Counterfeit Hero

Chapter 480: Volume 5, Chapter 73: Capturing the Opportunity

”Nothing there!”

”Yeah, we’ve searched everywhere, nothing found.”

Several patrol soldiers gathered beside the ”Holy Sword” 18 Mecha, exchanging information.

Ever since that eerie gunshot, this patrol team, which was less than twenty meters away from Fatty, had been searching here for nearly half an hour.

Yet, no matter how they turned the hillside upside down, they couldn’t find a single clue. That gunshot seemed to have not been fired by anyone. It appeared out of nowhere and vanished just as mysteriously. If everyone hadn’t heard it, the soldiers might even have thought they were hallucinating.

One soldier anxiously grabbed the gun from the soldier suspected of misfiring, checking it over and over while cursing, ”I say, it’s definitely your gun causing the problem.”

The suspected soldier stiffened his neck, veins bulging on his forehead, angrily retorting, ”What do you mean? The base has dispatched people to search here, there’s a sniper! Are you just clueless or trying to stir up trouble?”

The previous soldier sneered, ”Who knows where you aimed that shot!”

”Shut up!” The leading Sergeant kicked the previous soldier, causing him to tumble, harshly saying, ”You idiot! Don’t you know saying that could get someone killed?” He looked around quickly, then hissed in a low voice, ”From now on, no one is allowed to mention that gunshot!”

The soldiers exchanged glances and fell silent.

Over twenty minutes earlier, the base below sounded the alarm, and they received orders to search for the sniper.

A single sniper causing such chaos and commotion at the base could only mean something serious had happened. The subsequent vague information hinted by their comrades in the regional communication channel struck them like a thunderbolt—Stephen was assassinated, and his fate unknown!

Everyone present understood. The entire matter was deeply connected to that gunshot. And that gunshot had dragged the entire patrol team to the edge of disaster.

In the Gazalin’s strictly hierarchical army, a platoon leader could decide the life and death of lower-ranking soldiers. The consequences of that gunshot being known were severe. If a sniper shot Stephen right under the patrol team’s nose, the responsibility for negligence would be passed down layer by layer, bringing dire consequences.

What was even more chilling was the possibility that the gunshot was a misfire and coincidentally hit Stephen. The entire patrol team might face death! Although the possibility of a misfire hitting Stephen was nearly absurd, with the sniper uncaught, even the most absurd reason could become the scapegoat for the report to the higher-ups!

Therefore, no matter what, it was better to let this matter rot inside their hearts. Whether it was a sniper or a misfire, this responsibility was beyond the patrol team’s capability to bear!

The mountain wind blew, and several patrol soldiers noticed their vests were getting cold.

On other distant hills, groups of soldiers wearing Gazalin Four-color Combat Uniforms formed snake-like formations, slowly moving on the slopes. As time ticked by, several key hills were thoroughly searched, yet no suspicious figure was spotted. Infantry continued to comb through the forest repeatedly, while the Mechanical Army focused their search further afield.

In the communication channel, officers’ emotions grew increasingly agitated. They urged, cursed, and never stopped. Two reinforced infantry regiments, ten battalions in total, including the regiment’s Guard Company, Communication Company, Logistic Transport Company, and everyone capable of standing and walking, were all dispatched!

Around the Christers Army Base, on the not-so-tall mountain ranges, more than seven thousand people conducted a grid search, reaching wasteful density levels.

With mutual understanding, the patrol team, amidst the chaotic curses and urgings in the regional communication channel, dispersed from the center at the single ”Holy Sword” 18 Mecha to start a new round of searching.

The leading Sergeant was responsible for the east side. He followed the slope, cutting through the thorns with his military dagger, slowly progressing deeper into the mountain waist. The slippery muddy ground kept most of his attention on maintaining balance, while the dense thorn bushes, filled with prickles, continually annoyed him.

Patiently walking another twenty meters down, the Sergeant saw a small flat area covered with thick yellow leaves in front of him. Carefully, he slid down the slippery mud slope, taking two steps urgently to reach it, and as he breathed a sigh of relief, he pushed off with his right foot, making a big step with his left foot onto the flat ground.

With a muffled thud, the unsuspecting Sergeant sank halfway into the mud beneath the leaves. The unexpected event left him temporarily embarrassed. Struggling, he cursed loudly, trying to climb back up.

The frantic Sergeant was unaware that all of this was being captured by a satellite, transmitting in real-time to the SkyNet screen on the central control panel of a Command Mecha more than a thousand kilometers away.

