78: Chapter 78 Relieving the Siege of Wei by Attacking Zhao

Mid-Hive, outside the Honeycomb Building.

Marcus had been besieging the place for nearly a day.

Forget about storming the building; he hadn't even touched the entrance.

Seven armored vehicles had been blown into scrap metal, over a hundred men had been lost in front of the building, and the remaining soldiers were all cowering behind cover, each one more cowardly than the last!

What drove him the most insane was: what kind of lunatic would fortify a residential building like a fortress?

The entire building was wrapped in ceramite plating, gun barrels protruded from every window, and the firing ports were as dense as a hornet's nest.

What was even more outrageous was that they had installed a Void Shield inside the building!

Relying on the Void Shield, the enemy was fearless, and the sniping never ceased.

"Damn it... is this really a residential building?" Marcus gritted his teeth and spat out a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva.

His adjutant cowered beside him, his face covered in blood scabs, head buried low, not daring to utter a word.

Marcus glanced at his communicator. There was still no news from Brigadier General Valerius.

Marcus looked up at the hundred-story building before him, caught in a dilemma.

He had already lost the bridge. If he couldn't take this building, when Valerius returned, he would personally toss him into space as trash.

The communicator suddenly rang. Marcus grabbed it, thinking it was good news.

"Marcus! Bring your men back to reinforce the Upper Nest immediately! We are under attack!"

The roar from the other end of the line made his ears numb. Marcus was stunned: "How many people?"

"...Not many, one tank, plus a small number of infantry."

Marcus instantly sensed something was wrong. One tank? Could it really make the nobles in the Upper Nest this anxious?

"What model of tank?" "Not sure, it's not a rhino, it's a huge tank!"

Marcus was silent for three seconds. If it could be called a huge tank, one could first rule out the rhino; that left only one super-heavy tank.

Marcus deliberately held the communicator away, shouting at the top of his lungs: "Understood! We are pinned down in a firefight here! I will organize men to reinforce immediately!"

After saying that, he cut the communication directly. The adjutant looked confused: "Sir, are we really going back?"

"Go back my ass!" Marcus cursed irritably. "That must be a Baneblade! It's perfectly normal that those idiots don't recognize such a rare weapon of mass destruction in the Astra Militarum, but I recognize it!"

"That is the strongest armored vehicle of the Astra Militarum; what are we going back for with our pathetic firepower? To tickle them?"

He leaned against the wreckage of an armored vehicle, his mind spinning rapidly. Returning to reinforce meant death; not returning, and waiting for Valerius to come back, also meant death.

The only way to survive was to run. "Pack up, take the remaining men, and retreat!" Marcus ordered through gritted teeth. "Head to the second Hive City; as long as the green hills remain, there's no need to worry about firewood!"

The adjutant paused for a moment, then immediately reacted, scrambling to pass on the order.

In less than ten minutes, Marcus had taken his remaining troops, retreated from the position in disgrace, and disappeared into the alleys of the Mid-Hive.

Upper Nest, the nobles gathered in the noble hall. The crystal chandeliers were blindingly bright, and the long table was filled with champagne and cold dishes.

A dozen rebel nobles raised their wine glasses, their faces flushed. "Good! Well done!" A fat-headed, big-eared baron slammed the table hard. "The arsenal has been taken! The administrative hall will be next!"

"That kid Fu Haoran is just a joke!" Another noble sneered, sipping champagne. "He took a few dozen people to board the ship; he's probably already been fed to the void worms."

"Once Brigadier General Valerius's moon-class cruiser returns, the entire Hive City will still be ours to command!"

Everyone roared with laughter, raising their glasses, certain that victory was within reach.

Just then, a guard scrambled in, his face deathly pale: "My lords! It's bad! The main road has been cut off!"

The leading duke's face darkened: "What are you panicking about? How many people?"

"Just... just one Baneblade tank! A few dozen infantry!"

The laughter in the room stopped instantly. The wine glass in the duke's hand crashed onto the table with a clatter: "What did you say? A Baneblade? Where did he get a Baneblade?!"

No one answered him. On the main road, Fu Haoran was sitting in the commander's seat of the Baneblade, his fingertips tapping on the tactical panel.

The position he had chosen happened to block the intersection of three supply lines. Any noble private army wanting to reinforce the Upper Nest had to pass through here.

It was also their only path of retreat. This was Fu Haoran's plan of "Besieging the Stronghold to Rescue the Nest."

"Although I cannot act as a firefighting squad, I can trade bases with you."

Under Fu Haoran's command, the massive hull of the Baneblade moved slowly forward.

Cars by the roadside were crushed into iron discs by the tracks, lampposts were knocked over like matchsticks, and the glass curtain walls of the buildings along the street were shattered by the vibrations, fragments falling like rain.

The scout's voice came over the communicator: "Governor, the first wave of reinforcements is coming. Five chimera personnel carriers, two rhinos."

