Chapter 804

Chapter 804: The Dragon Knight’s Reconnaissance

Lin Mo witnessed first-hand the incredible transformation of a person’s expression. He had never imagined that a human face could change like this.

It was truly miraculous!

Major Xie Songyuan suddenly became breathless; his face changed from green to white, then to red, nearly bursting with color, his eyes almost glowing as he fixed his gaze on Lin Mo.

If looks could be daggers, the Dragon Knight would have been pierced multiple times.

This change of expression lasted only a second or two. After all, as someone engaged in confidential work, Major Xie had strong mental resilience. He quickly regained his composure, seized Lin Mo’s hand, and urgently asked, “Are you serious?!”

This couldn’t be a joke! This couldn’t be a joke…

My heart can’t handle this kind of shock.

Major Xie felt anxious, silently praying to Mao Zedong, as Lin Mo’s revelation was astonishing.

Damn! He had been careless; if he had known, he should have sent a whole company to guard this hangar.

No, that wasn’t enough; two armed helicopters should have been dispatched for 24-hour patrols.

Being involved in this intelligence personnel retrieval mission, Major Xie knew the flight path Lin Mo had taken over Japan and what kind of gains could be made if the ground reconnaissance scanning system was activated.

Previously, Taiwan had loved to scout China’s interior, but after having a few U2 reconnaissance planes shot down, they learned to be more cautious.

Later, the Americans also came to gather information. Despite their technological and equipment advantages, they couldn’t compete with China’s larger numbers and home-field advantage. In the tug-of-war, both sides suffered losses; China lost a Eight Robins, and the Americans lost an F-22 Raptor in Fujian.

Recently, the Americans calmed down quite a bit after Lin Mo had unknowingly put a “FUCK-YOU” hole in the wing of a RC-135 strategic reconnaissance plane.

The Old Russians occasionally tried to sneak in to gather information, but they were sent back like a duck chased by dogs before they could even approach the border line. A pilot named "Snow Fox," who had flown with Lin Mo during the India-Pakistan war, was bold enough to play this game like an eagle hunting Little Chicken.

Countries like Vietnam, India, and the Philippines didn’t even qualify to touch China’s doorstep.

Why wouldn’t China want to send a message?

America had the "Goddess of Dawn," which could recklessly dash around in the airspace of other nations at Mach 7, and reciprocation was desired. The Chinese also wanted to send reconnaissance planes to map out other countries, but did they have high-altitude, high-speed stealth reconnaissance planes to back it up?

Sadly, there was not even a semi-finished product! To gather intelligence, they had to rely on the clumsy method of manual collection.

Luck played a significant role in the F-22 Raptor in Fujian being taken down; the gap in aviation technology still stood in front of the military and the tech sector.

What the military wanted to do but lacked the capability to achieve was unknowingly accomplished by Lin Mo during his mission.

“Really! All the data is in the plane.”

Lin Mo nodded vigorously. He glanced at his beloved aircraft and discreetly pulled his hand back, wiping it on his tactical armor.

He works with machines but not with associations.

If the Japanese knew that Lin Mo had flown in a zigzag pattern and activated the ground reconnaissance system to thoroughly scan most of northern Japan, including major cities like Sendai and Tokyo, they would undoubtedly send their best fighter squadron on a manhunt to China.

This would be almost like forcefully pulling down a Japanese girl’s pants, roughly prying her legs apart, and snapping photographs with a DSLR camera of her most private areas—except done with the highest clarity.

Under pressure, Lockheed was compelled to sponsor Lin Mo’s reconnaissance system, and combined with China’s domestically produced advanced reconnaissance equipment, the already versatile "monstrous" variable wings fighter jet exhibited outstanding reconnaissance ability.

“Alright, stay here and don’t wander off. I’ll go get you the hard drive. Is there anything else you need?”

Major Xie hurriedly jumped into the Beijing 212 and raced away, just as he always did, in a fiery rush.

If what Major Lin Mo said was completely true, it meant the reconnaissance data stored in that aircraft was worth just as much as the newly acquired defense intelligence for the entire Japanese island.

The military and the General Staff’s intelligence department comrades would surely celebrate this achievement; the task’s results were not only intact but also a buy-one-get-one-free deal. Compared to the costs of handling the operation, it was an incredible windfall.

He left quickly and returned even faster. Major Xie drove back urgently, slamming on the brakes, leaving almost a meter-long mark on the ground.

