Chapter 1424 - I'll Jump if You Jump
Chapter 1424: I’ll Jump if You Jump
In the aircraft, there was no difference between night and day. As long as the navigation radar was working properly, they would have no problem flying.
However, once something happened on the navigation radar, there would be a big difference between night and day.
At that moment, under the pitch-black night sky, torrential rain was pouring down and strong winds were blowing. Only the occasional streaks of light from lightning that resembled tree branches tore the night sky apart. They could see the dark clouds in front of them and the waterfall of rain.
Huo Shaoheng pushed open the door to the cockpit and walked in. “What happened?”
His voice was calm and composed, and his movements were neither fast nor slow. He quickly calmed everyone’s restless emotions.
“Hello, chief.”
“Chief, the lightning seems to have affected the radar. We can’t contact the ground control.” the captain, who was piloting the plane, was a little pale.
They were flying a military plane. The plane wasn’t big, and there weren’t many people on board. There were only a captain and a co-captain, a female flight attendant, four military soldiers, and the Deputy Secretary of the Military Supreme Council, Huo Shaoheng.
The others were ordinary crew and the only important person on board was Huo Shaoheng, who was a major general.
If anything happened to him on their plane, they would die without a doubt!
As they were speaking, there was another explosion of thunder outside the cabin.
Boom!
This time, the sound of thunder shook the sky and earth, hitting the fuselage directly.
The fuselage of the plane shook incessantly, and a part of it had already deflated.
The pointers of the radar dashboard were spinning about rapidly, as if they were in a circle.
They didn’t stop in the north, south, east, or west.
They were almost out of control.
Huo Shaoheng looked at the dashboard, then glanced at the thunderstorm outside. He said calmly, “I’ll do it.”
He had been the best fighter pilot of all time, and he still was.
The copilot quickly got up, took off his earphones and oxygen mask, and passed them to Huo Shaoheng.
The captain sat in the copilot’s seat and gave his seat to Huo Shaoheng. He became Huo Shaoheng’s copilot.
…
At that moment, the aircraft’s control tower on the ground was in chaos.
“Where did the chief’s plane go?! Can you contact it?!”
“We’ve already called 18 ground navigation towers along the way, and even the military navigation tower has been notified, but… We can’t detect the chief’s plane!”
The navigators in the control tower were all sweating profusely, and they were extremely anxious.
“This damn thunderstorm! I didn’t expect it to be so severe!”
“What’s wrong with the weather station! They can’t even predict such a strong thunderstorm accurately!”
Commercial airliners would usually avoid thunderstorms. They would not take off unless it was absolutely necessary.
Military airliners were a little stronger. They had been specially trained to deal with the stormy weather. Moreover, the lightning resistance of military airliners was much greater than that of civilian airliners. It would be alright even if there was a thunderstorm.
However, the situation this time was slightly different.
This time, there had been no warning signs that indicated a strong thunderstorm. Even the meteorological observatory did not issue any warnings. It was a sudden thunderstorm.
They tried frantically for half an hour but still could not contact Huo Shaoheng’s private plane.
They had no choice but to report it to the higher-ups.
They reported to the leader-in-charge of the the control tower, to the airport’s leader, then to the military’s telephone operator, company commander, Regiment Commander, and Division Commander. Then, they finally reported it to General Ji.
General Ji was still awake at that moment. He was reading documents in his study.
When he received the call, he stood up abruptly. “What?! Shaoheng’s private jet went missing due to a strong thunderstorm?! I’m warning you, get in touch quickly! What is the weather station doing?!”
Under General Ji’s authoratative intervention, the staff on duty at the Meteorological Observatory woke up the experts and nervously monitored the weather.
It felt suffocating as they monitored the situation.
“Reporting to the chief, the thunderstorm this time was very abrupt. There were no signs beforehand.” the meteorological observatory expert looked at the data in front of him, and beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead.
He wiped his sweat with a handkerchief and said with a trembling voice, “… from the looks of its intensity, this is not a normal thunderstorm, but… a hurricane that is usually formed in the ocean!”
Tropical cyclones formed in the ocean were generally divided into three categories according to the intensity, speed, and speed of the wind.
If the wind force was between grades 8 to 9, it was known as a tropical storm.
If the wind force was between a magnitude of 10 and 11 and was known as a strong tropical storm.
A hurricane was formed when the wind force was above a magnitude of 12.
Tropical cyclones only formed in the ocean. They would also bring a large amount of precipitation.
Therefore, when a hurricane approached, it would be accompanied by strong thunderstorms.
