"Killed in Action"

Laun still did not know what had happened. Under Grey's escort, he walked along the roads of the underhive.

"I thought I was finished, but I never expected someone to have unified all the positions along the defensive line. The Emperor truly blessed us."

"Yes."

"You must have fought for a long time. Is that Power Armor some ancient relic dug out of the underhive?"

"Yes."

"You're really lucky."

"Yes."

Laun talked while Grey listened, and the two continued forward on foot.

After walking for some time, Laun suddenly felt tired. He turned to Grey and asked, "Why didn't you call the transport over? How long are we supposed to walk? We probably couldn't finish in a year."

"Yes." Grey nodded again as he had before, and this time, Laun was enraged.

Before, Laun could assume Grey was struggling with something internally and had no mood for idle chatter, so it did not matter if he kept saying yes.

But now they were discussing serious business, and Grey was still saying yes. That was intolerable.

"Watch your attitude, soldier," Laun warned.

"Yes." Grey raised a hand and called for a Transport Drone. "The transport will be here shortly."

"Hmph." That's more like it, Laun thought.

While they waited for the transport to arrive, Grey suddenly asked, "Did you know Qin Mo is actually a prisoner? A Psyker prisoner."

"Mm." Laun nodded casually at first, then looked at Grey in utter shock. "Mm?!"

"Qin Mo isn't even a soldier. He's just a prisoner, a prisoner assigned to the 44th Regiment," Grey said.

"..." Laun shook his head in shock. He could never have dreamed that Qin Mo was a prisoner.

How could a prisoner possibly lead soldiers into battle?

"Actually, this war has nothing to do with Qin Mo," Grey continued. "He was imprisoned because he did not want to be hunted down. Why should he fight for this planet? Why should he lead us into battle? What right do we have to demand that he stand with us instead of joining the Rebels and slaughtering us all?"

Laun listened quietly and understood what Grey was trying to say.

Qin Mo had nothing to do with this war. The only reason he had been willing to take part in it was because he was selfless and righteous.

Then Laun's skin crawled. He had no idea why Grey was telling him this.

"Qin Mo protected us and led us in battle."

"Grot once cursed him simply because he did not help build the bunker, but after the 44th Regiment was nearly wiped out, Grot still received Power Armor and was neither excluded nor retaliated against."

"He supported every position along the entire defensive line that needed support, providing supplies to those who had run out of ammunition and food."

After saying much more, Grey looked up.

The Transport Drone had arrived, hovering overhead through its Anti-Gravity Engine.

Grey suddenly leaped up. With the aid of his Jump Pack, he landed on the drone's platform, then removed his faceplate and looked down at Laun.

The drone rose slowly. Grey's eyes glared at Laun through his windblown, disheveled hair as he shouted, "Remember my face. Remember that I'm the one who executed you!"

"Wait!" Laun raised both hands. "Don't act rashly. We can talk this out!"

Just as he finished speaking, the Shoulder Cannon fired a beam of light.

Laun's body was engulfed by the beam. When it faded, he had been completely annihilated, and the ground where he had stood had melted into a deep crater.

The Shoulder Cannon on Grey's shoulder continued firing until it cooled down.

Those shots ensured that Laun's biological tissue was completely erased, leaving no way for anyone to determine how he had died through technological means.

Grey picked up a gravity hammer and smashed it down on his arm. His left hand, along with its arm guard, was instantly pulverized.

Grey gritted his teeth, put on his faceplate, and ordered the Transport Drone to return.

A moment later.

Inside the fortress.

Klein sat in the conference room, watching a medic bandage Grey while listening to Grey's account.

"Laun and I encountered enemies on the way. I didn't have time to activate the Gravity Shield. One Psyker restrained me, and another Aberrant rushed over and smashed my arm guard."

"If I hadn't activated the built-in Psy-Suppressor, I would already be dead."

"..."

As Klein listened to Grey's account, he studied him meaningfully and raised an eyebrow. "Tell me the truth. Did you kill Laun?"

Klein knew very well about certain dark matters that happened on the battlefield.

For example, in some terrifyingly cohesive regiments, if someone insisted on assigning them a new superior, that superior would be ostracized to death.

Klein had once heard that a classmate who had graduated from military academy with him had died. The report from the soldiers under his command was: the Emperor had teleported him away.

"Of course I couldn't have killed Laun." Grey ordered his faceplate, "Project the footage I recorded."

Then Klein saw what Grey had done in Laun's room.

From drinking together to Grey voluntarily choosing to escort Laun to inspect the other positions, though no footage of the journey had been recorded.

"You traitor." Klein looked at Grey with disgust. "If Laun hadn't died, would you have sided with him?"

Grey remained silent.

"Qin Mo is interrogating that female intelligence officer next door." Klein rose and walked out. "I'll tell him everything about what you did. Prepare yourself to face his wrath."

Grey still said nothing. He lowered his head, seemingly lost in thought.

In the room next door.

Qin Mo was interrogating Lyle.

Officially, it was highly suspicious for an Adeptus Arbites officer to appear in the underhive, and they had to rule out the possibility that she was a Rebel spy.

"You know I used to be a prisoner, right?" Qin Mo said with a smile. "I remember you. When I was arrested, you should have been nearby. Your clumsiness and stupidity left a deep impression."

"Is that why you were willing to bring Laun and me back with you?" Lyle asked.

"Yes." Qin Mo was very candid. Then he picked up Lyle's personal terminal, preparing to start directly with the Adeptus Arbites database and erase his own records from it.

At that moment, Klein suddenly pushed open the door, walked up to Qin Mo, and whispered in his ear, repeating everything Grey had just said.

Qin Mo then wanted to ask: the Psy-Suppressor would automatically activate when it detected a Psychic Power attack, and activating the Psy-Suppressor would also trigger the Gravity Shield. That was a Power Armor mechanism designed to guard against sudden attacks. How had Grey's arm been torn off by the Rebels?

But that was a matter on the scientific level. What Grey had done was on another level entirely.

"I understand." Qin Mo nodded.

"He's a prisoner! Don't believe him!" Lyle suddenly decided to take a bold gamble. Betting that no one besides Qin Mo knew he was a prisoner, she shouted at Klein.

"You're a prisoner?" Klein looked at Qin Mo in utter shock, then laughed. "I thought she was going to say you were her biological father."

"In this situation, it wouldn't be strange even if she claimed to be the Emperor." Qin Mo smiled helplessly.

"Hahaha." Klein turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.