Counterfeit Hero

Chapter 1199: Chapter 18: First Deathmatch (Part 2)

”Besides... the enemy is biting too hard.” The Old Marshal unconsciously scraped a piece of bark off the tree with his hand and continued, almost to himself: ”Our Armored Group has already set out, but the units at the front line just can’t pull back! If we force a retreat, not only will the losses be huge, the enemy might also chase us all the way. One careless move and it’ll turn into a rout. Right now, all we can do is wait. Wait until the enemy’s offensive eases a little, then pull the troops back.”

Boswell and Milan exchanged a look, worry on their faces.

”You two have to leave first.” Li Cunxin flicked away the bark, turned back to look at Boswell: ”We’re old friends, I won’t lie to you. If we really can’t break out, my plan is to have a small squad escort you to some corner where you can hide. The enemy can’t possibly search every inch of these mountains... maybe, after hiding for a few days, our people will arrive!”

”And if we can’t hide?” Boswell smiled slightly: ”A few days? You’re still trying that line on me...”

”If you can’t hide, I won’t wait for the Jiepeng people to grab you, I’ll give the order to kill you myself. You fall into their hands, you definitely won’t hold out. I’ll die with you.”

Li Cunxin lowered his head, took two steps, not looking at Boswell.

After a moment of silence, the old man’s loose eyelids lifted as he stared straight into the darkness of the forest under the night, slowly: ”And I wasn’t lying to you. A few hours ago, a spaceship crashed near High Ground 347. At that time our SkyNet could still control a few satellites. We discovered that this ship was shot down while being pursued by the Jiepeng people. I’m thinking, maybe...”

”I’m afraid it’s not that fast.” Boswell said flatly: ”We haven’t been on Chuckna for just a day or two. We hear every day how stretched Alliance forces are. Not to mention anything else, last time we went to Kunlun Star, out of ten military bases, nine were probably empty. For all we know, what crashed was just a smuggling ship.”

”It wasn’t a smuggling ship.” Questioned, Li Cunxin glared hard at Boswell. He looked less like he was trying to convince Boswell than to convince himself: ”The attack on Canglang Star has been going on for more than just a day or two. Those smuggling bastards are well-informed—once fighting breaks out here, they change course on the routes. None of them dare come within ten Jump Channels of Canglang Star. I’m afraid they don’t even dare go near Resk!”

”That’s true.” Boswell frowned: ”What type of ship was it?”

”No idea...” Li Cunxin said: ”From the satellite images, by the time the ship passed through the capture zone, the hull was already badly damaged, charred all over, nothing identifiable. From the look of it, it seemed like an Armed Merchant Ship, or a heavy Escort Ship. At the time, there was at least a full B‑class fleet on its tail!”

”Being besieged by a B‑class fleet?” Milan stuck out her tongue: ”That poor bastard’s really unlucky.”

Boswell pondered for quite a while, then asked: ”On that ship, you couldn’t make out any features of Alliance warships at all?”

”Nothing.” The corners of Li Cunxin’s mouth pulled down: ”All we can do is hope this is an advance detachment sent by the Alliance. For all we know, right now above our heads, our fleet is already fighting the Jiepeng people. Who can say. Having hope is better than none. Enough talk, pack your things, we’re heading out immediately.”

As he spoke, Li Cunxin turned and walked toward the officers waiting on the earthen slope in front of the camp. Suddenly he thought of something, looked back and said: ”Right, if you want a feature, there was a ramming beak on the bow of that ship.”

”A ramming beak?” Boswell and Milan traded a look, their pupils slowly dilating.

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The stream gurgled, splashes sounding in waves as dozens of Mecha moved upstream, threading their way between the valley walls on both sides.

Fatty piloted his Mecha in the lead. Behind him, seventy‑nine Spirit Cats, twenty War Elephants and six Evil Dragons all switched to advance mode, forming an olive‑shaped formation that clustered eight Black Wind Electronic Mecha in the center.

Now, these Mecha were no longer quite the same as when they were first captured.

Each Mecha had four thin auxiliary armor plates added to its front, back, and both arms. In combat, as soon as these four plates were jettisoned, a patch of red would be exposed. This marking, combined with the combat identification system Little Pi had uploaded into every Mechanical Computer, was enough to solve all friend‑or‑foe problems for this unit once the fighting started.

As for the Jiepeng people, they clearly wouldn’t notice. Once these Mecha mixed into the Jiepeng Forces and flashed the red markings, it would mean a massacre!

Fatty checked the time; it was already four in the morning.

Exhaustion surged over his body in waves like a tide. Ever since the ship went down, it had been one battle after another—refitting Mecha, surprise attacks... the moment his taut nerves relaxed even a little, the fatigue in his body became palpable.

But no matter how tired he was, he couldn’t stop.

Thinking of that graceful figure in a white uniform, Fatty felt as if he’d been shot full of stimulants.

How was Milan now, where was she, what was she doing. How much longer could the Chuckna people hold out, what decision would they make next—fight to the last man here, or try to break out...

He shook his head, pushing away these questions that rushed in but had no answers. Fatty pulled the control stick, his fingers flying over the Virtual Keyboard in a flourish of fancy taps, followed by a swift roll. The Mecha leapt up as lightly as a civet onto a twenty‑meter‑high rock to the left of the waterfall ahead. Not a sound.