Why Would a Defense Contractor Fear Heavy Firepower?

June 3, 1942. West of Honolulu, Hawaii. The Battle of Midway began. Swarms of American warplanes wheeled across the sky, opening fire on distant Japanese aircraft. As billows of smoke drifted through the air, the soldiers storming the beach roared as one. *Rat-tat-tat! Rat-tat-tat!* A sweeping metal tempest tore through the front lines, and men collapsed into pools of blood. Looking at the seemingly impregnable beachhead, Howard and Forrest—who had enlisted alongside Liu Ren to protect him—shouted in alarm, "Liu, this won't work! If we keep going like this, our casualties will be catastrophic! Their firepower is way too heavy!" Hearing Howard's shout, Liu Ren bellowed back, "I run a defense company—do you really think I'd be scared of heavy firepower?!" He barked out to his men, "Someone get the ammunition bays on the amphibious landing craft loaded up! Zero in on that beach and blow it to kingdom come!" As soon as Liu Ren finished speaking, the runner blew his whistle urgently, signaling the soldiers in the rear to move into action. Long before the outbreak of the war, Liu Ren had begun deliberately training these troops. This generation of young men had grown up under his very eyes. But if they were not taught the horrors of war and the agony of blood debts, they would eventually forget that across the vast ocean lay their ancestral home! *Clack-clack-clack!* As the gun barrels on the amphibious landing craft pivoted toward the shore, the Japanese defenders froze in astonishment. What kind of contraption was that? A tank? But since when could a tank launch an assault straight out of the sea? *Boom!* Flames erupted from the gun muzzles, and shells hurtled into the distance before slamming heavily into the Japanese positions. Just as the Japanese troops realized something was horribly wrong, specially modified howitzer rounds detonated with thunderous blasts, instantly obliterating everything within a twenty-meter radius. Watching the devastation in sheer disbelief, Forrest took off his helmet and whistled. "Fuck me... this thing is goddamn glorious!" Before Forrest could finish his sentence, landing craft after landing craft roared to life. When the men of the 1st Marine Division catching up from behind saw the spectacle, they cried out in shock, "Holy hell! Good God, nobody told us these things could double as tanks!" Yet despite their shock, seeing the Japanese defenders blasted sky-high brought roars of cheers from scores of American soldiers. "Suppress them! Pin them down, *bakayarō*!" Bellowing in fury, the Japanese commander inside a beach bunker attempted to mount a counterattack. But looking out, he saw hundreds upon hundreds of amphibious landing craft pressing forward from the rear; not a single one of their own infantry was left standing along the entire shoreline. "Three-round rapid fire! Full-field suppression! Don't you dare stop!" Clutching the field telephone, Liu Ren gazed at the enemy flag still fluttering in the distance and roared. What was war fought with? Firepower! When you were poor, you relied on tactical infiltration; when you were rich, you bombed the bastards into dust! If he could convert his US dollars into artillery shells, thirty howitzer rounds would drop right onto the skull of every single Japanese soldier across the entire Pacific! Yet as Liu Ren commanded the amphibious landing craft, he turned his head and froze. Where were his five conspicuous Orc Lads? Where had they run off to? Peering through his binoculars, Howard murmured in disbelief, "Good Lord... thank heaven we didn't have gear like this back in the Great War. One hit from that, and you wouldn't even know which limbs belonged where!" Just as Howard finished speaking, a Japanese soldier who had been blasted into the air plummeted out of a trench. Tracking the man's descent with his binoculars, Howard sighed, "Poor kid..." "Forrest, where the hell are my bodyguards?!" Liu Ren shouted over the din. "What did you say?!" Forrest yelled back, digging at his ear as the deafening roar of artillery pounded his eardrums. "Where did those five Slavic blockheads go?!" Liu Ren shouted at the top of his lungs. "They screamed 'Waaagh!' a minute ago and charged straight for the front line! If we head over right now, we might still be able to collect their corpses..." Hearing Liu Ren ask about his bodyguards, Forrest's mouth twitched. Those were hardly bodyguards; they were complete lunatics! The moment machine-gun fire had locked down the beach, they had simply raised their submachine guns and charged straight into the teeth of the enemy. "We're done for!" Liu Ren clutched his forehead and fell silent. "Gwahahaha! Fight! So good!" Roaring with glee, an Orc Lad tackled a Japanese soldier to the ground, swung his massive fist in a wide arc, and pulverized the man's head, letting blood splatter across his face. Seeing the savage beast of a creature, another Japanese soldier charged with a bayonet, bellowing in desperation. In the next instant, the Orc Lad surged upright, seized the soldier by the throat with his colossal frame, and slammed him violently against the trench wall. "*Waaagh!* So good!" Battering the Japanese soldier with ferocious blows, the Orc Lad smashed him apart strike by strike. As the other Orc Lads rampaged through the trench, the Japanese troops were dumbfounded. Shells were still raining down on the position—how had these brutes already breached the trenches? Swinging a battle-axe seized from who-knew-where, an Orc Lad brought it down squarely on an enemy's skull. Seeing the Orc Lads fight with ever-mounting frenzy, many Japanese soldiers screamed and pulled their triggers, but the bullets seemed entirely useless; even when they struck home, the pain only sent the brutes into greater delirium. "Humie! Fight! Fight!" Charging forward like madmen, the Orc Lads swung their axes in brutal cleaves, looking like demons clawing their way out of the abyss. "A-A monster! It's a monster!" Terrified out of their wits, the Japanese defenders broke into sheer panic. "*Tennōheika Banzai!*" Clutching an explosive pack to his chest, a Japanese soldier charged forward with a frenzied howl. *Boom!* A deafening explosion ripped through the trench, blasting an Orc Lad backward through the air. Yet when he crashed onto the dirt, drenched in blood with half an arm blown clean off, the gleam in his eyes grew even wilder. "*Waaagh!* Fight!" Flesh and muscle sprouted like twisting vines from the stump of his arm, and his battered body began mending at terrifying speed. Staring in horror at the sight, the Japanese soldiers completely lost their minds. What in God's name were these things?! "*Waaagh!*" Dropping down from an adjoining trench while clutching a lifeless Japanese soldier, an Orc Lad spotted his comrade and roared, "Humie is mine!" "No, mine!" Pushing himself up with his battle-axe, the wounded Orc Lad locked eyes with his kin, and both threw themselves forward once more. Fifteen minutes later, the front line shifted forward. When the soldiers reached the trenches and beheld the carnage, a collective gasp ran through their ranks. What in heaven's name had happened here to leave behind such a gruesome scene? Out at sea. Directing the battle, Admiral Nimitz watched the successful beachhead landing through his binoculars, a faint smile spreading across his face. If nothing else, dispatching Liu Ren's special operations brigade to the front line had been a stroke of sheer brilliance. This force was nothing short of an ace in the hole for the 1st Marine Division. Ask no questions, for the answer was simple: who would ever believe a defense contractor's private force would ever be outmatched in firepower? As the naval engagement drew toward its close, Liu Ren had already wrapped up clearing the battlefield. Watching rows of captured prisoners being marched over under guard, Liu Ren turned his head and said, "Smith, these people are going to cause logistical headaches." Understanding his meaning, Smith asked, "Shouldn't we discuss this with Major General Alexander first?" "Good heavens, why would you ever say such a thing out loud?!" Liu Ren retorted with a deadpan glare. After all, he was currently a brigade commander under the 1st Marine Division. Their eyes met, and both men cracked identical, wicked grins.