A faint fragrance reached Yang Zicang’s nose. An aluminum lunchbox, stamped with a pattern of wheat stalks surrounding an anvil, was handed to him by his side.

He looked up. Haili Koni stood right beside him, so close he could almost feel her breath. Her leather belt cinched around her slender waist, outlining sharp, neat curves, and her trouser legs were tucked into high boots. Her face, carved like jade, looked down at him.

“Sir, youmou, ” she said, speaking Meihua.

Yang Zicang chuckled, glancing at the fair-skinned girl. “Not using your hometown dialect this time? Is it because the translator isn’t around? “

The lunchbox was slammed down into Yang Zicang’s arms with a loudsmack.

Haili Koni pressed her lips together, deliberately turning her head away from him as she walked forward, but she almost couldn’t hold back her own laughter.

Yang Zicang smiled and shook his head as he opened the lunchbox. Inside were two crispy grilled buckwheat cakes, sandwiched with sauce-stewed wild boar meat and a segment of smoked sausage, along with a few salt-cured olives wrapped in greased paper.

Xue Qi poked her head across the aisle: “Hey? Yours isn’t seafood, huh? Can we trade? “

“What for? “

“I can’t eat seafood. I can’t stand that fishy smell. “

“I can’t stand it either. Swap with Yishu—he’s been eating that stuff since he was a kid. “

He Yishu traded lunch boxes with Xue Qi, took one look, and almost threw up again. “Li Senrui, can I swap with you too? Two squids for a couple of biscuits, that’s enough. “

“Huh? Oh, sure. “

The sun quickly tilted toward the western half of the sky. With Yang Zicang’s occasional bursts of speed, the plane had already flown beyond the area they originally wouldn’t have reached until evening. Through the porthole, he could clearly see a vast stretch of land in the distance.

A faint pang of regret lingered—it was indeed not the familiar coastal landline. Yet the young man felt a slight oddity: here, the gray mist that usually shrouded the earth was nowhere to be seen.

He quietly began to spread the Silent Night out, though the technique’s effect was much weaker in the sunlight. Combined with his ever-improving control over mental power, the jolts of the plane seat made it almost imperceptible to the others.

“Mr. Buchen, ” Major General Ross turned his head, “I’d like to know why you asked about the meteor earlier. “

“Well… I can’t vouch for the accuracy of my source—probably not even one-tenth of it. “

“One-tenth? Ha. Young man, you need to understand that even if it’s only one percent, that’s a major breakthrough. “

These words set Yang Zicang into a thoughtful contemplation.

“We’ve never thought about that. Who would even consider such a thing? ” the pilot added.

Those around him nodded in agreement; they all sensed a mystery in “Yang Buchen “—someone in his standing was likely among the elite in his city.

Yang Zicang lifted his head, his gaze as sharp as a torch.

“I can tell you why, but I think… “

“What do you want? “

The young man unfurled the scroll that was leaning against the side of the seat. “I just want to ask Major General to help me find this person. He set off only a few hours ahead of me. “

Major General Ross stared intently at the painting. Haili Koni curiously turned her head to look at the unfolding artwork.

“Is he a national liberation leader? What is this young man’s name? “

A faint twitch tugged at the corner of Yang Zicang’s mouth.

“He will definitely use an alias, so the name doesn’t matter; just finding this person is enough. “

“Anything else? “

“This is the only request I have for exchanging this intelligence. “

Ross paused for a few seconds before nodding with clear understanding. “As expected, the way of the Fogfolk. “

Yang Zicang used paper and pen to write down the relationshipbetween meteors and the aberration of artificial objects, then handed it to Ross. He emphasized that it was merely a story.

“Stories are plenty, ” Major General Ross remarked, not appearing surprised.

Fogfolk could rattle off a cartload of such stories.

“However… ” Yang Zicang added finally, “if you can’t find him, it’s fine as well. The deal can still be considered done. “

Ross gave the young man a strange look. The other party didn’t seem anxious, yet he was paying such a price for this request.

He Yishu was secretly impressed by the young man in the front seat. All along the way, in various ways, this person had been probing for the possibility of birthing the “Radiance. ” With Major General Ross now—whether or not he found the boy from the painting—Yang Buchen would surely receive news of the “Radiance ” soon enough, as long as Ross actually delved into the archives from back then.

Given the Major General’s status, investigating such files was bound to draw attention and attract involvement from many. Just the turnout of the participating staff alone would make for a truly unique experience.

Everyone secretly envied “Yang Buchen “—this was the capital earned from a lifetime of effort.

Haili Koni, however, looked at that rather irritating Mist Fang lad with a new respect. Who would’ve thought he had such an open mind, refusing to throw out oppressive demands like “this task must be completed “?

Only Yang Zicang himself knew why he had added that last bit.

Because even now, he had yet to obtain the “Radiance ” experience from the “oil painting ” incident itself.

……

Then suddenly, Yang Zicang heard Xue Qi scream. A violent wind blasted up from below.

Boom—!

The shell-like strike smashed into the plane’s left wing. The eight on board all jolted hard in their seats, the iron plane rolling left and right, almost sending them tumbling down.

