Chapter 97
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Chapter 97: Tomcat! Hostage! Listen, Be Good!
“Abla, Abla, damn ECM, it’s malfunctioning at this moment!” In the F-14 cockpit ahead, Yanker, the weapons officer in the back seat, complained. Unbeknownst to him and the front seat pilot Abla, they still believed they were in full control of the aircraft. They thought the ECM failure was just a minor glitch due to aging equipment.
Climbing to a height of one thousand meters, Abla piloted the F-14 as it tangled with Lin Mo’s F-14, constantly switching attack positions and maneuvering, but neither side initiated an attack.
“What’s going on? I’ve aimed at him several times, why haven’t you attacked?” Abla’s frustration boiled over; close air combat depended on lethal strikes, and he felt he could have downed the opponent several times with all the opportunities he had.
“Damn it, the IFF is also malfunctioning! I can’t identify him as an enemy plane! Oh God, tell me what’s happening; I can’t use the FCS system to take him down! I can’t even lock onto him! This guy’s flying posture is definitely that of an ace pilot; we’re doomed, we’re doomed!” Yanker panicked, repeatedly restarting the IFF (Identification Friend or Foe system), but it was completely in vain. Without the cooperation of the IFF system, they couldn’t lock onto Lin Mo with their F-14.
Abla noticed that the control stick had completely lost feedback; he shook it left and right in desperation, but to no avail. He shouted in terror, “It’s out of control, out of control! The plane isn’t responding! Damn old machine! I knew something would go wrong at a crucial moment! Damn Burton, I hate Arabs!” He realized that the F-14 was automatically slowing down and transitioning into a barrel roll flight pattern, forming a formation with the F-14 behind him, which he had planned to shoot down before.
Looking out from the cockpit, Abla saw the pilot of the other F-14. Only one person was in the front seat, with the back seat empty. The front seat pilot turned his head and waved, sending chills down Abla’s spine. This guy wasn’t even Barus or any member of the F-14 crew!
Lin Mo clearly heard the chaotic shouts from the cockpit of the other F-14 through his headset. Apparently, they couldn’t even control their F-14 to engage him; their fate was entirely in Gold Coin’s hands.
“Eject! Eject! Damn it, hurry!” Yanker shouted frantically, disregarding everything else. The thought of shooting down the opponent was overshadowed by the terror of being in a crashing aircraft. Even at four thousand meters, they could crash in an instant. He quickly felt for the ejection handle beneath his seat.
“No! Ejection’s not working! We’re done for! We’re trapped! Lord, save us!” Abla shrieked in despair. With the ECM failure, IFF malfunction, unresponsive controls, and now even the ejection system failing, a series of accidents battered his fraying nerves, pushing him to the brink of collapse.
Abla could almost clearly recall his instructor saying to him, “In the ongoing battle between objects made of aluminum going hundreds of miles per hour and the ground going zero miles per hour, the ground has yet to lose.”
“Damn it! We shouldn’t have come here! Help!” Yanker, clearly broken down, pounded on the cockpit cover, which had even locked solid. It seemed destined that this F-14 would be their coffin.
On the ground, Natasha and Lawrence Cotler, having narrowly escaped the ferocious firepower of the Gatling six-barrel Mini Cannon, emerged from a corner of the command center that had not been swept away by the metal storm. They glared at the two closely formed F-14s above them. Damn it, had the other plane’s pilot also betrayed them? “Red Scorpion” had poured countless resources, manpower, and materials into creating these two aerial forces, only to see them switched sides without even a shot being fired.
Who was behind this? Who did it? Both Commander Natasha and Lawrence Cotler were nearly spitting blood from the frustration.
However, when they received a report from the severely injured Ivan who had survived, Natasha felt even more bewildered and shocked, unable to guess who possessed such power. Could it be the legendary single-soldier powered exoskeleton?
Ivan could barely speak, “Morin”—who was he? So fierce in close combat yet able to pilot a fighter jet? The earlier furious onslaught made it nearly impossible for him to see Lin Mo’s strange armor, as he didn’t even have a chance to look up. The deafening sound of countless bullets whizzed past, filling the air with screams, creating an atmosphere of bloodshed and horror.
The Gatling six-barrel Mini Cannon excelled at eliminating any targets within view. Anyone who saw it was torn to shreds by the dense stream of metal bullets.
