063. Entropic Disorder Increase
[True Eye]
The world instantly turned into a monochrome palette, yet all visible information was crammed into Li Aozi's brain.
With his brain enhanced by biograft adjustments, visual systems and processing power were liberated, instantly analyzing the true trajectories of the two fighter jets. They performed low-angle turning maneuvers, orbiting on both sides of him, each firing four dogfight missiles.
"Fast reaction!"
Li Aozi was surprised. In the next moment, he lost speed, letting himself freely plummet towards the ground like a falling leaf, gracefully and randomly shifting in the air.
A total of eight high-mobility dogfight missiles, after flying for only a short distance, ran out of fuel and detonated mid-descent due to delayed fuses, their fragments raining down around Li Aozi, who continued to casually sway with the falling debris.
"What the hell—he dodged the missiles with a falling leaf maneuver?!"
Magath was both shocked and humiliated.
In Blue Star's high-speed aerial combat, where Mach 4-5 speeds were the norm, using a falling leaf technique wasn't a practical combat maneuver but more of a stunt to show off an aircraft's capabilities.
Li Aozi had used this flashy trick to evade their most advanced missiles.
Furthermore, due to Li Aozi's sudden deceleration, Doppler radar, based on velocity shifts, lost his signal entirely.
Li Aozi swayed lazily, hands behind his head, as he continued his fall toward the ground. The sky grew farther away, yet he remained utterly unconcerned.
No gravity manipulator had ever died from falling.
This felt completely different from a game—wind brushed past him like a gentle, tender caress. The whole world seemed to be filled with endless affection, as though he wasn't falling due to gravity but instead being lovingly embraced by the Earth.
The world is so beautiful.
However, Yelivov didn't share this sentiment. As a seasoned pilot, seeing the target perform such a maneuver told him one thing:
"Magath! Retreat now!"
The difference in aircraft quality was too great; there was no way they could win this fight!
In air combat, unlike on the ground, an aircraft one generation more advanced could easily take on twenty opponents.
Moreover, this guy's maneuverability defied the laws of modern physics!
"I'm retreating now—"
Magath pulled the throttle and dove into the clouds, activating optical stealth in hopes of escaping detection.
However, in the next instant, Li Aozi, who had been enjoying his fall, suddenly turned around, facing upward. In a flash, he became lightning, darting into the menacing black-red clouds, his crimson-black armor blending into the chaotic sky.
Even though Magath performed high-G maneuvers, his computer still reported [You have been locked by an unknown target].
"This is strange…"
Magath grew suspicious.
That guy had anti-vehicle weapons—he was deliberately using infrared sights to lock onto him.
But earlier, hadn't he just crashed into those transport planes with his body?
So why was he now using infrared targeting?
"Could it be intimidation?"
Magath pondered, unconsciously easing off the throttle.
As soon as he relaxed, something suddenly slammed down onto his cockpit canopy.
"Shit!"
Magath's soul nearly flew out of his body in terror, but Li Aozi wasted no time. He raised a hand and ripped the cockpit canopy open, his palms ejecting tendrils that immediately coiled around Magath's neck and arms, preventing him from drawing a weapon.
"Don't resist—activate autopilot and then eject. I won't kill you."
Li Aozi spoke while opening his faceplate, revealing his handsome features. Using the effects of the [Goodwill Aura], he induced compliance in his enemy.
Seeing the friendly expression, Magath relaxed. He gratefully looked at Li Aozi.
"Thank you, sir. You're truly a gentleman."
With that, he pulled the ejection handle, the canopy blasted away, and his seat shot out, soon unfurling a white parachute in the sky.
The now-ungoverned Vulture jet didn't immediately crash. Li Aozi turned around, standing atop the cockpit, his tendrils latching onto the jet's nose like reins.
"Nice plane you've got here, but now it's mine!"
Li Aozi ruthlessly claimed the prized Vulture jet, using its autopilot mode as his aerial platform. By applying gravitational force in a specific direction, he only needed his tendrils to balance the aircraft.
This way, he conserved mental energy and could free up his mind to focus on the remaining fighter jet.
Boom—
Li Aozi twisted his tendrils, riding the Vulture like a knight taming a dragon, turning the jet to pursue Yelivov.
Yelivov had become numb to such supernatural movements. Coldly, he unleashed a salvo of unguided rockets and fired electromagnetic railguns at supersonic speeds, but it was futile. With the Vulture now serving as his flight deck, Li Aozi freed his mind to manipulate gravity, diverting any projectile that entered his 50-meter radius.
By this point, Yelivov knew there was no other way.
He made his decision, pulling the stick to gain altitude, deliberately exposing his back to lure Li Aozi into pursuing him.
Li Aozi realized Yelivov's intention and quickly grabbed the fighter jet's communication device, shouting:
"Hey! Are you crazy? That's the Chaos Cloud ahead!"
Yelivov's eyes bulged from the pressure. He closed his eyes and strained to speak:
"That voice… Li Aozi, is that you?"
