059 Aerial Interception

—A spiritual medium.

Gina felt her heart and lungs stop, a chill ran down her spine, and cold sweat poured down her back. Without saying a word, she turned around and moved away.

No wonder nobody paid any attention to her; nobody wanted to be around a weirdo who had been talking to the spirits of the dead since childhood.

Smack

Ya Wen closed the combat manual and re-examined her weapons. She sat upright in the cabin seat, waiting quietly. A gust of air shook the transport plane slightly, and the small bottle full of ash on Ya Wen's chest also swayed—the next moment, the phantom of a four or five-year-old girl slowly appeared beside her.

'You clearly didn't want to fight, so why did you come anyway?'

"Dai Sijia?"

Ya Wen turned her head in surprise. In her eyes, the girl had long black hair that reached the floor, and her thin frame leaned lazily against the wall. Her golden-green eyes glanced at Ya Wen sideways: 'What? Surprised?'

"It's dangerous here, it's a battlefield. If the enemy's medium discovers you, you will be..."

'You know it's dangerous, so why did you still come here?'

Dai Sijia, chin in hand, spoke in a childish voice with an air of premature wisdom, "If you're afraid of death, then don't come to war! You and I have both died once; do you want to die again?"

"I don't want war, Jiajia," Ya Wen explained. She turned her head to look ahead, carefully choosing her words, and said, "This is not a just war; it will only harm the Frostplate Citizen and the Grantian."

"Then why did you come?" Dai Sijia said, displeased. "If you knew it was wrong, you shouldn't have come."

"Because I am Frostplate Citizen," Ya Wen said.

'Living people are such a hassle, bound by all sorts of things.' Dai Sijia played with her hair as the woman next to her walked right past her feet, completely oblivious to the little girl sitting there.

A brief silence fell between the two, which was eventually broken by Dai Sijia.

' Ya Wen, you're such an idiot.'

Dai Sijia said:

"Even without you, this battlefield wouldn't be much shorter; you're just cannon fodder. Since you dislike unjust wars, why did you insist on coming here? Aren't you contradicting yourself?"

"I have no choice." Ya Wen clutched the hem of her sleeve, lowered her head, and said in a deep voice, "I must rescue my father. Only by constantly participating in high-risk missions can I advance as quickly as possible. Only my father can save Frostplate and these 670 million people."

'What about the Grantian?'

"... As Frostplate Citizen, I can't comment on the former Colonies's affairs." Ya Wen's gaze shifted. "Regardless, if we don't send troops, Frostplate will face a very difficult future. Prices will skyrocket, and most importantly, its status as one of the Four Nations will be severely damaged. If we don't fight and allow independence to take place, the other Colonies will think we're weak and easily bullied..."

"I wasn't asking for Frostplate Citizen's opinion." Dai Sijia pouted. "Ya Wen, I was asking you. What do you think?"

"I cannot betray my country; that's what my father taught us."

Ya Wen crossed her arms over her chest and said this, feeling extremely uncomfortable.

"If the bigwigs above could be more merciful, and if the Grantian could give up resistance, reduce bloodshed and sacrifice, and grant the Grantian more autonomy and fair trade agreements, that would be better than anything else."

In response, Dai Sijia simply asked coldly:

Do you believe it?

Ya Wen fell silent.

Therefore, it is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality.

Dai Sijia swung her legs back and forth, one after the other:

The Four Nations, accustomed to a comfortable life, would find even a one-debaht increase in food prices terrifying—and the number of people starving to death in their Outland and Colonies was considerable.

"There is no solution," Ya Wen said. "As long as there are people on earth, war will break out sooner or later, either at home or abroad. If we don't stop it, major problems will occur at home."

' Ya Wen, is this really the result you wanted?'

Dai Sijia jumped off the chair, put her hands in her pockets, and came to Ya Wen. She raised her hands and cupped Ya Wen's face in her hands:

'Look at you, you're so beautiful, and you're clearly not stupid, so why are you so naive?'

Even though she was the younger sister, she was more composed and mature than him because she had been in a spirit state for a long time.

Ya Wen blushed and whispered, "Dai Sijia— "

"But no matter what, I will protect you." Dai Sijia smiled. "You're a grown woman now, with your own independent thoughts. Whatever you want to do, as long as you have a clear conscience and the courage to bear the consequences, I will support you in going forward."

'Because you're the older sister who lived on in my place.'

Dai Sijia's figure slowly disappeared, leaving Ya Wen sitting alone in the corner.

"I..."

Ya Wen grabbed her collar and said, bewildered:

"I'm doing something utterly heinous: invading other people's homes, serving a regime I don't even want to serve, all to consolidate the country's hegemony, but I myself am a beneficiary of this hegemony... What should I do?"

"If I am loyal to my country, then I am betraying my conscience and morality."

"But if I were to be true to my own sense of righteousness, I would be betraying my hometown and my colleagues and friends."

Perhaps it's true what Dai Sijia said: I shouldn't have come here in the first place. Once I got involved in this war, I could never go back.

Just as Ya Wen was feeling confused, the pilot in the cockpit suddenly shouted:

"What is that?!"

Before he could finish speaking, a violent explosion suddenly sounded beside his ear.

Boom! "What happened? Why was there an explosion?"

The agents, who had just been chatting and laughing, were instantly horrified. They quickly pressed their faces against the windows and looked outside: a large transport plane had been cleanly cut in two and was spinning and crashing toward the ground.

"The transport plane next to us was shot down. Someone is attacking us?!"

Upon hearing this, the agents were in an uproar. "Are you kidding me! Where would Grant get air power?!"

The pilot was also trying his best to fly the fighter jet, but the heavy fuselage made it impossible to perform tactical maneuvers to evade. He could only pick up the communicator and ask the combat command center for help, "Osprey calling Ice Palace, Osprey calling Ice Palace! We are under attack by unidentified aerial forces and request fighter support!"

"Ice Palace has received your message. Two Z-11s will be heading to the battlefield airspace. Please hold out until we arrive."

"We are already under attack—"

Before the pilot could finish speaking, they saw a red and black phantom rushing towards them head-on.

"Aaaaaaahh...

"An osprey? An osprey!"

No matter how much the Ice Palace tried to contact them, they received no response.

"Something's gone wrong. Immediately urge fighter jets to take off; the Grantian have air defense capabilities beyond intelligence."