The streets of Aysulu had turned into a hell on earth, with armed militants and the “Red Scorpion” army clashing violently. Local residents and merchants were huddled inside their homes or hotels, too frightened to even glance out the window.
Both sides were filled with outlaws; the “Red Scorpion” headquarters, enriched by arms deals, was littered with guns. The fighting intensified geometrically as loyalists to the “Red Scorpion” joined the fray, aiding their soldiers in suppressing the chaos.
“The planned mission has been accomplished; it’s time for us to withdraw. Aside from ‘Holy Mercury Mirror’ Latika Osem currently engaging Red Scorpion’s top enforcer, Colonel Yahann Frank, neighboring teams like Mexica Kadra and the Merland Division have already begun to move,” reported Li Muxin, the elder sister of the Twin Stars, commanding a team of no fewer than thirty people to break through. “Lone Wolf” Yakov and most of his subordinates were remarkably part of this team.
“The locals have also joined the fight; after all, this is their home. My men are about to reach their limits; they are not cut out for this work!” Yakov fired his AK-74 at a corner, a burst of hot bullets flying out. His subordinates were merely bandits skilled in looting during easy fights, not regular troops adept at urban combat.
From the start of the 9 o’clock operation until now, in just over an hour, his hard-earned team had dwindled down to just these individuals before him. Another infiltrated team was still creating chaos elsewhere in Aysulu, likely planning their escape. Yakov had no time to worry about them; surely, his men understood that, while the profits were high, the costs were steep.
“Sister! The road ahead will be clear in fifteen seconds!” Amid the confusion of stray bullets, a figure suddenly crouched and rolled forward, carrying a sizable backpack.
“Countdown! Get ready to cover your ears!”
“Eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!”
Just as they reached two, the firepower of the Twin Stars’ team suddenly weakened.
Boom! The ground trembled as if a small earthquake had occurred; a violent translucent shockwave was almost visible to the naked eye.
Countless pieces of concrete, metal shards, human remains, and unrecognizable objects rained down, enveloping the street in smoke. “Red Scorpion’s” stronghold had been blown apart at the street corner by Li Muling using C4 plastic explosives.
“Keep moving!” The words of elder sister Li Muxin were akin to a divine command for the bandit crew hired by her. Yakov’s men executed the order without hesitation, as everyone understood that if they dared to create such chaos in the massive “Red Scorpion” domain, following the sisters was their only chance at survival. Otherwise, even the money wouldn’t make them live to spend it.
The experienced “Lone Wolf” Yakov took the lead, opening fire on the Red Scorpion soldiers that suddenly charged out. With his KGB training and an innate familiarity with the AK-74, he hardly missed a shot, drowning the area in the roar of the AK and the cries of the wounded.
Elder sister Li Muxin followed closely, calmly shooting at the enemies with a standard Chinese Type 92 handgun in each hand, nearly killing one with every shot within the effective range of fifty meters—either the forehead or the heart—no need for a second round, her aim was extremely precise, creating a realm of death around her.
Younger sister Li Muling carried an AK-74 and a large backpack, almost like a free spirit on the battlefield, continuously throwing grenades at enemies. Whenever she encountered an area she couldn’t force her way through, she simply blew walls apart to carve out a path. The subsequent Yakov’s men used the power of the AK to maintain continuous fire suppression, solidifying the breached path.
The armed forces of “Red Scorpion” had been crafted at great expense. Following Commander Natasha’s orders, they were determined to resolve the battle before dawn.
Before long, the Twin Stars’ team faced fierce firepower blocking their way.
The Li sisters and Yakov’s crew encountered an armored personnel carrier securing the street corner. The heavy machine gun rattled, sending streams of dark red rounds towards the street, evidently having spotted Li Muxin and Li Muling’s group.
“Grenade! Use grenades! RPGs too; who still has smoke bombs?” Yakov, leading the way, was suppressed back by the heavy machine gun fire of the armored personnel carrier. He shouted to Li Muxin and the others, no longer caring about the employer; it was first about surviving.
Just as Yakov’s men rummaged for grenades, the thundering roar in the sky reached them. Leaning against a half-destroyed sandbag barricade, Li Muxin looked up at the sky, as if boulders were rolling. Two F-14 Tomcat multi-role supersonic fighter jets roared past overhead in formation.
