Chapter 38: Flying a Fighter Jet to Buy Vegetables!

On the other end of the headset, the voice of the J-10 pilot “Little Chicken” sounded almost like a chicken with its throat squeezed, huffing several times before calming down: “What a monstrous physique! I just blacked out twice, and you didn’t experience it even once. It seems that the A+ rating in your physical fitness report is an understatement. If you managed to pull off a blackout maneuver in close combat, who could still be your opponent? You should become an astronaut! Tsk tsk tsk! It’s so enviable!”

“What’s this? Child’s play! The word ‘Blackout’ doesn’t exist in my dictionary,” Lin Mo joked lightly, catching the J-10 pilot off guard.

The scissors roll maneuver in Lin Mo’s original world had a terrifying name: "Vortex Strangle." The maneuvers of the Dragon Knight were even more intense, and because the ride was a Giant Dragon, the "Vortex Strangle" was exceptionally fierce and terrible, especially as it was a collision-style vortex strangle. This was not comparable to a scissors roll maneuver. When a dragon executed such an attack, it often shredded its enemies to pieces, so it demanded a high degree of physical fitness from the Dragon Knights. However, Lin Mo felt no discomfort executing the significantly weakened “Vortex Strangle” movements with the fighter jet.

Blackout was a term far removed from the life of a Dragon Knight.

“Morin!” Suddenly, the metal coin tucked in Lin Mo’s pocket stirred, nearly startling him into shutting off the helmet microphone, leaving only the headset function on as the long-silent soul contract of the Dragon Knight began to resonate again.

“Hey, hey! Gold Coin, don’t move around! I’m flying here, and it’s a tight space. If you keep moving, I might actually crash!” Lin Mo felt the pressure suit pocket expand slowly and quickly shouted in his mind. It was incredibly untimely for Gold Coin to wake up.

“Morin, what are you doing? I can’t see anything?” The expansion in the pocket halted with Gold Coin switching to the soul channel, sounding muffled.

“You’re in my pocket, so behave!” Lin Mo multitasked, piloting the L-15 Falcon advanced trainer while returning to the base with the J-10, saying, “I’m flying this world’s aircraft, practicing flying skills. People usually call it a plane. It’s a bit like an alchemical construct but doesn’t require magic crystal energy. Its downside is that it’s a bit fragile, but the benefit is its low manufacturing cost and high production rate. Without weapons, it’s just a pretty decent toy. By the way, this aircraft shares a name with you; it’s called Gold Coin. Also, just to clarify, I’m called Lin Mo now, not Morin.”

“Oh! Got it, Lin Mo!” Gold Coin’s voice rang out in Lin Mo’s mind, sounding exceptionally deep, but it didn’t say anything more, causing the pocket to shrink back down, seeming to revert to its original state.

“What’s with the silence?” Lin Mo waited for a while but didn’t hear Gold Coin speak again. He had thought Gold Coin would be furious and accuse him of having ulterior motives upon hearing that the plane shared its name, but instead, Gold Coin only lightly acknowledged it and remained quiet.

In Lin Mo’s understanding, the ferocious, bloodthirsty gold giant dragon, known as a born butcher of the battlefield, shouldn’t have such a temperament. Had its nature changed? He couldn’t help but inquire, “Gold Coin, what’s wrong?”

“I’m fine!” Gold Coin’s voice seemed unusually low. “I just want to be quiet!”

No matter how much Lin Mo called out, Gold Coin didn’t say a word until they returned to the base airport with the L-15 Falcon.

Lin Mo wondered what kind of blow Gold Coin had suffered that caused such a change in temperament as if it had turned into a different dragon. After landing, he found a pile of scrap metal and threw a large batch to Gold Coin, who eagerly consumed tons of metal but still resumed its egg shape, now having a bit more luster on its surface. However, Lin Mo knew it had basically recovered.

He didn’t dare give too much metal at once. Even though the scrap metal area was vast and held a large inventory, suddenly losing a big chunk would definitely raise eyebrows. He could only feed it a bit today and a bit tomorrow, even emptying out some to make it look less visible. Ever since Gold Coin unexpectedly returned to Lin Mo, it no longer yelled for bloodshed nor wanted to leave, almost as if it had become attached to him. Lin Mo couldn’t do anything about it. Fortunately, feeding Gold Coin scrap metal wasn’t a difficult task; he just treated it like a pet instead of a mount.

