Chapter 701

Chapter 701: Why Wrap the Body in Horsehide for Burial

The military song should sing of great knives and rings, vowing to eliminate the barbarian invaders at the Jade Pass.

Only to die for the country on the battlefield, why wrap the body in horsehide for return?

The husbands of wives, the fathers of sons, the sons of mothers, and the past comrades—all are fighting fiercely in this unprecedented massive aerial battle, some seeking eternal life, others being obliterated.

In the "Abyss Nirvana" competition, the most brutal cries of the sky leave all spectators dazed and breathless.

Pitiful are the bones by the uncertain river, still lingering in springtime dreams.

If it were not for the high rate of combat losses, the organizers would not hold only one event each month, and pilots who had participated would be excluded from the next drawing.

Each "Abyss Nirvana" lasts only three to four months, never exceeding six months; each month, the Death Team Battle mercilessly eliminates many excellent pilots, with those who survive often being fewer than one in ten.

Although the rules of "Abyss Nirvana" allow mid-course registration or voluntary withdrawal, enabling participants to safeguard themselves if they choose, no less than eight hundred pilots lose their lives in each event, with nearly ninety percent disappearing without a trace.

Excluding those who withdraw midway, the pilots who ultimately endure until the competition finishes rarely exceed thirty, with special tier pilots making up the vast majority, becoming the backbone of their respective nations in the skies.

Most participants in this unprecedented deadly event have volunteered; many even signed disclaimers.

Throughout history, how many return from battle? Compared to the price of life, the sponsors—be they aerospace manufacturers or national powers—never skimp on rewards, offering unimaginable compensation: money, benefits, status, and honor, and much more.

With great rewards come brave men, which leads many pilots to ignore life and death, joining this deadly contest like moths to a flame.

In the sky, the number of fighter jets is rapidly diminishing at a visible rate. This is a brutal elimination battle where no one wants to become a victim; they can only cast everything aside and fight with all their might to seize that slim chance of survival amidst the chaos.

“Be careful!”

Boom!

“Damn it, I’m Monkey! My aircraft is damaged!”

In the communication channel, Monkey’s panicked voice came through. He had accidentally triggered a nearby stray bullet while attempting to detonate it too close.

The electronic pulse interference had inexplicably ceased, perhaps because the attacking fighter had been shot down, or the enemy pilot was so focused on the fight that they forgot to activate the ECM attack system.

Yuri struggled to keep pace beside Lin Mo, but Monkey had been thrown off the formation by the recent assault andwas unable to regroup, leaving him vulnerable against the pack of wolves circling nearby.

“Be careful, Monkey! Don’t run into the core battle group! Move to the outskirts, and I will take them out one by one.”

Lin Mo quickly adjusted his Light Mirror Technique, feeling a heavy weight in his heart. The separating F-14 Tomcat’s situation was not good after sustaining damage.

The imagery returned by the Light Mirror Technique revealed terrifying scars on Monkey’s F-14 wings, as if a ferocious beast had clawed at it—very detrimental for a fighter aircraft with such high aerodynamic design requirements.

As time passed, the damage would worsen in the high-speed airflow and during high overload maneuvers, possibly leading to a loss of equilibrium and excessive fatigue of its internal structure. If the aircraft were to disintegrate mid-air, even safe ejection would become a wishful thinking.

“Hang in there, Monkey! We’ll come to support you!”

Yuri moved the control stick, analyzing the radar display while constantly looking around, trying hard to locate Monkey’s position to assist him. He didn’t want to lose such a close comrade.

Without the assistance of the Light Mirror Technique, locating a fast-moving target amid the rain of bullets and fighter jets was no easy task.

“Yuri, don’t get distracted! Stay close to me, and watch your back!”

The cockpit’s Light Mirror Technique significantly enhanced Lin Mo’s field of vision, allowing him to see everything around him without turning his head.

Yet reality didn’t allow him much time to be distracted; behind him, two air-to-air missiles were tightly locked onto him and Yuri.

He had to evade the missiles while also countering opponents emerging from who knows where, which was no easy task for Lin Mo.

“Did you see Monkey?”

Yuri searched desperately for any sign of Monkey, but the chaos of flying fighter jets distorted his view. Occasionally, a barrage of fiery cannon shells would streak over the cockpit, leaving him startled and anxious, unsure if they were aimed at him or just passing by.

"That’s right! We need to take care of those two little tails behind us first," Lin Mo said.

