755: Chapter 746: The Guts with Bad Attitudes 755: Chapter 746: The Guts with Bad Attitudes When it came to flying a plane, Gao Yang was still green.
Taking off from a space barely over three hundred meters long had nearly made his heart leap out of his throat, but Catherine and Adele were not only unafraid, they were actually quite excited.
While an airplane’s speed allows for viewing greater distances, what one needs to find might be directly underneath and remain unseen, especially when the terrain is primarily forested.
Even if the trees aren’t densely packed, spotting a few thatched huts hidden within from the air is no easy task.
Ultimately, it all came down to luck.
Gao Yang considered himself lucky, but that depended on the context.
In battle, his luck was often off the charts, but in other respects, it was downright terrible.
For instance, Gao Yang’s wish to return home seemed jinxed, whether it meant returning to his real home or to the Akuri tribe, his second home.
Unexpected complications always arose, making it difficult for him to return.
The first time he met Catherine, Gao Yang managed to leave the Akuri tribe, and now, being together with her, he hoped to find and return to it.
“When we met, it was when you were leaving the Akuri tribe,” Catherine suddenly spoke up, her words coinciding with Gao Yang’s thoughts.
Startled, Gao Yang laughed and said, “Just what I was thinking.
Seems we do have a telepathic connection, hmm.
We’ve already flown out about twenty kilometers or so.
Next, I’ll use a zigzag flight pattern.
You two keep an eye on the ground.”
Some words couldn’t be spoken carelessly.
Gao Yang promptly corrected himself and then started maneuvering the plane in a zigzag pattern to increase the search area as much as possible.
It was called a zigzag pattern, but given the turning radius of the plane, it was more accurate to describe it as an ‘S’ pattern.
Employing the S pattern greatly widened the search coverage, but it significantly slowed the pace of the planned northern progression.
Gao Yang needed to search a large area, not just follow a line.
Therefore, after taking off, he only covered about forty to fifty kilometers going north, which took up the entire morning.
Watching the fuel gauge show a dwindling supply, Gao Yang sighed in disappointment and said, “Catherine, please hand me a bottle of water.
We have to turn back.”
Catherine grabbed a bottle of mineral water, opened it, and handed it to Gao Yang, then softly asked, “How large an area have we searched?”
After mentally calculating, Gao Yang replied, “Based on the distance we’ve flown, it should be around five thousand square kilometers, perhaps even less, since I flew a very tight route.”
Catherine shrugged and said, “That’s a vast area.
No need to rush; this is only the first attempt.”
Adele put down the binoculars, rubbed her eyes and said dejectedly, “I feel a bit nauseous, similar to motion sickness.
Darling, I would like some water too.”
Catherine reached for another bottle of water, but at that moment, Adele said apologetically, “The ‘darling’ I mentioned is Gao.”
Catherine put the water back down.
Water was still in his mouth when Gao Yang sprayed it on the windshield, coughing violently.
Barely able to contain himself, Gao Yang blurted out, “Adele!
I told you this isn’t a date, and don’t call me darling!
Think about Yelena; aren’t you friends with her?”
Adele pursed her lips, and after a brief silence, she sighed sorrowfully, “Sorry, my psychological behavior is not much different from that of a five- or six-year-old girl, who tend to have strong possessive instincts.
I can’t help trying to draw your attention with small gestures, even though I know it will have the opposite effect and also make it too cramped for you and Catherine to even save face.
Well, for that, I apologize.”
Gao Yang felt his words might have been too harsh, but after listening to Adele, he let out a frustrated sigh, “I’m sorry, Adele, I just felt a bit, well, embarrassed.”
Adele responded with a sigh, “I understand you’re embarrassed.
Honestly, dealing with a freak like me, I thought you might despise me.
Perhaps, in truth, you do hate me?”
Gao Yang didn’t know what to say.
Adele, with high intelligence but low emotional quotient, made it hard to tell if she was too clever or too foolish.
This woman was the embodiment of contradiction; other than driving people mad, she seemed to have no other talents.
“Sorry, Adele, I really don’t despise you.
That’s not it at all, and you’re not a freak.
Don’t talk about yourself that way.
You’re just a bit different.
Compared to the vast majority of the world’s utterly bland individuals, you are one of a kind.
Geniuses are always lonely, but they’re not freaks,” he said.
The astute Catherine chose to stay silent.
While Gao Yang was caught up in comforting Adele, Catherine took the opportunity to wipe off the water that Gao Yang had sprayed on the windshield.
As she cleared some of it away, she suddenly cried out, “Look there, what’s that?”
