I Don't Want to Die

What the Peacock pilot didn't know was that the fighter, manufactured in Eagle Country, had been fitted with a hidden safety device by the other side.

If the fighter crashed or was shot down, the safety device would immediately lock its systems and destroy important data.

The pilot's earlier attempt to eject had caused the fighter to determine that it had already crashed, so it locked down the flight controls.

If he had ejected successfully, none of this would have happened.

But Peacock had modified the ejection system, causing it to malfunction, and the pilot had failed to eject.

Death wasn't frightening. After all, it often arrived quietly before a person even realized what was happening.

But waiting to die was undoubtedly terrifying. It could even drive a normal person insane.

The Peacock pilot was already on the verge of breaking down. He smashed at things in despair, but he couldn't change his situation.

He had even tried to smash the glass canopy above his head, but it was military equipment, and its quality was still very good.

Without a suitable tool, he hadn't been able to break the glass.

He then pulled the pistol from his leg. Pilots from almost every country were equipped with personal defensive weapons.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He fired several shots at the canopy above him, emptying the magazine and punching two holes in the glass.

Overjoyed, he used the now-empty pistol to hammer at the glass, but the fighter's canopy seemed unusually sturdy.

On top of that, in his earlier panic, he hadn't fired at different spots, so the two holes were close together.

In the end, he still couldn't smash the glass!

In fact, even breaking the glass would have been useless. Without a parachute, jumping out like that would still have meant death!

By now, Peacock had also noticed that something was wrong. Several minutes had passed, but their fighter still hadn't appeared.

That forced them to consider other possibilities. They even began to suspect that Li Zhi had shot him down.

They finally contacted Eagle Country's military, hoping to use its satellite navigation system to check on their fighter and get in touch with the pilot.

But it belonged to someone else, so there was no way they could get access that quickly. They could only wait helplessly.

As they waited, they also ordered the returning fighters that had yet to land to hold off and await further instructions.

If their fighter was confirmed to have been shot down by Li Zhi, the border region probably wouldn't remain peaceful!

Li Zhi, of course, had no idea there had been such an unexpected windfall. He had already rejoined Xu Feng, and the two were flying back in formation.

"Old Hen, is this your man? You made quite a fuss over him! Haha!"

There were still many fighters in the airspace. Now that the alert had been lifted, everyone was naturally more relaxed and began chatting.

"One-Eyed Wolf, I'll take that as you being jealous of me!"

"That's One-Eyed Wolf from the Wolf's Lair. He's no good, so keep your guard up when you deal with him in the future!"

Xu Feng had directed the latter remark at Li Zhi, though he had said it jokingly.

"Hey, you old hen, I... Holy crap, that's a Jiaolong 10! Have you all switched to those?"

The pilot codenamed One-Eyed Wolf had clearly wanted to argue with Xu Feng. Since they were headed the same way, he naturally drew closer to Li Zhi and Xu Feng, and only then did he notice that Li Zhi was flying a Jiaolong 10.

"Heh heh, you think your relationship with the division commander can compare to mine? Of course I get the good stuff first. You think he'd give it to you?"

Xu Feng and the other man had clearly been at odds for more than a day or two, and he seized every chance to take a jab at him.

"What's there to be smug about? Aren't you still flying an Eighth Master yourself?"

The other man was clearly unwilling to concede, but his voice was also full of envy.

"All right, both of you, that's enough. The other side's movements aren't quite right. Stop your return immediately and adapt to the situation!"

Ever since a clash had nearly broken out here, Lei Hu had been keeping a close eye on the area.

He had heard every word of Xu Feng and One-Eyed Wolf's conversation. Though exasperated, he couldn't interrupt his two subordinates, or he really wouldn't know what to say if One-Eyed Wolf started complaining.

Just then, a satellite detected Peacock's unusual movements, and he immediately seized the chance to interrupt their chat.

"Yes, sir!"

"Yes, sir!"

With the commander himself giving the order, the two naturally couldn't continue bickering. And with something unusual happening on Peacock's side, they immediately grew serious.

The three formed up and returned to the vicinity of the border, where they began keeping a close watch on Peacock's movements.

At this point, Peacock's air base finally obtained Eagle's authorization and located its fighter.

The fighter was now over a stretch of grassland about fifty kilometers from the border, less than twenty kilometers from the largest border city, where the base was located.

A satellite communications link was also established, and Peacock immediately began questioning the pilot.

"Sangji Ayi, the alert has been lifted. Climb immediately!"

Peacock had yet to realize how serious the situation was. After all, the fighter was still flying normally.

But Eagle Country's command center, which was monitoring the situation, noticed something was wrong. In its system, the fighter had already been marked as crashed, yet it was still flying.

Eagle Country noticed the anomaly but had no intention of informing Peacock. After all, this was covert surveillance, and Peacock wasn't supposed to know about it.

"Sangji Ayi, can you hear me? Respond immediately!"

Satellite communications appeared to be working normally, and Peacock had considerable confidence in the quality of Eagle Country's satellites, so they began demanding to know why the pilot wasn't responding.

Inside the fighter, Sangji Ayi had begun to drift into a daze. He hadn't responded to the first call, thinking he was hallucinating.

The second call finally brought him around a little, and he immediately reacted as though he had seized a lifeline.

"Save me, quickly! I can't control the fighter, and I can't eject! Please, save me! I don't want to die, boo-hoo~~~"

As Sangji Ayi spoke, he began to cry. He had completely broken down, and it was already very difficult for him to speak coherently.

"Calm down. What happened? Did a Dragon Country fighter attack you?"

Peacock wasn't particularly concerned about whether anything happened to Sangji Ayi. What they cared about was whether Dragon Country had attacked him.

"I hit a tree! I don't want to die! Please, save me!"

"Climb first!"

Only after learning that Dragon Country hadn't attacked did they begin to pay attention to Sangji Ayi's situation. They didn't believe his claim that the fighter was out of control.

"I told you, I can't control the fighter! Can't you think of some way to save me? I don't want to die!"

Sangji Ayi never stopped crying, and he even began to grow increasingly agitated.