Bombardment

"You want to open a psyker's collar?" Qin Mo smiled, staring at Kalon. "Have you thought this through?"

Psykers were extremely dangerous.

An untrained psyker who had awakened their powers was like a ticking time bomb.

If they only went berserk and caused destruction, that wouldn't be too bad. The most dangerous part was that a psyker's soul projection was incredibly conspicuous in the Warp, making it easy for the four evil entities to target them and become tools for them to extend their claws into the material universe.

So, upon hearing that Kalon had decided to open the psionic suppression collar if necessary, Qin Mo thought he was insane.

"Don't worry, I know the flaws of psykers," Kalon said, pointing to the scepter in his hand. "I'll make sure that after unleashing your destructive power, you won't be able to survive. You'll either die at the hands of the rebels, or I'll kill you."

Hearing this, Qin Mo looked at the scepter.

It was a golden scepter, topped with the Imperium's double-headed eagle symbol.

It wasn't just an old man's walking stick, but a weapon.

"From now on, you don't need to participate in fortifying the defenses. Rest and conserve your strength," Kalon commanded, then turned and left.

Burl glanced at Qin Mo and followed Kalon away.

Qin Mo rolled his eyes at the two of them and lowered his head to draw in his diary.

What he was doing now was one of the only two recreational activities available to him.

The first was reviewing past records.

The second was drawing blueprints for weapons.

Even Qin Mo found it strange. He didn't know why he had suddenly become so interested in scientific research, and it felt like something was guiding him from the shadows.

He couldn't even grasp calculus, yet whenever he wanted to research something, all the related theories would immediately surface in his mind.

So, it was both a process of research and a process of learning.

"Perhaps I've been blessed by Tzeentch," Qin Mo murmured.

He had muttered this to himself more than once.

The first time he'd accidentally blurted out the true name of one of the four Chaos Gods of the Warp, Qin Mo had remembered that this was the Warhammer Universe. Speaking the names directly was very easy to get corrupted by, especially since he was a psyker.

Perhaps it was because "Tzeentch" was a translation of the name, or perhaps for some other reason, but there were no consequences. Qin Mo didn't pay much attention to it.

He was engrossed in designing a protective device called a gravity shield.

A person wearing the shield could be immune to physical ranged attacks because the shield would generate a gravitational field. The wearer at the center of the field would be unaffected, while the area within two meters around them would experience intense gravity.

Artillery shells and bullets would be crushed and pulverized as soon as they entered the surrounding gravitational field.

This protective device had already been designed; it only needed to be manufactured and assembled.

This wasn't difficult for Qin Mo. He had even thought of a hundred ways to manufacture this thing.

"Perfect," Qin Mo said, contentedly putting his diary into his pocket. He then lowered his head to look at a puddle at the bottom of the trench.

Strictly speaking, the puddle wasn't water, but coolant from a logging gun. Some clumsy person had let it leak out.

Qin Mo's face was clearly reflected in the puddle. He admired his own face and couldn't help but exclaim, "Qin Mo, you truly are a genius."

As Qin Mo reveled in his sense of accomplishment, he suddenly noticed a tiny object in the puddle.

Strangely, this object was gradually growing larger.

"What is that?" Qin Mo curiously reached out to touch the object. When he touched it, the object trembled, making him realize it wasn't in the puddle, but was being reflected by the water in the puddle.

"..." Qin Mo looked up.

Boom!

An explosion occurred in the trench, sending shrapnel flying in all directions. Immediately after, thunderous booming sounds echoed throughout the entire position.

All the soldiers and prisoners stood up in terror, looking in the direction of the explosion.

It was the front trench of the position.

Everyone was stunned, not having reacted at all.

Until a second explosion occurred in the center of the position.

Ten soldiers sitting together on the outskirts of the trench were near the center of the blast. A blinding flash instantly obscured them, followed by a piece of shrapnel spinning out of the smoke and landing at Burl's feet.

"Artillery incoming!" Burl roared, then was the first to jump into the trench and lie down.

Kalon stood beside Burl. Instead of dodging, he struck the ground with his scepter, and a purple energy enveloped him and Burl.

The first two artillery shells were clearly calibration shots. After the two calibration shots, a barrage of shells rained down, and explosions and screams erupted all over the position.

The bombardment came too suddenly and unreasonably. The soldiers and prisoners hadn't expected it, which had made them very lax. When they came under artillery fire, they didn't even have time to take cover in the fortifications.

Of course, even if they had wanted to take cover, it would have been useless. The fortifications weren't finished yet, and they were disintegrating faster than the soldiers' bodies under the bombardment.

Burl, as the regimental commander, cowered under Kalon's protection, watching in horror as his soldiers were blown to pieces.

"How could artillery fire reach here?!" Burl asked in shock.

This position was located at the entrance leading to the underhive, and the planetary defense forces were operating within the underhive. This meant that this position was essentially the rear.

For the rebels, known as the Cult of Evolution, to threaten this place, they would first have to defeat the planetary defense forces' front line.

Had the front line been breached?

The thought sent a shiver down Burl's spine.

Whether the rebels had broken through the front line or sent small units to flank and ambush them, the soldiers on the defensive position had already lost over half their numbers in the bombardment.

"We have to pull back!" Burl couldn't stand it any longer, shouting at Kalon, "Use your psychic power, use your psychic power to order a retreat!"

"No, now is not the time to retreat." Kalon slowly shook his head, his deep pupils gazing towards the front of the position.

A large number of rebel soldiers were already advancing, following the artillery barrage and launching an assault on the position.

If a retreat order were given now, the entire infantry regiment would break and scatter, and the fate of scattering in a Hive City was to be slaughtered by the underhive rebels who were familiar with the terrain.

"That psychic, that psychic!" Burl suddenly remembered Qin Mo, "Find him, open his collar, and let him hold the line for a bit!"

"It's the only way." Kalon agreed with a nod, closing his eyes and using his psychic power to locate Qin Mo on the position.

Before Kalon could find Qin Mo, Qin Mo, who had taken a shell to the face, hadn't been blown to bits, but his body was already covered in horrific wounds from shrapnel.

If someone were to look at Qin Mo's lying position with thermal imaging at this moment, they would see a large amount of thermal energy generated from the explosion converging on Qin Mo and pouring into his body.

Qin Mo's body was gradually recovering, but his brain, having suffered a strong impact, had not yet fully recovered. He was in a semi-conscious state and was seeing illusions.