Counterfeit Hero

The Chuckna Army General Hospital occupies a very broad area. The hospital boasts two twin space towers each standing 1,600 meters tall and an enormous outbuilding covering nearly four square kilometers.

Before the main entrance on the eastern side of the white architectural complex is the famous National Heroes Memorial Square in Hanjing, the capital.

No one knows how many great generals of Chuckna have passed away here in the Army General Hospital, how many men who shed blood for this country have departed from this world.

Their remains are laid in the National Heroes Cemetery, while their names are eternally engraved on the memorial stele in the Heroes Memorial Square.

Rashid and Stewart stand shoulder to shoulder before the Heroes Memorial stele.

Beside them are countless gathered Chuckna civilians, behind them are bandit army soldiers who are being thrown towards the hospital entrance one by one by the fierce soldiers of the 31st Army.

The two Major Generals of Leray quietly watch the towering Heroes Memorial stele. Their broad shoulders and firm muscles stretch their clothes as if they are about to burst. Just standing here, people can smell the scent of war and blood from them.

Rashid lights three cigarettes, slowly walks to the memorial stele, and inserts them into the cracks of the steps. Together with Stewart, he bows deeply.

The nearby Chuckna civilians quietly watch these two men, radiating the aura of battle, with a sense of daze.

"Standing here," Rashid looks up at the Heroes Memorial stele and loudly declares, "I want to tell you, we come from the Leray Federation. A thousand years ago, you were the guardians of this nation, and a thousand years later, we are fighting together with your descendants. Our fleet guards the southeastern channel in the Longbow Star System, and our army has come to this country to fight fiercely."

Rashid’s voice echoes across the square, and suddenly, this voice soars upward, piercing the clouds.

"For what?!" Rashid roars wildly.

"For this nation and for my Leray Federation!" Stewart roars.

"We have fought a four-year war of national defense!"

Rashid abruptly turns around and looks at the increasingly large crowd of Chuckna civilians. His voice carries a sense of battlefield tragedy: "We sacrificed more than thirty million soldiers in this war. Our soldiers advance valiantly for our freedom, our dignity, and now, we have come here!"

Rashid’s voice, like rolling thunder, sweeps across the square.

People look at the Major General from the Leray Federation and suddenly recall the nation that endured four years of fierce battle, remembering the speech Vice President Flavio gave in front of the Supreme Joint Council Square after President Hamilton’s death.

"But," Rashid’s voice trembles.

His eyes are red, he turns in place, and points fiercely at the hospital building: "On the very first day we arrived, someone committed treachery against our officers!"

All eyes follow Rashid’s finger towards the hospital building.

After a moment of silence, Rashid turns his head.

"Major General Stewart, if one must be sacrificed between you and Admiral Tian Xingjian, whom would you choose?"

"I!" Stewart straightens his chest and calmly says.

"Bandit army soldiers, if one must be sacrificed between you and Admiral Tian Xingjian, whom would you choose?!"

Behind, the tens of thousands of erect bandit troops explode with a spine-chilling roar.

"I!"

"Are there any citizens from Leray here?" Rashid looks around.

The crowd starts to stir, and one Leray person after another pushes out of the crowd. Among them, there are elders, youth, women, and children. They silently come forward, standing at the forefront of the crowd, quietly watching Rashid.

"Tell me, if one must be sacrificed between you and Admiral Tian Xingjian, whom would you choose."

"I!" The first voice is from a little boy. Soon after, it’s the same sound from everyone. Some women loudly say this while wiping tears.

"Why?" Rashid stares at the little boy, his expression solemn, as if asking a soldier of the same age.

"Because General Tian is our hero." The eight-year-old boy straightens his chest while speaking, looking at his father beside him.

"You have a good son!" Rashid says to the bespectacled, frail-looking middle-aged father.

"Yes!" The middle-aged man meets Rashid’s eyes, smiling faintly.

"Sadly, the truths that children understand, they are unaware of," Rashid turns, striding towards Faset who is being held by two soldiers, "Release him!"

The two soldiers loosen their grip simultaneously, and Rashid harshly punches Faset in the face, sending him flying backward.

The entire square is filled with Rashid’s furious roar.

"You don’t realize how many here are willing to die in place of General Tian...."

He grabs Faset, slaps him backward in a swift motion.

"You don’t realize what he has done for our country...."

He blocks Faset’s retaliating punch with one hand and uses the other hand to grasp Faset’s collar, violently smashing his head against Faset’s face.

"How dare you attack him? He is the pride of our Leray Federation, a hero to all Leray people, and you’re not worthy!"

