Warhammer, I really didn't intend to form a second empire!

The initial velocity of those explosives was close to two thousand meters per second, leaving several straight light trails in the air, and directly hitting the position ahead of the black figure's trajectory.

The Eldar assassin sensed the danger the moment the bullet left the barrel. Its body tilted sharply to the side at an angle that defied human biomechanics, and the anti-gravity unit on the sole of its shoe scraped a trail of sparks on the ground.

The first bomb grazed over its shoulder armor, the second flew past its hip, but the third struck its left calf directly.

The delayed fuse was triggered the instant the bomb entered the body, and the micro-explosive inside exploded inside its shinbone, blasting the slender leg from the knee down into a mixture of blood mist and armor fragments.

It lost its balance almost as fast as it moved, rolling seven or eight times on the ground, the sound of its armor scraping against the gravel sharp and piercing.

Xiang Ji didn't look at the outcome; his target-locking system had already begun to capture the next signal.

Meanwhile, the raider squad had completed its tactical coverage.

Twenty four-meter-tall Marauder armored vehicles were arranged in a fan shape 400 meters in front of the landing area, with their shoulder-mounted triple-launcher miniature missile pods already loaded with ammunition.

The raider squad was led by a descendant of Meng Tian, ​​whose gaze was fixed on the rapidly approaching cluster of heat signals ahead.

"Anti-aircraft missiles, ten rounds in rapid succession, covering a fan-shaped area, the trajectory correction first deviates two degrees to the left."

The servo motors beneath the launch pod emitted a low buzzing sound, and the moment the bomb bay hatch popped open, each Marauder simultaneously launched nine micro-missiles.

The missiles climbed to a height of 200 meters, leaving gray trails of smoke. Then, the inertial navigation system of the warhead switched to terminal guidance mode, and the missile adjusted its attitude in the air before plunging into the ground at a near-vertical angle.

The explosions occurred in quick succession with almost no interval between them.

The kill radius of the high-explosive shells was compressed to within ten meters, but for Eldar assassins, the metal storm formed by those fragments was more deadly than the shockwave.

Their armor has an excellent effect on dispersing and absorbing energy weapons, but its resistance to kinetic energy weapons is far less than that of energy weapons.

The tearing sound of shrapnel embedding itself in soft armor echoed between explosions, and at least dozens of signal sources were completely extinguished during that round of coverage.

But the rest were still moving, spreading out even further, increasing the distance between them to hundreds of meters, and their zigzags were more treacherous, each step treading on the edge of the Marauder's fire control system's blind spot.

The Eldar assassins switched to a different weapon, drawing out slender blue beams from storage devices at their waists.

The Star Dart Gun is almost silent and leaves no trace when fired, only a very faint blue afterimage in the air. Moreover, it can fire multiple shots at once. The Dark Eldar have even reduced its lethality by replacing it with a slow-acting, deadly poison.

The ray grazed the Marauder squad's line of fire and struck the right shoulder armor of a Marauder. The alloy armor was melted by the high temperature upon contact, leaving a groove about the thickness of a finger, with the edges turning slightly green.

Zhao Zheng stood on a high point at the rear, taking in the entire battlefield.

They are highly skilled in tactics. After being suppressed by firepower, they immediately switched their attack mode from hunting and driving to dispersed harassment, attempting to break down the defensive formation with their high mobility and precise long-range strikes.

It's no wonder they're known as the most hated pirates in the universe; there's a reason they've survived for so long.

But this time their opponents are neither the defenseless humans nor the cowardly civilizations they have slaughtered.

"Red Guard Battalion, flank them from both sides and block their retreat."

The Red Guard battalions scattered on the high ground on both sides activated simultaneously. Two thousand armored units, each three meters and two inches tall, rushed out from behind the cover and, taking advantage of the terrain and speed, moved rapidly towards the side and rear of the Eldar assassins in the shape of two iron pincers.

Their armor was entirely gray, and they were shorter than the Astartes, but their numerical superiority allowed them to form a continuous steel wave on the battlefield.

The Eldar assassins began to retreat.

They sensed the danger of being surrounded, and the zigzag lines in their formation suddenly widened, beginning to contract towards the only gap.

But that gap was a trap left by Zhao Zheng for them.

The Golia mech climbed over the hill from behind, its ten-meter-tall steel body resembling a moving iron tower in the last rays of twilight.

The barrels of the twin-mounted rapid-fire machine guns had been raised from their shoulder-mounted storage positions and were aimed at the direction in which the Eldar assassins were retreating.

Meng Tian's instructions were transmitted to the headset of the Gloria pilot via an encrypted channel.

"Armor-piercing rounds, full speed suppression, don't aim too accurately, drive them towards the Red Guard camp."

The flames spewing from the muzzle were particularly conspicuous in the night. The 255mm armor-piercing shells shot out of the barrel at an initial velocity of 800 meters per second, each one creating a crater several meters deep at its point of impact.

The bullets did not aim for direct hits, but rather landed precisely in front of and to the sides of the Eldar assassins' retreat paths, using explosions and shrapnel to block their movement.

