Chapter 110: The Wild Wolf Who Sneaked Aboard the Ship

Wang Ming returned to the *Imperial Truth*—but when he arrived, Wang Xiaofa brought him a huge surprise.

“So, who exactly are you?” Wang Ming asked, looking at the figure before him: an interstellar warrior of the *Wolf’s Fang* Battle Company, disarmed and stripped of his power armor by Wang Xiaofa, alongside a Fenrisian Thunderwolf tightly bound in chains.

“Greetings, Gene-Primarch. I am Cassatos, a battle-brother of the *Wolf’s Fang* First Company. It is an honor to meet you,” Cassatos replied, lying on the floor, bound like a wrapped parcel.

“Why are you sneaking onto the *Imperial Truth*?” Wang Ming asked, staring at Cassatos and the Fenrisian Thunderwolf. It was strange—Minerva hadn't detected them until a recent internal ship scan. At the time of discovery, Cassatos was hoarding a crate of Quartis wine in the mess hall’s logistics room, showing off, while the Thunderwolf happily gnawed on a large slab of gork meat.

“I was simply drawn by the great aura of your genetic primarch and yearned to follow you,” Cassatos said sincerely, writhing slightly against his iron chains. The Thunderwolf wagged its massive tail like a propeller, as if echoing Cassatos’s words.

“Do you really expect me to believe that?” Wang Ming and the surrounding travelers looked at Cassatos as if he were a fool.

“Heh heh heh...” Cassatos chuckled awkwardly under their gaze.

“Not so easy to fool, huh...” he muttered softly. That single phrase caught everyone’s attention—it was spoken in Chinese.

“Court Jade Liquor,” Wang Ming took off his translator and cautiously spoke to Cassatos in Chinese.

“181 per glass,” Cassatos replied instantly, almost reflexively.

“Whoa?” Cassatos only then realized the significance of Wang Ming’s words.

“You too...?” Cassatos’s voice trembled as he looked at Wang Ming.

“We all are,” Wang Ming said, glancing at the other travelers and waving for Wang Xiaofa to unlock Cassatos and the Thunderwolf. After witnessing the exchange, the travelers dispersed, leaving Cassatos ignored as they went about their own affairs.

Aidwei stared dumbfounded at the departing travelers. Weren’t they all nervous just moments ago? How did a few words suddenly make them act as if nothing had happened?

Freed, Cassatos and the Fenrisian Thunderwolf rose to their feet. The wolf shook its fur, while Cassatos’s eyes brimmed with tears—after so many years, he had finally found a compatriot. It was no small thing.

“How did you come through?” Wang Ming asked, handing Cassatos a bottle of “Happy” soda from the shop as he listened.

“Ah, eighty years ago, on a rainy day, I was walking when some scoundrel stole the sewer grate. I stepped in and fell straight into the sewer. I thought I was done for, but after a choking moment, I landed in the frozen wilderness of Fenris. If I hadn’t fallen right outside the gates of Fang Keep, I’d have frozen to death,” Cassatos recounted, popping the soda open.

After arriving on Fenris, he was found by the Space Wolves before turning into an ice sculpture. The Rune Priest foresaw great things for him, and Cassatos was sent to Russ’ training grounds. After enduring brutal training—where human brains were metaphorically beaten down to dog-like toughness—he caught someone’s eye and was brought to the Gate of Morkai.

Inside the Gate, Cassatos faced trials and encountered a beautiful maiden who beckoned him to join the temptations of the Ruinous Powers. But he struck her down with his axe instead. The ordeal was harsh, to say the least—his mind was battered into a dogged state.

Emerging from the Gate, he drank the Wolf’s Spiral, undergoing the physical transformation it wrought, before being tested in Fenris’s icy wilds. During this time, he survived countless battles and even adopted a Fenrisian Thunderwolf pup as emergency rations—though he never ate the creature. Together, they returned to Fang Keep, where Cassatos completed his Astartes surgeries and studied under the Crown of Knowledge, becoming a fresh recruit of the Space Huskies.

Originally intending to join the mother chapter of the Space Wolves, fate led him to the *Wolf’s Fang* Battle Company, where he fought strange creatures scattered among the stars. The Thunderwolf pup remained his companion on these journeys.

Wang Ming listened intently, then approached the Thunderwolf and stroked its head. The creature made no move to attack, allowing the gesture.

“Why did you sneak onto the *Imperial Truth*?” Wang Ming asked Cassatos while petting the wolf.

“When I saw your group, something was off. The original texts don’t mention a Twenty-First Legion or a primarch like you. So I quietly boarded your ship to investigate your legion,” Cassatos admitted, scratching his silver hair as strands floated around him.

