Individual Gravity Shield

"I thought the collar was blown to bits," Qin Mo said.

Qin Mo raised his hand, releasing flames to burn off the collar, his expression one of extreme shock.

Fighting this far with the psionic suppression collar on had deeply shaken him. He stopped thinking about what to do next and instead pondered why he could still use his powers with it on.

It simply made no scientific sense.

Manifesting flames and lightning from nothing, and influencing matter in the physical world – this was clearly the manifestation of psionic power.

But if it was psionic power, why wasn't it suppressed by the collar?

Qin Mo suddenly felt that the source of his power might not be the Warp, but something else entirely.

However, it was also possible that the collar simply couldn't suppress overly strong psionic abilities.

It was a shame that he had been captured and sent to the front lines the same day he awakened his powers. If he hadn't been, he could have tested if the Sisters of Silence could suppress his abilities.

If they could, it meant the collar's suppression effect wasn't strong enough.

If they couldn't, it meant his power wasn't psionic in nature.

No, no, no...

Thinking this, Qin Mo felt fortunate he hadn't been sent to a black ship. He couldn't test this with the Sisters of Silence anymore. How could his thirst for knowledge compare to his life?

"What's wrong?" Grey asked when he saw Qin Mo's troubled expression.

"Nothing," Qin Mo shook his head. He began to consider what to do next, then said to everyone, "First, we should naturally leave this position. Then we have two choices: one is to go down into the underhive through the passage, and the other is to stay and continue fighting."

Hearing this, everyone lowered their heads to consider.

Though no one spoke, Qin Mo guessed that they would definitely choose to go to the underhive. After all, the enemy might break through the front line at any moment, and staying here would be extremely dangerous.

"If we leave..." Grey's expression was solemn, "Will the friendly forces guarding the passage exit let us through?"

"Although the Hive City is desperately short of personnel right now, soldiers who flee the lower hive are usually executed as an example to the underhive guards. But this is just my speculation; I don't know for sure if they'll be executed," Qin Mo replied.

Everyone hesitated immensely.

On one hand, they genuinely wanted to escape to the underhive. On the other, they feared execution.

But this was a necessary choice: either stay in the lower hive and face the rebels, or take a gamble and see if they would be executed.

"I still have family. If I'm executed, they'll suffer too. I must stay," Grey raised his hand.

"I'll stay too. I can't let my daughter and wife be denied even their meager benefits because I deserted," another soldier said.

"I have no family. I just want to stay and kill rebels, for the Emperor! For the Master of Mankind!"

Those who chose to stay raised their hands one after another, a total of five people.

The remaining thirteen remained silent, but their silence clearly indicated their stance.

"You may leave," Qin Mo stood up, his gaze falling upon the weapons of the thirteen. "But please leave your weapons and ammunition. I need them."

Those who decided to go to the underhive all stood up and gave Qin Mo the Aquila salute.

They had never saluted so rigorously or respectfully, not even to higher nobles or their officers.

Although Qin Mo was a prisoner, without him, they wouldn't have held out until the rebels retreated, nor would they have the current opportunity to choose between staying or leaving.

"We'll leave our weapons, and besides weapons, food and water too."

"May the Emperor protect you loyal warriors."

The thirteen neatly stacked their weapons and ammunition on the ground, then placed their canteens and rations on top of the weapons. One among them, whose uniform was relatively intact, took off his uniform and boots so Qin Mo could replace his tattered rags.

After leaving everything they could, these thirteen people departed, looking back three steps at a time.

Including Qin Mo, there were six people who chose to stay. Although they had all volunteered, they couldn't help but worry about their upcoming situation.

"What do we do now? Go find the rebels and fight, or stay on the defensive line?" Grey asked.

"We certainly can't stay on the defensive line. The explosion that saved us earlier was clearly caused by other friendly forces. We must find surviving friendly forces and rendezvous with them," Qin Mo said, sitting cross-legged on the ground and beginning to dismantle a lasgun. "But before that, I need to make something."

