Counterfeit Hero

Chapter 22 - 22 Nia’s Confession

This Nia, since rescuing her again, seems to have developed a tendency towards being abusive.

To divert Nia’s attention from the soft flesh around his waist that was about to break, Fatty racked his brains. In the end, with no other way out, Fatty had to grab Nia’s hand, fondling it in a sleazy manner while asking, ”Now can you tell me how you got captured and brought here?”

Nia’s hand was grabbed by Fatty. Seeing him touch her sleazily, she couldn’t help but blush, rolling her eyes at him. But she didn’t pull her hand away, letting him hold it, and said, ”Me and Meiduo were originally taking a medium-sized transport ship back to New Rome, you know that. To get to New Rome, the transport ship had to pass through the enemy’s controlled area. When we were re-entering the atmosphere, we were targeted by enemy fighters. The escort fighters, being outnumbered, were eventually shot down one by one, but they bought some time. Out of the three transport ships traveling with us, two managed to escape. The one we were on had its antigravity system damaged and couldn’t leave the atmosphere. We had no choice but to make an emergency landing. After being captured by the enemy’s ground troops, we were taken to that prisoner of war camp.”

Fatty didn’t expect Nia to let him hold her hand and take advantage without any resistance, and for a moment, he was dazed. It felt like holding a burning hot potato in his palm, unable to neither throw it away nor keep holding it.

Nia seemed to recall the suffering she endured in the prisoner of war camp and suddenly became quiet. After a while, she softly said, ”Every day in the camp, someone would be taken for experiments. Some of the experiments were conducted right in front of us. If they died, they were just tossed aside. Nobody knew who would be next or when their turn would come. At first, we all discussed escaping, but several attempts failed, costing many lives. Later, the enemy tightened their guard, and everyone lost hope, just living day by day, wondering if they could see the sun the next day.”

Such painful memories finally became unbearable for Nia, and tears quietly flowed out, one after another, dropping onto the iron floor of the carriage with a splashing sound.

”Every time we had a meal, I would savor the food bit by bit, thinking it might be my last meal. When I had nothing to do, I would touch the ground, the barbed wire, my clothes, my hair, my body...” When she mentioned her body, Nia’s face turned slightly red, and she bit her lip as she turned her face away secretly, not letting Fatty see.

”I liked that feeling. The tactile sensation on my fingers let me know I was still alive. I wanted to remember every sensation before I died. I thought, after death, I wouldn’t be able to see, hear, or touch anything anymore.” Nia’s silent tears finally turned into sobs, and Meiduo, who had already been crying uncontrollably, buried her head in Fatty’s chest along with Nia.

”I don’t want to die. I’m so afraid of becoming an ugly corpse, piled up with others, with those bugs flying over my body. I’m so scared. Just thinking about it makes me wish I could turn into a wisp of smoke and disappear from this world at least that way, no one would see me in an unpretty state.”

Fatty was somewhat distraught. Facing this woman who valued beauty as her life, he felt he could never understand her thinking. Maybe a woman’s loveliness comes from these inexplicable and obsessive aspects.

Seeing Nia cry like a pear blossom in the rain, Fatty couldn’t help but feel some heartache. He hugged Nia and comforted her, ”Alright, alright, if you keep crying, you won’t be pretty anymore. Isn’t it safe now?”

Nia wiped her tears in his arms and continued, ”At that time, I started reminiscing about the happy things over the years. I kept thinking, if only we had stayed hidden in those deep mountains during our last escape attempt, how wonderful it would be. I thought and thought, saying to myself in my heart...”

Fatty didn’t notice that Nia’s face hidden in his arms was burning red. He casually asked, ”Saying what?”

Nia’s voice was infinitely shy as she gently bit her lip and said, ”I said to myself, if you can come to rescue me again, I will marry you, even if I die, I will marry you.”

Fatty was petrified. The Meiduo in his arms trembled slightly and whispered softly in his ear: ”Me too!”

The atmosphere turned a bit awkward and slightly ambiguous. Fatty painfully thought, ”God, can’t this peach blossom luck be spread out? Don’t damn well give it all to me at once.”

