Counterfeit Hero

Chapter 64: Revised: Chapter 24 Pearce Sign

How could she be here?

Tian Xingjian’s mind was in chaos. Carl had to shake him several times to snap him out of his bewilderment.

Walking back to the office in a daze, Tian Xingjian looked at the battle report on the computer, his attention completely unfocused.

The girl’s appearance had touched the softest part of Tian Xingjian’s heart. This fatty, usually shameless to his core, was now overwhelmed with memories, his face displaying strange expressions—grief, pain, and then raw hatred.

Carl had no idea what was troubling the fatty. Just as he was watching with his heart pounding, the fatty suddenly stood up and yelled, ”To hell with it, I’m going to risk it all this time. I’ve got plenty of flesh, whoever wants it can take it!”

Carl was startled. The fatty had gone berserk and was about to run when the fatty grabbed hold of him.

”Carl, analyze for me, what exactly is that guy Russell trying to do?”

Carl’s large head shook back and forth, making one wonder how long his slender neck could endure such shaking. Finally, he squeezed out, ”The gap is too large, I can’t analyze it.”

The fatty sighed and, helplessly, pulled up the battle situation data to start deducing again. He had conducted simulations of this battle many times and every conclusion was the same, with no clue as to the enemy’s hidden intentions.

Carl stood beside him, watching the fatty skillfully draw strange symbols on the map, occasionally inputting sets of data into the simulation program. Although the symbols were incomprehensible, Carl understood the data well. If he were doing the simulation, it would take a long time to analyze the intelligence and calculate it. Watching the fatty draw on the map and somehow come up with the data out of thin air made Carl dizzy and confused.

The strategic deployment map from the simulation emerged. The fatty stared at the map in deep thought while Carl leaned in with his big head. They stared until their necks were sore, yet found no clues.

Based on the Imperial Army’s offensive strength and the Federation Army’s casualty situation, Tian Xingjian could completely simulate the Imperial Army’s attacking forces.

However, the source of these forces was unknown, and this intelligence gap troubled the fatty to no end. According to the simulated force data, the Imperial Army could completely advance to Gallipalan!

In a dozen or so hours, if no other units were redeployed to the front lines, the Federation Army would definitely not be able to hold Jialuo Mountain. Russell only needed to maintain this offensive until nightfall, and his right-hand fist could strike. This terrifying fist could crush Jialuo Mountain, force a breakthrough, or outflank to attack the Federation lines that had withdrawn troops to support the Jialuo Mountain Battlefield, all with a single, deadly blow.

Carl pulled up a document on the computer and said to the fatty, ”This is a battle report from our Space Fleet’s engagement with the enemy. Take a look, it’s similar to Jialuo Mountain; Russell even conjured up an entire fleet.”

The fatty didn’t look at the intelligence. He stared vacantly at the battle map and mechanically turned his head to Carl and said, ”Tell me, if I said Russell is sending the Imperial Army to their deaths, would you believe it?”

Carl turned around and left. This fatty had gone completely mad; if he went berserk, someone might get killed.

The fatty shook his head. Even he didn’t believe it. The signal-like attack deployment on the map was just a coincidence.

After half a day of further simulation without any breakthrough, the fatty collapsed on his chair, closing his eyes in deep thought. However, the symbol resembling the Pearce Signal kept lingering in his mind, unwilling to go away!

The Pearce Signal was a famous spatial signal system from the Earth Federation period, invented by a colonel named Pearce. Pearce was born at the beginning of humanity’s space age, when natural wormholes capable of enabling space jumps were just discovered. Like the Age of Sail, countless adventurers’ spacecraft ventured into the cosmos, searching for unknown worlds.

It was a great era, with adventurers writing legendary stories that would last forever in space.

However, due to the still low technological level, most space-jump explorations ended without return, particularly for numerous private explorers. Their communication and space equipment were more unreliable. When they disappeared, no one knew which ships had entered which space jump points. The information in the space recorders left outside the jump points was often destroyed by cosmic particles or passing asteroids—being small in size and inconspicuous, they were hard for others to find.

These drawbacks led the Earth Federation to prohibit private adventures, bringing space exploration under federal jurisdiction. Only government high-level agencies had a formal space exploration guarantee system, where every exploration spaceship dispatched by the Federation kept in touch with a vast ground command and control center.

However, this government-controlled exploration, though safer, was criticized by the public for its high costs and low exploration volume.

Moreover, such restrictions couldn’t curb human curiosity about space. Groups of adventurers kept embarking on cosmic journeys for wealth or fame, resulting in countless missing person records.

At this time, Colonel Pearce of the Earth Federation Air Force designed a set of information-recording symbols using microscopic light powder dispersible in space. After testing, this system was installed compulsorily on every space-going vessel by the Earth Federation, thus heralding the true dawn of space exploration!

The Pearce Signal system could disperse microscopic light powder carrying electronic signals outside space jump points used by adventurers. Successive ships could use decoding devices to read the information. The luminous microscopic powder was conspicuous in the vast universe, visible from a distance, and served as an excellent tool to signal a stranded spacecraft’s position for rescue ships.

In the early space exploration era, Pearce’s system played a crucial role in humanity’s rapid development and became one of the most famous human signal systems.

As communications technology advanced, more convenient and reliable techniques emerged, rendering the Pearce Signal almost obsolete. Still, it remained a classic in graphical signals, typically covered in military academies.

The fatty had been introduced to this signal system, adapted into enemy reconnaissance graphic codes, at the Reconnaissance Soldier Training Camp.

The signal symbol on the map was too suggestive to ignore. The point-line structure of the attack formation symbolized a simple message: Kill me, or you die!

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