Counterfeit Hero

The rain poured endlessly.

Large amounts of rainwater, unable even to soak into the soil, gathered into thousands of tiny streams, flowing along the terrain towards lower areas. In the heavy rain, tree trunks, rocks, and roads were all covered with a shimmering film of water. Ripples appeared intermittently under the starlight.

An ugly black mecha ran silently through the rain.

Slopes, ditches, forests... Each push of the black mech’s reverse-jointed mechanical legs propelled it dozens of meters forward. Among the densely falling rain, it moved like a black leopard full of explosive power.

Inside the mech’s cockpit, a young warrior with short black-brown hair, a lean build, and eyes as sharp as an eagle’s, controlled the mech to sprint in stealth mode while continually adjusting the long-range viewer and mech radar.

The young mechanical warrior had a simple name: Adi Saki, a second-level Mecha Knight of the Phantom Stream.

Or rather, once a second-level Mecha Knight. Since joining the bandit army, the rapid progress in mecha martial arts had made all former Mecha Knights and Mechanical Commanders lose interest in the titles they once desperately climbed for. In the field of mechanical warriors, they not only had a new career definition but had also reached a new height.

As they put it, now participating in an upgrade competition wasn’t about whether they could advance levels but about the old assessment system of the past. Otherwise, the demands of the past would cause examiners to drop their jaws at the mechs who spent a few months in the bandit army.

And Saki was an outstanding chosen mech knight among them. However, he did not enter the Sharp Blade Company; his characteristics led him to another enviable special unit—the Hunters in the Reconnaissance Team directly under the regiment!

This team was personally formed by Colonel Fatty. Within an armored group, only this one team of twenty members had a fixed establishment. Every member who joined the team was the best among reconnaissance soldiers. They received training for both reconnaissance and assault subjects and personal guidance from Fatty. They possessed survival, concealment, evasion, and strong ambush capabilities in harsh war environments.

Their mission was to move around the main force, like lone wolves, conducting reconnaissance, jamming battlefield information, and engaging in free hunts.

The mecha quickly passed through the forest, leaped into the air, and soared over a nearly two-hundred-meter-wide valley, propelled by the powerful jets of an instantly activated auxiliary thruster, before diving into the forest on the other side of the hill. A few minutes later, the running mecha stopped, and a red dot flashed briefly on the radar.

Saki’s lips curled into a cold smile. If not for the multidimensional array radar developed by scientific monstrosities, it wouldn’t be so easy to detect a single mech in stealth mode. He activated the long-range viewer, aimed at the position where the red dot appeared, and quietly waited. After a moment, a red mecha emerged in his view.

Saki took no action, only quietly lying in wait, observing. Only after the red mecha disappeared from the viewer’s screen did he emerge from the thick forest on the hillside like a spirit cat.

The ugly black mecha stealthily moved in the opposite direction of the red mecha.

Five minutes later, Saki stopped. In front of him, a flow of lights lengthened and moved the shadows of the forest leaves, while the distant rumble of engines resonated!

Saki’s heart pounded uncontrollably. This was his first mission and his first achievement since joining the bandit army—Colonel Fatty’s two armored camps’ locations were finally found!

Puluo Town, brightly lit.

The residents stood quietly by their windows, watching as group after group of blue-uniformed bandit army soldiers marched quickly to the beat of dense footsteps. Humvees loaded with arms and transport mechs roared by on the streets, while makeshift troop transports and skeletal troop transport mechs streamed by incessantly.

The residents had received news of the Northern Alliance’s attack on Puluo Town. The bandit army had issued a level one combat alert, urging residents to hide in bomb shelters if possible.

However, even with several makeshift and expanded bomb shelters, they couldn’t accommodate a population of over two million.

”Do you think we can win?” a young mother asked, holding her child and gently rocking, with a worried expression as she looked at her husband on the balcony.

As a woman, she didn’t quite understand the current situation. Those were things men argued passionately over. She only knew that with the bandit army’s protection, Puluo Town maintained a peaceful space in this chaotic world. Though food and energy were rationed, the town felt like heaven compared to the never-silent artillery sounds of Central City.

Yet, for this constantly anxious woman, it was uncertain how long the troops that her husband spoke of with glowing eyes could protect Puluo Town. Though ignorant of military matters, she could at least see the very basic troop transports, mechs, and the clumsy energy cannons on the street. Compared to the mighty armies in movies and television, the bandit army resembled a group of militia. Everything seemed self-made. Could these weapons compete with the formal arsenal of the Suss Empire?