Counterfeit Hero

Chapter 1308 - 56: Jubilation

The Hermo Space Carrier, like a giant black shark, quietly hovered in space.Dozens of Redemption-class battleships clustered around the mothership like a group of small sharks. Outside the main formation of battleships, hundreds of Catastrophe-class cruisers and Falcon-class destroyers formed a mixed fleet, and even smaller escort ships and high-speed torpedo boats roamed the vast space like fine sand scattered around stones, rolling densely with the wind.

The lights from the ship’s cabins merged with the magnificent stars on the cosmic canvas, and viewed from afar, the massive fleet appeared like a swirling galaxy, captivating one’s attention.

In the flagship’s enormous command hall, the lights were bright. Rows of virtual screens displayed interstellar maps, images transmitted by fighters, scenes from fleet frontline battles, and the rapidly changing battle reports and various system parameters of the ships.

Staff from Feiyang and Chuckna moved back and forth. Looking up from the center of the hall, the five-level space was filled with busy crowds. They hurried about, whispered to each other, gathered to discuss, shouted loudly, or focused intensely on calculations...

Since learning that the Old Marshal Li Cunxin was still alive, this hall had been bustling with such a pace. Everyone here had already pushed their energy to the limit and utilized their time to the utmost. The entire command center was like a high-speed race car with its accelerator pressed down, continuously speeding up along the track. It wasn’t that these staffers weren’t tired; it was that every single one of them knew they could not afford even a second of delay!

Just millions of kilometers away, the Allied Fleet was engaged in a fierce battle with the Western Alliance Fleet led by the Thunderbolt Super Fleet.

On the vast ground, sixteen armored divisions that had just completed their landing were advancing towards the Northern Mountain Region at a frenzied pace.

In the Northern Mountain Region, the 13th Armored Division and the 51st Mechanized Infantry Division were constructing fortifications in the small town called Shuangxi Bridge, preparing to face the reckless onslaught of the Jiepeng forces who had no retreat!

This Star Domain had already become a swirling vortex, with the armies of four countries—Jiepeng people, Suss people, Chuckna people, Feiyang people—totaling tens of millions, all spinning wildly within it.

And at the center of this vortex, was that small armored camp!

Until the plan progressed to this stage, the staffers still felt like they were dreaming.

At that time, the Second Armored Division had already appeared just 40 kilometers away from Li Cunxin’s forces. Everyone knew about the Jiepeng Royal First Guard Army’s combat power and understood that once this unit latched on, the plan for a decisive closure would collapse.

The Combat Department was in full motion, with all staff gathered around the electronic sand table, proposing plan after plan and conducting simulations, yet no matter how hard they searched, they couldn’t find a way for the main force to reach Shuangxi Bridge Town and avoid the entanglement of the Second Armored Division. Either the time was insufficient, or the troops were inadequate, or the location wasn’t right...

Just then, Li Cunxin’s forces proposed a plan—disguise an armored camp as the main force’s rear guard, and head north for a direct intersection, to draw the Second Armored Division, aiming to acquire those crucial few hours!

This plan quickly sparked controversy within the command center. Similarly, when reported to the Allied Supreme Command, it also triggered a cacophony of arguments...... the combat strength disparity between the Second Armored Division of the Jiepeng Royal First Guard and a camp from a second-rate Chuckna armored division could only be described as a world of difference.

This was an outright gamble!

Logically, this plan should have been unequivocally rejected. However, no matter how they argued, no one could voice the rejection.... because the potential gains from this gamble were indeed too great and too dazzling.

If they won this battle, the Allies would secure a foothold on Canglang Star, opening up a second battlefield to lay a solid foundation for winning the Southeast Star Domain campaign, and ultimately the entire war!

This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, forged by Old Marshal Li Cunxin and his comrades from the 13th Armored Division and the 51st Infantry Division over nearly a month’s time. No one was willing to give it up easily.

Although Admiral Li Hongwu decided on this plan after holding an emergency meeting on the ground, everyone knew that the Admiral was prepared to shoulder all responsibility. Should that armored camp fail, the dire situation of the sixteen armored divisions being put at risk, or even annihilation, would be enough to put the Admiral on a military tribunal!

Amidst such indecision and hesitation, this plan reached Hastings...

"Fight like this, I’ll take the fall!" Marshal Hastings’ one sentence provided an unbreakable assurance for the already commenced operation plan!

Now, the army had completed its landing, and it was too late to turn back.

The staffers continued their work while anxiously waiting, exchanging glances filled with worry and concern from time to time.

Where was that armored camp? How would the battle start? Would the enemy fall for it? Could that Major General Tian Xingjian from Leray truly accomplish this historic deception....