The Eldar assassins' speed was constantly being compressed, their zigzag paths became shorter and shorter, and the frequency of their changes of direction became faster and faster, but they were confined to a shrinking triangular area by Goliath's barrage of fire.

They tried to escape, but by the time they realized what was happening, a group of "good brothers" had already blocked them from all sides.

Especially the leaders, who were much larger than the big guys next to them, exuded a ferocious aura that made the group of black bean sprouts, who were used to torturing the weak and capturing slaves, somewhat afraid.

Especially the big guy at the very front, who pulled out a powered long gun from who-knows-where, which made people shudder.

"Xiang Ji, leave no survivors."

Zhao Zheng's instructions were simultaneously transmitted to the receiver of every mech on the battlefield via the psionic resonator.

At this moment, Xiang Ji's lips, hidden beneath his helmet, could no longer suppress the smile that curved upwards.

The next moment, Xiang Ji's figure shot out instantly, and before the two Dark Spirits could react, he had already pierced through their bodies.

Chapter Ten: No one will hurt you anymore.

The battle ended quickly. Xiang Ji's strength was indeed formidable. Despite being a newcomer, he was able to kill more than two hundred Dark Spirits single-handedly in less than a quarter of an hour.

Xiang Ji arrived at the side of a Dark Spirit who was not yet completely dead.

The shockwave from the explosion lifted it off the ground, its slender body tumbling twice in mid-air before crashing heavily onto a charred tree stump.

Its armor was torn in several places by shrapnel, and dark purple blood seeped from the cracks, gleaming eerily in the firelight.

It was not dead yet. Its narrow eyes peeked out from the gaps in the bone helmet, staring intently in Xiang Ji's direction, its pupils burning with anger and mad hatred.

Zhao Zheng stood on high ground and took in all of this.

He did not leave the battlefield; he was a germaphobe and could not bear the sight of alien blood staining his boots and armor.

Xiang Ji looked down at the struggling Dark Spirit Clan member, gently brushing aside its fingers as it tried to reach for the dagger at its waist with the tip of his boot. The sound of that finger breaking was almost inaudible in the night wind.

Blood flowed slowly from the wound, seeping into the scorched soil. The spirit race did not howl; instead, a sound like the hiss of a venomous snake emanated from its throat. The pupils beneath the bone-faced helmet contracted into two vertical lines, fixed intently on Xiang Ji's mask.

Xiang Ji stared silently for a moment, then slowly squatted down, the spotlight on his shoulder armor illuminating the Spirit Clan's distorted face in a stark white light.

"How many of you are there? Which conspiracy group are you from?"

Zhao Zheng had told them a lot about these alien creatures, so Xiang Ji and the others knew exactly what they were.

The Dark Eldar let out a short laugh, squeezed from deep within his chest, carrying a strange and ominous pleasure.

Half of its lower jawbone was blown off, and as it spoke, fragments and flesh rubbed together in its mouth.

"You...think...you've won?"

Xiang Ji did not answer. Just as he was about to press for an answer, Bian Que appeared behind him and patted him on the shoulder.

Xiang Ji nodded and stepped aside.

"I ask, you answer."

Bian Que's right hand reached into the gap in the Ling Clan's shattered armor, gently pinching its exposed third rib, his knuckles slowly tightening.

The sound of metal gloves squeezing against bones was clearly audible between the two men.

Subsequently, Bian Que injected a large dose of sedatives and stimulants into the Dark Spirit Clan's body, and also inhibited the secretion and binding of dopamine in the Dark Spirit Clan's neurons.

This caused the black bean sprouts, who enjoyed being tortured, to feel immense pain at this moment.

The dark elf's body twitched suddenly, but it then let out a laugh that was even sharper than before.

“Foolish...monkeys...you...have no idea...what...you are...facing…”

Bian Que applied a little more pressure with his thumb, and the cracking sound of bones breaking abruptly stopped the Spirit Clan's voice.

He turned his head to the side, as if waiting for the other person to rephrase their words.

But the black bean sprout did not speak again. Its pupils began to dilate, and the hissing in its throat gradually weakened, with only its last breath lingering in its chest.

Bian Que waited for about three breaths before releasing his fingers, confirming that the other party could no longer provide any valuable information.

The slender, graceful body slid off the tree stump and landed on the ground with a dull thud.

He stood up, glanced back at Zhao Zheng above, and shook his head slightly.

Zhao Zheng didn't make any further comment, because his psionic powers had already helped him find the group of Dark Spirits.

With a slight clench of his right hand, he pulled three Aurora-class warships over, their powerful psionic energy relentlessly crushing the scheming Black Sprouts within.

Some of the Dark Eldar also fled in panic under the guidance of some teleportation beacons, and some were even trapped directly in the ground and died on the spot.

Most of them were surrounded by Astartes and his brothers.

The sporadic sounds of gunfire on the battlefield had gradually subsided. Those Eldar assassins who had survived the Raiders' firepower and Golia's crossfire were finally surrounded by the Red Guards in a low-lying area.

