Chapter 1527: Guilty Conscience
The interior of the crystal engine, which had experienced an overload many years ago, was filled with cracks that were not visible to the naked eye.
Under Meng Chao’s guidance, countless components resonated and immediately tore the cracks to the extent that hair or even fingers could pa.s.s through.
Spirit flames surged out of the cracks and spread to the propellers and the spirit gas pipes behind the engine that carried energy.
The propellers and spirit energy pipes caught fire as expected.
Under Meng Chao’s delicate control, the heat and kinetic energy were compressed into an extremely small s.p.a.ce.
After the destructive energy was acc.u.mulated to the limit, it was released instantly, forming a small-scale explosion.
Boom!
Countless sharp-edged components, including the sh.e.l.l fragments of the main engine. They turned into a torrent of steel with a temperature of over a thousand degrees, shooting toward the airbag’s skin.
Although the skin was made of special materials with extremely high ignition points and was filled with inert gas, it would never burn or even explode.
However, the shards that were as sharp as blades tore dozens of large holes that were seven or eight meters long, or even more than ten meters long.
In the air hundreds of meters high, the airbag began to leak and shrivel at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The airbag of the Pegasus-2 was designed with a zoning structure. The main airbag was divided into six separate areas with four auxiliary airbags attached.
Even if half of the inert gas in the airbag leaked out and the airbag completely shriveled up, the airbag would still be able to land on the ground slowly.
However, under Meng Chao’s careful calculation and ingenious guidance, a large number of shattered airbags were all concentrated on the left side.
After the main engine on the left side exploded, due to the imbalance of the propulsion force, the load of the other engines on the left side suddenly increased. Two more engines caught fire, and thick black smoke was emitted from the inside of the other two engines.
In other words, the left airbag and the engine were almost completely destroyed.
Just like a speeding car, the left wheel suddenly had a flat tire.
Naturally, it deviated from the normal direction.
The pilot of this Pegasus-2 was also experienced.
Back then, in the airs.p.a.ce where dozens of s.p.a.ce-splitting demon eyes were floating, they could kill their way in and out, dyeing the sky red with blood.
Even if there was only one engine left, they still had a way to drive the armored airship back to the airport.
The small scene in front of him was naturally not difficult for him.
In order to ensure balance, the pilot took the initiative to release 10% of the inert gas in the right airbag.
He also reduced the output power of the right engine by 70% .
It almost turned the armored airship into a hot air balloon, hovering in the air, slowly descending at a very safe speed.
At the same time, he also made contact with the airport not far away.
Under the command of the airport, he was rescued by two armored airships on the nearby flight path.
This was all routine operation.
Everything was under control.
There was no need to panic.
But before the rescue arrived.
It was affected by the strong wind.
The lost power of the armored airship, swaying and drifting, was blown directly above Horizon’s breeding base.
This was unavoidable.
The wind was very fast and strong today.
The whole ‘window period’ was only a few minutes.
Right below the burning main engine.
Meng Chao was not affected by the flames of thousands of degrees at all. He blinked quickly, his eyes glittering like the camera system of a spy satellite.
In a few minutes, hundreds of high-resolution aerial images were ‘captured’ from different angles.
All of the jungle’s details within several dozen kilometers of Horizon were deeply engraved on the cerebral cortex.
Horizon’s drones had noticed the abnormality of the armored airship.
However, when the buzzing bees flew near the armored airship, Meng Chao had already ended his aerial reconnaissance and returned to the cargo hold.
Soon, the rescue team made up of two larger armored airships also rushed to the scene.
The fault of the Pegasus-2 was too serious. It lacked the ability to continue carrying out missions after aerial maintenance.
The rescue team could only throw out a rope as thick as an arm and drag it back to the airport.
The Pegasus-2, which landed in the open-air maintenance workshop attached to the airport, was still emitting thick black smoke.
With the cover of the black smoke, Meng Chao easily escaped everyone’s sight and met up with AI lei.
Although the air reconnaissance plan was quite successful,.
There was no joy on Meng Chao’s face.
Instead, he frowned and looked confused.
“Senior, how is it?”
Ai Lei nervously asked, “Have you seen the situation around Horizon clearly?”
“I have, but there is a certain deviation from my guess. I didn’t find too many anomalies. At least, there aren’t any anomalies within ten kilometers of Horizon.”
Meng Chao told Ai Lei that there was nothing suspicious about the terrain or the vegetation within ten kilometers of the company.
