Sky-cracking Rider

"Huh?"

Chen Fei blinked in surprise and froze in place, involuntarily widening his eyes. He pointed at himself and exclaimed incredulously, "Me?"

He and Big Bear were like oil and water, completely incompatible. If they became partners, at least one of them was likely to die, if not both.

According to the historical records of Blue Star, there had already been one such case.

He'd have to ask Manager Hanna to borrow a bottle of good wine to thoroughly bless Big Bear's head.

"Yes, you!"

Irine Rusios laughed again. Big Bear needed a truly reliable and trustworthy partner.

She wasn't up to it, but Chen Fei certainly was.

This rookie, whose flying experience was less than 100 hours, had achievements in corporate warfare that didn't at all resemble those of a true rookie.

The mere fact that he survived intact was enough to be astounding.

Chen Fei replied with embarrassment, "Uh, what did I do to deserve this!"

The short-haired deputy squadron leader narrowed her eyes and smiled—a truly beautiful sight. It was a wonder why Big Bear couldn't see it, maybe there was something wrong with his head that needed blessing.

Irine Rusios spoke earnestly, "You have the talent to be a fighter pilot and luck is also on your side. You're really suitable for it. Unfortunately, Aircrew Base 911 isn't a specialized training facility. We lack a lot of equipment, don't have advanced trainers, and don't even have flight simulators. Otherwise, Squadron Leader Chekhov could take you under his wing.

But it's not a problem, I've enrolled you in a specialized training course, and the base will cover the tuition. I still have that much authority."

Advanced trainers are usually twin-seat jets, and the MiG-28 is a single-seater, so it certainly cannot serve as a trainer. Besides, no one would dare let someone with zero jet flying experience take a MiG out solo. They might crash into the ground even before getting airborne, without a chance to eject.

Turboprop aircraft fly slower and have a statically stable design, with a relatively higher safety margin. The "Big Mouth Monster" originally had the lineage of a primary trainer aircraft. Its two-seat design was perfect for deputy squadron leader Irine Rusios to personally train this rookie.

Thus, even without trainers and simulators, Chen Fei was still able to quickly become familiar with flying and fighting in this turboprop aircraft.

However, taking this rookie up a notch to flying a MiG was not so easy, given the hardware limitations in place.

In the "Genuine Fragrance" Combat Flight Squadron, the pilot with the most potential for flying a jet was indeed Chen Fei, whose flight thinking had not yet solidified and was not confined by fixed patterns, still in the learning and shaping phase.

After Basong from "Lemongrass" was killed in action, if anyone else could handle flying a jet, they wouldn't still be waiting. There wouldn't have been a situation where no one could form a jet formation with Squadron Leader Chekhov.

Flying solo in the sky is very dangerous. In corporate warfare, if the squadron leader had a partner to form a team, the outcome wouldn't have been so tragic. Having one more jet in the "Genuine Fragrance" Squadron would directly boost its combat effectiveness by a large margin.

"Then... thanks, deputy squadron leader!"

Chen Fei felt that what he was learning was beginning to deviate from the path.

He was actually an undergraduate in economics, even preparing for further postgraduate studies with the intention of joining a large company or becoming a civil servant. It was already outrageous enough to be an apprentice in a maintenance crew, let alone flying a combat aircraft in the sky and skirmishing with others.

Wait, no!

The main job of Aircrew Base was to eradicate those mutants and uncontrollably proliferating magical beasts. Chen Fei didn't want to fight these creatures!

"Keep it up! Once you learn to fly a jet, you'll be able to make lots and lots of money,"

Irine Rusios patted Chen Fei on the shoulder.

Jet pilots had much better financial prospects (money) than turboprop pilots could even switch to flying commercial airliners or airships.

As a high-tech occupation, the salary was naturally substantial.

That last sentence from the female deputy squadron leader truly resonated with Chen Fei.

"Lots and lots of money?"

Chen Fei clenched his fist involuntarily.

He was in need of money!

Experience tales with empire

Although in terms of personal assets, Chen Fei's wealth could easily pay off all his debts with plenty to spare.

But these assets, though they seemed highly valuable, were in no way liquid.

Including the reward from the recent mission for the Blue Star Global United Defense Committee, which, if liquidated, along with Xiao Jiu's share, could reduce the debt by a third at once. However, doing so meant giving up greater benefits—surely not worth it.

So to clear his debts quickly, he still needed to earn more money.

"Lots and lots!"

The "Devil Pepper" girl sounded like a real devil, the voice filled with temptation.

