Chapter 744: The Wasteful Knight That Even Dragons Fear

The helicopter landing area of Guangzhou Military Region General Hospital welcomed an unusual guest.

A dark green military transport helicopter slowly descended.

After picking up Professor Yan Guoqiang, who had completed his discharge procedures, along with some of his family members who came to assist him, the helicopter took off again.

The hospital leaders were astonished, wondering who Professor Yan was to receive such VIP treatment.

How could he enjoy private transport? Among the medical personnel present, they noticed some familiar faces; these were top experts in the industry!

They heard that he was being sent to one of the finest rehabilitation centers in the country for specialized medical care and rehabilitation.

Even the top aviation experts in the country wouldn’t receive such treatment.

This was the result of a financial power play.

The local military’s aviation unit was more than willing to accept this lucrative deal; they had no way to refuse Lin Mo’s offered price.

This man treated money as if it were nothing; to achieve his goals, he was willing to spend lavishly.

When a Dragon Knight falls from grace, even giants fear him.

Of course, Lin Mo was also considered an insider within the system, which was a significant reason; otherwise, it wouldn’t be so easy to sway the military with money.

However, Lin Mo did not accompany his three senior brothers to send Professor Yan onto the helicopter. Instead, two hours before the helicopter’s arrival, he unexpectedly received a transfer order from the local garrison.

After reading the document, the officer who delivered the order took Lin Mo away in a special vehicle.

When Lin Mo arrived at the airport, he saw his X-8 “Monstrous” being towed to the parking area, along with a fuel truck and two armed transport vehicles waiting nearby.

Without Lin Mo’s start-up password and ignition key, they couldn’t access the fuel tank or the built-in weapon bay, so they could only wait for his arrival.

Lin Mo took out the remote control key, pressed it twice, and, under the surprised gaze of the ground crew, the cockpit cover of the X-8 “Monstrous” slowly lifted. After pressing two more times, the fuel tank cover and weapon bay opened sequentially.

Is this a fighter jet? It looks just like a private car.

This was purely Lin Mo’s personal habit; whether it was the original J-10 or the currently used J-18, even the J-15 fighter aircraft’s operating system used for the carrier fleet still retained these driving modules.

When the carrier-based aircraft pilots discovered that they could activate their fighter jets remotely, they would surely be so shocked that their helmets would fall to their feet.

The order document had coded messages and special encoding that only Lin Mo, belonging to “Night,” could understand. The document passed to him was merely part of the order, instructing him to arrive in a specified airspace at a certain time to await further instructions.

This was also a form of confidentiality, very effective; even if leaked, the enemy wouldn’t get the complete information.

The armed vehicle was loaded with four PL-13 long-range air-to-air missiles, along with two special weapons that Lin Mo quickly recognized as a high-energy laser cannon and a Gauss electromagnetic cannon.

Ordinary fighter jets could only mount weapons beneath their belly, but the X-8 “Monstrous,” with its rotary mounting system, allowed for easy switching between equipment without affecting aerodynamic properties or stealth capabilities.

The entire set of weapons seemed specifically designed to target high-speed objectives.

What is this for? This was Lin Mo’s first time being equipped with such luxurious weaponry.

Could there be advanced foreign fighter jets sneaking into the country that required his intervention? Was there even time for that?

Were they going to take on America’s high-altitude, high-speed strategic reconnaissance aircraft? Perhaps the military was tired of the SR-91 Aurora buzzing around China’s skies like a fly and had decided to give the Americans a real show.

Lin Mo thought back to when he test-flew the X-1 at the National Defense Star; he recalled spotting the American reconnaissance aircraft cruising by at seven times the speed of sound.

But that didn’t concern Lin Mo. As a soldier, all he had to do was follow orders. The country would take care of him.

“‘Monstrous’ is ready!”

The "Dragon General" automatically completed the data link with “Monstrous.” The national general system standards and battlefield data connection standards allowed Lin Mo to easily share data between his tactical armor and any third-generation or higher fighter aircraft, even linking with ground main battle tanks and self-propelled artillery systems.

“Takeoff allowed; runway one is ready.”

The airport control tower forwarded the weather data, which refreshed in rows on the visor of the “Dragon General” tactical helmet.

The X-8 “Monstrous” swiftly raced down the runway, its twin exhausts emitting a light blue tail flame. In less than 200 meters, the tremendous roar of its power propelled the fighter jet into the sky.

