33: Chapter 33 Simulated Driving!! A Driver's Amazing Skills

“Attention everyone! The simulated cockpit system is starting. This is just a test flight and will not count towards your assessment grades!”

Zhao Lie's voice echoed through the underground simulation center via the broadcast, instantly igniting the enthusiasm of the crowd.

Hundreds of silver cockpits were neatly arranged like a swarm of steel dormant in the darkness. As the hatches slid open, they emitted a faint blue energy glow, illuminating the faces of the students with flickering light. As young people, most of them had a special fondness for piloting fighter jets and soaring through the starry sky.

“Charge! I want to fly the coolest fighter jet!”

Laya, like a rabbit off its leash, was the first to dash into cockpit C-08. She kicked the pedals with her long legs and pressed her hands onto the holographic control panel, unable to contain her impatience. Although she couldn't understand anything, it didn't affect her excitement in the slightest. She muttered to herself, “Fighter jet, fighter jet, I want to choose one that's covered in cannons!”

Students swarmed in, each grabbing their preferred cockpit. Most of them headed straight for the agile-type fighters—after all, on the starry battlefield, flexibility often meant a higher survival rate. The silver-grey fuselage had smooth lines, like a hunting falcon spreading its wings, and two particle cannons were mounted under the wings. Combining aesthetics and practicality, it became the first choice for novices.

Li Yuan walked into the B-17 cockpit. The moment he sat in the wrap-around seat, it automatically adjusted to fit his body. The helmet slowly descended, and his field of vision shifted instantly. The scene of the asteroid belt spread out before him as if it were real.

Countless irregular rocks floated in the deep void, the largest comparable to mountains and the smallest like fists, their surfaces covered in impact craters from meteorites.

The control stick provided a delicate metallic tactile sensation, and the throttle's damping was just right, far superior to the flight shooting games he had been obsessed with in his past life.

“Let's test the feel first.”

Li Yuan took a deep breath and gently pushed the throttle. The fighter's engine emitted a low roar, and the tail ejected a pale blue plasma exhaust, slowly rising into the air. He maneuvered the fighter to perform a simple climb; the fuselage ascended lightly without any hesitation. He then tried a roll, and the fighter spun like a top. His vision spun dizzily, but he was able to adapt quickly through the helmet's attitude stabilization system.

In the adjacent A-03 cockpit, Elia had already flown out in an ice-blue agile fighter. Her handling was more proficient than most novices, and the fighter wove flexibly between asteroids.

“Target locked!” With a light press of the weapon button, two bright particle beams shot out like swords, hitting an asteroid in front. The rock shattered instantly, and fragments splashed in all directions.

“Fun! Let's do it again!” Elia's mouth curled up. She maneuvered the fighter to perform a high-difficulty barrel roll, dodging the splashing rock fragments while locking onto a target again. The particle cannons fired continuously, blasting another asteroid into dust.

The entire simulated battlefield instantly became lively, like a grand interstellar carnival. Someone had just taken off and failed to control the direction, crashing head-on into an asteroid. A dazzling red light lit up inside the cockpit, accompanied by a mechanical prompt: “Simulated airframe destroyed, test flight ended,” drawing bursts of laughter from those around.

Someone fumbled for a long time without finding the weapon switch, shouting anxiously inside the cockpit and randomly pressing buttons on the control panel, only to accidentally trigger the emergency ejection button. The virtual pilot model was ejected from the cabin and drifted in the void.

There were also a few bold students who tried to fly in formation, but the distance between the two fighters was too close, causing their wings to collide. Both lost control and crashed, turning into two brilliant clouds of light.

The laughter of trial and error, excited shouts, and annoyed complaints intertwined, signaling the students' intense excitement.

Time passed minute by minute, and the half-hour test flight was quickly drawing to a close. Laya was piloting an all-black heavy attack aircraft, floating slowly in mid-air. This fighter had a sturdy fuselage covered in dense cannon ports, and six simulated missiles were mounted under its wings, looking quite intimidating.

“Boring, boring!” Laya complained with puffed cheeks. “Just flying around is so boring. Can we do something exciting? Like... fighting?”

These words were like a spark thrown into a frying pan, instantly igniting the enthusiasm of the whole room.

“Yeah! Just a test flight isn't challenging; fighting is more interesting!”

