By convention, weapons with a caliber of less than 20 millimeters are generally called guns, while those with a caliber of more than 20 millimeters are called cannons.
A 30mm caliber cannon is called a cannon, and a 100mm cannon is also called a cannon. However, the power of these cannons differs greatly. In fact, in terms of the performance of this 30mm rotary cannon, it is closer to the characteristics of a firearm. Compared with an ordinary machine gun, it is only that the caliber is larger and the bullets are larger.
Moreover... at that time, the shells from those machine guns were fired far beyond the normal effective range of the machine guns, and they were already at the end of their power. Not to mention that they could not penetrate the key protected areas of the fighter jets, they would also have difficulty penetrating ordinary areas.
So... the only possibility that caused this result is... that the small cannon shell just happened to hit the external fuel inlet of the fuel tank, which is why the fighter jet exploded.
If the target is only one fighter jet, then no matter how skillfully the shot is fired, others can attribute the result to luck. However, if twenty-two fighter jets all have the same result, then... it really can't just be a matter of luck. However... many of the people present have enough knowledge about fighter jets and know that all external fuel ports of this type of fighter jet should be a standard 36 mm in diameter.
To get a 30mm diameter cannon shell into a 36mm external oil inlet is... quite a challenge. Let alone hitting such a small target from 5 kilometers away, even if someone were to shoot it from 50 meters away with a more accurate and reliable pistol, it would be very difficult for anyone to hit such a small target with perfect accuracy!
All these incredible things combined really make it feel like watching a Hollywood blockbuster. This... it really doesn't seem real at all; it all feels a bit fake.
Colonel Mark was nearly lifted off his feet by General Clavel grabbing his collar. He quickly forced a smile and said, "General... please... please calm down. How could I possibly have played the wrong video? At a time like this, how could I... dare to joke with you like this? Wouldn't I be facing a court-martial?"
General Clavel knew perfectly well that what he had just said was impossible, but he really hoped that it was just Colonel Mark joking with him. He swore that if Colonel Mark told him now that it was just a joke, he would give Mark a big hug and would never take any responsibility.
But... looking at Mark's bitter face, everyone knew that Mark was definitely not in the mood for joking. So they could only sigh helplessly, release Mark's neck, wave their hand, and say, "Slow down the replay... I want to see... how... how those machine gun shells could blow up my entire flight squadron in a single burst."
At General Clavel's command, the projection on the big screen rewound, then switched to a five-times slow speed to replay the breathtaking scene bit by bit.
"Ah... there's definitely something strange about this!" As the camera zoomed in, a beautiful female officer finally couldn't help but cover her mouth and exclaim in surprise.
Although no one cried out, they all clearly saw the problem. Instantly, everyone's breathing seemed to stop completely, and the entire hall became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
On the big screen, twenty-two fighter jets were displaying their magnificent formation changes in an incredibly stylish manner. Almost simultaneously, the shells that had been flying straight towards them also slightly deflected their trajectories as the fighter jets changed their formation.
Normally, after leaving the barrel, a shell follows a parabolic trajectory. It's not unusual for a shell to deviate slightly mid-flight due to environmental factors or wind direction. What's strange is that... these twenty-two shells deviated in completely different directions. Some deviated eastward, some westward, some slightly downward, and some... even more seriously, they defied the laws of nature, ignoring Earth's gravity and instead turning upwards...
Then... the twenty-two fighter jets continued to perform amazing flying skills in the sky. None of the planes flew in a straight line. Some flipped in the air, while others circled like eagles.
The twenty-two shells that were getting closer and closer were also constantly adjusting their flight angles... Clearly... each shell corresponded to a specific aircraft, and no matter how the aircraft tried to dodge, the shell followed closely like a leech, never letting go.
The pilots of those twenty-two fighter jets seemed completely oblivious to the deadly danger approaching them. They were still putting on a show of their perfectly synchronized aerial formation changes, and not a single plane made the slightest reaction to the approaching shells.
Finally, the twenty-two planes completed this difficult maneuver of changing formation, and almost at that moment... the twenty-two shells finally hit the belly of one of the planes.
