The noise at the alternate landing site was like a pot of boiling oil.

The twisted and deformed metal made a "sizzling" sound when hit by cold water.

The air was thick with the acrid smell of burning fuel and coolant.

"Quick! Over here! The cutting point is here!"

The shouts of the technical officer pierced through the noise.

Several engineers, dressed in silver fireproof suits and wearing breathing masks, were frantically working around the overturned, severely deformed machine head, wielding scorching plasma cutting guns.

Blue arcs of electricity leaped and tore across the charred skin, emitting blinding light and a piercing hissing sound.

Their targets were the flight data recorder, which was relatively well-protected and buried deep beneath the nose of the aircraft, and the storage core of the specially designed reconnaissance pod under the fuselage.

Zhang Meng, Su Xuan, Wang Tiezhu, and others were firmly blocked outside the cordon by security personnel, and could only anxiously watch the wreckage shrouded in water vapor, smoke, and electric arcs.

Zhang Meng's fists were clenched so tightly that her nails dug deep into her palms, and her bloodshot eyes were fixed on the cut-off part of the machine head.

Su Xuan's face was still wet with tears, mixed with cigarette ash, his gaze fixed on the cockpit area being forcibly pried open by hydraulic spreaders, where paramedics were still desperately trying to rescue Lao Zhao.

Mingzhao stood on a slightly distant high ground, the night wind ruffling the stray hairs on her forehead.

The firelight cast flickering shadows on her serene face, and her deep eyes, like a cold pool, clearly reflected the chaotic rescue scene below, yet showed no ripples.

Her gaze didn't linger on the struggling cockpit, but rather swept across the area and landed precisely beside the engineering vehicle. Several technical officers were nervously operating emergency download equipment with anti-magnetic shielding. Connecting cables, like blood vessels, extended from the cut in the fuselage, connecting to the equipment boxes on the vehicle.

The indicator lights on the enclosure were flashing rapidly, showing the progress of the data download.

Jiang Feng stood like a rock between the construction vehicles and the wreckage.

His tall figure cast a long, cold shadow in the firelight and searchlight.

His sharp gaze, like a searchlight, scanned everyone who tried to approach, both inside and outside the security perimeter, including his base colleagues whose faces wore expressions of grief and concern. Through his earpiece, he heard the cold, real-time reports from his colleagues in the interrogation room:

"Captain Jiang, Zhao Youfu's psychological defenses have collapsed. He revealed the location of a dead mailbox and a one-time emergency contact frequency. The physical protection of the encrypted USB drive has been breached, and they are brute-forcing the password. He claims he doesn't know the source of the core intelligence, and was only responsible for transmitting it."

Jiang Feng pressed the encrypted communicator, his voice extremely low: "Important: Does he know about Stardust? Has he had contact with the core samples from the materials lab? Send me the contents of the USB drive immediately."

His gaze unconsciously swept over Zhao Youfu's mechanical leg, which seemed to have been bumped during the arrest, and a trace of doubt flashed through his mind.

Sudden!

"They're out! The black box and the storage pod have both come out!"

An excited shout came from the direction of the nose of the aircraft!

Two engineers carefully used a specially made anti-magnetic box to take out two metal boxes of different shapes wrapped in heat-insulating and shock-proof materials from the cut opening!

Although the outer shell is covered with dents and smoke marks, the overall structure is basically intact!

Almost simultaneously, the equipment on the engineering vehicle emitted a crisp "beep" sound!

Download progress bar shows: 100%! Data complete!

"Data security! Core video and flight records have been backed up!"

The officer in charge of the downloads reported loudly, his voice trembling with relief.

At that moment, it was as if an invisible electric current pierced through the chaos of the scene!

Zhang Meng suddenly straightened up, Su Xuan vigorously wiped his face, and Wang Tiezhu let out a long breath.

Mingzhao's fingertips twitched almost imperceptibly beside him.

"Old Zhao! Old Zhao is out!"

On the other side, an even louder shout erupted from the cockpit!

With the combined efforts of hydraulic shears and spreaders, the severely deformed canopy was finally torn open completely!

Paramedics carefully lifted a blood-soaked, unconscious figure from the twisted chair!

Old Zhao's flight suit was soaked in blood and oil, his helmet was shattered, and his face was bloodless, but his chest was still rising and falling slightly!

"Quick! Stretcher! Oxygen!"

Medical staff rushed forward, quickly secured Lao Zhao to a stretcher, attached oxygen, and pushed him into an ambulance that came screeching as it sped towards the base hospital.

A brief silence fell over the scene.

The water jet stopped spraying.

The cutting gun extinguished the electric arc.

Only the mournful sirens of the departing ambulances echoed mournfully in the night sky.

All eyes instinctively turned to Mingzhao, who stood silently on the high ground, and to the two specially made anti-magnetic boxes that the engineers were holding solemnly in their hands.

Zhang Meng pushed aside the police tape, staggered to Ming Zhao's side, and asked in a hoarse, dry voice, "Did you... get the data?"

Mingzhao turned his gaze from the departing ambulance to Zhang Meng's bloodshot eyes and nodded slightly: "Got it. The SR-71 close-up, irrefutable evidence."

Zhang Meng swayed, immense grief and an equally immense sense of victory colliding violently in his chest like two torrents, finally turning into scalding liquid that welled up in his eyes.

He abruptly raised his hand, forcefully wiped it away, took a deep breath, and roared at everyone present with all his might:

"We...succeeded! Shadow...completed its mission! Old Zhao...was a great man! All the comrades who participated in Operation Sky Curtain...were great men!"

There were no cheers, no applause.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!