Chapter 748: The Old Hen Turns into a Duck

Outside the cockpit of the X-8 "Monstrous," everything spun wildly, and the aircraft’s control was completely chaotic, as if caught in some sort of random Brownian motion.

In the face of the meteor’s immense impact, Lin Mo and his fighter’s power seemed almost negligible.

Against the terrifying air waves and shockwaves stirred by the meteor, the X-8 "Monstrous," with its forward-swept wings, appeared as fragile as a tiny boat struggling in a raging sea.

This situation was incredibly dangerous for other types of fighter jets, but for Lin Mo, who knew every screw of the "Monstrous," he remained calm. This confidence stemmed from his mastery of the high-performance fighter jet that could best showcase his air combat skills.

Performing recovery maneuvers was far more complicated than recovering from a spin. Lin Mo continuously turned various control buttons on and off, quickly executing recovery programming while constantly issuing voice commands that the Dragon General tactical helmet translated to control multiple functional modules of the "Monstrous."

If he were in a J-10 or F-22, he would have likely been torn apart by terrifying G-forces from multiple directions, ripping the aircraft into countless fragments.

Throttle up!

Deflect the vector nozzle!

Increase the main engine output!

Coordinate the auxiliary pulse detonation engine asynchronously.

The onboard computer quickly compensated for dynamic balance.

However, the "Monstrous" had four engine nozzle components, making both vector thrust and power compensation second nature for Lin Mo. In less than three seconds, the X-8 "Monstrous" performed several bizarre compensatory maneuvers in the sky, regaining stability.

At the instant he stabilized, the nose of the aircraft pointed directly at the asteroid fragment that had plunged toward the ground, and a red beam of light shot forth from its belly.

Even the bravest tiger cannot withstand a pack of wolves. After enduring repeated strikes from five advanced fighter jets’ PL-13 missiles, the asteroid fragment’s kinetic energy diminished significantly.

The meteor resembled a heavily wounded interstellar warship, dragging a terrifying trail of smoke as it skimmed across the sky, still in supersonic mode. It took quite a while for the thunderous roar to reach after it had passed.

The lower it went, the thicker and more viscous the air became, increasing friction and drag, causing more intense combustion. The flames momentarily outshone the smoke, and its speed was no longer the astonishing 55 Mach it had when it first entered the atmosphere.

A beam of laser energy pursued it from behind, gripping tightly for several seconds, and the meteor could no longer maintain its original shape. Thick smoke could not impede the high-energy beam’s locking mechanism at such a close range and low loss. It shattered midair into six larger pieces and several smaller fragments, which instantly vaporized in the atmosphere, disappearing.

Not only the X-8 "Monstrous" was firing; at the same time, four brilliant red laser beams converged from multiple directions, striking directly at the target.

The laser cannon was not solely mounted on the X-8 "Monstrous." Other fighter jets also boasted powerful capabilities, fully leveraging their interception combat abilities.

The Su-35 "Super Guardian" and the J-20 "Mighty Dragon," equipped with laser cannons beneath their belly, also had onboard weapon bays similar to the "Monstrous," utilizing drum-style mounting systems that released laser beams sustaining for three seconds.

Meanwhile, the H-10 "Killer," the lowest flying supersonic stealth bomber, unleashed air-to-air missiles as if launching fireworks, deploying its 2.5-ton payload with abandon. Missile after missile took flight.

At this moment, just under 20,000 meters from the ground, all fighter jets unleashed their full attacking power without reservation.

With the assistance of a large warning aircraft, the five fighter jets chased the meteor easily.

All calibration and locking tasks could be entrusted to the AWACS-2000, which used the simplest matrix-style algorithm to lock onto every threatening fragment as a target. The laser beams and missiles would automatically follow suit to deliver powerful attacks.

What the pilots needed to do was simply wait for the onboard operating system to complete the locking, and then select the right moment to fire.

At an altitude of less than 10,000 meters, the asteroid fragment’s flight path was not purely vertical; its largest part veered off its original trajectory, with the remaining mass reduced to less than a meter in diameter, completely engulfed in flames.

The tactical advantage of concentrated fire and multi-point interception achieved its desired results entirely.

"Well done! Let’s fire again—let’s take it down!"

The Su-35 "Super Guardian" and J-20 "Mighty Dragon" engines roared with powerful propulsion as they relentlessly chased the meteor from behind. At this point, missiles were futile; the only option left was their laser weapons mounted beneath them, which, even if they did not shatter the target, could at least hasten combustion.

Once the fighter jets initiated an attack, the outcome was a fight to the death. The pilots of the five fighter jets viewed the meteor fragment, battered by several rounds of concentrated assault, as their enemy.

