48: Chapter 48 First Flight Test: Playing with an American Satellite Like a Balloon

"Smashing the Eagle's 'Keyhole' satellite out of the sky like a balloon?!"

General Li Zhenguo's mouth hung open wide enough to fit an egg.

The group of ace pilots behind him also gasped, feeling as if their hearts had skipped a beat!

That is the Eagle's most advanced military reconnaissance satellite!

Each one costs billions of dollars!

It is the most important 'Heaven's Eye' the Eagle uses to maintain its global military hegemony!

Just smash it down like that?

And treat it like 'fireworks'?

What kind of arrogance is this!

What kind of madness!

"What? Is it difficult?"

Lin Yun raised an eyebrow, looking at them with a smirk.

"No! It's not difficult!"

A young pilot with a tall stature, dark skin, and eyes as sharp as a hawk suddenly stepped forward, puffed out his chest, and spoke with a voice as loud as a bell!

"Reporting to Comrade Lin Yun! Reporting to the Chief!"

"I am Lei Zhan, Captain of the Dragon Country Air Force 'Wolf Fang' Special Flight Squadron!"

"I request to be the first to execute the maiden flight mission of the 'Zhulong'!"

"I guarantee to complete the mission! If I can't smash it down, I'll bring you my head!"

A crazy fighting spirit burned in Lei Zhan's eyes!

As the top ace of the Dragon Country Air Force, he had flown every model of fighter jet in the Dragon Country.

He craved challenges, he craved the limit!

And the 'Zhulong' described by Lin Yun, along with this 'smash the satellite' mission, completely ignited the arrogance and fanaticism belonging to an ace pilot deep in his bones!

"Good! You've got guts!"

General Li Zhenguo looked at Lei Zhan approvingly.

"Worthy of being a soldier of my Dragon Country!"

His gaze turned back to Lin Yun, full of inquiry.

Lin Yun nodded.

"You may."

"However, the operation of the 'Zhulong' is completely different from traditional aircraft."

"It uses a 'Neural Induction' operating system; you need to wear this."

As Lin Yun spoke, he took out a device with a sci-fi design, resembling a silver helmet.

"It will directly read your brainwaves and connect your consciousness to the 'Zhulong's' quantum computer."

"In other words, the aircraft is your body. It will fly however you want it to fly."

"No manual operation is needed."

"Are you ready?"

Lin Yun's gaze seemed to be able to pierce through people's hearts.

Lei Zhan's heart jumped violently!

Neural Induction operating system?!

Piloting a plane with thoughts?!

This is simply unheard of!

He took a deep breath, his eyes becoming incomparably firm!

"Reporting! I am ready!"

"For the Dragon Country! I will not hesitate even if it means death!"

Three days later.

Dragon Country Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

This place had entered the highest level of military control in history.

For a hundred miles around, the airspace and ground were all locked down.

Inside a huge, newly built secret hangar.

The dark golden 'Zhulong' prototype was parked there quietly.

Its appearance was even more shocking and sci-fi than what was seen in the holographic projection!

The smooth fuselage seemed to be able to absorb all surrounding light, emitting a chilling and powerful aura that made people's hearts tremble.

General Li Zhenguo and a group of military industry tycoons surrounded the 'Zhulong', stroking its cold fuselage like they were looking at a rare treasure, clicking their tongues in wonder.

"My God, this material actually feels warm to the touch!"

"The seams of the fuselage are perfectly natural; you can't see any welding marks at all!"

"This, this is simply a work of art! It is a miracle!"

Wearing a special flight suit and a silver neural induction helmet, Lei Zhan walked toward the 'Zhulong' with firm steps.

His heart was filled with excitement, nervousness, and a sacred sense of mission to create history!

Under Lin Yun's guidance, he boarded the cockpit of the 'Zhulong'.

The cockpit was exceptionally simple, without any instrument panels or complex buttons.

There was only an ergonomic seat and a panoramic display screen covering the entire canopy.

The moment Lei Zhan sat down.

The seat automatically adjusted, wrapping around him.

The silver neural induction helmet connected seamlessly with the cockpit interface.

Hum!

A slight hum.

Lei Zhan's vision was instantly covered by a massive stream of data!

He felt as if his consciousness had left his body, completely merging with this steel beast named 'Zhulong'!

He could 'see' every part of the aircraft and 'feel' every pulse of the engine!

He could even 'hear' the sound of the wind flowing over the surface of the fuselage!

"How does it feel?"

Lin Yun's voice rang directly in his mind through the communication system.

"Reporting to Comrade Lin Yun! It feels better than ever!"

Lei Zhan's voice carried uncontrollable excitement!

"I feel like I am the plane! The plane is me!"

"I can fly! I can fly right now!"

A smile curled on the corner of Lin Yun's mouth.

"Very good."

"The command center has transmitted the real-time orbital data of the Eagle's 'Keyhole-13' reconnaissance satellite to you."

"It is currently above our heads, at an altitude of about 400 kilometers."

