Counterfeit Hero

Central City East District 1, Evergreen neighborhood.

With the roar of the engine, a red humanoid mecha turned out from behind the half-collapsed church wall at the corner of the street.

The five-stage iron-gray metal soles of the mecha made a crunching sound when stepping on the broken bricks and rubble of the uneven ruins. The external auxiliary transmission rod of the leg is expanding and contracting back and forth. The red upper body of the mecha is cushioned by the hip bone and abdominal suspension system. The random armor's steps rise and fall rhythmically, while the ferocious energy muzzle on the shoulder moves away from the body under the action of the mecha's computer and mechanical correction device. In a bumpy state, it always maintains a precise and balanced pointing to the suspicious area.

"Safe." Hans Step reported in the communication channel with a dull and deep voice, and then turned the communication volume knob on the helmet to the minimum. He was really tired of the chattering squad leader.

Pushing the control lever, he parked his beloved red Rafale beside the fountain in the Evergreen Little Boy Central Square. Steppe turned on the forced ventilation system of the cockpit and opened the canopy a little, trying to get rid of the modified energy attack system in the cockpit. The lingering smell of the damn oil left behind.

On the mecha's radar, there were no suspicious targets except for the main force slowly approaching from behind. Steppe lit a cigarette, raised his head, adjusted the optical observation instrument, and conducted routine vigilance observations.

Evergreen District is one of the oldest districts in the central city, and Little Boy Circle is the intersection of eight major streets around it. The streets extending radially in eight directions are like a huge Chinese character "meter", cutting off the entire Evergreen area.

Because the Evergreen District was built before the climate change in the free world of Mars, the lack of tools and materials and the factors of matching the environmental isolation cover in mid-air forced the first people to land on the planet to use the most primitive methods. Build low-rise houses in this area. **

These ancient buildings with brick and wood structures still have an unusually clumsy charm to this day. As climate change progresses, more and more people are migrating to the planet Mars. The Evergreen area is also expanding in all directions. Eventually, this area was connected to the central area formed by several other isolation shields, and became the current Central City.

Thousands of years have passed, and the houses here have been rebuilt and repaired several times, and they are no longer what they were back then. However, the architectural style and the planning of the entire district are still intact. When Step was a child, he often came here with his parents. The bronze sculpture of a naked little boy in the fountain in the circular square, the pigeons in the square. They were all his best playmates when his parents went to church to pray sincerely.

When he was a boy, the taverns on Zhengnan Street were his and his companions' favorite places to visit. I don’t know how many times they were kicked out angrily because they were not old enough, and then they shamelessly pretended to be over eighteen years old and went into another pub until late at night.

But now. All these beautiful memories have turned into ruins.

As far as the eye can see, the houses around the square have collapsed in pieces, and the ruins that still stand are full of traces of smoke and fire. The bluestone streets are covered with broken wood, broken bricks and tiles, and the original street pavement is almost invisible. Only half of the bronze boy in the central fountain is left, and more than half of the magnificent church has collapsed. From the outside, you can directly see the tattered wooden benches in the church and the crucifix on the wall of the front choir. . The South Street Tavern in my memory. It had been destroyed by the war, and now it was completely empty. There were only a few broken pillars, ruins more than one meter high, and long weeds that had sprouted up.

Step raised his head and looked up at the sky. A dove cooed low, fluttering its wings and soared into the sky. It flew across the gray sky and flew under the incomplete eaves of the church. ^^

He watched quietly, that was the only thing that survived in his memory. These pigeons. After living here for who knows how many years, they can no longer leave here. I wonder if when these animals see the world with their smart eyes, they will realize that what they see in front of them means a disaster.

Perhaps, they are in troubled times without thoughts. Happier than humans.

There was the sound of engines and footsteps. Eleven mechas gathered from all directions and gathered in the small circular square one after another. They were the people of the reconnaissance team. The team in charge of forward security must have already surveyed the surrounding area.

Step continued to look up at the half-remaining roof of the church. In his opinion, waiting for the dove to reappear was far more important than any other companion.

"These damn bandits from Pulo Town." A Rafale stopped by the pool. The cockpit door was opened. The captain of the detection team, who had a pair of triangular eyes and was as skinny as a monkey, jumped out of the cockpit, unzipped his pants and headed towards the dry pool. Pee in. He kept swearing: "Let me catch them, I have to show them well!"

Steppe looked at the squad leader with disdain, threw away the cigarette butt, and slammed the canopy shut. To look good to others... Apart from following others in circles and keeping a cautious distance between each other to prevent sneak attacks, the only thing we can do is to watch each garrison being destroyed by others.