“Uh... alright. What was your name before crossing over? Cassatos can’t be your real name. Also, brother, you’re losing some hair,” Wang Ming said, fanning the falling strands from his face and looking at him seriously.

“My name’s An Hong. Before crossing, I was a veteran soldier. Cassatos is the name the battle company gave me,” he replied, taking a sip of his “Happy” soda.

“A veteran? From which branch?” Wang Ming’s excitement grew—finally, a genuine soldier among the travelers.

“The Army Special Forces,” Cassatos said, downing the soda.

“Army Special Forces?” Wang Ming was even more thrilled. This was a treasure. Knowing Cassatos’s background, Wang Ming immediately planned the perfect role for him: instructor. He would train the travelers in real military tactics.

Cassatos noticed the growing intensity in Wang Ming’s gaze and felt a chill run down his spine.

“Uh... brother, what’s your name?” Cassatos hastily changed the subject, sensing the atmosphere was turning strange. The primarch’s grin was stretching too wide.

“I’m Wang Ming,” came the reply.

Brought back to reality by Cassatos’s question, Wang Ming had already begun considering the myriad ways to utilize Cassatos’s talents.

Eventually, Cassatos joined the *Stellar Travelers*. Since he had informed his battle company commander of his plans before sneaking aboard the *Imperial Truth*, there was no worry about his disappearance.

Once onboard, Wang Ming hurriedly assigned him duties. Such talent had to be put to good use.

On the way back to Barteco II, Wang Ming arranged a series of lessons for Cassatos. To accommodate these classes, the travelers converted several warehouses into classrooms.

The Astartes possessed exceptional learning and memory abilities. After a few sessions and practical drills, the travelers grasped the fundamentals.

Wang Ming studied alongside them—primarchs learned even faster.

Despite their quick progress, teaching six thousand travelers was a massive undertaking. Cassatos taught the first company, then the second, then the third—taking a full month to complete the instruction.

During this time, Cassatos forged a deep friendship with Hu Jin. Both favored a brutal combat style: Hu Jin wielded dual power swords, while Cassatos combined a chainsword and power sword—the chainsword issued by his company, the power sword taken from a Tyranid warrior fifty years ago on a savage world.

To kill the Tyranid warrior, Cassatos set numerous cunning traps and mines around the battlefield. He knew fighting a Tyranid blessed by the Hive Mind would be perilous, possibly fatal.

So he used his old skills to deliver a cunning strike. As the Tyranid charged, it fell into Cassatos’s trap and triggered the mines, suffering grievous wounds.

Thanks to the Tyranid’s blessing, it survived the explosion but was nearly incapacitated. Cassatos finished it off and claimed its power sword.

To safely wield the blade, Cassatos had several purification rites performed by the Imperial Ecclesiarchy.

Back in the present, Hu Jin and Cassatos were drinking outside the city of Nel on the lush green prairies. Apart from the first engineer company, the other travelers were quiet these days. So Wang Ming gave them leave, and they came to enjoy some “small drinks.”

They brought Quartis wine from the *Imperial Truth*, but mostly Fenrisian wolf spirits, which Cassatos preferred for their flavor.

They even traded a gork carcass with locals for some homemade fruit wine. The locals were so generous they almost gave it to them outright, but Hu Jin and Cassatos insisted on a trade.

As they sipped Fenrisian wolf spirits, they watched Feng Fan chase Anton with an electric prod on the grass nearby, occasionally tossing bits of gork meat into his mouth.

A gust of wind swept over the prairie, rolling the green grass like waves across a verdant sea—a breathtaking, dreamlike scene.

The only flaw was the Astartes chasing a recruit, the latter’s screams from the prod carried by the wind to the two drinkers, who exchanged a knowing smile at the comical sight.

Behind them, Cassatos’s Fenrisian Thunderwolf lay on the soft grass, gnawing on half a gork carcass. Nearby, Feng Fan’s battle bike rested quietly.

Suddenly, the Thunderwolf lifted its head, spotted Feng Fan and Anton not far off, and excitedly dropped the meat to run toward them.

The sudden charge startled the two, who broke into a sprint. The armored wolf was as large as an armored vehicle.

Feng Fan had been training Anton for a month, unaware of Cassatos’s arrival or that Hu Jin had come without notice. He thought the wolf was just some local Barteco II beast.

Feng Fan carried only the prod—no weapons—during training. Naturally, he wouldn’t dare fight the Thunderwolf—not because of fear, but because if he fell, Anton wouldn’t escape the beast.

Thinking quickly, Feng Fan dashed to Anton, hoisted him onto his shoulder, and ran at full speed toward his battle bike, the only place with a grenade launcher.

The tale of Barteco II was finally drawing to a close. Next would come the story of the savage world of Gobe—and that promised even more lively adventures.