"Damn it, the enemy is practically upon us, we can see them with our own eyes, so why hasn't our radar detected them?"
Listening to his comrades' complaints and their terrified expressions, the lieutenant colonel sighed slightly and said, "Isn't it obvious? The radar on our transport plane is outdated and obsolete. Theirs... looks like they're all using the most advanced fighter jets, so the equipment on them is naturally top-notch. They probably all have the ability to block ordinary signals for detection. So... we're far behind them in this aspect, so it's normal that our radar can't detect them."
"Twenty-two fighter jets in total, God... that really is a whole squadron... these Japanese devils, they really think highly of us... they actually sent a whole squadron to intercept our transport plane, hahaha..."
As they spoke, all their eyes were fixed on Zhou Ziwei. Clearly, all their hopes for survival rested on Zhou Ziwei alone.
However, under these circumstances, they dared not have too much hope... That was an entire squadron of fighters... If they got any closer, a single salvo would turn their transport plane into a pile of scrap metal. How could their single transport plane possibly fight against an entire fighter squadron?
Although Zhou Ziwei had performed remarkably well, somehow managing to withstand wave after wave of missile attacks, being able to deal with missiles didn't necessarily mean he could handle these fighter jets...
Zhou Ziwei frowned slightly. This group of fighter jets was not so easy to deal with. Unlike missile attacks, fighter jets had more flexible attack methods, which meant they were more unpredictable.
With only a dozen or so black iron blades, it would be difficult to cope.
After all, those fighter jets couldn't possibly wait until they were within 240 meters to launch an attack, and once they were outside that range, Zhou Ziwei's iron blades would no longer be of any use.
Of course... Zhou Ziwei could also use the black iron blades to form a defensive network, intercepting all the shells and missiles launched from those fighter jets at the 240-meter boundary.
However, generally speaking, the cannons fired from fighter jets or air-to-air micro-missiles have a very fast firing rate, and may even fire hundreds or thousands of attacks in an instant. Zhou Ziwei only has thirteen usable iron blades, plus two butterfly darts, which is not enough to deal with the situation.
Although the Iron Leaf and Butterfly Darts, when infused with sufficient soul power, can reach speeds that are almost as fast as the speed of light, this terrifying speed is certainly much faster than any weapon on a fighter jet.
However... the problem is that no matter how fast these black iron blades fly, Zhou Ziwei's reaction speed has to be able to keep up.
Even if Zhou Ziwei's reaction speed could keep up, it would be difficult for him to simultaneously control all fifteen magical artifacts and make precise reactions at the same time.
To put it another way, even if Zhou Ziwei could withstand the bombing of those twenty-two planes with just a dozen or so magical artifacts, if those planes never flew within 240 meters of him, he would have no chance of shooting them down. And what use would it be if he could intercept a lot of missiles if he couldn't shoot down the enemy planes? It still wouldn't solve the problem at its root.
If all else fails, I'll just bombard you with artillery shells.
Zhou Ziwei's eyes lit up, and he immediately had an idea. He turned to the lieutenant colonel and asked, "What kind of activation systems are on this plane? Are there any problems with these weapons and equipment?"
"Ah... this plane!" The lieutenant colonel paused slightly before cautiously replying, "This plane is equipped with AIM-9 short-range air-to-air missiles and a 30mm cannon. However... this is a transport plane, so it's unlikely to participate in air combat. Therefore... while the AIM-9 short-range air-to-air missile launcher is working properly, we don't have a missile quota, so... that thing is basically just for show and is completely useless."
As for the 30mm cannon… well, it does have a small ammunition allowance, but… only thirty rounds. Thirty rounds… that's practically useless against a fighter squadron!
“Thirty shells are enough…” Zhou Ziwei’s eyes lit up when he heard this. The fact that this transport plane actually had a stockpile of thirty cannon shells was a pleasant surprise to Zhou Ziwei. He was just afraid that there wouldn’t even be a single gun on the plane, which would have left him completely helpless.
With a gentle wave of his hand, Zhou Ziwei shouted, "Change course! Try to get the opposing squadron closer so I can have some time..."