The fact that the Fourth Battalion was destroyed had long frightened everyone, including the headquarters. Perhaps, the only one who dares to shout is this monkey who is accustomed to boasting!

"The third group, go and replace the first group. Please stay alert." Captain Monkey shook his body, zipped up his pants, and assigned an extended alert mission. He looked back and saw Step's mecha, with a flash in his eyes. Disgusted, he waved his hand and said: "Step, you go too..."

Six red mechas started up and walked toward the southeast over the uneven piles of ruins. ****The narrow streets had already been buried by the ruins. The scattered mechas simply passed through the empty ruins of the houses. Some brick walls fell to the ground with a light touch by the mechas and lifted up. A cloud of dust.

Perhaps frightened by the arrival of the mecha, the pigeon that flew into half of the roof of the church never appeared again. Stepper sighed, activated the mecha, and slowly passed between several companions who were leaning on the mecha, chatting and smoking, and walked toward the southeast. When he passed a small hotel building with a big hole in the front wall, he looked back at the church. In his ears, he heard the sudden burst of laughter from the monkey captain and his flattering companions. .

Stepe suddenly felt a little sad. He didn't understand why he was so crazy about joining this army in the first place. Starting out as an ordinary mercenary, he, like many young people in Mars Freeport, trained and expressed himself desperately just to join this armored battalion that was almost mythical in their army.

At that time, their blood was boiling and they were always holding back their energy, wanting to prove themselves and make achievements!

They believe there is always a big fight in the free world. Those were ordinary young people who could not become the core disciples of the mecha sect. The only chance to overthrow the inherent order of this world, achieve great achievements, and completely defeat those arrogant warriors. They believe that only the Northern Alliance is the real army. Their persistence in undergoing brutal training will make the Northern Alliance stand out in the upcoming war. And excited.

Until now, Stepp still remembers his own vanity when he whispered to his companions about the Blood Shadow Mecha Regiment, and when he saw the new recruits who knew nothing and eager to gather around to listen, and he still remembers what he mysteriously told those recruits. New recruits, how powerful is this mecha regiment that almost exists in mythology? \\\\\\\\\\\\Of course, he also remembered that after learning that he had been selected to train in the Blood Shadow Mecha Regiment, he was so excited that he couldn't sleep for several days. It's ridiculous to always hold your head high when walking on the road, not squinting, and using your peripheral vision to collect people's envious glances.

The mecha is getting further and further away from the central square. Looking over the empty ruins, one could vaguely see the 1st Company and 2nd Company Brigade of the 2nd Battalion, one after another, passing through the wide gentle slope of the City Heights Garden two kilometers away and entering the ruins of the buildings in the Evergreen neighborhood.

Steppe spat hard.

Now, all the mysterious aura of this army has faded.

These are a bunch of inhuman bastards! And like many others, I am a poor creature who is threatened by bastards like Captain Monkey! In the beginning, I kept telling myself that this was war. Destroy cities. Killing all targets in front of you without any scruples is all part of war.

It wasn't until one day when he learned that most of the Northern League's top brass, and even junior officers like Monkey, were the Nademik dynasty and their princes and ministers, as well as the remnants of the Guards officers, that he suddenly realized that among these bastards In eyes. Ordinary people’s lives. There is no difference between pigs and dogs. Shooting civilians at random is not a necessity of war, it's just because they want to.

But. So what if I knew it? When the war reached this point, I already had no way out! Step took a look behind him. Perhaps, he should find an opportunity to give the monkey squad leader who had killed a dozen civilians in front of him a fatal black shot.

Taking over the first team of extended alert, Steppe began the boring routine monitoring again, rotating the telescope 360 ​​degrees and using the dynamic target scanner to monitor every target that may have moved or is moving. \\\\\\The role of radar here is very small. The stealth mode of a general mecha can reduce the detection area of ​​a mecha to the size of a lunch box. It is difficult to detect in the first place. In addition, the uneven terrain of the high ground makes radar detection difficult. Angle reduction, if not combined with dynamic scanning, this thing is simply useless.

On the communication channel with the volume turned to the lowest, the voice of Company Commander Aylmer giving instructions came again. Perhaps after receiving new news about the bandit mecha team from the headquarters, Aylmer cursed loudly, with a tone similar to that of Captain Monkey. Aylmer was extremely angry at the fact that he was being led around by the bandits' mecha squad.

