Counterfeit Hero

”How much longer do we have to stay here?”

A little kid with a gloomy expression cradles his face, his entire body slumped like a rag doll on the wide leather sofa, his outstretched legs not even reaching the edge.

Russell is holding a book, lounging in a chair, engrossed in reading and casually replies, ”I don’t know.”

”If we stay any longer, my program is going to crash!” The little kid plunges his head into the soft sofa cushions, lamenting, ”A life without passion, a future devoid of sunlight, I suffocate in the vastest space, rot under the starlight, as my pulsing heartbeat slows and our boiling blood begins to cool… I will ultimately lose the ability to make love in this shameful life!”

Recently…,” Russell flips a page of his book, speaking lightly, ”you’ve been reading too many romantic drama novels. To clarify, it’s losing the ability to love, not to make love.”

”It’s all the same to me.” The little kid jumps off the sofa, runs to Russell’s side by the chair, standing on tiptoe, and clings to the armrest, ”What do you think Fatty is doing now?”

”I don’t know.” Russell chuckles bitterly, closing the book. He knows, when the little kid is determined not to let anyone have peace, he can chatter on for days endlessly. Compared to this guy who can wander around the battleship at night without sleeping, human nerves are indeed too fragile.

”I guess…” The little kid smacks his lips, dreamily yearning, ”He’s peeking at people bathing… he just loves doing that.”

”Beneath that honest-looking exterior of his is a restless and lecherous heart.” The little kid jumps onto the chair opposite Russell, giving the final verdict, ”He’s not like you, sitting here reading books. To him, reading anything unrelated to the naked form of women is a waste of life! If he watches something, it’s adult films and erotic novels!”

”It seems you do know him well.” Russell can’t help but laugh.

”He calls this shamelessness spontaneity.” The little kid snorts, ”Though I don’t quite agree with his embellishments, I have to admit, life is more exciting with him around. Do whatever you want. If he had been in Leray back then, he’d have squeezed Brody and Hansford to death early on, instead of us hiding in the Bermuda Star System living days of hardship. It’s a pity I put so much effort into integrating resources, enhancing productivity, and now, it’s all become someone else’s.”

Russell fell silent. He sets the book down, stands up, walks to the porthole, and gazes out at the fleet hidden in this Meteorite Belt. Not far away, a [Freedom] class new battleship bathed in the halo of the Constant Star, and he finally lets out a long sigh.

He knows the little kid continues to hold a grudge over the Leray Coup.

Since Fatty’s departure, the little kid had become the most cherished treasure of Leray, always cautiously protected by the Command Department. Likewise, it viewed Leray as the territory Fatty had entrusted it to guard.

However, due to the Command Department’s lack of understanding of Artificial Intelligence, its role was initially limited to the economic sector. Thus, when the coup occurred, it was entirely unable to prevent it.

At the time, no one in the Command Department realized their mistake. After all, using Artificial Intelligence requires extreme caution. They feared this society, constructed on electronic technology, might become a hellscape of stray missiles, military forces attacking each other, disrupted communications, and an out-of-control SkyNet due to AI intervention.

This suspicion led Leray to pay a painful price. Had the little kid been integrated into the military combat network, with its capabilities, Hansford and those rebel troops couldn’t have executed the coup undetected. Hamilton and Mihailovich wouldn’t have been imprisoned, and the Leray Fleet stationed at the Central Star System Jump Point wouldn’t have been annihilated due to lack of supplies. From this point of view, everyone in the Command Department was a sinner.

Thankfully, the Command Department, back then, left Leray with this unit. It was also fortunate that this unit was secretly placed in the waterfall nebula of the northwest Bermuda Star System by the forward-thinking Command Department.

Everyone was mentally prepared for the impending defeat Leray was facing. The nation had truly reached a dead end, even without Brody’s coup, it wouldn’t have hung on much longer. To retain the last seed and to prevent Leray from being sacrificed in the cracks between the Fei Alliance and the Western Alliance, Leray had mustered all its national strength to create this unit.

This unit, named ”Hidden Blade,” is an aerial and ground composite Army Group, comprising three mixed fleets and eight Armored Divisions.

The three fleets are equipped with the latest built warships, including two aircraft carriers, twenty-six battleships, seventy-two cruisers, and over two hundred destroyers. Combined with escort ships, heavy assault ships, torpedo ships, electronic attack ships, reconnaissance ships, logistics supply ships, transport ships, totaling over nine hundred. The crew is also Leray’s elite recruits.

Although, in terms of quantity, these warships still can’t match the number of one of Leray’s old fleets, their combat power is undoubtedly ten times that of those old fleets at the beginning of the war of independence! This is Leray’s final space force since the fall of Brown and Schneider’s fleets.

And among the eight Armored Divisions, aside from Leray Air Marine Corps’ 1st, 3rd, 9th, 16th Armored Divisions, Army’s 1st, 2nd, 3rd Armored Divisions, there’s also the Air Marine Corps’ 5th Armored Division, whose designation has been wiped.