Counterfeit Hero

Absolute Kill Stream retreated under Hariman’s leadership.

Dozens of Mechas bearing the Tai Sect’s banner launched an attack and quickly vanished without a trace after disengaging from Absolute Kill Stream.

Came fast, left even faster.

Everything felt like a nightmare.

The entire First Avenue was left with nothing but scattered wreckage, burning flames, injured and wailing citizens, and a group of reporters with somewhat dazed and terrified expressions.

Some people closed their eyes, and then opened them again.

All they saw was devastation.

This wasn’t a dream; it was the brief prelude, the prelude to war.

The entire street was charred black, with craters of varying sizes connected one after another. These were the marks left by explosions. Scattered Mecha and Flying Car wreckage burned with crackling sounds, and thick smoke billowed. From time to time, a deafening secondary explosion would erupt.

At the street side filled with rubble, a teenager around ten years old struggled painfully. His leg had been crushed by the wreckage of a Flying Car thrown by the shockwave. Beside him lay several corpses sprawled in disarray, some killed by stray bullets, others by bombs, and some had jumped to their deaths from burning buildings.

The sounds of wailing, crying, and screaming filled the air.

A photographer, as if driven by a supernatural force, climbed to the rooftop of the tallest building on First Avenue.

Standing at the top of the towering building, the photographer’s mind went blank.

In the distance, the direction of Waltz Avenue in Central City was already ablaze, with Fierce Fire spreading across the commercial area, and the billowing black smoke shrouded the entire sky. Looking north, the gunfire in the Northern Industrial Zone was becoming more intense. After each white beam flashing across the ground, thunderous explosions followed.

The photographer rotated his shooting angle, the lens faithfully recording everything happening in the city. He knew that peace had been shattered, and it wouldn’t be long before what was happening in Central City would spread to surrounding cities and to every corner of Mars Planet.

A fleeting scene caught the photographer’s attention.

He zoomed in with a high-powered lens.... in front of a shabby brick-and-wood house in the slum area, a few people were staring blankly at the distant smoke. At their feet were a few travel bags. The undeleted barcodes on the bags indicated they had just arrived from the Space Port by shuttle.

The photographer sighed, continued zooming in, and finally fixed the frame on the face of a middle-aged woman holding a child.

In her deep brown eyes was endless fatigue and confusion.

She held her sleeping child, stared blankly at the man beside her, as if asking what exactly had happened here and where there was no war.

The fire at the Tai Sect Branch had been extinguished.

A disheveled Geoffrey and Weiseler stood in the hall with grim faces. Beside them were Baz and Weiseler, clenching their teeth, along with a dozen Tai Sect Disciples receiving emergency treatment for their injuries.

Except for the groans, the entire Mechanical Armor Hall was dead silent.

Looking at the mess, Geoffrey and Weiseler exchanged a glance, remaining silent.

What had just happened still left them somewhat uncomprehending. Seeing the Third Elder Sankey hang up the phone with a solemn face, Geoffrey asked, ”How is it?”

”Can’t find them!” Sankey said angrily, ”Our people have been completely cut off, with no notification received. The main hall and the large branches are all empty, the Sect Guard Team and their disciples have all vanished.”

Sankey’s words caused an uproar in the hall.

Such a major event, and no one here received any information.

Connecting it to the recent attack in Puluo Town, everyone understood what was going on.

Obviously, everyone present had become Kubo’s pawns, used as sacrificial scapegoats.

Geoffrey sighed deeply and said, ”Have all our people been notified to come back?”

Sankey nodded, ”The message has been sent out, now they are converging here.”

Sinking into silence, Weiseler looked at the bewildered disciples in the hall and then at the dozens of Mechas outside the gate, asking Geoffrey, ”What should we do next?”

Geoffrey gave a bitter smile.

The conflict between Tai Sect’s traditional forces and the rogues like Kubo and Nakagawa Daiki had not been a day or two. At the moment of life and death, splitting up was almost inevitable.

To be clear, the day of the battle was the day of the breakup.

Kubo would certainly not leave any loose ends. If they died, Tai Sect would be controlled solely by Kubo, avoiding the risk of these people being used by others! Given such a huge temptation, even for just a little benefit, he would ruthlessly eliminate us.

The various factions at Mars Free Port each had their own powers, and we couldn’t stir this troubled water. We only had about seven hundred core disciples and outer disciples, adding the Guard Team and a small mercenary group, totaling no more than four thousand people. We couldn’t make any waves.

What to do next? Our malls, trading companies, transport fleets, and Freedom Dock industries were all on Mars Free Channel. Without this place, we would have nothing. Starting over elsewhere, rebuilding our strength would be tremendously difficult.

Not to mention, just thinking about the number of people Kubo had offended over the years with his rampant behavior made Geoffrey hesitant to imagine life after being knocked back to our original state.