Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 785

Chapter 780, Bloodthirsty Shark

Alliance’s Space Marine training mechanism is quite clear.

The core is the ‘Space Marine Training Base,’ also known as the New Blood Base.

The New Blood Base selects young men from across the Alliance for training. The base’s location is fluid and varies from one cohort to another, but

the training period generally lasts about a year.

This process is essentially a screening and training exercise conducted by Gu Hang using his Grace Points.

Completed Space Marines undergo different gene-seed implants based on their personality, talents, and preferences—actually, there are only four options. The most talented go to the Phoenix and Yellow Springs Gulls; the most explosive go to the Blood Sharks; the calmest go to the Dragon King’s Spear; and the rest receive the ‘lesser infinite gene-seed’ and go to the Fury Flame and New World Torch. All new recruits

for the four regiments most under the Alliance’s control—the Phoenix, Yellow Springs Gulls, New World Torch, and Fury Flame—come exclusively from the New Blood Base.

The Blood Sharks and Dragon King’s Spear are slightly different. They all have their own homeworlds, and while they fall under the jurisdiction of the Alliance, the Alliance respects their Chapter traditions. If they wish to recruit locally, they are welcome to do so.

They have also attempted to recruit on their own, with no restrictions or obstacles imposed by the Alliance.

However, they soon gave up.

Humans are prone to inertia, and the Emperor’s Angels are no exception.

Recruiting on their own is not only time-consuming and costly, but the success rate is also uncertain. Even if a few are successful, their quality is often mediocre.

In the past, the low quality of new recruits was to be expected. Otherwise, expecting freshly minted Space Marines to possess the fighting prowess of veterans was unrealistic. Even the most demanding of Chapters requires time for growth.

However, since accepting new recruits from the Alliance, this “primitive” recruiting method has become unbearable.

The new recruits provided by the Alliance have a high success rate, exceeding 95%; their quality is high, practically plug-and-play, and even those without veterans are nearly as skilled. The probability of producing elite recruits is also high, and those with exceptional skill quickly rise to become the backbone of the Chapter.

After enjoying such perks, who could resist the effort of recruiting new members themselves?

Previously, the conservative factions within the Dragon King’s Spear and Blood Sharks could still voice their opinions, urging the chapters to reduce the percentage of new Alliance members they accepted. But as the concentration of Alliance members within the chapters grew, now exceeding 40% of them, the chapters’ complete coalitionization became unstoppable.

Within these two chapters, the path for Alliance members to rise was opened.

Xie Hong was a prominent figure among them.

He was one of the earliest Alliance members to join the Blood Sharks, having participated in the final stages of the Ironclad War and quickly distinguished himself.

However, the conservative faction within the Blood Sharks was still quite prominent at the beginning. Xie Hong’s career within the chapter was not smooth. Despite his impressive record and his cold yet fierce leadership, which perfectly suited the Blood Sharks’ character, he simply couldn’t rise higher. After a while, he was just an ordinary non-commissioned officer, with only ten men under his command.

It wasn’t until the ceiling within the Blood Sharks was lifted that he soared to the top, becoming the Captain of the 9th Company.

His company comprised a staggering 90% of Alliance personnel.

This mission to Wuji Star was his first as a Captain, and he was determined to deliver a decisive and effective blow.

Leading seventy warriors by vehicle, they arrived at the nearest position. The driver opened fire, sweeping the nearby enemies. Everyone quickly dismounted and rushed towards the nearest enemy.

Boltguns roared, instantly wiping out the enemies in sight.

Then, they ran head-on into a mixed group of Space Marines.

The two sides, roughly equal in number, met head-on unexpectedly.

After a brief exchange of gunfire, the two sides descended into close combat.

Drawing their power axes, chainsaw axes, Mjolnir, and other ferocious melee weapons, the Blood Sharks engaged in a silent and ruthless slaughter.

Xie Hong personally took the front lines, his jetpack swiftly propelling him into the enemy ranks. Most of the incoming bolts missed, but the most dangerous was a plasma rifle blast. He spotted the shooter and, in the nick of time, ducked his head before he could pull the trigger, dodging the fatal shot. “

If you didn’t kill me, then you’ll die!”

He raised his hand and fired a well-aimed bolt, colliding with the man’s hand and destroying the plasma rifle—a direct hit might not have been fatal.

Bolts were incredibly powerful, capable of leaving even a limb intact on a normal person; using armor-piercing rounds, they could even destroy some light vehicles. However, in the Space Marine Civil War, bolter firepower wasn’t enough to guarantee a kill unless the barrage of bullets overwhelmed armor.

Xie Hong, charging at breakneck speed, had no need for a bolter.

