Counterfeit Hero

”The Suss Armored Group has been defeated...”

Holding the battle report in his hand, Selwal was somewhat lost. It took him a while to look perplexedly at Feiler beside him and asked, ”From Chuck’s assault on High Ground 205 until now, it’s only been a little over six hours, of which the bandit army’s armored group engaged in the attack, including the final pursuit, lasted just over two hours. Their combat effectiveness...”

”Unexpected,” Feiler frowned and said, ”I mean Chuck. He actually abandoned an entire group and chose to retreat. Initially, I counted on him to hold out for twenty-four hours.”

”What about now?” Selwal looked worriedly at the electronic command board, where six fiery red arrows aimed at Puluo Town were now reduced to five.

Feiler sneered coldly and said, ”This result isn’t bad. At least Chuck still retained half of his combat strength, and we can account to the Suss people. By the way,” he turned and asked the aide beside him, ”Where is the Vanguard Group now?”

The aide reported, ”They have already passed the Mishan 2611 pass and are on the downhill path. By now, they should be at Long Split Canyon.”

Feiler nodded, looked at the time, and said to Selwal quietly, ”No matter how formidable they are, they only have one armored group. To resolve this deadlock, unless they can fly into the sky and burrow into the ground! Otherwise, within twenty-four hours, they must consume my five paths of forces. Is this possible? I fear, up till now, they still haven’t...”

”Chief of Staff...” A hurried aide interrupted Feiler, handing him a transcribed communication record, and reported, ”The 5th and 6th Groups just sent messages that their vanguard clearing troops have discovered abnormal refugee movements...”

Holding up a hand to stop the verbal report, Feiler silently read the communication record. After casually passing the document to Selwal, he walked over to the electronic command board with his hands behind his back.

”I didn’t expect that they could discover our whereabouts in advance,” Feiler frowned, seemingly greatly puzzled by something. After a while, he shook his head coldly and said, ”What a compassionate heart. If that’s the case, then we’ll just fight openly!”

He turned his head and ordered unhurriedly, ”Order all troops to abandon concealment and accelerate their march. Be sure to get into attack positions and complete pre-battle preparations before dawn. At eight o’clock sharp, launch the attack simultaneously!”

Feiler’s emotionless voice echoed in the command room. On the huge electronic command board, five red arrows were gradually pressing towards Puluo Town as the time changed in the upper right corner.

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Lorenzo Bridge had already hidden in the darkness.

A moonless planet, only the countless stars in the sky cast a faint glow on the rushing river beneath the bridge.

The chilly wind was omnipresent. The surrounding foliage swayed silently. In the forest, it was deathly quiet. Only the sound of the tumbling river water could be heard.

The Mech Knights stood together in silence, unable to clearly see each other’s faces.

Only when a companion’s cigarette suddenly brightened could they make out the same furrowed brows and grim faces like their own.

Everyone knew the message from the base, and they also understood Fatty’s inference.

At first, no one believed it was real. The Free World was accustomed to arson, looting, and murder, but such a terrifying slaughter was unheard of.

Just to hide their tracks?

In this era of civilized development, although wars still existed, atrocities like this were rarely heard of.

Even in war-torn countries, such orders in occupied areas would not be issued. They might destroy cities, use any excuse to point guns and cannons at residential areas, rob, kill, and set fires, but they would go to great lengths to cover it up.

This is the Free World, the soldiers of the Northern Alliance grew up here, how could they lay their hands on them?

Looking at the refugee settlements along those two lines, calculating the area and the population, the Mech Knights could hardly believe it was true. But the subsequent messages from the base confirmed this fact. If Fatty hadn’t ordered early notification to observation posts and surrounding refugees, many more people would have fallen in pools of blood.

”Markovich, what’s the situation at Pingqi Ridge?”

In the darkness, Fatty’s voice came through.

The Mech Knights tossed away their cigarette butts and gathered around, listening to the communicator as Markovich replied, ”The enemy has been routed, Colonel. Currently, our forces are clearing up, and the area around High Ground 205 has been secured, annihilating an armored group and capturing a large amount of weapons, equipment, and vehicles, as well as twelve electronic mechas.”

Markovich’s voice was relaxed; he had no idea what had happened earlier. He was simply glad about the SM 3rd Group’s victory.

Although they failed to crush the opponent overwhelmingly, neither Cosmo leading the First Battalion, nor Weiseler, Baz, and Thomas leading the other three battalions, none of the bandit soldiers took this minor setback seriously.

The battle had far exceeded everyone’s expectations. The Mechanical Warriors were amazed to find that, both in terms of firepower and mecha defense capabilities, they held a significant advantage. What excited them even more was that by thoroughly implementing Fatty’s consistently emphasized wave-covering tactics during training, their casualty ratio, even excluding pursuit battle results, was twenty to one compared to the Suss people!

And once engaged in close combat, the Suss Knights, who were only trained in Mechanical Control Standards, were no match at all. Years of practice in mecha fighting skills, coupled with the practical combat techniques taught by Fatty, made them unstoppable. Apart from only a few officers who could offer a bit of resistance, the rest would collapse at the first blow.

Fighting such a battle was incredibly satisfying. In the end, a group of high-spirited warriors were still eager, chasing the scattered Suss people all over the mountains. The rest gathered the spoils of war tirelessly, moving them from every corner of the battlefield to one place.

When talking to Fatty, Markovich was joyfully counting the spoils.

”Leave a company to assist the First Infantry Division in defending and clearing the high ground, the rest immediately stop the pursuit and return to Puluo Town. I need you to help defend Puluo Town; the defense line will be contracted to the third ring road, abandon all outer positions. Understood?”

”Understood, Colonel.” Although Markovich didn’t know what had happened, he instantly realized the gravity in his tone and refrained from asking any extra questions.

”I’ve already sent you the battle plan,” Fatty said coldly in the darkness, ”I need you to hold out for thirty-six hours! Can you do it?”

”As long as I’m alive!” Markovich’s response was straightforward and resolute.

”Very good.” Fatty remained silent for a long while before saying in a deep voice, ”Thank you!”

Having said that, he shut down the communicator. Turning around, the Mech Knights, though unable to see his face, could see his eyes gleaming.

”They can slaughter the refugees in the wild, but unfortunately, they cannot kill all the people in Central City.” Fatty stretched out his arms and legs, doing preparations familiar to the Mech Knights.

”Many of our people have never played the bandit army’s passage game,” he bent down and straightened his belly, ”This time, let’s go and play a round together?”

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.(To be continued. For more updates, please visit www.qidian.com. Support the authors and read legitimate content!)