……

Kaniya Kaito, the pilot, possessed both courage and combat awareness, but he was unaware that the enemy fighter was equipped with a 20mm cannon.

When he began firing with his machine gun, the enemy pressed the cannon button, unleashing a barrage of shells.

Yan Gaofei's first shell struck the Japanese fighter, and the second and third struck only its wreckage.

Kaniya Kaito and his fighter plane were utterly annihilated in the air.

Yan Gaofei pulled his plane up, but debris and smoke from the explosion of the Japanese plane three hundred meters ahead obscured his vision.

The distance closed quickly, and Yan Gaofei realized he had flown straight into the enemy formation.

He had charged directly into their midst. At least ten enemy planes opened fire on him.

Yan Gaofei couldn’t evade. He braced himself and charged ahead, guns blazing and cannons firing.

The enemy formation had fighters in the lead. Yan Gaofei shot down at least two more, cutting through their fighter screen to find a bomber formation behind.

This time, Yan Gaofei didn't dare push forward. Just then, Pan Yongshan issued a strict order: "Captain Yan, pull up your plane immediately! Pull up!"

Pan Yongshan didn’t approve of Yan Gaofei’s reckless tactics. Still, in that brief span, Yan Gaofei had led his squadron directly into the enemy formation, scattering their fighter screen.

Katori Kazuki, commander of the Japanese Second Air Squadron, never imagined that Chinese pilots could be like ancient warriors, "Though ten thousand oppose, I shall advance!"

One man in one plane charged into the teeth of his entire squadron's attack, followed by other Chinese planes.

In that short time, his squadron had lost five of its six fighters, and others from different squadrons had also been shot down.

The blow came too fast, too intensely. Before the Japanese could react, their fighter screen was at a complete disadvantage.

Although Yan Gaofei led his squadron through the enemy fighter screen, his plane was severely damaged, and now he faced the enemy bombers.

While bombers were slower and less maneuverable than fighters, their firepower was considerable.

No longer daring to engage the bombers head-on, Yan Gaofei had to pull up and ordered: "Do not engage the enemy planes directly!"

He had just done exactly that, so the order smacked of hypocrisy.

But he was the captain, and his word was law. The squadron followed his orders.

They pulled up, cleared the front, and attacked the bombers from the flanks. Without cannons, using machine guns to down the heavily armored Japanese bombers would take time.

For the special forces fighter pilots, the only time needed was to carefully aim. A single cannon shell was enough to cripple or destroy a bomber.

After shooting down another enemy bomber, Yan Gaofei's plane was hit again. This time, the engine died, and he couldn't restart it.

With no other option, Yan Gaofei struggled to turn the plane in the air and reported, "Reporting to command! My engine has stalled. Preparing for a forced landing!"

Mao Wenxing ordered, "Eject at one thousand meters if the plane is controllable. Eject immediately if it's not! Respond."

"Roger!" Yan Gaofei was flying a fighter; there was no life raft.

Mao Wenxing immediately ordered, "Seaplane One, prepare for rescue."

Guo Yingwu, the seaplane captain, who had already rescued Kong Feihang's crew, received the order and commanded, "Turn the plane around and taxi toward the battlefield."

The plane, which had been moored on the water, started its engines. It turned around on the water and taxied toward the battlefield without taking off.

The Humen Fortress was paralyzed by the special forces' bombing. Commander Shiraishi Taiichi emerged from his bunker again.

Standing on the high ground of the fortress, he looked at the seaplane taxiing arrogantly on the water and pointed at it, enraged. "This is outrageous!"

But with no cannons at his disposal, all he could do was impotently point at the seaplane as it taxied on the battlefield.

Yan Gaofei continued to report his position. "I'm outside the Japanese Fifth Fleet's harbor. The plane is uncontrollable. I'm ejecting."

These were his last words from the fighter.

Mao Wenxing ordered Guo Yingwu, "Search outside the Fifth Fleet's harbor!"

"Yes, sir!"

The seaplane boldly taxied onto the battlefield and began its search just outside the harbor.

