
• Liu Zhipeng's Gretchin fleet tumbled from a Warp fissure into the battle, and pilot Ghazghk could not stop the Lighthouse because its brake lever was jammed.
• The Lighthouse accidentally rammed and destroyed the Ork landing craft before it could board the Steadfast Heart.
• The Lighthouse scraped the Steadfast Heart's hull as it spun past, while Suisxing and Qingliu watched in astonishment.

Liu Zhipeng used the Gretchin ship’s collision with the T'au fleet to pose his crew as oppressed freedom fighters seeking the Greater Good. Diplomat Qingliu offered them refuge and support at Jade VII, while Commander Suisxing remained suspicious.

• Diplomat Qingliu hailed the Gretchin warship’s intervention as an answer to the Greater Good, though Commander Suisxing suspected the collision had been accidental and chaotic.
• Liu Zhipeng ordered a broadcast to the T'au fleet and presented his crew as Gretchin who had escaped Ork oppression to seek the Greater Good.
• Liu Zhipeng claimed that an excited young pilot had caused the collision, and Diplomat Qingliu welcomed the Gretchin as victims and seekers of truth.
• Commander Suisxing questioned whether the Gretchin’s polished story and organized voyage were credible, but Qingliu focused on their value as allies and laborers.
• Diplomat Qingliu offered the damaged Gretchin fleet repairs, supplies, and technical support at Jade VII’s orbital starport, and Liu Zhipeng accepted on behalf of his crew.

Liu Zhipeng and the Gretchin tricked the T'au Empire into supplying their fleet, then used the aid to strip, study, and modify T'au technology. The chapter left Liu inspecting Ghazghk’s grotesque conversion of a T'au Riptide into the Big Boss’s Justice Enforcer.

• Qingliu defended accepting the Gretchin fleet, while Suisxing conceded that it had strategic value.
• After communications with the T'au ended, Liu Zhipeng and the Gretchin celebrated their successful deception and prepared to receive supplies.
• Qingliu watched the T'au deliver parts, coolant, and repair drones to the Gretchin ships, while Suisxing worried about their disorderly behavior.
• The Gretchin stripped and modified their ship, and Ghazghk dismantled a T'au repair robot to study its technology.
• Liu visited the workshop, where Ghazghk showed him a heavily armed, red-and-yellow Riptide conversion called the Big Boss’s Justice Enforcer.

Liu Zhipeng prepared the Justice Enforcer and launched a propaganda campaign to recruit oppressed Gretchin from Skullkrak’s forces. The broadcast stirred hope among the Gretchin and provoked Skullkrak into ordering an attack, while the T’au watched the Orks mobilize.

• Liu Zhipeng praised Ghazghk for completing most of the Justice Enforcer and ordered preparations for an operation on Jade VII.
• Ghazghk’s Gospel Propagation Squad broadcast promises of food, beds, and freedom to Gretchin in the Ork positions.
• The propaganda gave some Gretchin hope and prompted them to consider escaping toward the T’au forces.
• Skullkrak noticed his Gretchin acting differently and ordered his forces to attack the Gretchin and T’au.
• Qingliu praised Liu Zhipeng’s strategy as Ork forces grew agitated, while Commander Suisxing watched the tactical map with concern.

Liu Zhipeng rallied the Gretchin to attack the Orks' flank as the T'au defensive line struggled against the overwhelming Waaagh!-fueled assault. The chapter ended with Liu ordering Sharpfang to wait for his signal and fight in deliberate chaos.

• Qingliu and Starshatter put the T'au forces on combat readiness and asked Liu Zhipeng to launch a flanking attack.
• Liu Zhipeng rallied the Gretchin fleet with promises of freedom, roast meat, and dental insurance, then sent its troops into battle.
• The Orks surged against the T'au defenses, and Starshatter issued orders as the line began to buckle under their numbers.
• Qingliu worried about the weakening flank while Starshatter watched the Gretchin forces approach the Ork main force.
• Liu Zhipeng urged his commanders to make the attack look chaotic and ordered Sharpfang to hold his infantry until the signal.

Liu Zhipeng ordered millions of Katyusha Squigs to blanket the Orks’ flank with indiscriminate rocket fire. The barrage annihilated the flanking force, leaving the survivors stunned amid a wasteland of craters and wreckage.

• Liu Zhipeng ordered Ghazghk to launch indiscriminate saturation fire at the enemy flank.
• Ghazghk relayed the order, and millions of Gretchin Gunners fired their Katyusha Squigs at once.
• Commander Suisxing and Diplomat Qingliu watched the chaotic rocket barrage overwhelm the Tau’s battle systems.
• The rockets flattened hills and destroyed the Ork flanking force, including its Warboss and command vehicle.
• The bombardment ended, leaving scorched earth, burning wreckage, and stunned surviving Orks.