Counterfeit Hero

Chapter 34 - 34 The Battle Begins

Tian Xingjian wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and thought to himself, ”Luckily, I was cautious and removed these Mythical Army soldiers’ identity cards, or I’d definitely be exposed.” He looked at the almost sweat-soaked identity card in his hand and recited coldly without a trace of emotion, ”Gazalin Empire Royal Direct Mythical Army 3rd Group, Second Battalion, First Company, Second Squad Sergeant Ralph.”

Ali looked at the electronic recorder in his hand, nodded, and said, ”Thank you for your cooperation. Your name appears in the SkyNet records within fifty kilometers of the base, Mr. Ralph. I’m sorry for taking your time. Now you can lead your soldiers into the base. I wish you the best.” The strict hierarchical system made every lower-class person know how to talk to an upper-class person. Even if the other party had a lower rank, they would use respectful language. Ali’s respectful tone made Tian Xingjian feel pity for him. What exactly were these enslaved races in the Gazalin Empire fighting for, with almost no future?

Tian Xingjian turned to leave, and Ali’s voice came from behind again, ”Mr. Ralph, just to inform you, your companion Pierre is arriving soon. They will be here in two hours.”

Looking back at Ali, Tian Xingjian felt a sense of bewilderment. What kind of peoples were these? Things he found extremely unreasonable were taken for granted in their eyes.

Although in the Gazalin Empire’s hundreds of years of history, heroes resisting tyrannical rule continued to emerge among them, most of these heroes were sent to the gallows by their own people who served the upper class. Behind these heroes, their people continued to live in ignorance and numbness, suffering oppression without resistance, and occasionally feeling smug for being able to oppress their own people or gain the upper class’s favor.

The power of tradition was so immense. When a people get used to oppression, when the rulers exploit their internal conflicts to divide them continuously, when they start receiving deceitful education from childhood, coupled with the societal hierarchy and the harsh reality, they are molded into a truly lower-class people, having lost any ambition and self-respect, indulging in theft, prostitution, laziness, and unproductivity, a people who even look down on themselves.

Tian Xingjian left, unable to bear looking at the honest yet flattering face that was destined to be executed for this oversight in letting them pass.

Upon entering the base, the six [Demon Tigers] dispersed. They had to place the remote-control bombs within two hours to completely destroy the missile defense system and anti-detection interference devices inside the base.

Tian Xingjian maneuvered the mecha slowly around the base, which was pitch black. Although there were anti-aircraft missile systems and anti-detection interference devices, the lights were controlled to prevent the Federation’s air raids, especially in the energy and ammunition warehouses, which were of utmost priority.

[Demon Tigers] brazenly entered one camp and warehouse after another, checking any position they needed. Such activities were commonplace in the Imperial Army. Not to mention the Royal Direct Mythical Army, even routine inspections conducted by ordinary Constitutional Soldiers would cause a commotion. The Imperial Soldiers were used to it. Moreover, the soldiers here only belonged to the logistics guard troops, not frontline combat units with big tempers. Some soldiers, awakened by a [Demon Tiger] suddenly barging into their barracks, turned over and went back to sleep, telling themselves, ”These Mythical Army soldiers are not to be messed with, and they are on duty. If charged with obstructing a mission, it would be a great injustice. There are countless tasks to do the next day, so sleep.”

The base’s highest officer was also alarmed. He summoned the guards and, after hearing their report, this Vibo Clan Colonel waved his hand and, with a smile, cursed, ”These little brats.” Then he snuggled back into his bed. To him, these Mythical Army soldiers were like his relatives rummaging around for cakes in his house. Anyway, the lazy and idle lower-class people at the base had too much rest time every day.

The bomb-placing operation went unusually smoothly. One hour later, except for the barracks where there were too many people to place bombs, remote-control bombs were placed in the energy and ammunition warehouses, hitting every anti-aircraft missile system and anti-detection interference device.

Opening the mecha’s energy box cover and having the diligent base soldiers fill it up with energy, Tian Xingjian, under the pretext of continuing to search for escaped Federation prisoners of war, led the Special Reconnaissance Soldiers out of the base with swagger.

Returning to the forest where the Federation Mechas were hiding, [Antenna] reported that the Federation’s air operations had already begun. Due to the staunch resistance by the enemy air force, the command center immediately put the reserved flight squadron into battle, increasing our forces in this air corridor to three flight squadrons and urgently gathering another flight squadron as a reserve.

In this short four-hundred-plus kilometer, one-hundred-kilometer wide zone, three squadrons of armored fighters were battling almost an equal number of Imperial Fighters in the air. The intensity was imaginable.

This air operation, which started at five in the morning, saw the Federation gradually deploy five aviation squadrons of aircraft due to the unexpected resistance from the Imperial forces. By eight in the morning, they had finally gained temporary air control, with aircraft beginning to clear all enemies within a fifty-kilometer radius of the base. An urgent takeoff was launched by a squadron of transport ships heading to the base. They were responsible for air-dropping three battalions of Special Soldiers to assist the escape team in resisting the enemy’s ground forces and covering the retreat.

Tian Xingjian led the Special Reconnaissance Squad to a position less than a kilometer from the base. As the remote control device in his hand activated, a series of explosions caused an immediate uproar in the base. Particularly, the tremendous blast from the ammunition warehouse was astonishing, triggering countless secondary explosions. The bombs scattered throughout the base had wrecked it completely. The Special Reconnaissance Company soldiers were repeatedly taken aback, not expecting the modified fusion hand grenades with solid energy blocks attached and the activation devices dismantled from energy guns to produce such tremendous power.

The enemy’s base was in chaos, with burning fires lighting up the dawn sky. Personnel and mechas withdrawing from the base were in disarray around its perimeter.

”The time has come, cover with artillery fire and launch an assault within a hundred meters,” Tian Xingjian ordered. [Antenna]’s electronic attack commenced first, with the Federation Mechas and five [Demon Tigers] splitting into two teams as planned. [Anger] and eight Warrior Pioneers launched from the left, while [Logic] led five [Demon Tigers] in a delayed assault from the right five minutes later.