A data stream briefly warped in the air, and the figures of Nightingale and Silent materialized out of thin air beside their Third squad leader.
After nearly twenty days of in-game play, on the official forum, the game dev with the ID Terrabyte finally finalized the current resurrection rules and pinned them as an update announcement—Players who die will resurrect next to their direct superior officer.
For example, ordinary soldiers resurrect next to their squad leader, and Squad Leaders resurrect next to their Company Commander.
It was then that the players suddenly realized and completely understood why they hadn't figured out the resurrection rules for so long: because the game dev himself hadn't decided yet, and the resurrection rules had been constantly changing.
However, it was good that they were now fixed. The two resurrected scouts immediately reported everything they had scouted, down to the smallest detail, to Robert. Robert's expression darkened upon hearing this, and he immediately had them use their walkie-talkies to report their previous coordinates to the Fifth Squad.
The Fifth Squad was the team currently operating the Wyvern self-propelled mortar.
That cultist Psyker couldn't have died from the explosion of just two high-explosive grenades, but he would at least be injured, and his formation would inevitably fall into disarray.
If he was lax and still in his original position, then the Wyvern's quad-linked rapid-fire mortar might be able to send him flying. Although mortar shells were expensive, the firepower expended was their own, and now was clearly not the time to save money.
The Fifth Squad, upon receiving the order, immediately sprang into action. They skillfully referred to a hand-drawn firing table—thanks to the Third Squad, who first used the vehicle and drew up a very accurate firing table based on their experience, greatly reducing the learning cost for subsequent squads.
After some improvements by later squads, this firing table was now a fully qualified professional tool.
The gunner quickly adjusted the mortar's elevation and traverse mechanisms, and the loader unhesitatingly loaded four shells into place, then sharply pulled the firing lever.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Four dull cannon sounds echoed through the passage, followed by a continuous series of explosions in the distance. Robert immediately asked over the walkie-talkie: "What's the result?"
The Fifth Squad's Vehicle Commander's voice quickly came through: "Reporting, Company Commander, we earned over a hundred exp, killed many genestealers, but the system's battle report didn't show the kill notification for that cultist Psyker...
We were a step too late. Sigh, the damn number four shell got stuck during loading just now, otherwise we could have been three seconds faster!"
The Vehicle Commander added: "But speaking of it, one genestealers here is worth about one exp, and that's after our three-person crew divided it up.
So, one genestealers can actually be worth around three exp... That's four to five times more than the cultists in the Lower Hive."
"You've already done very well," Robert comforted, "It's expected that genestealers give more exp. In fact, in my opinion, these exp are still too little—according to the original warhammer lore, their combat will and organization are at least nine or even ten times that of ordinary cultists."
Putting down the walkie-talkie, Robert watched the player team begin to advance again, lost in thought. The genestealer cult, this was a more insidious and deceptive threat than Chaos cults.
They saw themselves as a symbol of truth, packaging their twisted doctrines as liberation and freedom, precisely hitting what the Lower Hive workers most desired. Their entire cult was united as one, and they firmly believed that they would spread this "great cause of liberation" throughout the entire universe.
But unfortunately, the genestealer cult and the Chaos cults and upper-class nobles they looked down upon were no different in essence. This was also an evil path that led humanity to self-destruction.
When their worshipped "void lord," the all-consuming Tyranids, arrived, all liberation, freedom, and unity would be transformed into biomass and completely devoured, leaving no trace.
Robert clenched his fist and issued an order over the walkie-talkie.
"Advance! The Helldivers Company must destroy them before they kill more people!"
The players reacted enthusiastically, with various voices sounding in the team channel.
"Oh! This grand battlefield game also has pre-battle mobilization?"
"I'm hyped! For humanity, for the Emperor!"
"Get out of the way, I'm going to farm exp! One is three points! I can fight them all day long!"
Meanwhile, on the distribution plaza that had just been raked by artillery fire, a figure calmly watched the scene engulfed in flames.
He was the cultist Psyker, Maas Kyle. The two players' self-destruction did injure him somewhat, but he quickly reacted, ordering his cult brethren to extinguish the flames and collect the bodies.
He himself had left his original position—the celebration he and the two players spoke of was not a false lie. The original Kyle was silver-tongued and excelled at lying. But ever since joining the cult and learning the truth, he no longer lied, treating everyone with sincerity.
After all, everyone would eventually embrace the void lord, and then everyone would be as one, so why lie to himself?
The faces of the surrounding hybrid xenos were filled with sorrow and pain, and many believers were kneeling on the ground, softly praying for their fallen brethren.
"Do not be sad," Kyle said softly, but his voice clearly pierced through the crackling of the flames and reached the ears of every believer, "They merely liberated their souls from the cage of their decaying flesh ahead of time. When the void lord arrives, they too will join us in embracing that great will."
A four-armed hybrid said indignantly beside Kyle: "Mentor! We sincerely invited them to join the great cause, but they attacked us with such despicable means!"
"It is nothing," Kyle said in an almost benevolent tone, "They rejected the path to liberation; that is their loss. The arrival of the void lord is an undeniable cosmic truth, unswayed by the choices and will of any mortal."
He spread his arms as if embracing the souls of his fallen brethren.
"The void lord embraces all and treats all souls equally... whether base or noble; whether believing or not."
Kyle paused, his gaze turning in the direction from which the Helldivers Company was approaching, the benevolence in his eyes replaced by a cold fanaticism.
"However, the more people who accept the faith, the less unnecessary suffering and resistance there will be when the void lord arrives."
"Brethren, act! Utterly destroy those stubborn unbelievers! So that more brothers and sisters may gain freedom and liberation!"