CH 109

Because the imperial fleet had broken through Akko's outer defenses, the fighters at the airport were frantically taking off to meet the invaders.

"Canyue, look," shouted Zhang Bao'er as he pointed at the corner of the airport.

I looked over and saw that near the foot of a mountain, brand-new bird-shaped fighters were parked in a row.

"Those fighters seem to be backups. Let's go take two of them for ourselves before going back for Zhang Bao'er and the others," I said to Zhang Bao'er through the communicator.

"Good idea. In our current situation, it is better to hide in the sky than to take a beating on the ground," said Domo.

With the cloaks of invisibility, we approached the parked fighters. The entire airport was in chaos, and I had a feeling we wouldn't be noticed even if we weren't invisible. Up in the sky, the bird-shaped fighters and the imperial fighter drones were fighting each other intensely. The pilots of the bird-shaped fighters were incredibly skilled at piloting; one imperial fighter after another was struck down.

However, the sky was still filled with countless imperial fighters. In terms of quantity, they held the absolute upper hand. In fact, the Akko fighters were outnumbered ten to one, and they were practically flooded with enemies. As the two parties battled, we arrived before the row of fighters.

"Looks like we're getting lucky. These seem to be all new fighters. Canyue, let's pick one each," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Can you even fly a plane?" asked Domo.

"When I was flying around, you were still riding wooden horses," countered Zhang Bao'er.

"Dondon, assist Bao'er as his co-pilot. We'll take one each. Go," I said.

I ran toward a bright-colored fighter ahead of me. Suddenly, a row of bright fireballs appeared, and a series of explosions appeared ahead of us. The shockwaves pushed us down and blew our cloaks away. Above us, two fighter drones could be seen flying by. The Akko fighters suffered complete defeat; the imperial fighter drones had taken full control of the sky.

"Bao'er, are you fine?" I asked Bao'er, who was sprawled on the ground beside me.

"I'm fine. My back hurts, though. What a pity. We were so close to success," sighed Zhang Bao'er.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

Domo had fallen with his face to the ground. He slowly got back on his feet and complained, "You're moving like a snail. Because of you, I broke my nose."

Our plan to steal two of the bird-shaped fighters had failed spectacularly. The sky was filled with imperial fighter drones. The combined army of Akko and the Interstellar League had been defeated. I could see that some of the fighter drones were already attacking the surface of the planet. Explosions were erupting everywhere, and the sky was filled with thick smoke.

"I did not expect the Interstellar League's fleet to be so weak. They were defeated so quickly," said Zhang Bao'er with a sigh.

"We must think of something. Otherwise, everyone will be in danger," I said anxiously.

"Canyue, look. I think there's a warehouse there. Why don't we hide there for a bit?" suggested Dondon as he pointed at a building with a flat roof.

The building was covered with ash-gray camouflage, giving it a nice concealment from the sky.

"It seems to be an abandoned hangar. Let's go," I said.

"Pick up the cloaks. We need to return to being invisible if we don't want to be attacked," said Domo.

Under the cover of our cloaks of invisibility, we stealthily approached the ash-gray building. The building looked like an abandoned warehouse. When we reached it, we saw that the door seemed to be locked by some electronic code system.

"How do we open this without the password?" asked Domo.

Bang! Zhang Bao'er's punched the electronic lock. Some electrical currents sparked out of the lock before it shut off with a hum. The door then opened by itself.

"Nice, Bao'er. Looks like your brute strength can even bring about a miracle," I praised.

We entered the warehouse and found with surprise that there were two bird-shaped fighters parked inside. This was our first time observing these fighters from such a close distance. At the front of one of them, the motif of a blue cloud could be seen. Under the cloud was a delicate painting of over a dozen blue raindrops.

'These raindrops are probably the count of the enemies this plane had shot down in the past,' I thought.

"Canyue, from the arrangements here, these two units seem more like display units," said Zhang Bao'er.

"We'll take these two planes and pick up Zhang Xingxing and the rest before heading over to help King Xido and Duke Yidon. Perhaps we can earn some merit that way," I said.

"This is too exciting. I can't hold myself back anymore. Let's name this operation!" said Zhang Bao'er.

I looked at the blue clouds on the fighters and said, "Operation Blue Storm."

"Blue Storm? Not bad at all. Let's get to it!" said Zhang Bao'er in excitement.

"Canyue, we have never flown these planes before. Are you confident you can fly them?" asked Dondon.

"We can't afford to think too much. Try starting them first. Go," I said.

The cockpit door wasn't shut, so Zhang Bao'er and I climbed into our respective fighters. I was faced directly with a complicated dashboard resembling what one could find in Blue's early fighter models.

"Brother, do you know how to fly?" asked Domo, sitting behind me.

"Not really. This is my first time trying to fly a plane like this," I replied.

At this time, explosions sounded from around the warehouse. The imperial fighter drones were starting to bombard the airport.

"Find the power switch immediately and take off. We're basically practice targets parked here," I shouted at Zhang Bao'er.

