"Let's talk about [Lion]."

"Have you seen him?"

"I've seen him once, and he feels as terrifying to me as a man-eating beast god."

——————

Sergeant Latobius of the 23rd Kranos Infantry Regiment was alone guarding a nearly abandoned trench as he felt hunger, sleepiness, and nightmarish cold.

Sergeant Latobis grabbed his rain jacket and pulled it on desperately, he felt the temperature of his skin drop rapidly, which was not a good thing, he had seen the soldiers who had frozen to death, their faces as hideous as the legendary savages.

The sergeant's ten fingers were already red from the cold, and he couldn't even hold the automatic gun on the side, and he sniffed, sucking the big, sticky snot back into his nasal cavity, making a disgusting sound of mucus rubbing and rolling.

But he didn't care about such a trifle, Latobis's body was shaking involuntarily in the precipitating heat, and his eyes wandered among the puddles of the trenches that were slowly freezing, and finally returned to his eyes, where a crude instrument lay out, which at a glance knew to be a complete industrial product, but that did not prevent Latobis from serving it as if he were a queen.

After all, apart from the automatic gun beside him, the automatic heater he had only fished out with his grandfather and grandmother was the most valuable thing Sergeant Latobis's body, and it was even more valuable than his own rotten life.

The sergeant looked at the little thing in front of him enthusiastically, as if he were looking at a hot girl—no, no matter how hot a girl was, he was nowhere near it, his stiff fingers went inside his shirt, and under the rainproof leather coat, he put on another coat, and below it was the hairy uniform, and inside the uniform was the warmest and best sweater, the only thing he had brought out from his hometown, and he hadn't washed it in months, It smells disgusting with wool and sweat.

But it was nothing, the trenches were full of stench: whether it was the rotting corpses outside, or the supplies soaked in sewage, the bodies that had not been washed for too long, even the starving, rat-like gray-haired beast in the corner, and the pee that the watchman had secretly poured last night, they all stinked, and the stench was the theme of the trenches.

The only thing to be thankful for is that the temperature is so cold that even the smell and flying insects have been dissipated a lot, which can be regarded as a kind of bitter pleasure.

But Sergeant Latobis cared not for any of this, he cared more about what he had at hand, and with his stiff fingers he carefully pulled out a box of round tin cans from the inner pocket of his clothes, the outer shell of which was sprayed with green paint, on which words such as "Standard Standard Rations—Type IV" were faintly visible.

He hooked the tab and opened it, and the inside of the tin could was filled with a flesh-colored mixture, and a faint pebble-like black-brown solid could be seen, which to be honest, looked a little disgusting.

They said it was canned meat, mixed with some plant stems and man-made substances that were good for the human body, but he was not sure, he didn't know, and he didn't care.

Latobis handled it all carefully, first pulling the lid off completely, setting it aside, and then carefully placing his can in the automatic heating machine, like a young father picking up his son for the first time, and an emotion of excitement, joy and even some fear overflowed involuntarily.

With a slight creaking sound, the autoheater began to work, and soon the aroma and heat continued to spread, and Latobis greedily enjoyed this rare trace of warmth, he couldn't help but smell it, and then retched violently: the pungent stench of the inferior lacquer, once baked, even drowned out the aroma of the food.

And just as he rubbed his head and nose, an equally dirty figure scurried into the trench and galloped in the direction of Latobis.

The sergeant subconsciously grabbed the gun with one hand, and with the other hand, regardless of the hot temperature, he put the self-heater and his lunch into his arms, and then, he saw clearly who it was, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Second Lieutenant Tigray, it's you."

The man with his swarthy face smiled, revealing a mouth full of rotten yellow teeth, and the fellow's footsteps were so fast that he almost slid all the way to Sergeant Latobis's side, and sat down.

Latobis instinctively straightened his back, making himself look as respectful as possible: unlike his own non-commissioned sergeant, Tigray was a real second lieutenant who had been promoted by military merit, and was even the captain's guard at one point.

Then, he was pressed by Tigray's shoulders and pressed down hard.

"Okay, okay, don't make that foolish set, come, give you some good things kid."

Tigray pulled out two dirty, oil-stained packages from his bosom and tossed one to Latobis, then he wiped his hands, looked at the dirt between his fingers, and rubbed them vigorously before carefully pulling out a letter from the deepest part of his inner pocket, and then looked at it with intoxication, regardless of Latobis.

Latobis put down his lunch and opened the package, only to see that it was a black mass, as if it had been kneaded many times.

It should be edible.

After a moment's thought, Sergeant Latobis tore off a bit and stuffed it into his mouth.

