Shoot Him Down

"Sangji Ayi, calm down first. Grab the control stick and slowly pull it toward you!"

The controller kept his voice as gentle as possible to avoid upsetting Sangji Ayi.

Unfortunately, he had not believed Sangji Ayi, causing him to lose control of his emotions completely.

"I told you, I can't control it, ah~!!"

Clatter, crash~

Sangji Ayi began to roar and smash things again.

"Sangji Ayi, calm down!"

"Sangji Ayi!"

No matter how the Peacock controller shouted, the completely distraught Sangji Ayi ignored him and kept smashing things.

No one believed that Sangji Ayi really could no longer control the fighter; they all thought something was wrong with his mind.

"Sir, Sangji Ayi is less than ten kilometers from Muhante City!"

The controller reported the fact to the commander beside him.

They certainly couldn't let an out-of-control fighter fly over the city. And with Sangji Ayi flying so low, there was a one hundred percent chance he would hit a high-rise!

It was time for the commander to make a decision!

"Notify close-in defense. Bring him down!"

The commander did not hesitate. Sangji Ayi had no surname, and his status in Peacock Country was not high.

So even if he was shot down, not many people would pay attention.

"Do you mean shoot him down, sir?"

The controller had to clarify the commander's order, even if it displeased him. He didn't want to inexplicably take the fall afterward.

"Yes, shoot him down!"

The commander glared at the controller. He had indeed kept his order vague just now so he could shift the blame if anyone was held accountable, but he hadn't gotten away with it.

The officer in charge of close-in defense was also shocked by the news. Were the higher-ups really ordering their own air defenses to shoot down one of their own fighters?

After confirming the order repeatedly, close-in defense had no choice but to start aiming at Sangji Ayi's aircraft.

Although Sangji Ayi was flying very low, his flight path was straightforward. They didn't even need a missile; a rocket launcher would do the job.

Boom~!!!

As a "skyrocket" soared into the air, Sangji Ayi and his aircraft became a ball of fire.

With Muhante City less than ten kilometers away, quite a few local residents saw the "fireworks," and surveillance equipment even captured the scene.

"Send someone to clean it up. Have everyone else return. It's not time to openly turn against Dragon Country yet!"

The commander didn't care whether Sangji Ayi lived or died. What concerned him now was the growing number of Dragon Country fighters in the border region, which had already exceeded the total number Peacock had deployed there.

Although Peacock was extremely arrogant, it also knew it was no match for Dragon Country right now.

Minor clashes were acceptable, but larger clashes with Dragon Country were out of the question, and they were doing their best to avoid them.

Even with so many Dragon Country fighters present, the commander still took the risk of ordering all his fighters to land.

This matter now seemed to have nothing to do with Dragon Country, and he didn't want to cause any unnecessary misunderstandings.

At the same time, the commander was deeply frustrated. They had lost several pilots recently, and apart from the one still in Dragon Country, the others had all lost their lives.

The fact that he was still a commander was already thanks to the efforts of the family backing him.

Sure enough, after Peacock withdrew all its fighters, Lei Hu on the Dragon Country side also began ordering everyone to withdraw in an orderly manner.

Dragon Country had some ideas that were not yet fully developed, but it was not ready yet, and this situation had come up unexpectedly. If they had known beforehand that this would happen, they would certainly have made some preparations in advance.

A missed opportunity was a missed opportunity. Dragon Country couldn't force the issue without being prepared; that would be gambling with the soldiers' lives!

Dragon Country had also more or less determined what had started the incident.

All the clues pointed to Li Zhi. It was his provocation that had led to the series of events that followed.

Lei Hu and the other senior officers who knew about it had no intention of blaming Li Zhi. On the contrary, they greatly admired him.

Moreover, Li Zhi had only been flying solo for a little over a month, yet he had already earned considerable merit time and again. That made the senior officers remember his name all the more.

They still didn't know that Peacock had lost another fighter and pilot because of Li Zhi. Otherwise, they would have been even happier.

Li Zhi and Xu Feng also returned to Chicken Coop Base.

"Don't forget, kid, write up a detailed report of what happened and turn it in!"

The higher-ups had not classified Li Zhi's actions on this occasion, acting as though they knew nothing about them. So Li Zhi received neither a commendation nor a punishment, but he still had to write a report.

"Captain Xu, don't you already know what happened? Can I skip the report?"

Asking a warrior to pick up a pen was asking too much, wasn't it? Li Zhi began pleading with a miserable look on his face.

"No. You made such a huge mess, kid. Not grounding you was already the biggest favor we could do you. The report isn't up for discussion!"

Since Li Zhi hadn't been punished before landing, he would receive at most a verbal reprimand afterward. Being grounded was unlikely.

Xu Feng rather admired the commotion Li Zhi had caused this time. After all, a single plane had left Peacock panicking like ants on a hot pan.

Xu Feng, who had always hated Peacock Country, found that very funny.

But he had to keep a straight face, or there was no telling how conceited Li Zhi would get.

The fighter was towed into the hangar for a detailed inspection, and Captain Xu Feng turned and left, leaving Li Zhi standing there alone with a miserable look on his face.

He really didn't know how to write a report!

At this moment, outside Muhante City in Peacock Country, the Peacock military had just found the fighter's black box, only for Eagle Country to snatch it away.

To keep Peacock Country from discovering the fighter's secrets, Eagle soldiers stationed in Peacock Country had rushed over as soon as the fighter was shot down.

They then seized the fighter's black box on the grounds that it contained technical secrets.

Peacock Country naturally didn't dare offend Eagle. It was already on bad terms with Dragon Country; if it offended Eagle as well, it would really be caught between the two.

Having obtained the black box, Eagle Country immediately issued its determination on the incident.

It said that the Peacock Country pilot had suffered a mental breakdown, attributed the breakdown to the ejection seat's failure to eject, and selectively released some data.

The data showed that the pilot had indeed attempted to eject, but had failed.

Eagle also accused Peacock of making unnecessary modifications to the fighter, saying those were the main cause of the incident.

Eagle had always opposed Peacock's desire to build its own fighters, and now that an opportunity had presented itself, it naturally spared no effort.

It even made the incident public to the entire world without Peacock Country's consent!