Chapter 8: Bad Boy

The moment Levi charged out, the passage behind him closed off.
This meant a fight to the death.
“Damn it! Which squad am I even part of?!” Levi thought that if he acted on impulse, even if he made it back to base alive—he’d be branded as ‘undisciplined.’
“Free fire, kid!” someone responded on the same frequency.
The current battle situation was that three aircraft squadrons had been dispatched to K11 base from another fortress city—but unfortunately, they encountered the invaders during transit, and both sides inevitably exchanged fire—resulting in a standoff above K11 base.
Ironically—we had fifteen aircraft, while they only had five, and we were in such a sorry state.
A laser missile was fired, and Levi veered to the side, the missile whizzing past his aircraft. Levi was furious— “I’m not even in the zone, and you’re already firing missiles at me? I’ll take you alien pigs down!”
Levi’s aircraft weaved through the hail of missiles, constantly disrupting the invaders’ pursuit of other aircraft—of course, tragically, he soon became a target himself.
At this moment, in the central control room— Claude walked in with a cold expression, and General Montel furrowed his brow, “I know what you’re going to say. I can only apologize to you now.”
“So what should I do now? Pray to God that that bad boy returns safely?” Claude’s expression showed no signs of softening— the entire control room seemed to have dropped in temperature.
“I just wanted all the available aircraft to go out and assist, but I didn’t expect Levi’s aircraft to be included.” General Montel leaned his hands on the table—watching the current situation, “But it’s undeniable that he’s also part of K11 base. He’s a fighter pilot— it’s his responsibility.”
Claude remained silent, casually pulling out a chair to sit down, tilting his head back to look at the largest screen.
Levi was being pursued, skillfully dodging two attacks in a risky manner. But passive evasion was definitely not his style. Suddenly, his aircraft flipped over—unexpectedly coming above the enemy, and a missile dropped down—exploding and knocking him back as well.
“Damn good,” General Montel nodded.
At that moment—Miller also entered the control room, and upon seeing the scene, he couldn’t help but curse under his breath, “That bastard! Even if he can hit the enemy, he doesn’t think about his own safety!” However, shooting down an alien spacecraft meant less pressure on the entire K11 base.
Uncertain if it was due to Levi’s impressive performance earlie— he became the target of two opponents.
Levi grinned, maybe it was after enduring the Pristine Lady’s trials that he suddenly found the Blue Crisis system much easier to operate. A big loop upwards, and the two enemy craft followed suit, which gave other aircraft opportunities—they didn’t have to worry about their speed and skills being inferior to the enemy, they just needed to focus on attacking. In less than two seconds—one of the enemy crafts chasing Levi was shot down. But the invaders responded quickly, and even though there were only three left—they formed a tight formation, making it difficult to break through, while K11 base quickly had two aircraft needing to return urgently due to damage.
“I let you get so proud!” Levi began his specialty—the spiral maneuver. When the enemy started their laser missile attacks, he suddenly dropped—creating an opportunity for the oncoming friendly forces, but unfortunately, the enemy missed their shot. Levi felt a bit frustrated—if only his aircraft could move like the Pristine Lady, those alien aircraft wouldn’t be so arrogant!
After that, Levi constantly created offensive opportunities for his comrades—but these opportunities were missed for various reasons.
“It’s been a standoff for forty minutes—I didn’t think he had this much patience,” Miller glanced at his watch.
“He’s always patient with his enemies—it’s just that he doesn’t have much patience with us,” Claude replied casually, changing to a more relaxed posture. “The reason Levi can hit the enemy more easily than other pilots is that he understands his aircraft and can exploit its strengths while avoiding its weaknesses. The Blue Crisis’s speed is only ninety percent of the alien aircraft, so he never considers racing against them— instead, he uses a more agile flying style. For example, the spiral maneuver is the hardest trajectory to be hit by laser missiles. And those tricky angles of loops make up for his speed disadvantage. He has almost never flown in a straight line or at steep angles. However, this flying style requires a high level of skill.”

“And you also need to have absolute patience to engage the enemy and find opportunities to attack. Although his hit rate at the Air Force Academy was only sixty percent, now the statistical data shows his hit rate has reached seventy-five percent. This means he hasn’t wasted any attacks on missiles and projectiles— as long as he fires, it’s not just for aiming but also serves as interference and baiting the enemy,” Miller adjusted his glasses and added.

