Sky-cracking Rider

"Beep!~"

The reconnaissance system suddenly emitted a notification sound, capturing a signal that was barely there, with feedback intensity at the limit, just within the threshold of error. If it weren't for "Adam" confirming randomly, it might have been mechanically judged as a natural anomaly, like a particularly shaped mineral with high metal content.

The Artificial Intelligence AI "Adam" dispatched a reconnaissance drone to check the situation, but found nothing unusual, just like a mistaken identification.

In a battle between experts, surprises are rare, often the result of meticulous planning.

So Chen Fei didn't dare to be careless. He assessed the signal's location and unhesitatingly extended the danger range from 30 kilometers to 50 kilometers, adopting a stance of heightened alert.

The air defense points spread across various hilltops also served as small radar stations, constructing a more comprehensive air-ground integrated warning system alongside the cooperative ship hovering at a two-kilometer altitude, continually scanning various bands with radar waves, lasers, infrared thermal imaging, and optical image verification to provide timely alerts against adversaries' ultra-low-altitude infiltration.

For the speed of missiles, a tactical depth of 50 kilometers is just a matter of about ten seconds.

However, even one more second of reaction time could lead to a completely different outcome.

The reconnaissance system did not issue a second warning sound, as if it was really just a false alarm.

As scanning precision and recognition mechanisms continue to improve, the probability of false alarms is low, but not non-existent.

In reality, not only human-made aircraft fly in the sky but also birds; maybe it's leaves swept up by the wind, or balloons and kites released by people, so a perfect filtering mechanism is needed to accurately distinguish them. Many radar stealth technologies are based on this principle; the radar doesn't fail to detect, but it can't differentiate.

If Pure Light Sparrows, such small birds, were to participate in battles, both the enemy and our radar would go numb with a screen full of noise.

Radar: "I really can't do it!"

Releasing reconnaissance aircraft, deploying ground reconnaissance posts, air-ground integration—Chen Fei's proficiency in forming a one-man army is not unrelated to his experience working on the ground and in the sky at the Aircrew Base.

Expanding a simple tactical system is ready-made as a template to copy from, especially when this time there is only one opponent, with not too many variables.

"It's a pity I can't request assistance from S-Class Space Ability User Mr. Brown, otherwise..."

Chen Fei muttered to himself regretfully.

If the entire airship's spatial transfer capability was granted to him, he wouldn't need to let the cooperative ship stay airborne for a positional battle. Once the crystal jet loses its proud mobility advantage, it will just wait to be hammered directly by the combat spaceship's torrent of firepower!

"That's impossible; you must rely on your own abilities."

Responding to him was Old David's voice. "Eagle King" was one of the judges, his strength doesn't reach that of a Sky Knight, but his years of experience are undeniable, the older the wiser.

Combat spaceship plus S-Class Space Ability skill, along with nearly infinite ammunition from "Spatial Branding," it isn't even worth simulating the battle. Small Sovereignties would bow down, it's not just cheating, it's outright bullying.

The form of simulated battle has its advantages and disadvantages for Chen Fei.

The powerful computational resources of the planetary-level compute node can directly be integrated into simulated battles, allowing the simulated cooperative ship to perform beyond its original computational power, meaning more threads of parallel processing and faster reactions, however, some of Chen Fei's special abilities are restricted, such as the "Spatial Branding" with massive resources and derivative special abilities like "Personal Armor Basic Body" and "Basic Optical Observer," which cannot function effectively at all, which exactly fits his ability characteristic of being overly reliant on external factors in the eyes of others.

After all, in war, the strength of individual capabilities can easily be overshadowed by collective power, while combat-apt special abilities can leave a deep impression on people.

-

Fifteen minutes have passed.

Most of the second batch of battles have ended, and everyone is watching the bizarre battle between Chen Fei and Sun Ruzheng.

Other than Chen Fei, everyone else is a Sky Knight adept at aerial dogfighting, quick and decisive, either winning or losing without any delay.

One side is waiting for a rabbit by a tree stump, laying a trap inescapable from the sky and land, while the other hides, with neither head nor tail in sight, leaving many people bewildered about what on earth these two are doing?

The so-called "Crazy Fire Forest Mountain" is nowhere to be seen. If it weren't a simulated battle, confirming both parties have entered, Chen Fei would suspect that his opponent, the "Mad Devil" Sun Ruzheng, has abandoned the fight and left, leaving his cooperative ship behind, foolishly waiting.

Chen Fei cast his gaze towards the horizon of the simulated battlefield. The opponent has been fleeing with all their might from the start, highly unlikely to have left the cooperative ship's reconnaissance radius, and has not shown up after so long, possibly employing static stealth tactics, hiding in one of two places: either outside the atmosphere or in a certain part of the vast mountainous area.

The possibility of hiding outside the atmosphere is not great; climbing requires both speed and time, making it impossible to escape the cooperative ship's reconnaissance radius, and staying within the atmosphere would leave a trail easily exposing its position.

