Ejection Failure

The principles of radar had just been explained. When radar waves were sent toward the ground, they likewise could not detect a target at a very low altitude.

The ground was the largest source of reflection in the world. When the other party was at a relatively high altitude, it was still possible to identify them by the order in which the reflected radar waves returned.

When the other party was too low, they could not be detected unless you were very close to them.

That was exactly the situation now. Li Zhi was far away from him and less than two hundred meters above the ground, so the Peacock fighter's radar could not detect him at all.

Li Zhi had disappeared from his own side's ground radar, and naturally, he had also vanished from the surveillance range of the other side's ground radar.

With the Peacock pilot reporting that the other party had disappeared, Peacock's ground forces became genuinely nervous.

Relations between Dragon Country and Peacock had recently dropped to freezing point. Peacock's think tank had even raised the possibility that Dragon Country might make a major move.

A fully armed Dragon Country fighter disappearing near the border was no joking matter.

A single fighter was enough to destroy an air base or even tear straight through Peacock's defenses. Naturally, they were extremely worried and even suspected that Dragon Country was planning a major move.

Peacock immediately scrambled every fighter capable of taking off and sounded the alarm.

Dragon Country detected Peacock's movements and naturally scrambled the corresponding fighters in preparation.

Nearly every base around the border prepared itself. Even Xu Feng had to make an emergency takeoff to provide support.

Li Zhi had no idea that his disappearance had prompted such a major response near the border. He was concentrating tensely on flying at low altitude.

Li Zhi was still patrolling along his assigned route, but his altitude was a full nine thousand meters lower than planned!

The Peacock pilot who had been watching Li Zhi also risked descending to an extremely low altitude. To find Li Zhi, he either had to get very close to him or fly even lower than him.

The Peacock pilot was extremely nervous. Besides minding his controls and avoiding obstacles on the ground, he also had to watch his radar screen for any sign of Li Zhi.

"Chicken Coop, this is Old Hen. Activate satellite communications and have Li Zhi come out!"

"Okay!"

Things had already escalated, and to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control, Xu Feng had no choice but to have the base activate satellite communications.

Activating satellite communications was automatically logged, and the Southwest Military Region Air Force Command Center immediately took notice of the communication.

With the reports of unusual movements on Peacock's side that had just come in from the various bases, the command center also paid close attention to this communication.

"Three-Yellow Chicken, this is Chicken Coop. Please return your aircraft to the designated altitude immediately!"

The Tianshu Satellite System was highly reliable, and the tower's order came through clearly to Li Zhi.

"Three-Yellow Chicken, roger!"

Now that the order had come down, Li Zhi could only obey. He was actually rather puzzled, unaware of what consequences his actions had caused.

As Li Zhi began to climb, the fighter reappeared on both sides' radar screens.

By now, Li Zhi was nearly a hundred kilometers from the point where he had disappeared. Of course, he was still in Dragon Country's airspace.

The people on Peacock's side could not help breaking out in a cold sweat. If the fighter had penetrated their defenses, it would probably have already reached the airspace above their base.

Since the fighter had not appeared on radar, it naturally would not have been detected by air defenses either, and Li Zhi might well not have been intercepted.

Now that Li Zhi was back in everyone's sights and the incident had been a false alarm, both sides began reducing the number of fighters in the air in an orderly manner.

For the time being, both sides were still exercising a measure of restraint!

Just as everyone breathed a sigh of relief, another incident cast a shadow over the affair.

Unlike Dragon Country, Peacock Country did not have a satellite positioning system of its own. It used Eagle Country's system.

Each use came at a cost, and the Peacock military had to pay Eagle Country a large sum of money every year for it.

Besides costing money, it was also extremely inconvenient to use. Every use required authorization from Eagle Country, making it very troublesome.

Moreover, it was currently the middle of the night in Eagle Country, so Peacock did not contact them to get in touch with their pilot, who was still flying at low altitude.

After all, as they saw it, Li Zhi had shown himself, so the pilot would surely climb on his own unless he was an idiot.

The Peacock pilot, who had been searching for Li Zhi all along, naturally spotted him when he revealed himself.

Seeing that Li Zhi was still within Dragon Country's borders, the pilot set his worries aside. If Li Zhi had broken through into Peacock, he would have been in serious trouble.

The rather excited Peacock pilot did not notice that two old trees ahead were considerably taller than the others around them. He was still staring at his radar screen.

"Tragedy" struck!

The Peacock fighter was flying lower than the trees, and by the time the pilot reacted, it was too late.

The plane's right wing had a close encounter with the treetops. Two missiles were knocked off, and the fighter began to lose its stable attitude.

At such a low altitude, with the fighter unstable, the Peacock pilot's first thought was to eject.

Unlike Dragon Country's pilots, who considered this and that, pilots from these countries thought first of their own safety when something went wrong.

The pilot reached both hands beneath his seat, where the ejection activation device was located.

He pulled hard. Nothing happened. He pulled again, but there was still no response.

The Peacock pilot's heart sank. He thought of the rumors that the ejection device had problems. The military had always claimed they were false, but now they seemed to be true.

The pilot despaired. It seemed all he could do now was wait silently for death.

Because his altitude was so low, he could not even contact the base. He could only speak his last words to himself; the fighter's black box would still be able to record them.

But after the Peacock pilot finished speaking his last words, the fighter did not crash as he had imagined.

Instead, after swaying from side to side, it miraculously returned to a normal flight attitude.

This rekindled the pilot's desire to live, and he hurriedly tried to bring the fighter under control.

But the fighter's control stick seemed to have failed. No matter how he moved it, he could not control the plane.

He then worked the controls on the fighter's console. As expected, all the gauges and instruments showed normal readings, but none of the controls would respond.

The hope that had just risen in the Peacock pilot vanished in an instant.

The ejection system had failed, the fighter was out of control, and he could not contact the base. Everything seemed to indicate that all he could do now was wait for death!