The Mysterious Soldier of the Anti-Japanese War

Chapter 476: Unconventional Strikes that Paralyzed the Japanese Air Force in Hours

The searchlights at Beijing's Nanyuan Airport cast pale streaks of light through the predawn haze, like the fingers of death dancing across the sky. Lei Tao, piloting an F-35B fighter jet, pierced the clouds like a ghost. The GBU-39 small-diameter bomb under the aircraft was already in hot readiness, its diamond-shaped coating gleaming coldly in the morning light, like fangs poised for a strike.

"AI reconnaissance system, mark the runway seams." Lei Tao, wearing an oxygen mask, spoke in a cold, steely voice. On the holographic screen, the concrete runway at Nanyuan Airport was broken down into countless grids, with the weak stress points at the seams highlighted in bright red. He gently pushed the joystick, and the GBU-39 small-diameter bombs mounted under the wings were ready for launch. Suddenly, the cockpit alarm blared, and the infrared warning system indicated three Japanese Type 99 anti-aircraft gun shells were approaching from the side and rear.

"Activate electromagnetic interference!" Lei Tao jerked the joystick, sending the fighter plane slicing a breathtaking arc through the air. As the fuselage lurched violently, he caught a glimpse of the Japanese anti-aircraft positions on the ground adjusting their guns. Drawing on years of flying experience, he quickly calculated the trajectory of the shells and once again maneuvered the fighter plane to an extreme. Three shells grazed the plane's wings, exploding in a dazzling display of fire.

At that moment, the Japanese air defense sirens blared, and GBU-39 bombs rained down like a torrential downpour. These bombs, weighing only 113 kilograms, packed astonishing destructive power, each capable of penetrating two meters of reinforced concrete. As the first blast sent the Zero fighter flying upside down on the tarmac, Lei Tao had already turned his plane, heading for Jinan Zhangzhuang Airport, three hundred kilometers away. The vector nozzles at the tail of the fighter left a dark blue trail of death in the morning mist.

At dawn, the skies over North China went berserk. From Peking to Jinan, from Xuzhou to Kaifeng, the screens of Japanese radar stations alternately flashed the same threat code: "Ghost 01." Like a tireless grim reaper, Lei Tao's F-35B spun a web of death across the daylight sky. Using his AN/ASQ-239 electronic warfare system to shield himself from all radar waves and a quantum navigation system to weave through the clouds, each appearance was accompanied by a deafening explosion.

At Zhengzhou Xinzheng Airport, Lei Tao deployed his first "swarm attack" mode. Seventy-two Tiangang drones swarmed out of their bomb bays, their graphite bombs scattering like dandelions, instantly crippling the entire airport's power system. As Japanese ground crews fumbled in the darkness to start backup generators, F-35B cannons pounded fuel trucks on the runway. Amidst soaring flames, Xinzheng Airport was reduced to a blazing lake.

At noon, Lei Tao encountered his fiercest resistance yet at Anyang Airport. Six Type 52 Zero fighters, armed with rockets, swooped down from the sun, their Type 97 bombs gleaming fiercely in the sunlight. He calmly activated the "holographic decoy" system, instantly creating three false images around his aircraft, effectively disorienting the enemy aircraft. As the Zero pilots frantically fired at the Mirages, Lei Tao had circled behind the formation, his AIM-9X missiles, trailing infrared flames, accurately hitting each enemy aircraft. The successive fireballs that burst into the air resembled festive fireworks, but with the aura of death.

The atmosphere inside the Tokyo Defense Agency was heavy as lead. On Umezu Yoshijiro's desk, the metal folder containing the urgent telegram cast a cold, hard shadow in the morning light. "General! The North China Air Force has lost 83% of its airfields!" The messenger's voice echoed through the room like the whisper of death. The commander, known for his calm demeanor, stared at the map of North China on the wall. Everywhere he looked, the coordinates of a dozen or so airfields had been roughly crossed out with red pen, like a scarred face.

"Baga! How long is he going to keep bombing?" Umezu's finger stabbed the coordinates of Taiyuan Airport on the map, as if to punch through them. "Immediately dispatch the Kwantung Army Air Force for reinforcements! Even if it takes every last drop of fuel, we must shoot that plane down!"