“Agreed! How about a free-for-all? The loser buys ice cola!”

“I've been wanting to test this fighter's firepower for a long time. Who wants to practice with me?”

Several active students immediately responded, forming a small formation in the air with their fighters, heckling, “Teacher Zhao, please! We want to have a battle!” “Just one round, we promise not to cheat!”

Zhao Lie looked at the gleam in the students' eyes and nodded approvingly: “Since everyone is familiar with it now, we will temporarily switch to the asteroid belt free-for-all mode! It's good to get familiar with combat as well!”

“Yay! Long live Teacher Zhao!”

The whole place cheered. The students inside the cockpits instantly switched to combat mode. Li Yuan adjusted his seat back, his eyes becoming serious. His gaming experience from his past life told him that in interstellar combat, staying alive meant playing it safe; rushing blindly would only make you a living target for others.

“3, 2, 1—battle begins!”

As the command fell, the entire asteroid belt instantly changed from a joyous test flight field into a tense and exciting battlefield! Countless fighters rushed out from all corners like arrows from a bow, with pale blue, red, and green plasma exhausts intertwining in the void, forming brilliant trajectories. The light of particle cannons cut through the darkness like lightning, and missiles whistled away with long smoke trails. Explosions rang out one after another, and virtual firelight and rock fragments flew everywhere, the scene chaotic and highly impactful.

The holographic big screen broadcasted the battle in real-time, with the camera constantly switching to capture exciting moments: a student piloted an agile fighter, relying on extreme positioning to weave through the gaps in the gunfire like a flexible loach, dodging the siege of three enemy planes in a row, and counterattacking with a precise shot, shooting down one of the enemy planes; another student chose a firepower-type fighter, using a huge asteroid as cover to turn on rapid-fire mode, with particle beams pouring out like a rainstorm; others tried sneak attacks, hiding their fighters in the shadows of rocks, and suddenly attacking when enemy fighters passed by, catching them off guard.

Li Yuan piloted his fighter, carefully hiding behind an asteroid hundreds of meters in diameter, and turned on the radar scanning mode. On the screen, red dots representing enemy fighters were dense, like twinkling stars. He held the control stick tightly, patiently waiting for an opportunity, his eyes fixed on the radar screen, looking for a lone target.

Soon, a red dot approached slowly, looking like it was searching for prey. Li Yuan's eyes narrowed, and he gently pushed the throttle. The fighter slowly circled to the other side of the asteroid, using the rock to block the opponent's line of sight. The moment the enemy fighter entered the attack range, he slammed on the acceleration pedal, and the fighter rushed out like an arrow from a bow, simultaneously activating the aiming assistance system to lock onto the target.

“Now!”

Li Yuan pressed the weapon button without hesitation, and two bright particle beams shot out, accurately hitting the engine part of the enemy fighter. That fighter instantly lost control and then crashed into the rock next to it, exploding into a ball of fire.

“Got it!” Li Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he wanted to maneuver the fighter back to cover, the radar suddenly emitted a sharp alarm—two red dots were approaching rapidly from the rear, obviously attracted by the explosion just now.

“Oh no!”

Li Yuan hurriedly maneuvered the fighter to perform an emergency roll, barely dodging the particle beams shot from behind. He didn't dare to linger in the fight, maneuvering the fighter to fly deep into the asteroid belt, using the complex terrain to engage with the opponents.

The two enemy fighters pursued relentlessly. Gunfire fell around Li Yuan like raindrops, and rock fragments constantly hit the fighter's shield, with the shield value dropping rapidly. Relying on his gaming experience from his past life, Li Yuan continuously performed various high-difficulty evasion maneuvers, sometimes climbing, sometimes diving, sometimes circling around rocks, narrowly dodging round after round of attacks.

“Damn it! Chasing so closely!” Li Yuan gritted his teeth, his eyes becoming sharp. He suddenly braked hard, and the fighter stopped instantly in the void, then suddenly flew backward, simultaneously pressing the weapon button continuously. Two particle beams accurately hit the wing of one of the enemy fighters, and that fighter lost its balance and crashed into the other enemy fighter.

“Opportunity!”

Li Yuan seized this flaw, maneuvered the fighter and rushed up, firing the particle cannons continuously, shooting down both enemy fighters that were entangled together. But just at this moment, a third enemy fighter suddenly jumped out from behind a rock, and a particle beam hit the tail of Li Yuan's fighter directly.

