Above the blue sky.
Accompanied by the roar of high-speed airflow, the two fighters flew past one after the other, shuttling up and down the tumbling clouds, chasing each other.
Nie Yun, who was holding the joystick, took a deep breath and pressed the launch button with his thumb.
Soon after, he heard the voice of the ground exercise command center.
"Target hit.
"Prepare for the next exercise."
We won!
Nie Yun let out a sigh of relief. He loosened the edge of his helmet and calmly replied.
"Roger that."
Of course, it was impossible to use live ammunition in normal confrontation exercises. Instead, they used photoelectric emission and receiver devices installed on the two aircraft. After aiming at the opponent, the beam was fired as a substitute for the missile. If the target was hit, the photoelectric receiver on the target aircraft would receive the signal, and the exercise command center would announce that the target was hit. The "downed" aircraft would exit the exercise.
Of course, the confrontation exercise was only one part of the entire exercise. It was naturally impossible to return before the entire exercise was over.
After the exercise command center announced that the previous aircraft had been shot down, the two fighters "became friends". They changed their flight formation and began to head to the designated airspace, preparing for the next exercise.
Just as Nie Yun was ready to start the next exercise, he suddenly heard the voice of the exercise command center.
"Exercise is over, return immediately."
Exercise is over?
Nie Yun paused for a second.
Although he was surprised, he still replied.
"Roger that, exercise is over, returning."
Nie Yun took one last look at the blue sky. He raised his right hand and gave a thumbs up to his comrade in the cockpit next to him. Then he swung the joystick and operated the J-20 to return to the air force base.
…
Accompanied by the huge roar of the airflow, the silver-gray fighter plane shook for a short while, and the rear wheels of the landing gear steadily touched the runway. After a short period of gliding, the parachute sprayed backward and dragged the fighter on the runway to a slow stop.
The ground crew swarmed up and slowly opened the cockpit cover.
After handing the pilot's helmet to the ground crew, Nie Yun followed the captain of the test flight team and stood in front of the commanding officer. He saluted.
The stern-looking officer returned a military salute and then looked at Minister Qin who was standing next to him.
"This is Nie Yun, the J20 test pilot, the ace of our test flight team."
Minister Qin looked away from the J20 and looked at the test pilot. He nodded slowly.
"Comrade Nie Yun, thank you for your hard training."
Nie Yun replied cleanly, "It's not hard at all. This amount of training is very normal for our test flight team."
Minister Qin nodded with approval.
After a pause, he put on a serious expression and spoke.
"Our Air Force Equipment Department has a critical mission that requires two outstanding pilots. After I explained the situation to Commander Sun, he recommended you to me. Now, I need to ask for your opinion. To go or not to go, you just need to answer me this. "
A mission from the Air Force Equipment Department?
Are they testing out some new weapons?
Thinking of this, Nie Yun's heart suddenly burned with passion.
"I'll go wherever the organization needs me to go."
Minister Qin smiled. "Have you thought it through? Why don't you ask what the mission is? "
This is confidential, even if I ask, you won't tell me …
Nie Yun's expression didn't change as he replied with a sonorous voice.
"I have thought it through!"
Minister Qin nodded.
"Okay."
"Then from now on, you will be transferred from the test flight team to the astronaut team."
Astronaut team …
Astronaut team?!
The moment Nie Yun heard this, he was dumbfounded.
…
It was impossible for him not to be disappointed.
Nie Yun didn't expect the Air Force Equipment Department to assign him to the astronaut team. The so-called mission turned out to be to test a space shuttle built by a private company that cooperated with the defense department, which was the so-called Skyglow.
Even though the astronaut team wasn't bad, and the people who could go were all elites, he still felt a little disappointed when he thought about how he could no longer fly the Type-20 and soar in the blue sky.
However, obeying orders was the duty of a soldier. Even though he was disappointed, he couldn't complain.
At the thought of this, he temporarily cast his thoughts aside and looked at the young man standing opposite him.
Is this the legendary Professor Lu?
Other than being … slightly handsome, there doesn't seem to be anything special about him.
While the two pilots were secretly looking at Lu Zhou, Lu Zhou, who was holding a document in his hand, was also carefully looking at them.
Of course, his focus wasn't on their appearance, but whether they had the basic qualities to become qualified astronauts.
[Nie Yun, male, age 32, pilot J-10, J-20 …]
[Nie Yan, female, age 29, pilot J-6, Y-20, Y-8 …]
Lu Zhou looked away from the document in his hand and looked at the two.
"You guys are brother and sister?"
The two replied in unison, "Yes."
Lu Zhou asked out of curiosity, "How were you chosen?"
The tomboy with short hair said, "The commander asked me if I wanted to fly higher. I said yes, so he sent me."
Even though there was nothing wrong with this answer, for some reason, Lu Zhou felt like it was a bit funny.
Lu Zhou coughed and looked at Nie Yun.
"What about you?"
Nie Yun replied, "Commander's order."
Lu Zhou saw something from her expression, and he nodded.
He turned his attention back to the file in his hand. He flipped the next page and spoke casually.
"Even though Skyglow isn't a fighter or a bomber, I guarantee that it will be more interesting than the latter two, and … it will be more noble than the latter. I guarantee that when the time comes, many people will envy you, and your comrades will see you as their pride. So, no matter what you think, just do as I say. "
Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that the China National Space Administration wouldn't approve it, and Director Li from the State Administration for National Defense would call him in the middle of the night, Lu Zhou would have wanted to be the test pilot for the first flight. With his improved physical fitness, he wouldn't necessarily be worse than an ordinary pilot.
But whatever, it's fine if they don't agree.
Once the technology matured and became safe, there would be a chance for him to fly. There was no need to be the first one.
Lu Zhou read the information in his hand from beginning to end. He cleared his throat and looked at the two of them.
He then looked at the two people and asked, "How much do you know about the space shuttle?"
Nie Yun: "It's an aircraft that can travel between outer space and the atmosphere."
Nie Yan was a little slow to react. She hesitated for a moment before saying, "I agree with my brother."
Lu Zhou smiled and nodded. "That's right, but it's not enough to summarize all of the features of the space shuttle. Before you go on the space shuttle, I want you to have a comprehensive understanding of it.
"In the next three months, there will be people responsible for teaching you what the space shuttle is, how to operate it, and most importantly … how to save yourself in the event of an accident.
"The mission is very important, and you only have three months. I hope you can do your best."
The two pilots stood up straight and answered in a crisp voice.
"Yes, sir!"
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