All these questions remained unanswered, as the fighter groups at the frontline had yet to receive the promised signal from the armored camp, nor had they transmitted back any images or messages.

Wave after wave of fighters entered the atmosphere, circling in the air, waiting, and after exhausting their energy, were replaced by another wave.

That armored camp would only send out a signal once it completed the lure mission and attracted the full attention of the Second Armored Division. Only upon receiving their signal could the fighter group show up and launch an attack on the Second Armored Division. Otherwise, the premature appearance of the fighters would interfere with the enemy’s evaluation of the armored camp’s strength and intention.

The anxious waiting is undoubtedly the most unbearable torment in the world.

The atmosphere is getting more tense as time goes by! Everyone passing by the central console can’t help but turn their heads to look at the dozens of virtual screens on the left side of the console. On those screens, there are real-time images sent back from the frontline fighters.

White clouds, like wisps of cotton, swiftly slide past the fuselage and wings, drifting away behind the nose.

"Ahead is the alert line already, it seems we’ve waited in vain, let’s go, let the next wave come." The voice of a wingman came through the communications channel.

Chen Tao turned his head, looking through the electronic visor on his helmet at his wingman beside him: "Slow down, let’s wait a bit..."

"Wait another ten seconds or so?....." In the transparent cockpit, his long-time partner Xie Gang was shaking his helmet, the black visor reflecting the sunlight.

Chen Tao glanced at the instruments on the fighter’s control panel; they were already very close to the alert line. Before receiving the signal, they absolutely couldn’t cross the alert line. He looked at the radar, behind him, the other fifty-eight fighters of the entire six squadrons were closely following in a neat large triangle formation.

"Alright...." Chen Tao sighed regretfully, reaching out to activate the collective return signal button.

Just as his fingertip touched the signal button, suddenly, a special signal light on the instrument panel turned on a red light. Then, another one. After three consecutive red lights turned on, they all switched to green lights simultaneously!

"Did you see that?" The silence in the communications channel made Chen Tao feel somewhat unreal.

"Saw it!" With Xie Gang’s loud shout, the entire communications channel erupted into a burst of joyous cheers.

Three red lights turning green means mission success, unrestricted attack!

A sensation like an electric current instantly swept through Chen Tao’s entire body. He swiftly locked onto the signal location, gripping the fighter’s control lever tightly with his hand, pushed forward forcefully, and shouted: "Follow me!"

"Understood!" In the orderly answers, the tail thrusters of sixty air-based fighters simultaneously lit up, as the fighter group shot forward like arrows off the string, tearing through the clouds and roaring towards the northern part of the Flyns Agricultural District.

Mountains and rivers swiftly glided past under the fuselage, and within seconds, the fighter group had breached the alert line. The closer they got to the combat zone, the more the pilots’ blood boiled. The three green lights on the special signal instrument of the fighter gave them an overwhelming sense of power.

Dozens of crisscrossing trenches flew past, temporarily dug out when the Jiepeng Armored Division was stationed here... a patch of forest flew past, uprooted trees and dozens of mecha wreckages extended like a line stretching for several kilometers... a small hill and a gorge flew past, countless layers of mecha wreckages piled upon each other, resembling a graveyard for mechas...

The radar alarm suddenly went off, with dozens of missiles soaring into the sky from the distant mountain region.

"Free to evade, unrestricted attack!" After Chen Tao issued the order, he rapidly pulled his fighter upward, throwing out two decoy missiles, and deftly rolled to evade the missiles with his flying skills. Looking through the cockpit, he saw below a shifting ground where thousands of Jiepeng Mecha Groups charged forward like migrating herds.

In front of the towering dust clouds raised by the Mecha Group, more than two hundred Red Mechas dashed through the forest, leaping across streams, climbing over hills, running wildly all the way!

Between the Jiepeng Mechas and the Red Mechas, ten White Mechas were simultaneously running and intermittently stopping to turn back, striking into the advancing Mecha Group of the Jiepeng Armored Division, causing chaos each time.

"One regiment... two regiments... three regiments..." Xie Gang’s excited voice came through the communications channel: "There’s another regiment on the west side converging here. The entire division, their entire division is here!"

"Long live Chuckna!" Chuckna Fighters, like dozens of swallows gliding through the clouds, swiftly turned and dove towards the ground.

The earth rapidly magnified on the huge main screen of the central console, as air-to-ground missiles and onboard energy cannons raised mushroom clouds within the Jiepeng Armored Group, the command hall aboard the Hermo was already in celebration!

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.I am proud to have such a bandit army. Your support has allowed Fake to soar high. In just a short one or two hours, there’s been hundreds of votes increasing, which I believe will make many people feel jealous.

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.This is my good fortune! I must persist, persist with more and better updates. For Fake, for the Bandit Army.

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