010 San Francisco Incident (Part 4)

The answer was, he didn't escape.

The F-22, shining with silver light and filled with an imposing aura, crashed viciously into the UFO merely five meters away. Almost instantly upon collision, sparks flew, and explosions enveloped the two aircraft in the sky. The sound of the explosion, slower than light, followed shortly, causing nearly everyone on the ground watching to instinctively cover their heads and eyes.

The scene was all too sudden!

Just moments ago, people thought they were watching an aerobatic feat, intrigued by the appearance of the UFO. But the next second, a 150-million-dollar stealth fighter crashed into the sleek, sci-fi-like alien warship as if brawling recklessly. The flames and explosion shocked everyone, and parts of the shattered F-22 scattered, plunging from the sky more than a kilometer high towards the ground.

This area was not just under the influence of Earth's gravity; the explosion itself produced a horrifying propulsion force. In fact, the propellers of the flying particles weren't just these two forces.

Bai Zhongqi had no time to run. He stood at a point slightly distant from the explosion's epicenter and chose to squat down to minimize the chance of collateral damage. At least in moments of actual crisis, his anxiety disorder didn't flare up; instead, he remained eerily calm, his mind working rapidly.

He saw clearly, amid the bursting flames, the UFO was still in the sky. Passing through the fiery explosion, this alien warship, akin to a spacecraft from Trisolaris, continued its flight unscathed, without even a scratch on its body. Bai Zhongqi found it hard to believe. The violent collision of the F-22 in flight, coupled with the explosion, did absolutely nothing to the alien warship; what was this alien warship made of?

Sharp-eyed and observant, he soon noticed that around a few inches to a foot away from the alien warship, there was a nearly imperceptible, rippling, turquoise membrane, resembling a bubble that slightly expanded beyond the shape of the warship. If you didn't look closely, you wouldn't see it at all. Moreover, after flashing for just a split second, it vanished, as if it had never existed, making Bai Zhongqi doubt whether he had seen it wrong.

"A shield?" Bai Zhongqi wondered. However, in many sci-fi works, protective shields with overwhelmingly strong defensive abilities, capable of deflecting most attacks, were almost standard. Whether it was mecha or interstellar warships, having such a thing was not surprising. The principles behind the creation of shields varied dramatically, but the effect was consistent.

The parts of the fallen F-22 became dangerous projectiles, continuously striking buildings and people with blazing debris. The crowd, initially spectators, finally descended into complete hysteria, fleeing in all directions with screams and cries overlapping in the chaos.

A section of the fighter's wing shot through like a dart, slicing directly into a 30-story office building, while the larger pieces of debris facilitated more danger. Too many people were watching on the ground; any falling piece could cause death or injury. One unidentified part of the debris struck down three young people, crushing them without giving them a chance to struggle. A piece of the fuselage crashed into a fountain, splashing water everywhere. A man standing in the doorway of a convenience store on the street assumed he was safe, but was inexplicably knocked out by a falling engine part. No one knew who would be hit by the next piece of debris; the only option was to run desperately.

However, at this time, Bai Zhongqi didn't run. Running with the crowd in such a crowded area could lead to a stampede, and it was very taxing on his strength. Instead, Bai Zhongqi stood up and leaned against a lamp post, letting the crowd rush past him. This spot was safe; no one crashed into a lamppost, and the cars on the road had already stopped. No debris fell around him; it seemed safe, but the instinctive fear still propelled people to flee blindly. Bai Zhongqi decided to first assess the situation.

Yet, the crisis was not over.

In the sky, watching his close comrade sacrifice himself by crashing into the alien warship, leaving nothing behind of him or his aircraft, Sean's eyes immediately reddened. The two were fellow students from pilot school and had been selected as pilots for the less than two hundred F-22 fighters in the U.S. Air Force. Their families were also very close; Sean would even leave his daughter with the Frazer couple when he and his wife went on dates. Upon picking up his daughter, he would see her joyfully playing with water guns with the Frazer's two kids in the yard.

Frazer was dead, a family shattered.

Sean sought revenge for his best friend, targeting the UFO still flying in the sky, firing his rage-filled 20mm M61A2 Vulcan cannon shells. A series of rounds, capable of firing up to 6000 rounds per minute, accompanied by the unique, terrifying tearing noise of the cannon, hit the arrogant UFO precisely.

And then, nothing happened!

This time, Bai Zhongqi saw it clearly. The turquoise, bubble-like shield reappeared, stopping all the cannon shells before they could hit the alien warship. Furthermore, this shield seemed to possess a very strong repulsive force, pushing the lethal kinetic artillery shells outwards. This was why the parts from the exploded F-22 had their velocity increased; because the shield inevitably exerted an outward force on them.