The WW's Long-Range Raid

After the meeting concluded, a simple yet dignified banquet was held. The Taya branch of the Plundering Clock welcomed the two Quarter Hand who had traveled from afar to provide support.

The bell-ringing priest dutifully arranged for people to search the surrounding area.

"Sir, everything is normal," the guard reported to him. "No suspicious persons have approached."

"Reporting to Your Excellency, I have been stationed more than ten kilometers behind the Princess and have not found any trace of her following me," Anrelo reported as well.

Besides him, another team was patrolling and keeping watch over an area of several thousand kilometers. No matter how powerful the tracking capabilities, it would be impossible to conduct surveillance and tracking silently over such a long distance.

During a break in the banquet, Kulandeer found the Death Knell alone and handed her an ornate wooden box.

"This is from Lady Aisidaier, who asked me to give it to you," he explained softly.

Aisidaier, the fifth in the Clock Hand sequence.

Death Knell took the wooden box and opened it. Inside were several bottles of medicine and a neatly folded piece of paper that read, "Antidote for 'Seven Absolutes Concerto ': Take once a day for one month."

With a slight twitch of her fingertips, a wisp of Magic Power burned the paper to ashes.

"Thank you." The huge weight that had been pressing on Death Knell's heart for so long finally lifted, and her tone became much lighter.

She had never been completely cured of the poison, which severely affected her health. Now, with Aisidaier's help, she was finally able to recover her health, which brought her great relief.

****

As night falls, the Dawn Territory the harbor, where rows of lights flicker, and the sea breeze, carrying a salty, damp scent, sweeps past the moored ships.

Upon receiving the order, the moored ships sprang into action, preparing to set sail.

The large warship "Pansy" is particularly special. Workers climbed the hull and began to dismantle the white wooden planks covering the surface, gradually revealing the supporting beams of the hull.

As the work progressed, the true nature of the giant ship was finally revealed – it was not a real giant ship at all, but rather two cargo ships with a displacement of two thousand tons each, tied together with many supporting structures, and covered with a large hull to make it look like a ten-thousand-ton giant ship.

The enemy was unaware that the real Pansy had a displacement of 28,000 tons, far exceeding that of this fake warship.

From beginning to end, only Zijin and the two giant dragons, Gelie and Qingfeng, arrived at Dawn Territory. The Bone Machine Battalion never set foot here. The bustling scene on this fake ship at that time was simply the unloading of cargo.

The Pansy had already detoured to the north to resupply at Eternal Night Port, then turned back to cross the Northern Continent and head to the western coast of the Western Continent to await orders.

"The camouflage ship should be dismantled and restored to normal operation overnight!" Katharine reported the progress to Su Ming.

"Be prepared. After tonight, our 'empty city ploy' in Dawn Territory will be completely exposed," Su Ming said.

"The supplies and non-combat personnel have been gradually boarding those cargo ships, and they will evacuate tonight ahead of schedule," Katharine continued her report. "The combat troops will remain in place. If the enemy in the Northern Continent Jurisdiction rashly launches an attack on Dawn Territory, we can see if there are any opportunities for guerrilla warfare." She continued, "If the enemy is impatient and rushes forward, we might be able to seize their weaknesses and gain some advantage."

In the harbor before Katharine, several cargo ships that had completed preparations had already raised their sails and set sail under the cover of night, quietly departing.

"Just do your best, and adjust your deployment as needed based on the battle situation," Su Ming said slowly. "If things don't look good, retreat if necessary; they can't catch up with these two ships anyway."

The two ships used to disguise themselves as the "Pansy" were genuine steamships. After the disguise was removed and they returned to their normal form, they were able to reach a speed of 18 knots and were not limited by weather or wind direction.

"Okay," Katharine replied. "If things go smoothly in the Radiant Jurisdiction, we might not need to evacuate and can launch a counterattack directly."

"I hope so," Su Ming said, his tone carrying a hint of anticipation.

****

After hanging up the call, Su Ming checked the time; it was already 8 PM.

"Su Ming, we are about to arrive at our destination," Miao Xin said.

Su Ming glanced at the radar screen; ahead lay a massive fleet. The enormous white dot in the very center was naturally the Pansy. Surrounding it were thirty or forty smaller dots representing various supply ships, transport vessels, and the Feather Race's naval warships.

This location, 2,000 kilometers northwest of Light Jurisdiction, is the assembly point and starting point for the upcoming assault.