If any netizens could witness this scene, along with the audio of conversations between the fighter jets, they would undoubtedly exclaim that the Chinese military was shooting down an alien interstellar warship.

However, the civilians only see the domestic news media reporting that "China has conducted another land-based mid-course missile interception technology test" and similar stories.

In any case, none of the answers are true.

Suddenly, a shadow raced past the two Su-35 "Super Guardians," chasing after an asteroid fragment just 15 kilometers away from the military base.

"Left Defender, did you see that? There’s a new fighter jet coming in, and it is so fast!"

"That’s right, 5 Mach! Oh my goodness! What kind of aircraft is this? It’s as fast as a cruise missile!"

The two pilots of the Su-35 "Super Guardian" marveled at the fighter jet that had outpaced their dual aircraft team by a long distance.

"Haha, you two idiots, that’s not a new aircraft, that’s a ‘Dragon Knight’!"

A pilot from the distant J-20 "Mighty Dragon," who was part of the pursuing formation, widened his eyes as he stared at the fighter jet that was faster than a missile. Another high-energy laser beam shot out from its belly, striking the asteroid fragment ahead. It erupted in a sudden explosion, breaking into countless fragments.

There is still energy?!

The other side’s power reserves far exceeded their expectations. Did they have backup batteries?

The diameter and volume of the fragment could no longer withstand the attack of a high-energy laser. The massive energy completely destroyed its internal structure, causing it to disintegrate due to air friction.

The threat posed by the 300-meter diameter asteroid fragment was completely eliminated, and everyone let out a long sigh of relief after the intense interception had kept them on edge.

"Center Forward, what do you mean? You must be seeing things. The ‘Dragon Knight’ is a forward-swept wing fighter, but the one in front of us has swept-back wings!"

"That’s right, it has swept-back wings. This is a big difference. I mean, Center Forward, how could you confuse forward-swept with swept-back? This is a basic knowledge issue."

The Su-35 "Super Guardian" formation thought that the J-20 "Mighty Dragon" pilot, Center Forward, was just joking with them after completing their mission. They believed that confusing forward-swept wings with swept-back wings was as absurd as saying that an Old Hen could turn into a duck; they were materialists.

"That really is a ‘Dragon Knight.’ I’m not lying to you; I saw it change to swept-back wings with my own eyes! Look, its wings are changing again, it’s changing!"

Hearing Center Forward’s shout through the headset, the two pilots in the cockpit of the Su-35 "Super Guardian" pushed the throttle to close the distance, glancing over curiously. They exchanged surprised looks.

"It’s variable wings! How is that possible?"

"It really has turned into forward-swept wings! Is this a Transformer?"

The forward-swept wings were already an astonishing aerodynamic design, and if there were a mechanism to switch between forward-swept and swept-back wings, it would be even more shocking.

From the pilots’ perspectives, the other three pilots of the supersonic fighter jets could barely make out the bizarre changes happening to the wings of the fighter jet ahead.

How could this be described as anything other than "magical"?

Yet, one human and one dragon were not concerned about the shock their aircraft brought to the fighters behind them. Instead, they swiftly pursued the disintegrating asteroid fragments, continuing to decelerate and lower altitude.

“Morin, Morin, catch up and take a look; I want the fragments!”

Seeing the asteroid fragments completely blasted apart, the gold giant dragon remained relentless, urgently calling to chase after the small pieces that had not completely burned up as they fell to the ground.

The fragments, having lost speed, experienced much less air friction, possibly leaving behind some debris.

However, having tasted success several times, the gold giant dragon had long perceived the meteor as a treasure chest. It had become somewhat of a gambler, thinking maybe it could strike a big prize.

After completing the mission, Lin Mo could only step back, allowing the giant dragon to roam freely for a moment. His hands had already released the control stick.

The infrared scanning device of the Dragon General effortlessly identified the landing sites of the meteor fragments, with the high-temperature thermal radiation standing out like a beacon in the night.

The meteor fragments drifted about ten kilometers from the military base, scattered across salt-sodden land within a radius of two kilometers. The largest piece that fell did not exceed 10 centimeters in diameter, creating a deep impact crater, with some residual flames and smoke still burning inside.

There was no need for equipment to scan; the landing locations could be identified just by sight.

Without a runway, vertical landing was as easy for the X-8 "Monstrous" as eating a meal.

After landing at one of the impact sites, Lin Mo jumped out of the cockpit and dug out the still extremely hot meteor fragment from the ground, while the gold giant dragon eagerly pounced on it.