Mission Begins

"Li Zhi, your mission today is to stir up trouble!"

Two days flew by, and Xu Feng was assigning Li Zhi his mission. Li Zhi, however, was a little confused.

What did he mean by stirring up trouble?

Li Zhi stared at Xu Feng quizzically, hoping he would explain.

"It means you can play with Peacock's fighters however you like. The bigger the commotion, the better!"

So that was what he meant. Li Zhi was best at that, but he still needed to know exactly where to draw the line.

"Can I..."

Li Zhi pressed his index and middle fingers together, raised his thumb, and mimed firing a gun.

"There are only two requirements this time. First, keep yourself safe. Second, do not open fire first!"

The main goal this time was to draw attention and buy time for the main force on the ground. The longer he could stall, the better.

Since the goal was to stall, he couldn't be the one to open fire. If that prompted the other side to strengthen its defenses, it would do more harm than good.

"Of course, your own safety comes first. You don't need to worry about anything else. Understood?"

Xu Feng had made himself perfectly clear: no matter the outcome, someone would clean up after Li Zhi, so he could go all out.

"Understood!"

He had been ordered to stir up trouble. A chance like this might only come once in a lifetime, and Li Zhi was going to raise absolute hell.

The main reason Li Zhi had been chosen for this mission was his outstanding performance over the past two months.

He had made monkeys of Peacock's fighters again and again, stirring up a major commotion every time. Because of him, Peacock had even been forced to shoot down one of its own fighters.

It was no exaggeration to say that even if Li Zhi did nothing but take a lap along the border, he could draw most of Peacock's attention.

Many Peacock pilots instinctively kept their distance as soon as they saw the number on Li Zhi's fighter.

Li Zhi could be considered the best man for the mission.

Although Li Zhi was still a rookie who had only been flying solo for two months, his abilities in every respect were on par with those of veteran pilots. Combined with his imaginative ideas, he might just surprise everyone.

"To avoid arousing Peacock's suspicions, you'll be carrying out the mission alone. But the surrounding bases will have your back, so don't be afraid!"

Several nearby bases were ready to provide support at a moment's notice. Even 201 Airport in Yuzhou was prepared.

No one knew how Peacock would react this time, so everyone had to be ready for all-out combat.

"Captain Xu, after all this time, you still don't know me? When have I ever been afraid?"

"All right, go get ready. Remember, your safety comes first!"

Xu Feng had said the same thing three times now. He was hinting that Li Zhi could disregard the second requirement to keep himself safe.

After all, how could anyone establish who had fired first? If Dragon Country stuck to its story and refused to budge, all they could do was argue.

In the face of overwhelming strength, who was right and who was wrong didn't really matter that much.

If you had no strength, no one would pay you any attention even if you were right. They might even think you were a nuisance.

But when your strength crushed the other side's, people would help whitewash your actions even if the whole world knew you were lying.

Eagle Country was proof of that. It threw its weight around all over the world, yet its followers still came in an endless stream!

Li Zhi's fighter had already been rolled out of the hangar. Besides being fully armed, it had two additional drop tanks mounted beneath its fuselage, making the whole aircraft look very bulky.

The extra weight would certainly affect the fighter's performance. If this had been the Eighth Master, there would have been no way to carry out the mission.

But those two drop tanks were hardly a burden for the Jiaolong 10.

Li Zhi came over in his flight suit. Before he boarded the plane, Old Sun from the ground crew stopped him and handed him several magazines.

Most of the time, pilots had no use for their issued pistols. In peacetime, many pilots never even used one throughout their entire careers.

But this time was different. Just in case, it never hurt to bring more ammo.

"We'll be waiting for news of your triumphant return!"

The unusual preparations couldn't be hidden from Old Sun. After nearly thirty years on the ground crew, he could tell what kind of mission this was from the equipment added to the fighter.

"Old Sun, don't jinx me. When this scene plays out in a TV drama, things never end well!"

"You little rascal..."

Li Zhi had said it on purpose. He was only going on a mission, not parting with them forever, so what was with all the sentimentality?

With the ground crew's help, Li Zhi climbed into the fighter. After saluting his comrades on the ground crew, he contacted the tower to request takeoff.

The fighter had already been pushed onto the runway by a tractor, so once Li Zhi received clearance, he could take off immediately.

"Field pressure 989, southerly wind force 5, gusts force 7. Stay safe!"

It was hard to say whether the tower meant for him to stay safe because of the strong wind or because of the mission.

The weather was bad today. The clouds overhead were very thick, and the wind was fairly strong. It was hard to say whether that was a good thing or a bad thing for Dragon Country.

"Chicken Coop, I'm going silent. Goodbye!"

Li Zhi's Jiaolong 10 had no stealth capabilities, so whether he maintained radio silence didn't really matter.

However, the flight ahead could be dangerous. Even the carefree Li Zhi couldn't afford to be careless, so radio silence was necessary to avoid distractions.

The base understood the situation and agreed to his request.

Captain Xu wasn't watching Li Zhi from the tower. Instead, he was waiting in the duty room with Liao Yifei and Zeng Yuan, ready to provide support at any moment.

The several bases around Chicken Coop Base were making the same preparations!

Not long after taking off, Li Zhi chose to approach the border at extremely low altitude. He wanted to give Peacock a surprise.

The green dot representing Li Zhi's fighter disappeared from the radar screen, and the tower immediately switched to the satellite monitoring system.

The higher-ups had arranged this mission, so naturally they knew about it. They were surely keeping a close eye on Li Zhi now as well.

With the Tianshu Satellite System working with Li Zhi's fighter to determine his position, the tower was able to track his location again.

The fighter drew steadily closer to the border. Because Li Zhi had remained in the radar's blind spot, Peacock had not detected him.

After reaching the vicinity of the border, Li Zhi turned and began to climb.

This mission was not a surprise attack on Peacock, but an effort to tie down its air force. Li Zhi therefore had to let the other side detect him.

As Li Zhi flew out of the radar blind spot, Peacock's air force command center in Muhante detected him.

The red dot that had suddenly appeared near the border gave the people at Peacock's command center a terrible fright. They even began to suspect that something was wrong with the radar.

How had they only just discovered a Dragon Country fighter when it had already reached the border?