Speculation

Planetary Defense Force defensive line, encampment of the 87th and 31st Regiments.

Ever since Qin Mo had arrived to provide support and erected a small fortress, the rebels had not launched an attack for some time. Yet no one let down their guard. They stood ready at any moment to receive Qin Mo's orders and rush wherever he needed them.

On this quiet day, Duncan and Albert, the two Regimental Commanders, gathered outside the fortress with the soldiers, watching the Logistics Machines constantly move in and out of the position.

These black spherical machines had previously delivered food and ammunition. Now, they were transporting weapons.

The Logistics Machines lowered enormous black metal crates onto the ground, then began reclaiming the crates' metal. One improved Laser Rifle after another appeared before the crowd.

"Laser Rifles fitted with scopes?"

"Why not try them and find out?"

The soldiers ecstatically picked up the Laser Rifles, then headed to the firing range outside the small fortress and fired at targets fashioned from Rebel equipment and wooden dummies.

They were then astonished to discover that these Laser Rifles had a faster rate of fire, while their battery capacity had also clearly increased, allowing them to fire more beams before their energy was exhausted.

And that was merely the tip of the iceberg.

Half a month had passed since word came that Kato City had been stabilized, and all kinds of weapons and equipment had been sent to the position ever since.

These included, but were not limited to, a Leman Russ Tank, several ordinary suits of Power Armor, unmanned transport aircraft, and even self-propelled artillery controlled by no one.

Those self-propelled guns were mounted on antigravity hover platforms. They required no operators, nor did they even have space reserved for one.

Once the Logistics Machines lowered them into the position, the artillery pieces automatically gathered together.

"A Leman Russ Tank. Emperor above." Albert, who had once served in an armored unit, stared in amazement at the Leman Russ Tank parked outside the fortress alongside the Artillery Drones. "The route to the Underhive has already been blown up. I truly have no idea how this tank was made."

The Leman Russ Tank was a heavy tank equipped by the Imperium's Astra Militarum. It was not a War Machine that just any Hive City or industrial world could manufacture.

If Hive Terra had possessed the capacity to produce Leman Russ Tanks, the Imperium would have sent troops to deal with the rebels long ago.

"Just like this fortress." Duncan looked toward the small fortress. "It must be the product of creation magic."

As one of the positions Qin Mo had personally saved, everyone here had witnessed the creation magic he wielded. A fortress could rise from the ground in just a few minutes.

Everyone here had also seen the Power Armor worn by Qin Mo and the survivors of his 44th Regiment. Taken together, the creation of a Leman Russ Tank was not particularly strange.

"Did you notice that those artillery pieces are unmanned? Just like those black eggs." Albert suddenly lowered his voice, his expression mysterious.

Duncan understood what Albert meant.

Ever since the black eggs... the Logistics Machines had appeared, rumors had spread through the position that those black eggs contained Abominable Intelligence. They had no operators and no one directing them, yet they could do anything.

The unmanned artillery now made that rumor all the more convincing.

"Perhaps. But we need them right now. Otherwise, we cannot even guarantee our logistics, can we?"

"That is true..."

"Keep silent about this. Sometimes, knowing too much and saying too much are both bad things."

"Yeah."

After exchanging a few words, Duncan and Albert tacitly ended the subject and changed the topic.

"What do you think all this weaponry and equipment is for?" Albert asked.

"Obviously, to create Composite Regiments." Duncan gave his assessment. "Our entire force consists of infantry regiments, and the armored units were wiped out long ago during the offensive plan. We need weapons and equipment capable of breaking fortified positions."

"Composite Regiments..." Albert's view completely matched Duncan's.

"I can even imagine what it will look like once all the weapons and equipment are issued." Duncan pointed at the Leman Russ Tank. "Each regiment will use a Leman Russ Tank as its core, with a small number of elite infantry wearing Power Armor and advancing under cover of the Artillery Drones. Perhaps those warriors in even more powerful Power Armor will arrive as well and lead us in a counteroffensive."

"You said a counteroffensive?" Albert was somewhat surprised.

"That is right. What else would Composite Regiments be for? Hiding in fortresses?" Duncan said calmly.

At that, Albert suddenly felt that Qin Mo was preparing for a great battle.

A counteroffensive.

The defensive line had now been consolidated, and according to the latest news, the Kato settlement had also been relieved. They had held their ground until now and gained a foothold. It was time to strike back.

Though they had few men and their troops were not elite, they had endured being beaten back for so long that merely thinking of a counteroffensive was enough to set their blood boiling.

"But we have too few men. Do you think a counteroffensive is realistic?" Albert asked.

"Compared with passively taking blows, we should counterattack." Duncan lowered his head and looked at the scorched metal ground beneath his feet. "Up to now, we have truly been nothing more than cornered beasts fighting for our lives. If we are destined to die, why can we not sink our teeth into the rebels before we do? Perhaps someone will record our brave deeds someday."

Those words carried deep pessimism. Albert frowned and lowered his head in thought after hearing them, but he arrived at exactly the same conclusion as Duncan.

In truth, they were all merely cornered beasts fighting for their lives. They simply did not want to sit still and wait for death. No one truly believed they could win.

If death was inevitable, then giving the rebels a savage punch before dying was indeed the sensible choice.

Taking everything into account, although no order concerning a counteroffensive or any other military operation had come through the communicator, the answer was obvious: a counteroffensive was inevitable.

"We will be like shooting stars, blazing with the most dazzling light in the night sky, even if that brilliance lasts only a very short time," Duncan said poetically.

"What is a shooting star?" Albert asked. "I am an Underhive man, buddy. If this thing called a star is in the sky, then I have never seen one."

"A shooting star is an astronomical phenomenon. It shoots from the very bottom of a Hive City toward the sky, then traces an arc as if fired from a slingshot," Duncan answered with complete seriousness.

Albert suddenly understood and nodded. "I have never seen a shooting star, but I know that if we bombard the rebels with tanks, the effect of their corpses getting blown into the air should be about the same as the shooting stars you described."

Duncan nodded in agreement, feeling that the effect should be roughly the same. After all, he had only heard of shooting stars and never seen one himself.

The two friends fell silent for a while.

Then Duncan suddenly said, "The effect when the rebels blow us into the air should be the same too."