Super Invincible Battleship

116  Chapter 87: Running Out of Ammunition and Food

Seeing the other fighter jets escape the attack range of his missile, Yan Fei felt somewhat regretful. Because the drone was too slow and the air-to-air missiles couldn't catch up to the F-15 fighters, he could only ambush them in stealthy attacks in order to shoot them down. However, the ambush didn't buy him much time; once discovered by other jets, the F-15s became vigilant and kept their distance, rendering the drone powerless against them.

The US-Japan Joint Forces that previously tried to attack and capture Yan Fei's physical body had his drone avatar fire two missiles. Along with the six fighter jets shot down just now, which involved firing ten missiles, the drone had launched a total of twelve missiles tonight, leaving only four left. There were still six enemy jets, all formidable F-15 and F-15J fighters, including two F-35 stealth fighters that had yet to reveal themselves.

Yan Fei only had one chance to ambush. If he couldn't shoot down all the jets in one go, he wouldn't be able to repeat the trick. He calculated the remaining ammunition and realized he could no longer annihilate the six enemy fighter jets. Without hesitation, he decided to temporarily retreat, first hiding himself and considering his ammunition replenishment later. Thus, the drone turned and flew towards the Tokyo suburbs, and at the moment it left downtown Tokyo, two F-35s hovering at an altitude of ten thousand meters followed the drone.

These two F-35s were completely unaware that they had been exposed and kept monitoring the drone at an altitude of ten thousand meters. Below in Tokyo city, wild winds and storms raged with thunder and lightning, but at ten thousand meters, it was calm and serene, like another world compared to below.

Under the cover of the night's full firepower, Yan Fei had showcased the drone's terrifying combat power, unlocking many of the drone's special abilities and exhibiting high-tech content. The US and Japanese military operation centers behind the lines quickly noticed the drone's special features and issued new orders: no longer insisting on shooting it down but instead attempting to capture the drone and attain the high-tech it contained.

So the remaining six fighter jets, while initially in disarray, still followed the drone from a distance after receiving the new orders. They wanted to see where its base was or wait until it was forced to make an emergency landing due to energy depletion before capturing it. The other fighter jets were extremely cautious, fearing a stealth attack from the drone—the cautionary tale was too recent. The two F-35s, confident in their stealth capabilities, didn't regard the drone as a threat but stealthily followed it from high altitude, waiting for an opportunity to ambush.

Yan Fei had long discovered the stealth F-35s in the sky, but he pretended not to notice he was being tracked, flying leisurely. After all, the F-35 was fast and beyond his attack range; any unusual move could scare away the F-35, which would be bad. The drone continued to fly and, after leaving the Tokyo downtown area by 20 kilometers, another thunderclap resounded in the sky. Like a signal, one of the F-35s suddenly accelerated into a nosedive, drawing closer to the drone. The hidden ammunition depot opened, ready to launch two air-to-air missiles with the drone below as its target.

But to the stealth fighter's surprise, the drone, upon hearing the thunder, suddenly climbed rapidly in altitude, raising itself to ten thousand meters in a very short time and fired two air-to-air missiles at the diving F-35.

The F-35 fighter's onboard radar immediately detected the incoming missiles, setting off a shrill alarm. The F-35 pilot, realizing that he was the target of the missiles, panicked and chose to launch his missiles before quickly pulling up in an attempt to flee the scene.

Under Yan Fei's deliberate show of weakness, the two F-35s placed too much faith in their stealth capabilities, becoming complacent in their tracking of the drone. They were very close to the drone, at a distance of less than six kilometers. Since the drone had been flying at an altitude of only a few hundred meters and had not shown the ability to fly to ten thousand meters, all the fighter pilots subconsciously believed it couldn't fly high. Therefore, even when the F-35s approached the drone at less than six kilometers, they weren't overly concerned because the altitude difference between them was 9500 meters, and the drone's missiles couldn't reach them.

But the drone that night was meant to shatter their fixed perceptions. Seizing the most advantageous moment, Yan Fei suddenly increased the drone's altitude, dramatically shortening the distance between it and the F-35 fighters. During the optimum moment of the F-35's diving attack, he launched two air-to-air missiles.

Tragically, the F-35 that entered the drone's attack range couldn't evade the pursuit of the air-to-air missiles. The two missiles broke through the F-35's deployed decoy flares, blocking all its escape routes, and then the missiles caught up to the F-35, blowing it up in midair. The F-35 pilot hadn't anticipated being attacked, so he didn't even prepare to eject and was destroyed along with the F-35.

The F-35 looked formidable because of its stealth capabilities. If its stealth was compromised, an F-35's performance might even fall short of the F-15. Once it was locked on by a missile, that meant it was going down. So disgracefully, the F-35 became the first stealth fighter jet to be shot down in aerial combat, and it was by the weakest combat power drone, forever marked in history along with its owner.

Compared to the two AIM-92 Stinger air-to-air missiles that made the first history of shooting down a stealth fighter jet, the missiles launched by the F-35 seemed inferior. Under the lock of the drone quantum radar, the drone's naval cannon fired, and with just two bursts, the incoming missiles were blown apart.

