The passage from the Spire to the Hive City.
Davi Luo, who hadn't been seen for several days, stood at the entrance of the passage, with only one Battle-Brother behind him.
The other Astartes was left at the Spire due to severe injuries, replaced by Commander Sith leading the 101st Regiment.
"In the past few days, I've gathered all the information about the Hive City. Here, we can bypass the rebels and directly enter the Lower Hive from the Spire."
Davi Luo squatted on the ground, holding his helmet, while Sith stood, looking down at the hidden passage Davi Luo pointed to on a drawn map.
"According to information from the Spire three months ago, everyone in the Middle and Lower Hives has fallen to the rebels, so the estimated number of rebels will be around 1.5 to 2 billion."
Davi Luo calmly stated this number. Although Sith knew that the vast majority of these rebels were just rebellious workers armed with simple cold weapons, this number still made Sith's throat twitch involuntarily.
"So, before we set off, I need Commander Sith's troops to launch a sufficiently large attack on the Upper Hive rebels, to divert attention as much as possible for our subsequent actions."
After Davi Luo finished speaking, he looked at Sith with a questioning gaze rather than a command. After all, ordering most soldiers, who had only received three days of training, to launch a proactive attack against billions of rebels, seemed no different from sending them to their deaths.
However, Sith was surprisingly decisive about this.
"No problem."
Davi Luo's expression clearly softened a bit. In his view, this was a display of Sith's absolute loyalty to the Emperor.
But for Sith, nothing could be more suitable than training troops against a group of rebels primarily armed with melee weapons.
Anyway, they weren't really going to completely eliminate the enemy; they could just retreat to the Spire once he and Davi Luo returned.
Davi Luo stood up, finally putting on his helmet.
The visor's red glow reignited and fixed on Sith.
"This is a reconnaissance mission. We need to go to the Lower Hive to locate a target and determine its current scale."
"So, once we've gathered enough information, we can return."
Sith said no more. He just picked up his Bolter pistol and drew his combat knife. Behind him stood one hundred of the most elite veterans, armed with various heavy weapons.
Sith and these hundred veterans would accompany Davi Luo to the Lower Hive.
These hundred men were the ultimate veterans, having fought alongside Sith since the earliest days of the 101st Regiment. They could no longer be described as merely seasoned in a hundred battles, but rather as survivors of a thousand!
And these elites, survivors of a thousand battles, merely standing there, made even Davi Luo feel a sense of apprehension.
The other Astartes, with only one golden stud on his forehead, was reminded of the awkwardness he felt facing veterans when he first enlisted.
Following this apprehension and awkwardness was the surprising realization that, as an Astartes, he actually felt trust in a group of Mortals.
At least for the upcoming mission, they dared to entrust their backs to these Mortals.
Without further words, Davi Luo followed Sith, raising his Bolter, and turned towards the hidden passage.
The two Astartes walked ahead, and Sith also nodded to Bruno.
The already prepared 101st Regiment, accompanied by the loud grinding of gears from several other passages, launched an attack on the dumbfounded rebels behind the passage.
Gunfire once again echoed throughout the entire Hive City.
A full twenty-nine infantry regiments launched a full-scale assault on the Upper Hive, while an artillery regiment began to furiously pour fire onto the densely packed Upper Hive buildings.
Large artillery shells arced over the towering Hive City, then landed on various illegal structures, causing violent explosions and collapsing towers, startling countless swarming rebels from within.
Then, an endless human tide began to surge towards the 101st Regiment.
While the rebels were busy defending or even counterattacking the 101st Regiment, on the other side, a massive elevator in the secret passage leading directly from the Governor's Palace to the Lower Hive was plummeting, rapidly descending into the deep Lower Hive.
A strong sense of weightlessness came over them, making it feel as if their hearts were about to leap out.
The sharp screech of the elevator occasionally scraping against the walls, accompanied by a shower of sparks, seemed to be dragging Sith and the others into a bottomless hell.
Until a noticeable deceleration, their previously 'light' bodies instantly became extremely heavy again, and the sparks around the elevator suddenly intensified. The elevator finally slowly reached its destination.
Sith raised his Bolter pistol, and the veterans behind him all disengaged their safeties and gripped their triggers.
Davi Luo, waiting for the elevator to almost stop, turned to Sith:
"According to intelligence, this passage is highly confidential, and there should be no enemies outside the door."
Sith did not reply, still watching the elevator doors.
With an ear-splitting jolt, the stopped elevator slowly opened to both sides. Intense gunfire erupted from the corridor outside the elevator, and beneath the gunfire, an endless horde of rebels, who had been waiting for a long time, stretched as far as the eye could see!
Sith looked up at Davi Luo...
Davi Luo: "Alright, the intelligence might be a bit outdated."
Guns roared, and the thick Bolter fire from the Astartes exploded amidst the dense crowd after smashing through a dozen rebel heads.
Then, like a signal, the two sides, inside and outside the elevator, frantically pulled their triggers with no escape.
"Everyone, hide behind the Astartes! Use the Astartes as cover!"
Sith shouted to the veterans behind him, leaning against Davi Luo.
The veterans' survival to this point, besides Sith's hundredfold amplification, also proved that they were inherently excellent warriors.
As a result, as soon as Sith spoke, they all immediately took cover behind Davi Luo.
Even without cover, they would immediately prostrate themselves on the ground, shrinking themselves beneath the barrage of bullets.
Davi Luo and the other Astartes were also extremely cooperative, relying on their power armor to actually withstand the rebel barrage.
Fortunately, the rebels' main weapons were automatic guns, a tier lower than laser guns, and their heavy firepower consisted only of not-so-fast rockets. Davi Luo actually managed to withstand the rebel fire!
Davi Luo slaughtered the crowded rebels in front of him with his Bolter, while also casually blasting incoming rockets out of the air.
Coupled with the equally fierce firepower from the veterans behind him, after a while, Davi Luo actually advanced, pushing through the barrage.
Like two continuously extending autocannons, the rebels' successive charges were not enough to withstand the slaughter by Sith and Davi Luo.
Until they exited the elevator passage and arrived at the Hive City Governor's secret base, the hidden fortress in the Lower Hive that was supposed to be the Governor's last hiding place, was now covered with large rebel banners.
However, most of the rebels had been mobilized to the Upper Hive not long ago, so there weren't many rebels left guarding the fortress.
Sith and Davi Luo cleared out the few remaining rebels in a very short time.
The veterans immediately spread out to control the fortress's key defenses, while Davi Luo and the other Astartes delved deeper into the fortress to gather intelligence.
Only Sith was temporarily idle, curiously examining the rebel camp. There were no ritual sacrifices as he had imagined from a cult; instead, the entire camp was rather tidy.
Seeing this, Sith became even more curious, his gaze sweeping over, even offering a slight salute to the massive portrait of the Emperor in the very center.
However, no sooner had his eyes moved away than Sith frowned.
Rebels? The Emperor?
Looking back, the scene before him made Sith's expression freeze:
"This Emperor..."
"Why does he have four arms??"