Counterfeit Hero

”The station of the Third Infantry Division, First Battalion in the Nelson District was attacked.”

”The No. 2 logistics station in East 3rd District was attacked.”

”The defense line of Inner River B13—B07 was attacked by the enemy. The 7th Armored Division’s 4th Battalion responsible for defense was defeated by the enemy and is currently retreating along the west bank of the Inner River.”

”Report, just received news that the Inner River Shipping Bridge was destroyed by the enemy.”

In the Northern Alliance command center, apart from the monotonous reports by the staff responsible for reporting battle reports, the entire room was shrouded in an extremely oppressive atmosphere, engulfed in dead silence.

Those who could avoid speaking, communicated as much as possible with gestures, and when they had to speak, the Combat Staff lowered their volumes to a near whisper. Even the footsteps of the shuttling staff and servicemen became lighter than a cat’s. Everyone had tightly pressed lips, deeply furrowed brows, and a grim expression. In the silent command hall, those Northern Alliance officers, who were previously spirited and full of energy, now appeared like a group of silent, exhausted ghosts.

The source and center of this oppressive atmosphere enveloping the command center was none other than Feiler, sitting at the head of the oval-shaped operational meeting table on the left side of the command room.

Already a man of few words, his face was now even colder, with a bluish tint. Under his low eyebrows, the deep blue eyes were like a pair of daggers shining with a cold gleam. Not to mention meeting his gaze directly, even just glancing from afar would send shivers down one’s spine.

Everyone knew that at this moment, the Chief of Staff, renowned for his extraordinary calculation skills, was genuinely furious. Just moments ago, he was dealt a resounding slap in his area of expertise by the enemy. And the wicked opponent was not satisfied; they continued to slap Feiler’s face with the mechanical, emotionless voice of the staff reporting the battle reports. And exactly these reports, Feiler could only listen to!

Many of the staff present had received systematic training at military academies in various countries. How could they not understand this clash between commanders?

Although they couldn’t meet face-to-face, every piece moved in this game was more intense than close-combat fighting. It was a bloody intellectual battle involving regular troops, surprise troops, plotting, traps, schemes both secret and open. Ordinary people, not to mention trying to understand it, would cough up blood even attempting to comprehend its mysteries. But for every commander, this was their lifelong pursuit. They would rather die in battle than be defeated on the map!

On the semicircular central control station occupying half the wall of the command center, the giant virtual screen displayed a real-time 3D map of the Central City, like a mirage suspended overhead.

On the map, the defense zone of Central City was ablaze with conflicts everywhere.

Following the annihilation of the Blood Shadow Mecha Group’s Second Armored Battalion’s two companies, the crazed Bandit Army Mecha Team completely changed their previous tactic of random shots and boldly moved south along the main city roadways, attacking any target within their operational radius, leaving the entire Northern Alliance defense line in disarray.

Feiler’s previous troop movements and precisely calculated encirclement strategy suffered a complete failure.

Even though every unit mobilized strictly carried out his orders and reached the designated locations at the scheduled times for the encirclement, the Bandit Army Mecha Team still easily broke through the encirclement and repeatedly returned to strike.

The more the staff understood about Feiler’s achievements and admired his calculation abilities, the more they grasped the meticulousness of this encirclement plan, the more they felt the terror of that Bandit Army Mecha Team.

They seemed like a group of invisible ghosts, moving freely within the tightly-knit net. They even utilized the Northern Alliance Army’s movements to turn the encircling troops into delivered delicacies. Under their erosion, the Northern Alliance’s defenses in Central City had already dropped by two levels!

Especially the main armored forces suffered a loss of half their troops. Now Feiler even had to draw the low-combat-capable armored units from the Mechanical Infantry Division to strengthen the defenses around the base. This also meant that all the defense lines in Central City were basically a bunch of unsupported infantry, wide-eyed and anxiously waiting. Once attacked by armored forces, the trenches they dug would naturally become their graves.

The staff stared blankly at the electronic map. They couldn’t understand how that Mecha Team managed to escape the encirclement of tens of thousands of Northern Alliance infantry and thousands of Mechas. That was a completely sealed-off perimeter! Not to mention such a conspicuous Mecha Team, even a mouse trying to cross the city without being discovered would be impossible.

Upon seeing the battlefield records sent back from the front lines, everyone inadvertently conjured a ridiculous thought in their minds—could it really be an army of Satan?!

Be it the staff or Feiler, none could figure out this mystery.

When the Bandit Army Mecha Team decimated the 4th Armored Battalion, he immediately ordered the First and Second Armored Battalions to coordinate defense, along with the redeployment of the Third fully mechanized infantry division and other units, to continually compress the Bandit Army Mecha Team’s operational space.

Initially, the plan executed smoothly, and the operational area for the Bandit Army Armored Team was reduced to a small strip along the Inner River. But when the expanded vigilance lines of the several units had connected, they discovered that the Bandit Army Mecha Team had mysteriously vanished!