Sky-cracking Rider-Chapter 1248 - 1215: Challenge

"This..."

Nangong Ruiyang scratched his head like a monk who didn't understand what was going on, even though his hair was long enough to touch his shoulders.

Most people who are obsessed with research have only two hairstyles, bald or long hair touching their shoulders. The greasy hair, which might be washed only once a month, vaguely emitted a rancid smell.

"Take a look at those things first, pick out the most feasible ones, rank them, write a review, and then give it to me. Be quick. I want to see the best three within an hour."

Chen Fei pointed to the thick stack of printed papers in Nangong Ruiyang's hands.

It was tough feeding two people, feeding dishes to his girlfriend and dog food to Nangong.

"What are you going to do?"

Nangong Ruiyang was puzzled; reviewing these drafts in such a hurry didn't make any sense.

"Polishing the spear right before battle, even if it's not fast, it still shines."

Chen Fei glanced at Chen Shan, who was wolfing down a specially ordered meal alone. Three ignorant vice generals were equivalent to one Zhuge Liang. To get the highest possible evaluation for Little Shanzi from the Sky Knight opponents, he was trying every possible way.

After flying intensely for more than two hours, even with the nourishment of SPA fruit, his stomach was still empty. Even bland and tasteless food, with little oil and salt, was eaten with relish.

(The pilots' meals are even blander than those in the southeast coastal areas of the Yangtze River. Those from the north of the Yangtze River or from Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, who like heavy flavors, would probably find it unbearable, just slightly better than chewing wax, barely tasting a bit of oil and salt.)

Nangong Ruiyang, ignoring the dog food stuffed into him, widened his eyes and said, "Ah!~ No, can this work?"

Even if you polish the spear right before the battle, this isn't how you polish it. What can you do in a little over an hour after the meal?

Using such a short time to learn exclusive aerial combat techniques is not only insufficient, but those techniques are still in the conceptual sketch phase, far from mature, and utterly lacking feasibility, so this is simply daydreaming.

"Whether it works or not depends on Little Shanzi's talent! If he has talent, it works; if not... give up early."

Chen Fei staked his little brother's talent at the gambling table.

"Talent" is the ceiling for ordinary people. Without "talent," it's impossible to break through, no matter how hard you work, it's useless.

But those who have "talent" can easily achieve things ordinary people cannot do.

Although most of the time, it doesn't reach the stage where talent is needed, you just need to work hard to widen the gap with others. However, once talent is pitted against each other, it's a life-or-death competition, determining both victory and defeat and life and death.

"Talent" is so domineering and unreasonable that it can be regarded as a "special ability" in some sense.

Noticing the suspicious gaze of his older brother, Chen Shan, who was devouring his meal, felt his hackles rise involuntarily.

Indeed, it is he himself who is betting everything and fighting for his life, not Chen Xiao'er, so of course, he could nonchalantly say such things—things that sound motivational yet come off as cold and ruthless.

"What do you mean?"

Chen Shan decided he couldn't pretend not to hear. Otherwise, he'd definitely end up in a mess.

Chen Fei did not respond to Little Shanzi's outburst immediately but instead said to Nangong Ruiyang, "Hurry up. Within an hour, I want results."

Nangong Ruiyang, clutching the thick stack of printed papers, furrowed his brows.

This sudden task was not only extremely difficult but also particularly absurd. He glanced at Chen Shan, who looked unconvinced, and silently sighed. After all, he wasn't the unluckiest one.

"Hurry up and eat. In an hour, be ready!"

It was only then that Chen Fei turned his gaze back to Chen Shan, startling the kid so much that he almost dropped his lunch box. Great, another sneaky plan.

"Xiao Fei, what did I hear about exclusive aerial combat techniques? What's going on?"

As the final test subjects approach, Chen Haiqing, the old father, becomes increasingly unable to put his mind at ease. He has been eavesdropping on the conversation between Chen Fei and Nangong Ruiyang, as well as on what his younger son had to say.

Don't be fooled by Chen Li, the older brother, who is constantly bullying his brother Chen Shan. In the Chen Family, this is not a big deal because his four sisters are also the main culprits of bullying the younger brother. Isn't it common for the older ones to bully the younger ones? The matters between children are resolved by the children themselves. Adults won't interfere too much, nor can they even if they wanted to.

Despite the bullying, the cousin to the younger cousin is undeniable. He not only provided the prototype of the tactical jet most suitable for conversion into a Crystal Jet but also brought a professional team for comprehensive optimization design. If he, the uncle, were to negotiate this matter with the Northern Weapons Industry Group, it wouldn't have been as easy. Not to mention the prototype; just assembling the team wouldn't have been this straightforward.

Moreover, Chen Fei's girlfriend personally supervised it, which was more reassuring than a typical corporate secondment team.

