Counterfeit Hero

The war on Mars seemed to have ended overnight.

The morning sun warmly bathed Puluo Town.

The smoke of gunpowder had not yet completely dispersed, and the deafening sound of artillery seemed to still echo in their ears. The residents of Puluo Town who walked out of the bunkers and shelters looked at the bandit soldiers, covered in dirt and wounds, with faces full of fatigue. They gazed at the bright sun and listened to the breeze in the silence, standing still as if in a dream. After a long while, they finally burst into tears of joy.

”Good kids!” An old man stood by the roadside, shakily giving a thumbs up to the passing bandit soldiers, ”You are all men of Mars!”

Beside the old man, a young mother held her three-year-old child, continuously wiping away tears.

”Long live the bandit army.” Her voice was soft and gentle, even trembling slightly. However, her eyes were filled with immense joy.

The soldiers passed by in an endless stream, and more and more people gathered by the roadside. Everyone who poured out from the bunkers and shelters stood alongside the street.

”We won, did we really win?” People asked each other.

”We won!” Those who first heard the news, their eyes glowing, watched the bandit soldiers in blue uniforms passing by and answered without looking back, emphatic: ”We wiped out the Northern Alliance! Now, there are so many lining up outside to surrender to us that we can’t count them all!”

”We even wiped out the Northern Alliance?”

This news left everyone dumbfounded, followed immediately by cheers that shook the sky, applause, and whistles.

Groups of people, cheering one after another, kept attracting more people. Like a drop of water into a boiling oil pot, wherever this news spread, there was thunderous jubilation.

”Oh my God, unbelievable!”

”They actually defeated the Northern Alliance, defeated them!”

”Long live the bandit army!”

”Good lads, you are all amazing!”

”Thank you, my children.”

”This is a miracle!”

”Brian!” A voice filled with boundless surprise but carrying a sobbing tone arose, and a slim girl lifted her skirt and rushed out of the crowd into the ranks of marching bandit soldiers. She suddenly threw herself into the arms of a soldier covered in mud, with a bandage on his shoulder, and cried out loud.

The warrior, standing awkwardly in the middle of the street, softly comforted the girl with an embarrassed look.

The platoon leader passed by him and gently patted his head. The dirty ranks naturally parted on either side of them, rolling past.

The cheering of the crowd, the sound of the marching footsteps, the roar of the Mecha, at this moment, all seemed to be isolated by the air around this couple embracing and crying.

Several girls watching this scene in the ranks were already teary-eyed, their tears falling with a plop, unable to make a sound.

One after another, bandit soldiers were recognized by their anxiously waiting relatives by the roadside. One after another, women and children crossed through the ranks and threw themselves into the arms of the men.

”Long live the bandit army!” This rolling thunderous sound was a heartfelt cheer from the people.

This belonged to Puluo Town and their team. It was this team that held fast in resistance when everyone was nearly desperate. They won this miraculous victory. Gratitude, pride, a myriad of emotions crowded in their chests—if not let out by this roar, would almost explode.

The crowd gathered. One by one, group by group, First Avenue in Puluo Town was crowded with streams of people.

Listening to this thunderous cheer, seeing the surrounding faces filled with tears of excitement, feeling the heavy palms of men old enough to be their fathers heavily pat their shoulders, and the thumbs raised high, feeling the soft lips of children the age of their daughters kissing their cheeks, an indescribable emotion flowed through the hearts of the bandit soldiers, a current sweeping through their bodies in an instant.

It was a pride they had never experienced in their lives!

They had fought, fought desperately, not for pillaging, but for these people before them.

”Long live the bandit army!”

To hear these four words and die instantly would be worth it!

During training, the words of the Fatty officer resonated in their minds again.

”Why fight, there are many answers to this question. Ideals, hatred, freedom, fame and fortune, justice and democracy... Many of you are mercenaries fighting for money, and many are members of various armed organizations. Perhaps, you never imagined such a day would come when you would need to fight for your own life, for your family’s life. One day, when the people you protect offer you applause and cheers, when one day you walk on the path of triumph, you will understand it all. At that moment, it is the best reason for a soldier to exist and fight.”

The cheers of ”Long live the bandit army” were like a sea of mountains, and the ranks rolled forward; many warriors already had tears streaming down their faces.

The blood and fire of war, the hardness and clamor, were all for the sake of this peace and tranquility, for this softness deep within the heart.

New Park, June 26, 2063, the six mixed fleets of the Feiyang Republic were ambushed by sixteen mixed fleets of the Binart Empire in a star domain in the northeastern war zone of the Karsdon Star River. The Feiyang Republic Fleet, outnumbered and outgunned, was utterly defeated. This was the first major victory for the Binart Empire, which had been suppressed by Feiyang since the start of the war. In this battle, regardless of the overall deployment inducement, the design of ambushes, or the timing of the attack, the Empire’s General Sobel, directly responsible for combat command, demonstrated highly skilled and captivating command artistry, invigorating the Western Alliance’s momentum.