Sky-cracking Rider

The T-7C "Red Hawk" advanced trainer aircraft, with its landing gear down, roared down the long runway and finally decelerated, gently sliding towards the apron.

The jet engines couldn't be shut off during the entire taxi process; they needed to maintain the most basic output.

Once shut off, well, that would be awkward.

The roaring noise diminished, eventually coming to an abrupt halt.

The cockpit canopy opened, and Chen Fei unstrapped and leaped out.

Despite the cockpit of the "Red Hawk" being designed to be relatively spacious, primarily for Caucasians, he still felt cramped and confined inside.

Pilots aren't usually tall and skinny; the most common body type is often short and stocky, robust, and if dressed in a short robe, they could pass as martial arts experts.

The other three students had been waiting on the apron and came up to meet him immediately.

The boldest among the three students, Ashka Copernicus, whose call sign was "Pumpkin," asked first, "Instructor Ramaya, when will it be our turn to fly the planes?"

"I'm tired, let's talk about it in a couple of days!" Stay updated with empire

Instructor Ramaya had climbed down from the plane with his eyes closed, relying solely on memory, then simply shook his head.

The aircraft climbing resulted in excessive overload, causing black vision due to cerebral hypoxia; diving caused weightlessness and cerebral congestion, resulting in red vision.

This heavy pressure cycle had left his eyes sore and swollen even now; he needed to apply some eye drops and rest properly.

Being half incapacitated, how could he still have the strength to take other students flying?

"Eh?"

The three students collectively voiced their disappointment.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Alright, I'm heading to the med bay first, we'll talk later."

Instructor Ramaya blinked hard, barely restoring some sight as the red haze before his eyes gradually receded, though full recovery would still take time.

At least for the short term, he couldn't fly again.

Karan Phillips quickly spoke up before Ramaya could leave, "Instructor, we want to have a one-on-one challenge with 'Rookie'!"

"Through the flight simulator."

Tempun Schneider timely added.

These two restless fellows had actually forgotten the most crucial part, and had Schneider spoken a moment later, they might already have been greeted rudely by fists.

The spacious apron was indeed a great place for lying flat, whether willingly or otherwise, with essentially no difference in the outcome.

"Right, right, through the flight simulator!"

Ashka and Karan rapidly nodded their heads, sweating profusely.

That was close!

"A duel on the flight simulator? No problem! Just do as you please, but remember not to set the overload too high."

Although using the flight simulator involved minimal wear and tear, there was still a possibility of injury, so Instructor Ramaya still took care to remind them.

Just like what the three students thought, the flight simulator was like an ultra-advanced big toy, but no matter how high the realism, it couldn't compare to actual flying; many small details couldn't be replicated by the simulator, as human senses constitute a very complex system, sometimes involving more than just the five senses.

"When are you free? 'Rookie'!"

After receiving a reminder from the instructor, Karan Phillips immediately looked at Chen Fei, his voice naturally carrying a hint of provocation.

"Me? One-on-one?"

Chen Fei had just finished discussing some matters about the "Red Hawk" with the ground crew and turned around, pointing at himself.

He had often dueled with the flight simulator's AI, and it was a fifty-fifty win rate.

The latter wasn't as chaotic as the former; always being rushed into confusion. Although the AI seemed intelligent, it was still taught by humans, because no matter how advanced, it couldn't break out of human limitations, only having the advantage of being especially quick to react.

Facing someone like Chen Fei who could be reckless in reality, the AI would inevitably end up not knowing how to respond, and once it erred, the result was predictable.

Against such forcibly dumbed-down AI, even a rookie could win easily.

"That's right, are you scared?"

Karan Phillips raised his eyebrows, even resorting to reverse psychology.

"Alright! I'm free most of the time."

Chen Fei agreed readily.

Having tired of battling against AI, trying out multiplayer could also be interesting.

However... he was mistaken!

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Two hours later, Chen Fei pushed open the cockpit of the flight simulator.

Frowning, he looked towards the adjacent simulator where Tempun Schneider, with a face as pale as earth, sat inside.

"Is this really the best you can do?"