“Sounds like you agree with him too?”
“I agree with his operational ability with the Blue Crisis, but maybe it’s precisely because he’s too accustomed to the Blue Crisis that he can’t adapt to the Pristine Lady’s system,” Miller sighed.
Soon, Levi showcased the dazzling performance he had when he first arrived at K11 base, diving straight towards the ground—only to skim over the surface in a moment that ordinary people couldn’t react to. This time, he was even more brilliant than before—executing a magnificent turn on his way back, a missile sweeping past one aircraft’s tail. Although the aircraft following Levi managed to turn around in time—it was shot down by two other enemy planes.
In an instant—the battle was suddenly under K11 base’s control, and the remaining two enemy aircraft ceased their resistance and retreated at full speed.
General Montel issued the order: “All personnel retreat, no fighting for the sake of fighting.”
All the aircraft quickly returned to their respective channels.
As soon as Levi’s cockpit door opened—he was greeted with a wave of applause and cheers. Levi blinked, confused, “What’s going on?”
“You did great!” The mechanics waved their tools, and Levi quickly raised his hand to cover his head, fearing they might hit him.
“Our aircraft have never been so arrogant in front of the enemy before!”
Levi chuckled and nodded, thinking to himself—with so many of our aircraft engaging five enemy aircraft, is this still considered “arrogant”?
At this moment—Claude walked over from a distance, looking dashing. The smile at the corner of his mouth seemed to overshadow Levi’s small victory of the day.
“You looked like you had fun.”
Levi looked past the crowd at that handsome face, feeling a bit sour inside—“It was okay.” “I’ll take you to a place tonight.” With that, Claude walked away.
Levi felt even more annoyed—why was it that everyone was a man, yet Claude could carry himself so well?
Later, Levi celebrated with the pilots who fought alongside him at a bar—where many beautiful female officers joined in the festivities. Levi drank heartily, and the fried squid in front of him was incredibly delicious. At 2 AM, everyone dispersed, and Li Wei, lucky enough to catch the eye of a secretary named Sherron—went to their dormitory room where things heated up quickly.
Just as things were getting passionate—Lilith cluelessly reminded, “Master, you have another appointment tonight.”
Sherron, holding Levi’s face, smiled, “Who else do you have an appointment with?”
Levi couldn’t wait to kiss Sherron’s neck, “With you.”
“Haha!” Sherron laughed and rolled over onto Levi, seductively undoing her clothing. Li Wei felt his head was about to burst from excitement—wanting to jump into action, but just then, the announcement rang out.
“Emergency announcement—emergency announcement—Sergeant Levi Van Pelt to report to Z-Zone.”
“Hey—are you on duty tonight?” Sherron pouted.
“Don’t worry about it! It’s just going to Z-Zone, not the aircraft channel to be on standby!” Levi grinned mischievously—stealing Sherron’s focus.
Just as he was about to get back into the mood, the announcement sounded again.
“Emergency announcement—emergency announcement—Sergeant Levi Van Pelt must arrive at Z-Zone within three minutes.”
“What!” Levi felt like he was about to explode!
Sherron pushed him away and put on her clothes, “I think tonight isn’t a good time. Levi, Z-Zone belongs to Major Claude Sean—he’s someone everyone wants to avoid offending.”
“Is it because he’s a major?” Levi angrily stood up.
“No, it’s because everyone respects him—Every time he improves the aircraft, the casualty rate for pilots decreases,” Sherron soothed Levi, leaving a sweet kiss on his cheek, “Go on, don’t be so childish.”
“I’m sorry—I’ll make it up to you next time.” Levi felt regretful, but even more regrettable was his little friend, who was ready for action.
When he arrived at Z-Zone, aside from a few research labs still lit—only the training room remained.
Levi entered with his hands in his pocket—and when the holographic equipment turned off, the training room appeared very empty. Only Claude stood there, like a lonely sentinel.
“What do you want from me? Don’t you know that sleep is incredibly precious for all fighter pilots when there’s no mission?”
“But clearly, you’re not sleeping,” Claude said—his fingers brushing over Levi’s open collar, then his palm gliding over Levi’s cheek—wiping away the lipstick mark Sherron had left.
“I have emotional needs too,” Levi turned his face away.
“You’re like a walnut—unless someone cracks your shell, you won’t show any emotions,” Claude’s gaze softened—as if the entire space was flowing, “What you have is just physical needs.”
“You’re a saint, and I’m a mortal,” Levi pouted, “What do you want me here for?”
“Follow me.” Claude led Levi into a special fully enclosed room, “This is a simulated space for astronaut training.”
After Claude’s fingerprint and voice were recognized—he pressed a few codes, and the entire space slowly lost gravity. Levi was surprised to find himself floating.
“Ha! This is so fun!” Levi moved his body slowly—his face displaying childlike joy, “I can do flips too!”
Claude moved next to Levi, grabbing his hand and pulling him close—“You can do many movements as long as you can imagine them.”
Levi turned his face, and their eyes met—Claude’s bright blue eyes seemed to overflow with ocean water.

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