77: Chapter 77 Return
The eerie silence lasted only half a second before being shattered by the attack command of the Noble Private Soldiers.
The Noble Private Soldiers launched their attack once again.
Wade reacted instantly, grabbing Ron beside him and pushing him behind cover.
"Colonel, why did they launch an attack? Aren't they afraid we'll kill the hostages?" Ron asked, confused.
There is nothing new under the sun, and Wade understood perfectly: "Heh, these people are hoping that the hostages in our hands all die so they can climb the ranks."
"But they are their own family, how could they..."
Wade looked at the young man beside him and said, accustomed to such things, "You are still too young; you don't understand the temptation of power."
As he spoke, he picked up the Bolter from the ground and reloaded the last magazine.
"If only there were more hellguns and Powered Armor, we wouldn't have to be so passive," Wade sighed inwardly.
He knew very well that the batch of weapons the Governor brought back was simply too small in quantity; on average, each squad could only have one hellgun, and there were simply too many places for them to defend.
The key to this operation would always be space.
Gunfire erupted once again.
Wade led his hundred or so men, huddled behind the Leman Russ Tank, which was itself hidden behind sandbag bunkers, all of them ducking and peeking out to shoot—a veritable "cowardly version of Mount Manly."
Wade never thought that the tactic he had most despised back at military academy would now be his last straw.
The Noble Private Soldiers were numerous, charging in wave after wave; the bunkers were riddled with holes by laser beams, and sand poured out of the sandbags.
Soon, soldiers rushed up carrying rocket launchers, aiming at the Leman Russ Tank acting as cover.
Boom!
The rocket hit the side of the tank, causing the armor plating to cave in as thick smoke billowed out.
"Tank damaged! Main gun disabled!" the soldier operating the tank roared his report.
Wade's eyelid twitched; just as he was about to order a retreat, another rocket followed, blasting straight through the tank's turret.
"Abandon vehicle! Abandon vehicle, quickly!"
The soldiers quickly withdrew, and just as they hid behind new cover, they saw several chimera personnel carrier vehicles of the Noble Private Soldiers rushing towards them from the distance.
One, two...
The tanks on Wade's side were destroyed one after another, and the defensive line was torn open with gap after gap.
Soldier casualties were mounting, and ammunition was completely running out.
The last Leman Russ Tank was hit by a melta cannon; under the secondary explosion, the turret was blown off, and flames soared into the sky.
Wade leaned against the wreckage of the scrapped tank, emptied his last magazine, tossed the empty gun aside, and drew the laspistol from his waist.
He knew that this thing couldn't penetrate tank armor; it was purely futile.
The enemy's chimera personnel carrier slowly lowered its gun barrel, and Wade raised his laspistol to fire.
One shot, two shots, three shots.
The crimson laser struck the armor surface, like a small water gun spraying on a steel plate, with no reaction at all.
Seeing this, the Noble Private Soldiers stopped firing one after another, looking at him mockingly.
"What an idiot! Attacking a tank with a pistol?"
"Wait for death!"
Wade did not stop, still firing shot after shot.
He was the Governor's deputy, the backbone of these soldiers; even if he only had his last breath left, he could not retreat.
Just at this moment, his hand pulling the trigger paused...
Boom!
With a loud explosion, the chimera personnel carrier was actually blown up!
"Has the Emperor manifested?" Just as this thought occurred to Wade, a black shadow sped across the sky, the roar of its engines making people's eardrums ache.
It was a massive transport craft!
The twin-linked heavy Bolters on both sides of the craft roared, and dense volleys of Bolters swept across, instantly tearing the Noble Private Soldiers charging in front into shreds.
Blood mist splattered everywhere, sprinkling onto the marble floor and mixing with the previous bloodstains, a shocking sight.
Wade abruptly looked up, staring fixedly at the stormbird.
The craft hovered over the banquet hall, the cabin door opened, and a familiar black Powered Armor figure stood at the edge of the door, the Hive City emblem on the shoulder pad clearly visible.
The next second, that figure leaped down.
The thrusters on its back spewed light blue flames, and after cushioning in mid-air, it landed steadily, the marble floor beneath its feet cracking with fine fissures.
"It's the Governor!" Wade shouted involuntarily, his tense nerves instantly relaxing, his eyes turning red.
Fu Haoran! He had returned!
Following Fu Haoran's leap, more soldiers jumped down right after, holding a Chainsword in one hand and a hellgun in the other, launching a charge towards the Noble Private Soldiers.
The unprepared Noble Private Soldiers were caught off guard, their charging formation instantly collapsing, and some turned and ran.
Fu Haoran held a storm shield in one hand and a heavy Bolter rifle in the other, the deflection field on his body glowing with a light blue halo; facing the fire of the Noble Private Soldiers, he alone ventured deep into the enemy ranks, pacing leisurely as he performed precision kills.
Occasionally, he would slap off an enemy's head with his shield.
The stormbird was still circling overhead, the bullets from its twin-linked heavy Bolters sweeping towards the ground like a rainstorm; wherever it passed, the chimera personnel carrier vehicles were blown up one by one, flames soaring into the sky, and the heavy firepower of the Noble Private Soldiers was instantly wiped out.
Someone in the crowd shouted: "It's the Astartes! The Emperor's angels have arrived! Run!"
This sentence was like a thunderbolt, and the Noble Private Soldiers who were still resisting instantly collapsed.
For most people, they had never seen a Space Marine, but they had all heard of the deeds of the Emperor's angels.
They knew that these were a group of demigods walking in the world, the embodiment of the Emperor's will.
Most importantly, they were wearing heavy Powered Armor.
And it just so happened that the people before them met the conditions of the rumors.
Since the Emperor's death angels were here, could the Imperial fleet be far behind?!
Does this count as treason for us?!
The ordinary soldiers dared not think any further; they just wanted to escape from here.
Soon, the Noble Private Soldiers were in a rout, many wishing they could grow two more legs.
Fu Haoran did not pursue, but came to Wade: "How is it?"
Wade's tense nerves instantly relaxed, revealing a bitter smile of having survived a disaster: "Not bad, didn't embarrass you, managed to hold it."
Wade leaned against the tank wreckage, slid down, gasping for breath, and pulled out a smile uglier than crying: "If you had come five minutes later, you would only be able to collect my corpse."
Fu Haoran was just about to help him up when Wade suddenly grabbed his arm with surprising strength.
"The Honeycomb Building..." he panted, "the people inside... are surrounded."
In the view, the light blue Void Shield of the Honeycomb Building was still shining, the ceramite shutters were tightly sealed, the firepower inside the building was still continuing, and the Noble Private Soldiers were blocked outside, unable to get close at all.
"Rest assured, the building is fine; you rest here, and I will take men to rescue them."
Fu Haoran boarded the stormbird again, but rescue requests poured into his helmet one after another, and Fu Haoran frowned.
East District in emergency, South District in emergency, North District in emergency.
"Are these nobles not waiting for the results of the space battle?"
Fu Haoran also knew that as long as his cobra-class destroyer appeared, all problems could be solved easily.
The problem was that the destroyer couldn't return for a while; they had returned early by taking the much faster stormbird.
Turning off the communication, Fu Haoran looked out the window.
The night sky of the Hive City was illuminated red by the flames of war, with the light of explosions everywhere.
"I only brought back 50-plus people; I can't reinforce every place in time... but I can let everyone know that I have returned."