At that moment, as if a sledgehammer wielded a tiger and a tiger, it smashed the bitter shell of his mouth at once, allowing his tongue and taste buds to re-experience the concept of [taste], to experience the breath of life, and his teeth unconsciously chewed, crushing everything, squeezing out the oily liquid as much as possible.

The sergeant swallowed involuntarily, letting the delicacy slip down his throat, and he froze in place, then eagerly tore the rest of the piece, even if he swallowed a piece of paper.

It's meat!

It's not the messy starch distributed by the bastards of the Ministry of War, it's not the weird beasts walking in the tunnels that don't even starve to death.

It's real meat!

He gobbled it up, feeling the warmth of joy emanating from his pupils.

——————

Latobis has known Tigray for almost two years.

At that time, their legion was not in this damn desert, but in a strange place known as the Foundry World, full of huge factories and furnaces with smoke billowing and some strange creatures walking.

They lost the battle there, a very tragic defeat, the whole regiment was broken, everyone was scattering for their lives, the discarded guns and armored vehicles were piled up on hills, and just as Latobis was fleeing with everyone for his life, he met Tigray.

At that time, Tigray was wounded, and he was still holding an officer who had been shot in the thigh, which he later learned was the captain of Tigray, and at that time, Latobis just thought about it, and his pity prevailed for a while, which made him run over and help Tigray and the officer escape successfully.

Later, he heard that the defeat turned into a collapse that almost engulfed the whole world, until the legendary Angel of Death intervened, and it was said that the generals and commanders who commanded the battle were all shot in the end, and that only about one-fifteenth of their 23rd Kranos Regiment managed to escape back when it was counted afterwards.

However, this was not a bad thing for Latobis, who, after recovering a little, immediately promoted Latobis from private to sergeant, and said that he would take him with him.

This good thing made Latobis fantasize for days, until he heard that the officer had followed many of the wounded onto a ship bound for the rear, and that the ship had been blown to pieces by the alien raid before it could take off.

A few days later, Tigray reached the trenches of the 23rd Klanos, with a large number of recruits and stragglers from other regiments, and the regiment was soon full again, at least as it seemed, and then they were kicked into the desert world where birds don't, forgotten in the cold wind for two whole years.

"How does it taste? These are cured meats made by my mother, and they are much better than those bullshit military rations made by bastards. ”

"My mother said in the letter that she gave me five packs, but the gang of sons and calves in the logistics department told me that there were only two packs, and the rest was lost, fuck it! Those bunnies! ”

Tigray took a sip, then continued to look at the letter, which was not long, but he read it again and again, and smiled unconsciously.

Latobis devoured the pieces of meat, then licked his oil-stained fingers with great satisfaction, and after licking them one by one, he picked up his lunch, which looked bad and was cold, but he was still greedy.

The sound of eating echoed through the trenches until Tigray stroked the letter, carefully folded it, and pressed it into his inner pocket, where the second lieutenant tried to smoke a cigarette, but he groped in his pocket, but there was none.

At this moment, the voice of Latobis came from the side.

"Second Lieutenant, there's something I've always wanted to ask."

"Say."

"Why did you come to join the army?"

When Tigray heard this, he simply touched his chin, and instead of looking for a cigarette, he just laughed.

"I said it was for the great cause of mankind, for the empire, For the emperor, do you believe it?"

"Uh...... 🔥 What? ”

"For the emperor, for the emperor, the biggest boss who pays us salaries, you have to learn this sentence, those officers love to hear this the most, and they love to shout this the most, and those mortal auxiliaries who are blind and blind, they shout this when they are fighting."

"Uh, Mortal Auxiliaries? Aren't we? ”

"What a!"

Tigray unceremoniously patted Latobis on the head and laughed straight away.

"Those armies from Terra and those big places are mortal auxiliaries, don't you see that their equipment and guns can throw us ten streets? I'm telling you, those guys from Terra are all noses and noses, especially those guys...... Narrator, they don't recognize people like us as mortal auxiliaries, they only recognize those Terra and the big guys in the big places. ”

"Ah...... That's right...... So second lieutenant, why the hell are you here, and what is that...... For the emperor? ”

"! For money. ”

Tigray fumbled into his jacket pocket, which contained his letters home, his most precious possessions.

"I used to live in my hometown, there is an old lady above, a brother below, no wife and no children, but I and my brother went to work together to support the old lady, until my brother got his leg involved in the machine when he went to work."

"The factory director is quite kind, and he advanced money to save my brother back, but he can't work, so he can only stay at home, I can't afford to raise two, just in time for me to have a headache, one day our sky was suddenly covered by a large group of black shadows - oh, it's those spaceships."

