“Tender Chicken calling tower and Gold Coin. Zone forty-seven search complete. Moving toward zone forty-eight.” Chen Haiqing’s voice came from Lin Mo’s headset. He was piloting the number 9 Chengdu J-10 and conducting the search in another zone. For some reason, the insane Chen Haiqing had chosen ‘Tender Chicken’ as his code name and proudly claimed that this odd name would give him a higher survival rate.
It was not as though they were raising children in the rural areas of the old society. Lin Mo felt helpless as he thought the King of Hell would not want his life upon hearing this code name.
Neither aircraft dared to fly at too low an altitude. The weather was unpredictable in the Gobi. Not only was there severe turbulence, but it was also very easy to lose lift suddenly and crash. In these kinds of ups and downs, people with weaker physiques would vomit badly. This was why having a good physique ranked first in the pilot selection criterion.
Lin Mo and Chen Haiqing were both flying very carefully. In particular, Lin Mo would not easily rely on the protection of Gold Coin’s Void Magnetic Field. This would make it more difficult for him to thoroughly grasp the flying skills of the aircraft.
At the moment, a golden metal sphere appeared like a dewdrop on the cockpit walls. It trembled slightly like water, jumped onto Lin Mo’s fiberglass aviation helmet, and swiftly fused into the visor’s rotating shaft that was as thick as a chopstick. Gold Coin’s familiar voice rang by Lin Mo’s ears so that only he could hear. “Humans found at four o’clock.”
There was a black box in the cockpit. At present, Gold Coin was still unable to master the structure and control of electronic parts, so they could only use this primitive communication method. Lin Mo began considering if he should get some broken cell phones or other components to let Gold Coin break down.
The wisdom of the dragons was not any inferior to that of humans. The Metal-Attribute Giant Dragon had been able to understand the structure and metal components of the entire J-10 except for the precision electronic components within a few hours. After all, Gold Coin had learned many things from Lin Mo’s laptop, and it was extremely careful when exploring, for fear of damaging Lin Mo’s precious mount. Lin Mo was now its long-term meal ticket. Gold Coin did not even know that it was now like an elementary student full of immense curiosity and had no resemblance to the bloodthirsty butcher Giant Dragon that it used to be in the other world.
Lin Mo pulled the control stick to change direction and headed in the direction that Gold Coin had pointed out. The Dragon Knight’s sharp eyes swept across the ground four thousand meters below and shook his head. “No, keep searching!”
On the ground, a group of men and women were having a barbecue party. They had drums, saxophones, and various other musical instruments and were playing happily. Someone was holding an SLR camera with a large, long tube and constantly taking pictures. When they saw the jet fighter in the sky, they waved at it. People who were about to die from lack of food and water would definitely not do such a thing.
Lin Mo had been in this world for several months, and his basic common sense of this world was much stronger than that of the Metal-Attribute Giant Dragon, who had just awoken.
Light mirror spell! Lin Mo muttered the incantation silently. Sizzle! A perfect circle appeared in the cockpit. The translucent mirror was shaped like a dinner plate, and strange runes twisted into the contours of the light mirror. This was one of the few low-cost spells that Lin Mo could barely use in this world. Although simple, it was extremely practical. Many Air Riders knew this spell, which allowed them to spot enemies in advance and preemptively attack.
Although this world was different from the other world and had extremely thin magic elements, and Lin Mo’s battle aura was also slow to restore, as the altitude increased, the light energy concentration was much higher. Lin Mo’s light-attribute battle aura recovery speed was also much faster. This was one of the reasons Lin Mo was determined to retain his Air Force qualifications. Whether it was in the other world or this world, not everyone had the qualifications to reach the sky easily.
The light mirror spell slowly rotated around Lin Mo inside of the cockpit and magnified distance scenes right before his eyes according to his needs. The distance was even close to that of the radar and could even respond to infrared rays.
“Suspected target found!” Lin Mo’s pupil shrank slightly as the image in the light mirror made him feel happy.
Several dilapidated off-road jeeps were parked on the edge of a small hill, and there were people sitting or lying near the several scattered outdoor tents. When the light mirror spell zoomed in, Lin Mo could almost clearly see the appearances of the people, looking withered and dispirited with dry lips, indicating their physical condition was not good.
Lin Mo pulled the control stick to change direction. The J-10 arced toward the northwest, dragging out a long trail.
