Chapter 625

Chapter 625: Transition

The finished product warehouse of National Defense Star lay idle. Though it was called a warehouse, it was not much different from a real hangar. It had mechanics, maintenance equipment, fuel trucks, and two pilots waiting to deliver aircraft. This section was highly technical and was mainly managed by the military.

Even though it was a joint venture, no one dared to casually hand over fighter jets to unknown individuals. Every transition had strict flight routes, and sometimes fighter jets were escorted along the way.

In the ten parking positions lined up, several other fighter jets were parked, including J-11 prototypes, J-14s, J-20s, and the National Defense Star’s own X-1.

“Tomorrow, another J-11 will be finished. Along with the other one in the warehouse, we need to ship them to Guangzhou tomorrow afternoon. Sun Tong, here’s our flight route chart.”

Lieutenant Deng Xigang, just riding in on an electric scooter from the tower, jumped off and handed a clipboard to another pilot, Lieutenant Sun Tong, who was exercising in a corner of the hangar.

“Oh, we’re leaving tomorrow. Let’s see, four J-11s—this must be for the order from the UAE. Tell Old He and the mechanics to get ready for pre-flight checks.”

Sun Tong stopped his inverted sit-ups, jumped down, and grabbed the clipboard while wiping sweat with a dry towel. They always received pre-approved transition flight routes before taking off, familiarizing themselves to avoid getting lost.

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

“Hmm? Is it going to rain? Why is there thunder? Didn’t they say there wouldn’t be any rain today?”

Just as Sun Tong focused on the clipboard, he suddenly looked up at the sky.

Due to the unique demands of a pilot’s profession, they were extremely sensitive to the weather. The best flying conditions were clear skies, and it was safest to stay grounded during thunder, rain, or snow. Though they could enjoy clear skies by breaking through the clouds, getting struck by lightning or caught in turbulence or a tornado was risky, even for a tank.

Suddenly, the airbase of National Defense Star erupted with the shrill sound of the air defense alarm.

Air defense alarm?!

Almost everyone froze. A sudden air defense alarm in peacetime China meant a possible air raid.

An air raid?! Everyone panicked. Did war break out?

Five seconds later, everyone reacted, dropping what they were doing and running towards the nearest air defense entrance.

As a company that was half military and half civilian, almost everyone had undergone relevant military training to prevent being caught off guard by sudden war.

“Prepare for battle! Old He, get the munitions ready!”

Lieutenant Deng Xigang shouted, rushing towards the already completed J-11 fighter jet in the hangar. At that moment, he couldn’t care less about the UAE orders; if the enemy attacked, all the orders would be worthless, and the breach of contract fines could leave National Defense Star in financial ruin.

“Darn it!” Lieutenant Sun Tong watched Deng Xigang’s back, feeling frustrated. There was only one available jet, and it was a single-seater; if a battle broke out, he would have no part in it.

The hangar was very close to the munitions depot. Departments involved in combat tasks immediately began emergency procedures even before official orders arrived. The heads of various sections quickly sprang into action, preparing for battle.

Although it was a production company, the munitions depot—overseen by the military—still contained a certain amount of live munitions, used for live-fire drills, apart from training rounds.

As an exchange of rights and obligations, facilities such as runways and towers were built by the Air Force. Thus, if war occurred and the homeland was threatened, the aircraft manufacturer’s base could be requisitioned at any time, turning it into an air force base.

But the alarm lasted only ten seconds before it abruptly stopped.

Why did it stop?

Most people were confused, as if the air defense alarm still echoed in their ears. They continued to run, but a few stopped to listen. The surroundings were eerily quiet, with only hurried footsteps, as if the alarm never rang at all.

“What’s going on?”

Lieutenant Sun Tong, who hadn’t moved from the hangar door, felt the same uncertainty. The thunder grew nearer, sounding more and more like a jet engine, and indeed, it was.

This roar was unlike any he had ever heard. He was familiar with the rumble of both domestic and Russian jet engines, but the massive noise drawing closer from the sky was unlike any of those. Though it lacked a high-frequency explosion, it was deep and contained unimaginable power.

“Is that—!”

Just as Lieutenant Deng Xigang was about to climb into the cockpit of the J-11, he suddenly turned around. The roar was now deafeningly close, almost within a thousand meters.

A shadow swiftly swept across the runway.

