William Carter thus entered the reconnaissance training camp. He trained very hard. That bear-like instructor followed him around every day, and if he slacked off even a little, he’d get a thorough beating. William Carter himself did have some natural talent for reconnaissance training. Plus, by nature, he had a bit of the roguish spirit of Tian Boguang. So, after a year of training, his results were outstanding. In wilderness survival, camouflage, stealth, long-distance marches, and other areas, even the instructors couldn’t match him. When his hand-to-hand combat reached a very high level, the bear instructor started following him around every day with a knife. William Carter agonized over it for a long time, but in the end, he didn’t dare risk his life.

When William Carter was about to graduate from the training camp, he cunningly found a way to avoid being assigned to a reconnaissance unit. In his spare time, William Carter would often hang around the mechanical maintenance camp, whether he had business there or not.

“As long as you complete the training, you can do whatever you want. As long as you don’t cause trouble, you can mess around however you like.” These were the original words of the reconnaissance instructor. In the instructor’s view, there were very few people who still had the energy to do other things after the daily overload of reconnaissance training.

Those selected for the mechanical maintenance camp all had skillful hands. They weren’t ordinary repairmen—the things they learned were far more advanced than those of regular mechanics. Whether it was aircraft carriers, fighter jets, ground mechs, or electronic equipment, there was nothing they couldn’t fix.

William Carter had quick hands. He could disassemble and reassemble a firearm in the shortest possible time—five seconds faster than the maintenance camp’s record. Beating the record by even one second was impressive, let alone five. Every day, William Carter would dumbly watch the new recruits in the mechanical maintenance camp constantly disassemble and assemble all kinds of warships, mechs, and weapons, while the instructor’s classes on mechanical principles, blueprint analysis, troubleshooting, battlefield assembly, and electronics were all must-attend for him. Soon, all the instructors and trainees in the camp knew about this somewhat goofy-looking reconnaissance trainee. A month before the end of special training, William Carter approached the mechanical maintenance camp instructor and straightforwardly applied to join the mechanical maintenance camp.

Such an application made the reconnaissance camp instructor furious, but there was nothing he could do.

Because the instructor of the mechanical training camp was also the highest-ranking officer of the special training team. William Carter took only two hours to completely win over this white colonel. He took the theoretical exam for the mechanical training camp trainees and ranked among the top. His practical performance made the colonel even more ecstatic—William Carter’s quick hands convinced him that this was a mechanical genius.

Because mechanical maintenance involved a lot of technological and military secrets, the mechanical maintenance camp was of a much higher level than the reconnaissance camp, and many of the Federation’s mech designers came from the mechanical maintenance camp. Seeing a genius about to be buried in the reconnaissance camp—a place full of blockheads—the colonel didn’t hesitate to use his privilege to transfer William Carter to the mechanical maintenance camp. William Carter was overjoyed at his narrow escape. But the reality soon made him almost regret it bitterly.

Chapter 2: Advance, Honor 15

The current batch of special trainees, after assessment, were assigned to the Baimu Star Domain Military District.

William Carter stayed in the special training team for another half year. After mastering mechanical maintenance knowledge, he was given priority recommendation by the colonel to his old friend, the Chief of Logistics Staff of the Atlantis Star Domain Military District. Then, William Carter was assigned to the First Squad of the Logistics Company, Third Armored Battalion, Fifth Armored Division of the Galileo System in the Atlantis Star Domain, becoming a new sergeant.

At first, William Carter was a bit proud. After all, he came from the special training team, had gone through both reconnaissance and mechanical maintenance special training, and with the colonel’s recommendation, became a sergeant directly—one rank higher than other new graduates from the special training team, who were only privates. Upon joining the company, even the squad leader of the First Squad of the Logistics Company was only a sergeant as well.

His luck ended there...

Three days after William Carter reported in, the Gacharin Empire launched a full-scale invasion of the Atlantis Star Domain of the Lele Democratic Federation, and war broke out. In half a year, the four colonized planets of the Galileo System fell one after another. Retreating with the remnants of the Fifth Division to Milok II, they were surrounded by the Newton Army of the Empire and the pursuing Galileo Army. After finally catching a ride on the Ninth Division’s ship, a single order from headquarters sent them to Milok to participate in the defense.

The Imperial Army landed on Milok within a week.

Then, this chubby guy—who, in the eyes of his superiors, was quite good at escaping—was sent to the forward position to help repair mechs.

And then, the Imperial Army attacked.

He didn’t even have time to catch his breath!

Now, William Carter could only focus on running for his life.

Trying to outrun mechs on two human legs, William Carter was both angry and scared. No matter how fast he ran, he could only manage about twenty kilometers per hour, which was a classic tortoise-and-hare race compared to the mechs. The only thing to be thankful for was that, due to their size, mechs had trouble moving through the jungle. And surviving and evading enemies in the jungle happened to be one of William Carter’s specialties. Besides, he was just a logistics repairman. Who would be interested in chasing him down?