The F119-PW-100 dual-rotor afterburning turbofan vector thrust engine showcased better performance on the X-8 “Monstrous” than on the F-22 “Raptor.” The excellent aerodynamic design ensured that every ounce of the engine’s capability was maximized.

After navigating through a turbulent area, the X-8 “Monstrous” climbed to about 18,000 meters and began entering supersonic cruising speed.

At a ground radar unit, a radar monitoring vehicle detected a light spot that suddenly appeared on the radar, moving at an astonishing speed.

5 Mach? A ballistic missile?

Radar operator Wei Shidou shouted, pointing at the radar screen, “Squad leader, squad leader, there’s a missile!”

“What? A missile? Shidou, is there a record?”

Squad leader Cen Lunliang urgently rushed over from beside the radar vehicles, which had fishbone or pot lid antennas spinning around. Each radar vehicle was a squadron, and several vehicles linked through fiber optics formed a highly efficient air defense reconnaissance platform.

Nearby, a surface-to-air missile vehicle stood ready with eight missiles. If anti-radiation missiles or enemy aircraft came, they could easily respond.

Their squad leader often shifted these radar vehicles around based on orders to monitor the airspace. The base location felt temporary to him, as he saw his family only a few times a year, continuously moving between several temporary stations in the monitored area.

Domestic missile launches occasionally happened, but most were exercises and training. What Wei Shidou focused on, staring at the radar screen, was a new recruit who had just joined his squad under a year ago. He was surprised that an incident occurred just minutes after he left.

“No, no, there’s no record!”

Wei Shidou opened the note files, finding no record of a missile launch.

“I’m coming right away! Goodness, are we going to war?” Squad leader Cen burst into the cabin like a gust of wind; this was a significant event, and there was no time to waste.

However, as he looked at the radar screen, he suddenly froze.

“Squad leader? What should we do? Notify the missile unit to intercept? Ouch! Squad leader, why did you hit me?” Thinking he was following the proper procedure, radar operator Wei Shidou felt proud, only to receive a swift whack on the head from the squad leader, who had his hands on his head, shouting.

“Hit you? Hitting you is the least of your worries.” Cen Lunliang glared at him, and another thump landed, “That’s a fighter jet, not a missile. Do you want to shoot down our own fighter? I’ve told you countless times that the numbers for fighter jets and missiles, along with unidentified flying objects, are different in the first segment. How could you make that mistake again?”

“Ah, a fighter jet? But look at its speed, 5 Mach; isn’t that a missile? I set the alert conditions for 3 Mach, and the opponent exceeded 2 Mach. Can a fighter jet fly that fast?”

Radar operator Wei Shidou held his head, feeling wronged. Perhaps the system had malfunctioned; anyone knew hackers existed in this world. Why couldn’t the squad leader understand?

The light spot on the radar moved frighteningly fast, making the speeds of other fighters and civilian aircraft seem slow by comparison.

“Who said there’s nothing? Fighter jet recognition numbers can’t be faked! The numbers are allocated manually by the Air Traffic Control Bureau; if it didn’t have a number, it would have been shot down long ago. How could it still be flying near us?”

Squad leader Cen felt frustrated; they were inland and should have been alerted long before any issues arose. The country’s air defense always had multiple safeguards to prevent accidents.

While radar systems could set conditions to assist operators in providing early warnings, no advanced system could replace human judgment. In case of an unexpected situation, if they remained rigidly by the book, it would lead to serious trouble.

“So what should we do?!”

Wei Shidou had already received two thumps and dared not misreport again, relying on the squad leader’s decision.

“Contact the Air Traffic Control Bureau to confirm the authenticity of the numbers, and check the departure location. I’ll have Xiao Yu help you.” Cen Lunliang quickly clicked on the control panel, focusing on the high-speed moving light spot.

For Lin Mo, suddenly detecting radar signals and missile target signals from the ground was something he was used to. He activated the identification transmission signals; even in stealth mode, the fighter jet could still be recognized by ground radars and satellites in space. While this reduced its stealth performance, it was much better than leaving his own people in the dark.

“‘Dragon Knight’ is in position! Takeoff preparations complete!”

Lin Mo piloted the X-8 “Monstrous” to the designated coordinates and altitude, starting to contact the specified communication channel.

“This is ‘South China Tiger’ warning aircraft. Please adjust altitude to 27,000 meters and prepare to activate the PL-13. Maintain communication with the nose of the aircraft, east 15 degrees 25 minutes 07 seconds, and try to hold that position.” A woman’s voice came through the channel after confirming the communication codes and passwords.