While daydreaming, he heard Nia say, ”I really like the feeling of pinching you. The sensation on my fingers makes me feel safe, knowing you’re by my side. Being able to pinch you once every day is worth it, even if I die.” Fatty was startled and exclaimed, ”No way! What kind of bizarre fetish is that? Absolutely not!”

Nia paid no heed to Fatty’s stern refusal and continued to speak to herself, ”So, I must marry you. Who told you to rescue me? If you agree, I’ll pinch you lightly when you wake up every day. If you don’t agree, I’ll follow you around and pinch you until you do.”

Fatty was overwhelmed by Nia’s mention of ”every morning” and was lost in a romantic dream, when suddenly his waist hurt. It turned out Meiduo had pinched that painful soft flesh, nearly making him suicidal.

The flesh is shattered...

”This life is unlivable,” Fatty lamented in extreme anguish.

”Report to the deputy company commander, the platoon leader has sent a message.” [Antenna] Mecha leader Miller saluted Tian Xingjian and reported.

”Oh?” Tian Xingjian found it intriguing. He had not asked [Antenna] to contact the outside for fear that communication might be intercepted, thus revealing their position. Accepting the electronic document, he asked casually, ”How was the contact made?”

Miller, knowing what the deputy company commander was worried about, explained, ”There is Albert’s encrypted signal machine on [Antenna]. We used Albert’s encryption to contact.”

”Albert?” Fatty was startled. This point-to-point encrypted communication device was invented by a military laboratory named after the ancient scientist Einstein. It had only been developed for a year and was used only on warships. This device was as big as a wardrobe. How could it fit into [Antenna]? When did the manufacturing technology become so mature?

Without bothering to look at the report in his hand, he decided to see the Albert encryption communication system on [Antenna] himself.

A small box was held in hand, examined back and forth for a long time. Fatty finally confirmed that this thing used to be as big as a wardrobe.

”Damn, rapidly changing!” Fatty felt that the stuff he had learned in the lab seemed outdated after just a few days. It’s clear that he had underestimated the Federation’s research and manufacturing capabilities. This encrypted communication device, though limited to only point-to-point directional communication, had high usability because its signal could not be intercepted, and the information encryption was highly complex, making it impossible to brute-force decode. Now that it’s been minimized to this extent, it’s simply the best companion for solo operations behind enemy lines.

Examining the electronic document in his hand carefully, the communication report indicated that Rashid, under the support of aerial strikes, had led his team to break away from enemy pursuit, and conveniently wiped out an enemy logistics base. Additionally, there were two pieces of news that needed to be communicated to Tian Xingjian. First, a few hours ago, the Federation Army launched Operation Thunderbolt. In space, several major space fleets had gained control of Miloke Star and space jump routes. The Imperial Fleet had retreated. On the ground, six army groups consisting of twenty army armored divisions and eleven Aviation Marine Corps armored divisions had crushed the Gazalin Empire Guards responsible for defending the corridor. The battle progress was very smooth, and if nothing went wrong, in a few days’ time, the Federation control zone would expand to Tian Xingjian’s area.

This is good news. After all, relying on digging holes like mice underground is impossible to reach the Federation control zone thousands of kilometers away. Not to mention the terrain like rivers, lakes, and mountains, even if it were all plains, the energy couldn’t support it.

The second piece of news wasn’t so good. The special forces’ rear harassment advance team had made significant achievements, but the appearance of a mysterious Imperial Army had inflicted significant losses on the Federation Special Forces. It was known that this Imperial Army participating in the encirclement of the Federation’s rear harassment advance team was the infamous Gazalin Empire Special Army—Mythical Army. This is a special force based on legion organization, having participated in almost all of Gazalin Empire’s wars. For centuries, this army has lived in war, with distinguished merits in Gazalin Country. No military unit in human war history can compare with its operational time and intensity.

Under the strikes of the Mythical Army, more than twenty Federation Special Soldier Camps had been entirely killed, and more than ten Special Forces Groups had been shattered and dispersed.

This news tightened Tian Xingjian’s heart. It had been less than twenty hours since the airdrop. Even without resistance, it would take a few hours to kill so many special forces.

What kind of monster is this special force?

”Mythical Army.” Fatty murmured, suddenly having a premonition that this ferocious and ruthless beast, whose profession was war, would be his greatest threat.