1003: Chapter 988: A Raise Works Too 1003: Chapter 988: A Raise Works Too Half an hour later, and another fifteen minutes went by, Gao Yang left Dani’s office.
The crowd was still waiting outside, but they consciously kept their distance, fearing they might overhear something they shouldn’t.
Seeing Gao Yang come out, the crowd surged forward.
Ludwig handed him a cigarette, and after catching it, Alcohol lit it for him.
Waiting for Gao Yang to take a deep drag, Alcohol gave Gao Yang a thumbs up without saying anything.
However, Clown was all excited and said, “I’ve never fought in such a battle, it felt so awesome, like, like playing a computer game, no, simpler than playing games, even simpler than drills.”
Li Qiu followed up, “Just that evacuating was damn scary.”
Gao Yang nodded deeply in agreement.
At this point, Ludwig lifted his chin and said, “Is it over inside?
The screams were so pitiful, I haven’t heard such in many years.”
Military Dog subconsciously wiped his arm and said, “I’ve heard plenty of screams, but this was the first time it was so terrifying.
It gave me goosebumps, and now I understand what it means to be so desperate to die but unable to.”
Li Qiu said indifferently, “You’re uneducated, it’s called ‘wanting to live but unable; seeking death but unable.'”
Military Dog nodded and said, “Yes, that’s right.”
Ludwig disdainfully said, “You’ve just seen too little.
If it were me conducting the interrogation, the screams would be even worse.”
After a quiet laugh between them, Gao Yang saw Eileen and Jacklan still busy around the airplane.
Glolov hadn’t come over; he was still cleaning the machine gun.
Although he wasn’t a mechanic, as a pilot, even if he didn’t do it himself, he had to watch the airplane being serviced to feel at ease.
Gao Yang pointed at the Mi-17 that had nearly scared them to death and said gravely, “I’m going to take a look.”
Gao Yang walked towards the airplane, and as he approached, Jacklan, who was maintaining the airplane with the mechanic, came over and said with a smile, “All good now?
I heard you were interrogating prisoners, did you get any results?”
Gao Yang nodded and said, “Asked one, Badadi wasn’t there.
Haven’t questioned the other two yet, we’ll know what’s going on once all three have been asked.”
Jacklan shook his head helplessly and said, “So you came up empty, what a pity.
Well, these things are normal.”
Gao Yang sighed deeply and said, “Yes, a pity, but very normal indeed.”
Jacklan gestured toward the room where the interrogation was taking place and said, “Aren’t you waiting to continue asking?
Why run off here to me?
I’m busy, you know.
I can’t trust the mechanics alone with the airplane.
I need to check if the rotor can still be used, replace it if there are any cracks, plus the fuel system, and the engine.
After doing a roll, everything has to be checked, such a pain.”
Gao Yang exhaled and said, “I couldn’t stay there.
I thought I had a high tolerance, but seeing them interrogate that poor bugger, even I got goosebumps, so I’ve decided to step out and get some air.
Let them finish up the preliminary work, then I’ll go back in, it’s not too late.”
“How are they doing it?”
“Disgusting and cruel, can’t we drop it?”
“Fine, disgusting it is then, let’s not talk about it.
I’m hungry and still have to finish up here before I can eat.”
Gao Yang pointed at the Mi-17 and said, “The reason I’m here is actually because I’m scared after the fact and curious.
Why did you do the barrel roll; was it necessary?”
Jacklan rubbed the grease on his hands and then raised both his hands and said, “You see, my right hand is our airplane, left hand the missile.
We were lucky.
Just when we were about to speed up, I saw a flash on the right side, and I could tell it was a missile.
Although Radar didn’t give a warning, I still decided to haul ass.”
“Our flying posture was like this, with the nose pointing here, after I changed direction, the nose faced that way.
I wanted to keep the engine’s exhaust away from the missile’s path since that’s where the temperature is highest.
At the same time, I dived rapidly, trying to lose altitude so that the missile would lose its target due to ground interference because we were really close to the ground at the time.
But we were too close to the missile, so I realized simple maneuvers wouldn’t work.”
“Just then, I realized the missile was about to hit us and that my evasive actions might have put us in more danger because as we lost altitude, the missile was at the same height as or higher than our plane.
Our flares were mounted below and on both sides of the fuselage.
So, I rolled!”
Jacklan clapped his hands and said with excitement, “You should be grateful it was me piloting the plane, you know, with anyone else you’d be dead!
My roll let the flares fire in all directions, and I pulled it off!
But that’s not the key.
The key is I stabilized the plane afterward without letting the nose dive into the ground.
Do you know our altitude at that time?
Less than forty meters!
Wow, less than forty meters high, rolling, risking hitting the rotor with flares, then stabilizing the plane and making an emergency climb, I’m such a badass, I really admire myself, seriously, Ram, you should thank me, I saved all of us.
With any other pilot, you’d all be done for!”
Under Jacklan’s gesticulations and flying spit, Gao Yang finally roughly grasped the situation.
He let out a long sigh of relief and said to Jacklan, “I honestly had no idea that hippos could tumble.
