Chapter 472.1: Litte Feather's Ability

When Falling Feather put on his helmet and returned to the game world, he instantly panicked when he realized he was 100 meters away from the ground.

The ejection seat might not have looked like much, but it was actually highly sophisticated, arguably one of the most complex systems on a fighter jet.

The entire mechanism consisted of thousands of components. As long as the pilot ensured sufficient altitude and pulled the handle, every action from ejection to landing would be carried out automatically. It was extremely convenient for the pilot.

However... That was a proper ejection seat if it was truly made to specifications by a proper company!

Falling Feather would rather smash his head into a wall than believe Mosquito would have built it according to industry standards. If a proper ejection seat had thousands of components... Mosquito would be a saint if he had half the number of parts!

If he were to think pessimistically, it might very well be that the entire ejection seat was nothing more than a cushion with a hell load of gunpowder stuffed under it, and a delayed fuse to trigger the parachute.

As for any so-called automated life-saving program...

Falling Feather felt that praying it would work would probably be a more fitting description for whatever piece of shit Mosquito made.

The parachute swayed in the wind like a small boat drifting in a torrent. After sweating buckets in mid-air, Falling Feather finally crash-landed on the ground. He was shaken, but otherwise unharmed.

Cutting off the cords that were starting to tangle around his head with his dagger, he leaped out of his seat and leaned against a nearby rock and started to dry-heave for a good while before lifting his head to survey his surroundings.

All he could see was an endless desert filled with dirt and sharp rocks. To the north, the view was wide open. To the south, dunes and mountain ridges layered endlessly.

No matter which direction he looked, not a soul could be seen.

Slowly walking back to his ejection seat, Falling Feather pulled out a deformed emergency kit wedged beneath it.

There was a map, a compass, 1.25 liters of drinking water, 500 grams of compressed biscuits, and various survival tools like a water filter, flashlight, and a lighter.

Other than those ordinary items, there was a 9mm handgun and two full magazines.

For once, Mosquito hadn’t cut corners on those details he might have considered ‘pointless’. Falling Feather couldn’t help but sigh with relief.

But when he unfolded the map, he froze.

The damn map was a pre-war civilian map. Forget useful geographic data... It didn’t even have basic contour lines! The roads, buildings, and landmarks that could have served as reference points had all long since vanished over the past 200 years!

“Mother fuc... How the hell am I supposed to tell the direction with this?!”

Just as he was fretting, his eyes caught the mountain range to the south.

“Wait... Mountains to the south?”

A thought flashed through his mind as he suddenly remembered a forum post by Battlefield Cheerleader sharing his experiences at Oasis No.8.

North of Oasis No.8 is a chain of mountains. Once you cross them, you leave the Golden Lizard Kingdom’s borders. Beyond that lies the Wandering Swamp...

Huh?!

Falling Feather sucked in a cold breath.

Well damn. He had actually drifted all the way into the Academy’s territory!

Still, the area seemed some distance away from the Wandering Swamp. The land around him was nothing but barren desert. There was no trace of any swamp in sight.

“North of Sunset Province... That’s the only clue. Guess I’ll have to climb somewhere higher and figure out a plan,” he mumbled to himself as he glanced toward the mountain range in the south.

Once over those mountains, he would possibly enter the Golden Lizard Kingdom. Worst case, he could head there first and ask for directions. With the New Alliance’s forces sweeping through Sunset Province like wildfire, so much that even the desert’s former overlord, the Lion Kingdom, had become a de facto vassal, locals around Oasis No.8 shouldn’t give him any trouble.

Besides, if he remembered correctly, that rogue Eagle had also gone down somewhere in that direction.

Might as well check it out along the way.

Gathering all his supplies, Falling Feather checked the magazine in his pistol, then started toward where he remembered the Eagle fighter had fallen.

He walked south for about an hour and just as he began wondering if he had gone the wrong way, he finally spotted the wreckage of the Eagle stranded on the open plain.

The cockpit glass was covered in spider-web cracks, and with the darkness around, he couldn’t see inside.

Flicking off the safety of his pistol, Falling Feather crept closer, calling out the best he could in the language of the Federation, “Hey! Anyone still alive?”

To that, he received no response.

He frowned, pulled out his flashlight, and shone it at the cockpit.

