Tian Kaiwen lay motionless prostrate within the bomb crater. The earth upon his body seamlessly melded him with the surrounding milieu. In this erstwhile artillery base, remote from the battlefield, he was the solitary vestige of life. Not even a rodent stirred. Milock Star, by its very nature, was bereft of such creatures. This unassuming hillock was cloaked in a dense jungle. The federal artillery company, once concealed within the verdant expanse, had been reduced to ashes in the salvoes of the preceding days. All around Tian Kaiwen, a motley array of debris lay strewn—fragments of metal intermixed with remnants of flesh. The second explosion of the ammunition had obliterated the jungle for hundreds of meters around, and the conflagration raged for two days before finally subsiding. Tian Kaiwen felt a creeping lethargy; his eyelids drooped repeatedly, defying his will. With a gentle slap to his visage, he summoned his resolve and fixed his gaze upon the battlefield.
This marked the twenty-first battle of Corporal Tian Kaiwen of the Federal Aerospace Marine Corps. From the Galileo Galaxy to the Newton Galaxy, the beleaguered federal forces had relinquished twenty-two resource planets and five human-colonized worlds. Milock Star was one of the two human-colonized planets within the Newton Galaxy. The other, Milock II, had been comprehensively overrun by the imperial forces two months prior. Should this planet also fall to the imperial onslaught, the federal forces would have no choice but to forfeit the Newton Galaxy, a domain replete with over thirty resource planets.
These grand strategic concerns held little sway over Tian Kaiwen. His singular preoccupation was survival amidst the maelstrom of war. The doctrine of self-preservation was the inviolable tenet he adhered to. Thus, despite having endured twenty-one battles, Tian Kaiwen, a mechanical maintenance soldier and corporal of the 1st Squad, Logistics Squadron, 3rd Armored Battalion, 5th Armored Division of the Aerospace Marine Corps, remained at the same rank. His comrades who had weathered the initial eighteen battles with him had, for the most part, received promotions. However, after traversing three planets from the Galileo to the Newton Galaxy, he alone had survived to reach this place. The 5th Armored Division of the Federal Aerospace Marine Corps had its designation expunged. A staggering ninety-five percent of the division perished in battle, and the remaining five percent were left stranded on Milock II, their prospects dire. Tian Kaiwen, having narrowly escaped death on numerous occasions, was fortuitously able to board a retreating battleship and was incorporated into the remnants of the 9th Armored Division, falling back to defend Milock Star.
He stealthily edged behind a colossal tree felled by a shell, and lying on his side, he relieved himself. This was no mean feat, yet Tian Kaiwen had mastered the art. By positioning himself on a slightly elevated spot, he ensured that the urine did not flow back and drench him. The protracted battles had, at the very least, inured him to the point of not soiling his trousers out of fear on the battlefield. A shiver coursed through him, and he felt marginally more alert. He spat at the side, inwardly bemoaning his ill fortune. Initially, the 9th Armored Division, having suffered a forty percent reduction in its ranks, had received orders to withdraw to the Darwin Galaxy for rest and reorganization. However, due to the imperial forces' swift incursion onto Milock Star within a week, the High Command, in a desperate measure, ordered all units in the vicinity of Milock Star to converge and resist, aiming to impede the imperial advance and allow for the assembly of rear-echelon reinforcement troops.
Although this hiding place was meticulously selected by him and was removed from the epicenter of the fray, for Tian Kaiwen, who's every thought was bent on self-preservation, it was still not entirely secure. From his vantage point, the distant battle raged on with unabated ferocity. At nine o'clock, twelve o'clock, and three o'clock positions on the battlefield, nearly a hundred two-meter-tall anti-joint single-soldier mechanical combat armor of the imperial forces, the "Holy Armor 22," darted about with the agility of ostriches. The missile launchers, resembling wings on either side, intermittently emitted ear-piercing shrieks as they launched one laser-guided missile after another. Compressed at the six o'clock position were over a dozen three-meter-tall multi-legged five-person combat armors of the Galactic Federation, the "Honor 15." This ponderous armor boasted a staggering defensive prowess. Under the control of the central computer, its numerous short legs could execute a variety of intricate evasive maneuvers with remarkable efficacy. Despite being outnumbered and having their firepower overshadowed by the imperial forces, in the short term, the gyrating imperial single-soldier armor formations found themselves unable to breach the tightly-knit defensive phalanx of the federal armor. The two sides engaged in a furious exchange. The trails of the missiles crisscrossed, suffusing the entire battlefield, and the cacophony of energy autocannons reverberated incessantly. Although the federal forces were at a disadvantage in terms of firepower, the "Honor 15" combat armor, being a medium-sized combat unit, possessed an extremely robust armor defense system and had sufficient energy to deploy an energy shield. Thus, although the missiles launched by the imperial single-soldier armor occasionally found their mark on an "Honor 15," the proportion of destroyed units remained relatively low.