Searching for a person in the water was difficult. Yan Gaofei, who had already gone down, had lost contact with air command.

Unlike the bomber crews with their raft radios, Yan Gaofei could only float in the water, struggling to swim toward the open sea.

He was down! A Chinese pilot had bailed out!

Japanese soldiers watching the battle from the south bank spotted Yan Gaofei in the Pearl River.

The Kamiarari Battalion had been searching the shore for downed Japanese pilots, hoping to capture any special forces pilots who had bombed the Fifth Fleet.

They hadn't had a chance until now. Now, they saw their opportunity.

The soldiers had seen a plane with a cartoon tiger painted on its belly spewing black smoke as it flew from Guangzhou toward the open sea.

From the plane's shaky movements, they expected it to crash at any moment. But a pilot ejected from the plane.

The Japanese watched as the pilot floated in the air, drifting toward their position.

Battalion Commander Kamiarari ordered, "Spread out and follow him. We must capture him alive!"

Soon after the order, the pilot seemed to know their plan and steered his parachute toward the middle of the Pearl River.

Kamiarari panicked and ordered, "Find a boat! No matter what, bring that pilot back!"

From the shore, the Japanese couldn't see the situation of the Fifth Fleet, but they could see the air battle.

The Japanese air force was clearly losing. This special forces pilot might be the only one they could capture.

Kamiarari was excited. Capturing an enemy pilot could reveal the details of their operation, which would be invaluable for future defense.

In reality, Japanese pilots had also gone down, but Kamiarari hadn't sent anyone to rescue them.

They had tried once, but the small boat was sunk by a passing bomber within minutes.

This time was different. To capture a special forces pilot, Kamiarari was willing to take another risk.

The mission fell to the Tokugawa Kazuo squad.

The squad leader led thirteen soldiers in three small boats, rowing toward the center of the river. Last time, the Miyamoto squad had used a cargo ship.

The result had been disastrous. The thirteen soldiers and the ship owner were strafed by a bomber and then obliterated by a bomb.

Tokugawa Kazuo had learned from that mistake. He didn't commandeer a large cargo ship, only three small fishing boats, and rowed slowly toward the pilot.

Yan Gaofei, floating in the water, didn't see the danger. But Mao Wenxing broadcasted to all pilots, "Yan Gaofei has ejected and is in the air above the Pearl River.

Nearby aircraft, be aware and report any sightings. Protect him."

Everyone knew that even though the special forces controlled the air and sea, they were still in enemy territory.

A downed pilot could easily fall into enemy hands. They had to hold out until rescue arrived.

Nong Xiuzhu led a flight nearby. He and Yan Gaofei had joined the special forces together. After receiving Mao Wenxing's message, he ordered his squadron, "Captain Yan has ejected! Search along the Pearl River."

After giving the order, he reported to Mao Wenxing, "My squadron is heading to the Pearl River to find Captain Yan."

"Approved!" Mao Wenxing agreed. He knew that Nong Xiuzhu and Yan Gaofei were close. Having a bomber squadron for rescue was a good thing.

The twelve bombers broke away from the attack on the Fifth Fleet and began searching along the river. It was difficult to spot a person in the water.

A person in the water only exposed their head, which was a small target. The bombers flew over, but it was hard to see a tiny dot on the surface.

Nong Xiuzhu flew his bomber over the water without any luck. The planes behind him didn't spot anything either. They were heading toward the sea.

Soon they saw the rescue seaplane taxiing toward the battlefield. Nong Xiuzhu contacted Guo Yingwu and learned that they hadn't found Yan Gaofei either.

He turned around to search again. The bombers flew much faster than the seaplane taxied. Suddenly, the observer, Hong Tao, shouted, "Captain! Three small boats are heading toward the river from the shore!"

This was a battlefield. Even though there was no fighting on the water at the moment, planes were constantly dogfighting overhead. It was suspicious for fishing boats to be heading into the river.

Nong Xiuzhu ordered, "Squadron, be aware! Carefully scan in front of those fishing boats!"

