Chapter 102: Section 102 - Dancing with Missiles
"This is really a rookie, 'Titan', what to do?"
The opponent had no response at all, with no intention of starting a fight, which made the wingman pilot "Cyclops" feel somewhat awkward about taking action.
Too inexperienced. There must be at least a hundred ways to easily shoot down the opponent.
"Forget it, let him go!"
But the flight leader of the "Zero Point" squadron, "Titan", was unmoved. With a brief aim, he immediately pulled the trigger of the cannon.
For such a rookie, it wasn't worth wasting a missile on him. A few shots and the aircraft would be bursting into flames, which could be seen as giving face.
In aerial combat, the first task upon spotting an enemy is to strike first. How could one dawdle like the adversary still oblivious to the danger?
Since such a mistake has been made, it's alright, not a big deal. Just remember to correct it in the next life.
Ratatat, a burst of tracer bullets shot out, quickly pouncing towards the approaching "Big Mouth Monster" turboprop aircraft.
The MiG-28's fire control radar has a detection range of 33 kilometers, providing shot ranging and lead angle calculation for the aircraft cannon.
The effective range of the 20mm caliber aircraft cannon is 2,000 meters, but its actual range is far beyond that.
The distance of 3,000 meters is reached in an instant.
The oncoming A-39B "Big Mouth Monster" lightweight turboprop attack aircraft slightly shakes its wings... unscathed.
The flight leader of the "Zero Point" squadron, "Titan": "..."
His wingman pilot "Cyclops": "..."
Chen Fei is delighted: "300 energy points, a bargain!"
Just then, as soon as the MiG aircraft began firing, several fine blue lines shot towards him, startling Chen Fei to reflexively maneuver the joystick, allowing the aircraft to dodge these unknown lines in the nick of time.
A second later, the shining tracer bullets followed these blue lines and whizzed past the "Big Mouth Monster", without touching even a hair.
Chen Fei finally realized that these abruptly appearing mysterious blue lines were predictive trajectories.
The functionality of the Basic Optical Observer Level 1, initially valued at 200 energy points, is truly unexpected.
The inexperienced Chen Fei instantly became bolder.
It's only right to return the favor.
You shoot at me, I shoot at you; what was once a bit of trepidation, now became brazen righteousness.
When he tried to lock onto the MiG aircraft, he heard the voice of the deputy squadron leader "Devil Pepper" Irinei Rusios in his ear.
"Rookie, aren't you going to run?"
According to the original combat plan, Chen Fei's 211 aircraft should have already been escaping, but the radar detection results shared from the battlefield data link nearly scared everyone witless.
The distance between the 211 aircraft and those two MiG-28s was even less than 3,000 meters. What on earth were these three fighter planes doing? Dancing the waltz?
This meant that the jet aircraft could knock Chen Fei's turboprop out of the sky even without firing, with little damage to themselves.
Luckily, the radar can't display information on aircraft cannon fire, otherwise it would be even more frightening.
A distance of 3,000 meters is just six or seven seconds for the oncoming parties.
The A-39B "Big Mouth Monster" light turboprop attack aircraft directly flew through the middle of the two MiG-28 jet fighter formation, with the three fighter aircraft crossing paths in an instant, allowing the pilots to clearly see each other's cockpits.
The "Zero Point" squadron's flight leader, "Titan," said something rare.
"This guy is really lucky!"
With a push on the joystick, the MiG aircraft began to turn.
This time, there would be no mercy.
But when the two MiG-28s completed their turn like a textbook maneuver, they discovered that the turboprop aircraft... had slipped away!
Σ(°△°|||)︴
And without even looking back at that.
What the hell!
___*( ̄皿 ̄)/#____
With a slight push on the joystick, Aircraft 211 began a full-speed dive, exchanging altitude for speed, and quickly broke 900+ km/h, surpassing the "Big Mouth Monster's" design speed.
However, no matter how fast a dive the turboprop aircraft attempts, it was inherently limited and could never break the sound barrier.
In the midst of firmly holding down the joystick, Chen Fei took the chance to glance around, but he saw nothing.
The Chekhov Big Bear's MiG aircraft and the other "Big Mouth Monsters" were all beyond visual range, even exceeding the Basic Optical Observer Level 2's zoom capability.
The other pilots who were acting as lures faced pressures and risks not much less than those of Chen Fei.
Seeing the icon representing Chen Fei on the electronic map speeding away, "Devil Pepper" Irinei Rusios continued to encourage, "Don't look back, full speed! Watch your altitude, don't hit the ground."
What she was most concerned about at this moment was Chen Fei plunging headlong in his dive and being unable to pull up in time when nearing the ground, ending up smacking into it.
That would be embarrassingly awkward.
Altitude 6200 meters!
System: Ding! Dance with the missile for a cumulative 60 seconds, with graceful posture, and gain +200 energy points.
This damned system responds really fast!
The new task doesn't even bother to mention the threat of death!
Actually, that makes sense. If the task fails, it's death, isn't it? No need for unnecessary words.
Life is brutally practical!
