156: Chapter 156 The Infiltration Begins

After configuring the equipment.

Luo Ning turned her head to look at the loose loungewear Ivy was wearing, then glanced at the wings where the new flesh had just grown, frowning slightly: "Ivy's current equipment is completely shattered; we can't just go like this. Boss, you guys go rest first. Wait for me to spend a few hours forging a form-fitting battle armor for Sister Ivy, then you can set off."

"No problem."

Zhou An nodded in agreement and turned to look at the others.

"Everyone proceed as usual. Sheila, you should also go back and rest for a while to adjust your state. Tonight, we are going to pay a visit to the 'wind chaser'."

The twenty consecutive extreme space warps had indeed severely overdrawn Zhou An's body, and he now needed time for his Tier 5 Peak body to self-repair.

Night fell.

Ten thousand meters above the ground, the cold, fierce wind howled outside the fortress's energy shield.

Zhou An slowly opened his eyes in his private lounge.

After a deep sleep for most of the day, he took a deep breath. Listening to the slight cracking sounds from his bones and muscles, the fatigue that felt like it would tear his body apart had completely dissipated.

The terrifying self-healing and recovery ability of his Tier 5 Peak body had returned him to his peak state once again.

Zhou An rolled out of bed, pushed open the door, and went to the central hall.

The hall was softly lit, and Sheila had been waiting there for a long time. She had changed into a form-fitting white high-frequency combat suit, with several high-explosive grenades hanging at her waist. Her wings were tucked away, and she looked like a peerless blade ready to be unsheathed—cold and deadly.

"My lord, you are awake." Hearing the footsteps, Sheila immediately turned around and bowed respectfully.

"Prepared quite quickly."

Zhou An flexed his wrists, looked around, and asked curiously: "Where is Ivy? Not done yet?"

A hint of helpless amusement flashed in Sheila's eyes: "Sister is still in Sister Luo Ning's workshop debugging the equipment. Sister Luo Ning insists on perfection in both appearance and concealment. But calculating the time, she should be out soon."

Just as she finished speaking, the metal cabin door of the workshop slid open to both sides with a "hiss" of pressure release.

A brand-new Ivy stepped out from the white steam, instantly attracting everyone's gaze. She was wearing a form-fitting dark battle armor, with energy luster faintly flowing on the surface.

"Ta-da! My latest masterpiece—[Shadow Assassin]!"

Luo Ning poked her head out from behind Ivy and introduced it proudly: "This is a genuine Tier 5 Moon-Glitter Grade battle armor. Not only does it use a super-strong kinetic engine, but I also made deep improvements specifically for infiltration missions, adding optical camouflage modules, high-frequency silence pads, and several hidden weapon mounting slots."

Ivy flexed her limbs, feeling the near-perfect fit between the battle armor and her own spiritual energy, especially the slot on the back that had been specially reserved and reinforced for her newly growing wings. Her eyes were full of amazement: "It's perfect, with no sense of obstruction; it's even lighter than my previous exclusive battle armor."

"Since the equipment is ready, let's go." Zhou An nodded with satisfaction and turned to walk towards the hangar area of the fortress: "Now let's choose a vehicle. Since all three of us have high-altitude flight capabilities, we don't need to consider defense and firepower for this vehicle; we will use it as a 'disposable consumable'."

The three arrived at the massive hangar. Zhou An's gaze swept across rows of advanced fighter jets and finally stopped on a carrier-based aircraft that looked like a long, narrow black sword.

"This is the one."

Zhou An patted the cold metal shell of the carrier-based aircraft.

"This is a pure speed-type interceptor. All unnecessary armor and weapon systems have been removed, and the maximum speed can be pushed to twenty times the speed of sound. Our tactic is simple—no need to tangle with the outer fleet; just push the speed to the limit and forcibly break through their radar and defense lines. As long as it can get us within ten kilometers of the 'wind chaser', it doesn't matter if this machine gets blown up. I will directly activate space warp to teleport us into the interior of the flagship."

Ivy and Sheila looked at each other and nodded in unison. If anyone else had proposed such a crazy "suicide" breakthrough tactic, they would definitely have thought it was courting death; but coming from Zhou An, it carried a convincing, absolute confidence.

"Beep—"

Just as the three were preparing to board, a notification sound suddenly popped up on Zhou An's system panel.

It was a real-time location update sent by that [Anonymous Intelligence Broker].

[Anonymous Intelligence Broker]: The latest coordinates have been sent. The White Feather Guild has stopped sailing and is stationed for rest in the ... area.

Zhou An glanced at the holographic map.

"Over five hundred kilometers..."

"At this machine's speed of twenty times the speed of sound, it will take at most a minute or so."

Sheila and Ivy followed closely behind, quickly securing their bodies in the rear combat seats.

"EVA, open the ejection channel."

Zhou An gripped the control stick with both hands, his eyes reflecting the various red values gradually soaring on the dashboard.

"Command confirmed, ejection channel is open. I wish you good luck in battle."

"Hold on tight."

Zhou An slammed the full-power throttle down.

"Boom—!"

The tail of the black carrier-based aircraft instantly erupted with a blinding azure flame.

