Counterfeit Hero

”Rare, my foot.” Margaret snorted, momentarily at a loss dealing with Fatty. In terms of intelligence and cunning, she was evenly matched with Fatty, but when it came to being shameless, she couldn’t hold a candle to him. The clever fear the stubborn, the stubborn fear the rash, the rash fear the reckless, and the reckless fear those who are both reckless and shameless. Fatty was not just thick-skinned; he could brazenly pocket his face at any moment and say it doesn’t matter.

Especially with the lecherous glances occasionally shining in his eyes, which Margaret found irresistibly hard to fend off.

The merchant ship pressed on, weaving through the web-like Mars Free Channel. After several jump points, Margaret was utterly confused about her whereabouts. The star systems they passed had no decent warp routes, and the ship was endlessly traversing asteroid belts, nebulae, and gravitational reef zones formed by white dwarf stars, constantly battling the harsh space environment.

As the armed merchant ship broke through a nebula composed of gas and dust fragments upon the pilot’s report of reaching the destination, Margaret sighed in relief. But soon she gasped in shock at the sight before her!

Dozens of warships silently floated in the vacuum of space.

The closest was a gigantic, battered warship..... or perhaps, one would be hard-pressed to call it an aircraft carrier.....

This was an aircraft carrier Margaret had never seen before. At its rear were four massive thrusters arranged in an X layout. Each thruster had nine rows horizontally and vertically. Eighty-one times four — Margaret swore she’d never heard of a warship having so many thruster ports!

In front of these astonishing thrusters was a flat hull. On either side of the hull were two short trapezoidal wings. On top of these trapezoidal wings was a bullet-shaped primary steering propulsion system. Above the wings were six 1,600 millimeter caliber secondary cannons with long, menacing barrels extending forward.

The entire warship’s main shape resembled a massive, trackless ancient tank transformed. Except for the bow narrowing sharply into a wedge-like sloping nose, the flat hull and bridge were tank-like.

The fighter jet exhaust ports were set in front of the bridge and on the warship’s wings. Margaret counted, and there were eighty ports, including the recovery channels.

She couldn’t begin to imagine the release capacity of this aircraft carrier’s fighter jets or the internal design of the ship. It wasn’t just about opening more ports. Internal cabins, channels, waiting areas, catapult devices, ammunition, and energy supply systems must correspond one-to-one for these ports to be functional; otherwise, no matter how many ports there are, they’re just for show.

The aircraft carrier appeared severely damaged. Whether it was the external armor modifications, the hull’s localized deformities, or the chaotic faded paint, the whole carrier looked as if it had been hit by countless energy cannons. Margaret even suspected she could take it down with a punch!

Besides this peculiar carrier, there were nineteen shabby armed merchant ships, more than twenty heavy assault ships, ten destroyers, eleven cruisers, and seven battleships!

What made Margaret exclaim was one of the battleships among them!

Though this battleship similarly appeared modified and battered, with an added strange ramming beak, its key parts shaped and particularly its unique bridge and the patch-like golden lines on the hull revealed its identity. It was the sister ship of the B15 Fleet flagship Black Tulip, the most advanced A-Class ship among the Unicorn-class battleships — the Pars!

Margaret swore she’d never mistake it! In Feiyang, she dealt with this type of battleship the most and knew its appearance and capabilities like the back of her hand.

The B15 Fleet had only two A-Class Unicorn battleships. When Sammon was attacked, Pars went missing. It hadn’t been found since. Carolina tried several times through official channels to inquire Zhang Pengcheng about the missing Feiyang battleships, but Zhang Pengcheng always claimed he didn’t know. Now, in this star domain, appearing next to Fatty was none other than the Pars battleship!

”Fatty!” Margaret stared at the battleship’s bow, fresh and shiny as if the paint was still wet, bearing the bandit army’s insignia, feeling dizzy with anger, she turned to glare at Fatty: ”Pars is with you!”

”What Pars?” Fatty was utterly puzzled.

”Stop pretending!” Margaret was tempted to strangle Fatty. She pointed out the porthole: ”What Pars, I tell you, don’t think modifying it can fool me. This is our Feiyang B15 Fleet’s Pars battleship!”

Fatty scratched his head. After all, this Feiyang battleship embodied advanced Feiyang military technology. In the entire universe, few could match the Unicorn-class battleship. Moreover, this battleship was the most top-tier A-Class among the Unicorn-class. Therefore, during retrofitting at the bandit army base, despite adding separation and stealth devices and making many other modifications, the basic elements remained as original as possible. Margaret recognizing it was hardly surprising.

”This is... Pars?” Fatty seemed surprised.

Margaret folded her arms, sneering, determined to see how long Fatty could keep the act.

”Hmm... let’s just call it a day.” Fatty sighed: ”If you say so, it is...” With that, the scoundrel turned and sauntered toward the shuttle flight cabin, muttering to himself: ”Arguing over this is so childish...”

Margaret gritted her teeth and quickly caught up with Fatty, grabbing him by the arm, incredulous, ”You don’t have anything to explain to me?”

”Explain what?” Fatty’s eyes widened in a fright, sizing up Margaret as if he’d spotted a lunatic.

”This is our battleship!” Margaret snapped: ”A Feiyang active service battleship, how can you claim it?!”

”Yours?” Fatty looked dumbfounded.

”Of course, it’s ours!” Margaret clenched her fists, knowing Fatty was pretending ignorance. But facts are facts, and she refused to believe Fatty could black out a Unicorn-class battleship right before her eyes!

”Really?!” Fatty’s naïve expression seemed skeptical.

”Really!” Margaret found it absurd. Fatty’s genuinely innocent façade was truly masterful.

”Are you sure?!” Fatty still doubted.

”Fatty, stop pretending!” Margaret huffed.

”Any invoice?” Fatty stretched out his hand.

”What?!” Margaret was momentarily speechless.

”Invoice!” Fatty waved his open palm, confirming the demand.

Margaret chuckled in exasperation: ”Whose Unicorn-class battleship it is requires an invoice for proof?!”

”Of course!” Fatty shamelessly retorted: ”No invoice... how can you claim it’s yours? I could say it’s mine too!”

Margaret glared at Fatty, then suddenly chuckled, speaking leisurely: ”These were ordered by the Feiyang Army from Loske Company, every one of them has a complete procurement process with all receipts. Which one would you like to see?”

”So...” Fatty seemed a bit dazed: ”This battleship really is yours?”

”Absolutely!” Margaret breathed a sigh of relief.

This battleship was not just any battleship but contained significant Feiyang top military confidential instruments and equipment. While the ship had clearly been dismantled and modified, Margaret didn’t believe the bandit army could fully decipher it in such a short time. Her immediate task was to prevent the Leray people from gaining more opportunity and time.

At this juncture, Fatty couldn’t possibly deny it.

”Alright...” Fatty reluctantly reached a conclusion: ”...Now it’s mine.”

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.Third day, totaling fifteen thousand words.

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