A moment later, the H-6 WZ landed smoothly on the sea and glided to the vicinity of the Pansy. The enormous aircraft was larger than about half of the ships.

Ruixiuli opened the hatch, and Su Ming flew out with Ainuobia. On the huge and majestic warship, Beianqi, General Feikasi of the Feather Race Clan, and their entourage stood at the forefront. Behind them were the Bone Machine Second Battalion and Third Battalions, which had not yet set out, as well as a long line of giant dragons, to welcome his arrival.

Su Ming took a deep breath and landed. More than twenty days later, he stood once again on the deck of the White Bone Fortress.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Su Ming went straight to the command center on the warship.

"There have been some unexpected developments in the operation to capture Janet," Beianqi immediately reported to the leadership. "The First Battalion has successfully reached its position, but Janet has gone much further than expected."

Su Ming looked at the map. Janet had traveled between Radiant Holy City and City of Radiance many times, and her itinerary was basically fixed. She liked to take the route through Mist Mountain Bay, but she usually arrived at noon the next day.

She set off early this morning and rushed here without stopping, completing a journey that usually takes a day and a half in one day.

"Isn't she afraid of the jolting?" Su Ming murmured.

The cushioning structure of carriages in this other world is far inferior to that of technologically advanced ones. While horses can be replaced during long, fast journeys, the passengers will certainly not be comfortable.

"Where is the Bone Machine First Battalion located now?" Su Ming asked.

"We're about 130 kilometers from Mist Mountain Bay," Beianqi reported. "We expect to arrive in two hours."

The Bone Machine First Battalion set off last night and has been marching without sleep until now. Despite the changes in the mission, they did not hesitate to continue their all-out effort to reach the new location.

After a moment's thought, Su Ming quickly made a decision. "Have the Bone Machine First Battalion rest for five hours after arriving at Mist Mountain Bay. Postpone the attack to capture Janet to 2:00 AM."

"Do we need to adjust our deployment here?" Beianqi asked.

"Operation 'Life and Wrong ' will be postponed to 4:00 AM," Su Ming instructed. "The entire fleet's departure time will be postponed to 6:00 AM."

Beianqi did some mental calculations, "In that case, our attack on Golden Autumn Island will have to be postponed until late tomorrow night or early the day after tomorrow."

Golden Autumn Island, located only about 400 kilometers from the mainland within the Radiant Jurisdiction of the Temple of Light, served as a springboard for this land attack.

"Yes, we need to prepare for a large-scale night battle," Su Ming confirmed in a deep voice.

The instructions were quickly relayed, and the dispatchers at the command center immediately adjusted the personnel schedule according to the new timetable.

On the H-6 WZ side, the two hundred necromancers who arrived with the plane were unloading cargo, including the new aggregate undead and the four 170mm rune cannons captured from the Light Fleet's warships during the Battle of Brown Gold Island.

These rune cannons were installed at the base of the wings, and the necromancer quickly reinforced the structure and began testing.

Miao Xin jumped up and down with excitement when she saw that the H-6 WZ had finally acquired artillery.

After assigning the combat mission, Su Ming leaned back in his command chair, closed his eyes, and began to carefully review the entire deployment, checking for any omissions or improprieties.

Janet's side encountered a series of unexpected events. First, a Saint Rank combatant suddenly appeared, and then the princess unusually adjusted her itinerary and accelerated her advance. Although, according to the plan, the combat power arranged by Su Ming was definitely enough to capture such a princess, it was better to be prudent. If the attack time was postponed to 2 a. m., Su Ming quickly calculated the distance and found that there was plenty of time to arrange air support firepower to arrive.

[Miao Xin, come here, there's work to do.] Su Ming transmitted, while turning to Ainuobia to issue a directive, "Notify ground crew to prepare all Rainbow Heavy UAV and prepare them for deployment!"

"Yes, President!" Ainuobia replied.

Miao Xin quickly arrived at the command center and found Su Ming calculating the drone's payload on his computer, his brows furrowed deeply.

She leaned closer and saw that Su Ming was planning an air support mission spanning 3,000 kilometers. Although the Rainbow Heavy UAV could make a round trip, it needed to carry a large amount of fuel to ensure its range, so it could only carry less than 300 kilograms of munitions.

"Are you planning to use drones to support the operations at Mist Mountain Bay?" Miao Xin asked. "We currently only have four heavy drones, which can only carry a total of 1.2 tons of ammunition."

"It's not going to be of much use," Su Ming sighed. "We'll have to get a bigger bomber soon."