Accompanied by the terrifying sonic boom of breaking the sound barrier, this speed-type beast, like a black lightning bolt tearing through the night sky, blasted off from the ejection track of the Cloud Top Fortress, piercing straight into the deep sea of clouds in the distance!

...

A suffocating atmosphere enveloped the entire conference room like a physical substance, and several high-level executives and core generals of the White Feather Guild were as silent as cicadas in winter.

At the head of the long table, Grand Elder Cormac had a gloomy face, his fingers tightly clutching a crystal-clear wind spirit berry.

"To be able to take out such legendary grade fruits without any abyss contamination, and that therapy pod with the true ability to regenerate severed limbs... if it were you, would you doubt their identities?" Cormac gritted his teeth, his voice sounding as if it were squeezed out from between his teeth, "These guys acted too realistically! I wanted to swallow this batch of supplies, but I didn't expect... I really lost the girl and the supplies!"

Not only was his only son killed, but even the important "bargaining chip" Ivy was taken away without anyone knowing, making Cormac feel like his face was being rubbed hard on the ground.

"Grand Elder, please calm down." A general spoke cautiously, "Since they have run away, how can we chase them in the vast sea of clouds?"

"Go contact those information brokers on the dark web!"

Cormac slammed the table.

"Offer a reward of 100,000 Tier 5 unit supplies! As long as you provide clues, there will be a heavy reward!"

"Bang!"

Just as he finished speaking, the door to the conference room was violently pushed open, and a radar soldier rushed in, rolling and crawling, his face deathly pale.

"G-Grand Elder! A pitch-black carrier-based aircraft has broken through our outer blockade! It's extremely fast, having already hit twenty times the speed of sound, and is charging straight toward the flagship!"

"Twenty times the speed of sound?"

Cormac was stunned for a moment. A lonely carrier-based aircraft without a formation dared to attack an LV6 flagship?

"Shoot it down! Activate the main ship's 'Thunderstorm' blockade matrix and blow it to smithereens for me!"

Outside in the high altitude.

The interceptor that had turned into black lightning had just rushed into the airspace eight kilometers away from the 'wind chaser' when the outer layer of the flagship suddenly erupted with a blinding deep purple lightning. A huge electromagnetic energy wall formed instantly like a net covering the sky and earth.

"Bang—!"

Accompanied by a dull, loud noise, the black carrier-based aircraft slammed directly into the electromagnetic wall with the terrifying kinetic energy of twenty times the speed of sound, and the nose of the aircraft was instantly severely deformed.

Immediately afterwards, a secondary cannon on the side of the flagship lit up with red light, and a devastating high-energy laser beam hit it precisely.

"Rumble!!!"

Fire soared into the sky, and the entire carrier-based aircraft disintegrated in mid-air, turning into burning metal fragments that fell into the sea of clouds like a meteor shower.

In the conference room, everyone who witnessed this through the holographic screen was a bit dumbfounded.

"This... is it dead?"

A general frowned in confusion.

"With this magnitude of explosion and the recoil of the LV6 matrix, let alone Tier 4, even a Tier 5 Peak body would be reduced to ashes after taking this hit. What exactly are these people trying to do? A suicide attack?"

Cormac stared fixedly at the burning wreckage on the screen, but the unease in his heart magnified inexplicably. It was too weird; those people had clearly already escaped, so why would they return in such a self-destructive way?

Meanwhile, inside the flagship, several kilometers away from the explosion point, in a dark pipe room filled with abandoned wiring.

"Swish—"

Space rippled like water, and the figures of Zhou An, Ivy, and Sheila appeared out of thin air. In the thousandth of a second before the carrier-based aircraft hit the electromagnetic wall, Zhou An accurately activated his ability, directly bringing the two of them to complete a space warp through the flagship's armor.

"It seems that old dog Cormac's air defense system isn't completely blind yet."

Zhou An listened to the dull explosion coming from outside the flagship, a cold sneer curving his lips.

He casually took out two black metal patches the size of coins from his storage space and threw them to Sheila and Ivy respectively.

"Stick them in a hidden place on your collar. This is an electronic blurring jammer specially made by Luo Ning, which can high-frequency interfere with the surrounding surveillance signals. In their cameras, we will only be a blurry mosaic shadow." Zhou An instructed in a low voice.

The two women quickly stuck the jammers on, and a faint magnetic field, invisible to the naked eye, instantly covered their entire bodies.

"The interior of the flagship is too big, so we'll split up; the search efficiency will be higher. As the binder of the LV6 flagship and a Tier 5 Peak powerhouse, if Cormac hasn't killed Grace, he must be using a high-spec energy cage or a special area to imprison her. Pay special attention to those top-secret compartments with abnormal spiritual energy fluctuations and heavy guards."

He looked at Ivy and Sheila: "Keep the tactical channel open. Once you find the target, or if you are accidentally exposed and surrounded, don't fight hard; call me on the channel immediately. As long as you report your location, I will arrive at your side within one second."

"Understood." Ivy and Sheila nodded in unison, sharp cold light flashing in their eyes.

"Move out."