Faset staggered and raised his head, glaring fiercely at Rashid.

Rashid sneered coldly, grabbed the blood-covered Faset, spat violently on his face, and then swung a slap so hard that it sent him tumbling to the ground like a ragged sandbag.

People stared dumbfounded at the Leray Major General, who was like an enraged lion, watching him rip off his own uniform and throw it to the ground as he walked towards Faset.

"Bastard..."

"Stop!"

With a loud shout, a luxury car stopped in front of Rashid, and the Vice President of Chuckna, Madhuwan, stepped out in brisk strides. Immediately, the plaza erupted into chaos as countless fully armed Chuckna soldiers, led by a Major General and several national security advisors, surrounded the entire plaza.

"Major General Rashid, I’m seriously warning you, this is Chuckna territory, not Leray!" Madhuwan, a lawyer by training, quickly adopted a tactic to divert the focus of the conflict, pointing at Rashid and saying: "You have no evidence to accuse Vice Admiral Faset; all this is merely your unilateral subjective speculation."

It must be said, Madhuwan swiftly captured the doubts lingering in the people’s hearts.

The move to turn defense into offense was expertly executed.

The Iron Army skin of the 31st Army had already been stripped bare by the bandit army. Madhuwan knew that the only thing he could do now was to drag the bandit army down with them.

The incident was jointly planned by him and Faset.

As the Vice President of Chuckna, Madhuwan did not believe this was the peak of his political career. The current President Hill could not have sat on the presidential throne without an alliance with him within the party. Therefore, Madhuwan had a strong grip on the Chuckna government. At the beginning of the war, he chose a policy of passive resistance.

As a politician, Madhuwan preferred to solve problems with maneuvering.

However, his control weakened with Hill’s shift and the change in the Canglang Star battle situation. When he found that his directives could no longer reach the government and military, Madhuwan realized that his previous strategy had made a significant error.

However, he was not willing to admit his mistake.

In his view, now was the time for the Binart Empire and Feiyang Republic to fight fiercely, and as long as Chuckna maintained its strength, it would have enough leverage to bargain with either side. In this world, there are no eternal friends, nor are there eternal enemies. Perhaps, when the two great superpowers were both wounded, Chuckna could rise to become the ruling superpower of the world.

This ambition, Madhuwan had never told anyone.

When the lunatics from Faset and the Leefer Legion’s Young Officer Association sought him out, he knew his opportunity had come.

As long as Margaret was assassinated, Chuckna would lose Hastings’ support. And the Canglang Star battle situation would enter into his rhythm of control. The besieged President Hill would not be able to contend with his powerful forces within the party. Once Hastings passed away, the world would eventually return to its predetermined path.

Once Leefer came to power, the Chuckna under his leadership would have more leeway in decision-making.

Although dangerous, this was the only road to becoming a historically illustrious president!

In that car were not only Margaret but also that Leray fatty. This point was already known to him and Faset just minutes before the attack.

However, to them, this was not a problem.

What Faset thought, Madhuwan didn’t care. To him, the death of a Leray Vice Admiral, making the situation more chaotic, was not a disadvantage.

Unexpectedly, both individuals in the car survived!

Not only did they survive, but the bandit army brazenly attacked the 31st Army. Astonishingly, they crushed the 31st Army within three hours.

When Madhuwan received the news that the bandit army was escorting the 31st Army to the Army General Hospital, he knew this was his catastrophe, but also his opportunity.

He didn’t know how tough Faset was or whether he would be dragged down with him. This risk he could not take. And the bandit army’s action surely dealt a significant blow to President Hill’s authority. As long as the focus was shifted to the President’s control and the bandit army’s affront to Chuckna, he believed there was still much room to maneuver in this game.

Therefore, he dispatched his strongest team, rallied the security guards directly under the Ministry of Defense, the only unit in the military department not directly under command at the moment, to make this counterattack a turning point.

Madhuwan looked at Rashid coldly, confident that after crushing this reckless Leray Vice Admiral, he could use the momentum to stir up the entire Chuckna wave.

"You want evidence?" Rashid wiped the blood from his face, took a cigarette in his mouth, and pointed to Stuart by his side: "Go ask him."

Madhuwan’s heart sank. There was evidence?!

He slowly turned his head towards Stuart, while simultaneously seeing a graceful silhouette walking towards them behind Stuart.

"Phooey." The tall, bear-like Stuart spat, grinned a simple smile: "Our bandit army doesn’t even talk sense; what evidence are you talking about?!"

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. Bandit army, fix bayonets!

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. (To be continued. For more, please visit www.qidian.com. Chapters updated frequently. Support the author, support reading the original!)