With the maximum range of a railgun combat rifle, even if Sanjani ran for an hour, he would still be shattered with one shot, leaving no corpse intact.
The moment Sanjani dared not move, he remembered the high-grade steel crowbar in his hand and hesitated whether to throw it away. Before he could make a decision, the rifle butt smashed down ruthlessly, and he screamed, only to be knocked to the ground immediately.
The airship marine squad rushed up at once, pinning down his limbs before handcuffing him tightly, rendering him unable to move.
The squad leader of the airship marines barked, "Name? Social Welfare Number? What were you trying to do?"
Another rifle butt came down right after, making sure to suppress him first before further questioning.
This unlucky kid was just beaten up by someone last night, and this morning, like a runaway kite, went tumbling over and over. His body was already frail, not having fully recovered, and now after being hit hard twice in quick succession, he directly passed out.
The squad leader confirmed this situation with astonishment, and then scoffed, unable to hide his annoyance.
"Damn it! He passed out!"
This is someone who calls himself an attacker?
Was he here to cause trouble on purpose?
Can't he be a bit more professional?
Belonging to this heavy transport airship, the Marine Squad had no strength left to complain; it was all just a waste of emotions.
The minor trouble resolved, the battleship's landing operation continued.
For such a gigantic aircraft, taking off and landing are extremely complex maneuvers and also the moments when it is most vulnerable.
Like a dark cloud obscuring the sun, the massive aircraft lowered its landing gear and settled steadily near the main runway of Aircrew Base 911.
The "Magic Cube" in Phantom Cube-366MAX refers to the anti-gravity field generated according to Magic Cube Law as the main propulsion engine, the number "366" represents the 366-meter length of the ship, and MAX indicates its heavy transport capacity. It is a heavy transport airship, non-combat in nature.
If anyone thought it was an easy target like a fat sheep, the elite Marine Corps and the defense weapon systems carried by the airship would handily beat them up, leaving them regretting their arrival in this world.
Though classified as non-combat transport aircraft, this is relative; the Phantom Cube-366MAX's primary role is transporting materials, and it does not mean that it lacks combat capability.
Apocalypse Defense Group, a private military contractor, rented a Phantom Cube-366MAX heavy transport airship from the government at a considerable cost. On the one hand, it delivered a massive amount of supplies and new combat aircraft to Aircrew Base 911 and, on another hand, it was for the transport of collected Metallic Dragon remains.
The Apocalypse Defense Group immediately went to great lengths to dig three feet into the ground right under the battle airspace of the same day. Despite consuming a significant amount of manpower, resources, and time, they harvested an extremely rich bounty by collecting nearly all of the Metallic Dragon remains.
This huge benefit could not be monopolized; naturally, the Apocalypse Defense Group, backing Aircrew Base 911, would take the lion's share, while the military contractors behind other aircrew bases that dispatched combat aircraft to the battle would get a small cut.
Those who ate meat, drank soup, everyone was happy; no one felt their effort was in vain, except for the Lin Family who returned empty-handed.
If Sky Knight "Death Tracer" Lin Ziyong had arrived just a minute earlier, the result could have been completely different.
However, the Lin Family was indifferent to "eating meat and drinking soup"; they were already on good terms with the Cangqiong Realm, and even the Metallic Dragon Clan, sharing close exchanges, not lacking exclusive scarce resources from the Metallic Dragon Clan, especially the priceless SEG core unit.
Other forces that couldn't even sip the soup couldn't help but feel envious and might take action, overtly or covertly, to fight over it.
Apocalypse Defense Group was of course not without preparation. The fact that they were willing to spend 12 million Star Yuan on a First Rank magic potion, "Life Resuscitation," to save Chen Fei was not merely a reward for his slaying of the Metallic Dragon. There was another intention.
A living witness would certainly be more beneficial to Apocalypse Defense Group's most powerful proof of ownership of the Metallic Dragon remains.
The 12 million Star Yuan for the magic potion was almost negligible compared to the hundreds of billions of Star Yuan worth of Metallic Dragon remains, yet it could save a lot of disputes and unnecessary expenses, undoubtedly making it a very cost-effective deal.
Moreover, magic potions are easy to come by, all it takes is money, and they are always available.
While the Metallic Dragons are impulsive, reckless, arrogant, cruel, lazy, and so terrifying when crazed that even they fear themselves, and despite a myriad of flaws, they aren't stupid. Wouldn't it be "Genuine Fragrance" for them to just stay peacefully within the "Halo" of the Dimensional Gate on the Cangqiong Realm side, waiting to be fed?
