Counterfeit Hero

No matter how fierce the battle, life must go on.

The ”Mars Daily” did not suspend publication due to the arrival of the war. On the contrary, for many ordinary people hiding at home, in basements, and in refugee camps on the outskirts, keeping up with the progress of the war through radio, television, and newspapers had become the only thing they cared about each day.

At this point, printed media could no longer be distributed, but with the ubiquitous wireless civilian network and a portable handheld computer, one could still read the ”Mars Daily”. And those on-site videos were the guarantee for ”Mars Daily” to compete with online TV stations.

Zhang Kai always felt that Puluo Town was his lucky place.

This reporter from Mars Daily, who had been worried about being fired a few days ago, rose to prominence due to his exclusive report on Tian Xingjian kicking through the Nine Halls. He was now the leader of the first news group and deputy editor of Mars Daily’s editorial department.

Now, he was lying on the window sill of an office on the one hundred and twentieth floor of the Cape Trade Building in Puluo Town, recording everything happening in Puluo Town with his camera.

This building, located slightly west of the center of Puluo Town, belonged to the newly established Sect Mutual Aid Alliance’s sphere of influence. Because it hadn’t been touched by the war, every office here was crammed with people.

Among these people, some were employees who originally worked in the building and stayed here for various reasons. Others were homeless people scattered from different places. ——In Central City, complete streets were nowhere to be found. Every street and building was a battlefield.

Looking from the building, many people were still in the Space City and residential buildings not far away. Outside, the war fire raged, and those with nowhere to go could only stay home, gambling with fate, praying the shells wouldn’t visit them.

It was helpless and realistic. Even if one had to die, dying at home and not knowing when a shell would hit was far better than being outside.

Now, everyone crowded on the window sill, watching everything happening in the distance.

Their gazes were terrified yet numb. No one knew how long they could stay there, nor did they know which second their lives would come to an abrupt end.

The red mechas, like tides in the distance, were rampaging wantonly. It was a completely inhumane massacre! Wherever they went, corpses lay everywhere. They didn’t just kill soldiers; they killed civilians too. Those residential buildings, which posed no threat, became their targets to display force arbitrarily.

Slaughter, plunder, arson!

Watching the vibrant lives in the distant blocks falling silently, blood flowing like rivers, the men bit their lips, and the women couldn’t help but sob uncontrollably. They had never seen hell before, but now they had— the red inferno full of fierce fire and blood!

The red tide of demons surged towards this side.

All eyes focused on Echo Street, on the dozens of black mechas along that long line.

The prayers around Zhang Kai’s ears never ceased.

Everyone was praying, praying that those black mechas could stop the red demonic tide. Despite the overwhelming disparity in numbers, despite everyone knowing their prayers were a kind of luxury, they still wholeheartedly prayed—that was their last hope.

Would that thin line of defense collapse?

The rampaging red mechas, pursuing the panic-stricken people, drew closer to Echo Street.

Finally, the tide turned at the intersection, surging towards Echo Street. Amidst the overwhelming gunfire, explosions, and screams, the black mechas remained utterly still, silent. They were like a lifeless embankment of giant stones, waiting for the flood to arrive.

The foremost fleeing crowd passed through the defensive line of black mechas. Dense bullets and shells bit into them relentlessly. People fell continuously as they ran.

The raging red and the silent black. In this still and moving tableau, no conflict occurred. The red mechas didn’t break through the defense line, and the black mechas showed no intention of action. Until, an arrogant red mecha threw a corpse before the black mechas.

Everyone’s hearts sank almost to the bottom of the sea at that moment. They stood higher, so they saw further. In the distance, the swarming red mechas filled their view. Everyone knew the arrogant red mecha was provoking, yet no one felt the slightest anger, only endless sorrow.

Unless those black mechas were mad, they could only stand there maintaining that thin defense line.

At that moment, a dead silence fell. In everyone’s eyes, time seemed to freeze, leaving only the red mecha swaggering back in their pupils.

Zhang Kai mechanically zoomed in with the camera... He heard someone beside him murmuring, almost hysterically.

”Kill him, kill him!”

This voice was like a spell.

In that instant, Zhang Kai seemed to hear countless such voices in a trance. Among them was his own... it was not an expectation, but a kind of catharsis.

No one expected the spell to come true a few seconds later.

For years, Zhang Kai would never forget that scene, making every cell in his body boil with passion.

In the zoomed-in lens, an energy cannon hit the red mecha.