Counterfeit Hero

However, as the war dragged on, Fatty increasingly felt like a gambler whose eyes had gone red. In this forced bet, he was wagering his life and his loved ones repeatedly, never seeing the end of the game.

Seeing Leray’s situation becoming more and more perilous, watching the war being torn apart by the big sharks of various countries with no end in sight, he finally made a decision in the elevator to take a different path.

Fatty knew he couldn’t stay trapped on the Leray ship. This ship was already riddled with holes from enemy attacks. To save this ship, the only way out was to find another ship, one that could pull Leray to the shore.

If Chuckna was the Leray Federation Supreme Command’s acknowledged hope, then the Free World was the lifeboat Fatty had chosen.

Fatty had always kept the simulations he made in the elevator close at hand. This was the last straw he could grasp—within six months, as long as he could gather some force in the Free World and launch large-scale harassment and attacks on the Suss and Jiepeng Fleets’ supply lines, strike troop transports, Leray might survive for another year.

In modern warfare, within Leray’s narrow Star Domain, there was no room for maneuver. Both sides were fighting hard for every planet, every city. But the vast Free World and the Public Star Domain were a paradise for guerrilla warfare.

If he could hold out for a year, perhaps he could wait for a breakthrough in Boswell’s research, wait for Chuckna’s rescue, wait for the situation to change for the better, or even wait for a meteor to fall in the Karsdon Star River!

But every time he calculated his own power, Fatty felt utterly distressed.

Currently, he only commanded over 600 warriors on the ”Blue Rose”, and the 600-700 pirates selected from the Redbeard Pirate Group.

A newly modified modular cruiser was merely equipped like a destroyer, and the other armed merchant ships and raiders were just civilian equipment. Plus, a pirate base and hundreds of logistical personnel; they might be enough for piracy but challenging a formal fleet would be suicidal.

And in the Free World, there were countless pirate groups, mercenary armies, giant corporations, and financial magnates with larger fleets, more personnel, and more powerful private Mecha Groups. To gather them and bind them to his cause, not to mention six months, a lifetime might not be enough.

His only reliance was that he was still hiding in the shadows, and no one knew what kind of claws the Redbeard Pirate Group currently possessed.

He had to swiftly reach the high ground before the entire power structure of the Free World was reshuffled. Otherwise, once the order of the Free World was broken, and large amounts of military weapons and ships flooded this Star Domain, with so many forces backed by various influences, he wouldn’t be able to swallow a single one of them.

Fatty stared intently at Kubo, his intense gaze making Kubo’s back drenched in cold sweat.

To Fatty, the Tai Sect before him was an excellent supplement. According to his original plan, using the bet between the Tai Sect and Phantom Stream, leveraging the rules of the Free World and the balance between other major sects and forces, swallowing the Tai Sect in one gulp would allow him to control both the Redbeard Pirate Group and Phantom Stream, gaining a foothold in the Free World.

But this was also a risky move. The aftermath was evident. Putting aside the deeply entrenched forces of the Tai Sect and the potential for indigestion, the other sects and forces eyeing him would make him a target while he was already highly cautious.

However, the conditions that Kubo now proposed, clearly gave him another better opportunity.

Since Kubo was conceding, he could not only go with the flow and become the savior of Phantom Stream but also turn around and become an elder of the Tai Sect.

As long as he could eliminate the Demon’s Eye Pirate Group and make a fortune in the bet, secretly, he could develop both Phantom Stream and the Redbeard Pirate Group inside and outside. He would be covertly stirring trouble in the Tai Sect, which seemed like a win-win situation.

Just thinking about spreading trouble and committing misdeeds under the guise of a Tai Sect elder excited Fatty immensely.

Doing bad things himself while others took the blame—where could he find such a good deal?

”This young brother...” Old Smith ultimately couldn’t resist the temptation to save Phantom Stream and walked up to Fatty, hesitating to speak.

”What?” Fatty looked wary, as if the old man in front was trying to steal his candy. He took a step to the side, silently shielding Kubo behind him.

”I would like to ask a favor from you...” Old Smith’s face reddened, knowing full well he didn’t even know this Fatty’s name, asking for a favor was rather presumptuous.

Hesitating, he heard his own voice: ”How about this, I’ll find a beauty to replace Sect Master Kubo, and you can take as many nude photos as you want.”

The old man was stunned; it was his voice, but the words were not his. Looking up, he saw Fatty winking at him from behind Kubo.

”Really?” Fatty’s voice returned to normal, looking somewhat skeptical.

”Really!” The old man quickly replied.

”Why didn’t you say so!” Fatty turned and patted Kubo’s shoulder: ”You see, this old man understands. With a beauty to photograph, why would I want to shoot a man...” He turned back to Smith and asked, ”Besides taking photos, can anything else be done? It’s quite a waste just to take photos after all....”

Kubo felt a sweetness in his throat, almost spitting out blood. If he had known this damned Fatty would agree to use a woman in place of himself, he wouldn’t have agreed to so many conditions from Phantom Stream!

”However...” Fatty frowned.

Kubo’s heart tightened; honestly, he already had a psychological barrier against this Fatty now. What was this bastard up to now?

”Earlier, I heard you mentioned, the competition is canceled. Doesn’t that mean my position as the Fighting Arena’s Branch Director is gone? Being just an elder is no fun!” Fatty looked displeased.

Kubo felt a mix of emotions; such a shameless Fatty couldn’t be found anywhere else in the universe! However, now wasn’t the time to haggle, so he immediately agreed: ”Don’t worry, what I promised, I’ll surely deliver. From today onward, you are our Tai Sect’s Eleventh Elder and the Director of the Fighting Arena in Puluo Town!”

Despite suffering some torment and humiliation, and hating Fatty to the core, Kubo was always good at controlling his emotions. With things at this stage, there was no use saying anything more. What was needed now was to walk out of this door; there would be plenty of time for payback in the future!

Moreover, since this Fatty was so capable, putting him in Puluo Town, a place teeming with all kinds of folks and frequent fights, might not be a bad move after all.

”Alright then.”

As Fatty reluctantly agreed, a Phantom Stream elder promptly handed an electronic contract with image data to Kubo.

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. Almost wrote myself into a dead end, took a long time to figure it out. The thinking ahead is clear now.

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