Chapter 197: Escape!

Wilson pushed his fighter to its limit speed without hesitation; the airframe emitted an ominous tremor under the overload, but he could no longer care about such things.

As long as he could escape this death trap, everything would be worth it.

"There's one more trying to escape!" Li Yunlong discovered Wilson's fighter through his binoculars and immediately gave the order,

"All fire points, pay attention! Concentrate fire to intercept that enemy plane fleeing toward the southeast!"

Another wave of Rocket Shells ascended, chasing the final prey.

Seeing the columns of white smoke rising one after another in his rearview mirror, Wilson knew how dangerous his situation was.

"Please, baby, a little faster..." he whispered to his fighter, while pushing the control stick forward to the end.

The F-86 let out a painful groan, but it still obeyed the command, and its speed increased by just a little bit more.

The exit of the valley drew closer and closer; the blue sky of Freedom was right before his eyes.

The first "Flying Dragon-1" rocket approached the tail of the fighter, but miraculously lost its lock and flew past, grazing the wing.

The second rocket suddenly exploded while approaching the target, likely due to an internal malfunction.

The third one crashed directly into the mountain wall, forming a fireball behind Wilson.

"Just a little more... just a little more..." Wilson gritted his teeth, feeling as if every second were an eternity.

Finally, the F-86 rushed out of the valley and entered the open area.

Wilson immediately pulled back the control stick, the fighter climbed to a safe altitude, and he turned toward the direction of the base.

Looking back at that nightmare-like valley, his heart was filled with unbelievable fear and shock.

"I escaped... I actually escaped..." he whispered, his voice trembling from the tension.

At this moment, the radio finally transmitted the voice from the base: "Blue Eagle Lead, report your situation! Where are the other planes?"

Wilson took a deep breath, his voice nearly choking: "They... are all gone... all shot down... twenty-four planes... only I am left..."

There was dead silence on the other end of the radio; clearly, no one could accept this fact.

"Repeat, Blue Eagle Lead," the voice from the base became noticeably tense, "you said all planes were shot down?"

"Yes," Wilson answered numbly, "the Long Country people have some kind of Anti-aircraft weapon we have never seen before... Rocket Shells that can track planes... and a terrifying multi-tube rocket system... their Anti-aircraft Machine Gun accuracy is impossibly high..."

He paused, his voice almost pleading: "Send reinforcements... they will shoot me down too... their weapons... are not something that should exist in this era..."

The base wanted to ask something else, but Wilson had already turned off the radio.

He needed to concentrate all his energy to ensure this scarred F-86 could return to base safely.

He had to survive and go back to tell everyone everything he had witnessed.

The Long Country army was not the backward army they had imagined; they possessed advanced weapons capable of easily shooting down "Sabre" fighters.

This war might be far more difficult than anyone had anticipated.

In the valley, Li Yunlong lowered his binoculars with a complex expression on his face: "Let one get away..."

Zhao Gang patted him on the shoulder: "It doesn't matter, it's just as well to let him go back and report. Let Di Guo know that our Long Country army is not as easy to bully as they imagined."

Li Yunlong nodded, his gaze firm: "Pass on my order: immediately relocate the position and prepare to meet the next wave of attacks. Di Guo will not let this go; they will definitely send more planes to retaliate."

Following the order, the Long Country soldiers began to orderly dismantle the Anti-aircraft weapons, preparing to move to a new position.

Their faces were filled with the joy of Victory, but they also understood that this was only the beginning.

The real war had only just begun.

……

Above the valley, the last wisp of gunpowder smoke dissipated, and the wreckage of twenty-three F-86 "Sabres" was scattered throughout the mountains like burning graves, witnessing the unprecedented crushing defeat the Di Guo air force had suffered on this day.

Watching the last F-86 disappear at the valley exit, Li Yunlong sighed: "Forget it, letting it go back to report is fine too."

Turning around, the entire battlefield had already quieted down.

There was no longer the roar of planes in the sky, only the wreckage of twenty-three F-86s burning in various parts of the mountains, sending up thick plumes of smoke.

Everyone was silent, seemingly unable to believe what they had just experienced.

In a mere five minutes, the world's most advanced fighter formation had been almost completely wiped out, while their own side had not suffered a single casualty.

Suddenly, a young soldier raised his fist and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Down with the Di Guo invaders!"

This shout seemed to break some kind of taboo, and the entire valley erupted into deafening cheers in an instant.

Soldiers jumped up, hugged each other, and waved the weapons in their hands; some were even moved to tears.

Li Yunlong took off his military cap, waved it vigorously, and cursed loudly: "Damn it, this is what you call anti-aircraft! Look at these sons of bitches, weren't they arrogant just now? Weren't they showing off above our heads? Now they've all turned into a pile of scrap metal!"

Zhao Gang could not hide his excitement either, but he still maintained the image of a Political Commissar: "Mind the discipline, comrades! The battle is won, but the war has only just begun!"

The soldiers ignored his admonition and continued to celebrate wildly.

This was the first time they had truly defeated the Di Guo air force, the first time they had made those arrogant invaders taste bitterness. The taste of this Victory was sweeter than any fine wine.

"Look! A pilot parachuted over there!" a Scout suddenly shouted, pointing to a distant hillside.

Li Yunlong immediately ordered: "Send a squad to capture him! Alive! I want to ask him personally if Di Guo's planes are made of paper!"

The soldiers laughed and ran off in groups of three or five to collect spoils of war and search for any surviving enemy pilots.

Some found intact machine guns in the wreckage and carried them on their shoulders excitedly; some picked up fragments of the cockpit as souvenirs; more were busy recording, wanting to remember this historic moment forever.

In the temporary command post, the atmosphere had shifted from shock to ecstasy.

Company Commanders and Platoon Leaders crowded together, discussing the battle just now with great joy, and coarse language filled with the smell of gunpowder kept popping out of their mouths.

"Did you see? That one trying to dive-bomb was shot into a sieve by our Anti-aircraft Machine Gun!" a Company Commander described, waving his arms.

"That's nothing! I saw with my own eyes a 'Flying Dragon-1' chase a plane for a long time; that pilot probably wet his pants!" another Platoon Leader laughed exaggeratedly.

"That recruit under my command, using a 'Flying Dragon-1' for the first time, actually hit it on the first shot! The kid's throat went hoarse from shouting!"

"These weapons from Chief Engineer Li, damn it, they're simply divine! These aren't weapons, they're treasures!"