Munitions Empire

A row of Tracer Bullets tore through the air, enveloping a patch of sky that seemed to contain nothing. But in the next moment, something remarkable happened: a Butcher Fighter Jet suddenly rushed into the airspace as if it had collided with the flight of bullets.

Soon, the engine of the Butcher Fighter began to smoke. The aircraft stopped climbing, its altitude started to drop, trailing long plumes of black smoke. It gradually pulled away from the fight and wobbled toward the distant ground.

"I shot it down! Hahaha! I hit it!" Seeing his Tracer Bullets hit the Butcher Fighter, the Dahua gunner raised both hands, shouting loudly and celebrating his recent valiant performance without cease.

On another distant Dahua bomber, a pilot who also witnessed the Butcher Fighter being shot down waved his arms, seemingly overjoyed at the enemy's downfall.

"Oh! I won! I hit him! He's finished!" The Dahua gunner was beside himself. If it weren't for the seatbelt around his waist, he might have jumped out of the plane.

"Did you shoot down an enemy fighter?" The pilot operating the plane in front of him didn't see the victory, but turned around excitedly when he heard the shouting from behind.

"Yes! I hit him! I hit him!" The gunner kept shouting, as if the person he had just killed was the king of Tang Country.

While shouting, he stuck out his head, peering down at the Butcher Fighter trailing thick smoke as it fell, as though confirming his kill.

He saw the Butcher Fighter, which had dropped significantly in altitude, plunge toward the ground. He saw the cockpit canopy of the Butcher Fighter open, a Tang Country pilot bail out of the cockpit, then a pristine white parachute blossom open like a small flower.

Seconds after losing control, the trajectory of the Butcher Fighter became completely erratic, and soon it crashed into the ground, disappearing from sight.

The parachute quickly vanished from view too. After the Butcher Fighter went down, it seemed like all the Tang Army Fighters had also disappeared from the battlefield.

Everyone was cheering; they had fended off the interception of the Tang Army. Although the battle inflicted heavy losses, it appeared that Dahua had won.

The Tang Country Butcher Fighters, breaking away from the fight, relied on their speed to trail the flanks of the Dahua bomber formation. No longer approaching carelessly, they just followed from a distance, as if discussing a strategy.

But they were hopelessly outnumbered, outnumbered to the point where they couldn't penetrate the defense of the Dahua Empire's Fighter Jets. On the Dahua side, the gunner, still ecstatic from shooting down an enemy Fighter, continued to cheer loudly. He felt it was his heroic performance that had driven off the Tang Army Fighters.

But in the next second, his shouting abruptly ceased—because he saw near a distant cloud, a dark mass moving closer.

"Damn it..." The bomber pilot also spotted the gathering storm clouds in the distance, muttering in a voice laden with despair.

The joy of victory dissipated in an instant; only now did he realize that they had been entangled in battle with just a dozen or so Tang Country Butcher Fighters.

They fought a long battle, thinking they had won. But it was only the downing of a single Tang Army Butcher Fighter.

Now... at least 50 Tang Army Butcher Fighters lay before them, like a dark cloud pressing down, bearing down on their aircraft formation.

"Watch your altitude! The enemy has escort Fighters! Don't entangle... First group, tear an opening; second group, engage!" Through the breathing mask, the Commander's voice, with a faint electromagnetic interference, reached the ears of all the Butcher Fighter pilots.

"Break formation! Free engage! Take down all targets!" The next second, upon receiving the command, the Tang Army Fighters began to climb, their engines roaring through the sky.