Chapter 118: Renovating Dormitory Number and Tracking the Plague Warrior

Two knights aimed their crude firearms at the Plague Marine blessed by the powers of Chaos and pulled their triggers simultaneously.

"Bang!"

The two guns fired at almost the same time. The bullets exited the barrels and struck the helmetless Plague Marine in the head, though they caused no damage.

However, the purpose of drawing attention was achieved. All three Plague Marines turned their heads toward the ramparts. The one that had been struck quickly raised its bolter and fired a burst at the two individuals on the wall.

"Bang! Bang!"

Only two shots were fired. The two men on the wall were instantly hit by the bolts, leaving nothing but scattered remains. Yet, the heroic act of these mortals had created an opportunity for the transmigrator.

The transmigrator rushed rapidly toward the nearest Plague Marine, which was wielding a chain-scythe. Using his remaining arm, he swung his power sword with all his might, severing the Plague Marine in two from behind.

He then charged toward another Plague Marine with the greatest speed he could muster. The Belisarian Furnace within his body had activated, pushing his physical capabilities to their absolute limit.

The transmigrator reached the Plague Marine in a flash and slashed at it. The Plague Marine saw the blade coming and held its bolter horizontally across its body, directly facing the transmigrator. It knew it could neither block nor dodge the strike, so it chose not to try; it intended to use the bolter to kill the transmigrator point-blank.

However, this Plague Marine underestimated the speed of a Primaris Astartes. Before it could even pull the trigger, the transmigrator’s power sword sliced directly through its body. In its bewildered gaze, the upper half of its torso slowly slid to the ground.

"One more left."

The transmigrator turned his gaze to the final Plague Marine, but what he saw filled him with absolute despair: the muzzle of a bolter. Just as he caught sight of the barrel, the weapon fired.

Bolter rounds slammed into the transmigrator’s body, shattering the few remaining fragments of his power armor. The adamantine penetrators tore into his flesh and bone, and as the shells detonated, his flesh was turned into vapor.

"Damn it, I've reached my limit!"

The transmigrator thought this the moment he was hit. Then, as a bolt entered his skull, he lost consciousness entirely. When he awoke again, he had respawned at the transmigrators' encampment.

"Quick, give me a bike! Or any vehicle! It’s urgent!"

After respawning, he dashed straight to the quartermaster's office and shouted at the transmigrator in charge.

The quartermaster saw his anxious expression and quickly found him a motorcycle. Upon receiving it, the transmigrator hopped on and sped toward the fortress, twisting the throttle to its absolute limit, almost to the point of snapping it.

"Faster! Go faster! By the God-Emperor! By the Primarch! Wait, no, the boss isn't dead yet, and he can’t die anyway. Forget it, whatever, just go faster!"

He raced along, desperate to reach his destination. Although he already knew the outcome, he refused to believe it; he had to see it with his own eyes.

After ten minutes of riding, he had calmed down. His gaze was resolute; he had to kill that Plague Marine to avenge those civilians.

"Finally!"

The transmigrator arrived at the fortress gate. A Land Raider was already parked there; the other transmigrators had arrived ahead of him. He rushed into the fortress, running swiftly toward the location where he had died.

At the spot of his demise, five other transmigrators were already standing, silent as they looked into the room he had tried so desperately to protect.

"What’s wrong?" the transmigrator asked as he reached them.

"Qin Ji, you're here. See for yourself."

The transmigrators turned to see Qin Ji and stepped aside to let him pass. Qin Ji walked to the doorway and looked inside. The room was filled with disgusting, bloated, rotting corpses, both adults and children. Qin Ji spotted a small hand clutching a broken, miniature Space Marine figurine. It was a piece he had painted in his own likeness and given to a little girl during a clearing operation earlier.

Qin Ji stared at the bodies in silence. He watched for a long time, then picked up the tiny figurine and crushed it into dust in his palm.

"Where is that Plague Marine?" Qin Ji asked, his voice suppressing a surge of rage.

"We don't know. It was like this when we arrived. It probably fled. It also took one of our meltaguns. There is a swarm of Nurgle walkers attacking another fortress nearby; it might have gone there," a transmigrator replied after checking the shared battlefield terminal.

"Let’s go. We're going there to make it pay. Remember, don’t kill it. Capture it and bring it back so the boss can burn its very soul into nothingness!"

Qin Ji walked toward his bike at the gate, while the others headed for the Land Raider. They would make that Plague Marine pay the price.

At the 13th Regiment’s base, Ohm Garaladon stared at the Regiment’s "Dormitory," a Stormlord tank that had been modified beyond recognition. He felt completely numb. Xu Zheng and the 13th Regiment’s attached Tech-priest, 010 Omega, stood beside him, staring at the tank as well.

"This is nothing short of a sacrilege against the Omnissiah!" Ohm Garaladon said furiously to 010 Omega.

010 Omega nodded. Having been with the 13th Regiment for so long, he was already numb; he had grown accustomed to staring at this headache-inducing tank every day.

"I refuse to repair this vehicle," Ohm Garaladon told Xu Zheng, unable to bring himself to work on a machine that insulted the Omnissiah.

"Come on, you just need to handle the Machine Spirit; we’ll take care of the repairs. Besides, this Stormlord isn't as exaggerated as you say—it's just had a few external structures added. Let me check the interior, and if it’s feasible, we start today," Xu Zheng said, patting Ohm Garaladon on the shoulder. He took the blueprints and climbed inside to inspect the internal equipment and chassis. If there were no major issues, they could start today and finish by tomorrow night.