After Zhou Ziwei finished speaking, he remembered that Xiao Xin was controlling the plane. He didn't need to speak aloud to talk to Xiao Xin; he could communicate with him in his mind. However, since he had already shouted it out, he was too lazy to explain anything to the astonished guys. He immediately called out to the lieutenant colonel and asked him to prepare all the machine gun shells for him.
The agents exchanged bewildered glances. In this aerial combat, the sophistication of weaponry was paramount. The opposing fighter jets were clearly well-equipped elites, while theirs... was essentially a non-combat transport plane, armed with only a single 30mm cannon, and absurdly, a mere thirty rounds of ammunition. Was this some kind of joke? Using a paltry thirty rounds of ammunition against an entire squadron of fighter jets...
Ammunition consumption in aerial combat is generally enormous because fighter jets are highly maneuverable, making them difficult for the enemy to hit during combat.
With only thirty cannon shells, even if used against a fighter jet, it would be almost suicidal or risky, with a chance of shooting it down that would be less than one in ten thousand.
Now, judging from Zhou Ziwei's intentions, it seems he wants to use these mere thirty cannon shells to fight a whole group of twenty-two fighter jets head-on. Is there any point in fighting like this? If they're going to rely on these thirty cannon shells to fight head-on, they might as well just jump out of the planes and have a quick death.
However, Zhou Ziwei placed great hope in these thirty machine gun shells. In fact, for him, whether there were thirty shells, three hundred shells, or thirty thousand shells, their effect was the same.
In fact, he only needs 22 shells, which is more than enough. If these 22 shells cannot deal with the enemy's fighter jets, then even if he is given more shells, the result will be exactly the same.
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 553: Brilliant Fireworks
Military transport aircraft are naturally no match for fighter jets in speed, and the difference is not just a little bit, but nearly half.
The small transport plane that Zhou Ziwei and his group are currently in can theoretically reach a top speed of 900 kilometers per hour, while their fighter jets can easily reach speeds of around 1,400 to 1,500 kilometers per hour.
Therefore, once the presence of enemy aircraft is detected with the naked eye, it is almost impossible for the transport plane to evade pursuit.
Let alone evading enemy aircraft, even maintaining the current distance is completely unrealistic. After all, their speed is twice as fast as yours. What else can you use to widen the gap between you and them?
However, Shin-chan actually managed to do something that seemed completely impossible. No one knows what methods he used, but he managed to drive a transport plane with a theoretical maximum speed of only 900 kilometers per hour to a speed of 1,600 kilometers per hour, which was even slightly faster than the opponent's fighter jet.
Of course, achieving such an abnormal speed comes at a price. At the very least, the aircraft's normal lifespan will likely be shortened indefinitely, and it may even be questionable whether it can complete this flight.
However, Xiao Xin certainly wouldn't consider this, and neither would the four agents. After all, the plane would be scrapped after this one use, and they wouldn't even dare to fly it back to their homeland, as that would be asking for trouble.
So what does it matter if an aircraft destined to be abandoned loses some of its lifespan? As long as it can escape this calamity, it's definitely worth it more than anything else.
Being only slightly faster than the enemy's fighter jets by a fraction of a second is not enough to escape their encirclement and entanglement.
Although the other party's normal speed is only around 1,400 kilometers per hour, it is not impossible for them to suddenly reach 1,800 or 1,900 kilometers per hour if pushed too far.
After all, it's impossible for an ordinary airplane pilot to be as abnormal as Shin-chan, able to fly a plane at twice its maximum speed.
However, it is still possible to reach only about 120% of the maximum speed.
Therefore, the transport planes temporarily widened the distance between them slightly by turning and then suddenly accelerating. However, in the blink of an eye, they were caught up to the original distance, and the distance between them was gradually decreasing.
However, this brief respite was enough for Zhou Ziwei. To him, the machine gun shells were not particularly complex in structure. Although they were much larger than insects, their simple structure and single material meant that leaving an independent soul on each shell did not take long. In just a dozen seconds, Zhou Ziwei had transformed all twenty-two shells into beings with their own lives.