Yet, the clatter of the telegraph machine became a futile elegy. As the sunset painted the sky crimson, Lei Tao's F-35B had arrived at Taiyuan Qinxian Airport. He looked down at the Japanese troops scrambling like ants on the ground, a cold smile curling his lips. This time, he didn't rush to attack. Instead, he activated the fighter's quantum communication system and sent an encrypted Morse code message to Yan'an—a list of the coordinates of every destroyed airfield in North China. Behind each coordinate was a devastating blow to the Japanese air force.

"Last stop, Yuncheng Anyi Airport." Lei Tao unscrewed the cap of his glucose solution. The amber liquid trickled down his Adam's apple, dispelling the rusty taste in his mouth from prolonged mask use. He watched the flashing threat warning on his tactical screen. Japanese radar stations along the route had mapped the F-35B's trajectory into a red arrow, like the march of death.

Fighter planes streaked across the Loess Plateau, their wings trailing two streaks of ice crystals as they sliced ​​through the morning mist. Lei Tao's pupils suddenly constricted—the holographic map revealed twelve new electromagnetic jammers, disguised as barns, erected on either side of Anyi Airport's runway. These were the "Wolf" system, urgently imported by the Japanese from Germany, specifically designed to target stealth fighters. "Intelligent ground crew, activate Quantum Camouflage 2.0." As he spoke, the nano-coating on the fuselage began to flow and reorganize, disguising the fighter's radar signature as a flock of low-altitude migrating geese.

Inside the ground-based air defense position, Japanese Sergeant Noda's fingers trembled on the joystick. On the radar screen, a dense flock of "geese" approached, but the infrared detectors picked up an unusually high heat source. "Damn! It's bait!" he screamed, pressing the alarm, but it was too late. The F-35B had already released a swarm of "Tiangang" drones at two thousand meters. These mechanical swarms, armed with microwave bombs, swooped down on the electromagnetic jammer tower. The instantaneous detonation of energy, like invisible scissors, severed the airport's electronic defense network.

Lei Tao took advantage of the opportunity to dive, his GBU-57 bunker buster ripping through the clouds. As the first bomb pierced the airport's underground ammunition depot, the runway felt like a carpet lifted by a giant hand, concrete blocks mixed with burning fuel rising into the air. He tumbled through the blast, his AN/APG-81 radar rapidly scanning the ground. On the tarmac, twelve unfinished "Shinden" prototypes twisted and deformed in the flames. This was the Japanese army's last resort in their quest to reverse their air superiority.

"General! Contact with Anyi Airport has been lost!" When the urgent telegram from Tokyo landed on Umezu Michijiro's desk, the commander was staring blankly at the dozen or so red circles crossed out on the map. Veins bulged in his hand as he grabbed the phone. "Order all fighter planes to take off! Even if it means a suicide attack, keep that plane in North China!"

But Lei Tao had already vanished into the vast sky. As he flew over the Yellow River, the fighter's fuel alarm blared. He stared at the flashing red lights on the instrument panel, a sneer curling his lips—in twenty-four hours, he had destroyed seventeen Japanese airfields. The skies over North China had become a graveyard for Japanese Air Force fighters. "Activate the Bagua Spacetime Anchoring System." The moment he pressed the key, the F-35B vanished in a stream of light into the morning mist, unleashing its final few infrared-guided rockets at the pursuing Zero formation.

At his official residence in Huangshan, Chongqing, Chiang Kai-shek's hand trembled slightly as he clutched the battle report. Dai Li stood nearby, his gaze sinister behind his gold-rimmed glasses. "Commander, this man destroyed half of the Japanese air force in North China in a single day. If I can't use him..." Before he could finish his words, a violent explosion erupted outside the window—the Japanese, venting their anger, indiscriminately bombing Chongqing. Chiang Kai-shek stared at the map of China on the wall, underscoring the North China region with a question mark. "Investigate, even if we have to dig deep underground, we must uncover the true identity of this 'ghost' (the Japanese codename for him)!"