Major Xie had a large box in his hands and gestured to Lin Mo, saying, "I have all my hard drives here, a total of forty-six! I wonder if that’s enough?"

"Let’s use them first and see," replied Lin Mo.

He wasn’t sure how much reconnaissance data was stored in the fighter jet. Under the modification of the gold giant dragon, the "monstrous" onboard computer system was nearly as powerful as a large computer, and only the Gold Coins knew the total storage capacity.

"Squad Leader Wang, notify Commander Liu. Arm the whole unit and bring them here for duty. Get me two armored vehicles; the area within a 100-meter radius is under lockdown. No one is allowed to enter without authorization, even those from the base. Anyone who disobeys orders will be captured, and anyone who dares to clash will be executed on the spot!"

Major Xie issued the order with killing intent. To prevent any surprises, he had obtained permission from his superiors to deploy an entire platoon.

He remotely opened the fully enclosed cockpit cover, climbed into the aircraft, and pretended to search in the cockpit. The gold giant dragon wrapped around his left wrist quickly transformed into a laptop and several black data cables.

No one could know what treasures Lin Mo had hidden in his cockpit. It was the Dragon Knight’s territory, and the Dragon Knight ruled it.

He opened the Comprehensive Electrical Input and Output Cover outside the cabin and connected the data cables to the "monstrous" exclusive data port, then connected the hard drive through the laptop.

The Gold Coin brand computer always operated at incredible speeds, quickly entering the interface and launching the client program. Lin Mo began transferring data into the hard drives.

The military-grade hard drives were all 1.8-inch solid-state drives, about the size of a business card, light and thin. Compared to civilian products, they not only met the five defense standards but also had enormous capacities and extremely fast data transfer speeds.

After filling each one, Major Xie marked the numbers with a prepared marker to keep track of the order.

When the platoon was set up inside and outside the hangar, Lin Mo had already filled four military hard drives.

"How much longer?"

Major Xie looked at Lin Mo, his gaze never turning to the laptop resting on the wing. Though he was responsible for confidential work, he knew there were some things he shouldn’t see.

"Progress is at 0.5%, it’s still very early," Lin Mo glanced at the screen and frowned. Although the data transfer speed was extremely fast, it felt like a snail’s pace in comparison to the overall file size.

During last night’s flight, the fully functional ground reconnaissance system had collected reconnaissance data, but just how detailed was it, for it to be so large?

He estimated that Major Xie’s hard drives brought along were far from enough.

Major Xie’s face turned pale, and he quickly grabbed a walkie-talkie, activating the dial feature.

More than two hours later, when all forty-six hard drives brought by Major Xie were used up, the progress bar on Lin Mo’s laptop had barely completed one-third.

The Dragon Knight shrugged at the Major, whose expression was grim, indicating helplessness.

Just as Major Xie was about to pick up the walkie-talkie to hurry again, the sound of a helicopter’s rotor blades created a Doppler effect in the air, the buzzing noise growing nearer and louder.

"Thank goodness! We finally made it," Major Xie exclaimed with joy, running outside. A little while later, he rushed back in holding a large box, excitedly telling Lin Mo, "200 hard drives! Is that enough?"

It seemed the hard drives were airlifted by helicopter.

So many? Lin Mo glanced at the progress bar on the screen.

Yes, that’s more than enough! He nodded, took the box, and began unpacking the hard drives still wrapped in leather and silicone paper, connecting them to the laptop.

After having lunch in the hangar and working until two in the afternoon, all the data was finally transferred. Major Xie, beaming, counted and stacked the hard drives that had the numbers marked on them. He then carefully placed them back in the box that had come with the helicopter.

After completing all this work, Major Xie saluted Lin Mo, saying, "Thank you so much, Major Lin. You’ve worked hard today. Rest well, and if you want something to eat, just let the cafeteria know. Mountain delicacies are no problem; we can even airlift them with the fighter jet."

With that, he grabbed the box, signaled a few armed soldiers, and hurried out of the hangar.

Outside, the helicopter’s engine roared and its rotor blades sliced through the air. Soon, it ascended higher and disappeared into the distance. Major Xie, working tirelessly, took the reconnaissance data away from this preparation base.

Lin Mo looked at the remaining hard drives scattered on the wing. Seeing that no one was paying attention, he casually packed them up and tossed them into the cockpit, not at all shy about taking them.

When it’s free, why not take it?

Only then did Lin Mo have time to check what kind of records the “monstrous” system had kept.