Nobody expected that, out of the blue, a Metallic Dragon would have a brain fart and, for a downright ludicrous reason that was nonetheless very much in line with their capricious nature, it decided to leave the "Halo" of Cangqiong Realm and came to Blue Star Realm. This brazen act undoubtedly breached the agreed-upon treaty between the two realms.
After descending from the sky, this Metallic Dragon was immediately attacked. Even the Metallic Dragon Clan and the current Dragon King couldn't object, knowing full well that Metallic Dragons are among the most aggressive but are also extremely adept at courting death—inept at everything else, they take the prize for seeking their own demise, serving as the epitome of fragility.
For a hundred thousand years, the Metallic Dragon Clan has been dwindling in numbers, with their lineage nearly extinct—apart from the scarcity of food, much of their decline is due to their own doings, and they have no one else to blame.
The very moment the interloper Metallic Dragon breached the atmosphere of the Blue Star Realm, its status shifted instantaneously to prey, an occurrence as rare as winning the lottery jackpot.
When fortune rained down upon the Xingdu Kush Mountain Range, it would first exhaust its ammunition, weary its pilots, damage its combat aircraft... It wasn't just one Aircrew Base that spotted this flying billion Star Yuan bounty; they all eagerly took to the skies, and even the Lin Family, guardians of the Blue Star Realm airspace, were alerted and dispatched a rather famous Sky Knight.
However, the outcome took everyone by surprise—a Rookie, a Dragon Slayer Missile, emerged on top amid the chaos of the battle.
Big Bear Chekhov once asked, "Doth thou also practice archery? Is mine archery not precise?"
The Rookie replied, "Nothing special, just itchy hands!"
The opportunity to kill a Metallic Dragon is not easily found, and the value of even a dead Metallic Dragon is enough to make everyone envious.
To ensure the remains of the Metallic Dragon were truly secured, a Heavy Transport Airship backed by official endorsement from Apocalypse Defense Group was the best guarantee.
The underbelly cargo hatch of the successfully landed Phantom Cube-366MAX Heavy Transport Battleship slowly slid open, deploying a ramp down to the ground.
With lights as bright as daylight, and the engine roaring loudly inside the ship, one after another, specialized transport vehicles lined up like a dragon, orderly moving out large standard containers.
The reserved space at the Aircrew Base 911 quickly accumulated into little hills of containers.
Apocalypse Defense Group did not waste the transport capacity of this airship in vain, delivering enough supplies in one go to sustain Aircrew Base 911 for several years.
Of course, the airship's main mission was to carry away the collected remains of the Metallic Dragon; otherwise, Apocalypse Defense Group would not have so readily shelled out such a large sum for transport. With the costs now spread, they could save substantially on material transport expenses.
The unloading operation lasted an entire day. The location of Aircrew Base 911 was originally a leveled mountaintop,
and as the number of stacked containers grew, the once spacious base gradually became crowded.
Inside Hangar 1, Chen Fei was still furiously studying the technical manual for the A-39B "Big Mouth Monster," while his fellow maintenance team members were busy unpacking.
Thanks to the ample transport capacity of the Phantom Cube-366MAX Heavy Transport Battleship, the jet fighters and light propeller attack aircraft supplied to Aircrew Base 911 by Apocalypse Defense Group Headquarters were shipped whole, bypassing even the assembly processes to save space, and were directly towed from the airship's cargo hold and delivered into the two hangars.
Chen Fei's time in the hangar was divided into two parts: mornings with the maintenance team and afternoons with the Combat Flight Squadron.
In fact, this wasn't much different from his university days—studying and taking notes in the morning, attending classes in the afternoon.
"Genuine Fragrance" Combat Flight Squadron, nicknamed "Devil Pepper," the short-haired girl Irinei Rusios became his flight instructor.
Before he finished devouring the "Big Mouth Monster's" technical manual, Irinei Rusios probably wouldn't let this Rookie actually take the plane up for a test flight.
After all, flying is a very serious and earnest skill; you can't just flip through the manual, push the stick, and play for two seconds.
That's not flying, that's suicide.
Get serious, you're about to soar!
For a novice, the biggest challenge of flying isn't executing various maneuvers in the sky, but rather how to take off and land safely—to ascend joyfully to the heavens and return securely to the ground.