Such weather phenomena were common in coastal countries.
The Huaxia Empire was inland, and Huo Shaoheng’s private plane had just flown north. It traveled inland all the way, not towards the ocean.
General Ji reacted immediately and roared, “A hurricane from the ocean?! You mean, a hurricane on the ocean suddenly appeared inland?! What about other planes?! What about civil aircrafts?! Has anything happened to them?!”
The director in the navigation building was also sweating profusely. He quickly said, “A few civil aircraft were affected, but they all made an emergency landing after the storm. Currently, only… only… Major General Huo’s private jet is affected…”
The radar of the other commercial airliners that were affected was fine. They immediately returned once they noticed the storm.
Only Huo Shaoheng’s private plane did not return. Instead, it lost contact with the ground in an instant.
They did not even have time to react.
General Ji felt better when he heard that all the commercial airliners were fine. However, when he heard that Huo Shaoheng’s private plane had lost contact with the ground control, his heart immediately jumped out of his chest, “Then what about Major General Huo’s private plane?! Don’t tell me that even commercial airliners can return, but our military private plane can’t!”
If that was the case, why would they fly a military plane? They could simply just send their enemies to their deaths.
The leader of the navigation tower had no choice but to say, “Sir, it’s not that the military private plane can’t return, but… but… we suspect that their radar was struck by lightning and is out of order.”
A radar failure was not considered a fatal injury to an aircraft, but in this kind of hurricane weather, at night, it was no different from being fatal.
“Motherf*cker! How could there be such a coincidence?! Are you sure this is a natural weather phenomenon?!” General Ji was not polite. “What’s the use of having you?!”
He slammed the phone down and gave orders to Secretary Cao, who was standing behind him with an uneasy expression. He shouted with a cold face, “Get me the weather unit.”
The weather forecast of the weather team was on a completely different level compared to the civilian weather station.
They had the best equipment and top-notch talent. Their responsibility was not just to forecast the weather.
“Hello, Chief. May I know what your orders are?”
The head of the weather team was woken up from his bed in the middle of the night and rushed to the duty room to talk to General Ji on the phone.
“I heard that there will be a strong thunderstorm tonight. I heard that it is a hurricane. Did you guys manage to predict it?”
They quickly gathered the data and placed it in front of the head of the meteorological unit.
The head of the meteorological unit took a quick glance and said to General Ji, “There is no indication that the weather was manipulated by external forces. However, this weather is indeed very strange. However, because the intensity is too high, we have ruled out the possibility that it is man-made.”
As far as he knew, there was no country in the world that had mastered such hurricane technology.
If a hurricane of such intensity could be created, there was no need for conventional battle preparations. A hurricane would be enough to wipe out all the strategic facilities of the other party.
In other words, a country that could create such a hurricane would no longer be on the same technological level as other countries.
It was just like the primitive era of cold weapons. Someone had suddenly mastered gunpowder technology and created guns and cannons.
A country that used big knives and arrows would become a fish on the chopping board at the mercy of their enemies. They could only be the fish on the chopping board.
General Ji listened to the report of the leader of the weather force for a long time and ruled out the possibility of human intervention. However, his heart suddenly sank.
“Okay, you guys continue to monitor. Report back immediately if there are any new findings.”
After hanging up the phone, General Ji slumped into his armchair.
It would have been fine if it had been a meteorological war launched by another country. At least they would be able to attempt a rescue.
Regardless of whether they had to use negotiations or a targeted counterattack, it would have worked.
But if it was due to the power of nature, they would be rendered powerless. They could only resign themselves to fate.
…
Time passed, minute by minute. Huo Shaoheng sat in the pilot’s seat and gazed ahead.
When there was no lightning, the front of the plane was covered in thick darkness. The waterfall-like rain hit the body of the plane. The small military plane was like a small boat in the vast ocean, sailing through the clouds, lightning, and heavy rain.
The people around them were all soldiers. They were not cowards, but they were still scared silly in front of the power of nature.
“What should we do? Chief, we can’t fly out…”
“We can’t even tell the direction… What should we do? If another plane flies over…”
The plane shook violently. It was even more dizzying than riding on a roller coaster.
Huo Shaoheng did not say a word. He looked at the weather and held the rudder in his hand. He suddenly thought of the year Gu Nianzhi turned 18 and the time she had been in danger on the Caribbean Sea.
It was the same hurricane, the same lighting, the same strong winds, and the same torrential rain.
But how could there be a hurricane like the one on the Caribbean Sea?!
But when he thought of the hurricane, Huo Shaoheng’s eyes lit up.