Because this video was taken by satellite, due to the limited shooting angle, it was impossible to see where the shells finally landed when they entered the underside of the fighter jets.
However... even from the final footage, it can be roughly determined that all the shells were indeed fired at the location of the aircraft's fuel tanks.
"These...these aren't machine gun shells at all, they're clearly...clearly miniature missiles!"
When the final image froze on the twenty-two fighter jets transforming into three tulip-shaped fireworks, the female officer who had first screamed finally couldn't help but exclaim again.
The others were initially just marveling at this strange scene, and their minds were still a little confused. However, after hearing what the female officer said, they all seemed to wake up from a dream.
Yes... It's clear from the video that those twenty-two shells were constantly adjusting their trajectories to follow the movement of the aircraft. This... this scene looks so familiar... During the previous missile attacks, each missile, after being launched, also closely followed the movement of the transport plane, constantly changing its trajectory. In the end... of course, in the end, all those missiles inexplicably exploded one by one before reaching their optimal positions, but that's basically how it happened.
What is a missile? It is short for "guided missile". It is an unmanned weapon that relies on a guidance system to control its flight trajectory and can designate targets for attack, and even track the target's movements.
In a sense, missiles are also a type of artillery shell. Once an artillery shell has the ability to be guided, it is no longer an ordinary artillery shell, but rises to the level of a missile.
But nowadays, which common missile isn't a behemoth in shape? Even the smallest missile is a huge thing that one or two people can't lift.
Actually, this is not necessarily entirely because of the pursuit of maximum missile destructive power, but mainly because the guidance and tracking system technology is too complex. If the missile is too small, it is simply impossible to load these instruments inside.
But... in the video just now, those twenty-two small shells with a diameter of only thirty millimeters also had air-guided capabilities. So... what does this mean? Doesn't it mean that... there is already a technology in the world that can compress guidance and tracking systems to such a miniature size, and that this is actually a very mature technology? The aerial encounter just now was a living example.
Such precise guidance and control is something that even the guidance systems of large missiles cannot achieve, yet it has been accomplished on such a small artillery shell.
In an instant, the entire command hall of the base erupted in excitement. Everyone's eyes were like those of a lecherous man who hadn't seen a woman in ten years, suddenly seeing a beautiful naked woman. Their eyes were so bright and clear that they could be used as light bulbs.
"A miracle! This is absolutely a miracle!"
General Clavel slammed his fist heavily on the table in front of him again. However, the previous times he had done this in a fit of extreme anger and rage, but this time... he was excited.
Yes, General Clavel was in a state of extreme excitement. Even his distinctive red nose swelled up instantly, looking like a circus clown.
"This is ours... We absolutely cannot let this technology leak out of the Federation!" General Clavel clenched his fist resolutely and said, "Quickly connect me to the President, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Defense. Tell them that Clavel has an urgent military intelligence report!"
Ten minutes later, an emergency video conference ended under the intense gazes and excited expressions of several high-ranking leaders of Country M. General Clavel snapped a crisp military salute at the video phone in front of him, straightened his neck, and shouted at the top of his lungs: "President, rest assured, I, Clavel, will definitely complete the mission and leave the technology of the miniature missile on the territory of Country M. I will absolutely not allow those traitors to take it out of the country!"
A moment later, General Clavel, having concluded the video conference, returned to the base command center. He strode confidently to the head of the table, looked at the equally eager faces below, snapped to attention, and gave a crisp military salute. Then, with barely concealed excitement, he announced loudly: "His Excellency the President has ordered… I will be fully in charge of this operation. You are the key personnel participating in this operation. Furthermore… the entire M Military Region's army, navy, and air force will unconditionally cooperate with this operation. This operation is codenamed—Skynet!"
Faced with the unparalleled admiration in the eyes of the four special agents, Zhou Ziwei felt somewhat helpless and speechless. He really didn't want to stand out too much, but... he couldn't help but want to. Facing the siege of an enemy air squadron, he simply couldn't hold back, and he didn't want to display too many amazing abilities in front of too many people.
