The early morning of the swamp of Pai Shangxing jungle was filled with the stench of vegetation. Captain Patat was sitting in a convertible car and closed his eyes to rest.
He felt these scents constantly squeezing his nose, as if he would soon weaken his sense of smell.
The disheveled militia around them walked hard in the mud that spread into the heels.
Half a year has passed since the invasion of heresy, and people have gradually changed from the earliest despair to adapting.
On the one hand, because of Colonel Stryker's effective guerrilla tactics, the powerful Chaos Space Marines were unable to move forward in the jungle and swamp. The traps they deployed even killed some careless guys, causing the heretics to have some natural resistance to the trees.
On the other hand, the Black Legion has not made any big moves recently. It has sent a small number of Chaos Space Marines to cooperate with cultists and constantly tried to control the jungle and put pressure on the Olympus camp, but this strategy proved to be a complete failure.
Nearly 100,000 soldiers have gathered in the camp. Although most people lack training and equipment, humans will develop inexplicable confidence once they get together.
Some people have even begun to optimistically foresee the scene where the defeated heretic finally leaves in shame.
However, the supply and supplies required to support such a huge camp are not a small amount. Since floating barges are easily disturbed by factors such as weather and enemy aircraft, ground transportation is essential.
To this end, the 183rd Regiment of Katachang spent a huge cost in the jungle and swamp to open up several relatively safe paths, as the main supply lines for the Resistance Army camp, which are also called Stryker Trail.
Patat was the commander of one of the supply convoys, but they were not only responsible for material transportation, but also for inspection route safety. Therefore, it is not surprising that the entire transportation camp is equipped with several Chimera and semi-tracked armored vehicles.
Some people saw Patat's car driving, so they nodded and signaled to him, some people communicated briefly with him, and some people asked about the weather.
Patat did his best to answer the slightly uneasy soldiers.
Although he is not a rank officer, he still has the functions of propaganda and morale. Although he only needs to say some exaggerated words to fool things through, he feels that he has the responsibility to be open and honest with the soldiers.
In fact, contrary to what the soldiers expected, he knew very little about the weather conditions on the planet recently. Perhaps only the top leaders in the camp knew about it, but he himself did not know much about it.
Patat generally imitated the scene where Stryker inspired the soldiers he saw. Even in the most difficult moments, the hero said words about morale-boosting things such as courage and honor.
What he said to the officers impressed him even more.
"Save it for battle! Before fighting, encourage the soldiers and stimulate their morale, so that you can become the warrior who despise the war in their eyes."
Therefore, Patat not only knows the names of each person in the company, but even knows a little about the soldiers' preferences, and even tells jokes to make the soldiers happy.
Sometimes he would fantasize that once the war ended, he would become a formal officer, wearing a well-decorated uniform and a medal that would make his descendants glorify for generations. Before the war broke out, he was actually just a miner leader and security captain.
While the car was slowly moving along the muddy road, he was silently recording the faces of each soldier. Although this road was safe most of the time, it was not ruled out that cultists would occasionally lie in ambush.
Death is always with everyone, and there is no real safe place on this planet.
"The dead will always linger in your mind, so make sure that those lost souls were once their friends."
This is what Patatt's father often said to him in the past. In fact, the life of a miner is not much safer than that of a battlefield. At that time, he was already used to death.
Suddenly, the car stopped at a fork in the road, Patat woke up from his contemplation, secretly laughed at himself and immersed in his memory.
On the other side of the road, some soldiers were filling holes on the ground with wood found on the roadside. This is how the road in the jungle is, and there are rarely times when it is stable.
After about ten minutes of tossing, the team set off again.
They had been walking in the mud and bushes for nearly two hours, the armored vehicle tracks stirred the muddy mud, and the noise of the engine spread to the sky along the sick canopy.
But Patat felt something was wrong.
He has walked this road almost twenty or thirty times, but today it is a bit strange.
Quiet, too quiet.
"Sir——"
A voice of depression and fear came from the cabin in the driver's mouth. Patat looked up and immediately saw death.
In full view of everyone, some red figures were standing on the tree, looking down at the convoy passing by.
Their motionless figure made Patat shudder. When the convoy passed by these uninvited guests, Patat took a closer look before finding out the identities of these people.
They were almost two of them as tall as they were, with a terrifying figure, wearing black armor, with a sign of rust as red as blood. The helmets were decorated with curved brass horns, and were full of death marks.
These people are the demons who poisoned the Shangxing Star, Chaos Space Marine—
Patat glanced back, fear almost pumping his blood away, and then he clumsily turned on the radio.
"Warning, warning! There is an ambush on the right side!"
As he shouted at the headset, countless gears immediately collided violently.
Heavy machinery trembled, glided, and struggled in the mud, but they were too bulky to react quickly.
At this time, the Chaos Space Marines had already jumped down from the tree one by one and started charging.
A total of six giants rushed out of the woods.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
"Divine Emperor, open fire!"
Fear filled Patat's convoy, with heavy machine guns and small caliber artillery on the Chimera and the half-tracked carriage, but they were trapped in the narrow roads in the dense woods, with no room for turning around or maneuvering.
Moreover, the enemy's distance was too close, and the infantry could not unfold immediately, as it seemed that they were about to finish.
The terrifying alarm sounded endlessly in the convoy. Patat heard the sound of trees reaching the ground, and Abaddon's hounds surrounded him, and everyone's strengthened throat burst into an inhuman howl.
"Blood sacrifices to the blood god!!!"
The howling resounded throughout the road, almost causing the armor to tremble.
What they howled was the name of the bloody evil god they worshiped.
"Use weapons quickly!"
Patat ordered:
"Hurry up and use the car gun position!"
He said, turning the cannon mounted at the rear of the car and aimed the muzzle at the nearest Chaos Space Marine.
Killing had arrived, and he could feel the flames of the flamethrower burning into his ears, and he could hear the screams of some people when they were scorched by the flames.
The Chaos Space Marine, who was first discovered, rushed to a half-track car ahead, wielding a chainsaw axe, and cutting the armor of the armored vehicle like a tree cutting.
The collision in an instant produced countless Mars, and then the Mars was intertwined with flames, steel slags and minced meat.