The 'Oppenheimer', a mechanical ark.
At this moment, Huron arrived with various officials from the Badab Sector. As their transport ship docked with the mechanical ark and the hatch opened, Li Feng saw Huron, a tall and imposing figure in Apothecary power armour, striding quickly towards him, his arms wide open.
"Brother! Long time no see! Your little brother has missed you terribly!"
Huron immediately embraced Li Feng, who, being held by this two-meter-plus, almost three-meter-tall giant, nearly couldn't breathe. And Huron directly kissed Li Feng's cheek with a loud smack.
Li Feng looked at Huron, whose 'social graces' were maxed out, and was speechless. As Huron set Li Feng down, he turned sideways, and Li Feng saw the various military and political dignitaries of the Badab Sector behind Huron.
"I want to see how you treat my benefactor."
No sooner had Huron's words fallen than a group of nobles and military and political officials immediately lifted their robes and knelt on the ground, kowtowing to Li Feng: "Greetings, Benefactor! Greetings, Benefactor! ..."
Li Feng sighed at this scene and helplessly pointed a finger at Huron, as if displeased with his behavior. Meanwhile, Reinhard, Siegfried, and Yang Weili, who were beside Li Feng, exchanged glances.
In a corner of the transport ship, Chapter Master Forros of The Lamenters Space Marine Chapter watched this scene with a complicated expression. This was the benefit of Huron clinging to Li Feng's thigh; now Huron was strong and well-equipped, with warehouses full of Apothecary armour.
In just a few short years, Huron had expanded his forces to over 3,000 Apothecaries. At the same time, under Huron's management, the Badab Star Sector's GDP even ranked second in the entire Ultima Segmentum, second only to Macragge.
It wasn't that Forros didn't want to kneel; if clinging to a powerful figure could save the Weeping Sorrows Chapter from its tragic fate, let alone kneeling, Forros would gladly cut off his own head and offer it to Li Feng as a chamber pot... But... he was a scion of an angel! They were the descendants of Sanguinius! Naturally, they couldn't make such a gesture as Huron, who could make an entire Star Sector's political figures kneel before Li Feng.
Li Feng quickly gestured to those who were kneeling and kowtowing, telling them to rise. Seeing them stop kowtowing, Li Feng pointed at them and said:
"Little brother, this is too much."
"Not too much, not at all! You tell me, was it too much just now to ask you to kowtow to our benefactor?"
Those people immediately replied: "Not too much! It's not too much to kowtow to our benefactor!"
Seeing that the people he brought were so obedient to his arrangements, Huron turned to look at Li Feng, bowing respectfully: "This world is very complex now, many people 'follow whoever feeds them.' I, Huron, have no father or mother... Brother Li Feng is my father and mother."
Hearing Huron's words, Li Feng couldn't help but chuckle, patting the giant's shoulder:
"Alright, stop flattering me. Stand properly."
But Li Feng also understood that behind Huron's seemingly exaggerated actions lay his unique loyalty and persistence. This warrior, who had faced countless life-and-death situations on the battlefield, saw Li Feng as the only one he could rely on.
At this moment, Reinhard, Siegfried, and Yang Weili, who were beside Li Feng, all simultaneously showed expressions that were neither smiling nor not smiling, clearly having their worldview shattered by this 'family reunion' drama.
Li Feng merely nodded, then turned around and announced to everyone: "Everyone, since everyone is here, we will have a good meal on my warship later and get to know each other better."
Huron, hearing this, immediately slapped his thigh and laughed loudly: "Right! I brought good wine! This time, Brother must taste the new wine brewed in Badab!"
And before that, Li Feng also gave Huron and Forros, who was hiding in the corner, a meeting gift each: the brand new Astartes power armour STC designed by Li Feng.
"Li Feng & Belisarius Pattern Mark X Engineer power armour"
Based on the original 'Apothecary Pattern power armour' given to Huron, the Apothecary backpack and medical tool kit on the back were removed and replaced with a huge engineering backpack.
This battle armour could mount various heavy armaments, similar to heavy Bolters, heavy melta guns, shoulder-mounted recoilless cannons, etc. At the same time, the engineering backpack contained all the tools for repairing weapons and equipment, as well as tools for constructing fortifications.
And the most impressive thing was that the bottom of this backpack was loaded with 250KG of high-energy explosives. If the battle situation was tense, the engineer could directly throw the engineering backpack on his back, giving the enemy a 'surprise!'
Or use it as a 'glorious bomb' to perish with the enemy... Of course, it would be difficult for an Apothecary to retrieve the gene-seed... because not only would there be no corpse, there wouldn't even be ash left.
"You already have so many Apothecaries, now you need some engineers. The codex astartes doesn't limit the number of Tech-Marines you can have. I'll have the Adeptus Mechanicus set up a 'Badab Industrial University' in your Badab later. You can just let those new recruits go in for training, can't you?"
Huron's eyes almost popped out when he saw this. With this, wouldn't he... wouldn't he... be able to expand his forces to ten thousand! Then he, Huron, could become a Legion Master.
Although Forros was very tempted when he saw this, it would not help the Weeping Sorrows Chapter change their fate. The reason was simple: they were not as wealthy as Huron.
Huron had several planets in an entire Badab Star Sector, and he could quickly mobilize the planets' production resources for mass production. But Forros couldn't, because the Weeping Sorrows' base was just a warship, and they had nothing else.
Leaving aside whether the Weeping Sorrows had the money to produce this Engineer Pattern power armour, just considering the various heavy weapons that could be installed on the back, where would the Weeping Sorrows get the relevant STC and factories? From that small workshop on the warship?
And the Weeping Sorrows had only just recovered from the Battle of Phalanx. Where Huron had so many people that he needed to break the codex astartes, they, even with new recruits, had fewer than 300 Space Marine. Many of their veterans wore Mark III power armour from the early Great Crusade, ten thousand years ago, and often, several new recruits couldn't even share a single Bolter.
If Huron hadn't been constantly helping them, they would probably have been begging for food long ago. Huron wasn't stingy; it's just that whenever he offered them his old equipment that he had just retired, they would only take a very small portion, and if he gave too much, they would be unhappy, putting on a brave face despite their difficulties.
Huron also had no choice; he couldn't force it on them, after all, Astartes valued honor above all else. But Huron also couldn't just watch the Weeping Sorrows, his brother Space Marine Chapter with whom he had struggled out of the Maelstrom, become a "down-and-out."
So, having no other option, Huron could only bring the Weeping Sorrows Chapter along this time, giving Chapter Master Forros a chance to cling to Li Feng's thigh. Otherwise, how could he, Huron, be called 'Timely Rain'?
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