At the last moment when they tried to force their way through the encirclement with anti-gravity devices, they were intercepted head-on from the flank by the Second Company led by Li Cunxiao.

Twenty Space Marines clad in White Tiger-type armor cut in from an unexpected angle, their bomb guns and chainswords firing in quick succession, annihilating the remaining Eldar in the muddy hollow.

One of the Bloodthirsty performers tried to ambush Li Cunxiao from behind, but Li Cunxiao didn't even turn his head. He simply drew the dagger from his waist and killed the man instantly.

At this moment, only the lingering smoke from the explosion and the residual heat from the metal fragments remained on the battlefield.

Zhao Zheng slowly walked down from the high place, his footsteps echoing heavily across the empty plain, each step causing the scorched earth beneath his feet to tremble slightly.

He walked to the edge of the low-lying area, his gaze sweeping over the scattered remains of the Elven race in the mud. Their streamlined armor was now shattered, and blood and mud were mixed together.

Some of the corpses still bore the scorch marks from the energy weapons, while others were torn into pieces by the explosives, their bones and internal organs emitting a pungent, rusty smell in the night.

He had used his psychic powers to isolate his feet when he arrived here to avoid getting them tainted by these filthy things.

Zhao Zheng stopped in the center of the depression, used his psionic energy to pick up a fragment that had fallen off the Spirit Race armor, and examined it between his fingers.

The craftsmanship of the fragment's edge is extremely exquisite, with almost no trace of processing visible to the naked eye. It looks as if it was peeled directly from a whole piece of material, and the surface has a slightly purplish metallic luster.

It has to be said that Linggu Technology is really something, and it's worth spending time studying it. In the future, he must enter the Net Path to capture some Ark Worlds, or directly take down Comoros.

Zhao Zheng felt it was inappropriate not to keep this method of navigation and the almost absolutely safe escape route under his own control.

After all, these bean sprouts aren't exactly good people. If we can wipe them out, we absolutely won't let a single one survive. Then we can freely research the spirit bone technology ourselves.

And then there are the space necromancers, these skeletons representing the pinnacle of technology in the physical world. If I have the chance in the future, I must dig up more tomb worlds and find more necromancy technology to study.

Zhao Zheng casually tossed the fragment of the Spirit Clan armor aside, and the spiritual energy carried it steadily into the sealed sampling box that Bian Que handed him.

"Bring it back to the laboratory on the Lishan, and you can arrange the first round of materials analysis there."

His tone was calm, his gaze already past the still-smoking bomb craters at the edge of the depression, looking towards the gray fortifications further away.

Those barriers were eerily quiet at that moment.

The fire and explosions that broke out during the battle could be clearly heard several kilometers away, but not a single light was lit in the watchtowers on the ramparts, not a single troop of soldiers poured out of the city gates to check the situation, and not even the most common warning torches were lit.

The entire fortified area was shrouded in a deathly silence, like an ostrich burying its head in the ground, pretending to be deaf and dumb to everything happening outside.

Zhao Zheng used his psionic energy to scan the interior of the barrier.

The heat signals were sparse and scattered, distributed among the low and dense buildings inside the walls, all huddled in the corners of rooms or deep in cellars.

They sensed the battle outside, but they dared not come out to see, or even peek out the window.

The fear that had persisted for countless years had trained them into prisoners of conditioned reflexes; any unusual sound meant a new round of killing and looting, and this time was no exception.

Tonight, however, the killer has a different target.

"Father, the Third Company of the Red Guard Battalion requests permission to enter the fortified area for personnel contact."

Meng Tian's voice came through the communication channel, slightly panting as if he had just emerged from a battle.

"The main gate of the barrier is structurally intact, but it has been welded shut from the inside and needs to be demolished or cut."

Zhao Zheng could sense that the level of fear among the people inside the barrier was slowly rising. Although the battle had taken place some time ago, the shockwaves and flashes from the explosions were enough to penetrate the thick gray stone walls.

They were unsure what was happening outside, unsure if it was yet another group of raiders, and unsure if tonight's wait would result in an even more tragic end than before.

"No need for explosives. Everyone stay on the perimeter and do not approach the wall. Xiang Ji, lead a ten-man squad to circle around from the concealed side of the wall to the front of the main gate, line up fifty meters apart, disarm all weapons except for the communicators."

"Father?"

"Let them open the door themselves. A door that hasn't been opened for over twenty years. Blowing it open with explosives will only make them never dare to come near you again. We'll stand outside and let them look through the crack in the door. Let them decide for themselves whether or not to trust us."

"certainly……"

Zhao Zheng changed the subject. He wasn't really concerned about these humans who weren't descendants of the Dragon Kingdoms; he just wanted to help them because they were all human.

"If they are stubborn, then we don't need to worry about anything. We can just blow up the city wall. It would be best if these people obeyed orders. If they don't, then let them go to mine. We can already immigrate from Qiankun Star."

"Understood, Father."