Chapter 640

Chapter 640: Disruption

The AN-12 transport plane, which was flying smoothly, suddenly shook violently. The roar of jets outside the cabin echoed like thunder, causing a stir among the passengers.

Most of the passengers relied on the aviation industry for a living and were very familiar with the dangers of air disasters. Falling from a height of a few hundred meters, let alone a few thousand, would certainly mean almost no chance of survival.

The flight attendants turned pale, shrieking in fear. They were merely well-trained recruits, not real flight attendants. Even seasoned attendants would likely not know how to respond to the threat posed by fighter jets.

“What’s happening?”

Burke Evila, somewhat taken aback, did not scream like the others. He appeared more composed, glancing around to see a shadow flash by outside the cabin, as if something flew past nearby.

Arms dealing, akin to the drug trade, was a dangerously high-risk business.

Though ammunition salespeople earned high incomes, Burke Evila, with over a decade in this field, had faced life-and-death situations many times and was used to danger. Yet, he still felt nervous now, with his heart pounding and adrenaline rapidly surging.

Feeling as if his life was on a countdown, the discomfort of being in danger was overwhelming. The fear lay not in what was known, but in the unknown; he had no idea what kind of aircraft was threatening their AN-12, nor whether they would plunge into an endless abyss in the next moment.

“We’re in trouble!”

Lin Mo’s sharp gaze spotted two F-15s circling around the AN-12 with unclear intentions.

These guys weren’t done with them yet, just like pesky flies.

“F-15? Who are they? Americans?”

Burke Evila finally recognized the aircraft’s model, exclaiming in shock.

“Damn Americans, what do they want?”

Other passengers in the cabin also recognized the troublemakers outside—two sneaky F-15 Eagles circling the AN-12. The strong updraft caused by the twin F100-PW-229 turbofan engines severely disturbed the flight of the AN-12 transport plane.

With the AN-12’s maximum speed of 777 kilometers per hour, it was utterly impossible to shake off these ill-intentioned F-15s.

Lin Mo could even hear the pilots in the cockpit shouting and warning each other.

“They’re trying to attack us! Those bastards, don’t they fear the consequences from the organizers? I’m going to report them!”

A big-bellied passenger furiously pulled out his phone, suddenly erupting in a rant: “Electronic jamming, bastard! What’s going on?”

“No signal, the phone’s been jammed.”

“These guys should go to hell!”

“My phone is useless; does anyone have a high-resistance military phone? I’ll pay a thousand dollars for just one minute.”

“I’ll offer ten thousand dollars!”

Other passengers, also affected by the signal interference, joined in with angry shouts.

Although the AN-12 did not enforce a strict rule on passengers to turn off their communication devices, the built-in AN/ALQ-135 electronic countermeasure system in the F-15 made civilian phones ineffective against it. Without exception, their screens showed no signal, and they could hear obvious electromagnetic noise when brought to their ears.

This was it!

They were doomed!

They hadn’t bought enough personal accident insurance!

Many passengers turned pale, feeling utterly helpless.

The shaking of the AN-12 intensified, as if it might lose control and fall from the sky at any moment.

A massive sonic boom blasted past the surface of the AN-12 transport plane, its supersonic sonic boom cloud possessing terrifying destructive power at such close range. Many countries had even enacted laws to prohibit fighter jets from breaking the sound barrier near crowds.

Although the cabin’s partition was well-built, it could hardly dampen the intensity of such high-decibel noise, leaving the passengers feeling dizzy.

The 4A×AI-20M turboprop engines faced repeated interference from the two F-15s, gradually becoming overwhelmed and losing altitude.

Lin Mo heightened the alertness of the Gold Coin to detect the metal components of offensive weapons. If the two F-15s attempted an attack, the gold giant dragon would immediately take him out of the cabin, helping him escape from danger.

As for others, he couldn’t care less; the Dragon Knight wasn’t Avalokiteshvara here to rescue everyone, especially not those who had nothing to do with him.

The two F-15s didn’t lock onto the AN-12 and open fire, instead opting for harassment. This sort of encounter often occurred in national airspace, and the Chinese pilots were well-acquainted with such soft resistance.

These guys still wouldn’t give up.