What in the world could make a poor guy throw caution to the wind?

Of course, money!

As soon as money was mentioned, she had no doubt that Chen Fei would agree, just like Chekhov would do anything for Big Daizi.

Thinking of this, Irinei Rusios gritted her teeth in frustration, "Damn it, I've already played a pair of aces, and you still dare to play a pair of twos, two of them!!!"

Seeing the deputy squadron leader standing there fuming, Chen Fei immediately felt chills running down his spine and beat a hasty retreat!

-

Since he had already taken leave, and just before setting off, Chen Fei made another trip to Patan Elementary School near the Aircrew Base, bringing along a bread machine.

With the leftover material allocation from the underground reconnaissance mission being just a few odd items, it seemed a waste not to use them, so he exchanged them for a bread machine, figuring that Teacher Shen, who liked to make bread, would appreciate it.

After the Blue Star United Defense Commission Members confirmed that the mutant threat had been eliminated, the local mountain people who got the news finally lifted their vigilance and returned to their respective villages.

The only Patan Elementary School near the 911 Aircrew Base started a new semester, and the large courtyard was once again filled with the sound of children's reading.

A rudimentary runway a hundred meters long had been constructed near the school for tricycles and helicopters to take off and land, doubling as a sports field for the students to play soccer or badminton. Chen Fei flew directly there in the base's large tricycle, sparing himself the trouble of walking through the mountains.

However, Chen Fei's visit coincided with a spot of bad luck as he received one piece of bad news and one piece of good news.

The bad news was that Teacher Shen Fei had returned home three days earlier, and the students were currently in a self-study mode, with class leaders from each grade teaching the lower grades.

The good news was that Teacher Shen would return; she had just gone back home due to some family matters and would not be able to come back to school for half a month.

Not having found the person he was looking for, Chen Fei regretfully left the bread machine behind and drove the technically uninteresting large tricycle back to the Aircrew Base.

A few days later, Chen Fei flew to the nearest public airport alone in an unarmed A-39B "Big Mouth Monster" light turboprop attack aircraft.

After storing the aircraft, he directly transferred to a commercial airliner, embarking on his journey home.

Upon waking up, the airliner had already entered domestic airspace.

After another two hours, he finally concluded the long, eleven-hour flight.

"Chirp chirp chirp!~"

Having picked up Little Bird from the pet storage facility, Chen Fei opened the transport cage, and the little guy fluttered to his shoulder, pecking at his earlobe to show its displeasure.

Being caged for eleven hours without seeing Daddy Chen Fei, it was natural for Xiao Jiu to feel a bit grumpy.

"Haha, Xiao Jiu, Daddy's taking you home!"

After feeding the little one some birdseed, Chen Fei, carrying a giant backpack, a large suitcase on wheels in one hand, and the bird cage with Xiao Jiu's nest in the other, headed for the airport's exit.

The sight of the Little Bird perched on his shoulder attracted quite a few curious glances.

He got into a driverless taxi right at the exit and gave the address. The electric-powered taxi aligned with the city's public road management system and automatically merged into the busy traffic, heading for the destination with maximum efficiency.

The city's public transportation system's capacity mainly revolved around underground subways and surface light rails, supplemented by 20-meter-long large buses and small taxis sharing the passenger flow at various transit points, with fully automated management.

Passengers could simply use facial recognition or fingerprint scanning to pay, with the fare automatically deducted from their social security accounts.

Every lawful citizen, upon obtaining their residence registration, received a unique and non-repeating string of numbers as their social security number, ensuring all rights and obligations related to social income and expenditure.

From life's milestones to education and shopping, this account represented a citizen's entirety.

An hour later, Chen Fei, with Xiao Jiu, finally returned to the neighborhood he was most familiar with; he could find his way to every road and tree with his eyes closed.

The thirty-something, forty-story high-rise buildings in the neighborhood were no longer very new, especially since his parents had spent all their savings as a down payment twenty years ago and only just managed to pay off the mortgage in recent years.

Although it wasn't large, with only ninety actual square meters, it was filled with the memories of the three siblings.

"Ding dong!"

The doorbell had just rung when Chen Fei heard his younger sister's voice full of surprise coming from behind the door.

"Big brother is back!"

The sound of frantic footsteps grew closer, and Chen Meng, with her hair disheveled, suddenly flung the door open. Catching sight of him, she exclaimed, "Big brother!"

His little sister, arms and legs flailing, was about to pounce on him.

"Chirp!"

A dazzling burst of light.

"My eyes!"

...

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