Outside the hangar, it felt as if a strong gust of wind suddenly blew through, lifting up dust and debris.

“What’s going on? Who sneaked the X-1 out? Bastard! That’s a violation of discipline—how reckless!”

With one hand shielding his eyes from the sun, Lieutenant Sun Tong looked up at the aircraft that whizzed by overhead, unable to hold back his anger. The low-flying figure allowed him to glimpse the shape of the aircraft, and he suspected some clumsy fool was responsible.

Even though the engine noise was loud, it didn’t drown out his voice.

“What? The X-1? Are you kidding? Does someone want to hijack it and defect?”

Lieutenant Deng Xigang didn’t dive back into the cockpit but turned to Old He, the supervisor overseeing the extraction of munitions and towing vehicles for the fighter jets. “Old He! What’s going on?”

If anything went wrong, Old He would be the first one dragged out for a target practice.

Deng Xigang trusted his comrades couldn’t be mistaken; pilots had some of the best eyesight among humans, and Sun Tong would never point at a deer and call it a horse.

“How could this happen? The X-1 is definitely in the hangar; it hasn’t been fueled!”

Old He, with a scruffy beard, looked aggrieved.

“No way!”

Old He wouldn’t joke about something like this, and Deng Xigang quickly realized a contradiction. If the X-1 was indeed up in the air, how did it get out?

Were they all dead here? Did no one hear a fighter jet take off?

Could a fighter jet take off without ground crew assistance and without fueling, simply sliding out of the hangar or being blown away into the sky by the wind?

While the pilots and ground crews in the hangar were all suspicious, the tower staff was in chaos.

The reason was simple: the radar couldn’t pick up the aircraft, and the warning had come from a nearby sentry, who had been bored and scanning the sky with binoculars.

“When did this happen? An UFO?”

“It’s a stealth fighter; the radar can’t scan it. It even flew right past the radar—what kind of technology is that?”

“Is it our human fighter?”

“Turn the radar power to the maximum. It’s coming, it’s coming!”

“There are still planes in the hangar; let the pilots prepare for takeoff with munitions.”

The tower was filled with noise, as they had never encountered such an unexpected situation. They weren’t a military base; they hadn’t provoked anyone, so how could they attract an unidentified flying object?

“Is that the X-1? Am I seeing things? Old Li, we’re not dreaming, right? How did it take off? Who approved this? Who’s flying it?”

“It’s not the X-1! Our X-1 is still in the hangar with no takeoff record; it’s…”

“It’s what? Can you be clear?”

“Don’t you know there was supposed to be a fighter jet transitioning to our location today?!”

“Uh, I think there was a notice, but how could it be this unidentified flying object?”

“Could it possibly be the stealth fighter transitioning? The notification didn’t specify the type or model—it really might be this aircraft! Communication crew, Little Zhang, what’s going on? Did you follow procedure to send out a signal and contact them?”

“Ah, Director Ma, the radar couldn’t pick them up; we didn’t have time to communicate.”

“Idiot! Hurry up!”

The radar’s inefficiency directly caused the entire workflow to fall out of sync. The tightly linked airport tower operations immediately fell apart.

“Okay, okay.”

Little Zhang nervously picked up the microphone and asked, “Hello, this is NDS; please identify yourself.”

The communication antenna was an omnidirectional active signal source, so there was no need to worry about whether the other party was stealthy. As long as there was a communication module and antenna, they could receive the voice.

“I am the ‘Dragon Knight’!”

After contacting Young Master Chen, Lin Mo had arrived at the National Defense Star production base with the “monstrous” aircraft. Although he found it strange that the tower hadn’t contacted him sooner, causing him to miss the best chance to align with the runway, the tower’s voice now meant it wasn’t too late.

“Ah, it’s Director Lin! Sorry, sorry, we thought you were an UFO!”

An awkward voice came through the channel.

A sudden stir turned out to be harmless.

Little Zhang in charge of communication and a few radar staff had red faces, realizing they had made a mistake during a busy moment.

Director Ma shook his head, snorted coldly, “Everyone write a report. Hand it in later. You guys, sigh!” He sighed in disappointment, no longer criticizing these inexperienced young people as they had truly startled him.

“UFO? Haha! You really have an imagination!”

Stealth aircraft always caused a commotion, regardless of where they went. Lin Mo shook his head and added, “Can I land?”

“You can, you can; you may land anytime, anywhere.”