Hunter of Mysterious Creature-Chapter 477 - 85: Twin Balloon_2

"The communication interference is gone? No... the interference is still here, it's not radio... is it laser communication?!" In the few seconds while Sun Hang was pondering, more than a dozen combat aircraft of different models rapidly swept past on his sides, charging towards the pursuing swarm of anomalous creatures behind!

"Is this... a suicide attack?" Sun Hang was somewhat puzzled.

The flying speed of the anomalous meat chunks was surpassing Mach two, and these combat aircraft coming to the rescue had already broken Mach one... the relative speed between the two exceeded Mach three. In such a scenario, colliding would mean that even if the combat aircraft were equipped with the frontal armor of a heavy tank, they would still be pierced through by these cannonball-like meat chunks.

They didn't engage in beyond visual range strikes or were unable to lock onto these meat chunks with missiles, yet they were already close and did not fire a shot, accelerating instead towards the swarm of anomalous creatures... could it be that these combat aircraft are drones? Filled with explosives? Specifically designed for self-detonation?

But Sun Hang had just seen, in his bullet time state, two human pilots sitting in the cockpit of a combat aircraft that brushed past him.

Nonetheless, in the next second, Sun Hang's question was answered.

A reaction of the anomalous meme suddenly appeared on these dozen combat aircraft, and thousands of arcs connected them in a special formation, weaving a huge electric grid in the air!

The arcs simultaneously enveloped the bodies of these combat aircraft, forming something akin to an energy shield, and those anomalous meat chunks, when colliding with this shield, were instantly blasted to shreds, subsequently crashing into the grid and getting sliced into pieces by the razor-sharp arcs!

The huge electric grid quickly cleared away nine-tenths of the meat chunks, and as several combat aircraft on the formation's outer edge made a maneuver, the remaining stragglers were soon swept inside... the process took just under four seconds, and the once-mighty swarm of anomalous creatures was promptly wiped out.

"Goodness, what is this black technology?" Sun Hang muttered under his breath.

He could sense the memetic fluctuations emitted by these combat aircraft all originated from a single anomalous entity, yet this entity was unfamiliar to Sun Hang... it also harnessed lightning attributes, though its arcs seemed quite different from the thunder of Kui Niu — more like utilizing some kind of field force to restrain the raging energy flow into a special shape, and then using this 'materialized' energy weapon to attack.

The principle somewhat matched the beam saber from Gundam.

As the electric grid dissipated, the shields on those combat aircraft also vanished. The dozen aircraft turned direction quickly, forming an escort formation that surrounded the transport plane piloted by Sun Hang in the center.

"I am the Commander of the Federation Air Force 'Special 031' tactical squad, Wei Yuan, rank Brigadier General, and the subsequent escort mission will be fully under the responsibility of me and my troops." The previously strong voice rang out again in the communication channel, "I now need confirmation on the casualties aboard the transport aircraft."

"Everyone's alive; only two pilots are unconscious, probably due to some anomalous influence," Sun Hang answered.

"Both pilots are unconscious? Then who is piloting the aircraft now? The autopilot system?" Wei Yuan asked.

"The autopilot system is also broken," Sun Hang said, "I'm piloting it now."

"You mean... the cobra maneuver just now, you flew it?" Wei Yuan's tone carried a hint of disbelief, "How many hours have you flown before?"

"This is my first time flying a plane, I've been touching the control stick for less than half an hour," Sun Hang said, "Maybe it's a natural talent."

Wei Yuan's side fell into brief silence, taking a whole half a minute before asking, "Do you need us to send a pilot onto the transport plane?"

"That shouldn't be necessary... I feel I'm flying quite well," Sun Hang said.

"If that's the case, please maintain cruise flight status... combat could flare anytime before landing," Wei Yuan said.

"Do you mean... more anomalous creatures might be on the way?"

"No... based on observations from Tianfu City, only one anomalous creature has been intercepting you throughout," Wei Yuan said, "Those just now were all split-off sub-bodies of the anomalous entity."

"Then where is the main body of this creature?" Sun Hang asked.

"In near-earth orbit above Shuzhou, 580 kilometers from the ground," Wei Yuan replied, "Serial number 'C-13', codenamed 'Gemini Balloon.'

"Gemini Balloon?" Clearly, Sun Hang was hearing this anomalous entity's name for the first time, "What is it?"

"Relevant information is being transmitted, please take note to receive it," perhaps Wei Yuan thought directly sending the anomalous entity's file was more detailed than verbal description, or perhaps he needed to command the entire escort team and had no time to continue chatting with Sun Hang — in any case, after sending the file to Sun Hang, he actively cut off the laser communication.

Sun Hang glanced at the nearby main aircraft with a bright red coat and then opened the file transmitted by it.

At first glance were several satellite-captured photos — the photos showed the pitch-black universe and earth's blue orb as the backdrop, with two giant, oval "balloons" floating in near-earth orbit, occupying nearly half of the photos' composition.

These two "balloons" presented a biological appearance, the exterior of the "balloons" wrapped in a pig liver-colored biological membrane, and connected between the two "balloons" were numerous tubular structures, which resembled parts of an organism like the outer membrane.

Next to the photos, a scale was thoughtfully marked — based on the values on the scale, the long radii of these two ellipsoidal spheres exceeded fifteen kilometers, while the short radii measured at least eleven to twelve kilometers.

This was undeniably a colossal entity.

Below the photos was a brief introduction to the anomalous entity:

C-13, "Gemini Balloon," was first discovered in the year 4668 on the Huangli calendar in January.

The spheres exhibit biological characteristics, overall density is extremely low; suspected that massive hollow cavities exist within the spheres.

Left sphere's long radius is 15198 meters, the short radius is 11058 meters; Right sphere's long radius is 15623 meters, the short radius is 12118 meters.

The length of the connection between the two spheres fluctuates between 500 to 700 meters. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The anomalous entity has been hovering in near-earth orbit 300 to 600 kilometers above ground for years, mostly positioned over the Surrendered Area, occasionally leaving the Surrendered Area and entering skies over human activity zones.

The entity's movement orbit is erratic, with no pattern in invading human airspace's frequency and duration.

Since its first discovery in January 4668 to March 4715, the entity has invaded human airspace thirty-five times, with the longest time being 14 days and the shortest time just six minutes.

The entity has never recorded initiating attacks against humans.

"Alright, that's indeed happening now," Sun Hang could not help but quip after reading this part.

But the anomalous entity has a strong defense mechanism, and once a probe gets close, it splits off numerous sub-bodies capable of high-speed flight to crash any approaching object, including the probe.

Currently, the entity's warning radius is confirmed to be eighty kilometers.

Considering the entity hasn't caused any impacts on humans, the council and the Dubhe Tower jointly decided to maintain strict observation of the entity, strictly prohibiting any actions potentially provoking the entity unless necessary.

Upon discovering the entity leaving the Surrendered Area and entering human-controlled airspace, immediately notify relevant units and execute response plans one through six based on actual circumstances.

"It really is a big guy," Sun Hang took another look at the imagery data... such a large anomalous entity floating there, he wondered how the Federation could permit its existence...

Or perhaps they realized they couldn't eliminate this entity, and since the entity usually showed a harmless demeanor, they were compelled to adopt a 'strict observation' response strategy?

Under the current circumstances, how would the Federation's top authority respond?