Like Father, Like Son: Three Heroes in One Family!

Everyone at the military district entrance saw it.

The livestream chat erupted too. The servers even began to lag!

[My God! Are those Falcon-20s? There are twenty of them!]

[Those are the Dragon Kingdom's most advanced supersonic fighter jets! One costs as much as a warship!]

[Those things are precious! You only see them around the capital's air defense zone. What are they doing in Jiangcheng?]

[Look at the emblem on the fuselages! Eagle and Sword—that's the Azure Sword squadron's insignia! The legendary aces!]

Amid the uproar, the twenty jets began circling low, their wings nearly skimming the military district's rooftops!

The powerful downdraft whipped everyone's hair around and left their ears ringing!

The Falcon-20s kept roaring!

As if making a declaration!

As if bellowing in fury!

As if telling certain people on the ground—

We'll protect the martyr's family!

Lay one more finger on him,

and you'll face the wrath of the King of the Skies!

"H-how is this possible?!"

Gao Zisheng's face went deathly pale. He trembled all over.

Even he could tell something was wrong.

Those legendary jets had very likely come for Yue Xiaofei!

But why?

Wasn't he an orphan?

Gao Zisheng had thought he could push him around and bully him at will. How had it turned into something this big?

He hated it!

If he'd known this would happen, he should have killed Yue Xiaofei on the rooftop!

A vicious glint flashed through Gao Zisheng's eyes.

That's right!

It's all that brat's fault for not doing as he was told. If only I'd killed him!

"Was my dad in the Air Force?"

Yue Xiaofei watched the twenty jets descend, his heart pounding.

Even in the military, there was a pecking order.

The Air Force was the most prestigious, admired by all. Training a single pilot took an unimaginable amount of money, time, and effort.

The Navy came next. Warships were expensive national treasures, rarely deployed without good reason.

The Army seemed more ordinary by comparison, but it was the foundation of a nation's strength!

RUMBLE!

Before long, the twenty Falcon-20s began to land.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Their canopies opened in unison, and twenty figures leaped from the cockpits!

The Eagle and Sword emblem gleamed on their dark blue flight suits.

The older man at the front bore two gold stars on his shoulders and had a piercing gaze.

It was Lei Zhen!

"Two gold stars! That's a higher rank than even General Lin!"

"It's Lei Zhen, Thunder God! The Air Force's legendary pilot!"

Cries of astonishment rose all around.

Even Lin Tiejun, who had seen plenty in his time, was stunned. He instinctively straightened and saluted.

"General Lei, what brings you here in person?"

Lei Zhen returned the salute, then swept his gaze over the crowd.

"Who's Yue Xiaofei?"

"I am."

Yue Xiaofei stepped forward, the bloodstains on his clothes making him stand out.

"Child!"

Lei Zhen rushed over. When he saw the blood on Yue Xiaofei's face, his eyes reddened.

"You've suffered!"

"We came too late!"

Before he finished speaking, he snapped to attention and bowed deeply to Yue Xiaofei!

The twenty pilots behind him bent at the waist in unison, like a rising wave!

"We're sorry!"

"We failed you by letting a martyr's family be humiliated!"

For a moment, the entire place fell silent!

The barrage of comments froze until the livestream screen went black!

Who had ever seen a two-star general bow to a boy?

Who had ever seen ace pilots apologize together?

"But from now on, you're a child of the Air Force!"

Lei Zhen straightened, his voice booming.

"As long as the Azure Sword is here!"

"If the sky falls, we'll hold it up!"

"If the earth gives way, we'll fill the gap!"

"No one will lay another finger on you!"

"Anyone who bullies you makes an enemy of the entire Air Force!"

"And an enemy of the Azure Sword's two hundred pilots!"

Every word rang with conviction.

Each one struck Gao Zisheng like a blow!

Each one struck the hearts of the million people watching the livestream!

"It's over..."

Gao Zisheng's face turned deathly pale. He hurriedly pulled out his phone and sent a message.

[Dad, Thunder God from the Air Force is here! He's protecting Yue Xiaofei!]

At the other end of the conversation,

Gao Tianxiong fell silent.

A long time passed before a reply came.

[I'll have Principal Li take the blame. We'll say he put you up to it. Admit you were wrong for now and keep yourself alive.]

Just then, Yue Xiaofei looked at Lei Zhen and asked, "Uncle Lei, that medal numbered 81129..."

"That belonged to your uncle!"

Lei Zhen's voice dropped. "Your uncle, Yue Zhangkong, was the First Commander of the Azure Sword."

