Chapter 318 - 246: The Experts are Speechless
"Trash!"
Furious, Li Tiecheng slammed the table.
"Calm down,"
Chen Beixuan’s voice carried a barely perceptible tremor. "He’ll be back."
「Twenty thousand meters above East Sea City.」
Han Feng felt the slight vibrations of the fighter jet. The Sword Essence in his body was depleting at an unprecedented rate.
Yet, an indescribable sense of exhilaration made him want to shout to the heavens.
’This is true Sword Flight!’
Han Feng yanked the control stick.
The Ghost fighter cut an unnatural, jagged line through the air.
It went from extreme speed to a dead hover in an instant. Then, its nose pitched down.
Plummeting toward the sea like a meteor!
[Body Technique·Reversal of Heaven and Earth!]
[Sword Control Technique Proficiency +20!]
East Sea City’s air defense command center erupted into chaos.
Meanwhile, in the Celestial Craft Group’s observation room, everyone was once again frozen in shock.
The Ghost, which had vanished from their screens, had reappeared.
It dove out of the clouds, plunging towards the ground at a near-vertical angle.
An instant before impact,
it executed another unbelievable Cobra Maneuver, skimming just meters above the ground as it shot past the tarmac at high speed.
It was so close!
They could even see into the cockpit. Han Feng was grinning, and facing their observation room, he flashed them two middle fingers.
"That little bastard!"
Li Tiecheng stomped his feet, fuming, but a wide grin blossomed on his face.
Chen Beixuan’s hand shook so uncontrollably that he didn’t even notice the tea from his cup spilling all over him.
Councilor Wang, however, collapsed into his chair, his face ashen.
He didn’t understand the complex data or what the maneuvers signified.
But he understood one thing.
This plane had shattered everything they thought they knew.
They hadn’t just built a toy; they had created a monster. A legend!
After circling the Celestial Craft Group tower once, the Ghost fighter accelerated again, rocketing straight up into the heavens.
[Body Technique·Spiral Charge!]
BOOM—!
The delayed sonic boom finally hit, rattling the observation room’s blast-proof glass.
"That... was that a supersonic maneuver just now?"
"No, it was more than that!
That instantaneous turn... the G-force must have exceeded 30Gs!
Any Pilot at the Meridian Passage Realm would have been crushed to a pulp! How did he do it?"
The experts from the Science Academy were losing their minds.
They crowded around the data terminal, staring at the stream of red-lining figures that defied the laws of physics. It felt as if their brains could no longer process what they were seeing.
Chen Beixuan and Li Tiecheng exchanged a look, each seeing a mixture of wild elation and lingering fear in the other’s eyes.
Their gamble had paid off!
This young man, Han Feng, had truly given them the surprise of a lifetime!
The extreme cold of the 20,000-meter altitude still clung to the jet’s skin. The black Ghost X-01 rested silently on the landing platform.
Its matte black coating hadn’t even discolored from the friction of its high-speed flight; if anything, it looked even deeper and more profound.
A dead silence hung in the observation room for a full ten seconds.
"Ahem."
A soft cough broke the silence.
Chen Beixuan’s hand finally steadied around his teacup. He took a nonchalant sip, though the tea within had long gone cold.
"Councilor Wang, what did you think of that last maneuver?"
Councilor Wang’s face was chalk-white. His lips trembled, but he couldn’t manage to force out a single word.
He didn’t understand aerial combat, but he understood physics.
Even an idiot knew what it meant for a hunk of iron to be able to execute maneuvers that defied the laws of Gravity within the atmosphere.
"The data! I want to see the data!"
The white-bearded old man leading the Science Academy team lunged for the control console, shoving aside the stunned operator.
On the holographic screen, dense streams of data cascaded down like a waterfall.
"Peak G-force... 34Gs?"
The old man shrieked, his voice cracking:
"That’s impossible!
The sensors have to be broken!
At that G-force, the internal organs of a Meridian Passage Realm cultivator would be turned to paste, and the aircraft’s frame would have disintegrated!"
Several other experts crowded in, their heads huddled together as if they wanted to dive right into the screen.
"Structural frame integrity... 99.8%?"
"Engine output momentarily dropped to zero, but its velocity didn’t decrease?
What the hell is the principle behind that?"
"The Spiritual Energy Circuits didn’t overheat? This defies science!"
The experts devolved into a shouting match, spittle flying as they argued.
Li Tiecheng ignored the squabbling nerds. He strode to the blast-proof glass, planted his hands on the railing, and stared intently at the fighter jet below.
The cockpit canopy slowly lifted open.
A hand emerged, resting casually on the edge.
Next, Han Feng removed his helmet and vaulted out of the cockpit.
He stumbled upon landing, swaying for a moment before finding his footing.
’This kid...’
A terrifying grin spread across Li Tiecheng’s face.
"A real goddamn talent."
With no boarding ladder, Han Feng simply activated his "Escapee" Armor. A gentle stream of air from the thrusters on his back lifted him to the observation room’s entrance platform on the second floor.
The airtight door opened.
Han Feng walked in, helmet in hand. His short hair was soaked with sweat, plastered messily against his forehead.
His face was a bit pale, but his eyes were alarmingly bright.
"Gentlemen."
Han Feng tossed his helmet onto the table with a dull THUD.
"Mission accomplished. I didn’t crash the plane."
Li Tiecheng strode over and clapped a massive hand on Han Feng’s shoulder.
"Attaboy! That stunt with the middle finger at the end? That’s got guts! I love it!"
Han Feng winced, feeling as if the blow had nearly shattered his shoulder.
’Damn, this old guy’s strong.’