Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 556

Chapter 554, Who can save?

Wang Mengsong, lying in the medical room, staring at the ceiling, remained silent as the pharmacist continued to work on his broken arm.

“Captain, the examination is over.” The pharmacist stood up and said, “Although your arm has been reattached, the injury still has some impact. It is estimated that your flexibility will decrease by 8% and your strength will decrease by 6%.”

Wang Mengsong was silent.

His left arm was broken and then reattached. Even with advanced technology and the powerful physical recovery ability of Space Marines, it would never be as good as the original configuration.

But what can be done?

Use it for now.

If it really doesn’t work, the worst that can happen is to learn from some chapters and completely convert his left arm into a mechanical prosthesis. The relevant surgery is also relatively mature.

He didn’t really care about the condition of his left hand.

At this moment, he was still thinking about the battle five days ago.

Although five days had passed, the sight of the Blood Shark hacking away at his battle-brothers, leaving a trail of blood and body parts, remained etched in his mind.

Even more striking was the sight of the Torchlight being reduced to a pile of space junk in space.

He witnessed that scene from the small craft evacuating the battle barge.

His heart ached.

After the engine center was destroyed, Wang Mengsong fully realized that while the ship didn’t disintegrate immediately, it was no longer viable in the combat conditions.

He was forced to make a painful decision: abandon ship and evacuate.

The Torchlight’s destruction was inevitable, and those aboard would do their best to avoid being buried with it.

Ordinary crew members were fine. The entire ship was originally stationed with four hundred New World Torch Marines, a full third of the entire Chapter.

Evacuate if possible.

Time was short, and the availability of vessels for evacuation was also limited. More crucially, the battle barge was a massive vessel, multi-layered and tens of kilometers long and wide, like a complex honeycomb. Previously, the New World Torch’s warriors had been locked in a desperate struggle with the Blood Sharks, but now they were immediately demanding an evacuation, which was no easy task.

But the Blood Sharks seemed to have no desire to continue.

Their mission accomplished, they too needed to withdraw.

With both sides losing interest in a bloody fight, while some desperate struggles persisted, the large-scale, substantive fighting was over.

The Blood Sharks’ arrival had been facilitated by a unique, lost-to-the-Imperial teleportation technology, and so was their evacuation.

The New World Torch, however, was forced to depart by ship.

Ultimately, of the four hundred New World Torch warriors, only one hundred and eighty-eight escaped their flagship—

less than half the total number.

Of the remaining half, most perished in the confrontation with the Blood Sharks, while a few, delayed by the battle, were unable to reach the evacuation vessels. They perished alongside the hundreds of thousands of crew members and auxiliary forces aboard the massive battle barge.

After verifying their identities on the escaping ship, Wang Mengsong led the survivors aboard the Triumphant Flame and met with Adler Paulitus.

The Chapter Master of the Fury Flame had no time to speak with him.

With the loss of the Torchlight, the battle situation had reached a critical juncture. Paulitus was busy issuing orders one by one, reviewing reports and documents, responding to and approving them.

The fleet retreated until they reunited with the warped Retribution-class battleship Spark Wings, temporarily repelling the Blood Sharks’ siege. They then initiated warp and evacuated.

At this moment, the Fury Flame fleet had just emerged from warp mode and entered the real universe.

After boarding the Triumphal Fire, Wang Mengsong only had a brief meeting with Paulitus, and before he even had time to communicate, he lay down in the medical room, where the regiment pharmacist treated his broken arm until today.

He’d been thinking about that battle until today.

It wasn’t just about the battle itself; it was about the future of the Chapter, leaving him with a sense of uncertainty.

Since relocating to the Arachnid System, the Chapter had thrived. Initially impoverished, after a century of development, the New World Torch was now quite capable, according to the rules of the Space Marine Codex. It had a full complement of warriors, even slightly exceeding two hundred. He didn’t see anything wrong with that. A Chapter typically maintained a reserve of two hundred to replenish losses from the regular corps. Wasn’t that normal?

The Chapter had all the necessary vehicles, a fully constructed fleet, and even completed the Torchlight, a full-fledged battle barge, twenty years earlier.

Their Chapter, with its relatively short history, was on the right track.

With a strong military, it was natural to strive for a longer-term future.

Between the Imperium and the Ironclad, he’d carefully chosen and sided with the Ironclad.

To this day, he hadn’t regretted it.

However, the Chapter had suffered heavy losses, and he didn’t know what the future held.

While Wang Mengsong was pondering, a Torch Warrior entered, a communicator in hand.

“Captain Paulitus,”

he nodded slightly, took the communicator, and held it to his ear.

“It’s me, Wang Mengsong.”

“Captain Wang Zhan, from now on, the New World Torch will more clearly follow my command. All units and personnel at all levels will obey my orders directly. Do you have any objections?”

Adler Paulitus didn’t exchange pleasantries, speaking directly and without hesitation.

Wang Mengsong was silent for a moment, then replied, “Okay, I have no objection.”

This was expected, and he couldn’t stop it.

The other party was already in charge of the southern front. Now that the New World Torch had suffered another disaster and the team was living on their flagship, what else could he say?

Moreover, considering the overall situation, now was not the time to fight. Under immense pressure, unity was inevitable.

As for whether Paulitus would use the New World Torch as cannon fodder… it was unlikely. If that really happened, he would not be powerless to resist.

He, the commander of the regiment, only had his hand broken and reattached, but he was not dead.

However, Paulitus on the opposite side seemed a little surprised by his straightforwardness, so he did not speak at the first time.

After a while, Paulitus said: “Then let’s do it this way, you take a rest first.”

“Wait a minute.” Wang Mengsong said, “What should we do next? The blood shark will chase us relentlessly and will not give up.”

Paulitus thought for a while and explained his plan to Wang Mengsong.

…

Gu Hang put down the latest battle report in his hand and said with a smile:

“Are they coming for us?”

“Obviously not. They are counting on the Alfonzo sect to save their lives.”

(End of this chapter)