He did not find any traces of man-made construction, such as secret entrances, airstrips, heating wells, sewage pipes, and other facilities.
He did not find any signs of radiation, pollution, or mutation in the vegetation either.
On the other hand, in the northwest of Horizon, deep inside the furious wave mountain range, there were several forests that were colorful as if they had been contaminated or mutated by spirit radiation.
But it was too far away.
It was more than thirty kilometers away from Horizon.
After the explosion of the Red Radiance Jade vein, Raging Waves Mountain had been riddled with holes in the first place. The surface of the mountain was full of crevices, which made it look like an old, broken boiler.
The spirit energy contained in the underground lode could easily seep into the surface through the crisscrossing cracks, affecting the local animals and plants, and changing the shape of the jungle.
It was too difficult to link the change of the jungle twenty to thirty kilometers away with Horizon’s strangeness.
“It is unlikely that Horizon would build a secret sewage pipeline more than thirty kilometers away. The amount of work involved is too large. It would definitely be discovered when it’s built,” Meng Chao said
“It is important to know that Raging Waves Mountain Range is rich in vegetation and many kinds of monsters. It is the hunting ground that the monster hunters are most pa.s.sionate about, second only to the hidden fog domain.
“Even today, many monster hunters still like to hunt, meditate, and train in the hinterland of the wild waves mountain range.
“Horizon is low-key. It is far from being so huge that it can cover the sky with one hand. How can it not be discovered if it is being built in the depths of the jungle?
“However, without an energy source, a cooling well, and a sewage pipeline, it is impossible for Horizon to be so big no matter what tricks it is up to. How could it attract the attention of the tailless monkey?”
Meng Chao began to doubt if he had overlooked any clues that led to his speculation being wrong.
Just as he was about to completely overturn his idea and start all over again…
Suddenly, he saw a familiar face out of the corner of his eye.
The airport was not big.
The pa.s.senger waiting area and the open-air maintenance yard were next to each other.
After all the trouble just now, it was already past ten in the morning.
The number of pa.s.sengers waiting to board the plane gradually increased.
Everyone was bored and gathered together to watch the Pegasus-2 perform maintenance.
Then, they heard the pilot of the Pegasus-2 complaining loudly with the maintenance staff that he had long known that there was something wrong with the armored airship. He had heard strange noises from the main engine during the last few flights, he had made several reports requesting for major repairs, but recently, the operations of the crystal mines in Dragon City had been very heavy. The transportation capacity was too tight, so the date of major repairs had been delayed, and so on.
“I know him.”
Meng Chao narrowed his eyes and locked onto a seemingly ordinary pa.s.senger.
But he only glanced at the pa.s.senger before pulling ai lei aside.
“What? Who?”
Ai Lei’s gaze pa.s.sed over Meng Chao’s shoulder, but she did not see him clearly. “Senior, did you meet your old friend?”
“Not before, just now.”
Meng Chao said, “In your nine o’clock direction, the second one came from the right. He had dark skin, a buzz cut, and some big and small eyes. He was carrying a hiking bag and a travel bag. I saw him at 6.47 am.”
Ai Lei thought for a moment and said in surprise, “At that time, we were observing Horizon’s breeding base!”
“That’s right.”
Meng Chao said, “At that time, the guy was wearing camouflage clothes and carrying a taser gun. He was patrolling the few guard towers outside the breeding base.
“Judging from his appearance at that time, he should have been a security guard of Horizon.
“Moreover, I remember that the security officers on the Watchtower were a little nervous when they saw him at that time. Their muscles could not help but tense up.
“Judging from his breathing and heartbeat at this moment, his strength is not weak either. He has at least reached the peak of the Earth realm.
“He should be the head of the security officers, acting as a safety supervisor or something like that. At least on the surface, he should be the safety supervisor.
“Here’s the problem. A security supervisor who was on duty at six or seven o’clock in the morning is now wearing casual clothes and carrying bags. He looks like he’s going home to visit his family or go on a vacation. is that reasonable?”
Ai Lei Thought for a moment.
Although she couldn’t rule out the possibility that this security supervisor had just finished his night shift and was going to take a few days off.
However, it was more likely that Horizon had discovered an armored airship deviating from its course. Since it was now possible to discover the secrets of that company, they sent a security supervisor in disguise to find out why the armored airship had deviated from its course.
That was where the problem lay.
Was it necessary for a legitimate and aboveboard company to be guilty of a crime? Just because the armored airship flew over their heads, were they nervous enough to get to the bottom of it?