Peacock Fighter Jets
"Chicken Coop, this is Three-Yellow Chicken, preparing to carry out a routine training mission!"
"Three-Yellow Chicken, welcome aboard. Field pressure 1093, northerly wind force 4, gusts force 3. Cleared for takeoff!"
This was Li Zhi's first exchange with the base's control tower. Everyone had been extremely busy, so he hadn't had much contact with them over the past two days.
The Eighth Master's control layout was much like that of the L-8 advanced trainer. In fact, the L8 could provide a nearly seamless transition to almost any Dragon Country fighter jet!
After all, they all came from the same lineage, so their systems, layouts, and the like weren't all that different.
Li Zhi didn't feel rusty in the slightest. He pushed the throttle forward and released the brakes.
Rumble!
As a twin-engine fighter, the Eighth Master was indeed considerably more powerful than a trainer. The engines made the whole airframe tremble slightly.
That was because the fighter was still on the ground. Once airborne, the vibration would become barely perceptible.
Still, to be fair, although it was considerably more powerful than the L8 advanced trainer, its flight control system really wasn't as good.
The L8 was a new trainer that had only recently entered service, while the Eighth Master was an antique whose design had been finalized in the last century!
As Dragon Country grew stronger, the pace at which its air force replaced its equipment continued to accelerate. The Eighth Master would probably become history in the hands of Li Zhi's generation.
"Nice flying. I'd say you'll be ready to fly solo tomorrow!"
Xu Feng was joking, of course. A single takeoff didn't reveal much, and clearing someone to fly solo was naturally not something to be treated so casually.
"Let's take a lap along the border!"
Xu Feng meant the actual border. It was one of the base's daily assignments.
Relations between Dragon Country and Peacock had been extremely tense lately. Although everyone believed a larger conflict was unlikely, they still had to be on guard!
Whenever Dragon Country sent fighters to the border, the other side would invariably scramble an equal number of fighters. This time was no exception.
Li Zhi had only just reached the vicinity of the border when the other side's fighters arrived.
The two countries' situations were different. Peacock's main opponent was Dragon Country, but Dragon Country's main forces weren't stationed here. As a result, the other side's fighters performed slightly better than those Dragon Country had deployed here.
That had also given the people on Peacock's side some inexplicable confidence, and they frequently provoked Dragon Country.
That had been the main cause of the last fighter collision. They believed they had the upper hand over Dragon Country, so they ignored the Dragon Country pilot's warnings.
Dragon Country, naturally, refused to indulge them. Where the pilots from the two sides ended up landing also indirectly proved who had been right and who had been wrong.
Both sides had shown considerable restraint and hadn't used weapons, which would have created a situation beyond control. Even so, the outcome had been more devastating than if they had.
Li Zhi didn't call out to the other side, because they hadn't crossed the border. Although both sides had entered the other's identification zone, an identification zone that included the other side's territory wasn't recognized in the first place.
The other side didn't provoke Li Zhi or do anything irrational either. Both sides maintained a fragile understanding.
"Sooner or later, I'll bring him down!"
Xu Feng, in the back seat, was still bitter about it. His wingman had been the one who collided with the other side last time, so whenever Xu Feng saw one of their planes, he felt the urge to shoot it down.
Li Zhi didn't answer Xu Feng, who was talking to himself. He didn't know what to say. Although he hadn't witnessed what happened, even hearing about it made him furious, let alone Xu Feng, who had been there himself.
"If you run into those bastards and they dare to provoke you, don't show them any mercy. If anything happens, I'll take responsibility!"
If something really did happen, Xu Feng certainly couldn't take responsibility for it. But if he couldn't, there was still Lei Hu. If Lei Hu couldn't, there was still the military region. And if even the military region couldn't take responsibility, then whether anyone did would no longer matter!
"Yes, sir!"
Whether Xu Feng had spoken in anger or meant something else, Li Zhi took him seriously. He was a young man, and young men were naturally hot-blooded!
"On the way back, take this same route!"
The route Li Zhi and Xu Feng had planned would have taken them along the border, then around to the base from the rear. But Xu Feng had clearly made a last-minute change, and he had the authority to do so.
"Yes, sir!"
Li Zhi could more or less guess what Xu Feng had in mind.
Earlier, after the fighter entered the plateau region, the Peacock Country fighters had turned back rather than continue flying alongside them, because of the natural barrier formed by the Kunlun Mountains.
Now that they were retracing their route, the other side would surely have to scramble again to monitor them. Xu Feng was trying to annoy them.
It was also one of the people at Chicken Coop Base's favorite things to do. They pulled it every so often, making the Peacock Country pilots curse up a storm.
Sure enough, as Li Zhi flew the fighter back the way they had come, the other side detected the returning Dragon Country fighter on radar. The Peacock Country fighters had only just landed, but they had to take off again.
Although they knew the Dragon Country fighter was just trying to annoy them, they had no choice but to come.
They also didn't dare give Dragon Country a taste of its own medicine, because there was a risk every time they took off. Dragon Country could play this game, but they couldn't.
"All right, let's head back!"
After annoying the other side, Xu Feng felt a good deal better. The fighter's fuel was also approaching the warning limit, so he told Li Zhi to return to base.
"This is roughly the airspace we're responsible for. We didn't run into Lone Wolf and the others today. I'll introduce you some other time."
Lone Wolf was a pilot from Wolf's Lair, a base whose defense zone bordered theirs. When Li Zhi heard the other base's code name, he even thought about transferring.
Just look at their code name: Wolf's Lair. How imposing!
Then look at theirs: Chicken Coop. It wasn't even in the same league.
But Xu Feng didn't get to decide what the base was called. He didn't even have the right to choose his own code name, and he was too embarrassed to say it aloud.
"Get some rest after we land. We'll have to come back up this afternoon when the others patrol!"
These few days were the busiest for Li Zhi and Xu Feng. They had to complete their daily patrols as well as their training assignments.
That's right, training assignments!
Ordinary rookie pilots had to learn complex aerial combat maneuvers after being assigned to a unit. After all, four years at the academy really wasn't enough.
Li Zhi, however, was no ordinary rookie pilot. He had completed that step at the academy.
Xu Feng just didn't know it yet.