Counterfeit Hero

This evaluation also includes the bandit army that miraculously captured the Mars Free Port.

Don’t mention the proud military of Feiyang, even the military from the second-tier member states of the Fei Alliance never took this team seriously. When they first learned that this team had captured Mars, everyone just widened their eyes, then burst into laughter, treating it as nothing more than an amusing topic.

They laughed at the Western Alliance, and also at Mars’s local forces.

The Northern Alliance, with such a grandiose name, seemed like a military organization on the same level as the Fei Alliance and the Western Alliance. Yet who knew, a Leray colonel single-handedly captured the Mars Free Port, as if playing a game, and finally let Feiyang take advantage of it.

These idle military officers from various countries in the Alliance Military Headquarters naturally had a biased opinion about Mars. But I myself, didn’t I also dismiss the battles happening there with a laugh back then?

Margaret rested her chin on her hand, staring intently at the busy and orderly bandit officers and soldiers in the vast command room.

These people of varying ages, body types, and temperaments all give off the same feeling: fierce.

It’s not the fierceness trained in the military; it’s a kind of bandit’s aura emerging from their bones. Margaret has no doubt that if this group were placed in mainstream society, they would be regulars in police stations and prisons! Without considering what they do, just looking at their knife-like readiness to pounce and their ferocious faces is enough to convict them!

If this group walked the streets in formation, it would surely cause shops to close, banks to shut down, crowds to gather, and children to stop crying.

This ferocity is unique to those living in the Free World.

In that star domain, the most ferocious robbers, the most cunning swindlers, the most cold-blooded killers, and all kinds of criminals in human history have gathered. It is a world of sin. Most people who are wanted and unable to survive in mainstream human society have ended up in the Free World. With these people, one can imagine what the original survival-of-the-fittest world would look like and what outlook on life the people here would have.

However, even the people in the Free World probably aren’t as ferocious as these bandits in front of her. That Leray fatty gave these bandits unimaginable strength and cultivated an even more fierce atmosphere within them.

There are many legends about the bandit army. What Margaret remembers most clearly is the story of these guys making a 200-kilometer forced march, crossing Mars Central City, and raiding Silicon Valley.

It’s said that during that raid, eleven local forces were directly destroyed by the bandit army. So much so that later when the bandit army was responding to factions that defected to them, just saying they borrowed the road from the bandit army sent the surrounding forces into a panic. There’s no decent person who has secured territory on Mars. Robbery, murder, and arson are common, and they are all desperadoes who put their lives on the line. But in the face of the bandit army, they completely collapsed.

Besides the terror of the bandit army’s more than two hundred Mechas, the more crucial factor is that these guys are more fierce than the fiercest on Mars and more unreasonable than the most unreasonable.

A bandit Lieutenant walked past Margaret.

Margaret recognized this Lieutenant, who was over forty years old. A few hours ago, she had just chatted with this Lieutenant. She heard from others that this guy was originally the pirate leader of the Redbeard Pirate Group, always unruly. Later, he joined the bandit army with Hayreddin, at first just putting on a facade, secretly inciting people to find a chance to escape the control of the Leray people. But now, he is the boarding assault team leader of this aircraft carrier and a loyal follower of Tian Xingjian.

This man is a very typical example. He has all the characteristics and flaws of the Mars people and always has. He’s naturally a predator in the jungle world of Mars. Now, as a member of the bandit army, his bandit aura hasn’t faded with the military uniform but has grown stronger.

Just standing in front of this guy, no one would underestimate the likelihood of this madman drawing a knife for a fight just because of a disagreement. He seems ready to do just that anytime.

He is a bandit, yet he is also an excellent soldier.

The fatty didn’t transform these guys into standard soldiers. There’s no sign of the mechanized obedience or stereotypical demeanor typical of regular armies on the bandit army. Using his method, he integrated the Leray people, Saleria people, and Mars people into one group. He preserved the inherent danger of the Mars people and, on this basis, trained them into a mad, unimaginable army.

In peacetime, they probably can’t even march properly, but in wartime, they are the fiercest wolves on the wilderness!

Margaret was a bit lost, her thoughts unknowingly drifting to the bandit army’s Mechas and warships... She still hasn’t figured out the true background and strength of the bandit army.

For instance, these dilapidated warships in front of her—she knows they are fast and knows they are definitely not as broken as they appear on the surface. However, she still doesn’t know what level these remodeled warships, with their comically scary ramming beaks, are at compared to Feiyang’s warships. It’s just like how she doesn’t understand how this fleet arrived in this star system. The confusion fueled by curiosity never stops increasing.

More importantly, what exactly does the fatty want to do by coming here?!

Although she couldn’t differentiate the routing course, Margaret knew that this fleet had no intention of participating in Douglas’s raid on Blue Stone Star ever since entering the Longbow Star System. Even a few hours ago, when their reconnaissance ship had just intercepted civilian ships’ chatter along a busy route about the large-scale raid, they didn’t pay any attention.

While repeatedly recalling every bit of information collected along the way and speculating on the purpose of the bandit army’s journey, suddenly, Margaret heard the report from the reconnaissance ship on the communication channel.

”Night Cat No. 3, first to reach the target airspace. Everything here is normal, no suspicious vessels.”

Target airspace! Margaret leaned forward to look out the window, only to see the dust and gas wrapping the vessel, with rocks occasionally hitting the ship’s hull, making slight collision sounds. The air in the ship seemed to freeze all at once. Everyone remained silent.

Amidst the anxious wait, Margaret didn’t know how long had passed. She suddenly realized the warship had leaped into a void.

Deceleration, engine stop... The fleet has halted. In this unremarkable airspace. Margaret found no valuable targets, nor did she see any significant markers.

”Here it’s open, serene, and the stars shine brightly. The blockade battle from a few months ago taught us of the Salerians’ resilience. There’s a name, worthy of our eternal remembrance...”

The ship’s broadcast echoed with the voice of the fatty.

Margaret abruptly turned her head. She saw Fang Xiang on the command platform standing up, the beautiful Sailerei Major General looking at the fatty in surprise, tears gleaming in her eyes.

Everyone stood up. The fatty’s voice lingered in the battleship.

”He watches us from this star domain; he rests in this star domain. As we pass with his encouragement and hope... salute Admiral Tolstoy! He is the pride of Saleria and all patriots.”

The starry sky, silent and soundless. Dozens of warships, quietly floating.

In the silence, Margaret heard the choked sob of a Salerian Major. She turned her head, looking at this Major, clenching his fists, body trembling yet standing straight. Suddenly, a pang in her heart.

Mysteriously, it was as if a pair of eyes were watching over this fleet.

That was a spirit of a hero.

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. It’s really not my fault; the site crashed last night and the night before at the starting point. I wanted to send this.

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.(To be continued, to know the subsequent developments, please log on to www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)