"When I went to work the next day, the radio began to shout what was for the empire, for the emperor, and then a few days later, people came from above, came to the factory to recruit people to join the army, they gave money, that was really money! The guys with guns were there watching the money come to us. ”

"I thought about it, I can't earn that money for a lifetime, and my brother is also a reassuring person, so I thought, just join the army, take the money and let my brother send our mother to the end, the rest of the money may be enough for him to ask for a wife, continue the incense, anyway, a rotten life, where to die is not death."

"So, I came over to join the army, and if I calculated carefully, it had been almost ten years."

Tigray pulled out a flask, took a sip, and tossed it to Latobis, muttering some nasty words about the logistics department.

"What about you, boy, how did you get here?"

"I ......"

Latobis scratched his head and took a sip before speaking slowly.

"I didn't have a father or mother since I was a child, and we didn't pay attention to the factory director there, we paid attention to the master, the knight, I was picked up by our master from the side of the road, and I was about to starve to death at that time, so the lord was kind-hearted, so he took me back for me to eat and wear, and when I grew up, I followed the master to do chores and errands."

"Then one day, the master suddenly took several young masters and a large group of troops to go out, and he didn't come back for several months, and he didn't send back a letter, and the rest of the young masters began to fight for family property, and suddenly a large group of soldiers came, and all the young masters were arrested, saying that the master disobeyed the emperor, and all of us were guilty, and we had to make amends for ten lifetimes or something, and then I was also arrested, and I was like that...... It's time to join the army.

"Didn't give you any money?"

"The officer who captured me saw that I had nothing, but gave me a few sons, but I had just got on board...... It was spent. ”

Tigray laughed, he patted Latobis on the shoulder, then took the flask away, and took a few more sips, and the two of them drank the flask in one gulp, and when they looked up, they could only see the gray sky, which emitted an unspeakable stench.

"The temperature has dropped dramatically in the past two days, you kid have to be careful to keep warm, those people from the medical department said that they are full of people, and many people have frostbite in the past two days, and there are those who suffer from trench feet, and they don't think they will live long."

"There are no supplies, no reinforcements, when I passed by the headquarters today, I heard from the group of communication soldiers on motorcycles that our legion's request for help report was rejected again, and only a little material and ammunition were given.

"Got it...... Second Lieutenant, when do you think we'll be able to leave this hellish place, there are no enemies here, what's the point of us staying here? ”

"How do I know, this is something that only those big people think, maybe one day, that [lion] sees us on the map, and can transfer us away, if you are transferred to the war zone at that time, you kid don't come to me to complain again."

"Lion ......?"

Latobis, on the other hand, cared about something else.

"Second Lieutenant, have you ever seen that [lion]? What the hell is he like? I've heard that he can be ten meters tall, stronger than a tank, and fly, and slap his head if anyone doesn't like it. ”

"Don't listen to those people farting ...... [Lion], I really saw it once, at that time my captain was not dead, he once made a meritorious service, and followed a group of people to meet the [Lion], and I followed."

"Is he really ten meters tall?"

"It's not that exaggerated, but if it's five or six meters, I think it is, I was quite far away at the time, I didn't look carefully, but he was really tall, and he was very strong, at first glance it really looked like a tank, I don't know if it could fly, and I didn't see him with wings."

"If you really want to say it...... It must be particularly scary. ”

"Scary?"

"Yes, scary, very scary, I'm not afraid of you laughing at me, I still have my captain, as soon as the [lion] came out of the door and looked at us, we knelt down directly, I still can't forget that scene at that time, he was that person, it was so terrible, I didn't even dare to look at him, he was standing there...... How to say it, it is the kind of aura on his body that makes people want to kneel down and dare not look at him directly, just like an emperor. ”

"But isn't his father the emperor, the emperor?"

"How do I know, maybe that emperor has laid down so many grids in the world, and he has long been more emperors than emperors, so his son is an emperor, or like an emperor, isn't it reasonable."

"Anyway...... In short, that's it, that [lion] is like an emperor, but also like a real lion, or like a beast, it's the kind of thing you walk in the forest or in the wilderness, and suddenly find a very big beast staring at you, and I don't know whether to eat you or what, anyway, when the [lion] looks at you, I think you can only think so. ”

"And the people around him, those guys who are called Angels of Death, they are all the same, without saying a word, just looking at you there, you have to turn your legs and stomach and can't stand, I guess, those relatives and friends of the [lion] are also like this."

Sergeant Latobis nodded, though he quickly thought of another question.

"Ensign...... Then you say that such a person, his relatives and friends...... There are relatives, but he can have friends? ”

The question apparently caught Tigray, who scratched his head, scratched his chin again, and finally simply waved his hand at his clothes and replied in a self-defeating manner.

"Who knows, such a monster...... Maybe there's a monster who wants to be friends with him? ”

"The Milky Way is so big, who can say for sure."