After completing his modifications, Zhou Ziwei couldn't help but chuckle coldly. He looked up, opened the cannon sight on the aircraft, and without hesitation, aimed at the distant silhouettes of the planes, resolutely pressing the fire button...
The machine guns on these transport planes are the kind of junk that have no practical use in modern warfare and were therefore discarded from older fighter jets. Theoretically, they could reach a range of 10,000 meters, but in actual combat, their effective range is usually within 1,000 meters. Such weapons simply cannot exert any power on modern fighter jets, so their obsolescence is inevitable.
Moreover, this machine gun is a rotary rapid-fire type. Once the button is pressed, a series of shells are fired like a machine gun, "rat-a-tat-tat," and it's hard to say how many will hit the target.
The four agents saw that the enemy plane was at least seven or eight kilometers away from them, but Zhou Ziwei had already opened fire, firing more than twenty out of thirty shells at once. This... sigh... doesn't he know that the effective range of this machine gun is only five hundred to one thousand meters?
Oh... forgive him! No matter how amazing he is, he is still just a five or six-year-old child. How could such a young child understand so much? We are asking too much of him.
And... even if he hadn't wasted those twenty-odd shells, so what? With just a few machine gun shells, was it possible to shoot down an enemy plane?
Accept your fate! The other side hasn't fired yet, clearly intending to force our plane to the ground. But now that Zhou Ziwei has opened fire, I'm afraid... the other side won't hold back anymore! Sigh... a salvo from twenty-two fighters of an entire squadron... a highly maneuverable air-to-air missile launched at short to medium range, probably even a god couldn't stop it!
The opposing squadron maintained its neat formation, like a large hand slowly opening, constantly closing the distance to encircle the transport plane where Zhou Ziwei and his group were.
The intercoms within the flight squadron were all open, and the pilots chatted while unifying their flight paths under the squadron leader's instructions.
The bursts of laughter, curses, and lewd jokes coming from the internal communication channel showed that the atmosphere was very relaxed. It seemed that they did not regard for forcing or shooting down a transport plane as a combat mission at all.
Indeed, that's true. It's baffling what the higher-ups were thinking when they deployed twenty-two fighter jets against a single transport plane. It was just a tiny transport plane, without a single missile on board, and intelligence indicated it only had a thirty-round cannon. What kind of combat capability could such a small aircraft possibly have? Besides... it was just a transport plane. In terms of speed and maneuverability, it was far inferior to fighter jets; there was simply no comparison.
With just one plane, even sending a fighter jet would be more than enough to deal with it. I really don't know if those big shots have lost their minds. They actually sent an entire squadron to deal with a transport plane. Even if they want to bully people, they shouldn't do it like this!
Hmm… Judging from the reactions on that plane just now, it must have been piloted by a highly skilled veteran! To be able to fly an old transport plane at a terrifying speed of 1,600 kilometers per hour, that person is truly extraordinary… But so what? He was still just piloting a transport plane. If such an expert were given a high-performance fighter jet, it might indeed pose a certain threat to them, but… it was just a transport plane after all… and a transport plane without missiles, only with thirty cannon rounds. So what is there to worry about?
So everyone in the squadron was relaxed, trying their best to maintain the cool flight formation they often displayed during training, while discussing where they would go to relax after the mission, and some even lewdly talked about how white and tender their new lover's buttocks were.
Just then, someone exclaimed, "Look... that idiot on the other side is actually firing at us! Haha... Doesn't he only have thirty cannon shells? How come he's so impatient? The distance is still so far, and he's already fired all his remaining shells! Haha... Does this count as premature ejaculation?"
The pilots burst into knowing laughter upon hearing their teammate's teasing. Yes... a machine gun with an effective range of only 1,000 meters was fired when it was still 5 or 6 kilometers away. This... isn't that premature ejaculation? Although the theoretical range of this 30mm machine gun can reach up to 10,000 meters, that's just theory. Once it exceeds the effective range of 1,000 meters, the speed and accuracy of the cannon shells become uncontrollable.