Stepp knew that since the fourth battalion was annihilated, the headquarters had ordered the first and second battalions to stay close enough to avoid being defeated by the enemy one by one. After all, in addition to the armored battalions of the infantry division with low combat effectiveness, these two battalions of the Blood Shadow Mecha Regiment are the main armored force of the central city and cannot be missed.

However, the command obviously did not want to just protect itself, or in other words, the actions of the bandit armored team had angered the command. They easily jumped out of the encirclement formed by the Northern Alliance forces and attacked any target they wanted to attack along the way.

Among the targets attacked were a certain section of defense line, the station of an infantry regiment, a logistics transfer station, a warehouse for storing materials, a firearms repair shop and a bridge.

The enraged command mobilized almost all available troops. Trying to limit the movement space of this bandit mecha squad, drag them down, and then annihilate them. So, despite being ordered not to be too far apart from each other. The first and second battalions of the Blood Shadow Mecha Regiment, still centered on the main base, were constantly moving back and forth, cooperating with the temporary blocking points formed by the infantry to compress...

Stepp believed that the guy who led the bandit team was definitely an expert at hide-and-seek. From East 2nd District to West 1st District, then to East 1st District, and finally back to East 2nd District... two Blood Shadow Armored Battalions. Almost driven crazy by his opponent! Most of the time, they couldn't even see the shadow of their opponent. Only through the orders and news from the headquarters, they knew who the opponent attacked and where they went. Then they canceled the previous action order and changed the direction. Keep chasing.

On several occasions, the reconnaissance team responsible for diffusion alert almost caught the opponent's tail. Step himself even saw with his own eyes a cyan mecha running over a hillside less than a kilometer away from him...but so what, every time By this time, there would always be warnings from headquarters about the overall distance disconnect. If the pursuit continues, friendly forces will not be able to arrive to support within the specified time. And by the time the friendly forces arrived at the corresponding position, those cyan mechas had already gone to nowhere.

Stepp found it a bit ridiculous. Not only was he being led by the nose by the enemy, he was also led by the tail by friendly forces. Such an action would only be a waste of energy and energy. It really makes no sense. After driving around for several hours, even I, the most energetic person in the company, was a little tired, and the other companions were probably even more miserable. This kind of meaningless movement without goals and repeated running is a double blow to the body and spirit.

soon. The order was issued through the team channel. Stepper smiled bitterly. No wonder Aylmer was angry. The third company and the first battalion were once again separated from each other. They came from the south because the bandit team had just blown up the highway bridge over the inland river, and the engineers failed to complete the laying of the bridge before they arrived. They would be over twenty minutes late again. This means. The two companies of the second battalion had to return the same way. Try to stay as close to the river highway bridge as possible to avoid the overall disconnect and repeat the mistakes of the Fourth Battalion. .

The communication channel was full of curses and screams. Step turned around to look, and saw that the gusts that had just entered the Evergreen neighborhood were turning around in confusion, waiting for the mechas behind them to turn and leave. And those mechas parked in the central square of the little boy were also in a mess. The fast ones had already activated the mechas and rushed towards the back. The slow ones were still closing the cockpits that had just been opened... ...

All strict discipline and order were gone at this moment.

Complaining is human nature. It is also the most easily contagious virus. Several hours of running back and forth had left everyone exhausted and impatient. What's even more frightening is that the trust and obedience to the command, including Step's, has now turned into suspicion... Those staff officers just sit back and talk without pain, damn, they are such idiots Ground mobilization, what do they want to do?

Next to him, six other mechas responsible for extended security had already walked over.

Step lit a cigarette and looked at his companions standing crookedly beside him. One guy even controlled the mecha to sit cross-legged on the ground, as if that way the mecha could get some rest. This group is basically all locals from Mars. They often complain and even feel angry in private about what Bei League has done during this period.

Now that the rear team has changed to the front team, it is no longer the turn of these people to be on guard. Step suddenly had a feeling, as if people like him had just watched a movie and were waiting for the crowd to leave. They didn't want to join in the fun.

Dynamic scanner, beeping warning sound. Stepley ignored it. This thing cannot tell the difference between friend and foe. Now the two companies of Rafale were jostling around in such a chaotic manner that it would be strange if the scanners did not issue a warning.

The warning sound was hysterical, and Stepe raised his head irritably and reached out to turn off the switch. Then, he saw a scene that he would not forget until he died of old age...

In the ruins in the distance, dozens of cyan mechas spread out, sticking to the ground, and rushed towards the crowded group of red mechas.

Just like, in the grass, dozens of green wolves are hunting, flying at lightning speed! .