A Successful Capture

After arriving in the cordoned-off area, Li Zhi found that the infrared night-vision pod was incredibly useful.

People on the ground had nowhere to hide from its view. Even their movements showed up clearly on the screen.

Li Zhi didn't have to watch the night-vision system constantly, either. Whenever it detected a target that hadn't been marked by the friend-or-foe identification system, it would sound an alert.

The Liu brothers had been very lucky before, because they hadn't run into Li Zhi.

Once Li Zhi joined the search, their luck seemed to run out. Of course, it was also possible that someone with even better luck had gotten the better of them!

Li Zhi found them on his first search pass. The night-vision screen began flashing red to alert him, highlighting both men's outlines in red.

"Chicken Coop, I've found the targets. There are two of them, at coordinates E105.1, N29.6!"

"Keep an eye on them. I'll send people over right away!"

The good news came as soon as Li Zhi returned, lifting Xu Feng's spirits a little.

Li Zhi's fighter kept circling over the brothers' heads, and they also sensed that something was wrong.

To make use of the night-vision system, Li Zhi wasn't flying very high, and the brothers could hear the roar of the fighter's engine.

The two had been planning to rest, but they knew they'd been discovered. With no mind to rest anymore, they hurriedly stumbled off in flight.

Without night-vision equipment, the two fell over more times than they could count, but they didn't dare stop. They knew that if they were caught, things wouldn't end well for them.

Li Zhi naturally saw them trying to escape. Although they couldn't possibly get out of the night-vision system's surveillance range, he decided to scare them to reduce his own workload.

After all, as long as they kept moving, he had to keep reporting their latest coordinates.

"Da-da-da!"

The autocannon's muzzle flashes blazed against the night sky.

Its rounds struck five or six meters ahead of the Liu brothers. At such close range, the sound of bullets hitting trees and punching through their trunks was crystal clear.

The two didn't dare run anymore. Terrified, they dropped to the ground.

If the shots were on target and killed them on the spot, that would be one thing. But if they were off target and left them crippled or paralyzed, they would spend the rest of their lives in agony!

Most importantly, they knew full well that their crimes weren't particularly serious. They hadn't even managed to send the intelligence out. They were guilty, but they didn't deserve to die!

For all these reasons, they ultimately chose to "surrender."

Li Zhi's attack also guided the search troops on the ground, who moved quickly toward the target area and soon found the two men lying there.

Seeing that both targets were in custody, Li Zhi left the area and headed for the others. No one knew whether the two had any accomplices.

The people on the ground also began an emergency interrogation. Every second was precious now, and they had to determine whether the intelligence had been transmitted.

At his fighter's speed, Li Zhi quickly finished searching the encircled area and found no other accomplices.

The interrogation confirmed this as well. Of course, they couldn't take everything the two said at face value, and the search of the area continued until daybreak.

After returning to base to refuel, Li Zhi searched back and forth through the area twice more. Only then was the alert fully lifted!

"Get a good rest today. Thanks for your hard work!"

After Li Zhi landed, Xu Feng told him to get some rest first. Xu Feng couldn't rest yet. Although the incident was over for now, his work had only just begun.

He had to report to his superiors on the base's new defense plan, the details of the incident, and a review of his previous work, one by one.

Xu Feng had simply been unlucky to have such a lapse occur on his watch. Li Zhi didn't know what to say, so he chose to say nothing.

The subsequent interrogation of the Liu brothers had nothing to do with the base, and Li Zhi naturally had no interest in what became of the two nobodies.

Li Zhi was the only person to earn credit in the incident. From first spotting the situation, to shooting down the enemy drone, to finally capturing the two men, he had made an indispensable contribution.

It was thanks to Li Zhi's luck, but it was also a testament to his ability. After all, luck was part of ability.

It was easy to imagine that Li Zhi would receive an official commendation at the very least. It wasn't even impossible for him to get a merit medal!

Of course, none of that could be decided so quickly. The higher-ups were currently focused on identifying security gaps. There had to be gaps, or the two men couldn't have gotten right under the base's nose.

Making a mistake wasn't the frightening part. What was frightening was not knowing where the mistake had been made!

Over the next two days, Li Zhi didn't even catch sight of Captain Xu. Lei Hu had already summoned him to division headquarters, where a reprimand was surely unavoidable.

With Xu Feng away, the base's routine patrols still had to continue. Zeng Yuan, the most senior of them, temporarily took Xu Feng's place.

Li Zhi and another pilot, Liao Yifei, took turns on patrol. With so few people available, both kept a much lower profile and didn't even tease Peacock.

There was still no news about Li Zhi's aircraft. It looked like they really did intend to drag things out until it was time to upgrade the equipment.

As it happened, Xu Feng was busy during this period, so his first wife naturally became Li Zhi's aircraft.

The day after the capture, 201 Airport sent people over to remove the night-vision system. They acted as though they were afraid Li Zhi and the others would keep it for themselves.

After three days, the interrogation of the Liu brothers was also complete. Only after confirming that they hadn't managed to pass on the intelligence did the base return to its usual calm.

Xu Feng returned as well, bringing a commendation order from a superior officer.

It wasn't for him, of course. He had Li Zhi to thank that he hadn't been publicly reprimanded throughout the military region. If not for Li Zhi, he would have gotten more than a few words of criticism.

The commendation order was for Li Zhi. In fact, the senior leaders had disagreed considerably over whether to give him a commendation or a third-class merit award.

Li Zhi's contribution was fully deserving of a third-class merit medal, but one shouldn't air dirty laundry in public. After all, this incident wasn't exactly something worth publicizing.

Besides, the incident had been caused by negligence on the part of Chicken Coop Base in the first place, so awarding a merit medal wasn't all that appropriate.

In the end, the superior officer decided to give Li Zhi a commendation within the military region.

Xu Feng felt somewhat guilty about this. He thought he had held Li Zhi back; otherwise, Li Zhi would have received a merit medal!

After all, a commendation certificate was certainly no match for a third-class merit medal!

Li Zhi, on the other hand, didn't mind much. Although he regretted not getting the first merit medal of this life, it wasn't as though he'd never received one.

In his previous life, as an outstanding special operations soldier, he had won so many merit medals that he'd lost count. He even had two first-class merit medals!