Before Chen Fei could even start to complain, a thick blue line shot from behind, piercing through the "Big Mouth Monster's" cockpit and slanting towards the ground.
What is this?
He stared blankly for a moment and then, panicked, finally realized
it was probably something even more terrible than the earlier aircraft guns.
Altitude 5500 meters!
Without even touching the throttle control stick, he took advantage of the dive's speed boost, pushed the stick sideways, and the world outside the cockpit spun wildly as he shook off the thick blue line.
A trail of white smoke passed where the "Big Mouth Monster" had just been, drawing a large arc as it chased after him once more.
It was a missile!!!
Chen Fei almost felt an urge to wet himself from fear, thankfully his quick reaction saved him, otherwise, he would have been blasted into a fireball.
Altitude 4800 meters!
The "Big Mouth Monster" passed through a thin layer of clouds.
The weather conditions in the night sky were good, and the sparse clouds couldn't provide enough cover.
The two chasing MiG-28s were relentless, their fire control radars stubbornly locked onto the "Big Mouth Monster" ahead, and the guidance system didn't stop.
The combat bomb, trailing flames, circled back around, the blue thick line jittering erratically in the sky in front of him.
All Chen Fei could do was keep his 211 as far away from the predictive trajectory as possible.
This blue thick line was actually the weapon envelope line of the missile.
The A-39B "Big Mouth Monster" turboprop attack aircraft swayed left and right in the night sky, taking full advantage of the turboprop's maneuverability, which even the MiG aircraft couldn't match, once again rendering the combat bomb's attacks ineffective.
This missile had used up all its chances, and as its propulsion fuel ran out, the missile body activated its own self-destruct before losing momentum, exploding into a noticeable fireball in the night sky.
The "Cyclops," who had been closely following his squadron leader, couldn't help but express his amazement: "This guy is so damn lucky."
The previous round of aircraft guns had missed, and that was fine; it was all about probability after all.
The deterrent effect of the aircraft guns mattered more than their actual combat value, but the combat missile that should have hit its target had missed, which was truly baffling.
Supposedly a mere rookie, but as he had just seen, not even a veteran would dare say they could evade missiles with such nonchalance time after time.
"No! We underestimated him!"
The squadron leader "Titan" of the "Zero Point" squadron was the first to admit his mistake.
Indeed, he had been mistaken.
The enemy's missile evasion move, though not a standard maneuver, was incredibly intelligent, always narrowly avoiding the missile's trajectory.
A missile that can't hit its target, no matter how advanced its performance or how powerful it is, is still not a qualified missile.
Grieved combat bomb: I'm not taking the blame for this!
Inside the cockpit, Chen Fei was panting heavily, his back soaked with cold sweat, he muttered to himself with lingering fear, "Damn it, I finally dodged it."
System: Ding! Dance with the missile for a cumulative 11 seconds/60 seconds, maintain elegance, gain Energy Points +200.
His face nearly turned green.
He had barely managed to dodge it with his life on the line, facing constant danger throughout.
If the missile had come a few meters closer, it could have triggered a proximity explosion, and 211 would be in immediate danger.
Playing computer games and fighting in real battles are two completely different things.
You can restart a game, but real battle costs actual lives, and there are no second chances.
"You've got to hang in there!"
"Devil Pepper" Irinei Rusios was truly worried for this rookie—it was too hard!
But 211 and the two MiG aircraft hadn't reached the optimal altitude yet, so she and 216 couldn't show up together just yet.
More blue thin lines came from behind, with even more quantity and density. Chen Fei quickly pushed the control stick sideways, and the tumbling and yawing "Big Mouth Monster" executed a series of maneuvers, just in time to dodge the deadly hail of bullets coming from behind.
The 20mm caliber rounds would have instantly shredded the fragile "Big Mouth Monster."
"This isn't luck, it's too weird!"
"Cyclops" had nearly emptied half his aircraft cannon ammunition, yet he didn't hit a single target, howling in frustration.
With two hundred standard rounds, having fired half of them, even with just a one percent chance, he should have hit the target by now.
Yet the enemy seemed to have divine protection, continuing to flee completely unharmed.
"We need to finish it off quickly, something is definitely off, squads report your status."
The squadron leader "Titan" of the "Zero Point" squadron sensed something unusual.
"'Eagle' Squadron reporting, the enemy target is too cunning, we're still figuring it out."
"'Wolf' Squadron reporting, 'White Bay' has been taken down, 'Peanut Butter' is an expert, and I won't let him go."
"'Tiger' Squadron reporting, we've wounded the target, we can bring it down in no more than five minutes."
The "Genuine Fragrance" Combat Flight Squadron from the Aircrew Base were indeed the targets of the "Zero Point" Squadron's mission this time around, and splitting forces for the planned operation wasn't reckless.
Despite having a strong hand, the play was a bit unexpected.
Altitude 3200 meters, the ground elevation was starting to clear up, with the vast mountains seeming almost within reach.
"It's time! Rookie, we'll be there in three minutes!"
"Devil Pepper" Irinei Rusios, who had been circling nearby, waiting for an opportunity, pulled her control stick, and the 212 cruising at low speed in a canyon soared into the sky.
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