After much effort, Lin Mo finally managed to pry open Gold Coin’s mouth. Unfortunately, just after leaving the base one night, Gold Coin was overly elated, dangerously flying to a higher altitude. Right after, surface-to-air missiles launched fiery tails at it from out of nowhere. After enduring two or three mysterious explosions, fighter jets arrived without saying a word. Relying on their speed and ferocity, the two jets circled around Gold Coin, indiscriminately firing air-to-air missiles. The gold giant dragon was left in a pitiful state, nearly getting blown to pieces in midair. Gold Coin initially thought to fight back, but didn’t realize that the battle systems of the two worlds were entirely different; they never intended to engage in close combat. The missiles were locked onto it with deadly precision. No matter how arrogant Gold Coin was, it couldn’t withstand such a two-on-one beatdown. On top of that, supersonic air-to-air missiles flew in from seemingly nowhere, leaving it with no chance to evade. Gold Coin’s furious roars were drowned out by the roaring jet engines and the explosions of the missiles.

Fortunately, the dragon race had robust bodies. Gold Coin, risking everything, allegedly ran tumultuously in the skies and ultimately listened to Lin Mo, flying low and skimming the ground to dive into a radar blind spot, narrowly escaping disaster.

After a few chaotic days of flying around like a headless fly and taking multiple beatings, the gold giant dragon finally realized that it no longer resided in its original world. Lin Mo hadn’t been deceiving it; this was an entirely different, unfamiliar civilization. The worst part was that it wasn’t even among the highest powers in this world. The people here had countless ways to easily kill it. Recklessly flying around in the sky could easily cost it its life. With only the faintest resonance left from its basic soul contract with Lin Mo, it spent several days hiding, finally making its way back to find him.

Gold Coin had indeed been unfortunate. Although China did not have absolute military control over land and sea, it certainly kept a vigilant watch over its airspace. That nerve had been taut since the very beginning. When such a massive unidentified flying object suddenly appeared on radar, it surely terrified many people. After the first surface-to-air missile was launched, at least five more followed in a single night. Ultimately, the launched fighter jets were given the rare extermination orders of “do or die.” The subsequent ground searches were even more intense, with alert army and militia units on standby, maintaining a tense atmosphere for quite some time.

The gold giant dragon, having almost lost its life, no longer dared to leave Lin Mo’s side. This world was far too terrifying for it.

“Alright then, Gold Coin, you can stay with me for a while!” Lin Mo played with the metal coin, the embodiment of the gold giant dragon’s heart. This creature no longer posed him any threat. Being an old companion from another world who had come out to struggle alongside him, he could only adopt it. Deep down, Lin Mo secretly rejoiced, having finally tamed this unruly creature. It hadn’t been easy. No wonder this world had a saying: “The tough fist rules; even the most stubborn will become docile after a few beatings.”

If Lin Mo were to demand that Gold Coin fulfill the duties of a Dragon Knight at that moment, Gold Coin likely wouldn’t resist or oppose at all, but that opportunity had come too late.

Only when a Dragon Knight possessed a dragon companion that understood him, trusted him, and obeyed him could he truly be considered a Dragon Knight.

“Lin Mo! Tomorrow, Commander Jiang from the military region is coming down. The base cafeteria doesn’t have much good food, so you need to go to Dalian and bring back some fresh seafood. We need to treat Commander Jiang well since he’s here for a rare visit.” Colonel Jiang Renbin, the flight squadron leader, found Lin Mo, who had just woken up and was about to head out to the cafeteria for breakfast.

“Oh, I’ll get ready!” Lin Mo said, turning around, wondering why the squadron leader would arrange for him to go to Dalian on a business trip.

“Getting ready for what?!” Colonel Jiang stopped Lin Mo, who had turned halfway around, and continued, “Eat breakfast well, and take the J-10! I’ve already made arrangements at the Dalian base. The earlier you go and return, the better; you can be back by lunchtime.”

“What the heck! Flying a fighter jet to buy vegetables?!” Lin Mo’s jaw nearly dropped. While he had heard of rich families having their maids buy groceries in luxury cars, he never imagined flying a fighter jet to buy vegetables. Even in Lin Mo’s original world, it would be unthinkable for a Dragon Knight to buy groceries in such a manner—not even an emperor would have that privilege.

“Hurry and go! This is an order. Don’t mess it up! It’s just a change of location flying; you can do it with the tower’s help!” Colonel Jiang’s tone indicated that he had done this many times before. He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Lin Mo. “Here, this is the menu; buy according to what’s listed. After that, go to the finance office and ask Xiao Zhang for the money.”

“Understood! I’ll complete the task!” Lin Mo immediately stood at attention and saluted. He had never flown a relocation before; the furthest he had flown was just three hundred kilometers from the base. Although he had some experience in civil aviation, he felt a bit nervous.