Using machine guns to shoot down fighter jets... at most it would just make him seem more skilled at shooting down planes, it shouldn't seem too excessive...
Zhou Ziwei could have simply jumped out of the plane and used his wind energy to lift up the twenty-two fighter jets and toss them to the ground like toys.
However… Zhou Ziwei thought that their every move was likely being closely watched by the US military, and might even be being broadcast live by some TV station.
If such a spectacular scene were broadcast live to the entire world... he would be making too much of a splash. If it caused public panic or led underage children to have unrealistic fantasies... then Zhou Ziwei would become a sinner for all time.
Little did Zhou Ziwei know that if he actually did that, after giving those American devils a good scare, no one would dare to stop him anymore. However, his use of such a normal method to defeat the enemy only made people misunderstand that he possessed some kind of heaven-defying technological information, thus causing an even more heated situation.
If Zhou Ziwei had known things would turn out this way, he probably wouldn't have needed to find anyone to help him. He could have simply taken the dozen or so people and flown back to China, and there wouldn't have been any problems.
After all twenty-two fighter jets turned into a sky full of fireworks, Zhou Ziwei let out a long sigh of relief. He then ordered Xiao Xin to readjust its course and fly straight towards the border of the United States at top speed and along the most direct route...
"Haha... an entire flight squadron is gone just like that. I guess the M Army won't dare to send fighter jets to intercept us so easily anymore, right?" One of the agents said excitedly, looking out the porthole at the clusters of fireworks that hadn't completely dissipated.
"I'm afraid...that might not be the case!" The lieutenant colonel sighed deeply, saying nothing more, but his eyes held a deeper and more profound worry...
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 555: Forced Landing
Yes... but I'm afraid that's not necessarily true...
Zhou Ziwei also understood that the Japanese devils from the United States and the Japanese devils from the island nation were different. The Japanese devils bullied the weak and feared the strong. If he showed some ruthless methods, he could easily make them afraid and dare not disobey.
However, the American devils possessed a certain arrogance and madness. His recent attack would likely not have much of a deterrent effect on the proud American people, and the road ahead would probably not be easy.
Although Zhou Ziwei had long been prepared to face the M army's frantic interception, he was still greatly shocked when he saw the M army's next move.
Holy crap, I don't think I dug up the ancestral grave of the US president, did I? Why is the other side reacting so strongly?
After Zhou Ziwei blasted an entire flight squadron to pieces with twenty-two machine gun shells, they encountered no further obstacles for at least twenty minutes. It seemed that they would reach the border in another ten minutes or so. But at that moment, suddenly, dense clusters of small black dots appeared in all directions in the sky.
Because of the distance, the garbage scanning system on the transport plane couldn't distinguish anything. However, the layers of black dots in the distance were so obvious that they could be clearly seen even with the naked eye.
"What is this!" an agent exclaimed. "Could it be a once-in-a-century locust plague?"
“I don’t think so!” Another agent shook his head in disbelief and said, “We’re not far from the sea. I think it’s more likely that a large number of seabirds are migrating.”
Zhou Ziwei glanced at the two men speechlessly, then said softly with a hint of helplessness, "Your imaginations are so limited, aren't they? Didn't anyone guess that this was the M Army's air interception force?"
"Haha... an air interception force?" Several people burst into laughter upon hearing this. Even the worried lieutenant colonel shook his head repeatedly, saying, "How is that possible? This whole area is dark and swarming. If it really is the US military's air interception force, how many planes would they have launched at once? Ten thousand? One hundred thousand? Or one million? Does the US have that much military reserve? And even if they did, why would they use such a large force for a few small fry like us? You know... if hundreds of thousands of planes took off at the same time... they wouldn't even need to fly very far. Just taking off, circling in the air, and then landing would consume enough energy to dry up a small oil well. The US is rich and powerful, but they are always very cautious about energy. Even if they really don't want to let us go, they wouldn't deploy so much air power all at once!"
