Single-Soldier Gravity Shield

"I thought the collar had been blown apart."

Qin Mo raised a hand and released flames to burn away the collar, his expression utterly stunned.

Fighting all this time while wearing a Psychic Suppressor Collar had shaken him deeply. He no longer considered what to do next, but why he could still wield Psychic Power while wearing the thing.

This simply wasn't scientific.

Conjuring flames and lightning from nothing, even affecting matter in the material world—those were surely manifestations of Psychic Power.

But if it was Psychic Power, why hadn't the collar suppressed it?

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

Still, it was possible that the collar simply could not suppress Psychic Power that was too strong.

Unfortunately, he had been captured and sent to the front lines on the very day he awakened his Psychic Power two days ago. He had not been dragged onto a Black Ship. Otherwise, he could have tested whether the Sisters of Silence could suppress his Psychic Power.

If they could suppress it, then the collar's suppression effect was simply too weak.

If they could not, then his power was not Psychic Power.

No, no, no...

At that thought, Qin Mo felt lucky he had not been sent aboard a Black Ship. He could not seek out the Sisters of Silence for testing in the future, either. Curiosity was nowhere near as important as his life.

"What's wrong?" Grey asked when he saw that Qin Mo did not look well.

"Nothing." Qin Mo shook his head and began considering what to do next. Then he told everyone, "First, we should obviously leave this position. Then we have two options. The first is to head for the Underhive through the passage. The second is to stay and keep fighting."

At those words, everyone lowered their heads to think.

Though none of them spoke, Qin Mo figured they would choose to go to the Underhive. The enemy might already have broken through the line, and staying here meant almost certain death.

"If we leave..." Grey's expression was grave. "Will our allies guarding the passage exit let us through?"

"Although the Hive City is desperately short on manpower right now, soldiers who flee out of the lower hive will probably be executed as an example to the troops defending the Underhive. But that is only my guess. I don't know whether they will actually execute us." Qin Mo answered.

Everyone was deeply conflicted.

On one hand, they truly wanted to escape to the Underhive. On the other, they were afraid of being executed.

But it was a necessary choice. Either remain in the lower hive and face the rebels, or gamble on whether they would be put to death.

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

"I'm staying too. I can't let my wife and daughter lose even that small pension because I became a deserter."

"I don't have family. I just want to stay and kill rebels. For the Emperor! For the Lord of Humanity!"

One after another, those who chose to stay raised their hands. There were five in total.

The remaining thirteen stayed silent, but their silence had already made their position clear.

"You may leave." Qin Mo stood and looked at the weapons of the thirteen men. "But please leave your weapons and ammunition behind. I need them."

Everyone who had decided to go to the Underhive stood and gave Qin Mo an Aquila salute.

Whether facing high-ranking nobles or officers, they had never saluted with such solemn respect.

Though Qin Mo was a prisoner, without him, none of them would have held out until the rebels withdrew. Nor would they have the chance to choose between leaving and staying now.

"We'll leave our weapons behind. Food and water too."

"May the Emperor bless you loyal warriors."

The thirteen men neatly piled their weapons and ammunition on the ground, then stacked canteens and rations atop the weapons. One man whose uniform was still relatively intact took off his clothes and boots so Qin Mo could replace the tattered strips of cloth he wore.

After leaving behind everything they could, they departed, looking back every few steps.

Including Qin Mo, there were six people who had chosen to stay. Though they had all stayed voluntarily, they could not help worrying about what lay ahead.

"What do we do next? Find the rebels and fight them, or stay at the position?" Grey asked.

"Of course we can't stay here. The explosion that saved us earlier was clearly caused by other allied troops. We need to find any surviving allies and link up with them." As Qin Mo spoke, he sat cross-legged on the ground and began dismantling a Laser Rifle. "But before that, I need to make something."

Grey had no idea what Qin Mo wanted to make. He watched in confusion as Qin Mo removed the rifle's electronic components, then used a flame-wreathed hand to melt down its casing.

The others watched blankly as well.

"Don't just stand there. Two of you go keep watch around the area. The rest, help me find every usable piece of metal or electronic component you can." Qin Mo ordered.

"Yes." Grey turned to another soldier with exceptionally sharp eyesight. The man nodded in understanding, picked up a Laser Rifle, and went on watch with Grey.

The others searched the position for the things Qin Mo needed.

Half an hour later.

Every weapon, piece of metal, and electronic component that could be found at the position had been piled before Qin Mo.

Regimental Commander Burl's troop carrier could not be brought over, but everything detachable inside it had been stripped out and brought to Qin Mo.

"You dismantled Burl's troop carrier?" Qin Mo asked without looking up.

"Yes. I originally wanted to repair it, but its engine had three claw marks gouged deep into its core."

"Then it can't be repaired." Qin Mo nodded and continued focusing on his work.

The sight was novel to the soldiers. Grey had someone else take over watch, while he stood before Qin Mo and observed every one of his movements.

Piece after piece of metal melted in Qin Mo's hands, then rapidly cooled into a single whole after being gathered together.

The hard metal became soft, kneaded like clay into any shape Qin Mo wanted.

Two slender metal rods floated beside Qin Mo's hands under telekinetic control. Whenever he needed to make fine adjustments to his creation, the rods worked like surgical scalpels with greater precision than human hands.

At the same time, wires were extracted from the shattered electronic components, then twisted, reshaped, and connected together as though they had never been broken.

Under Grey's curious gaze, something resembling a backpack took shape.

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

"Put it on." Qin Mo pointed at the backpack.

Grey immediately stepped forward and strapped the backpack onto his back. Then he felt as if he were carrying a heavy cannon shell. The backpack was absurdly heavy.

"A single-soldier Gravity Shield." Qin Mo raised a hand as he spoke, and a grenade on the ground floated toward Grey. "It can defend against solid-projectile attacks."

Grey did not understand what a Gravity Shield was. It was the first time he had even heard the name.

So Qin Mo demonstrated. He flicked a finger, and the safety pin on the grenade floating before Grey came loose.

Everyone except Qin Mo immediately dropped to the ground.

A second later, the grenade exploded. It burst normally and released shrapnel, but all the fragments were pulled inward and pressed onto the ground.

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

"As you can see, it helps defend you against solid-projectile attacks. But this thing runs on rifle batteries. In theory, one battery can keep the Gravity Shield running for ten minutes." Qin Mo spoke calmly.

He was not proud of this creation called the Gravity Shield in the slightest.

Inside the Gravity Shield's casing was a gravity generator. Its principle was to consume energy to create a gravitational effect. Its effective range was not a circular area, but a hollow ring, since the user could not be crushed by gravity too.

Qin Mo had studied this thing for quite a while, but the materials in his hands had limited him. The Gravity Shield he made fell far short of expectations.

It was too heavy and consumed too much energy... but it could save a person's life, and it had another special use.

For example, charging recklessly through close combat with the Gravity Shield activated.

"What if we run into Laser Rifles?" someone asked.

"Lasers will punch straight through both you and the Gravity Shield." Qin Mo answered honestly. After a pause, he added, "But the Laser Rifles in the rebels' hands were stolen from the Underhive. Most of their weapons should be homemade solid-projectile weapons."

"Blocking solid rounds is already good enough. Don't be so greedy," Grey chimed in.

"Being greedy when it comes to weapons and equipment is a good thing." Qin Mo sat down and began making Gravity Shields for the others and himself. "Send two people to scout whether there are any allied troops nearby. If there are, we'll head over immediately."