How could he have forgotten?
That time, he had piloted the fighter jet through the eye of the storm to attack the pirates and save Gu Nianzhi.
This time, as long as they flew into the eye of the storm, they would be safe for the time being!
Huo Shaoheng had an idea. He tightened his grip on the rudder and said calmly, “Go back and sit properly. Put on your seatbelts. I promise to bring you to the ground safely.”
The people on the plane looked at each other, but even if they didn’t believe Huo Shaoheng, they couldn’t jump out to refute him.
Besides, he was the chief, so they could only follow his orders.
“Yes, Chief.”
Other than the captain who sat in the co-pilot’s seat, everyone else returned to their seats and fastened their seatbelts.
Just as everyone sat down, there was a loud bang, and another explosion hit the fuselage.
The captain’s face was pale. “Chief, if this goes on, even if we can escape the storm, we won’t be able to escape the explosion of the plane itself…”
Now he was glad that the lightning had only damaged the radar.
If the first lightning strike had hit the fuel tank, they would have all ‘died’ in the line of duty.
Huo Shaoheng grunted, “I know. I’ll turn off the engines on both sides. You listen to my orders and open the fuel tank door to empty all the oil. This way, you won’t have to worry about the lightning hitting the fuel tank and causing an explosion.”
“Huh?!” the captain looked up at Huo Shaoheng like he was looking at a madman. “Switch off the engines on both sides?! Empty all the oil?! How are we supposed to fly then?!”
The two engines of the plane had failed at the same time. It wasn’t unheard of for the plane to glide and crash land, but it wasn’t at this altitude, nor in this weather!
At such an altitude and in such weather, without power, the plane could only crash!
Huo Shaoheng did not have the patience same for this person as he had with Gu Nianzhi. He did not explain any further. He forcefully steadied the rudder and rushed forward, directly it into the eye of the storm.
There was a violent jolt, a tremor, and the world seemed to spin. It was as if they had entered the void. Clouds and mist swirled around them, but the storm suddenly disappeared.
After a while, the plane calmed down. They had really entered the eye of the storm. This was the most peaceful area in the entire hurricane.
Huo Shaoheng also growled, “Release the oil!”
The captain was so scared that he trembled. “You really want to release the oil?!”
“Release the oil!” Huo Shaoheng gritted his teeth and repeated it for the second time. “If you don’t release it now, you’ll be shot!”
The captain realized that he would die if he didn’t release the fuel. Hence, he closed his eyes and opened the fuel tank door according to Huo Shaoheng’s instructions. Tons of engine oil started to spill out from the fuselage.
The weight of the aircraft soon began to decrease, and it began to float gently in the eye of the storm.
Huo Shaoheng stared at the dashboard, calculating the ratio between the wind speed and the weight of the aircraft. He switched off the engines on both sides and operated the aircraft entirely by feeling. He looked for the direction of the wind in the eye of the storm and glided downwards.
The radar on the plane had already failed, and the steering wheel was also affected by the strong magnetic field. However, no matter what, the direction of the cyclone would not change.
As long as it was within the range of the blue planet, the gravitational magnetic field would guide the direction of the wind.
As long as he followed the direction of the cyclone’s descent, he would know where the land was.
Huo Shaoheng relied on his excellent understanding and experience of the airflow and the influence of gravity to steer the rudder forcefully and guide the direction of the plane’s rapid descent.
He used all his strength to stabilize the plane. The muscles on his arms were bulging, and the veins on the back of his hands were protruding.
Ten thousand meters, eight thousand meters, five thousand meters, three thousand meters, two thousand meters. Gradually, the impact of the storm was not so great, and the situation on land could be seen clearly.
It was unknown whether the ground control had already known that they were in danger. Although the storm was raging, the land beneath them was brightly lit. Even the uninhabited areas were lit up with military signal lights.
Rows and rows of lights fell like pearls on the ground, pointing in the direction of the landing.
There was a burst of cheers on the plane.
“We’re saved!”
Huo Shaoheng informed the people on the plane, “Put on your parachutes and prepare to jump.”
The captain was surprised, happy, and a little sad. He said, “Chief, you jump first. I’ll take over the plane.”
He was already satisfied that there was still hope for the people on the plane to survive after such a major incident
As long as the chief and the others successfully jumped, he would die without regrets.
Huo Shaoheng glanced at him and said, “You take them and jump first. I’ll be fine.”
“Chief! You can’t do this!” the captain was anxious and almost rushed over to grab the rudder in Huo Shaoheng’s hand. “I’ll take the rear! I’ll jump if you jump!”