Chapter 1388
Cui Ming: Da Gu, I'm not targeting you guys
Choi Myung turned around, his gaze lingering on Shinjo and Daigo for a moment.
His expression remained unchanged, but his tone carried a hint of explanation.
"It's not directed at you."
He pointed to the still-smoking wreckage, speaking quickly as if he were dealing with a tricky malfunction report.
"The main problem is that this kind of unconventional damage is just too outrageous. The probability of a bomb being hit by a rock and causing it to explode is even lower than being shot down by a monster. This isn't a technical problem for you; it's a problem of luck. Training can't solve that."
Xincheng opened his mouth, and the black ash on his face was washed away by sweat, revealing two lines on his pale skin underneath.
"Instructor, what about from now on?"
His voice trembled, as if he had already foreseen some terrible ending.
Daigo nodded frantically beside him, his eyes full of pleading.
"Can you give us another chance? We promise."
"What guarantees?"
Cui Ming interrupted him, his brows furrowing even more.
"Will you be guaranteed to get your engine hit by bird droppings next time? Or have the control lever get stuck by a leaf blown by the wind?"
Shinjo and Daigo both lowered their heads at the same time, like two eggplants that had been hit by frost, drooping in place.
Cui Ming rubbed his temples, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the two.
He doesn't dare to separate the two now.
After all, who knows if separating the two will lead to a double crash?
If one person is piloting one plane, then both planes will crash at the same time.
If two people fly a plane together, at least one of them will lose.
From a mathematical perspective, this is the optimal solution.
"You two will continue to work together from now on."
Cui Ming's tone left no room for argument, and he tapped his finger twice in the air.
"No separate pilots allowed, lock them all to the same plane."
Xincheng suddenly raised his head, a glimmer of hope flashing in his eyes.
"Instructor! You trust us?!"
"I believed, I believed too much."
Cui Ming corrected him expressionlessly, his voice carrying a cold rationality.
"I believe in the law of cause and effect between you two. When you're together, only one plane is destroyed. When you're apart, two planes are destroyed. The Earth Defense Force's funding doesn't come from thin air."
Daigo's face fell, his shoulders slumped, as if his spine had been removed.
"So it was because of funding."
The person next to him, Jui, couldn't help but laugh, his shoulders shaking as he squeezed the calculator, making a clicking sound.
Lina covered her mouth and turned away, her back trembling slightly, clearly trying her best to endure it.
Deputy Captain Zong Fang sighed, looked up at the sky, and muttered something under his breath.
"At least, the loss can be kept to one aircraft."
Kaina's projection reappeared at some point, arms crossed, offering a condescending critique.
"Cui, I suggest installing ejection seat safety devices on their planes, the kind that are welded shut. As long as the biological signals of the two people in the cockpit are detected, the ejection program will be automatically locked, and a forced escape will be made."
Her lips curled up slightly, with a hint of schadenfreude.
"At least this way people won't die, since the plane can't be saved anyway."
Cui Ming nodded, which was considered as tacit approval of the plan.
"Go back and write the report." He turned and walked quickly toward the armored vehicle, his beam gun dangling at his waist.
"The Sukuna Oni has been confirmed destroyed. The remains have been recovered. Team back."
The crowd responded in unison, their voices filled with exhaustion and relief after the battle.
Shinjo and Daigo supported each other, limping behind. Their shadows were stretched long by the searchlight and overlapped, like a pair of unlucky guys bound by fate.
Thus, the Battle of Sukuna Oni came to an end.
The story of Sukuna-ki is actually quite frightening for most people.
Because in Japan, there are a lot of legends about yokai (supernatural beings).
From the mountain hag in the deep forest to the river ghost that lures people to their deaths, from the five-inch nail that steals children to the laughing dog that makes strange noises in the dead of night, every story is imbued with gloom and eeriness.
Although the members of the GUTS team deal with monsters every day, monsters are at least huge creatures that can be seen and touched, with energy reactions, physical bodies, and weaknesses.
Monsters are different.
They hide in the shadows, attach themselves to objects, take human form and blend into the crowd, and may even stick to your back the moment you turn around.
Everyone was scared!
Horii even downloaded a bunch of information about Japanese monsters overnight. The more he read, the less he could sleep. In the end, he took his blanket and went to Daigo's room to sleep on the floor, saying that "two people have more yang energy."
Lina covered all the mirrors in her house with cloth because she read that a monster could crawl out of the mirrors.
Although Deputy Captain Zongfang pretended to be calm on the surface, it is said that he turned on all the lights in the corridor during his patrol that night, and even checked the toilets.
Meanwhile, on Cui Ming's side...
Everyone already knew that the tall woman accompanying Cui Ming was the Eight-Foot Woman.
That terrifying woman, eight feet tall, wearing a white dress, making strange "bo-bo-bo" noises, who hunts men on country roads.
Although people knew her identity before, they always saw her quietly following behind Choi Myung, occasionally helping to hand over a document or deliver something, as obedient as Choi Myung's personal assistant. Over time, they got used to it, and some even nodded and greeted her.
To be honest, everyone admires Cui Ming.
Even an eight-foot-tall woman can be subdued.
This is no longer the kind of social circle that humans should have.
And that crow...
hiss!
Tengu is a great demon in legends.
The Victory Team had long known that there was such a person near Choi Myung's residence. She wore multiple layers of dark kimono, had long hair like a waterfall, a long tuft of feathers attached to the back of her head, and her cheeks and neck were decorated with some bird feather-like patterns. She exuded a fierce and sharp beauty.
Previously, everyone just thought she was a beautiful woman with a fierce temperament whom Cui Ming knew. After all, she would occasionally come to the base to find people, and everyone would politely call her "sister" when they saw her. Some people even handed her drinks.
After the Sukuna Oni incident, everyone became aware of the terror of the Tengu yokai again.
When he remembered saluting her downstairs before, Xincheng's face turned pale, and his hands trembled so much that he couldn't even hold the gun steady.
I used to ask her if she wanted a drink.
Xincheng's voice was choked with sobs.
She glared at me. I thought she was disgusted by me.
The members of the Victory Team felt that their instructor, Choi Myung, was truly absurd.
If a normal person had an eight-foot-tall woman by their side, they would probably go crazy from fright.
Cui Ming actually asked her to help deliver documents, and even complained that her footsteps were too loud, telling her to walk more quietly.
Normal people would probably struggle to even speak properly when dealing with a tengu yokai of the level of Black Crow.
Cui Ming actually dared to complain that she smelled too much alcohol and told her not to go near the command room after she finished drinking.
People of this caliber were all as well-behaved as domesticated pets around him.
The team members exchanged glances privately and came to a consensus.
Cui Ming himself might be more terrifying than all these monsters combined.
Only a more ferocious monster can make these infamous demons obey.
They watched as Cui Ming walked calmly through the base, and involuntarily took a half-step back, as if making way for some unseen, terrifying presence. (End of Chapter)