After the Matter, a Surprise

"Damn it! What happened!"

The contact person for the cargo ship, holding a satellite phone, emerged from the cargo ship's cabin. He stared at the henchmen writhing and howling on the deck, roaring in disbelief.

However, no matter how much he yelled, no one around seemed to hear his voice.

Shielded by the cabin walls, the sonic boom at close range had only caused some tinnitus and no substantial damage to him.

But those on the deck, who had directly endured the sonic boom's shockwave at close range, were not so lucky.

Some suffered ruptured eardrums and collapsed in pain, temporarily losing their hearing, while others couldn't withstand the sonic boom's impact and fainted on the spot.

"Second Brother, the cops are coming. Hurry and escape. You know what happens if they catch you."

At this moment, a cold voice sounded from the satellite phone in the contact person's hand.

"Big Brother, who is it?"

The contact person, Second Brother, shouted with fierce resentment and unwillingness, "Who betrayed us!"

"A content creator."

"A content creator?"

The contact person was stunned.

What kind of content creator was so awesome that they could disrupt their plan?

"Never mind that, let's get the speedboat going. If you don't leave now, you won't have a chance."

Big Brother seemed unwilling to say more, only urging the contact person to leave quickly.

After all, this was too embarrassing.

Who would have thought that their well-planned operation would be stumbled upon by a content creator messing around with planes late at night?

And this content creator was in Penghai City, at least several hundred kilometers away from them, and had wiped them all out with just a drone that wasn't equipped with weapons.

Rumble!

Just as Big Brother finished speaking, suddenly, two tail flames flashed by like meteors, and a fierce wind erupted.

The contact person, Second Brother, standing on the deck, was like he had been hit head-on by a tornado. His clothes were torn to shreds, and blood streamed from his ears as he fell to the ground.

"I'll kick your grandma!"

The intense pain in his ears made Second Brother involuntarily howl.

Of course, what made him even more desperate was that in that last pass, the drone had deliberately scraped its wing across the cargo ship's mooring rope, cutting the cable that tied the speedboat to the cargo ship.

"It's still not stopping."

In Penghai, Chen Yi was unaware that he had just cut off Second Brother's hope of escape.

Looking at the cargo ship still moving in the video feed, it was clear someone was controlling it. Chen Yi thought for a moment, located the captain's cabin, and began to ascend with the drone.

The drone drew a large circle in the night sky, inverted its nose, broke the sound barrier, and flew straight towards the captain's cabin window at a speed exceeding Mach 5.

The sound was shattered.

Layer upon layer of air piled up in front of the drone's nose, forming arc-shaped shockwaves.

Chen Yi tapped a few keys on his keyboard, activated the radar ranging function, and then initiated the preset maneuver control program.

Rumble!

When the drone was 50 meters from the cargo ship's captain's cabin, it abruptly pulled up.

Cobra maneuver!

At this moment, Chen Yi's drone, like a cobra rearing its head, lunged at the oncoming cargo ship.

Just as the drone was about to collide with the cargo ship, with a boom, the engines erupted at maximum thrust.

Like a bamboo shoot emerging from the ground.

Like a strongman tossing a brick.

Chen Yi's drone shot skyward, skimming the cargo ship, with less than 3 meters between them.

The air shockwaves accumulated from the Mach 5 level flight, surpassing the sound barrier.

These shockwaves acted like tangible wind blades, easily tearing through the captain's cabin window.

"No!"

The captain, who was controlling the cargo ship at maximum speed to escape, let out a terrified cry. He hurriedly shut down the power and ducked down.

But before he could fully dodge, the glass shattered with a roar, and the sound of the sonic boom rushed in, knocking him unconscious on the spot.

After dealing with the captain of one cargo ship, Chen Yi repeated the same maneuver, dealing with the captain of another cargo ship.

Deprived of power control, the cargo ships slowly came to a halt.

On the distant horizon, speedboats and patrol boats with flashing police lights formed a semicircle, closing in.

"Done."

Chen Yi watched as armed police officers boarded the cargo ships and apprehended all the drug traffickers.

Chen Yi ended the livestream and activated the radar and infrared detection functions. He flew around the surrounding sea for a few laps, confirming that no drug traffickers had jumped into the sea to escape.

He then ascended the drone and, under the watchful eyes of a group of armed police officers, flew west, heading back to Penghai.

Less than 10 minutes later.

A streak of light streaked across the coastline of Penghai City.

Chen Yi's drone had returned.

He controlled the drone to circle twice over the park.

Chen Yi lowered the hydraulic landing gear, found an angle, and aimed at a straight road in the park to begin his descent.

Bang!

The drone landed with a screeching friction sound.

The entire drone slid for over a hundred meters before coming to a stop.

"Without engine reverse thrust, this landing is just a bit troublesome."

Engine reverse thrust is a landing braking technique used by commercial airliners.

After the airliner lands, the thrust provided by the engines, instead of pushing the aircraft forward, pushes it backward.

Engine reverse thrust, combined with the wing spoilers, provides the vast majority of the braking force for an airliner's landing.

As for the friction resistance of the tires, that only accounts for a small portion.

"I flew nearly 1,500 kilometers tonight, and the airframe lost about 50 kilograms. That's equivalent to 60 liters of kerosene. This BYD 998 is even more fuel-efficient."

Chen Yi used a small, foldable forklift to load the drone into the trunk and drove back for a weighing, calculating the drone's fuel consumption for the day.

Of course, the main reason for such low fuel consumption.

It was mainly because the drone was too small, with a total weight less than one-sixth of the 998.

Moreover, Chen Yi hadn't engaged in violent ascents or supersonic sprints today, so the fuel consumption appeared more gentle.

"Today's experiment was a complete success. Besides guarding against retaliation from the drug traffickers, the gains were immense."

"As for retaliation, let's see if they can survive tonight's crackdown first. I'll build a robot bodyguard when I have time to eliminate all future troubles."

After placing the drone back in the first-floor warehouse, Chen Yi went up to his third-floor bedroom, preparing to take a shower and rest.

Just then, a call came in from a number registered to the police.

"Hello, excuse me, are you Mr. Chen, who reported the drug transaction tonight?"

"Yes, I am. Was the arrest successful?" Chen Yi replied politely, casually asking about the arrest situation.

"Thank you for your assistance tonight, Mr. Chen. The arrest went smoothly; not a single person escaped. The arrested suspects are currently undergoing urgent interrogation."

"Glad to hear it went smoothly."

Chen Yi nodded. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"If you are available tomorrow, Mr. Chen, we will need to get a copy of the drone's tracking footage and photos from you. Your reporting reward and honorary certificate will also be brought to you tomorrow."

"How much is this reward?" Chen Yi asked with some curiosity.

"It will definitely be a surprise."

The staff member on the other end of the phone was very friendly and gentle in their attitude.

After all, the maritime operation tonight was enough to complete the entire year's mission, with some to spare.

As for other commendations, collective merits, etc., they were all accomplished at once tonight.

Given this situation, it was difficult for them to have any negative feelings towards Chen Yi, their lucky star.

As for Chen Yi's report that the drone could go supersonic?

Please, their drone could already go to space; what was supersonic in comparison?

Someone else would handle that matter; it wasn't within their purview.

"A surprise?"

"It couldn't possibly be over a million, could it?"

Chen Yi chatted for a few more minutes before shaking his head and hanging up.

If it weren't for the consciousness wave, he might have just anonymously reported it and offered some subtle assistance from the shadows.

As for the reporting reward, he hadn't really put much thought into it.