At this moment, Lin Hui had sunk into despair. Old Luo, who went to seek help, was still nowhere in sight. The remaining bit of drinking water left in the team was accidentally spilled by an American team member, disappearing in the extremely thirsty Gobi without a trace. Lin Hui had never hated someone as much as now, nor had she ever truly felt the preciousness of water until now. Poor Wu Peng was already unconscious, and his skin looked like it had been burned due to the loss of moisture.
Huck and Mike, who liked to play engineer shovel fried eggs, had long lost interest in it. They shrank their big, thick, hairy legs into the tent, and the engineer shovel was inserted into the sand crookedly. The current temperature even made the eggs they had brought with them turn into boiled eggs without having to do anything.
Everyone was either hiding in the tents or sitting under the shadows of the tents outside. No one wanted to enter an off-road jeep that had long run out of fuel. Without air conditioning, the interior of the car was almost like a big steamer. There was no need to worry about the food spoiling. In these extremely high temperatures and dry conditions, the people in the expedition team could even imagine how the Loulan mummy formed. At the moment, they were slowly being roasted into looking like dried humans.
Faint rumbling came from the horizon. The people of the scientific expedition team were still lying down. They were already numb to it. The shouts and waving of the eye-catching colors to the sky earlier failed to get any help, and they no longer had the strength to get up again and repeat those strenuous actions. At this moment, the only thing they could do was to lie still, maintain physical strength, and keep breathing.
The flexible light mirror spell adjusted the focus distance according to Lin Mo’s thoughts and moved along with his gaze. The transmitted scenes zoomed in and out. The refraction of the light obtained from the atmosphere did not have any blind spots, and any gap was clearly visible. The violent sunlight that shone on this Gobi Desert had saved a lot of Lin Mo’s light-attribute magic energy when he used the light mirror spell.
“Gold Coin found the target! Coordinates XX degrees east longitude, XX degrees north latitude! Getting ready to launch the positioning beacon!” Lin Mo’s voice was as calm as ever while he reported to the rescue center and the take-off airport tower. There was a lot of activity on the other end of the radio, and Lin Mo could clearly hear cheers from his headset.
“What is their condition? What is their condition?” Who knew who was holding the microphone, but they did not know how to follow the calling regulations.
After all, jet fighters were not helicopters. In the Gobi Desert with unpredictable airflow, they did not dare to lower their altitude too much. The caller obviously did not know that it was impossible for the Chengdu J-10 to be equipped with life-detection equipment. Moreover, the pilot’s eyes were not telescopes.
But Lin Mo gave the perfect answer.
Lin Mo’s pupil dilated slightly, and the light mirror spell increased to the highest efficiency. He quickly swept his gaze over the expedition team and answered without any hesitation, “Target, seventeen people. One seems to be in a poisoned state. Others are weak.”
As soon as Lin Mo’s voice fell, the light mirror spell that had amplified to its limit shook slightly, cracked silently, and dissipated in the cockpit. This spell declared that the load exceeded its limit and collapsed.
The J-10 under Lin Mo’s control was almost hovering sideways on the edge of the expedition team at an ultra-low altitude. He glanced at the air. The flames under the wings flashed, a long metal object ejected out, and then a white parachute opened. It was inserted firmly in the sand near the expedition team.
The airport tower and rescue center obviously did not expect Lin Mo to give such a clear and precise reply. It was so precise that it was as though he was standing beside them. Several Air Force professionals not only looked at each other but also muttered about where they borrowed this monstrous pilot from. How could he see it clearly on a high-speed fighter? It wasn’t random nonsense, right?!
But as long as they could confirm the target, the rest could be left until later—find them first and speak later. The launched beacon had already activated the positioning system and was working. A small green dot on the positioning screen of the rescue center was blinking on a spot the Junggar Gobi.
“We’re saved!” Lin Hui’s confused mind was pulled back by the deafening roar. She stumbled and climbed out of the tent to see the scene of the extremely close large silver-grey plane soaring straight up, the umbrella flower that was being blown by the air current, and the swaying metal object inserted into the ground. With all their remaining strength, Dr. Qiao and Professor Brin supported each other, waved their hands at the fighter in the sky, and cried out hoarsely even though they could not hear themselves.
It was almost foreseeable that helicopters carrying the rescuers would arrive soon, and the hope of life was burning again in the eyes of the expedition team.
Under the light of the setting sun, the two Chengdu J-10s landed one after another at the simple airport north of the Junggar Gobi.