The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Hayes had never realized that the difference between people could be so vast, almost like the difference between humans and aliens.

When their regiment was sent to the cold, desolate, and supposedly mobile asteroid, into the dark underground spaces within, Hayes felt as though they had offended some rodent deity, leading it to curse them to endlessly dig holes.

Even the shallowest parts of this asteroid's underground defense network were more than 2 kilometers from the surface. Such depth might not bring any sense of security, because Hayes had seen those incredibly magnificent warships when disembarking, their number exceeding the sum of all the naval battles he had experienced and witnessed over the years.

Undoubtedly, this would be an incredibly grand and tragic battle, and they could only stay deep underground in the asteroid, awaiting their fate, like tiny mice in a small hole on the deck of a ship in a storm.

If the ship sank, they would have no burial place.

Worse, they could do nothing about it.

Although the fate of the Imperial Guard soldiers was never in their own hands, Hayes still didn't like this feeling, especially when he had some aspirations for the future. Fortunately, the officers repeatedly emphasized that their location was very safe and there was no need to worry about bombing.

However, putting aside this uncertain fate, their days became much better after arriving at the asteroid called 'Doom Moon.' First, there was the food supply. Natural grains and vegetables, which had been absent for a long time, and even meat, appeared, which really comforted their stomachs. In addition, all their original equipment was replaced, from protective gear to clothing, socks, and shoes, all new. The weapons were the same. Even Hayes' machine gun squad became a heavy firepower support squad. The original 'lumberjack' guns were nowhere to be found. Habry now had to carry a huge heavy bolter, and the ammunition for the heavy bolter was three times heavier than the 'lumberjack' gun bullets. Winter couldn't carry it alone, so Hayes and others had to share some of the load.

Of course, there were also many funny incidents. In boxes of supplies, some boxes were filled with the most useless things Hayes could imagine: paper clips, mosquito nets, laxatives, shoelaces, etc. There was even a whole box of reproductive precautions. More embarrassingly, when he saw these things, Hashette asked him if he had ever used them before. Hayes had never even seen them, and only roughly knew their function from their appearance, how could he have used them?

Hashette shook his head at the time and said that Hayes might have already caused someone to get pregnant. Winter then foolishly asked what it meant to 'cause someone to get pregnant,' which made Hayes even more embarrassed.

After that, their regiment was assigned to an area called A-21-W-118-Z-008. Hayes heard that the entire underground defense was divided into three rings. Originally, there were five rings, but the Adeptus Mechanicus didn't have more time to dig. Their defense position was in a certain area of the second ring. The area consisted of 3 halls and 9 passages. Each of the three halls had an area of 10-20 square kilometers and a vertical height of over six meters, arranged in a triangular pattern. The outermost hall was connected to the friendly forces' defense lines. The two halls behind were their garrison and storage area, connected to the two defense lines further behind. The other hall was connected to the underground defense system's orbital facilities.

But correspondingly, the passages connecting the defense areas were very short, the shortest being less than 1.6 meters, and the highest generally not exceeding 2 meters. Moreover, the further inward, the narrower the passages became. It was said that some key passages even required Hayes to squat down to pass through.

Due to the rush of time, the Adeptus Mechanicus was unable to lay orbital transportation systems in all positions, so they could only build a transportation track around the second and third rings. These tracks connected the major defense areas, and huge electric rail trains could quickly transport support troops and weapons to the urgently needed defense positions.

Therefore, being in the second line, in addition to reinforcing their own positions, they also had to assist some regiments that had suffered heavy losses in previous battles and lacked replenishment. After all, it was relatively easy to replenish troops for regiments from the Eye of Terror. After arriving at Doom Moon, Hayes' regiment immediately replenished more than three thousand soldiers, and the entire regiment's strength returned to its peak of more than eight thousand men.

So Hayes and his comrades had only a few days of leisure before being sent to transport supplies for a unit, because the other side's position was around the power supply center of their entire defense area, so there was no track directly to it, and the nearest regiment needed to transport it for them.

Hayes thought it must be an elite unit at such an important position.

And it was indeed, according to Hashette, an elite unit, just not quite what Hayes had imagined.

In his memory, an elite should at least be like the Cadians or Mordians, solemn and disciplined, but he felt something was wrong as soon as he saw this unit, which is why he had the feeling that the difference between people was as great as that between humans and aliens.

Because that unit was called—

The 2nd Catachan Jungle Fighters!

They brought too much shock to Hayes. The first time he saw them, he thought he had entered some underhive shanty town. The residents were dirty and messy, everything was piled up randomly, there was no military discipline at all, and protective gear and weapons were piled casually on the ground or on crates, as if there was no management at all.

As for the soldiers, they were more like barbarians, each one frighteningly strong, with incomprehensible red bands tied around their heads, their arm muscles thicker than Hayes' thighs, often covered in tattoos, including beasts, demons, and all kinds of indecent female nudity. Hayes once suspected that there were no commissars or priests in this regiment at all.

Moreover, Hayes didn't like their eyes and attitude. They always seemed incredibly arrogant and domineering, their eyes always filled with mockery and aggression, and they completely unashamedly ridiculed Hayes and his comrades. Even when they painstakingly brought boxes of supplies to these barbaric bastards on trailers, they would even scare Hayes and his comrades with those terrifying giant blades, calling them 'meathead privates'—initially, they called Hayes and his comrades even filthier 'nipple privates,' but later they were cursed by an officer, so they changed to the more 'civilized' name.

As for that officer, well, Hayes initially thought he was a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus. After all, apart from those who worshiped machines, he had never seen someone so 'mechanized.' Basically, half of his body was metal and machinery. His name was 'Iron Hand' Stark, which didn't sound like a good guy to mess with. His voice was as loud as a starting Chimera.

But uncomfortable as it was, the work still had to be done. Those Catachan barbarians wouldn't help at all, except for playing with their blades or gathering together to boast. Hayes and his comrades could only unload the heavy boxes from the flatbed carts by themselves. After all, relying on those few servitors, they might not be able to finish in a few hours.