“Boom!”

The fighter's shield shattered instantly, the fuselage began to smoke, and the control system emitted a harsh alarm. Li Yuan tried to control the fighter, but found that the control stick had failed, and the fighter crashed into an asteroid like a kite with a broken string.

“Done for!”

With a loud noise, the fighter hit the rock and exploded into a brilliant cloud of light. The red light inside the cockpit lit up, and a mechanical prompt sounded: “Simulated airframe destroyed, eliminated.”

Li Yuan helplessly took off his helmet and wiped the non-existent sweat from his forehead, feeling a little regretful: “Lasted for 3 minutes and 17 seconds, shot down three enemy fighters, not bad.”

He looked at the cockpit next to him. Elia had already been eliminated early, shot down in 12 seconds, not even having time to fire a few shots. The little face under the helmet was flushed red, obviously very unconvinced.

And Laya's situation was even more exaggerated. She had only taken off for 5 seconds when she crashed into an asteroid, making her the “fastest elimination record holder” of this battle.

“Too weak...” Laya walked out of the cockpit with a frustrated face, her little mouth pouting enough to hang an oil bottle. She was just about to complain to Li Yuan when her gaze was attracted by the holographic big screen, and her eyes widened instantly, swallowing her complaints.

On the screen, a silver-white figure broke into the melee area like a ghost, instantly attracting everyone's attention. That was a fighter with an extremely cool design, completely surpassing everyone's cognition—the fuselage lines were smooth and sharp, like a meticulously carved work of art. The silver-white background was dotted with dark gold patterns, emitting a cold luster under the star's halo. The most shocking thing was its firepower configuration: cannon ports were installed on the nose, wings, and both sides of the fuselage, and six sets of funnel cannons surrounded the fighter, with firepower maxed out!

The person piloting this fighter was none other than Luo Lan, the owner of the Heavenly Drive talent.

The fighter's engine emitted a low roar, and the tail ejected a pale golden exhaust, moving so fast that it left afterimages.

At the same time, the plane's cannon ports and funnel cannons deployed rapidly, locking onto all the fighters on the battlefield.

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!”

Without any unnecessary movements, Luo Lan directly activated full-fire mode. Countless ion beams were sprinkled toward all the fighters in the arena.

1 vs All!! It was as if he was mocking the whole field!!

“Damn, so arrogant!”

“Everyone cooperate to take down this arrogant kid first!”

“Kid, you're quite cocky, does your father know?”

The fighters in the arena pulled out various dodging trajectories, attacking Luo Lan, with particle beams raining down.

However!

Miss!

Miss!

Still miss!

The fighter piloted by Luo Lan was like a dancing butterfly. In his leisurely stroll, the cannon fire shot by the opponent was like slow motion, never able to reach his fighter's shield.

And Luo Lan's counterattack—

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

One fighter after another was hit by particle beams, and exploding light clusters bloomed in the void one after another, like holiday fireworks.

“My god! Am I being mowed down by a one-man army?”

“Zero damage the whole time! Is this human?”

“Mom, I'm not playing anymore, someone is hacking!”

“Damn! Even using such a difficult funnel cannon fighter so well, this spatial perception ability is amazing!”

The eliminated students were dumbfounded, constantly exclaiming. This operating ability was simply unbelievable.

In just over ten minutes, the originally chaotic battlefield was cleared by Luo Lan. Just when everyone thought Luo Lan was about to win, another eye-catching figure suddenly appeared on the holographic big screen.

It was a silver-grey carrier fighter, several times larger than an ordinary fighter, with a fuselage like a mobile aerial fortress, and dozens of small drones parked on the deck. The person piloting this fighter was Chen Jingyi.

The carrier fighter released all the drones. Dozens of drones scattered like a swarm of bees, forming a huge reconnaissance network, quickly locking onto Luo Lan's position.

“It's Chen Jingyi! She hasn't been eliminated yet!”

“When did she pull out a carrier fighter! This fighter shouldn't be allowed to be selected!”

“Don't forget, her talent is Daoyan Military Nexus, she must have built it on the spot!”

“There's a good show to watch! Unparalleled King vs Drone Legion!”

The duel between the two was about to begin!