Counterfeit Hero

Unfortunately, all this is just theory. Chuckna and Suss would never give Leray the chance to practice this theory.

Forget about a year, even half a year’s time won’t be given by the Western Alliance! They will continue to launch attacks until Leray Channel is cleared completely! And the Feiyang Republic and Chuckna Republic might send troops at Leray’s most dangerous moment, or Carl might directly launch an attack...

No matter what, Leray is doomed. This nation will become scorched earth, an insignificant vassal state.

Russell pointed at the interstellar map with his finger, moving upwards along the map. In Leray, Saleria, Chuckna, Suss, Jiepeng, Tatania, and Puditok, there’s another force within the space between these countries.

All along, this force has roamed at the edges of mainstream society. They have their own survival laws, their own social forms. They are scattered sand, a group of bloodthirsty criminals, cons, mercenaries, thugs, businessmen, adventurers, and pirates.

They are the least trustworthy yet the most honorable. They measure everything by strength. They openly commit murder, theft, and robbery.

It is both paradise and hell!

If Leray could get help from this force, maybe they could survive.

Unfortunately, when the Supreme Command Department formed a force targeting this region, the most suitable person to lead disappeared.

Is he still alive?

Where is he?

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

The base hall was still silent.

Chekov smoked one cigarette after another, occasionally staring at the closed elevator in a daze.

The atmosphere was oppressively silent in an unusual way.

The warriors looked at their ship captain. They knew, the captain was just like them, waiting for that person’s appearance. At a time like this, the person who rescued two hundred seventy prisoners, captured James alive, created numerous miracles and led them to escape to this base might be able to tell everyone what to do next.

The long wait had turned into an anticipation.

The confused and desperate emotions needed someone’s voice to dispel them.

Everyone waited quietly.

Until the elevator indicator light turned from red to green.

Watching the elevator go up layer by layer. The whole hall suddenly surged lightly. Everyone couldn’t help but move forward.

Helen pointed the camera lens at the elevator door.

No matter what, she needed to fulfill her duties. War had lost its romance, but maybe, it would still leave some miraculous and surprising moments. When the dust settled, some small details might be the turning points of fate.

Now, what needed to be done was to record this segment of history.

The elevator door opened.

With a swirl of smoke, Fatty with messy hair and wide-open collar, came out with red eyes. In his hand, he held a wrinkled paper filled with strange symbols tightly, as if holding a lifeline.

”Colonel Tian...” Chekov stepped forward: ”We...”

Fatty waved his hand.

Unlike his usual playful grin, Fatty’s face was now livid, with a distorted expression.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Fatty walked straight towards Helen.

Seeing Fatty getting closer and closer in the lens, Helen couldn’t help but feel a bit flustered. What was he going to do?

Fatty brushed past Helen. His gaze firmly locked on the huge one-eyed pirate sculpture beside Helen.

”The identity of a pirate denotes the way pirates store their wealth... aside from a small portion of stocks and deposits in Free Port, most of it is stored in the form of precious metals in the base.”

Fatty’s voice echoed in the base. It seemed he was muttering to himself, yet talking to everyone.

”Unlike the ancient gold and jewels, today’s precious metal is the rarest metal since Ancient Earth times—californium.”

”Californium, due to its rank in the periodic table, is called Element 98. During ancient Earth times, its pure metal value was fifty thousand times that of gold. Even today, when gold and platinum have become common metals, californium still maintains its status.”

After his explanation, Fatty turned around, looking at Chekov behind him and said: ”Today’s market price for one gram of californium is five thousand Fei Yuan!”

For some reason, this completely unrelated explanation stirred a surge of indescribable emotions within everyone.

Everyone focused on the one-eyed pirate sculpture as Fatty pointed it out. He continued: ”This three-meter-high sculpture’s body is made of valuable chromium-titanium alloy, while its head is cast from pure californium metal.”

”Let’s do the math.” Fatty counted on his fingers.

”One kilogram of californium, at a market price of five million, so the head of this statue, which weighs at least a hundred kilograms, is worth several billion!”

Before anyone could calculate the result, Fatty gave the answer.

”A single Blue Rose ship costs only ninety million Fei Yuan. A Frenzied Shark-class heavy cruiser of the Feiyang Republic costs about four hundred million Fei Yuan! One could say, Redbeard Pirate Group’s decades of savings is all on the head of this pirate statue!”

There was silence in the hall...

Gazing at the one-eyed pirate sculpture’s head, Fatty suddenly laughed sinisterly.

He almost bent over with laughter: ”This statue! It’s enough for us to procure enough supplies at Free Port, enough to turn this place into a military base! Though we don’t have defense industry enterprises or equipment, we have money, warriors, and the best researchers!”

”If we become pirates, the whole Free World will be ours...” Fatty’s passionate voice echoed in the hall.

Everyone was stunned by Fatty’s words.

”Bless our ancestors. They gave us this base. They gave us the pirate’s treasure.”

Fatty laughed: ”They cut off our way home, didn’t they? They want Leray to collapse this way, don’t they? They want to see me die, don’t they?!”

”Bah!” Fatty spat forcefully: ”From now on, this will be the territory of the Leraydemocratic Federation, a part of the Federation, sacred and indivisible! We are standing on the soil of our homeland.”

”Our homeland...” Everyone mumbled.

”Leray has been peaceful for three hundred years, but the blood of this nation has never cooled. Many have died for this country. In the future, we will be part of them. Even if one day, Leray gets conquered. At least we will be standing on Leray’s soil, fighting to the death!”

”Fight to the death!” These four words suddenly ignited everyone’s blood.

”Bermuda has fallen. What will happen to Central Leray Star Domain in three months, and to the entire Leray Federation in half a year?”

Fatty questioned. No one answered, everyone just breathed heavily, waiting for his answer.

”I don’t know!” Fatty spread his hands, his smile was obnoxious: ”I only know... we seek peace, they give us war, we seek survival, they give us slaughter. We are soldiers, our duty is to protect our people. But now, we can only watch our people displaced, robbed by pirates in the universe, and killed in the war fire.”

”Damn it! Now, we can only retaliate in one way!”

What way? Everyone clenched their fists.

”Robbery!”

The entire hall was thrown into chaos with Fatty’s answer.

”Yes! Damn robbery!”

”Rob the Jiepeng people, rob the Suss people! Damn it, should we rob the Saleria people too?”

”And those pirates!”

This malicious thought swept away all despair and confusion. Fatty’s words seemed to light up a beacon in the fog.

”Tell Barbarossa and his men,” Fatty said to the bright-eyed Chekov: ”We’re going all out, tell them, either face collective execution, or join us as the most brutal pirates in this Star Domain!”

”What’s our troop’s name?” Chekov asked.

”Bandit Army!” Fatty said resolutely. Completely unaware that his bandit image had been clearly captured by the stunned Helen.

Last time in Gazalin, we only robbed one base. Damn it, this time, we’ll rob to the fullest!

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.(To be continued, to find out what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the authors, support legitimate reading!)