The effect of the Painted Skin Card was nothing short of miraculous.
Right now, down to the bloodthirsty, domineering aura oozing from his very pores, he was indistinguishable from that deceased PDF major—Steve Mercedes.
“All units, hear my command: abandon your positions,” Seth Knight’s voice echoed across the ruined battlefield.
“Retreat right now, damn it!”
Seth Knight’s order blared through the loudspeakers.
Across the field, the regulars of the Planetary Defence Force, who had been setting up fire points, froze in place.
The grunts exchanged bewildered looks, utterly confused.
Had the commander gone out of his mind?
They were on the brink of winning this damn fight, and now he was telling them to fall back?
But military rank and discipline were ingrained into the PDF troops’ very marrow.
No one dared openly defy a commanding officer’s orders.
Gritting their teeth in sheer frustration, the soldiers could only turn around and fall back toward the hive city.
Resentment festered among the rank and file.
The order to pull out had been far too sudden.
They hadn’t even been given time to slice off the rebels’ ears or scan their fingerprints to log merit points.
What did that mean?
It meant they had risked their lives for nothing!
Once they got back to camp, they wouldn’t be able to claim a single reward!
A bald adjutant with a hideous scar across his face jumped down from a vehicle, his eyes bloodshot.
Striding forward with a dozen hardened veterans in tow, he blocked the path right in front of Seth Knight’s Chimera Armored Transport.
*Clack!*
The bald adjutant roughly racked a bolt pistol, slamming the barrel down toward the mud at his feet.
“Commander!” Spit flew from the bald man’s mouth.
“Without merit points to trade for rations, the boys are gonna be eating irradiated dead rats when we get back! Pulling us out with a single word—you’re driving us to our deaths!”
*Clatter—*
The rear ramps of several nearby armored transports dropped in unison.
Hundreds of fuming PDF soldiers surged out.
A dense sea of gun barrels, intentionally or not, all locked onto Seth Knight standing atop the transport.
A mutiny!
Just for a bite of food to survive, these military thugs were willing to throw their lives away.
Facing hundreds of guns trained on him, Seth Knight looked down at the bald adjutant below and scoffed coldly, “A bunch of uncultured bumpkins. I’m pulling you back to do real business. You’re seriously whining over a few scraps of starch?”
With a flick of his mind, Seth Knight activated his system inventory.
Dozens of oversized cardboard boxes, emblazoned with flashy modern packaging, slammed onto the spacious roof of the Chimera Armored Transport out of thin air.
*Thump!
Thump!
Thump!*
Heavy thuds echoed in rapid succession.
Seth Knight gestured casually at the boxes. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
“These supplies are your compensation for the withdrawal.”
A ripped box revealed packages labeled “Extra-Large Bowl · River Snail Rice Noodles.”
A strange, pungent stench swept outward, piercing straight through everyone’s nostrils.
The soldiers in the front row turned instantly pale, their stomachs churning violently.
“Fuck! What is that smell?!”
“Biochemical gas! It’s biochemical gas brewed by Chaos daemons!”
Pinching their noses, the grunts scrambled backward several paces.
Some even fell to their knees, dry-heaving on the ground.
The bald adjutant’s face turned deathly pale.
He had only wanted to intimidate his young officer.
He hadn’t actually meant to stage a full-scale rebellion!
He was finished.
The commander was going to purge them.
He was going to use poison gas to wipe out the entire mutinous force right here!
“Commander… we bled for the Imperium… How could you use poison gas on us?!” the adjutant cried in despair.
“Poison gas my ass!”
Seth Knight kicked the bald adjutant square in the chest.
The man’s two-hundred-pound body flew backward and crashed into the muddy water.
Seth Knight tore open a bowl of river snail rice noodles.
“Open your dog eyes and take a good look!”
Boiling water poured into the paper bowl, instantly submerging the rice noodles and dehydrated meat chunks.
Packets of chili oil, pickled bamboo shoots, and meat sauce melted furiously into the boiling water.
An overpowering aroma of rich spices radiated outward.
An inexplicably tantalizing scent invaded the nostrils of everyone present.
Seth Knight grabbed a plastic fork, twirled up a clump of noodles right in front of the hundreds of mutineers, and took a massive mouthful.
*Slurp— slurp—*
Total silence fell over the field.
The brains of every soldier went completely blank.
*The commander is eating shit in public…
how are we supposed to react?!*
Seth Knight polished off half the bowl in a few bites, then turned, grabbed the bald adjutant by his collar, and yanked him up from the mud.
He scooped up a forkful of red-oil-soaked noodles and meat chunks and shoved it violently into the man’s mouth.
“Eat!” Seth Knight barked.
The adjutant instinctively tried to spit the food out.
But the moment his teeth crushed the piece of dehydrated meat, his expression shifted instantly.
Then, as the intense savory flavor of chili oil and sour bamboo shoots exploded on his tongue, his entire body froze.
The best thing he had ever eaten in his entire life was a block of plant-protein jerky issued on the day he joined the military.
But now…
Spices beyond description! Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
Springy, genuine carbohydrate fiber!
This was real fucking meat!
A blessing from the Emperor that he wouldn’t have dared dream of in his wildest fantasies!
The bald adjutant sank to his knees, clutching the paper bowl tightly with both hands.
As he shoveled noodles into his mouth like a rabid, starving dog, tears and snot poured down his face.
In the end, he even stuck out his tongue and licked clean every last drop of chili oil from the bottom of the bowl.
“Waaaah… Commander… This is a grand feast worthy of Holy Terra!” Clutching the empty bowl, the bald man sobbed uncontrollably.
“I… my gun misfired earlier… I deserve to die!”
The truth was out.
There was no biochemical gas.
This was top-tier, pure natural food that only nobility could enjoy!
The entire PDF camp went completely insane.
“Leave a bowl for me! I’ll trade three months of my military pay!”
“Don’t snatch it! Take another step and I’ll draw my blade!”
Soldiers who managed to grab a large bowl knelt on the ground, weeping and laughing hysterically.
Those who missed out frantically scavenged through the torn wrapper scraps.
Mutiny?
Merit points?
Risking their lives for paltry rewards?
Ten lives couldn’t trade for a single mouthful of real carbs!
Soon enough, the convoy set off once more.
But the morale of the troops had undergone an earth-shattering shift.
The looks the grunts shot Seth Knight contained not a single trace of dissatisfaction.
There was only fanatical worship—the reverence reserved for a provider of life and a living deity.
And as for Seth Knight, taming a loyal private army with just a few dozen boxes of instant junk food was an absolute steal.
The convoy finally reached the checkpoint leading directly into the Hive’s Underhive.
The sight ahead forced the convoy to slow down.
Three full layers of heavy alloy tank traps blocked the way.
Hundreds of Heavily Armored Enforcers clad in black carapace armor stood fully armed, packing the entrance so tightly not a drop could leak through.
Searchlights from the high walls locked tightly onto the convoy.
“Halt! Cut your engines!”
The Enforcer Captain stepped out from the defensive line, not giving two damns about this local PDF unit stationed in the Underhive.
“By order of the Governor! Inspecting all contraband!” The Enforcer Captain sneered insidiously at Seth Knight’s command vehicle, his voice dripping with arrogance.
“Everyone out of the vehicles! Strip down buck naked and drop all weapons!”
The Enforcer Captain licked his lips.
“You know the rules, don’t you? Every vehicle—even the hollows beneath the armor plates—and every single one of your intestines, I’m prying open and inspecting one by one!”