Did you?”
Jacklan shrugged and said, “No way.
If everyone could make a hippo tumble, then what I did wouldn’t be called a miracle, buddy.
Let me tell you, you just witnessed a miracle, did you know that?
And this miracle saved your life, you know!”
Gao Yang laughed and said, “I know.
I wasn’t too clear on it before, but now I’m clearer.
However, since it’s a miracle, that means there was a lot of luck involved too, right?”
Jacklan held out his fist in front of Gao Yang and proclaimed with great earnestness, “I never rely on luck, this is all skill!”
“Then can you do it again?”
Jacklan was immediately taken aback.
He tilted his head and said, “Well, let’s not talk about that.”
Gao Yang smiled and said, “Your miracle is a combination of skill and luck.
I must say, I really do believe in your abilities.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t have asked for your help, right?”
Jacklan immediately perked up, saying loudly, “Glad you understand!”
Checking the time and seeing it was almost up, Gao Yang patted Jacklan on the shoulder with a light laugh.
“Interrogation is starting again, I have to keep listening.
See you later.”
After waving goodbye to Jacklan and heading back to the interrogation room, Gao Yang had to pass through the crowd again.
He waved and said, “Nothing to see here, disperse.
Go back to whatever you were doing, get some more sleep.”
Ludwig patted his stomach and loudly said, “I’m starving here, waiting for a second meal.
You haven’t forgotten about it, have you, boss?”
Gao Yang smacked his forehead and said, “Oh, sorry, I really did forget.
I’ll arrange it now.
Who else wants a second meal, or should we wait for breakfast?”
No one was willing to wait for breakfast.
A brief but intense battle, especially one that nearly scared half their lives away in the air, meant that eating was a good way to ease tense nerves.
Gao Yang snapped his fingers and said, “Alright, I’ll notify them now.
It shouldn’t take long.”
Just then, Li Qiu raised his hand and said, “Boss, I’ve got something to tell you.”
Gao Yang looked at Li Qiu, puzzled.
“What’s up?
You’re not seriously never going to get on a helicopter again, are you?”
Ludwig let out a hee-hee and said with a strange laugh, “Our little loach got scared out of his wits.”
Li Qiu, with a face of disdain, flipped the bird at Ludwig before seriously saying, “It’s not that, I was just talking nonsense.
Who would really stop taking helicopters?
I’m talking about something serious, boss.
For lunch, it’s grilled meat, dinner is grilled meat, and other than that, it’s flatbreads with salad for a vegetable dish.
Breakfast is flatbread with chickpeas, and dinner is chickpeas with flatbread.
The only variety we get is switching grilled meat for fried fish.
Aren’t you sick of it?”
Sick of it, Gao Yang was sick to death.
Syrian food was similar to Iraqi food.
Tasty?
Actually, quite tasty.
But the problem was the lack of variety, which Li Qiu had summed up quite completely in just a few sentences.
Even the tastiest food becomes tiresome after three days straight, at least for Huaxia people.
For residents of areas with monotonous diets, eating the same thing all their lives would be no problem.
But for Huaxia people, it was a significant issue—it could be lethal.
Gao Yang sighed and said, “I’m definitely sick of it, but there’s nothing I can do about it.
Be grateful; supply in Syria is tight, and we’re eating from the Air Force’s kitchen, which is already the best food available.”
Li Qiu waved his hand and said, “It’s simple, what if we cook ourselves?
Get the ingredients, and I’ll cook, okay?
Boss, I can’t keep going like this with the constant grilled food, it’s too heaty.”
Gao Yang’s heart pounded, his voice trembling with excitement as he grabbed Li Qiu by the arm.
“You can cook?”
Li Qiu said with utter seriousness, “I’ve been in Africa with a bunch of black mates.
Put it this way, compared to what those guys eat, the food here is already extremely good.
So, do you think I’d have survived till now if I couldn’t cook?”
Gao Yang slapped his hand and said, “Great!
Wait here, whatever you need, I’ll get for you.
What can you cook?”
Li Qiu confidently said, “Just home cooking, nothing fancy.
Don’t expect me to be a chef.
The issue here is the seasonings, so I might not be able to make it taste very authentic, but there shouldn’t be any big problems.
I’ll see after I check the ingredients.”
Gao Yang, very seriously, said, “As per mercenary rules, I’m not supposed to ask too much, but right now, I really want to know—where did you learn to cook?
You’re not a cook soldier, are you?”
“Nope, just have a craving for good food.
Naturally, I love to eat.
When I was back home with nothing to do, I would experiment with cooking myself.
I guess I have some foundation.”
Li Qiu wasn’t a cook soldier, which slightly disappointed Gao Yang.
But finding someone who could cook was already a win.
He said solemnly, “You just wait; I’ll go find someone.
Start by borrowing the kitchen at the airport and cook a meal, make a good amount.
If it turns out well, I’ll arrange a kitchen for you right away, and I’ll give you a raise, too.
If we really like what you cook, I’ll double your salary!” (To be continued.
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