The two entered simultaneously, which left no time for "Mad Devil" Sun Ruzheng's crystal jet to escape outside the atmosphere.

Therefore, the only answer is that the mountainous area is indeed suitable for hiding.

If the opponent's crystal jet is hidden somewhere motionless, it's natural that the cooperative ship and air-ground integrated reconnaissance system wouldn't be able to scan it.

Although still fruitless, time has given Chen Fei the closest answer to the truth.

"'Adam', using ton-level thermobaric bomb killing radius as the unit, evenly distribute them around the suspicious signal's location from before. Aim the particle beam cannon at the ground, firing randomly at a rate of one shot per second."

Chen Fei employed the mutant eradication tactics from the Aircrew Base: firepower reconnaissance.

In the suspected hiding area of the mutants, this tactic almost always proved effective.

If there really are mutants hiding, any explosion would almost certainly hit the target. Whether it hits or not, the massive explosion and shockwave will immediately have the effect of startling the snake by hitting the grass. Once the cloud explosion annihilation effect begins to spread, the ground will almost magically become swarmed with panicking mutant creatures fleeing in all directions, making it easier to deal with the exposed mutants.

Now, Chen Fei treated his opponent as a mutant, hoping to blast the opponent out. If luck was on his side, a direct hit would mean a free victory, and the aggrieved Sky Knights who died quietly can only accept their fate.

According to the simulation battle rules, although he was limited in the number of Element Annihilation Bombs he could use, he could obtain a considerable number of ton-level thermobaric bombs and large-caliber grenades (600 mm) based on the Cooperative Ship's carrying capacity.

With the power of the thermobaric bomb, sweeping through a large mountainous area was more than possible.

Boom! ~

Among the mountains, a gigantic mushroom cloud rose into the sky, followed by another one shortly after.

The members of the judging panel, watching the battle, exchanged bewildered looks; someone who could use the thermobaric bombs in this ground-clearing tactic is indeed a ruthless individual.

Although thermobaric bombs are not nuclear weapons and leave no nuclear radiation pollution, after the explosion, the cloud explosion area becomes a wasteland, devoid of life. If this were happening on the Blue Star's surface in reality, do they really think environmental groups wouldn't take action?

Nobody knows why the environmental organizations on Blue Star possess armed forces.

It's like tax collectors equipped with planes, cannons, and mobile armor, ensuring tax collection worldwide. So the most powerful unit in government departments is not the military police but the tax collectors! Reality is often more fantastical than fiction.

For Chen Fei, the hiding point of the "Mad Devil" Sun Ru is still a mystery, but for the judging panel and outside spectators, it's almost under their noses and specially marked by the simulation battle system. They watched the massive, heavenward flames get closer and closer to the hiding place of the Crystal Jet, with erratic particle beams streaking across the sky, landing among the mountains, and piercing hole after incisive hole, bowl-sized and bottomless, into the mountain body.

"Beep!"

In Chen Fei's ear sounded a long-awaited prompt tone, while in front of him, the AI "Adam" displayed reminder subtitles.

Adam: Direction 245, distance 61 kilometers, altitude 155 meters, speed 0.7 Mach, confirmed as Crystal Jet.

"Particle beam cannon, focus fire!"

Without any hesitation, Chen Fei oriented towards the opponent's location... Cooperative Ship, retreat!

Why engage directly with the Sky Knight, neglecting the well-functioning air-to-ground integration?

Remember, the main tactical lesson taught by indigenous elite combat pilots, including this opponent, was to maintain distance and execute a saturation strike.

Competing in aerial combat skills with the Crystal Jet is utterly foolish, and furthermore, how could a Combat Spaceship possess any aerial combat techniques? Its large body and target, with poor maneuverability, once encountering a highly maneuverable opponent, should escape as far as possible quickly.

Just then, the previously sporadic blue and white beams suddenly converged densely, almost chasing the Crystal Jet as it utilized mountainous terrain to evade left and right, up and down.

Reconnaissance drones in the sky captured high-resolution images of the Crystal Jet, showing obvious mottled scars on the body, clearly affected by the firepower reconnaissance, with other areas flashing fragments of reticulated blocks.

If not mistaken, the surface of this Crystal Jet is covered with an optical invisibility layer, now malfunctioning due to damage, resulting in uncontrolled flashing effects.

Adam: The "Mad Devil" requests for a communication link.

Chen Fei was taken aback, not expecting the opponent to have the time to chat during the battle.

"Agree to connect!"

"Well done, you actually figured it out!"

In this simulation battle, the opponent, also from the local First Sovereign Sky Knight "Mad Devil" Sun Ru's voice, displayed no vitality but was instead filled with appreciation.

For him, winning or losing made no difference.

If he won, Chen Fei would gain a valuable lesson, which is growth.

If he lost, Chen Fei would validate his own experience, which is also growth.

Moreover, the First Sovereign would gain an experienced pilot, no, a captain of a combat airship in practice.