Counterfeit Hero

Holding the silent energy sniper rifle specially made by Milan that mimics the M1 Garand rifle and wearing night vision goggles, Tian Xingjian slowly walked deeper into the cave.

The cave extended downward at a twenty-five-degree angle, spacious, straight, unexpectedly long. Fatty always believed he had the ability to communicate with the darkness, always able to merge with it and derive strength and victory from it. However, after cautiously walking nearly a kilometer, Fatty realized that this time, he seemed to be rejected by the darkness.

In the empty and silent cave, Fatty could clearly hear his own heartbeat and breathing, clashing with the darkness. His sixth sense kept telling him that a pair of eyes was watching him, making him feel exposed.

After another hundred meters, a metal gate appeared before him.

Fatty, walking like a cat, tried sneakily to approach the door for a closer look. Suddenly, the heavy metal door slid open to both sides, and the bright light inside rushed through the cracks, illuminating Fatty's astonished face in stark detail.

"Exposed?" Fatty abruptly lifted his clothes, revealing fusion hand grenades strapped all over his body. His eyes were steadfast, ready to face death, manifesting a look that said anyone daring to come closer would face mutual destruction.

Aside from the sound of the metal door opening, there was no other noise. Behind the door, revealed to Fatty, was a standard hangar. In the bright lights, several space fighters were quietly parked inside the hall, with their streamlined bodies and X-shaped wings, leaving Fatty dumbfounded.

He recognized these fighters, not only he but anyone who had studied ancient history would know them. These were the classic space fighters [Trial Wing] manufactured by the ancient Chinese Mechanical Bureau in the year 3012 AD. Before the Earth Federation dissolved, these standard fighters were almost synonymous with the federation's formidable military might!

Thousands of years had passed, and suddenly such antiques appeared before his eyes, making Fatty almost unable to believe his eyes. Could this place be an underground military museum?

In the brightly lit hangar, there was no sound, only brightness and silence. Each [Trial Wing] was armed with missiles, fully equipped, bearing various marks on their bodies—not dust and peeling left by time but scars, crisscrossing scars. They looked like ancient warriors who had survived countless battles, majestic and formidable.

Tian Xingjian cautiously walked through the gate, approaching a [Trial Wing] for a closer look. On the black wings were engraved several rows of numerical codes, and at the nose position, there was a conspicuous Chinese character — Hua. Inside the fighter's cockpit was an original antique-grade control system, seemingly newer than the exterior due to being sealed all the time. On the console, a row of Chinese characters identified these fighters:

Earth Federation Chinese Mechanical Manufacturing Bureau

Fatty quietly marveled at the miracle of preserving such antique fighters in such a perfect condition over thousands of years. But what puzzled him was why these fighters appeared in this geomagnetic black hole and why the door would automatically open as he approached. Was this place still an intact relic with automatic doors, or was it a guarded underground museum?

Walking around the fighters several times, there was still no movement, no signs of life in the hangar, just dust-covered ground with no traces other than his own footprints. However, the feeling of being watched became stronger. As he looked around while walking, just as he reached the side door next to the hangar, it suddenly opened, revealing a passage.

"Who?!" Fatty called out with a fierce but insecure tone, "Show yourself!"

The voice echoed in the hangar, accentuating its stillness. The dust-covered hangar, the automatically opening doors, the feeling of being watched—all seemed eerily strange.

Tightly gripping the sniper rifle in his hand, Fatty slowly walked into the passage. At the end of the passage, there was another door. As soon as Fatty approached, the door automatically opened. Passing through this door, what appeared before Fatty was a wide pre-battle assembly room. An antique projection-based pre-battle analysis device was mounted on the wall of the assembly room, and electronic interstellar maps covered in thick dust flickered on both sides, shining faintly.

Upon seeing the pre-battle assembly room, Fatty immediately realized that he had entered an ancient warship. The cave he came from was a flight passage excavated by this warship hidden underground, and the four metallic grooves on the passage undoubtedly were the magnetic acceleration tracks for the X-shaped wings of the [Trial Wing] fighters!

Based on the hangar and pre-battle assembly room equipment and installations, this ship was at least close to four thousand years old. Because the materials used for the ship were high-strength, anti-corrosion alloys, despite four thousand years passing, it still maintained its original condition.

Crew cabins, power cabins, armory, electronic cabins, control cabins, command cabins—walking along the way, automatic doors sensed someone approaching and would open. The identity recognition system outside the doors seemed to have become redundant. Initially, Fatty was cautious, wary of traps; after repeatedly shouting and probing, his courage grew, entering every open door. Yet on this warship equivalent to two small transport ships, besides dust and bright lights, there were no other traces to prove that anyone had come here.