As a seasoned pilot, Lin Mo quickly discerned the intentions of the two F-15s and the forces behind them.

Due to the interference from the two F-15s, the turbulent airflow turned the AN-12 into a roller coaster, bouncing increasingly violently as if it might roll over at any moment.

Unable to withstand the shaking, passengers inside the cabin began to vomit one after another, fortunately, each seat was equipped with a vomit bag; otherwise, the cabin would have turned into “hell” in an instant.

Although the air filtration system was working at full capacity, the cabin was still filled with a thick, lingering sour stench, intensified by the sealed space.

Lin Mo frowned but didn’t cover his nose; compared to the nauseating smell, the scent of food and valuables he scavenged from a garbage heap outside his little town during childhood was ten times worse.

People from another world had no waste sorting; garbage piled up outside towns would rot unattended. The awful odor, a result of countless bacteria and reactions built over the years, could even knock out a giant dragon.

Beside him, Burke Evila, the arms salesperson, turned pale, sweating profusely, trying his best not to vomit. For a salesperson, this was truly a loss of face and terribly rude.

As Burke Evila recalled Lin Mo’s earlier words, he battled through his nausea, glancing at Lin Mo with an odd expression, sensing that the AN-12’s current peril was likely closely tied to this "Number 13" man.

What kind of trouble had this guy stirred up at the Tal Shegheib air force base to provoke the opposition into risking harassment, unwilling to relent despite the threat of punishment from the “Abyss Nirvana” organizer?

If the AN-12 couldn’t withstand the assault and crashed, the F-15s would have ample reasons to shift the blame elsewhere, a truly malicious scheme.

To everyone’s surprise, the AN-12’s pilot maintained unexpected mental resilience, not panicking at all. Instead, he exerted himself to control the aircraft skillfully while continually seeking assistance from higher-ups. Perhaps the plane was equipped with special interference devices that allowed them to communicate with the outside.

Like monkeys, the agile F-15s toyed with the clumsy AN-12, which was infuriating.

Just as the cabin crew and passengers felt they might lose consciousness, the two F-15s suddenly seemed to notice something, hurriedly leaving the AN-12, ceasing their provocation and rapidly climbing to higher altitudes.

Without the harassment from the F-15s, the AN-12 quickly regained stability.

Cheers erupted in the cockpit as four jet fighters roared in from a distance, splitting into two pairs as they approached, climbing from two directions toward the two F-15s.

It felt like a sliver of hope; everyone in the cabin rushed to the windows to look outside, including the flight attendants, their curious eyes wide open.

Each small window was crowded with one or two faces, their eyes almost sparkling as if they had spotted a savior.

“Su-27! Hooray, it’s the ‘Guardian’!”

The AN-12 stabilized quickly, and Burke Evila’s complexion improved significantly.

“No! It’s the Su-37, ‘Guardian F’!”

Lin Mo immediately recognized that the four approaching jet fighters were upgraded versions of the Su-27, a type of super-maneuverable fighter equipped with vector thrust, pushing the Su-27’s agility to its limits.

Developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau’s joint stock company, this multipurpose all-weather super maneuverable fighter was nearly a fourth-generation fighter in the Russian system, pursuing the utmost in maneuverability with innovative circular and bell-shaped tactical movements, truly a sharper scalpel.

The Su-37 naturally held a performance advantage over the third-generation F-15s.

Lin Mo could also execute a bell maneuver with the J-15 model, which had Su-27 lineage, though the inherent qualities of a fighter played a significant role. Even if he possessed exceptional air combat skills, giving him a J-8 without the aid of the Gold Coin would make it impossible for him to perform even a Cobra maneuver.

The organizers of the “Abyss Nirvana” event, capable of deploying a Su-37, were no force to be underestimated.

Seeing the organizers with F-22s in the future would not surprise Lin Mo in the slightest, as his predictions hadn’t strayed from the truth. As the host of the death match in the aviation industry, they were not only organizing competitions and making money but also possessed an incredibly deep technological background.

The iceberg floating on the sea only reveals a corner above the water.

After the Su-37 formation drove off the F-15s, they turned back to escort the AN-12. The passengers collectively sighed in relief as they safely arrived at the air force base in Damascus, avoiding the worst.