Yan Fei suddenly struck, taking down an F-35, not only shocking the fighter pilots present but also the US and Japanese commanders behind them, who were all stunned. This was a stealth fighter jet, representing the pinnacle of the world's military technology, an extension of a superpower's might—how could it be shot down? Moreover, it was brought down by a Drone; how did the Drone detect the stealth aircraft? This made no sense and was unscientific…

Under the terrifying pressure of the mysterious Drone, agitated and embarrassed, the US-Japan fighter pilots stopped worrying about friendly fire and began to launch a barrage of Missiles at the Drone, hoping to deplete its Aircraft Cannon Shells and Missiles, then capture it and analyze the high technology within. In a tempest of fury, ten Air-to-Air Missiles, their tails flickering with flames, sped toward the Drone.

The Drone was too slow to avoid the missile assault and had no choice but to use its Aircraft Cannon Shells to shoot them down one by one. Before Yan Fei could even catch his breath, more land-based Missiles and sea-based Missiles were also flying toward the Drone, their sheer numbers turning the Quantum Radar screen into a white expanse. With no other option, Yan Fei's Drone continued to use its Aircraft Cannon to shoot down these incoming Missiles. It was only after destroying the last missile that he realized he had only 5 shells left for his Aircraft Cannon, and just two Missiles, bringing the Drone close to running out of ammunition entirely.

If another wave of Missile Attacks came, the Drone would exhaust all its ammunition and completely lose its ability to resist. At this point, no matter how reluctant Yan Fei was, he decided to retreat. Staying here would not only fail to bring down the enemy Fighters, but he also likely wouldn't be able to escape. Thus, the Drone began to turn around and fly toward the sea. The remaining five fighter jets could only follow the Drone at a distance, too scared to get close for fear the Drone might pull another trick and take them down as well. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Seeing that no fighter dared to rashly enter its attack range, the Drone felt somewhat helpless, its shortcomings too apparent. As long as the enemy took it seriously, it couldn't bring them down. Fortunately, the Drone could now see the sea surface ahead; with the sea in turmoil, all it needed to do was hide beneath the waves to avoid the attacks of the fighter jets. After all, no one would suspect a Drone could lurk underwater. However, by doing so, it would expose all its secrets to the enemy, but there was no other choice.

Just as the Drone was about to dive into the sea bed, five more Air-to-Air Missiles sped in from behind. The Drone no longer had enough Aircraft Cannon ammunition to destroy them, but Yan Fei suddenly came up with a brilliant idea. He turned, steering the Drone directly toward a missile. When the Missile closed in to just a hundred meters away, he fired the Aircraft Cannon, hitting the Missile which then exploded as it met with the Drone, spinning the Drone around as if it had been struck and then plunging it into the sea bed below, vanishing from sight.

Thanks to the precise control by the Auxiliary Brain, the Drone's Aircraft Cannon destroyed the missile at the minimum safe distance. To onlookers, however, what they saw was the Missile seemingly striking the Drone, which then, trailing smoke, spiraled into the ocean. Instinctively, they believed the Drone had been downed by the Missile.

So, two of the F-15J Fighters flew over to the site where the Drone had crashed, while the other three kept a cautious distance, not daring to come closer to avoid falling for another ruse—although they hardly believed the Drone, now fallen into the sea, could still pose any threat to them.

Once submerged, the Drone stopped ten meters below the water's surface, using its Quantum Radar to observe the situation above. Those two Fighters flew over the sea, trying to spot the Drone's wreckage. But since they were flying at a very high altitude and the sea was stormy, they didn't spot any debris despite circling several times. To get a clearer view, they began to descend, approaching the site where the Drone had crashed.

As soon as the two fighter jets lowered their altitude and skimmed the ocean surface, they saw the Drone suddenly emerge, hovering just 5 meters above the water. With a flash under its wings, the last two Missiles were launched, catching the two unsuspecting Fighters off guard. They were promptly hit by the Missiles, exploded, and their wreckage fell into the sea.

Yan Fei had originally intended to feign being downed by a Missile to hide the Drone, but when he saw the two F-15J Fighters so close, he couldn't help but fire his Missiles and take them out. This was not only because it was the best angle of attack that evening, guaranteeing a successful strike with the launch of Missiles; it was also because in his eyes, the two Fighters represented Merit Points. Having engaged extensively with the enemy squadron that night, he had amassed a significant number of Merit Points. There was no reason to let these two go; he needed enough points for a Drone Upgrade, or else the opportunity would be lost.

After firing its last rounds, the Drone was indeed out of ammunition. Once again, it dived and left the area of engagement, hiding below the sea bed's sediment. That night, it had taken down nine Fighters, demonstrating formidable combat power, but this was the limit of its capabilities. If the enemy learned the Drone's combat data and took precautions, the Drone would not even be able to shoot down a single fighter. The Drone had achieved such great results precisely because the enemy knew nothing about it. They faced it with conventional thinking, which led to a loss like never before.

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Special thanks to book friends: Yang Shuo (1000 Starting Points), Mobile Suit Shenlong Gundam for their rewards, and to everyone for their favorites and recommendation tickets support!