Once inside the enemy ranks, he could use the enemy’s bodies for cover.

He himself, dual-wielding a finely crafted chainsaw axe and a power sword, was practically unrivaled among the hordes of enemies.

No one could stand up to him. He seemed unyielding, yet his ferocious strikes were always one step ahead of the enemy.

If he killed his enemy first, wouldn’t he no longer have to dodge his blades?

It seemed reckless, but in reality, the more raging his rage, the colder his judgment became.

He had only just slain his seventh foe when he encountered a challenge.

By then, the field was largely empty. The Blood Sharks excelled at sudden, abrupt attacks. Their cold, brutal assaults decimated their opponents in a matter of seconds.

The primary reason was that their opponents were ill-prepared for such a grueling challenge, let alone the easy acceptance of a Blood Shark’s head-on melee.

Any other warband, faced with similar numbers, would have struggled to withstand the Blood Sharks’ relentless assault.

Including those start-up groups, they are not much better.

Even a slightly weaker force would have been overwhelmed by twice the number.

This group was exactly like that.

The last person standing in front of Xie Hong was apparently the champion captain of a certain regiment. Knowing the situation was irreversible, he, filled with despair and rage, drew his sword and attacked Xie Hong, the clearly strongest fighter.

Even at the point of death, even if it meant a one-for-one trade, he would slay him before his death.

But at this moment, Xie Hong reversed his previous ferocious attitude and fought more conservatively.

After a few blows, the champion captain suddenly felt a pain in his waist.

It was a well-aimed sniper bolt, hitting the armor at his waist.

It didn’t penetrate, but the pain was unbearable.

He feared that Xie Hong would take advantage of this moment to charge, which would be truly difficult.

Instead, he saw his formidable opponent retreat several steps.

His despair only deepened—at this moment, at least thirty bolters were trained on him, interspersed with several plasma blasts. He

instinctively danced with his sword, attempting to block the bullets. But without anyone to share his cover, and without cover, no matter how skilled his swordsmanship was, he couldn’t remain intact under the barrage of over thirty Space Marines.

He could only endure the relentless wounds and try to find another opponent to save his life.

But his attempt was ultimately thwarted by a burst of molta-blasts from the side.

Only then did Xie Hong take a few steps forward, confirming his target’s death, and coldly gave the order over the chat to continue advancing.

Why fight a single fight when you can gang up on them and blast them like a hornet’s nest?

In this battle, over sixty enemy Space Marines were killed, while eleven of his own men were killed.

It was an absurd exchange ratio.

But the subsequent battles were much more challenging.

The Space Marines were still strong, their reactions were incredibly quick.

The reputation of the Blood Sharks had also been established during the Ironclad War, and it was well known that these bloodthirsty sharks were very difficult to deal with.

The remaining one hundred or so Space Marines quickly built fortifications around the buildings within the Wuji Palace, bringing in heavy firepower and employing a flexible defense. With the support of the elite auxiliary troops, they set up a thorough crossfire, resolutely refusing to engage the Blood Sharks in close combat.

If the Blood Sharks approached, they would decisively assign the elite Sun Guards to cover their retreat while they retreated with the main force to the next defensive node.

Through this method, layer upon layer of resistance, Xie Hong’s advance was finally halted.

In the ensuing battle, they killed approximately twenty more enemy Space Marines, not counting the casualties suffered by Yinbarshim’s elite guards. But the Blood Sharks also suffered twelve casualties.

This casualty ratio was not as extreme as before.

If he had forced a full-scale attack, he would probably have fewer than fifty men left. Even if they were all wiped out, he could still win.

But a lopsided victory was clearly not the outcome he desired.

He could only suppress his restlessness and wait for reinforcements.

He was not truly fighting alone.

This wait led to the arrival of Marchand.

Despite a brief verbal spat between the two, when it came down to business, the two old classmates knew each other’s capabilities.

During the training at the new blood base, although Xie Hong was very outstanding back then, in fact, in terms of overall performance, he was not as good as Marchand.

Generally speaking, the best batch of new blood will go to Phoenix and Huang Quanou. Among them, Marchand was able to be promoted to company commander so quickly, which shows his level.

With a sigh, let’s see how Marchand fights this battle.

But this does not mean that Blood Shark will be out.

His fifty people are still the sharpest knife. When the opportunity is created, they will be able to give the enemy the most fatal blow.

Wait a moment, Huang Quanou’s one hundred soldiers have lined up and launched an attack…

————

I have a ticket to go back to my hometown tomorrow. After I go back, I may not have a computer to use for typing every day, so I can only find a way to find time to write.

The subsequent updates may be a little unstable… Please forgive me~

It will be normal after I come back from the Spring Festival holiday.

(End of this chapter)