Who knows how Chen Fei managed to pull it off, brazenly poaching from the competitor of National Defense Star, Northern Weapons Industry, by courting the deputy manager's daughter. The Northern Weapons Industry Group didn't even oppose it. Even more intriguing is observing the interactions between Nangong Ruiyang, leader of the Nangong Team, and Chen Fei; it's obvious there's a story there. With Chen Haiqing's years of Jianghu experience, he couldn't fathom the audacity involved.

Leaving aside Chen Fei's Special Ability, just this feat was bewildering enough. Being poached to such an extent, isn't Northern Weapons Industry Group at all concerned?

Chen Haiqing was right to think so. Northern Weapons Industry Group indeed wanted to intervene. However, the relationships involved were too complex. First, tactical jets are key tactical units against "Sagali" civilization, which was verified in the American Federation's Barksdale Air Force Base Sky Knight ranking battle. The development process was safeguarded with sovereign backing. Second, Shen Fei, a leaky cotton jacket, incited her deputy general manager dad to cover up. Northern Weapons Industry Group, teeming with masters, also needed to offer young people the chance to practice, or else how would they rise? Tactical jets became more of a hobby team, casually tinkering. Third, the Nangong Team, aside from being within the Northern Weapons Industry Group structure, actually operated independently of it in terms of tactical jet development. Chen Fei provided most of the necessary resources, even borrowing airfields that didn't belong to Northern Weapons Industry Group but were military readiness Air Force bases. Considering the frequency with which the Nangong Team crashed prototypes, Northern Weapons Industry Group decidedly had no part in this; every one of these young talents was indeed wasteful.

Chen Fei replied truthfully, "Nangong is conceptualizing exclusive aerial combat techniques. I've had the AI 'Adam' simulate dozens for them to evaluate. Little Shanzi might be able to use it."

Even if they don't become exclusive aerial combat techniques in the end, they remain sharp conventional aerial combat skills, which can add points for Chen Shan in the upcoming confrontation projects. The more assistance, the better.

Chen Haiqing said with relief, "Then I'll rely on you."

After all, being the big brother, he was concerned for his younger sibling, now even starting to design exclusive aerial combat techniques to shore up the last shortcoming of the Sky Knight. If Chen Shan manages to pass the trials and becomes a Sky Knight, Chen Fei, the cousin, will have played a significant role.

Moreover, Chen Fei has quite an acquaintance with two of the Sky Knight examiners, so at least there's reassurance that Chen Shan won't be treated unfairly.

It didn't even take an hour; in just twenty minutes, Nangong Ruiyang, having quickly learned to leverage AI "Adam," extracted three most suitable exclusive aerial combat technique simulation samples from over thirty for Chen Shan and his tactical jet. After minor adjustments, he printed them again and laid them directly in front of Chen Shan.

"Three exclusive aerial combat techniques, Version 1.0. Memorize them quickly and, if possible, promptly practice them in the flight simulator."

No need for further review from Chen Fei, as AI "Adam" maintains synchronization with him.

"Exclusive aerial combat techniques, are you guys serious?"

Chen Shan looked at Nangong Ruiyang in astonishment, his suspicious gaze sliding off towards Chen Fei, who was still affectionately feeding his girlfriend.

This time, it wasn't Chen Fei's turn to speak, as his own father, Chen Haiqing, declared unreservedly, "Do as Nangong said!"

"Cramming last minute, got me messed up to no end!"

In just two or three hours, mastering not one, but three exclusive aerial combat techniques wasn't how it's supposed to go. Mumbling to himself with ten thousand impossibilities churning in his mind, Chen Shan took the warm printouts (laser prints are always warm) from Nangong Ruiyang's hands.

Having just finished lunch, his mind was groggily drowsy as Chen Shan skeptically picked up the stack of printouts, examining each closely. His brows soon furrowed; what kind of hellish tactics are these?

As a trialist for the Sky Knight, he was no longer a novice flyer, having accumulated five to six hundred hours of flight experience. It was enough to notice certain familiar techniques on these printouts. If not mistaken, they derived from existing mature aerial combat techniques, pieced together. After mentally simulating these, he was appalled; what kind of monstrous techniques are these?

One could only imagine that if Chen Shan were to practice these combat techniques now in a flight simulator, he wouldn't last five minutes before spewing all over the cockpit — going in with damp clothes, wrung-out, and dirty again.

Moreover, the exclusive aerial combat techniques would require support from onboard magic arrays, and without them, it would be impossible to perfectly perform them solely through cockpit operations.

After pondering for over half an hour, Chen Shan, clutching the printouts, angrily approached Chen Fei.

"This is simply impossible!"

"The word 'impossible' doesn't exist in a Sky Knight's dictionary."

Chen Fei responded calmly and composedly.

He wasn't a Sky Knight, but he had spent some time with the top Sky Knights.

Challenging the impossible was precisely what Sky Knights loved to do. According to the Lord of the Sky's mantra: As long as there's altitude, never give up easily!