The Dangerous National Dance

Danger!

Extreme danger!

The triangle aircraft behind him had locked on, his body constantly warning Liu Jun of the approaching threat, but seeing his comrade's damaged fighter, Liu Jun resolutely pulled the aircraft into a climb, making subtle irregular adjustments to evade any incoming attack.

With an enemy on his tail, he and his instructor still had a chance to survive, but his comrade with the damaged airframe couldn't dodge the attack!

Liu Jun gently pulled the stick, adjusting the fighter's flight path during the climb so the enemy couldn't lock onto him while still maintaining the ascent.

When the danger behind him reached its peak, Liu Jun prepared to pull the stick, but before he could, the roar of engines filled the air as two other J-15S fighters dove down, firing PL10 missiles at the unidentified craft locked onto his six o'clock.

After launching the missiles, the two fighters didn't hesitate to dive toward the triangle aircraft, ready to tie it up and create an opening for Liu Jun.

No words were needed—communication was impossible due to the electromagnetic spectrum jamming—and seeing the enemy on his six being distracted by his teammates, Liu Jun focused all his attention on the triangle aircraft ahead. Even though the rear seat had a worse view than the front, he could clearly "sense" its position.

Closer!

Even closer!

When the distance between them entered 500 meters, that familiar feeling returned—wrongness! Utter wrongness!

Liu Jun glanced at the IRST; the captured position differed slightly from where his instincts told him it was. His vision was being deceived. Since that was the case, he'd stop trusting his eyes and follow his gut!

He had little time to think. He pulled the stick and cut into the triangle aircraft's rear hemisphere. The enemy seemed extremely wary of Liu Jun; as soon as he locked on, the triangle aircraft began maneuvering. Liu Jun scanned the airspeed on his helmet-mounted sight, assessed the energy states of both sides, and followed.

With afterburners engaged, fuel drained rapidly. If he broke off halfway, there wouldn't be enough left to return to base. Better to go all in here and bet he could shoot the enemy down before the fuel ran dry.

As for the rest, that wasn't something to worry about now!

The two pilots of [140] saw the triangle aircraft tied up by their comrades and immediately adjusted course toward the Liaoning. Their fighters were badly damaged but still flyable; they needed to leave the mission area as quickly as possible and not become a burden.

The triangle aircraft pulled to one side, and Liu Jun followed. The two spiraled around each other like dancers in the sky, constantly closing and separating, wingtips leaving visible contrails as they competed to see who had more power.

Come on! Let's cut! This maneuver demanded exceptional flying skill and precise control from the pilot.

They climbed upward in a tangled spiral, and every time they were about to cross paths, Liu Jun tried to point his nose at the enemy. He stepped on the rudder, pulled the stick to align the nose with where his instincts told him the target was, and opened fire with his forward-facing weapons.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Liu Jun's shots hit empty air, streaking past harmlessly, but the triangle aircraft seemed startled, immediately cranking up its maneuvers to evade the J-15S's fire and escape the forward weapon's envelope.

And so it went—one fleeing, one chasing. The triangle aircraft wanted to escape but couldn't.

Every time Liu Jun tried to lock onto its rear hemisphere, the triangle aircraft twisted its body, keeping the J-15S's nose from pointing at it.

The triangle aircraft kept twisting and slowing down, trying to make the J-15S on its tail overshoot, but Liu Jun immediately deployed the airbrake on the aircraft's back, like hitting the brakes in a car, slowing down to prevent himself from overshooting and turning an advantage into a disadvantage in an instant.

That was the Scissors Maneuver—incredibly dangerous, with offense and defense swapping in a heartbeat. Whoever reacted a split second slower would fall into danger, and whoever broke off first would get locked onto their six and be at an absolute disadvantage.

Under the triangle aircraft's violent maneuvering, its speed dropped even faster, and when it failed to achieve the desired effect, it immediately abandoned this risky move.

As both aircraft kept climbing, the fight gradually shifted from a tangled spiral to a Spiral Climb—exactly what it sounded like, climbing upward in a helix. This maneuver rapidly drained energy from both aircraft, and the contest came down to thrust-to-weight ratio and angle of attack.

The J-15S's speed kept dropping, its two turbofan engines in afterburner mode pouring surging energy into the airframe, but in his perception, the unidentified craft he was locked in an Ascending Scissors with was just as powerful.

In this Spiral Climb, Liu Jun noticed the triangle aircraft's angle of attack was no worse than the J-15S's. But as both their speeds began to fall, Liu Jun felt his aircraft growing heavier and heavier, its response sluggish—the airframe was slow to react when he pulled the stick.

At that moment, gravity tugged at his soul, trying to bind him to the ground!

Lift was failing! Liu Jun realized his situation and turned to look at the triangle aircraft dancing with him. Thanks to its aerodynamic shape being far inferior to the J-15S, which had been wind-tunnel tested countless times, its speed was already very low, on the verge of stalling.

To increase lift, Liu Jun deployed the takeoff flaps. Near the wing roots, the flaps slowly extended. With the flaps out, the wing area increased, significantly boosting lift.

After deploying the flaps, the J-15S still felt heavy to control, but the sensation of imminent stall eased.

The two aircraft moved like slow-motion actors, crawling upward bit by bit, slower and slower, until finally, the two completely different machines hung almost motionless in the air. Their energy was spent.

Almost! Just a little more!

The triangle aircraft was already starting to fall, but the J-15S wasn't much better off. At this rate, the J-15S might drop first, and during the descent, it wouldn't be able to build up speed—like meat hanging on a chopping block, helpless!

In this situation, whoever fell later would slam down like a dunk and crush the opponent!

[Deploy landing flaps]

At this moment, Liu Jun was somewhat grateful that the J-15S was a carrier-based fighter, with aerodynamics optimized for short takeoff capability.

Liu Jun opened the flaps to maximum, and just as the aircraft was about to stall, it seemed to freeze in the air, as if time had stopped.

One second later, the triangle aircraft that had been locked in the Ascending Scissors with him finally couldn't maintain its speed and was bound by Earth's gravity. Seeing the enemy dragged down by gravity, Liu Jun reduced throttle, pulled the stick full back, and stepped on the yaw rudder to help the airframe flip in the air, diving downward.

As the nose dropped, it pointed at the triangle aircraft, now without speed. Though the ballistic computer calculated a lead angle for the shot, Liu Jun's gaze fixed on a spot to the side of the triangle aircraft—that was where its real body was!