Counterfeit Hero

Chapter 524: Volume 6 Chapter 20 Phantom Stream_4

”I’m going to kill you, you good-for-nothing!” The old man searched everywhere for a weapon.

Fatty took to his heels and ran. He knew that if he didn’t get away fast enough, the old man, driven mad with anger, might actually make a move.

The warehouse was in chaos. With the old man chasing him, Fatty darted around the warehouse at top speed. With Boswell’s old arms and legs, there was no way he could catch up.

It wasn’t until Boswell found an experimental gun that Fatty really started to panic. He quickly ran to the main door of the warehouse, pulled out his access card, inserted it into the reader, and activated the door. He slipped through the crack of the opening door.

The moment he got outside, Fatty was stunned.

In the lobby outside the warehouse, hundreds of eyes were staring at him in astonishment.

”Who are you?! What are you doing in the warehouse?” a professor-looking person shouted sternly.

Clearly, this professor from the Capital First Military Academy, who was waiting in the lobby for Boswell to resolve the warehouse issue, didn’t recognize the person in front of him.

Those who had seen Fatty enter the lab were all researchers from the Gallipalan Laboratory. It’s not surprising that this professor didn’t know Fatty’s identity. Even if he did, he wouldn’t connect the Federation Hero with this disheveled guy who was running out of the warehouse in a panic, with a stubbly beard, messy hair, and eyes full of fright because of his obsession with research.

Behind him, Boswell’s hurried footsteps echoed.

Fatty’s eyes darted around wildly. Without time to answer the professor’s queries, he shoved the professor aside and ran hurriedly towards the lobby’s exit, knocking several researchers who were too slow to dodge sideways.

The old man Boswell, his eyes red, rushed out of the warehouse with the experimental gun: ”Quick, catch him.”

Seeing this, the hundreds of researchers in the lobby finally understood.

”Catch the thief!”

”What thief... catch the spy!”

”Quick, notify the security team! Stop him!”

”Bring him back dead or alive.”

The crowd was in an uproar. Everyone was chasing after Fatty relentlessly.

The Capital First Military Academy, from top to bottom, was filled with federal soldiers. That someone would dare infiltrate the military lab’s top-secret warehouse and cause such destruction was a disgrace in the five-hundred-year history of the school.

The entire 6th Comprehensive Building erupted. Hundreds of people rushed, their footsteps making the corridors shake. Every professor, researcher, and student picked up brooms, experimental acids, giant crucibles, mechanical parts, and various other weapons. Fatty had turned into a mouse being chased everywhere.

By the time Boswell was left behind, panting heavily, the situation had already spiraled out of control.

Fatty ran with his chest out and belly forward, glancing back from time to time. He cursed inwardly. Whether it was a misunderstanding or for dismantling the most sacred relics of Casper in their eyes at the Military Academy, once caught, he was definitely in for a bad ending.

Taking three steps at a time, he fled down the stairs, dodging a few students rushing out of the elevator, and dashed out of the comprehensive building.

**********

Standing in front of the grand entrance of the Capital First Military Academy, Thomas suddenly felt amused as he recalled his days as a cadet.

An event where a Level 3 Mecha Knight competes in an inter-academy mecha fight wasn’t exactly something worth boasting about. If it weren’t for the influential family ties of the student who invited him, Thomas would never have come to this competition.

A graduate of this school, Thomas wasn’t unwilling to make his alma mater proud. However, he knew all too well the mecha close-quarters combat skills at the Capital First Military Academy.

Thinking back, even the best instructors in the academy’s mecha training camp were laughable in close-quarters combat to Thomas, who had spent over a decade out in the field.

After nearly eight years of tough training at Free Port, Thomas believed that there couldn’t be any close-quarters combat experts in any military academy across the world in this era. Even the military’s level in close-quarters combat had long fallen behind.

This was entirely dictated by the nature of warfare.

Military mechas possessing ranged firepower focused primarily on aiming, dodging, and coordination. Even if they did train in close-quarters combat, it couldn’t be compared to civilian mecha fighting at all.

Newly focused on close-quarters combat, the military might not even understand that the essence of close-quarters combat isn’t just in the speed of hands! Nor does it rely on rigid mecha protocols executed at high speed!

Judging victory purely by hand speed was an insult to mecha fighting!

Thomas realized this as early as his first year traveling to Free Port, driven by his dream of mecha after retiring from the army.

Back then, boasting a hand speed close to forty moves per second, he was beaten in matches repeatedly by civilian mech knights with hand speeds under thirty-five moves, crawling on the ground everywhere. A quasi-Level 8 Mecha Warrior who, after many years of training, had only earned the title of Level 3 Mecha Knight because he wasn’t dumb.

Modern civilian mecha fighting had long entered an era of a hundred schools contending. The essence of combat skills from millennia-old traditions was unimaginable to a military that had ignored close-quarters combat for centuries.

Regarding this competition, Thomas didn’t even think he would have a chance to fight. He believed that even if Leray’s civilian Level 3 Mecha Fighters were much weaker than Free Port’s, the student named Taylor alone could dominate the academy. Moreover, there was also a Level 1 Mecha Fighter backing them up. His visit was perhaps just a nostalgic trip down memory lane.

”Brother Thomas, is this your alma mater?” a clear voice asked.

Thomas snapped out of his reverie. The questioner was his junior, Cosmo, Young Director of the Griffin Knight Mecha Fighting Hall, a Level 1 Mecha Knight, and a leading figure of the young generation in the Phantom Stream.

Phantom Stream was a school of civilian mecha fighting. Originating from Chuckna, the Phantom Stream’s Main Sect Li Family suffered a devastating blow during a political incident, scattering its disciples everywhere. Now, its most renowned representative was the Griffin Knight Mecha Fighting Hall where Thomas was.

The director, Old Smith, was a Level 3 Mecha Commander. His Phantom Stream Fighting Technique was incredibly refined. However, with the rise of various schools, Phantom Stream, lacking the foundational inheritance of main sect techniques, had gradually declined.

”Yes, junior Cosmo. There’s not much fun here; the close-quarters combat level isn’t high, and being a military academy, there are many restrictions.” Thomas answered respectfully.

Youth named Cosmo smiled and waved, looking at the academy with interest. To those unfamiliar, Cosmo seemed like an average young man with a warm smile. However, Thomas knew that behind that gentle smile lay a mecha control prowess far exceeding his own.

Everyone believed that with time, Cosmo could lead the Griffin Knight to prominence once again, making Phantom Stream, which had fallen to the wayside, a top-tier school in close-quarters mecha combat within the Free Port Alliance.

This genius of the Smith family was, this year, barely twenty years old.

Thomas didn’t say more. This invitation to participate in the academy’s competition was more coincidental than anything. This was a personal matter, but Cosmo had insisted on coming along.

Thomas didn’t understand why a low-level academy competition, one he didn’t care much about, would pique Cosmo’s interest.

Cosmo ignored Thomas’s almost palpable confusion.

Although Thomas had been with the Griffin Knight for six years and was exceptionally loyal to the school, some matters were simply beyond his knowledge.

Cosmo, hands behind his back, looked at the academy gate. In the distance, a group of young students in uniform was approaching. Cosmo smiled slightly. His interest in the competition lay not in who would win or lose. He was hoping to get lucky and uncover secrets related to that famous ”Magic Beast” using the Phantom Technique circulating online.

***

Writing and rewriting. My mind hasn’t been working well lately.

...(To be continued. For more updates, please visit www.qidian.com, support the author, and support genuine reading!)