Even within effective range, these junk shells would never hit a nimble fighter jet, let alone at such a distance, far beyond the effective range. Therefore, although they saw that the enemy had actually started firing, no one in the entire flight squadron, from the squadron leader down, felt the slightest bit nervous.
None of them paid any attention to the shells flying towards them. No one cared about the threat of the shells. They continued to tell their own jokes in a lewd manner, only occasionally glancing down at the flight paths of the shells scanned on the screen.
"Hey...did you guys notice...that idiot just happened to fire twenty-two cannon rounds!" one of the pilots suddenly exclaimed in an exaggerated manner, "What is he thinking? Does he think he's a crack shot gunner? Our squadron has twenty-two planes, and he just happened to fire twenty-two rounds at once...My God, is he really planning to take us all out with one shot each?!"
The pilot's words immediately caused a burst of laughter throughout the squadron's internal communication channel, but the laughter only lasted for a moment before it stopped abruptly.
In that instant, everyone's eyes were fixed on the radar screen in front of them. As the twenty-two cannon shells approached, they suddenly realized that these twenty-two shells were not being fired randomly in one go, but... each shell was actually aimed at a single aircraft. As they drew closer, they could clearly see that if they maintained their original formation and speed, then in the blink of an eye, all twenty-two fighter jets would be hit by the enemy's shells without exception... without exception.
How could they possibly know that the enemy was using a rotary cannon that fires a barrage of shells with the push of a button? With such a rapid rate of fire, how could they possibly maintain precise aiming? One shell targeting only one aircraft… that's incredibly accurate! If the enemy was just confused, they were ridiculously confused! And these shells, even after traveling several times their effective range, still maintained such precision… that's just unbelievable!
"Quickly—change formation to the three-flower formation, quick..."
Seeing the situation was bad, the flight squadron leader immediately let out a frantic, hysterical scream. Fortunately, they reacted quickly enough and it was still not too late to take the threat of those shells seriously. After all, they were just ordinary 30mm cannon shells, and they were far beyond the effective range of the cannon. If they were only a few hundred meters away from the transport plane, they might not have had time to dodge, because although the cannon was rubbish, the initial velocity of the shells after leaving the barrel was still quite high, possibly exceeding their reaction speed.
But now they were more than five kilometers away. Although the shells were very accurate, they had flown so far that their speed had long since dropped to a pitiful level. With the experience of these seasoned pilots, they could easily dodge them.
The company commander, being extremely experienced, worried that some of his men might not take the situation seriously enough in the rush and could be hit by artillery shells due to negligence. So, he decisively shouted the order to change formation.
In peacetime, conventional military air units like theirs are practically relegated to military performances. During routine inspections, they inevitably have to display all sorts of fancy flight formations. However, these formations are often ineffective in actual combat. But now… the squadron leader quickly realized that if they suddenly changed the flight path and formation of the entire squadron at this moment, they could immediately make all twenty-two shells that were slowly being fired at them miss their mark.
With frequent training, the flight squadron often has to change formations during flight, and the officers are well-trained to react perfectly to a single command.
At the squadron leader's command, the entire squadron reacted immediately. Each aircraft paused slightly, then performed a difficult right roll in the air, before weaving in and out to change positions. Finally, the twenty-two fighter jets formed a tulip shape in the air.
This... is what is known as the Three-Flower Formation, a flight formation that is very popular in the flight units of the United States.
All the pilots obeyed the squadron leader's orders and performed all the maneuvers perfectly. This was inseparable from their hard training day after day and year after year. Not a single one of them made even the slightest mistake, which made the squadron leader extremely satisfied.
In fact, only the squadron leader knew that the transport plane they were about to deal with was a target of great interest to their superiors. It was said that even General Clavel was watching their entire operation via satellite broadcast. Therefore, the squadron leader felt even more honored and proud. He was sure that General Clavel had already witnessed their squadron's spectacular performance! If he could perfectly complete the mission assigned to him, he would surely leave a deep impression on General Clavel! Then…wouldn't he be on the verge of an even brighter future?
After completing the last synchronized flight maneuver, the squadron leader indulged in a moment of wild fantasy before subconsciously glancing down at the radar screen.