"Your mission is to take off, find it, and give it a 'surprise'."

"Remember, the moves must be handsome, and the posture must be cool."

"The whole world is watching."

Lin Yun's last sentence made Lei Zhan's heart tremble violently!

Global live broadcast?!

He understood immediately!

This maiden flight was not just a simple test!

It was a 'flex' to show the world, especially the Eagle, the strongest force of the Dragon Country!

"Understood!"

Lei Zhan took a deep breath, and his mind moved violently!

"Zhulong! Take off!"

Boom!

The two vector engines of the 'Zhulong' instantly spewed out dark blue, plasma-like flames!

There was no deafening roar or long runway roll like traditional aircraft takeoffs.

The 'Zhulong' shot up like a cannonball fired from its chamber, rising vertically at an angle of nearly ninety degrees!

It instantly disappeared into the clouds!

"My God!"

At the ground command center, General Li Zhenguo and all the staff were dumbfounded as they watched the straight upward trajectory line on the screen!

"Climb speed: Mach 5!"

"Mach 8!"

"Mach 12!"

"Breaking through the atmosphere! Entering near space!"

The data on the screen was jumping frantically!

In less than a minute!

The 'Zhulong' had already flown to 100 kilometers in space!

And the speed was still soaring in a terrifying manner!

"Switch to 'Chaos' mode!"

This thought flashed through Lei Zhan's mind.

Boom!

The 'Zhulong's' engine instantly changed from blue to a deep, dark gold that seemed to devour everything!

An incomparable, terrifying thrust came from behind the fuselage!

Lei Zhan felt as if he had been kicked hard by God!

The starry sky in front of him was instantly stretched into countless gorgeous light rays!

"Speed: 0.1 times the speed of light!"

"My God! He is still accelerating!"

In the command center, everyone had stopped breathing!

They watched the dark golden light spot shuttling through space at high speed like a ghost, their minds blank!

Is this the power of a god?!

At this moment, in Lei Zhan's field of vision.

A 'little thing' emitting a metallic luster was floating quietly in the pitch-black universe.

It was covered with solar sails and various complex detection equipment.

It was the Eagle's 'Keyhole-13' military reconnaissance satellite!

"Found you, little baby."

A cruel smile curled on the corner of Lei Zhan's mouth.

His mind moved.

The 'Zhulong' performed an incredible 720-degree spin in space!

It precisely aimed at the 'Keyhole-13'!

And then.

With an extremely arrogant and haughty posture.

It slammed into it!

No cannons fired!

No missiles launched!

It was the most primitive, most brutal physical collision!

"Game over!"

At the same time.

The Eagle, North American Aerospace Defense Command.

"General! Something is wrong!"

"The signal from 'Keyhole-13' has been interrupted!"

"What?!"

A gray-haired general stood up abruptly.

"What was the last image transmitted back?!"

"It, it was an unidentified flying object! It crashed into our satellite!"

"Quick! Bring up the image!"

When the short, snowy, blurry footage of just a few seconds appeared on the big screen.

All the Eagle officers present saw a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives!

A dark golden, sci-fi-looking aircraft, like an alien warplane, actually flashed its cockpit the moment it smashed the 'Keyhole-13'!

It was like it was giving the middle finger to the camera!

"Pfft!"

The Eagle general spat a mouthful of old blood directly onto the screen!

This is humiliation!

Naked humiliation!

"Immediately! Investigate for me! What the hell is this unidentified flying object!!"

However, his roar was soon interrupted by another more shrill scream.

"General! 'Keyhole-14' signal interrupted!"

"'Globalstar' communication satellite signal interrupted!"

"GPS navigation satellite No. 24 signal interrupted!"

The news of the disasters hit like dense drumbeats, frantically pounding on the hearts of every Eagle officer!

They discovered with horror.

In just a few short minutes.

The Eagle's satellite network deployed in space, worth hundreds of billions of dollars, was being called out one by one by that mysterious dark golden aircraft in a way that was almost like a 'slaughter'!

Either smashed to pieces directly!

Or instantly evaporated by some mysterious energy weapon!

The entire North American Aerospace Defense Command was in complete chaos!

Their 'Heaven's Eye', which they were so proud of, was completely blinded at this moment!

And all of this was clearly displayed to everyone in the world through the 'global live broadcast' arranged by Lin Yun!

That dark golden fighter, like the chariot of a god, strolled leisurely in the pitch-black universe, elegantly 'knocking' off one Eagle satellite after another.

The scene was full of violent aesthetics and an absolute dominance that made people shudder!

"What, what is that?"

"Is it a UFO? Are aliens invading?"

"No! Look at its wings! That's the emblem of the Dragon Country!"

"My God! This unidentified flying object was actually made by the Dragon Country?!"

When the 'Zhulong' swept past a civilian relay satellite in an extremely arrogant posture, displaying the bright red Dragon Country flag on the fuselage to global audiences.

The entire Earth was completely boiling at this moment!