Counterfeit Hero

Chapter 1463: Chapter 9: SkyNet Awakens

”Commander, the bandit army’s First Armored Division 1st Group has advanced to five kilometers west of Frenso Town.”

”Commander, the bandit army’s First Armored Division 2nd Group 3rd Battalion, broke through southwest of Frenso Town, infiltrating between the enemy Suss 179 Armored Division 1st Group and 2nd Group towards Mabry Cathedral District, cutting off the retreat of the 241st Armored Division 2nd Group.”

”Commander, the bandit army’s First Armored Division 2nd Group First Battalion and Second Battalion, is launching an attack on the enemy’s 241st Armored Division 2nd Group.”

”Commander, the bandit army’s First Armored Division 3rd Group Second Battalion, circled north along the Frenso No. 3 Agricultural Area, occupied the northwestern 225th high ground and handed it over to our 382nd Division 1st Group, then advanced along the highway towards the city center.

”Commander, the bandit army....”

In the command hall of the Leifeng Star, the staff officers were bustling as if wound up. The urgent ringing of phones, hurried footsteps, keyboard clatter, anxious shouts, all rose and fell in unison. The liaison officer bustled back and forth among the staff loudly reporting, constantly verifying intelligence, inputting permissions, extracting electronic files, sweating profusely from the exertion.

The well-dressed senior officers of the Front Army were at this moment all loosening their collars, rolling up their sleeves, acting as staff officers themselves. A battle report was barely recorded down before they swiftly grabbed it and inputted it into SkyNet. If there were any calls left unanswered, they scrambled to pick them up. The communication device earbud was pressed to one ear with one hand, and as soon as they put one down, they picked up another.

The incomplete rudimentary SkyNet System, through these numerous pieces of intelligence, outlined the frontline battle situation.

As the red arrows representing the bandit army moved continuously, with occupied areas marked in red on the main screen’s tactical map, the battle scenario at Frenso Town gradually became clear.

Starting from the first battle at Half Cloud Ridge where five enemy armored battalions and a self-propelled artillery battalion were annihilated, up to the outskirts of Frenso Town now. The bandit army’s First Armored Division, like a sharp scalpel, relied on precise and rapid infiltration, utilizing enemy chaos, boldly penetrated deeply to break through, separating enemy vanguard units to annihilate them one by one.

Their actions were swift, their strikes ruthless. Many Western Alliance forces only realized the dire situation when attacked. However, the bandit army’s infiltration and separation rendered them unaware of where to retreat, whom to align with! The outskirts of Frenso Town completely became the bandit army’s operating table, with Western Alliance’s forward attacking forces dissected into fragments, compelled to fight independently.

On the SkyNet large screen’s tactical map, the red markers representing our side had already formed a huge arc from the southwest to the northwest on the outskirts of Frenso Town.

The bandit army entered combat for merely three hours. They transitioned from a nearly collapsing defense to a devastating offense, sweeping forward with lightning speed, pushing the battle line forward by twenty kilometers while annihilating nearly three thousand Mecha, and establishing a new defense line.

This is their debut performance’s answer sheet! The scores on the answer sheet are dazzling!

At this moment, looking at the bandit army’s officers, everyone had only respect in their eyes. Even Pierre, who had always been skeptical, had to admit that this battle the bandit army fought was unexpectedly brilliant. Whether it was Commander Tian Xingjian’s ability to grasp the battle situation, the tactical execution ability of lower-ranked officers, or the combat effectiveness of the troops, all were vividly demonstrated in this battle.

Recalling the previous difficult situation in Frenso Town, comparing it to now, the evolution of the battle seemed like a dream.

”General! The bandit army’s Second Armored Division defeated the Jiepeng 1912 Division, eliminated three thousand enemies, captured two thousand four hundred, and killed the enemy division commander Ono Chihei. Currently, the Second Division is marching along the Quiro Agricultural Area road towards Frenso Town, expected to reach the designated area within an hour.”

The report from the liaison officer sounded like a big bomb dropped in the command hall. While reporting, this Major General in his forties, his face flushed, eyes widened. The entire person was dumbfounded with delight with the intelligence in his hand.

With a bang, the command center instantly exploded with excitement.

Chen Fengxi almost snatched the communications record from the liaison officer’s hand.

The communication report was sent back by Division Commander Benarlio of the 202nd Division. Besides the text report, there were also battle records and combat evaluations, very detailed. It showed that the bandit army’s Second Armored Division occupied the enemy’s assault positions and the 244th high ground on the flank in just half an hour, opening a passage to the Quiro Agricultural Area. Within an hour, the Jiepeng 1912 Division had collapsed entirely.

Chen Fengxi skimmed through quickly, three lines at a glance. Such battle records made him unable to resist wanting to join those staff members in the command hall who jumped up from their chairs cheering, shouting at the top of their lungs!

The Second Division accomplished what seemed the most impossible task. They, like their counterparts in the First Division, completed the strategic objective with a dreamlike start. Excluding the potential variable that the enemy’s ”Judger Armor Company” hasn’t engaged, it’s not an exaggeration to say that as long as the 33rd Army arrives promptly, the enemy in Frenso Town will be trapped like turtles in a jar! In the past few months, the most exhilarating major victory on the west line of Phoenix City was eagerly anticipated!

