Chapter 457 - 302: Ghost Squad Unsheathed! This Dogfight is Hacked

"This fast?!"

He had calculated East Sea City’s reaction time, but he never expected their advance troops to arrive this quickly, and at such a ridiculous speed.

"It’s their ace pilot unit!"

Liu Dong pushed up his glasses, his expression grave. "This speed... only their latest experimental fighters could achieve this!"

"Hmph, perfect timing!"

Zhao Heihu showed no sign of panic. Instead, a cruel smile spread across his face.

"This is the perfect chance to see what’s faster—their planes, or my Spears of the Sea God!"

He raised his hand and pressed a button on the holographic console. "Activate the Deep Sea Demon Eye anti-air system. Free-fire lock-on. Saturation strike!"

"Don’t hold back. I want every last one of them shot down!"

At his command, the armor plates on the sides of the three Deep Dive Cruisers patrolling the waters outside Dragon’s Fang Port slid open silently, revealing rows of menacing missile pods.

Beneath the surface, dozens of Spear of the Sea God high-speed anti-air interceptor missiles shot forth, trailing long columns of bubbles as they went.

They burst through the surface, carving deadly arcs through the air as they streaked toward the twelve black dots that had just appeared on the radar.

Meanwhile, the dozen or so Titan Battle Armors that had been toying with the port also received their orders.

The thrusters on their backs flared to life, and they rocketed out of the water, heading straight for the Ghost Squad.

In an instant, a three-dimensional web of firepower composed of assets from the sea and air was formed.

However, the scene that followed left everyone on the command bridge of the Jingluo in stunned silence.

Facing the sky-blotting rain of missiles, the twelve Ghost Fighters didn’t slow down to evade. Instead, they accelerated, diving headfirst into the barrage.

They moved like living fish, weaving through the barrage.

A twitch of a fighter’s nose, and it instantly shot a hundred meters to the side, evading a pincer attack from three missiles.

A dip of a wing, and a jet would bank at an angle that completely defied aerodynamics, scraping past the fiery blast of an exploding missile.

The entire squadron’s movements were fluid and seamless, without the slightest hesitation, as if the dense barrage simply wasn’t there.

"This... how the fuck is this possible!"

Chen Meng’s eyes were practically bulging from their sockets as he stared at the holographic screen.

"Their evasive maneuvers are completely unpredictable! The fire-control radar can’t get a lock!"

Zhao Heihu’s face finally changed.

That wasn’t piloting. That was simply Instant Teleportation!

BOOM!

Piloting his fighter, Wang Rui dodged a missile. Then, with a mere thought, he locked onto an approaching Titan Battle Armor.

He didn’t even have to press the launch button; he simply issued the command in his mind.

’Fire.’

The Red Falcon·Modified missile under the wing launched instantly.

But it didn’t fly straight toward its target. Instead, guided by Wang Rui’s Divine Thought, it traced a bizarre S-curve through the air, effortlessly bypassing the interceptor Plasma Balls fired by the Titan Battle Armor.

SHINK.

Before the clumsy Mecha could even react, the missile precisely drilled into the weak point of its rear thruster.

A massive fireball erupted in mid-air.

"Nice one!" a teammate’s cheer came over the comms.

"Next one is mine!"

The twelve Ghost Fighters were like twelve master swordsmen with perfect coordination, unleashing a one-sided slaughter in the sky.

The Titan Battle Armors, which had been a nightmare in Liu Zhen’s eyes, were as fragile as paper-mâché toys before them.

In just three minutes, all dozen-plus Titan Battle Armors were shot down, crashing into the sea as balls of burning scrap.

The Ghost Squad, meanwhile, was completely unscathed.

"Calling Dragon’s Fang Port, this is the East Sea City Guard Army, Ghost Squad. We have arrived. The airspace is secure."

Zhao Tianlan’s voice came through the open channel, clear as day inside Dragon’s Fang Port’s Command Tower.

Liu Zhen and Wang Qiang rushed to the window. They watched the twelve black fighters—like Divine Weapons sent from the heavens—circling over the port, their bodies trembling with excitement.

"Reinforcements... The reinforcements are here!" Liu Zhen’s lone eye grew moist.

The twelve fighters landed smoothly on an open area of the docks, their canopies hissing open.