This guy was the best of the three, but still couldn't last ten minutes against him, it was a total beating, leaving Chen Fei not feeling the slightest sense of achievement. It was like bullying kindergartners; they'd come at him flailing, and with a casual slap, he'd knock them down; then they would come howling at him again, and still, a slap, followed by nothing but crying.

In the rest area, watching the battle from a third-person perspective, "Pumpkin" Ashka Copernicus and "Piranha" Karan Philip were trembling, yet they still blustered, "You, you, just don't get too smug!"

Every one of them was beaten 0:3; all together, their fights didn't even last half an hour, the shortest was blindly lost in one minute, losing not just embarrassingly but disastrously so.

"Fighting you guys is just too boring!"

Chen Fei had thought he was pretty bad, but it turned out these guys were worse, embarrassingly so.

He even had a day when he'd disdain others.

The faces of the three fellow students immediately turned extremely ugly.

You don't hit a man in the face; how could he be so direct?

"Heh, too boring? How about I, this old chap, give you a game?"

Chen Fei turned around to see Old David coming over with the help of a cane.

"Old David, you're looking pretty good today."

Recently, Old David had been worn out by various media.

However, the media's attention always comes fast and goes fast; in this age of entertainment to death, it wasn't long before some explosive new news story distracted the masses, and they quickly shifted their attention away from the recently raided Eagle Nest private airport.

Since coming back from Chapala City in Mesoamerica, Chen Fei noticed Old David looking much better now that the small Federal Air Force airport was back to its usual quiet, with no groups of media people around.

"Just saw off some people from the FBI, finally I can breathe a sigh of relief."

Being a hero isn't easy, it seems glamorous, but actually, it's carrying an almost unbearable burden. Old David let out a long breath, smiling wryly watching those three students who sneaked away like rats, sticking close to the wall.

Is it something you can't provoke nor avoid?

But does it have to be like this?

"You've had a hard time, why not rest a bit more?"

Chen Fei wanted to help the elderly man to a seat in the resting area, but the other waved his cane, unceremoniously shooing him away.

"Off, off, I'm not yet so old I can't walk."

As people age, they tend to dislike admitting it the most, despising Chen Fei's kindness, Old David instead moved towards the nearest flight simulator and grabbed the door handle, pulling himself onto it.

Old David's legs weren't so nimble, but he still had strength in his upper body.

He hunched his body into the cockpit, placing his cane aside, fastening his seatbelt, putting on the tactical helmet. The actions that he had repeated countless times were deeply engraved in his bones, and deftly completed, finally making a gesture to a dumbfounded Chen Fei.

"Come, play a couple of games with this old geezer!"

Chen Fei said with a smile, "Old David, you're not joking, are you?"

Although the flight simulator looked like a massive high-fidelity gaming machine, it was still quite different from a real gaming console.

Apart from its one-to-one scale cockpit design and three-dimensional realistic imaging features, it could also simulate nearly realistic overload.

If the real overload parameters are set too high, there is a possibility of injury.

"Do I look like I'm joking? Get on, let's train!"

Without another word, Old David pressed a button, and the cockpit began to close.

Recalling those glorious days, he was once the "Eagle King" who looked down upon the world. Did these youngsters really think that just because he was older, he couldn't wield a sword anymore?

"Sure, but take it easy!"

Chen Fei could only smile ruefully as he returned to the simulator he had just used, doing the same operations, the capsule closed.

"I've shut off the overload simulation, go ahead!"

Old David immediately set up the battlefield for a skirmish.

In the battle map, the take-off points for both sides were 50 kilometers apart, almost just a press of the throttle, eliminating the need for extensive searching. As soon as they got close, the battle would break out.

Chen Fei chose the F-22 "Raptor" as his mount, Old David gave him his old buddy to familiarize himself with in advance.

Moreover, choosing the MiG-28 was useless since Old David would certainly select the F-22.

With the two jets clashing, the MiG-28 would definitely be pummeled by the F-22; it was inevitable!

Between the second-and-a-half and fourth generations, there was a generation-and-a-half difference!

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