Counterfeit Hero

Ritter stood in the hallway on the eleventh floor of the hotel. His eyes were bloodshot, face twisted in anger. At his feet, a waitress who had accidentally collided with him lay with her neck twisted. Not far from her, two hotel security guards also lay prone.

A few days ago, the scene of his father Victor being trampled alive kept replaying in Ritter's mind. The fire of revenge burned his soul, leaving him restless every moment.

The Howard family had failed, suffering the most brutal blow at the most critical moment. Everything the family had, collapsed along with the deaths of Stephen and Duke Victor. Power, status, glory, wealth, and the family legacy—all vanished into thin air. Ritter had no other targets left; he now only wanted to catch that Fatty, string him up, and cut him into a thousand pieces to vent his deep-seated hatred.

As fate would have it, just when the grand hunt failed, and the Stephen Group completely collapsed, and Ritter thought it was becoming increasingly difficult to kill Fatty, a golden opportunity presented itself to him.

That Fatty, Tian Xingjian, had been kicked out of the military base and checked into the Tanville Hotel.

This news made Ritter wild with joy. He understood that before Fatty left Mezrich, this might be his only chance to personally exact revenge! Once that person returned to the Leray Federation, as a national hero and a general, personally seeking revenge would be nothing short of daydreaming, except to hope for an assassin's assassination!

Tanville Hotel, originally known as the Imperial Hotel, was one of the most luxurious hotels in the Gazalin Empire. The Howard family was originally a major shareholder of this hotel. Although the hotel had no more ties with the Howard family, Ritter, who had spent long periods of time indulging in the hotel, was intimately familiar with its layout, security configurations, and safety facilities, electricity, and other systems.

Once the information was confirmed, Ritter didn't hesitate in the slightest, immediately leading over thirty elite Family Warriors into Tanville.

Even a dilapidated ship has three thousand nails; the Howard family, having operated for so many years, had many underground and peripheral organizations. In the cities within the Howard family's fiefdom, they had overwhelming influence, maintaining thousands of Family Warriors and core forces. The power accumulated was naturally remarkable.

Hibernation was indeed a basic skill for the ever-rising and falling Gazalin nobles.

To soar high above the clouds, one must also be able to dive deep beneath the earth. These principles were the foundation for a family to survive in the Gazalin Nobles Circle. If the foundation remained unshaken, sooner or later, the family could ascend again to the pinnacle of power.

Even at this moment, when the regime no longer belonged to the Morton family, and the Gazalin Nobles Circle was nearly swept away, the Howard family could still rely on the military force and industries they had built over years. It wouldn't be difficult to lower themselves and become a hidden power underground temporarily.

For a newly established regime yet to be fully consolidated, this was a tangled mess, impossible to clear or even sever at once. Eradicating these deeply rooted families was no one-day task.

Ritter furiously kicked a couple of times at a corpse. It was precisely these few corpses under his feet that disrupted his plan and plunged the entire hotel into chaos.

This time, for revenge, Ritter put the entire family's power to use.

The thirty-six men he brought were the cream of the family's core force, elite Death Soldiers cultivated by Duke Victor himself. Over the years, the assassinations and kidnappings they executed were countless. Sniping, explosions, hand-to-hand combat, firearms, and mecha—there was nothing they were not proficient in. Each one of them was a top-notch killer, a top-notch Special Soldier.

This was originally a lightning operation. In the meticulously planned action, only six of the thirty-six warriors followed him upstairs, while the rest were stationed in the hotel's lobby on the first floor, stairs, elevator areas, and around the hotel. The six who went up were to rush straight into the room where Fatty was, shoot him, and then retreat with ease. If problems arose during this process, the warriors stationed in the hotel and around the perimeter were to create chaos and cover their escape from the hotel.

Given the hotel's extensive surveillance systems and security personnel, areas like the control room were forbidden to approach. Therefore, from the outset, Ritter had no intention of controlling the entire hotel. He also didn't want to engage in a firefight here with Feiyang's troops.

But what Ritter did not expect was that as his team reached the eleventh floor, neutralizing two guards, quickening their pace towards Fatty's room and drawing guns, a waitress who happened to walk out of a workroom exposed their actions with her scream.