With a reference point, someone quickly shouted, "There's a person in the middle of the river! Can't tell if it's Captain Yan. There are Japanese soldiers on the fishing boats!"

Tokugawa Kazuo, the squad leader, was nervous. Just after they launched the boats, they saw a flight of planes with painted tigers on their bellies flying low over the river.

They didn't stop. Tokugawa Kazuo took advantage of the flight of bombers to order his squad to speed up. He wanted to reach the pilot and capture him.

Once they were ashore, he would have completed his mission and earned great merit.

But to his surprise, the bombers turned around and headed straight for them.

"Fire! Fire!" The soldiers knew that the planes were coming for them.

Tokugawa Kazuo ordered them to fire. Sergeant Onodera Shichiro didn't bother to steady himself on the rocking boat. He mechanically aimed his rifle at the approaching bombers and fired.

The entire squad was in the same state. They were terrified and fired wildly at the incoming planes.

As they fired, Nong Xiuzhu opened fire as well.

His bomber had four machine guns, and they all fired at the Japanese soldiers on the water. He knew now that the person floating in the water must be Captain Yan.

When they had flown lower, the person in the water had waved at them.

The purpose of the fishing boats was clear: they were trying to capture Yan Gaofei.

At that moment, Yan Gaofei also spotted the three fishing boats in the direction of the gunfire and realized they were coming to get him.

He struggled to swim toward the open sea, hearing the deafening roar of the engines and the intense gunfire nearby.

The twelve bombers lined up and strafed the three fishing boats. One pass was enough to kill or wound most of the Japanese soldiers.

Battalion Commander Kamiarari, watching his squad annihilated, was furious. "Continue! We must capture that pilot!"

He guessed that the pilot in the water must be a high-ranking officer in the special forces, perhaps even their commander. Otherwise, why would they send twelve bombers to escort him?

But this was Japanese territory. No matter how strong the special forces were in the air, they couldn't rescue him. This gave him plenty of opportunities.

Commander Shiraishi Taiichi, standing in the shade of the trees at the Shajiao Fort, also spotted Yan Gaofei in the water through his binoculars.

He also guessed that the pilot must be important, worth a great price to capture.

Shiraishi Taiichi's fortress was out of commission, but he had two speedboats he could still use.

The two speedboats came out from the Shajiao Fort. The bombers circling protectively over Yan Gaofei spotted them.

Pilot Gui Wenyi reported, "Captain! Two Japanese speedboats are heading toward Captain Yan from the north shore. I'll take care of them!"

Nong Xiuzhu agreed. He felt that the Japanese had failed to send boats from the south, so now they were sending speedboats from the north.

The soldiers on the shore were infuriating. Captain Nong ordered, "Squadron, take note! Numbers one through six, bomb the south shore. Numbers seven through twelve, bomb the north shore. We must make the Japanese understand that Captain Yan is not to be looked at, let alone touched!"

Commander Shiraishi Taiichi watched as half the bombers suddenly turned toward his direction. The two speedboats were struck by an unprecedented attack. Two bombs landed almost on top of them.

"Boom! Boom!" The eight-hundred-kilogram bombs ripped the two speedboats apart. But it didn't end there. The six bombers flew close to the fortress and strafed and bombed the soldiers watching the battle.

The Japanese soldiers at the Humen Fortress were having a terrible time. They had just run out of the fort.

They had been watching the battle out of curiosity. They had been safe for so long, but now they were victims because of the pilot in the water.

Commander Shiraishi Taiichi was in the forest and wasn't affected by the attack.

But it strengthened his conviction that the pilot in the water was important. He was determined to capture him.

But his speedboats had been destroyed.

He could see that the pilot wasn't trying to reach the shore. He was swimming toward the sea, trying to escape.

He couldn't let that happen! Commander Shiraishi Taiichi clenched his fist and ordered his soldiers, "Send a company to follow him along the shore. I don't believe the planes can protect him forever.

Also, send a squad in wooden boats to capture him alive."

"Hai!"