Chapter 347 - 289: A Force That Can Annihilate the Air Force of a Major South Asian Power! The So-Called Absolute Air Supremacy

The repairman, who had been enduring the awkward conversation with Chu Bamboo, felt his eye twitch. He could sense the other two giving him strange looks...

He knew what they found strange. ’But no matter how I think about it, I can’t figure out why Chu Bamboo would treat me differently... And this "illness" of mine, why do the symptoms appear one moment and disappear the next? Should I still go to the hospital later or not?’

’Damn it, a hospital visit is expensive... even for a Cultivator like me! After all, when a Cultivator gets sick, you have to find a Cultivator from the Agricultural Education... The cost would be at least a week’s wages from working on the artifact repair assembly line... and that’s just for a minor ailment. If it’s a serious illness... I can’t even bear to think about it!’

"...Perhaps it’s a test?" Mo Wen suddenly said with a wry smile, a theory forming in his mind.

This drew the other two’s attention, but he shook his head and said no more.

Mo Wen turned his head, silently staring at the entrance, now re-covered with thatch. ’I suspect it’s because the ruins below involve a secret too great for him to share. He doesn’t want us to follow him down, but he’s also afraid we’ll leave and expose it. That must be why he keeps coming up to check on us...’

’As for the awkward small talk... that’s perfectly normal. After all, Chu Bamboo can’t just come out and voice his suspicions, so he has to use it as an excuse to come up here.’

Mo Wen sighed to himself. He couldn’t say it felt good, but it wasn’t the first or second time he’d been in a situation like this.

...

「Meanwhile.」

「Fifth level of the Hive Base.」

"...Finally!" Chu Bamboo plopped onto the ground, drenched in sweat and gasping for air. He looked with satisfaction at the fully activated Z-3, Fighter Jet Number 21!

"Father," Hive’s voice emanated from the unmanned fighter. "I have completed building and transferring the subroutine to this unit. Even if subjected to electromagnetic interference and without external commands, it can still carry out your original order."

"Excellent!" A joyful expression appeared on Chu Bamboo’s face. After taking a few deep breaths to collect his thoughts, he said grimly, "Now, take all the usable missiles and bombs and load it up. Also, tell me how many more times we can fully arm a jet with the remaining ordnance..."

"Affirmative. Commencing search," Hive’s voice replied, as mechanical as ever.

As the cylindrical robots began their work, Chu Bamboo sensed the three minutes he had left for his Equipment Repair Divine Technique. After a moment of thought, he made a decision...

Chu Bamboo strolled through the underground hangar. He found a random unmanned fighter and placed his hand on it.

After a few breaths, Chu Bamboo thoughtfully removed his hand and moved on to the next drone.

By the time he had inspected over half the fighter jets, Chu Bamboo’s Divine Technique had faded.

This time, he didn’t go back to chat with the repairman for a "refill." Instead, he fell into deep thought.

’Of the eleven fighters I just inspected, two are only in slightly worse condition than Number 21. I should be able to fix them with five or six repair cycles.’

’But as for the rest...’ Chu Bamboo rubbed his temples, a headache coming on. Those couldn’t be repaired quickly.

For one thing, he couldn’t estimate how many repair cycles it would take to fix the more heavily damaged jets, given their crippled state. Their level of damage was in a completely different league from Number 21, so he couldn’t use it as a baseline to extrapolate.

Furthermore, Chu Bamboo estimated his internal reserves of Blessing Power and realized he definitely didn’t have enough at the moment...

The natural recovery rate of Blessing Power was too slow. To speed it up, he would need to find Radiant Stone... ’Hmm. Even with enough Radiant Stone, repairing one heavily damaged fighter would take at least two to three days. Of course, that level of efficiency is already absurdly high...’

’Still, going by this ratio...’ Chu Bamboo pursed his lips. ’Even if I exclude the heavily damaged ones that will take a long time to fix... just counting Number 21 and the others that are in decent shape and only need five or six repair cycles... I should be able to get four or five jets operational in a short amount of time.’

That was already a shockingly powerful force. In the Real World, it could probably wipe out the entire air force of a major South Asia nation with ease.

’Of course, for now, I can only finish repairing Number 21... As for the others, even the ones that only need five or six cycles, there’s no time for them now.’ Chu Bamboo glanced at the time and clicked his tongue in frustration.

It was almost 9:30. If he kept repairing, the ritual in the shantytown redevelopment zone would begin.

"Father," Hive’s voice cut in, its tone serious. "Ammunition inspection and sorting complete. The currently operational missile munitions are sufficient to fully arm three unmanned fighter jets."

"...Only enough for three?" Chu Bamboo pinched the bridge of his nose, his headache returning. Then, a thought struck him. "Ignoring their current condition, how many jets could we fully arm with the entire missile stockpile?"

Chu Bamboo realized that the missiles that had degraded over time could also be repaired. ’Considering their size and much simpler structure compared to the jets... repairing the missiles should be far easier than repairing the drones.’

"They can support twenty-seven fighter jets for three combat sorties each."

Chu Bamboo paused, a look of understanding dawning on his face. In other words, the stockpile was enough for eighty-one combat sorties.

’That’s more than I thought!’ A look of pleasant surprise appeared on Chu Bamboo’s face. ’With no enemy fighters of the same caliber to worry about, and only one operational drone for now... a full loadout is equivalent to eighty-one deployments. Eighty-one bombing runs! That means seizing air superiority eighty-one times!’

True, the direct casualties from such bombing runs might not be very high—at most, a few dozen to a hundred casualties per run. The numbers would likely drop even lower in later stages... unless the enemy was stupid enough not to take cover.

However, gaining air superiority was never just about the casualty count. Each bombing run would fundamentally shake the enemy’s morale, disrupt their military order, and could even shatter their organizational cohesion entirely.

In warfare, that significance was immense... it could even decide the outcome of a battle. After all, the greatest difference between an army and a mob of civilians is organizational structure. Once that is lost, no matter how elite the soldiers are, their defeat is inevitable.

Chu Bamboo paced back and forth for a few laps. He thought for a moment, then shook his head, his gaze turning grim. ’But... I can’t be so arrogant as to think that having unmanned fighter jets makes me invincible in this era.’

Chu Bamboo pursed his lips. He felt that a surprise attack might yield good results... but if he tried a second or third time, once the enemy caught on... they would probably dispatch top-tier Cultivators to intercept. A fighter jet wasn’t necessarily a match for a Cultivator.

’Although, based on the speed Eleventh Fifth demonstrated, they probably couldn’t catch the jet. But who knows what kind of top-tier Cultivators the Imperial Court has? Or what kind of ridiculous and bizarre Divine Techniques they possess... To be blunt, this arsenal is only meant for dealing with ordinary mortals.’

’So, my dear great-niece didn’t leave me any... Oh, wait, I almost forgot. She did.’ Chu Bamboo thought of the Antimatter Bomb, and the corner of his eye twitched. For a moment, he didn’t know what kind of expression to make.

He sighed. ’But one is too few! Couldn’t she have approved a few more... Or was this thing rare even in her time? Was it a huge pain for her just to squeeze one out for me?’

Countless thoughts flashed through Chu Bamboo’s mind. Finally, he shook his head with a wry smile. ’Next time I leave a message for the future, I’ll have to see if I can fleece her for a few more!’

Then, Chu Bamboo picked up the Antimatter Bomb and strapped it to his waist. He steeled himself, his expression turning serious as he strode toward the base exit.