No time to delay. Ritter stepped over the body, giving a signal to the killers. A killer took out the door breaker from his backpack and clamped it between the electronic lock handle and the doorframe. With a soft click, the not-so-sturdy room door was suddenly forced open, the killers long hidden on both sides rushed in.

No one. The huge living room was clear at a glance. Except for checking behind the sofa, there was no place to hide. The large flat dining table still had leftover food on it, the screen TV was on, showing a concert from a few years ago.

The killers quickly approached the closed bedroom door. Someone tried to gently move the bedroom door handle. It was locked.

No time to waste, Ritter, being decisive, fired several shots with his energy gun at the electronic lock on the door. He knew he had delayed too much time in the corridor. The scream of the waitress and the surveillance-controlled cameras had alerted the hotel. Not only armed security guards were rushing here, but the military would arrive soon too.

The unrestrained bedroom door, while four guns aimed at it, was slowly pushed open.

The nearest killer to the door raised his gun, making a semicircle with his steps under the cover of his companions behind him, compressing the room's interior angle with the muzzle.

Messy bed, lamp, wardrobe, open balcony door all appeared in the killer's field of view, still no one. He gestured, and two companions quickly entered the room. The bathroom, wardrobe, under the bed, every place was scrutinized, finding nothing!

Ritter strode into the bedroom, touching the bed. The warmth of the bed indicated that the person had not been gone long. Seeing the balcony curtain fluttering in the wind, his face turned ashen. He stepped onto the balcony, and on the side close to the neighboring room, a footprint was clearly imprinted on the balcony.

"Next door!" Ritter waved his hand and ordered harshly.

The men quickly rushed out of the room. Seeing the two warriors guarding the corridor, Ritter felt more at ease. As long as Fatty was still on this floor, he didn't believe he could escape. The next room was just another cage.

Outside the hotel's main entrance on the street, the panicked crowd had already swarmed to the opposite side of the street. Some clueless passers-by also stopped, glancing at the hotel building. A squad of patrolling soldiers quickly blocked the hotel entrance, dispersing the crowd. In the distance, infantry and mecha, notified of the incident, were making their way through the city streets towards the hotel.

Milan and Nia sensed something was amiss when they were stopped by two Leray Warriors.

As soon as they entered the lobby, they noticed that besides the four of them, there were eight or nine men dressed in different attires. Once the crowd poured out, like the receding tide revealing the sand, the remaining men in the lobby, obviously robust at first glance, naturally stood out.

The two Leray Special Soldiers quietly stared at those spread out in every corner of the lobby. They could tell these men were, like themselves, warriors who had been strictly trained and survived countless battles. That blade-like sharp aura was not something that the suits or coats they wore could conceal.

When the icy and surprised gazes of these few men fell on Milan and Nia, the two Leray Warriors quickly positioned themselves in front of the girls. The Ruger automatic assault energy rifles they already held steadily in hand lifted slightly. One Leray Warrior coldly said, "Outside!"

Under the muzzle of two high-speed energy assault rifles, the pupils of the eyes of these men slightly constricted at the same time. These elite warriors of the Howard family knew that the Clement Automatic Assault Energy Rifle used by the Leray Warriors could discharge No. 7 energy bullets at a speed of sixty shots per second. To shred a lion to pieces would only need two seconds. If these two guns in front fired simultaneously, it would be fatal for those who still had their pistols tucked under their arms or behind their waists.

A man in a dark suit, holding a briefcase, suddenly raised his hand, calling out, "Officer, I don't know them." He said this while walking towards the two Leray Warriors.

"Outside! The door is that way," the Leray Warrior coldly observed the man's footsteps.

"What on earth is happening?" The man in the suit continued to move this way, speaking while looking around anxiously, his face full of horror. His figure had already blocked another bald man's view.

"Rat-a-tat" A string of energy bullets turned this man into a sieve, taking the warriors of the Howard family by surprise. Just as their bodies moved, a cold voice said, "Since he says he doesn't know you, naturally, you don't know him either. I'll say it again, outside!"

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