Zhou Ziwei sighed helplessly and said, "I really hope that these are just migrating seabirds, but unfortunately... my eyesight is slightly better than the average person's. What you see are just a bunch of blurry little black dots, but in my eyes... they are all advanced fighter jets of various models... The Americans are really something. I just shot down a squadron of fighter jets, and they actually mobilized all the planes in the United States."
"What? Those...those are really...really all airplanes?"
Although they were reluctant to believe it, the agents had developed a blind trust in Zhou Ziwei. If someone else had said this, they would have scoffed at it, but since it was Zhou Ziwei who said it... and he spoke with such certainty, not just as a guess, they naturally had no choice but to believe him.
This kind of thing sounds really unbelievable. They were all people who had served in the M army and had some understanding of the strength of the M air force. The M country has always attached great importance to the construction of the air force and normal military reserves, so... it is not impossible for the M military to mobilize so many aircraft all at once, especially since this is a key area for western defense, and many air force bases are located here. Although it is only a short ten minutes, the air power that the M army can mobilize is still not to be underestimated.
But... all these guys did was hijack a broken transport plane and defect. The M army is indeed ruthless towards traitors, and there's no way they'd escape if they were caught doing something like this. But... it shouldn't be enough to make them go to such great lengths for that!
Even if Zhou Ziwei just blew up an entire squadron of fighter jets, it shouldn't have driven the top military leaders to such a frenzy! Besides... even the Air Force Commander-in-Chief probably doesn't have the authority to mobilize so many aircraft at once, right? This kind of thing would require the personal orders of the President and the Secretary of Defense to be implemented.
But... surely the president and the defense secretary wouldn't both go crazy together!
Zhou Ziwei didn't bother to care about how shocked these people were. In fact, he himself was also very shocked. If he had known that it would cause such a big incident, he would have abandoned the plane long ago, created a tornado at top speed, and fled with the members of the Dragon Group.
Given the speed of a tornado, even these fighter jets might not be able to catch up. And once an aerial interception of this scale is formed, Zhou Ziwei knows that... it is probably impossible for him to force his way out in the sky.
However, Zhou Ziwei was basically certain of one thing... that is, the M army did not seem to want to kill the people on their transport plane directly, but only wanted to capture them alive by all means.
Zhou Ziwei didn't know if they were doing this for the three water sprite seeds they had taken from the biological research base, but he felt that the possibility was unlikely. Although water sprites were of great significance to energy reform, at least for now, Old M probably hadn't fully grasped their true value. Moreover, with just these three water sprite seeds, they might not be able to cultivate anything.
So... these three seeds alone shouldn't be enough to drive the entire M country's air force crazy all at once!
As for what the other side was after, Zhou Ziwei was a little confused, but he was too lazy to figure it out. He didn't care why they were going crazy; he just let them be. Anyway, it was definitely not a good thing for Zhou Ziwei. No matter what the M army was after, once he fell into their hands, things would definitely not be good. So... no matter if the other side had already laid a trap, he had to run, no matter what the cost. If it came to the point where he had to... so what if he had to go on a killing spree?
Judging from the current situation, it is impossible to fly out of the border of the United States. Not to mention that the plane only has eight cannon shells left, even if the plane had plenty of ammunition, Zhou Ziwei would not have the courage to fight back against the densely packed air force that is like a locust plague.
Damn, if I can't go up in the sky, then I'll just slip away on the ground. What's the big deal?
Thinking of this, Zhou Ziwei decisively waved his hand and ordered Xiao Xin to make an emergency landing in a city ahead.
We're almost at the western coastline of the United States, so the cities here are quite densely packed. You don't need to search deliberately; if you just drop somewhere, the chances of finding a lost city in the middle of nowhere are extremely low.
An emergency landing, especially in a city, is an extremely dangerous event. And these dangers extend beyond the people on board; they are even more dangerous to ordinary citizens.
However, Zhou Ziwei didn't care. Anyway, this was forced out of him by the American devils. If they had just let him fly out of their country's borders in one go, there wouldn't have been any problems, right? But now they insisted on making such a big fuss... Well then, I'm sorry, you'll have to bear all the losses and lives yourself!