He pressed the release button for the infrared heat flame bomb, and the built-in release bay quickly scattered a large number of bright heat flame bombs toward the rear. However, the missiles did not take the bait, indicating that their guidance system was not solely based on infrared tracking.

Hearing the warning in the cockpit, Yuri suddenly shouted, "Number 13, Frolov Propeller!"

"Good idea, Yuri! Three, two, one!"

The X-1 Forward-Swept Wing Fighter Jet and Yuri’s imitation F-22 suddenly raised their noses, their vector thrust nozzles twisting to extreme angles. Both fighter jets executed a Cobra maneuver, but that was not the end; they continued to exceed the critical angle, easily completing a 360-degree flip. This maneuver transformed into a tail chase, allowing them to perform a rapid 360-degree turn in a vertical circle.

To explain it simply to outsiders, this maneuver is like a fighter jet doing a backflip in place.

The Frolov Propeller is not just a single technique; it combines the Cobra maneuver and the tail chase, often catching pursuers off guard. Only the brave special tier pilots from Russia, like Evgeny Frolov, daring enough to fly without a canopy and extend their hands outside at twice the speed of sound, could create such a move.

In the split second of pulling back their noses, the two fighter jets skillfully activated their cannons, aiming directly at the two incoming air-to-air missiles and firing with full power.

Using cannons against missiles? Before this battle, Yuri would have scoffed at such an idea; it seemed purely theoretical and highly unlikely to succeed. In the serious world of air combat, betting one’s life on low-probability events would be exceedingly foolish.

But now, Yuri embraced this absurd notion as reality. Together with Lin Mo, they fired relentlessly, creating the densest barrage possible to cover the two air-to-air missiles.

They had only one chance—if they failed, it would mean their demise.

If they were even a second late or missed their target, Lin Mo’s aircraft would lose a lot of power in the turn and would be blown up in mid-air by the two missiles.

Boom! Boom!

Two fireballs erupted in the sky.

If Yuri attempted this risky maneuver alone, it would be the same as committing suicide. However, having Lin Mo—the expert missile shooter—made all the difference.

In fact, Lin Mo accurately destroyed one missile, while the other was struck down by Yuri—one was a result of skilled air combat techniques, the other pure luck.

At this critical moment, Yuri, who typically trusted Lin Mo’s abilities, found himself in a stroke of luck.

“Quick, save the Tomcat; he can’t hold on much longer!”

Yuri showed no desire to celebrate and instead spoke urgently.

“Three o’clock position, prepare combat missile! Barrel roll!”

Lin Mo tilted the control stick, and the X-1 Forward-Swept Wing Fighter Jet flipped to the right while his wingman, Yuri, followed without hesitation.

An isolated enemy aircraft appeared in Lin Mo and Yuri’s sights, clearly a pilot who had just finished dealing with their opponent. Unaware, the enemy was making a large arc maneuver, looking for their next target, but had unwittingly entered the sights of others.

Being careless on the battlefield often leads to disaster.

Fighter jets on both sides utilize friend-or-foe identification systems to continuously emit special signals to distinguish between camps, while also displaying clear markings on their body surfaces. Fighter jets from the government army are painted bright red on the wings and tails, while the Anti-Government Forces use blue.

The enemy was indeed a blue-marked fighter jet.

Without looking back, Lin Mo made a hand signal and pushed the control stick down sharply.

Yuri, already in sync with Lin Mo, immediately followed. The cannon’s fixed sight locked onto the enemy aircraft, and to avoid alerting them, they did not activate the fire control radar.

Eliminating one opponent would mean increased safety for the injured Monkey.

Lin Mo saw the pilot in the enemy cockpit, five kilometers away, inadvertently look up in his direction, but then his movement suddenly froze.

Did he notice?

Too late!

“Open fire!”

Two Gauss electromagnetic shells shot off the rails in a flash.

The enemy aircraft didn’t have time to react. The wings on either side exploded simultaneously, and fragments of metal pierced through the cockpit, causing a spray of bright red on the transparent bubble canopy.

Yuri’s fighter jet launched a close-range combat missile, trailing a long streak behind it, marking the conclusion of this impromptu encounter.

“Yuri, look at one o’clock!”

Lin Mo spotted the beleaguered F-14 Tomcat being pursued by a large delta-winged fighter.

"Great! Monkey, hang in there; we’re coming!" Yuri shouted with excitement.