Grey didn't know what Qin Mo intended to make. He watched, puzzled, as Qin Mo removed the electronic parts from the lasgun and then used his flame-wreathed hand to melt the rifle's casing.

The others also stared blankly.

"Stop gawking. Two of you go scout the perimeter. The rest, help me find any usable metal or electronic parts," Qin Mo commanded.

"Yes." Grey turned to another soldier with excellent eyesight. The latter nodded in understanding and went with Grey to scout, carrying a lasgun.

The others began searching the defensive position for what Qin Mo needed.

Half an hour later.

All the weapons, metal, and electronic parts that could be found on the defensive position were piled before Qin Mo.

Captain Burl's APC couldn't be brought here, but everything that could be salvaged from it was dismantled and brought before Qin Mo.

"You guys dismantled Burl's APC?" Qin Mo asked without looking up.

"Yes. I originally wanted to repair it, but the engine of that APC had three claw marks deeply gouged into its core."

"Then it's beyond repair," Qin Mo nodded and continued to focus on his crafting.

This scene was quite novel for the soldiers. Grey found someone else to stand guard while he himself stood before Qin Mo, observing his every move.

Pieces of metal melted in Qin Mo's hands, converging into a single mass before rapidly cooling into a solid form.

This hard metal became soft, like clay, molded by Qin Mo into whatever shape he desired.

Two slender metal rods floated beside Qin Mo, controlled by his telekinesis. When he needed to make minute adjustments to his creation, these rods worked like surgical scalpels, far more precise than human hands.

Simultaneously, wires were extracted from the broken electronic components, twisted and deformed, then connected together as if they had never been severed.

Under Grey's curious gaze, a backpack-like object was created.

"What is this? A backpack?" Grey asked.

"Put it on," Qin Mo said, pointing to the backpack.

Grey immediately stepped forward and slung the backpack onto his back. Then, he felt as if he were carrying a cannonball; the backpack was incredibly heavy.

"Individual gravity shield," Qin Mo stated, raising his hand. A grenade on the ground floated towards Grey. "It can defend against kinetic attacks."

Grey didn't understand what a gravity shield was; he had never even heard the term before.

So, Qin Mo demonstrated. He wiggled his fingers, and the safety on the grenade floating before Grey was disengaged.

Everyone except Qin Mo immediately dropped to the ground.

One second later, the grenade exploded, releasing shrapnel as it detonated normally. Then, all the fragments were retracted and pressed onto the ground.

Everyone stared in astonishment at the pile of debris on the ground.

"As you can see, its purpose is to help you resist kinetic attacks. However, this thing is powered by rifle batteries. Theoretically, one battery can keep the gravity shield operational for ten minutes," Qin Mo said calmly.

He showed no pride in this creation called a gravity shield.

Inside the gravity shield's casing was a gravity generator. Its principle was to consume energy to create a gravitational effect. The effective range was not a circular area but a hollow ring, as the user couldn't be crushed by the gravity themselves.

Qin Mo had researched this for quite some time, but during the actual manufacturing process, he was limited by the materials at hand. The gravity shields he produced couldn't reach their intended specifications.

They were too heavy and consumed too much energy... but they were sufficient to save a person's life, and they had a special use.

For instance, charging through an enemy during close-quarters combat with the gravity shield active.

"What if we encounter lasguns?" someone asked.

"The lasgun will pierce both you and the gravity shield," Qin Mo replied frankly. After a pause, he added, "However, the lasguns used by the rebels are stolen from the underhive. Most of the weapons they carry should be homemade kinetic weapons."

"It's good enough if it can block kinetic rounds, don't be too greedy," Grey chimed in.

"Greed is a good thing when it comes to weaponry and equipment," Qin Mo said, sitting down to start manufacturing gravity shields for the others and himself. "Send two people to scout the vicinity for any friendly forces. If we find any, we'll head over immediately."