This locale, where a limited number of mechas were locked in a fierce contest, was the protruding salient of the northwestern defense zone of New Rome, the largest industrial metropolis on Milock Star. Garrisoned here was a federal force composed of a reinforced medium-sized armor squadron and an artillery battery. Their mission was to safeguard the rear-echelon logistics corridor. Lacking fortifications and trenches to impede the advance of infantry, this was merely an advanced outpost. The true first line of defense of the Federation lay deep within the jungle, over a dozen kilometers away. Beyond the first line of defense spanned the mighty Sujiang Bridge, a steel behemoth traversing the largest river on Milock Star, the Supengman River. On the opposite bank of the bridge, the federal forces had hastily erected a second line of defense, which also constituted the last bastion of New Rome. Should this line be breached, the federal forces would be compelled to engage in urban guerrilla warfare. And on this battlefield, the sole unarmored combatant was Tian Kaiwen, a mechanical repairer. He was the solitary soldier dispatched to this advanced position a few days prior to performing mecha maintenance duties. Since the inception of this battle, he had been observing from the sidelines in solitude for two days. Bereft of trenches, fortifications, and comrades in arms to share his fate, the thought of his predicament filled Tian Kaiwen, the hapless soul, with despondency. "Bah, this existence is insufferable!" At that precise moment, the order to retreat en masse crackled through his headset.
Thirty-seven kilometers distant, the central line of defense had been partially breached by the imperial forces. A veritable flood of imperial armored units was pouring through the breach, with one particular unit, comprising two heavy-duty land combat armors and eight medium-sized armors, maneuvering to encircle the federal forces from the rear. If they failed to extricate themselves from the battle before this imperial armored unit reached the battlefield, then all were as good as doomed. In the hilly terrain, land combat mechas could achieve a speed of 150 kilometers per hour. If there were roads, this velocity could be doubled. Even the dense jungle and the few small rivulets along the way, though they might marginally impede the enemy's advance, would not prevent them from reaching the battlefield within twenty minutes.
Finally, the long-awaited order to disengage from the combat zone reached Tian Kaiwen. So elated was he that he almost sprang from his hiding place. However, the thought of potentially being hounded by an imperial armored unit, replete with two heavy-duty land-combat mechas, left a bitter taste in his mouth. He activated the combat recorder on his left arm to confirm the order, and then, with a quick check of his equipment to ensure nothing was amiss, Tian Kaiwen launched himself forward with the ferocity of a cheetah. His speed was astonishing, as he nimbly vaulted over two felled trees and five bomb craters in quick succession, reaching the periphery of the hillock. Crawling on all fours, like a startled lizard, he scurried across the grass-covered slope, a width of over twenty meters, and plunged headlong into the impenetrable depths of the jungle.
Simultaneously, the federal mecha squadron, having received the retreat order, began to contract its formation in a strategic withdrawal. Perhaps the imperial forces had also obtained the same intelligence, for the battle escalated to a new level of intensity. The firmament was choked with billowing smoke, and violent explosions hurled dirt and dust skyward. The federal "Honor 15" mechas covered each other's retreat in an alternating fashion, while an imperial single-soldier armor squadron had commenced an outflanking maneuver around the rear of the federal positions. Evidently, they aimed to annihilate the last twelve medium-sized mechas of the federal forces in one fell swoop. The imperial forces' detour route passed through the very hillock where Tian Kaiwen had previously concealed himself. The federal forces, too, had discerned the imperial ploy. Although this hillock was not particularly lofty, it commanded a vantage point. Should it fall into imperial hands, it would be as if a nail had been driven into the retreat path of the federal armor unit. Swiftly, two "Honor 15" mechas, shielded by their comrades, charged towards the hillock. They were determined to seize this strategic vantage before the thirty imperial single-soldier mechas, the "Holy Armor 22," arrived, in order to secure the passage for their retreating brethren.
At present, Tian Kaiwen was like a panicked cur, hurtling through the jungle with reckless abandon.
"Hmm, this is a peculiar coward. Appearing simple and honest on the surface, yet he is undoubtedly a despicable wretch." This was the unanimous verdict of all those acquainted with Tian Kaiwen.
By nature, Tian Kaiwen was indeed of a lascivious and base disposition.