When Liu Zhen saw a group of young, unfamiliar faces stepping out of the cockpits, he froze for a moment. The overwhelming joy in his heart inexplicably dimmed.

’It’s not Special Envoy Han...’

However, he quickly composed himself and strode forward to meet them.

"I am Liu Zhen, Garrison Commander of Dragon’s Fang Port! Thank you for the support!"

He gave Zhao Tianlan, who was at the head of the group, a sharp military salute.

"I’m Zhao Tianlan, captain of the Ghost Squad."

Zhao Tianlan returned the salute and cut right to the chase. "The situation is urgent, so give me the short version. What happened here?"

Liu Zhen held nothing back, reporting everything in detail: Jiangbei City’s provocations, the blockade, and their designs on Broken Star Reef.

"Broken Star Reef? Forced up from Dragon Abyss?"

Zhao Tianlan’s eyes sharpened instantly. "So, you’re saying Jiangbei City’s people are underneath that reef right now?"

"More than likely!"

Liu Zhen answered with conviction. "To cause this much of a stir, they must have found something incredible!"

Zhao Tianlan nodded. Liu Zhen’s assessment matched his own.

He made his decision instantly and issued new orders.

"Wang Rui!"

"Sir!"

"You will immediately pilot your fighter back to East Sea City and report all the intelligence here to General Li in person!

And I mean top speed!"

"Yes, sir!"

Without a moment’s hesitation, Wang Rui turned and ran for his fighter.

Zhao Tianlan then turned to the rest of his squad.

"The rest of you, stand by and take over the defense of Dragon’s Fang Port!

I want you to keep a death grip on those armored hulks from Jiangbei City. If they dare to make a move, you hit them with everything you’ve got!"

"Captain, what about you?" a team member asked.

Zhao Tianlan looked back, his gaze falling on the turbulent waters to the southeast. A cold glint of battle lust flashed in his eyes.

"I’m going to pay them a visit."

"I’m going to see for myself what kind of Treasure is hidden under that pile of rocks."

With that, he didn’t linger, vaulting back into his cockpit.

The black Ghost Fighter took off again, carving a graceful arc through the sky as it sped toward Broken Star Reef.

Inside the Command Tower, Liu Zhen and Wang Qiang watched the black silhouette vanish over the horizon. They finally let out a long, pent-up breath.

"Sir, he’s going alone... Is that alright?" Wang Qiang asked, worried.

A member of the Ghost Squad beside him heard this and laughed.

It was a genuine smile, one born of absolute confidence in his captain.

"Don’t worry, Commander Liu.

Unless a Divine Containment Realm Grandmaster personally makes a move, a weapon that can shoot our captain out of the sky simply hasn’t been invented yet."

...

「Meanwhile, on the command bridge of the Jingluo.」

Zhao Heihu stared at the blip on the screen representing Zhao Tianlan’s fighter as it rapidly approached Broken Star Reef, his expression as dark as a thundercloud.

"Intel! I want all the intel on that plane!

Why do we know nothing about a fighter of this level!"

He roared at the communications officer.

"Report, Commander... I... I’ve found it."

An intelligence officer said in a trembling voice as he projected a file onto the main screen.

Project Codename: X-02 "Ghost".

Project Lead: Han Feng.

The moment he saw that name, Zhao Heihu’s pupils contracted violently.

’It’s him again!’

"Boss, what do we do now?" Adjutant Chen Meng’s voice was tinged with panic. "Our aerial blockade has failed!

In a few more hours, East Sea City’s main forces are sure to be all over us!"

Zhao Heihu fell silent.

He watched the impossibly agile dot of light on the screen easily dodge all the automated anti-air fire near Broken Star Reef.

He knew the sky no longer belonged to them.

After a long moment, he gritted his teeth, a mad viciousness flaring in his lone eye.

"Relay my orders!"

"Abandon all aerial interception!"

"All remaining operational Titan Battle Armors, dive!

Full speed to the underground ruins!

Reinforce the first exploration team!"

"Tell them I don’t care how they do it. Two hours!

I only need two hours!"

"Within two hours, I want them to strip those ruins of anything and everything they can carry!"

Zhao Heihu’s voice was like the roar of a wounded beast.

"So East Sea City wants this reef? Fine! I’ll give it to them!"

"But they won’t get so much as a speck of dust from what’s underneath!"

Since he had already half-lost the gamble, he would snatch back every chip he could before the table was flipped for good.