161: The first dimensional reduction attack!

Gao Zilong Gao Zilong's fighter was the first to taxi out, sprinting rapidly along the crude but sufficiently long runway. With an astonishingly short takeoff distance and an almost vertical, steep angle, it soared upward, piercing into the already darkening sky.

Immediately following, the second plane, the third...

Eight silver warhawks, like eight sharp arrows released from a bowstring, trailed faint wakes as they climbed rapidly and vanished from everyone's sight, leaving only the roar of their engines echoing in the air.

By the runway, the Brigade Commander, Li Yunlong, Zhao Gang... everyone subconsciously stood on their tiptoes, craning their necks to look toward the patch of sky where the pilots had disappeared.

Eight planes against sixty.

The first proactive aerial interception in the history of the Eighth Route Army.

What would the result be?

Everyone's hearts were in their throats.

...

Ten thousand meters high.

The eight silver J-5 fighters were like steel raptors cruising in the stratosphere; below was a thick sea of clouds, and above was a nearly pure blue firmament.

The sunlight was still intense here, plating the wings with a cold silver edge.

Inside the cockpit, Gao Zilong glanced at his instruments: altitude eleven thousand meters, speed eight hundred kilometers per hour!

These figures felt slightly surreal even to him; this was a realm he had never reached while flying any propeller-driven aircraft.

The air was thin and cold, but the pressurized cockpit and G-suit provided excellent protection.

"All units notice, maintain formation!"

Gao Zilong ordered in a low voice, his fingers skillfully operating the complex instrument panel.

Despite the extremely short training time, they had basically mastered the fundamental ways of controlling these steel behemoths thanks to their own superb talent.

"Target spotted! Large numbers, confirmed enemy flight group! Bearing 330, altitude approximately 3500!" The wingman's voice carried suppressed excitement.

"Good!" A sharp light flashed in Gao Zilong's eyes. "Everyone pay attention! Prepare for dive attack! Utilize the altitude and speed advantage—strike once and move, never linger! Move out!"

"Roger!"

The eight J-5s pushed their control sticks down almost simultaneously.

Like hunting falcons, their noses dipped, and they lunged down toward the oblivious "swarm" below at a nearly vertical angle!

The speed needles jumped frantically, soon breaking past one thousand kilometers per hour!

The airframes vibrated slightly due to the high-speed dive, but the structures remained exceptionally stable.

Below, the Japanese flight group.

"Keep a sharp lookout on our surroundings!" Regiment Commander Kobayashi reminded them, though his tone was not tense.

He did not believe the Eighth Route Army could pose any decent aerial threat.

Suddenly, a pilot responsible for high-altitude surveillance let out a startled, uncertain cry: "Ba... baka! Above! There's something above the clouds!"

"So fast! They're diving!"

"Nani!"

Kobayashi was stunned and instinctively looked up.

Through the canopy, he could just barely see several small silver dots piercing down from the sunlight at unbelievable speeds, even trailing faint white lines behind them.

"Planes? The Eighth Route Army really has planes?"

This was his first thought, followed immediately by a surge of absurdity and a hint of offended irritation.

"Hmph! Just a few planes, and they dare come to their deaths?"

"Escort group! Advance and intercept! Take them down! They're probably just some scrap heaps captured from somewhere!" Kobayashi ordered sharply.

In his view, these were likely a few old planes the Eighth Route Army had scrounged up from somewhere, perhaps even just a bluff.

Twenty type 97 fighter planes immediately broke formation, pulling their noses up in an attempt to climb and engage.

The Japanese pilots were surprised, but more than that, they felt disdain and the excitement of the hunt.

"long live! Let them witness the prowess of Imperial pilots!"

"Surround them! Don't let them escape!"

However, in the next instant, the excitement and disdain on all the Japanese pilots' faces froze.

So fast!

Too fast!

The diving speed of those eight silver fighters exceeded the limits of their cognition!

In almost the blink of an eye, they transformed from tiny dots in the high sky into clear airframe silhouettes, and they showed no sign of slowing down or leveling off!

"Fire! Fire!"

The Japanese fighters frantically tried to aim, but the targets' speed and dive angle made their lead calculations completely useless; machine-gun bullets tore through the air in vain, falling far behind.

Meanwhile, the diving J-5s had already steadily locked the Japanese bomber group into their targeting reticles.

"Target locked! Fire!" Gao Zilong calmly pulled the trigger.

Bang, bang, bang—!!!

The 23mm cannons spat out fierce tongues of fire at an extremely high rate of fire!

With muzzle velocity and power far exceeding machine-gun bullets, the shells accurately lunged toward a Type 99 twin-engine bomber that was struggling to turn.

Boom!!

That bomber didn't even have time to make an effective evasive maneuver before more than half of its left wing was instantly blown off, and its engine erupted in a ball of fire.

The entire plane immediately lost balance, tumbling toward the ground trailing thick smoke as a miserable firework blossomed in the sky.

Almost at the same time, the other seven J-5s each found their own targets.

The extremely high relative speed from the dive, combined with the J-5's own excellent stability, made their initial attack efficiency terrifyingly high!

Boom, boom, boom, boom—!!!

Continuous explosions rang out in the air!

One by one, Type 97 fighters or Type 99 bombers were blown apart in mid-air or fell trailing black smoke.

The Japanese pilots discovered with horror that they couldn't even see how the enemy was firing!

They only saw a flash of silver, and then their own or their teammates' planes were already hit!

"baka! This is impossible!"

A Type 97 pilot who had finally managed to pull up and tried to get on the tail of a J-5 discovered in despair—

The opponent merely gave a slight boost of afterburner, instantly leaving him behind without a trace!

Instead, because he had slowed down drastically in his rush to pursue, he became a sitting duck for another diving attacker.

"Their speed! Their altitude! They're on a completely different level!"

Regiment Commander Kobayashi's voice had changed pitch, filled with horror and disbelief.

"Scatter! Everyone scatter! Don't cluster! Bombers continue toward the target! Fighters tie them down!"

He wanted to use numbers to distract the enemy and allow the bombers to break through in the chaos.

However, in the face of absolute speed, altitude, and firepower advantages, so-called "dogfighting" was a joke.

The J-5s finished their first round of diving attacks and easily pulled up to return to high altitude, completely unscathed.

The Japanese fighters climbed desperately to give chase, but could only watch helplessly as the opponents returned to an unreachable altitude as if taking a stroll.

Then, after circling briefly, they chose an angle and dove down again!

The second wave of attacks!

Another eight Japanese planes turned into fireballs amidst desperate howls and disorganized return fire.

The third wave of attacks!

Another eight!

The Japanese flight group was in complete disarray.

The bombers tried to lower their altitude to hide, but that only made it easier for the Reapers attacking from above to lock onto them.

The fighters were like headless flies; they couldn't catch up to counterattack, and they couldn't shake the enemy off to escape.

Those eight silver ghosts were like scythes wielded by the Grim Reaper; every dive inevitably took the "soul" of at least one Imperial warplane.

"Retreat! All planes retreat! Tactical shift! Shift immediately!" Regiment Commander Kobayashi finally broke down.

"Want to run?" Gao Zilong snorted coldly.

"All units notice, free pursuit! Don't let a single one get away!"