"Dondon is already studying the plane. This plane might be an antique and something you normally find in museums," said Zhang Bao'er.

I finally noticed that there seemed to be a switch below the dashboard, but there were actually two buttons to it. One was blue, and one was red.

"Blue or red to start the plane?" I asked Dondon.

"I'm trying to figure this out as well. I checked the corresponding circuit. According to my analysis, both buttons need to be pressed. One will start the engine while the other will start the communication system," said Dondon.

Suddenly, a bomb blasted through the warehouse roof, collapsing a corner of the building. Things were getting urgent, so we did not have time to think. I immediately pressed the two buttons at the same time. The screen on the dashboard lit up as the engine roared alive.

"Canyue, these planes are maintained very well. The control stick right in front of the dashboard is probably used for controlling vertical movements. I believe the plane can take off without needing to pick up speed," said Dondon.

The plane's engine roared as the plane started shaking lightly. As the engine grew louder, the plane started hovering from the ground.

"Dondon, I'm already hovering. We need to leave immediately. Prepare to rush out," I said.

"Let's go," said Dondon.

With a push of the control stick, the front of the fighter rose up and shot through the ceiling into the sky. Outside, numerous fighter drones were roaming around. When they saw the fighters piloted by me and Dondon, dozens of them immediately flew toward us.

"Dondon, where's the shield switch?" I asked through the communicator.

"I don't know. I'm still looking," answered Dondon.

A red beam shot toward me. I reacted instinctively and slanted the fighter to the side, avoiding the attack. Immediately after, three more beams came for me. The angles they came from seemed to leave no opening for us to escape.

"Careful, Canyue! We're going to die!" Domo exclaimed in fear.

In a moment of desperation, I turned off the engine. At that moment, the design of the bird-shaped fighter displayed its superiority. Even with the engine off, the fighter was still gliding smoothly due to the fighter's streamlined design. Without the engine, the fighter glided toward the ground, moving just enough to avoid all three beams.

"That was too close. I nearly lost my life there," said Domo as he heaved a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, Dondon wasn't having a good time either. He was frantically evading the numerous attacks.

"Dondon, have you found the shield system? If this continues, we won't be able to last long!" I said anxiously.

"It's over," Domo exclaimed in despair.

I looked up and saw dozens of red beams coming from all directions above us. At that moment, we were less than 20 meters above the ground. We could no longer afford to keep dropping. Out of choices, I turned my morph-capable shield to maximum capacity and included the fighter before charging toward the red beams.

All the beams were diverted by the shield. I saw that my energy supply had dropped by 20 percent from that one collision. Fortunately, my fighter was able to emerge unscratched and escape the encirclement.

I looked back at Dondon's fighter and saw that he was being attacked by dozens of fighter drones. The red beams struck his fighter, but they were absorbed by a green shield around the fighter before rippling into nothingness.

"Dondon, how did you turn on the shield?" I asked.

"I didn't find it, but this fighter comes with its own automatic shield. This shield is very strong. It can take on one beam with only one percent of the fighter's energy," said Dondon.

Upon hearing Dondon's words, I immediately turned off my personal shield.

"Odd. With these shields, why are the other bird-shaped fighters defeated so quickly?" I wondered.

"I don't think that the fighters we stole are antiques, with all things considered. Perhaps they are actually new models," said Dondon.

While we spoke, the fighter drones continued shooting laser beams at us. Our green shields were practically turned red by the intensity of the attacks.

"Canyue, there is a green button on the back control stick. It's probably a firing button. We can't keep defending. Time to counterattack," said Zhang Bao'er.

I was still hesitating when a guided missile struck my fighter. A blinding red explosion erupted, and five percent of the fighter's energy was drained from the attack.

"Dondon, watch out for the guided missiles! They are very powerful! Hit back with all you have!" I roared.

Our fighters charged forth and unleashed two different attacks. The front of our fighters unleashed green laser beams while the back unleashed a series of yellow tracer projectiles. The attacks impacted the fighter drones ferociously, but shields shimmered into existence to protect them.

Next, an astonishing scene appeared. As the imperial shield met the green beam, a red opening appeared. The red opening continued to spread and devour the energy shield. Before long, the shield completely collapsed.

A second attack then arrived and struck down the shieldless fighter drone. At the same time, Zhang Bao'er was also furiously attacking. Before long, over a dozen fighter drones dropped from the sky while billowing with black smoke.

"Canyue, these fighters are amazing! Let's beat them back!" Zhang Bao'er shouted.

"Don't get too hot-headed. There are over ten thousand fighter drones here. Fight while retreating to the prince's palace. We need to help Zhang Xingxing and the others," I said.

"Roger. Maintaining trajectory to the palace," said Dondon.

We thus began retreating while occasionally striking back. The imperial fighter drones attacked relentlessly, bombarding our shields with laser beams and guided missiles. In the process, the incredible firepower of our fighters managed to strike down dozens of the imperial fighter drones. The large casualties finally attracted the attention of a Milky Way–class battleship. It turned around and flew toward us.