"It's me! If you don't want to turn into a monster, come back down! Don't enter the red-black clouds! Stop!"
"…It's too late."
With the Vulture boosting Li Aozi's speed, he reached a mind-boggling velocity. Under the influence of 150G acceleration, he and the fighter jet reached Mach 8, plunging into the Chaos Cloud.
"Cough, cough—"
Yelivov's eyes turned red-black, countless bits of information flooding his brain. The Vulture trembled violently under the cloud's chaotic forces. High-speed flight in the storm caused the wings to erode with burn-like marks.
"This is… enough."
Yelivov lay back in his seat, blood leaking from his mask. His pupils dilated as a mysterious voice echoed faintly in his ears.
"…Seeking death and glory once again? Rest assured, you will not fall here."
The Vulture's fuselage was covered with strange burn scars and rust, as if it had endured decades of wear in mere seconds.
The fighter's engines died, leaving it suspended mid-air.
At 150,000 meters above the Earth, anything that entered the Chaos Cloud was swiftly consumed by electric charges and corrosive forces, rapidly decaying and aging as though centuries passed in a second.
Alloys began to degrade, composite fibers turned to wood, and even gold-infused glass slowly dissolved.
Bursting into the red-black cloud, Li Aozi immediately surrounded himself with a gravity vortex, creating a dust-free zone around him. Using his tendrils, he latched onto Yelivov's stalled Vulture, pulling it away from the cloud before entropy could erode the tendrils.
Bam!
Once the Vultures exited the Chaos Cloud, they immediately resumed function, entering autopilot mode. But Li Aozi's tendrils, after only ten seconds of exposure to the Chaos, were completely decayed. He pried open one Vulture's cockpit and transferred Yelivov to the healthier fighter, then ignited the wreckage with [Natural Ignition], letting it melt as it plummeted into the desert.
"What a waste… A complete Vulture could've fetched a nice price."
But compared to the fallen Vulture, Li Aozi valued the two surviving pilots more.
Magath and Yelivov.
Beyond the immediate importance of the emergency event and the pilots' inherent value, these two held significant meaning for Li Aozi.
Beta-tier elites could be created through effort, but…
Beta-tier pilots, capable of balancing physical prowess, reflexes, intelligence, and psychological resilience, were much rarer than ordinary warriors.
These two Frost-Plated pilots were among the few destined to join the players in boarding Galaxis civilization ships to obliterate Blue Star's heroes.
Yes, heroes.
While destroying Blue Star sounded anti-human, there were survivors on the planet—though the circumstances were dire. If Blue Star wasn't destroyed, the entropic lords dwelling within the planet's core would devour the universe.
The entropic lords wielded terrifying power, harbingers of the universe's end. Even if wiped from existence, they would rise again on the day of heat death.
Put simply, the entropic lords were a universal mechanism.
Back then, destroying Blue Star was the only viable option, with at least 70% of the population evacuated. But if the entropic lords awakened, not even the 13th narrative entity, the "Empire of Heroes," could save the galaxy from annihilation.
Galaxis refused to bear the guilt of universal destruction, so they asked the Blue Star people to destroy their home, respecting their choice.
This left the burden of infamy on those who ventured into space. They sought to save their world, only to find that mercy was an illusion. Their duty was euthanasia.
Ultimately, only players and a few determined Blue Star citizens could bear this tragic responsibility.
They destroyed their own home to save their people, but now they faced the scorn of their kin.
Li Aozi once found it unremarkable. Players could simply leave, but NPCs had to stay and rebuild.
Now, however, his view had changed. He felt respect and sympathy for these pilots who shouldered such responsibility despite the scorn they would face.
"Weakness is a sin."
Li Aozi mused to himself.
If the entropic lords had resided on the homeworld of a narrative civilization, no one would dare question those who chose to destroy their own planet.
They would be lauded as heroes—symbols of high civilization's resolve, unfazed by emotion, forever making the right choice.
People worship power and victory, even at the cost of denying the weak—though they themselves may be among the weak.
As one who had destroyed this world himself, Li Aozi was filled with mixed feelings.
"Those trapped on the ground can never understand the vastness of the cosmos and its tolerance. They only turn their gaze to their nearby companions."
But that would change. Li Aozi was confident that under his control, Blue Star would unite as one.
People had to reach for the stars!
Li Aozi deposited the captured pilots and their jets on the ground, contacting Bermudes' soldiers to collect them. Then he grabbed two heavy bombs and shot back into the sky.
Before leaving Granat, he decided to leave the Frost-Plated Republic with a lasting lesson.
As Li Aozi ascended toward the Frost-Plated airport, a wounded man slowly opened his eyes in Granat's capital hospital. A line of text appeared on his retina:
[Arrival complete]
The man tilted his head, stood up straight, and exuded the aura of a soldier. He turned and saluted an unseen authority, reporting:
"Report! Specialist Lin Wenzhan of the 106th Brigade, Strategic Support Unit, Flame Summer National Defense Force, has successfully logged into Star Abyss! Please await further instructions!"
The first wave of beta testers had officially logged in.
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