4 Return to the Battlefield

There was nothing like having a man on the spot to smoothen the way for you. Even though a squad leader like Qin Hao was not an officer, he was still in charge of the military cooks, so they obviously needed to establish a good relationship with him. How would a bunch of corrupt cooks, who had been stealing food from the kitchen, get cozy with a squad leader who was a frontline soldier?

The answer was to drag Qin Hao along into the water. If the entire mess squad, from top to bottom was stealing food, would it not be harmonious?

As far as Qin Hao was concerned, he did not consider himself a saint and even thought that saints had been extinct for thousands of years. So, when the smell of beef wafted out, a smile appeared on Qin Hao's originally angry face.

After eating a whole year's worth of compressed biscuits and nutrient solutions, Qin Hao had almost forgotten the taste of beef. Now that he had smelled the aroma, his gluttonous inner self was almost hooked out. Hence, Qin Hao immediately betrayed his righteous thoughts and joined the cooks for a sumptuous meal.

Once he had a share of the stolen food with everyone, Qin Hao quickly integrated into the mess squad. From them, he had also learned some things about the 106th Division.

It turned out that the 106th Division was originally a garrison unit on a colonial planet. They were not even second-line troops and were not much better than a police force maintaining law and order. However, due to the dire situation at the front, these pampered guys were all temporarily drafted and sent alongside some new recruits as part of the reinforcement fleet. That was how they ended up at Alpha's Gravity Well.

"No wonder there are only new recruits and old coots... What a pity..." Qin Hao sighed. By sending these third-rate troops to Alpha, they were simply reshuffling a lousy deck, and more than 80% of the soldiers here would be wiped out by the giant beetles.

Anyway, Qin Hao's meal was quite satisfying. The big chunk of beef made him feel like he was back in heaven. His mouth that had tasted nothing but compressed biscuits and nutrient solutions for a whole year seemed to come back to life.

For the next few days, Qin Hao followed this group of military cooks as they stole good food to eat, and his appetite was shocking. The first time around, he had five persons' worth of beef. The cooks thought that Qin Hao had not eaten for a long time, so he was stuffing his face in.

However, after several days of observation, the cooks could not help but recognize why this person was the squad leader and they were small-time grunts. In the words of the cooks, "A normal pig's appetite is no match for our leader's."

Qin Hao's large intake of high-energy and nutritious food also caused him a little problem; his shoulder, where his arm was torn off, was getting increasingly itchy. The feeling of thousands of ants gnawing at him almost drove him insane.

If not for the fear that he would not be able to put the robotic arm back after he removed it, Qin Hao would have definitely removed the arm and desperately scratched his shoulder.

However, Qin Hao's good days were obviously coming to an end as the shipborne broadcast had already rung out in the barracks. The entire 106th Division was to be assembled and thrown onto the battlefield.

"Grab everything and gather around quickly!" Qin Hao yelled at his mess squad members. Immediately after, he put on a heavy-duty exoskeleton as well and carried a large amount of compressed food. The mess team had to carry an entire week's worth of combat rations for the whole company!

"Yes, Sir!" The cooks all nodded one by one. While they carried lots of compressed food, they did not forget to bring along extra delicacies for themselves. The good stuff like beef jerky, which would not take up a lot of space, was the most common item taken privately. Even Qin Hao was no exception.

Once they carried enough food, Qin Hao brought the mess squad to meet up with the combatants from the second company. They boarded the landing craft one after another.

"Don't be nervous. We will be landing soon." Qin Hao watched the recruits on the landing craft, who were all nervous wrecks, so he spoke to comfort them.

"Private, have you participated in a landing battle before?" a corporal asked. Even though he was a new recruit, his rank was still higher than Qin Hao's.

"Yeah. You may experience some shock later, but it'll be fine soon enough." While Qin Hao had a smile on his face, he was praying in his heart. It would be a mistake to think that their foes were mere insects. They did not lack anti-aircraft firepower, and those plasma worms spat out high-voltage plasma that could easily destroy a landing craft. That was the reason why the Federation Army experienced so many losses during landing battles.

Vhooshh... Clack...

A soft sound rang out, and the landing craft departed from the battleship as it flew toward planet Alpha not too far away.

"You better get yourself properly secured, or else, things will likely be very bad for you." As Qin Hao spoke, he buckled himself into a special slot by the side that was meant for connecting the power exoskeleton suit.

Almost all fifty of the individuals inside the ship were raw recruits, and each of them was extremely nervous. At that moment, Qin Hao, the veteran was their backbone. Seeing that he had secured himself, all of them followed suit.

Boom!

The landing craft shook violently.

"What's wrong? What's wrong? Are we under attack?!" The recruits in the landing craft panicked.

"Don't worry. We just broke through the atmosphere just now," Qin Hao said calmly.

He had noticed earlier that their landing craft was not the first to take off, so they would definitely not be the first to be greeted by the swarm's plasma cannons. If that was the case, the chances of them landing successfully were high.

Boom! Boom! Booom!!

Soon after they entered the atmosphere, the deafening sound of roaring artillery fire could be heard in the landing craft with its poor sound insulation. They were from the carrier bombers carrying out a bombing run on the plasma bugs to suppress their firepower and allow the landing crafts to land smoothly.

Bam!

After some violent shaking, the landing craft that Qin Hao and the rest were on finally touched down.

"All soldiers, please exit the cabin immediately!" The announcement rang out across the landing craft. It had to take off to fetch the second batch of combatants, so it could not stay on the planet's surface for too long.

"Go! Go! Go!" Qin Hao was the first to rush out after he unbuckled himself. As a veteran, he knew that a large structure such as a landing craft was definitely a prime target. Staying there was equivalent to booking himself a coffin in advance.

It did not take long for all the soldiers to follow Qin Hao and rush out. The landing craft ignited its engines and took off, but before it could even gain altitude, it was hit by a plasma bolt.

Kaboom!!! The landing craft turned into a fireball and plummeted.

"Run!!!" As Qin Hao ran, he called upon the rookies around him.

"Oh! Oh!" Right then, the new recruits no longer cared that Qin Hao was just a soldier for the military kitchen. It was their first time encountering such a brutal battlefield, and they subconsciously recognized that they needed an old bone to lead them.

A veteran like Qin Hao was the best candidate.