The various rare element materials accumulated during this period were basically used up on the engine transmission of the H-6 WZ; otherwise, a few more heavy drones could have been deployed.

Su Ming harbored a deep-seated hatred for those materials engineers who turned the periodic table into a ingredient list, a hatred that made him want to take a bite out of them.

"You haven't even factored in the loiter time on the battlefield," Miao Xin said. "Adding that in, the payload of each drone will decrease by another 200 kilograms."

That's a total of 0.4 tons of ammunition, which is even more unbearable. Su Ming decided to abandon the direct approach.

"What if drones could refuel each other in mid-air?" he began to think.

The four drones do not need to all fly to the combat airspace. Two of them can carry fuel, refuel the other two in the air, and then return. This can greatly increase the range and payload capacity.

"Should we transfer the refueling pod over?" Miao Xin asked. "But the refueling pod itself has weight, and aerial refueling also consumes time and fuel."

Su Ming entered a new formula, but after calculating it repeatedly, he found that it didn't improve anything and couldn't solve the fundamental problem.

On the spacious deck of the Pansy, ground crew had already pushed all four Rainbow Heavy UAV out of the hangar and arranged them on one side of the deck, where they were undergoing pre-flight checks and adjustments.

Looking at the drones neatly arranged in a row, Su Ming suddenly had a flash of inspiration, "Miao Xin, how many drones can you control at the same time?"

"Simultaneous control?" Miao Xin thought for a moment, "Three would be easy, but four would be a bit challenging."

Su Ming slapped Miao Xin's shoulder blade. "You said it! Then go!"

****

On the deck, following Su Ming's instructions, the ground crew connected the wingtips of the four Rainbow Heavy UAV together with connectors, creating a wing-to-wing configuration.

At the same time, their fuel lines are connected, enabling fuel to be transferred and shared between them via a built-in fuel pump.

Upon seeing this, Miao Xin's soul fire throbbed, and she turned to run away, but Su Ming grabbed her by the back of the neck.

"But you promised to fly four at a time," Su Ming said.

"But what kind of plane is this!" she protested. "Buy one get three free? And it's a three-star, fully charged plane?"

"This solves the problem of drone ammunition payload," Su Ming explained. "The two outer drones can disconnect their wingtips halfway through the flight and return to base, while the two in the middle continue their mission. This way, we don't need to use refueling pods or waste time on in-flight docking, achieving efficient fuel sharing."

"The problem is, can it even fly when strung together like this!" Miao Xin exclaimed.

"Why can't it fly?" Su Ming shrugged, looking confident. "This is called wingtip towing. During World War II, bombers used this method to tow fighters, increasing their escort range."

Miao Xin looked at Su Ming suspiciously, "How come I've never heard of this?"

"Haven't you heard about it now?"

Miao Xin thought for a moment, "Then I'll go practice on the simulator. You guys hurry up and get ready."

At the Earth Support Team base, Fengshou was dragged out of bed, still sleepy, and went to the flight simulator, where Miao Xin was already impatiently waiting for him.

"Wingtip drag?" Fengshou exclaimed in surprise, "Su Ming asked you to do this?"

"Is something wrong?" Miao Xin asked. "Su Ming said that planes from World War II flew like that."

"That was an experimental machine, and it was ultimately destroyed in a crash. It was never put into practical use on the battlefield," Fengshou replied, quickly adding before Miao Xin could react, "But that's because the electronic control technology at the time was too backward. From today's technological perspective, this configuration is theoretically perfectly fine."

"Theoretically?" Miao Xin still asked skeptically.

"Of course, it requires extremely high pilot control skills; the slightest mistake can lead to an accident." Fengshou opened the simulator's backend and began adjusting the program. Several more team members rushed over to join in. "Fortunately, it's a drone, so some risk is acceptable."

Miao Xin's soul fire flashed, "Su Ming really thinks highly of me."

"This formation has another advantage," Fengshou, "Connecting the wings reduces induced drag from the wingtip effect, saving fuel consumption."

"So that means we'll have even more ammunition?" Miao Xin began to get excited.

"This is equivalent to achieving in-flight refueling without a refueling pod, and then considering drag reduction." Fengshou began calculations and quickly concluded, "The combined vehicle's long-range combat payload can reach 6 tons!"

"This could totally be used as a fighter jet!" Miao Xin's spirit lit up. "Quickly, quickly modify the simulator, I want to try it out!"