NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 5: Chapter 5
The fat guy felt incredibly wrong.
Tears streamed down his face like rain.
This life was just unbearable.
He wasn't allowed to leave when the battle started, and when it was time to go, he couldn't. And now, after giving them information and showing them a way out, he was left behind. Despite his crying, Tian Kaiwen wasn't stupid. He picked up his gun and turned to run deep into the jungle. His agile movements were like those of a chubby rabbit.
As long as these imperial mechas didn't enter the jungle, the fat guy had an 80% chance of escaping. And if these mechas chased after the federal mechas, that would be even better.
The fat guy could run across the open area at top speed. Once he plunged into the not-so-sudden waters of the Supengman River, with his body fat and his top-notch armed swimming skills in the battalion, he could easily make his way back to the station camp. He could have a few big pieces of roasted meat, drink a cup of hot chocolate or tea, and if he was lucky, he might even find some alcohol. Tian Kaiwen quickly shook his head, ridding himself of these silly thoughts. Thinking about such things when he was tired, hungry, and sad would undoubtedly drive the fat guy crazy.
He had to find a hiding place first. If those heavy-duty mechas, after arriving at the battlefield, didn't pursue northward but instead gathered the scattered single-soldier mechas on the spot, then this forest area would undoubtedly become their base camp.
The fat guy could almost picture himself being caught, stripped naked like a white sheep, hung from a tree, and having his fat whipped.
It was simply too tragic.
He vaguely discerned the direction and ran like mad. To increase his chances of survival, he had to get some tools.
The original station of the federal armored forces was not far in this forest. The fat guy soon reached the camp. After rummaging around, he found several single-soldier grenades, a large compressed solid energy block, and a replaced energy autocannon.
Most importantly, he found an automatic robotic arm used by mechanical maintenance soldiers. With it, the fat guy could assemble all kinds of strange transportation tools from any parts he could find in the shortest time. In fifteen out of his previous twenty escapes, he had done it this way. This time, the materials seemed to be much more abundant than before.
However, the weight of these things was too much for the fat guy to carry alone. He quickly dug a hole with the maintenance robotic arm and buried everything except the grenades in batches. Then, without hesitation, the fat guy set a fire and got up to run.
When the fire triggered the ammunition's second explosion in the order arranged by Tian Kaiwen, this poor and lonely mechanical maintenance soldier had reached a stinky mud pond in the center of the forest.
It only took him a few minutes to bury himself completely, leaving only a hollow tube reaching into the grass by the mud pond. To avoid detection by infrared and biological radars, the anti-detection combat suit on his body wasn't enough. The fat guy lowered his breathing and heartbeat to a dangerous level. This was one of the strange skills taught to him by the bear-like instructor in the scout training camp.
Tian Kaiwen had an extraordinary talent for these strange skills. He always thought that if he could stay like this until the end of the war, he wouldn't mind burying himself even deeper.
The imperial mecha unit outside the forest was just as the fat guy had expected.
They didn't continue the pursuit but contacted the scattered single-soldier mechas around and started gathering the troops. According to their battle plan, this place would become an advanced base for their attack on New Rome. This meant that if the fat guy wanted to climb out of the mud pond after they left, he might as well carve himself a tombstone right away.
Poor Kaiwen didn't know this. As soon as he relaxed, tiredness washed over him like a tide, and he soon fell asleep in the mud pond.
At this time, the High Command of the Leray Federation was in chaos.
Telephone rings were going off one after another. The central computer was processing tens of thousands of front-line messages. The operational staff, looking ashen-faced, were inputting real-time war information into the virtual sand table.
The virtual image of Milock Star suspended right above the hall was riddled with holes. The red color symbolizing the imperial forces was spreading across this virtual planet image at an alarming speed. More than forty out of over sixty colonized cities have been surrounded. Sixteen of them had already been captured, and one city had completely turned gray—black, which was a sign of total destruction.
The federal ground defense forces, with their air power almost completely wiped out, were in a state of fighting on their own. Large chunks of virtual icons representing federal troops were being divided by the red imperial forces and disappearing rapidly.
In the commander-in-chief's office, Admiral Mikhailovich, who was in charge of the command, was reporting the battle situation to the president, who had come to the High Command in person.
"So far, the Federation has completely lost control of five colonized planets. The 11th and 12th Space Forces stationed in the Galileo Galaxy have been almost completely annihilated. The only ones that could escape are one [Orion]-class battleship, several light cruisers, and a Titan-class aircraft carrier that was spared due to a duty rotation. The Milock local fleet stationed in the Newton Galaxy, due to the huge disparity in strength compared to the enemy, with the approval of the High Command, has withdrawn from the Atlantis Star Region after losing 50% of its warships."
Admiral Mikhailovich's voice was a bit hoarse. It had been half a year since the Gacharin Empire's surprise attack. Due to the Federation's long-term serious lack of preparation for war, it still couldn't organize sufficient defensive forces, let alone launch a counterattack. The Lary Federation, which owned three-star regions and eight galaxies, was facing the most severe test in its history.
Facing the Gacharin Empire, which had made full military preparations, the military power of the Leray Federation had always been at a disadvantage. The doves who dominated the government and parliament were overly lax in their vigilance towards the Gacharin royal family, who had a history and lineage of aggression. Several proposals from the military to increase the budget were rejected.
There was a shortage of funds, old-fashioned ships, and insufficient training.
What made Mikhailovich even more helpless was that many academically oriented commanders in the military had never experienced the baptism of war. The Leray Federation had been at peace for too long. In this heroic country born three hundred years ago, the glorious generals in the War of Independence have become names in history textbooks and sculptures on the lawns of military academies.
Now, what the Leray Federation needed was time. The national mobilization order had been issued. Factories and shipyards were working at full capacity to build new mechas and warships. Batches of new recruits were continuously entering the barracks for training. But would time bring the dawn of victory to Leray?
"The 1st Space Combined Army, composed of the 4th, 6th, and 7th Space Fleets, has completed its assembly in the central star region of Leray. Since the space jump points have been blocked by the Gacharin Empire's space fleet, it's impossible to reinforce the Newton Galaxy by force-jumping. Therefore, the High Command has issued an order to block the jump points between Leray and the Atlantis Star Region, and the 1st Space Combined Army will defend it in place."