Fu Haoran glanced at the screen and ordered: "If conditions allow, open fire immediately."

Two minutes later, the noble private army's convoy appeared at the street corner. The leading chimera personnel carrier saw the Baneblade and slammed on the brakes. It was too late.

The Baneblade's demolisher cannon hit the mark with a single shot, and that chimera personnel carrier exploded into a fireball; the soldiers inside were blown away and thrown onto the street.

The Leman Russ Tank behind attempted to retaliate, but as soon as its barrel turned, several of the Baneblade's cannons fired simultaneously.

The first rhino was hit on the side, its armor ripped open, ammunition detonated, and the turret flew a dozen meters away.

The second one didn't even have time to fire before it was riddled with holes by the twin-linked Bolter.

The remaining chimera personnel carriers turned around and ran, but the Baneblade's heavy Bolter chased them down, blowing them into scrap metal one by one.

The whole process took less than two minutes. The twin-linked Bolters on both sides of the hull roared in sync, and the soldiers who had luckily escaped the explosions were instantly turned into blood mist.

In the command headquarters, the nobles watched the transmitted footage, their faces turning green.

"Trash! All trash!" A noble kicked over the table and roared orders: "Have the Third and Fifth Armored Squads reinforce! You must blow that iron turtle to pieces for me!"

Another twelve chimera personnel carriers received the order and rushed toward the main road in a hurry.

The leading captain looked at the Baneblade in the distance, muttering to himself: Isn't it just a tank? No matter how powerful it is, can it withstand the concentrated fire of twelve armored vehicles?

Clearly, the captain did not recognize the Baneblade.

The captain seized the opportunity and ordered: "All vehicle-mounted Laser Cannons, concentrate fire! Open fire!"

A dozen crimson laser beams fired simultaneously, accurately hitting the Baneblade's frontal armor. But when the smoke cleared, not even a scorch mark was left on the Baneblade's armor.

The captain's face instantly turned white. The next second, the Baneblade's turret turned. Boom!

The demolisher cannon fired again, and the leading chimera personnel carrier was hit by a single shot, exploding into a fireball in the air.

Immediately after, the Baneblade's 11 guns roared simultaneously. The main gun bombarded the armored vehicles, the secondary guns swept the infantry, and the Bolter suppressed the cover. The entire main road instantly turned into a meat grinder.

In the command headquarters, there was a deathly silence. Everyone watched the burning main road on the screen, trembling all over.

"Negotiate! Quick! Negotiate with Fu Haoran!" A noble suddenly roared: "We'll give up the administrative hall! We surrender!"

The communication was dialed out, rang for a long time, and was then directly hung up. Fu Haoran wouldn't negotiate with them at all.

Since they had already flipped the table, then they would fight to the death.

The Baneblade remained parked in the center of the main road; whenever any private army dared to approach, it would immediately unleash a round of covering fire.

During this time, some noble private armies tried to take side roads to reinforce, but as soon as they entered the alleys, they triggered the melta bombs Fu Haoran had planted in advance, and were blown into chaos.

All paths of retreat were completely sealed off. The nobles in the command headquarters were completely insane. The troops they had sent out were gone and never returned.

Requests for help from various strongholds poured in like snowflakes.

"Where is Valerius?! Where is his fleet?!" The duke, with red eyes, grabbed the communicator and roared: "Tell him to return immediately! A single shot from a Macro Cannon can blast that iron turtle into dust!"

On the other end of the communicator, the operator responsible for monitoring space had a voice that was trembling uncontrollably: "My... my lord... Brigadier General Valerius's ship... has returned."

The duke instantly sighed in relief, slumping into his chair: "Great! Tell him to open fire immediately! Blast Fu Haoran into ash for me!"

"But... it was dragged back by someone."

This sentence was like a thunderbolt, striking everyone's heads. Everyone rushed to the floor-to-ceiling windows in unison, looking up at the near-orbit of the Hive City.

In the pitch-black space, that moon-class cruiser they had hoped for countless times was slowly moving into synchronous orbit.

The hull was severely tilted, the Macro Cannon array on the broadside was still emitting black smoke, the bridge was blown beyond recognition, the Void Shield generator was completely offline, like a steel corpse floating in space.

And pulling it was that "little piece of junk ship" in their eyes—the Cobra destroyer.

The pale blue tractor beam was firmly locked onto the moon-class cruiser, and like dragging a trophy, it slowly sailed into the Hive City's airspace.

The sky had collapsed. The room full of nobles looked ashen.

The fat-headed, big-eared baron's legs went weak, and he knelt directly on the ground, spilling champagne all over himself, his glass rolling under the table.

The duke held onto the windowsill, his nails digging into the solid wood, staring at the floating corpse in the sky, unable to say a word. The reinforcements they had spent so long hoping for had long since become someone else's trophy. The victory they were certain of had been a joke from the very beginning.