Watching that Sergeant take a step into the mud, everyone’s heartbeat before SkyNet instantly accelerated countless times. That small muddy pond was precisely where Tian Xingjian was hiding. The place where the Sergeant stepped down was less than a meter away from Fatty’s body.

”Allen!” The Sergeant climbed up the edge of the mud pond, cut out a small piece of land with a dagger to sit down, and turned on the communicator on his helmet to shout.

”What’s the matter, sir?” The voice of Sergeant Allen, who was driving the Holy Sword 18 Mecha, came through the communicator.

The Sergeant lowered his head and laboriously took the energy gun off his body and placed it to the side. Looking at his clothes and pants smeared with mud, he felt extremely fatigued. The continuous search and that nightmare-like gunshot had left him exhausted. After taking a breath, he weakly said to Allen, ”Come down for a moment. Give me a set of your spare clothes from your mecha.”

The Holy Sword 18 Single Soldier Mecha roared as it quickly approached, crushing a few small trees under its massive mechanical feet and firmly anchoring itself on the thorn-covered slope. Seeing the Sergeant covered in mud, Sergeant Allen couldn’t help but ask in surprise, ”What happened to you?”

The Sergeant glanced at Allen through the transparent cockpit of the mecha, removing his clothes and pants completely covered in mud while retorting, ”Had a bad day. Hurry up, give me your clothes to wear.”

The engine noise died down, and the mecha’s limbs retracted, deactivating the combat mode. With a soft sound of hydraulic arms extending, the cockpit cover opened and out jumped Sergeant Allen, who was a size larger than the Sergeant. Turning around, he opened the mecha’s waist compartment, stood on tiptoe to search for clothes, and said, ”I have clothes, but won’t they be too big for you?”

”Just find it, we’re about the same size!” came the Sergeant’s voice accompanied by the rustling sounds from behind Allen.

”About the same size?” Allen didn’t expect the usually stern Sergeant to make such a joke. He turned around with a smile, holding the clothes from the compartment... and the smile froze on his face. A stout, mud-covered monster stood behind him, flashing white teeth. By the monster’s side lay the Sergeant with a fighting dagger stuck in his throat.

Allen’s eyes moved with difficulty. Everything before him had already surpassed his understanding. He couldn’t comprehend how, in the fraction of a second after the Sergeant spoke, this monster managed to kill him, then posed grinning behind Allen, creating such a bizarre freeze-frame!

Allen stopped thinking. In the next second, his Adam’s apple was shattered by a lightning-fast punch from the monster.

Blood surged up, clogging Allen’s mouth and nose in an instant. He could only painfully widen his perplexed eyes as he fell to the muddy ground, the world spinning around him.

As his body made contact with the ground, in the final moment before death, Allen saw the monster quickly snatching the clothes from his hand.

All the platoon leaders of the Nineteen Division and the staff in the command mechas stared in shock at the SkyNet display. From the moment Fatty leapt out silently from the mud, accurately killing the Corporal with his eyes covered in mud, they maintained this astonished stance.

If not for SkyNet’s realistic and objective monitoring, no one would believe that Fatty’s skills had reached such a terrifying level!

It was too fast, incredibly fast. From leaping to finishing, it was just a moment. And in that moment, the speed, strength, precision, and ability to seize opportunities that Fatty displayed were almost monstrous.

Even the highest-ranked Special-level Special Soldier at Leray couldn’t execute these basic tasks as perfectly as this.

The Holy Sword 18 Human-shaped Single Soldier Mecha, being a high-end model among Gazalin Standard Mecha, now stood there quietly with its cockpit lid open.

After a brief silence, everyone started cheering wildly, waving fists and applauding in celebration. After hours of agonizing wait, they finally had a perfect conclusion. Everyone believed that once Fatty got into the mecha, no one on this planet could stop him from leaving.

Only Bonnie and Nia closed their eyes just in time. Sure enough, Fatty, with a silly grin on his face, almost impatiently stripped himself completely naked again. Then he stood there stark naked, scrutinizing Allen’s uniform from every angle.

Seeing this shameless face brimming with excitement, everyone had the illusion that... Fatty risked his life just for this moment of unabashed nudity.

For a moment, the area in front of SkyNet fell into dead silence.

************

After the earthquake in May and the continuous downturn in June, this month, I’m prepared to write at the speed of life and death. To avoid others calling me a scoundrel, you can give the monthly tickets as you see fit. This month, we’ll count recommendation votes. If the recommendation votes make it to the top ten, two Chapters daily! (To be continued, to know what happens next, please log on to www.qidian.com, more Chapters await, support the author, support legitimate reading!)