Rationality

On the way back to the city center, the militia and soldiers clustered around Qin Mo. When he reached a cathedral, the people sheltering inside emerged.

Most of them were wounded, with only two exceptions.

One was a middle-aged man wearing the insignia of a Legion Commander on his shoulder, and the other was a female officer from the Hive City Adeptus Arbites.

"Legion Commander Laun of the logistics forces, and Lyle, an intelligence agent from the Hive City Adeptus Arbites," the officer who had fought alongside Qin Mo introduced them.

Qin Mo was not surprised that there was a Legion Commander here. After all, Laun was a member of the Planetary Defense Force.

But why would Adeptus Arbites intelligence agent Lena be here? Could the Adeptus Arbites of Hive Terra really be so dedicated that they even extended their reach into the Underhive?

"Are you the Marshal's guards?" Laun raised a brow as he examined Qin Mo's Power Armor. "Why have I never seen this model before?"

"We are not the Marshal's guards." Qin Mo shook his head.

"You came too late, soldiers." Laun frowned and complained. "Emperor above, we fought street battles here for nearly a week. Why did you only arrive now?"

"Emperor above, if you hadn't suddenly popped out, I would've thought the Regimental Commander was the highest-ranking officer here!" Grey said sarcastically.

While everyone else had been fighting the rebels, Laun and Lyle had been hiding in the cathedral with the wounded.

They had not discussed battle plans or anything of the sort, because they had not received a single order from then until now. Everyone had been fighting on their own.

Laun frowned, but seeing the sour expressions around him, he did not dare rebuke anyone. He merely changed the subject. "Are there any higher-ranking officers still alive?"

"No, sir." Qin Mo calmly shook his head.

Hearing that, Grey looked at Qin Mo in astonishment.

From the moment he met Laun, Qin Mo had acted completely naturally, as if he were already prepared to hand over his command.

And he had even addressed Laun as sir in his answer. That was truly...

"Although you came a little late, I still have to commend you. You did very well, soldier." Laun patted Qin Mo's arm approvingly.

Seeing Qin Mo's meek manner, Laun grew bolder. "From now on, you will obey my orders. Understood?"

"Yes." Qin Mo nodded.

"Now take me somewhere safe. The lady from the Adeptus Arbites beside me and I require protection." Laun glanced at Lyle.

Lyle smiled and nodded at Qin Mo.

"Alright." Qin Mo agreed again, then looked at Grey and signaled for him to call over the unmanned transport.

Grey had a great deal to say. He even wanted to rush over and slap Qin Mo, demanding to know whether he understood what he was doing. He was handing over the army he had painstakingly gathered!

But Grey ultimately held himself back. He chose to obey and immediately summoned the unmanned transport.

"Sir!"

"Hello."

Klein gestured for the soldiers lining both sides of the corridor not to salute, then walked straight into Qin Mo's room.

Qin Mo, who was drawing a map, turned toward Klein when he heard the door open.

Klein raised a hand to stop Qin Mo from speaking, then hurried over and asked, "Do you know what the people you brought back are doing?"

"What are they doing?" Qin Mo knew Klein was referring to Laun.

"He's barking orders at my soldiers, demanding that we clear out the largest room for him and find him the best bed, or have one custom-made." Klein looked at Qin Mo with a smile. "What were you thinking when you brought them back?"

"That fool actually demanded that your soldiers make him a custom bed?" Qin Mo laughed.

"He's an Upper Hive noble. None of those nobles are fools. They can use schemes to kill you without you ever realizing it. In their eyes, demanding a bed is only natural." Klein was utterly serious.

Klein had never questioned Qin Mo before, but this time was different. He truly could not endure it.

Seeing Qin Mo's cheerful expression, Klein warned him, "Do you know what will happen next? Your command will be taken away, your identity as a soldier will be exposed, and the defensive line you ran yourself ragged to unite will become someone else's. And you'll still be a soldier, perhaps even ranked lower than me."

"Why?" Qin Mo asked.

Klein froze at the question, unsure how to answer.

"Why would the defensive line I united become his?" Qin Mo continued. "Can he unleash fire and lightning to kill swarms of enemies? Can he create powerful weapons and equipment? Or does he possess unmatched strategy, enough to string up the Rebel commanders and beat them?"

That string of questions made Klein ponder deeply.

This was wartime, after all. Qin Mo had already built up prestige by uniting the defensive line. Everyone at the positions along the line had either seen him fight or heard of it.

And nearly every soldier had reached the same conclusion: they had been betrayed by the higher-ups, and the offensive plan was a conspiracy.

Under such circumstances, no matter how skilled Laun was at intrigue, it would be useless unless he could provide military support stronger than Qin Mo's or lead everyone out of the Underhive.

After reaching that conclusion, Klein scratched the back of his head and asked with a frown, "But... if you're not afraid of him taking your command and can't kill him, why didn't you leave him in that city? Why insist on bringing him here?"

"I have a backup plan. Seeing Laun reminded me of it." Qin Mo glanced at the door as he spoke. Seeing that Klein had closed it when he entered, he continued with ease.

"I have a backup plan."

"The plan is to begin digging through the collapsed passages and open up a route to the Underhive as much as possible."

"Then we'll use Laun, along with every person like him we can find, to negotiate with the higher-ups and secure permission to return to the Underhive."

After hearing the entire plan, Klein's pupils suddenly constricted. Qin Mo became unfamiliar in his eyes.

"You want to run away? I can't believe you would think that way," Klein said.

"I don't want to run away. This is a backup plan. I have to rationally consider every possible outcome, good or bad." Qin Mo spoke seriously. "I will seek every possible way to defeat the rebels, no matter the cost. But if we truly cannot do it, I must find another way instead of sitting here and waiting to die."

"You're very rational." Klein understood Qin Mo's thinking and nodded in agreement. "Should I arrest Laun or something?"

"You can keep him by your side and pry information out of him, such as where his family is. If the passage is opened and we are forced to withdraw, that will be useful," Qin Mo said.

"Alright." Klein immediately left.

Qin Mo turned around and began to think.

Everything he had told Klein was nonsense.

If the offensive plan was a conspiracy, then Laun, who had also been dragged into it, would not be allowed to withdraw from the Underhive in the future merely because of his noble status.

Qin Mo wanted to get rid of Laun. He simply could not execute a Legion Commander in front of everyone.

"I need to think of a way..." Qin Mo muttered.