Heh... Sure enough... there's no trace of those shell markings left on the screen.
A confident smile appeared on the company commander's lips, but then a sudden thought struck him... Wait a minute... Even if we had perfectly dodged them, those shells should either have been left behind or were falling to the ground... But they should still be visible on the radar scan, right? How... how could they be completely invisible?
Just then... "Boom boom boom, boom boom boom..." A series of earth-shattering explosions rang out one after another, and the twenty-two planes arranged in a triangular pattern suddenly transformed into twenty-two incomparably brilliant fireworks in the sky.
Those well-trained pilots indeed arranged their formation with unparalleled precision. Even after the plane exploded, they still formed the shape of three tulips in the sky, their formation remaining perfectly intact. They were truly exemplary pilots...
The poor squadron leader only realized the truth when his body and the entire squadron were reduced to ashes in the fireworks… It turned out that the markings for the twenty-two shells had overlapped with the locations of the twenty-two aircraft, which was why he couldn't see the shells on the screen. How stupid of me…
Upon seeing the magnificent tulip-shaped fireworks formed by twenty-two airplanes, the four agents on the transport plane were completely stunned, their mouths agape. They remained speechless until Xiaoxin piloted the plane back to its original course, quickly leaving the beautiful fireworks far behind. Only then did the four of them snap out of their daze.
All eyes were focused on Zhou Ziwei's seemingly unremarkable small frame. What kind of freak was this guy? He actually... he actually used only thirty machine gun shells to completely wipe out an entire fighter squadron... Oh, no... strictly speaking, he only used twenty-two shells. Out of a total of thirty shells, eight were still left.
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 554: Operation Skynet
In a defense base in western M country, General Clavel and a group of senior officers from the west looked up at the huge projection wall, which was twelve meters long, in front of the conference hall. The image on the wall was still frozen on the scene of three giant tulips formed by twenty-two fireworks.
From General Clavel down to the lowly soldiers serving him tea and water, everyone's expression was remarkably consistent: heads held high, eyes wide, mouths agape, faces filled with astonishment and disbelief.
After a long while, a "click" was heard, and General Clavel's exaggeratedly large mouth reluctantly closed. As soon as this sound rang out, it seemed to trigger a chain reaction throughout the hall, with a series of "click, click" sounds immediately following, one after another, quite spectacular, and occasionally a low groan would be heard.
That was the sound of someone accidentally biting their tongue while closing their mouth, but... the atmosphere in the hall was too eerie, and General Clavel's face was too frightening, so even the person who bit their tongue didn't dare to shout too loudly and hurriedly covered their mouth with their hand.
"This...this...Colonel Mark, are you sure...that the video you just had played was really a real-time image transmitted back from satellite monitoring equipment, and not...and not just a clip from some new Hollywood blockbuster?"
General Clavel could hardly believe his eyes, so he grabbed Colonel Mark, who was in charge of communications, and uttered a humorous remark that no one dared to laugh out loud.
Yes, how is that possible? That was an elite squadron of the Federation, but... it was gone in the blink of an eye. And... it was taken down by a small transport plane.
What's even more shameful is that it was actually shot down by an obsolete machine gun attached to that transport plane.
What's even more unexpected is that... they apparently only fired twenty-two shots from beginning to end, one shot per fighter jet, every shot hitting its mark, and these twenty-two shells were fired in rapid succession, almost simultaneously shooting down... oh, I shouldn't say destroying all twenty-two fighter jets.
The last part, however, is the most terrifying: twenty-two shells, each hitting its mark perfectly. This is indeed astonishing, but... someone actually managed to destroy a brand-new fighter jet with a single shot from these outdated, ordinary machine guns... Clearly, this effect could only be achieved by the shells hitting the aircraft's fuel tanks directly.
However... even the fuel tank, apart from a small external fuel inlet which is the weakest part, is a key protected area of the entire aircraft. In theory... with the penetrating power of ordinary machine guns, it would be impossible to penetrate the key protected areas of this new fighter jet.
Actually, although this machine gun is called a cannon, it is not much more powerful than a regular gun.