Ten minutes later, Xu Zheng climbed out of the "Dormitory," his face grim.

"I’ve checked the interior. My advice is to send it back to the factory to be melted down." He looked at Ohm Garaladon, holding the blueprints; he hadn't been able to find a single section that matched the original design.

Of course, sending it back to the factory was impossible. Xu Zheng spent a day mapping out the interior structure of the "Dormitory" and, with the transmigrators of the 1st Engineering Company, drafted a modification plan. Since it couldn't be restored to its original state, they would simply continue modifying it—it couldn't get any worse, anyway.

First, they dismantled the illegal structures on the Stormlord’s transport bay, then performed maintenance on all of its armor. Once the 13th Regiment personnel had cleared out their belongings, the demolition officially began.

The transmigrators of the 1st Engineering Company tore the three-story illegal structure into pieces, stacking them on the ground next to the "Dormitory."

After the demolition, the actual maintenance began—or rather, a complete refurbishment. Armor plates were carefully cut away and replaced with new ones.

Once the armor was renewed, the transmigrators removed all of the tank's armaments and replaced them with brand-new ones.

Internal equipment was swapped out, and every cable was neatly organized. Once the chassis was restored, the transmigrators thoughtfully added the illegal structure back onto the transport bay, though this time it was built to a higher standard, as if it had always been a part of the Stormlord. After refilling all weapon ammunition, the modification was officially complete.

"Finally finished."

Xu Zheng and the transmigrators looked at the refurbished Stormlord, feeling their mechanical repair skills improving. This project had been nothing more than a training exercise for the 1st Engineering Company.

If they truly needed to repair a Stormlord, it would have been easier to ask Wang Ming for a new one; this was entirely for the sake of practice.

"It looks brand new," Ohm Garaladon and 010 Omega praised Xu Zheng, looking at the "Dormitory."

"But, by the Omnissiah! Why did you put that illegal structure back on?" However, when they saw the refurbished "illegal" addition, they asked Xu Zheng in frustration again.

"Er... don't you think that structure is a new design? It’s not an illegal structure; it’s an enhanced transport module," Xu Zheng and the transmigrators replied.

Xu Zheng left the two Tech-priests speechless. 010 Omega was fine—he had been with the 13th Regiment long enough to get used to it, and he felt the Stormlord looked better than before. Ohm Garaladon, however, was a different story; as a traditional Martian born in the forge-clones, he still found the tank a massive headache.

When the Astra Militarum soldiers of the 13th Regiment saw the refurbished "Dormitory," they were thrilled and spent the night moving all their belongings back into it.

"Here they are, fifty transmigrators with psyker potential."

At the "Star-Transmigrator" base, Lauste and Lyle pulled up in Chimera transports, having "recruited" the personnel. They were ahead of schedule, having finished in just two days.

Wang Ming looked at the psykers tied up in the Chimera compartments and nodded at Lauste, then handed them over to Rozesbainis. Rozesbainis would use all his knowledge to train these transmigrators, who had been tricked into fighting, into qualified Librarians.

Wang Ming led Lauste and Lyle to the temporary supply warehouse and arranged for Jose to lead an Auxilia detachment to load the weapons and equipment onto transports for the 13th Regiment. The vehicles on the list were simply driven over. And so, a deal regarding forced... no, regarding recruitment, was concluded.

Now, let us turn our perspective to that squad of transmigrators seeking vengeance against the Plague Marine for the mortals.

They had arrived at the fortress besieged by Nurgle walkers, but the Plague Marine was not among them. After helping another squad clear the walkers, they continued their search.

On a stretch of wilderness, a motorcycle and a Land Raider sped along. They had been searching for two days, visiting fortress after fortress besieged by walkers, but apart from finding faint traces of the Plague Marine's presence, they had found no sign of the entity itself.

"Qin Ji, do you think we can find it? It’s been two days already." A transmigrator inside the Land Raider asked Qin Ji over the comms.

"As long as it hasn't returned to the Warp, we will find it! We will find it, and then we will crush it to death!" Qin Ji replied. He believed that as long as the Plague Marine hadn't retreated to the Warp, they could track it down; no matter where it was, they would catch it.

Just as he spoke, a melta beam erupted from a pile of rubble to the left of the Land Raider. It struck the vehicle's side, the searing heat instantly melting the armor and punching through the hull. The Land Raider was pierced through, and the three transmigrators inside were instantly vaporized.

It was too sudden, but the reflexes of the Primaris Astartes allowed them to act instantly. Qin Ji swerved his bike toward the source of the attack, while the two remaining transmigrators leaped out of the Land Raider and charged toward the rubble.

In the pile of rocks, a Plague Marine held a stolen meltagun. Seeing the transmigrators rushing toward it, it raised the weapon again, aiming not at Qin Ji on the bike—knowing the speed made him a difficult target—but at one of the transmigrators running toward it. It knew the stolen meltagun had only one shot left, so it chose to target someone it was sure to hit.

The Plague Marine pulled the trigger. The melta beam erupted, instantly vaporizing the transmigrator's upper body. After firing this final shot, the Plague Marine quickly discarded the meltagun, raised its bolter, and aimed at the other transmigrator running toward it.

The New Year is approaching. I wish all my brothers a Happy New Year in advance! ＼(◎o◎)／