What?!

Yue Xiaofei was stunned. He had heard his grandfather mention the name Zhangkong, but he had never met this uncle.

"Thirty years ago, an accident happened during a test flight of a new fighter jet!"

Lei Zhen raised his voice, and it rang across the entire site.

"There was a residential area directly below!"

"He could have survived by ejecting!"

"Flying into the mountain meant certain death!"

"Your uncle chose the mountain!"

His voice trembled with restrained emotion.

"He said, 'I'm a pilot!'"

"He said, 'The people down there must not die!'"

"He said, 'The flight data must be sent back!'"

"In the last three seconds, he was still shouting, 'The Azure Sword will never lose its wings!'"

BOOM!

The next instant, the twenty pilots roared in unison:

"The Azure Sword will never lose its wings!"

"The Azure Sword will never lose its wings!"

Their voices stirred the dust and seemed to shake the clouds!

In the livestream,

gift animations flooded the screen until nothing else was visible.

[So the King of the Skies was his uncle!]

[The Yue Family is full of heroes!]

[That Gao Zisheng deserves to die!]

Suddenly, Lei Zhen turned to Yue Xiaofei. "Come join the Air Force, child!"

"Learn to fly, pilot a fighter jet, join the Azure Sword, and carry on your uncle's legacy!"

"I, Lei Zhen, promise you—as long as the Azure Sword stands, you'll have a place among the skies!"

Everyone there was overcome with envy.

Countless people would have fought tooth and nail for such a chance!

Yue Xiaofei was excited, but he shook his head. "I need to ask my grandfather first!"

The Air Force might be prestigious, but it was not necessarily the best fit for him.

"All right. I'll wait for your answer!"

Lei Zhen nodded, then turned to Gao Zisheng on the ground. His gaze sharpened instantly!

"You bullied a martyr's nephew?"

"You trampled a hero's medal?"

"You think the Gao Family can protect you?"

"The Azure Sword settles its debts in blood!!!"

Gao Zisheng seethed, but remembering his father's warning, he could only back down for now and shift the blame onto Principal Li.

"Chief, I know I was wrong!"

"It wasn't my idea! Principal Li forced me to do it! He told me to bully Yue Xiaofei!"

"And even if Yue Xiaofei's uncle was a martyr, he also has a Navy medal. How do you explain that?"

"You can't just investigate the Air Force medal. You have to check the Navy one too!"

Gao Zisheng said it deliberately, hoping to stall until his father arrived.

"There's a Navy First-Class Merit Medal too? Let me see it!" Lei Zhen said.

"It's here, Uncle Lei!"

Yue Xiaofei took a dark blue medal from the wooden box and handed it over.

An anchor was embossed on its face!

Waves were engraved around the rim, each line gleaming with the cold light of the deep sea.

The number on the back was clear: CH-1986.

"Is this... a Navy Special-Class Combat Medal?!"

Lei Zhen's voice shook with disbelief. "There are fewer than fifty in the entire country!"

He pulled out a satellite phone and dialed an encrypted number.

"Old Wu, it's Lei Zhen!"

"Look up the owner of Navy medal CH-1986!"

"Right now!"

A surprised voice answered, "Thunder God, what medal is worth a personal call from you? Hang on!"

The thirty-second wait felt like three centuries.

Heh!

Gao Zisheng laughed to himself.

If they can't identify the owner, that'll prove the Yue Family stole it!

"I found it—!"

The voice came through again, full of astonishment.

"CH-1986! It belonged to Special-Class Martyr Yue Changhai!"

"He was the captain of the Sea Dragon warship!"

"Back then, an Eagle Country warship crossed the border and rammed three of our patrol boats!"

"Yue Changhai steered the Sea Dragon straight at it and told his men to jump into the sea!"

"He stayed at the helm, his ship packed with explosives, and shouted one thing at Eagle Country's flagship—"

"Not one inch of the Dragon Kingdom's sea is ours to give up!"

"Then he rammed it. He took the enemy down with him, and both ships exploded in balls of fire!"

"The oil floating on the sea burned for three days and three nights!"

"He was posthumously named a Special-Class Martyr, but his family was never found..."

What?!

Lei Zhen shook from head to toe. Disbelief filled his face as he stared at Yue Xiaofei. His lips trembled, but he could not say a word.

Army veteran, Yue Qinhu!

Air Force Legend, Yue Zhangkong!

Navy Martyr, Yue Changhai!

Three loyal martyrs from one family!

Heroes in every generation!