Counterfeit Hero

Selwar dismounted from the horse, and his attendant immediately took the polo mallet from his hand and handed him a warm, damp towel. The horse trainer, who had been standing beside him, quickly led the sweating horse away to cool it down with a slow walk.

Amid the endless sound of cannon fire and explosions beyond the horizon, the dusty polo field was still resonating with the thunderous clatter of hooves. Over a dozen Knights wielded their mallets, shouting and racing back and forth at breakneck speeds.

Selwar, calm and composed, sat on a chair at the edge of the field, sipping tea and watching the match. After taking a brief moment to rest his eyes, he finally turned his gaze towards the intelligence officer who had been standing by solemnly for some time.

Before Selwar cast his gaze over, the intelligence officer stood straight beside him without making a sound.

This was Selwar’s rule.

Even if the sky were to fall in the next second, the Nademick Dynasty would never allow its descendants to panic like commoners.

Calmness was a basic trait that a noble-born member of the Imperial Family should possess from a young age. As a descendant of the dynasty, Selwar diligently abided by every rule handed down by the Nademick Dynasty and demanded the same from his subordinates.

”Chairman.” The intelligence officer opened a file and reported on the current situation: ”...The Blood Shadow Mecha Group has cut off the seventh, twenty-fifth, and twenty-ninth resource highways leading from Bering Port and Hidden Dragon Port to Central City, and has set up layers of defense... The reconnaissance ship from the Blood Wing Fleet has reported sighting the Longxing Association’s Green Flag Fleet gathering at the DA Passage Sparta Corridor, while the movements of the Red Flag Fleet remain unknown.”

The DA Passage was a B-class passage connecting to the Odin Free Channel, leading to Chuckna and Suss. Su Kezhou had stationed a small fleet there, as Selwar had anticipated. After all, this was the lifeline of the old Chuckna.

Unfortunately, the main channel was now under the control of the Suss Empire. And the DA Passage, which was intricately linked to the main channel, could not be controlled by just one Green Flag Fleet.

With a slight cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth, Selwar nodded with his eyes closed and said indifferently, ”Understood.”

The intelligence officer closed the folder and continued: ”Additionally, the mecha battalion of the Blood Mercenary Group has approached Puluo Town but has yet to engage the New Tai Sect directly. We have just received intelligence that the Phantom Stream has abandoned its main and branch halls and set off yesterday at ten o’clock, crossing Central City and entering Puluo Town.”

”Phantom Stream?” Selwar slowly opened his eyes and frowned involuntarily at the dust-filled polo field.

The identity of the new Director of the Tai Sect Puluo Branch was no longer a secret.

This sudden appearance, the Leray fatty who single-handedly sparked the Sect War, had already made Selwar feel threatened.

Especially the chaotic battle on Puluo First Avenue, which forced him to reassess this seemingly harmless, chubby person.

Fifty mechas, in a world of mechas, were nothing much.

However, the combat power these fifty mechas displayed in that brief battle, as well as the energy cannons they were equipped with, were clearly not just a simple number.

As collaborators of the Suss Empire, the Fei Alliance was naturally Selwar’s enemy. In the past, there was only Su Kezhou to deal with, but now, there seemed to be another.

What made Selwar most uneasy was that his years of careful arrangement seemed to be facing a greater threat.

It was hard for him to believe that the Longxing Chamber of Commerce, with its intricate ties to Chuckna, had no connection with that Leray fatty!

If that fatty was pushed to the forefront by Su Kezhou, and if all these conflicts were orchestrated by Su Kezhou, did that mean the Longxing Association, which had been entrenched in Mars for years, had long had a plan similar to his own?!

At this moment, what did the split in the Tai Sect and the arrival of the Phantom Stream signify?

Why was the Longxing Association still only in a defensive posture, with no contact with Puluo Town from beginning to end? Did their mecha units not approach Central City?

The Fei Alliance’s forces hiding in the shadows couldn’t remain hidden any longer.

Selwar made up his mind in an instant. To discover the Longxing Association’s plans and the Fei Alliance’s arrangements on Mars was actually quite simple.

He just needed to poke at key points with a bamboo stick!

The most conspicuous part of this hornet’s nest was naturally Puluo Town!

Selwar was eager to see how long the hidden Fei Alliance forces could stay hidden while his troops committed massacres in Puluo Town!

**************************************

Out of Puluo First Avenue, weaving through the skyscrapers of the Central Business District, the flying car stopped at the Piccadilly Street junction in Puluo Town.

The desolate street still bore the marks of looting vandals who had set fires and robbed stores. Shops and supermarkets on both sides of the street had been completely ransacked. Even the display windows were smashed to pieces. Burnt flying cars, now mere black metal frames, still lined the roadsides. Glass shards, shoes, clothing, and papers littered the ground.

Sandbags and old infantry machine guns were set up at the intersection. Several nearby buildings had portable missiles and a few energy machine guns mounted on them.

Pieces of metal plating, stripped from mecha wreckage on First Avenue, had been welded into makeshift bulletproof walls. Isolation nets were also erected. Seven or eight Bandit Army Mechas and over a dozen Guard Mechas sealed the bridgehead tightly.