But it righted itself before long. Cold sweat trickled down the pilot’s spine from sheer fright. “We’re under attack!“

Li Senrui quickly unbuckled his seatbelt, dropped to the floor, and unleashed his force field at once. But the belly of the plane was not its tail. The field couldn’t penetrate the cabin’s thick plating for effective defense; this wasn’t a design choice but…

The young major general turned his head to look towards the sunset. His gaze swept left and right, eventually spotting a faint, emerging silhouette beneath the aircraft— the slightly trembling feathers of a massive bird’s wing.

“The shell just now exploded without even hitting. “

Yang Zicang stood up, “I did it. “

“What? ” The major general looked at the young man in disbelief. That attack had come from a blind spot and had nearly succeeded.

Yet, how had he managed to do it?

“Hold tight, they’re coming again. “

The young man placed his hand on the cabin interior. No sooner had he said this than the few people inside the plane heard a muffled explosion from outside the hull.

Boom!

Then came another explosion—Bang!

The plane shot forward with a whoosh, and the pilot gripping the yoke tensed, his neck veins bulging.Thump, bang, pop, crack…Countless items inside the cabin tumbled toward the tail.

The five-propeller iron aircraft began to climb, tilting to a ninety-degree angle.

Outside, a small black hole appeared with pinpoint accuracy at the front of an incoming cluster-munition warhead…Boom!

“Ah…mmph!” The pilot bit hard on his lip. Behind him came a heavy thud as Li Senrui rolled to the rear. The major general and the others clung tightly to their armrests, their hair wildly whipping back taut across their faces as the boundless void rapidly descended around them.

Yang Zicang, gripping the handrail as if climbing a ladder, maximized the perception of the Silent Night.

Below, the “Beneficial Bird Warrior, ” having marveled at the plane’s cobra-like vertical ascent—an eerie, straight push into the clouds—adjusted the angle of his grenade launcher after the initial shock.

A man behind him, wearing a windproof visor, loaded a new shell into the weapon.

With awhoosh, a blur of black shadow shot skyward accompanied by a deep rumble, yet it exploded well before reaching the plane. Worse still, the blast distance was steadily increasing.

The loader whispered, “It’s useless. That’s not a hexagonal energy shield. He’s using a far stranger ability. “

“Ross has picked a tough Fogfolk to deal with. “

Dart glanced at the grenade launcher in his hand, then turned his gaze to the aircraft still climbing through the sky.

“Pity this thing can only fire one round at a time. Unless we all launch grenades simultaneously and see if we can land a hit. “

On either side of the massive bird—whose extended wings spanned a full ten meters—two other similar beasts rose from below.

On the back of the bird to the right, the ammunition loader gestured to Dart with hand signals. In such high altitudes, the moment a word left one’s mouth, the wind would whisk it away.

Dart pointed upward, raised two fists, and opened them several times before showing five fingers. Then, pointing his other hand at the grenade launcher, he curled one of those five fingers in.

The men on the two nearby giant birds understood their squad leader’s intent. They nodded in unison, loaded the shells, and began adjusting their aim, while the reloaders in the rear kept their eyes fixed on Darter’s fingers.

“Stand by. “

Both sides said in unison, for the squad leader had already curled down three fingers.

Just as they locked onto their target, however, a strange drone suddenly came from the high sky, a sound as if a celestial drum had thundered in the air.

By the time the group had reacted, the formerly tiny black speck had abruptly, as if by magic, zoomed into their vision!

The sudden roar of the propeller, like a general leading his charge, carried a wave of sound that exploded almost simultaneously!

Boom!

Crunch!

The edge of the aircraft’s wing, sharp as the fiercest blade, cleaved through the wings of the giant bird on the left!

Amidst a shrill and brutal shriek, the great alien bird, which had now forever lost the power of flight, plunged toward the azure sea.

Of the two surviving giant birds, the one on the outer edge had already fled in panic toward the distance. The remaining bird rolled several times in the air, flinging its two securely mounted men into a dizzying spin, their weapons and other gear tumbling down below.

The tilting aircraft from that instant just past had utilized its dive to make the very air detonate!

This thundering crash, like the wrath of a bolt of lightning, ripped through the whole sky, startling countless birds into flight from the island a thousand meters below.

“Ah! Has it turned into a devil? Even the sound can’t catch it! “

“Report to the battalion commander – that thing is not something ordinary people can defeat! They have Fogfolk among them, and the Fogfolk’s abilities can surpass the speed of sound! “

The two men lay prostrate on the back of the giant bird as it folded its wings and plummeted, nearly scared out of their wits.

Their minds were still reeling from the unnatural scene that shouldn’t have existed in reality, the Fogfolk too terrifying; even sound could be chased down by that heavy cabin.

The cabin was already in chaos, a foul stench pervading every corner; right now, the difference in quality between true soldiers and ordinary people was clear to see.

Faced with this unspeakable disorder, the pilot was trembling with excitement from his neck to his eyes, tears nearly streaming down his face.

“Dear Mr. Buchen! I ask, those actions you just took—if not for your acceleration, could it have managed that? “