Looking in the direction of the airplane’s nose, Gao Yang saw something appear on the clearing ahead that seemed to be buildings.
As Catherine raised her binoculars, Gao Yang picked up his own to take a look.
“It’s a house!”
After saying the same thing as Catherine in unison, Gao Yang immediately put down the binoculars and flew the plane toward the clearing with the houses.
“Adele, record the coordinates with the GPS.”
They weren’t far from the clearing to begin with, or else they wouldn’t have seen the houses on it.
Lowering the altitude a bit, just two minutes later, Gao Yang flew the aircraft over the clearing where he had spotted the houses.
While maneuvering the plane to circle, Gao Yang carefully observed the houses on the ground.
Below the plane was no longer a forest area but savannah with clusters of trees that were not connected, marking the transition from savannah to the forest.
Close enough to see clearly without binoculars, Gao Yang could make out four wooden houses on the ground, two large and two small.
Although they looked very rudimentary, a key point was that the roofs of these houses were not built with thatch.
After only a couple of glances, Gao Yang said in extreme disappointment, “These are not houses of the Akuri tribe.
These buildings seem more like permanent structures.
Who would build houses here?”
Just then, Adele said loudly, “Hey, according to the coordinates, and if I remember correctly, we have already crossed over the border of South Sudan, and we are now in Sudanese airspace.”
Upon hearing Adele’s words, Catherine sighed and said, “If we have entered Sudanese territory, then this would be the protruding part of Sudan bordering South Sudan and Ethiopia, southwest of our camp.”
Since it wasn’t the place they were looking for, there was no sense in looking any longer.
Although it is unlikely that Sudan had any air force in the area or would hold a civilian aircraft accountable for straying into its airspace, there was no fear of being shot down.
However, Gao Yang felt that the only people who would build houses in such a place would likely be the Sudanese military.
“Okay, let’s leave.
Wait, someone is coming out of the houses, let me see who it is.”
Because the airplane was flying at a very low altitude, the buzzing sound of the aircraft attracted the attention of the people inside the houses.
More than a dozen individuals came out of the two larger buildings and stood on the clearing, looking up into the sky.
Gao Yang didn’t grab the binoculars, but Adele, who was sitting behind, raised hers.
Gao Yang then spoke in a deep voice, “Don’t use the binoculars anymore, the distance is too close, you’ll get motion sickness pretty soon.”
Almost everyone on the ground was wearing camouflage.
After circling over the houses a few times, Gao Yang confirmed that the people below were indeed Sudanese soldiers.
Just when he intended to leave, Adele suddenly exclaimed, “Someone’s aiming a gun at us!”
Gao Yang was startled and looked down again.
To his surprise, several of the people on the ground had lifted their guns, and then he quickly saw muzzle flashes and smoke coming from the barrels after firing.
Even though he couldn’t hear the sound, Gao Yang knew that the people below had opened fire.
However, the Sudanese soldiers on the ground were only armed with AK rifles, so their shooting didn’t pose much of a threat to the airplane.
After swearing under his breath, Gao Yang stopped circling and straightened the control stick to fly directly south, quickly escaping the gunfire from below.
“These bastards really aren’t very friendly.
Hmph, well, considering we’re in the air, I’ll forgive them,” Gao Yang grumbled.
After hearing Gao Yang’s complaint, Catherine gently patted her chest and said, “We’re leaving, that’s all.
Since the independence of South Sudan, the tension with Sudan has always been high.
Those soldiers probably have been stationed at the border for a long time.
If they take pleasure in shooting at airplanes, I wouldn’t be surprised at all.
I’ve heard that there have been several such incidents before.
If they’re not doing it for fun, I can’t think of any other reason for those soldiers to act like this.”
Gao Yang said resentfully, “Damn it.
Anyway, we’re already leaving.
I won’t go back and trouble them.”
Gao Yang was carrying his Sako shotgun, so if he really wanted to go back and trouble those Sudanese soldiers, it wouldn’t have just been an empty threat.
There was just no need for it.
Adele put down the binoculars and laughed, “That was thrilling.
This is the first time someone has shot at me.
I just hope no bullets hit our plane.”
Adele’s comment made Gao Yang tense.
The altitude at which he had been flying was very low, and even though they were flying sideways in the air at a distance of three to four hundred meters from the shooting soldiers, the bullets from an AK47 could most certainly reach the plane.
Moreover, the bullets were small, so even if the aircraft was hit a few times, he wouldn’t notice.
Now he was somewhat worried that the airplane might have been damaged by the gunfire.
(To be continued.
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