The propeller was making a whirring sound above my head. I looked up at the night sky, dotted with countless stars.
The MQ-1 drone roared as it streaked past me. The trail left by its turbofan engine in the air was like a meteor, and finally, at the end of it, there was an orange dot.
Below that dot was Craig—the location where Class Five was.
It was seven twenty-three local time. I was currently on helicopter F2, with Craig as our target.
"Three minutes!" The pilot, Daniel, signaled to me.
"Roger that!"
The landing site we had set was the former city hall of Craig. It had a total of twelve floors and boasted two helicopter landing pads on the top floor for vertical takeoffs and landings. Class Five and the transport unit were together on the battlefield about two hundred meters away, uniformly using the code name C2; we used our aircraft numbers as our code names.
The helicopter began to slow down and made a slight change in direction. I grabbed the handrail and looked at Craig. The city had long ceased its power supply, and the distant streets were ablaze with the red glow of gunfire.
An unfamiliar voice came through the public communication channel:
"C5, this is Predator Three. Please mark the target for strike."
"Roger that," the commander on the other end replied. "We—"
A scream replaced the rest of the words, and another person took over: "Ju Yichuan is killed in action. Start marking now."
Those two groups of reckless guys carelessly left their conversation on the public platform. As I listened, I caught a glimpse of the dark silhouette of the city hall, like a long-dead giant.
"This is F2. We're about to reach the landing site."
"This is F1." The other Black Hawk accompanying us also started to slow down, its tail lifting. "Same here."
"Roger that. Good luck to you all."
A dazzling white light shot up from the ground and arrogantly hit the MQ-1 drone, turning it into the most expensive firework I had ever seen. The wreckage disintegrated in the air and then fell burning towards the ground.
"Jesus! What was that?!" Daniel exclaimed. Liang Dong's face turned ashen. Obviously, he was reminded of the bad memories from the valley during the day.
"Damn it!" Daniel quickly pulled the helicopter up. "Everyone, hold on tight!"
I gripped the handrail tightly. The helicopter spun in the air. Flare decoys flashed blinding white light as they spread out on both sides of the aircraft, just like a phoenix spreading its wings. At this moment, no one had the heart to admire this beautiful sight. Everyone wassuccumb to inertia, gritting their teeth to endure it all.
After making several tactical evasive maneuvers in the air, the helicopter turned around and left. A pilot reported to the command post: "Anti-aircraft weapons have appeared in the target area. Unable to land."
The voices in the earphones suddenly became chaotic.
Someone accidentally knocked over a water cup on the table and started arguing with a scream.
Someone was shouting in the gunfire, begging the helicopter to return. The voice seemed to come from hell.
There were also people arguing emotionally. The voices and tones of their debates were so annoying that it gave me a headache. In a fit of anger, I directly turned off the public channel. Looking at the comrades below but unable to do anything, I remained silent.
I felt that sense of powerlessness again. On the battlefield, a human being was so insignificant, just like a single spark that couldn't start a prairie fire. I couldn't hear the voices of the people below, yet I could hear their cries of grief.
"This is Instructor Group Elsa McWill and Jackson Hercules." Elsa's voice suddenly appeared in our team's channel. "We're starting to assign tasks now. Each aircraft, report your situation."
Why was Elsa here?
"Report," Anghefei replied. "F3 has received light weapons fire. Everything else is okay."
"Alright. Time is tight. I'll take over the command now."
"Unit 029 will be in Team One, Unit 072 will be in Team Two, and the rest will be in Team Three. Now start turning to the new landing site. The data has been uploaded. Each team, check your tactical tablets."
"Roger that." "Roger that."
F1 and F2 each broke away from the formation and headed in new directions. Under Elsa's command, each team soon had their new tasks.
Team One, led by Valkina, was tasked with destroying the missile launch platform. They would land on the west side. According to satellite images and the data before the MQ-1 was destroyed, the other side was using a portable missile launch platform similar to the "Stinger", which was installed on a pickup truck. The satellite was conducting real-time tracking.
Team Two, which I led, took over the task originally assigned to Unit E. The target was to destroy the 107-millimeter multiple rocket launcher, which was also installed on a pickup truck. It was also the main culprit for the heavy casualties in Class Five. Its overwhelming firepower advantage directly destroyed Class Five's defenses. What's more unfortunate was that Class Five's individual anti-tank missiles exploded on the spot without a chance to counterattack.
The task of Team Three, led by Anghefei, remained unchanged. They were still going to support C2, but the landing site was changed to the Craig Football Stadium two kilometers to the south. In peacetime, at this time of day, the football stadium might be filled with the loud cheers of adults and children screaming for their favorite teams. But war had destroyed everything. Now, there was nothing there.
"One minute." Daniel gave the signal again. I roared under the accompaniment of the propeller: "Get ready!"
After saying that, I pulled down the AV/PVS-15 binocular night vision goggles on my FAST helmet. The AN/EPQ—2A, which was standard equipment for everyone, emitted green aiming lines that pierced into the night sky like sharp swords. The long lines intertwined and spread through the cabin like a spider web.
Liang Dong grumbled in a low voice: "Why is everything blue in my night vision goggles? Are they defective?"
The helicopter slowly hovered in place. Lu Wanqing still didn't hold back with her words: "Idiot, you've set the color mode wrong."
"Alright." Liang Dong muttered helplessly and threw out the rappelling rope outside the plane. I did the same on the other side and hung it above the helicopter's cabin door.
Even though I knew how sturdy it was, I still habitually gave it a tug.
Then I nodded to Ji Ling: "Go!"
Ji Ling hung his left hand on the rope, held his gun in his right hand, and slid down the rope with his legs straight. Seeing this, Jiang Li exclaimed: "Your childhood friend is quite professional."
"Of course!" Ji Han said with pride. "That's my brother!"
"Ah!" A scream came from below.
"What's going on?" I quickly looked down.
"Nothing," Ji Ling replied with a grimace. "I accidentally took a tumble."
Ji Han: "..."
Liang Dong smiled wryly and rappelled down second. As a machine gunner, he needed to set up a firepower point for the team first. I followed Liang Dong and rappelled down third. Finally, the girls came down. After the deployment was completed, the helicopter slowly took off, disappearing into the night under the cover of the color, only its sound could be heard.
"This is Team Two," I opened the communication to report to Elsa. "We're starting our operation."