Fortunately, Zhou Ziwei still had a little bit of conscience and didn't want to kill too many innocent ordinary people, so he had Xiaoxin deliberately choose a government office building to crash into... In this way... although many people might still die, most of the people who die are government employees, who are lackeys of the M country government. Zhou Ziwei wouldn't feel guilty if more of these people died.
Zhou Ziwei simply gave Xiaoxin this order, leaving it to Xiaoxin to decide which government agency to choose. However, Zhou Ziwei never expected that Xiaoxin would actually choose to crash into... the police station.
This is utterly arrogant... Zhou Ziwei was speechless...
Fortunately, the US military was probably so focused on capturing them alive that even though they realized their intentions, they still didn't fire a single shell or missile at their small transport plane.
In fact, since the overwhelming air interception force was already visible to the naked eye, the transport plane had naturally fallen into their firing range long ago. Most fighter jets are equipped with long-range and medium-range attack missiles. At a distance of only tens of kilometers, with the superior performance of those missiles, they could easily use a swarm of missiles to give Zhou Ziwei and his men a super feast.
If every single plane in the sky were to launch a missile at them... even if Zhou Ziwei used all of his dozen or so magical artifacts, or even his natural energy, he would probably still have a hard time withstanding such a terrifying barrage of attacks.
Fortunately, the missile extravaganza that Zhou Ziwei had been worried about did not happen. Under Xiao Xin's precise control, the transport plane drew a perfect curve in the air and crashed hard into the city's police station building.
Of course... Zhou Ziwei had no interest in bumper cars. Before the plane actually crashed into the building, he had already created a whirlwind by waving his hand throughout the entire plane, which swept up everyone inside, both the unconscious and the conscious. Just before the plane crashed into the building, he narrowly opened the cabin door and escaped.
However, in order to keep his secret as much as possible, Zhou Ziwei used a little trick when he grabbed the agents, making them temporarily unconscious. He only brought them back to consciousness after they landed safely behind a street corner.
It wasn't that Zhou Ziwei was being overly cautious, but rather that he didn't want these ordinary people to get too deeply involved.
These agents have successfully completed their undercover mission. As long as they can return home safely, they will no longer have to live in fear and anxiety.
But if they know too much about Zhou Ziwei... who knows if the bigwigs in the country will restrict their freedom again to keep the secret? This is very likely to happen, and it won't change because of Zhou Ziwei's wishes. Therefore, Zhou Ziwei can only try his best to keep these four agents from knowing as little as possible during this process. This can be considered a way to protect them!
A deafening roar echoed from the nearby police station building. The transport plane had successfully crashed half of its fuselage into the building, and then, under Xiaoxin's deliberate manipulation, the fuel tank exploded, creating a massive blast that instantly killed dozens of police officers. It was believed that within minutes, their bodies would be reduced to ashes by the explosion and intense burning.
This was Shin-chan's idea; he wanted to use it to confuse the Americans and make them suspect that everyone on the plane had been killed in the accident.
In fact, Zhou Ziwei had already made this plan when he decided to make an emergency landing in the city. While the plane was still descending, he had Xiao Xin hack into the city's surveillance system and take control of all the surveillance cameras in the city. This ensured that, at least in the moments after the plane crashed, no camera could capture Zhou Ziwei's actions when he and his crew evacuated the plane.
Because Zhou Ziwei was moving at an extremely high speed, the tornado he deliberately created also picked up some random debris. So even if someone nearby saw it, they would only see a gust of wind carrying random things out of the plane's cabin door. No one would be able to tell what was inside the wind.
As for satellite tracking and monitoring... once you're inside this city filled with skyscrapers, the effectiveness of satellites is naturally greatly reduced. Xiaoxin deliberately chose this police station building because the nearby buildings are tall enough to block satellite tracking.
"Wow—you...you are...the Last Terminator?"
A few teenagers were playing street basketball on the street corner when a gust of wind suddenly blew by, and a large group of people appeared all around them. The teenagers were startled, but the one in the lead, who was holding a basketball, shouted excitedly.