Amidst excitement, Chen Fengxi turned to look at the bandit army officers beside the electronic sandbox and saw Margaret pulling the little unknown boy, who could freely follow a bunch of senior officers in and out of the command center, over.

”General,” Margaret gently pushed the little kid forward, rubbing the boy’s hair with one hand, and said to Chen Fengxi: ”I request to let him participate in the maintenance of SkyNet.”

”Him?!” Chen Fengxi, looking at the innocent-faced little boy, was left speechless.

”His name is Tian Xiaobao; he is General Tian’s...son.” Margaret smiled, her face somewhat flushing. The little boy was very serious, with wide, innocent eyes, performing cutely for Chen Fengxi.

”Xiaobao has a great talent for electronics, give him some time, and SkyNet will perform better.” Margaret’s smile was stiff. The two fatty, the big and the small, were both troublemakers. The big one pretending to be weak to catch strong enemies, the small one pretending to be a child to gain advantage. The two rascals were having a great time, yet I have to come up with excuses.

”This...” Chen Fengxi stared dumbfounded at Margaret.

Electronic warfare in large-scale battles is extremely brutal. The SkyNet System, after tens of thousands of electronic confrontations with the Western Alliance, is indeed in a state of disrepair. Most of the system functions are lost; the existing structure is very fragile. If not for the continuous maintenance by the engineers, even the most basic communication functions might not be guaranteed now.

However, a three-year-old kid, even if he’s a super genius, might at most be at the level of a junior electronic engineer, right? Saying he has research on civilian computers or some game, I wouldn’t find it too bizarre, but saying he has research on this extremely complex military SkyNet System is just too ridiculous...

Moreover, Margaret said... give this child some time, and SkyNet will perform better?

Chen Fengxi instinctively glanced at the seven or eight electronic engineers working busily on one side of the command center, unsure of what to say for a moment.

”General,” Margaret looked at the time and said seriously, ”I’m serious.”

Chen Fengxi sighed, waved his hand as if taking a plunge, and led Margaret and the little kid to the console, where he whispered a few words to the head of the maintenance team. The head engineer, with a large forehead and a prominent chin, widened his eyes and looked at Chen Fengxi strangely, as if seeing a madman he didn’t recognize.

In the end, he still succumbed to the commander’s order, and an engineer, who didn’t know what was happening, vacated his seat.

”We’re currently expanding the intelligence collection system of SkyNet,” the chief engineer pointed to the console screen. ”Currently, we’ve activated about two hundred anti-detection interference devices that were previously shut down during electronic attacks. If all goes well, we’ll be able to extend our sensory network throughout our troops and reestablish a simple SkyNet intelligence system within twenty hours. But now...”

The chief engineer snorted angrily, glancing at the little kid without speaking. The implication was obvious.

”Twenty hours, the flowers will have withered by then.” The little kid, who never knew what humility was, jumped onto the chair, stretched the virtual keyboard to his lap, and snorted, ”Watch!”

The little kid’s fingers tapped swiftly on the keyboard, his two chubby little hands only visible as blurs. The surrounding engineers turned their heads at the noise, all staring in amazement with their mouths wide open.

A moment later, with an exclamation from the chief engineer, the SkyNet System’s indicator lights on the screen in front of them lit up one after another like a neighborhood coming to life with electricity. First, the SkyNet connections of the various units within Phoenix City, then the outskirts of Phoenix City, further extended to rear cities, major bases, and even aircraft and transport planes flying in the sky...

At this moment, SkyNet seemed to awaken from slumber, spreading its astonishing tendrils.

As its tendrils extended, subsystems throughout Leifeng Star responded enthusiastically. Countless data streams surged like a flood, and all the SkyNet screens in the command hall flashed rapidly; rows of data text, rows of cryptographic codes, and images flipped incessantly on the screens.

”Oh my God!” The chief engineer almost pounced on his console, quickly bringing up the SkyNet maintenance program.

The circuit diagram of the maintenance program was turning from red to green at a crazy speed. The army’s own SkyNet, at this moment, completely merged with the previously withered Leifeng Star Lord SkyNet. The two SkyNet systems were complementing each other, like grafted dead trees frantically sprouting new buds, full of vitality!

In the command center, the staff had already stopped what they were doing.

The ringing of the telephone echoed madly in their ears, but no one answered.

Primitive communication had already lost all meaning by this point. The hastily applied war paint became incredibly crude and blurry under the flash of digital cameras.

Running data text across the screens at high speed, the sound from the high-speed operation of SkyNet Central Computer, and the auto-generated battle reports, automatically arranged pending instructions, the intelligence collection and monitoring system extending to Frenso Town...

Everything was so wonderful.

In the silence, Margaret looked at the time and gave a slight smile to the dumbfounded Chen Fengxi, ”General, there’s something I must tell you now.”

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. I confessed, everyone knows, the World Cup, after all, men inevitably gather with a few friends to drink and watch the game.

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.(To be continued, to find out how it goes, please visit www.qidian.com, more Chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)