The beam reflected off the fractured glass, and at that exact moment, a creaking sound came from within. A face suddenly slammed against the cracked canopy.

The grotesque sight startled Falling Feather so badly that he nearly pulled the trigger and blew the creature’s head off. Luckily, he held himself back just in time.

Holy crap!

A Cruncher?!

At the same instant, a faint, garbled voice came from behind the webbed glass.

“Dad... Daddy...”

“???”

What the hell?

He didn’t recall having any children! And he sure as hell wasn’t about to acknowledge that such an ugly creature was his offspring.

For a moment, he wasn’t even sure what was worse!

But the creature inside the cockpit kept calling out to him, as if convinced of his identity. Its voice grew weaker and weaker, until it finally went silent.

Falling Feather gulped once.

Just as he hesitated about whether to approach for a closer look, a noise came from behind a nearby boulder.

The moment he heard it, his instincts screamed danger. He immediately swung his pistol toward the sound and snapped, “Who’s there?!”

A faint, almost whisper-like murmur came from behind the rock, tinged with an unexpected note of grievance. “... Yiwu...”

That sound caused him to freeze instantly.

Lowering his gun, he asked with uncertainty, “... Little Feather?”

“Yiwu!” The voice instantly turned cheerful.

There was a rustling behind the boulder, and soon a graceful and slender figure stepped out.

The scarlet skirt that was a part of its body rippled like waves as Little Feather trotted over in quick and tiny steps.

Its abstract facial contours made it impossible to read its expression, but the snake-like tendrils swaying on its head radiated unmistakable joy.

Falling Feather stared in astonishment at the not-so-little Little Feather. It had grown taller since the last time he had seen it. Its armor plating had thickened, and its facial structure looked even more human.

However, it hadn’t fully taken on a proper human appearance. It looked more like it had used his features as a base, softening them with gentler ‘bone structure’.

But what shocked him most wasn’t its new appearance. It was why Little Feather had shown up at all!

Seeing the Cruncher inside the Eagle fighter cockpit, Falling Feather suddenly realized what happened. He looked at Little Feather in dawning comprehension. “This... This was you, wasn’t it?”

“Yiwu!” Little Feather chirped happily, like a child proudly showing off its handiwork.

Falling Feather didn’t know how he could understand its voice, but the emotion flowing within it was clear as day.

Maybe it was the connection of their shared bloodline... After all, the creature was a special Mother Body synthesized from his DNA.

Honestly, the relationship between them was far too complicated for him to sort out clearly.

“... When this war’s over, I really need to go back to Lost Valley and ask Dove for an explanation...”

That aside, though... This little guy’s abilities were insane!

Not only could it ‘zombify’ organic beings, but it could also, on the basis of mental assimilation, preserve fragments of the host’s human memories and knowledge. It could even inherit portions of experience.

It sounded downright horrifying if one thought about it too hard. However, in game terms, it actually made perfect sense.

If anything, it fits the description of an SSSR god-tier pet to perfection!

The so-called Mother of Deathclaws had nothing on Little Feather!

“Yiwu!”

Watching Little Feather circle around him excitedly, Falling Feather suddenly recalled something and asked, “You said... You have something to show me?”

“Yiwu!” Little Feather nodded eagerly, then trotted ahead. It extended one tendril to wrap gently around his wrist.

Falling Feather glanced back once at the wreckage, tapped the earpiece on his helmet to snap a photo, then followed after it.

After about 20 minutes of walking, the man and creature duo arrived at a flat clearing. There, standing alone amid piles of broken rock, was a massive propeller plane.

The moment he saw the Dragonfly transport plane, Falling Feather’s eyes went wide with excitement. His fists clenched, and it took all his self-control not to curse in front of Little Feather. “Well I’ll be damned... You flew this here?”

“Yiwu!” Little Feather nodded happily. It looked like it was asking for praise as it raised its chin slightly to show how proud it was.

“Ha! That’s awesome!” Falling Feather couldn’t hide his excitement and praised, reaching out to pat Little Feather on the head. “Well done!”

Now, he didn’t need anyone to pick him up. He could fly the plane home by himself!

Putting the pistol away, Falling Feather walked into the cabin happily and made his way to the cockpit like he had done before.

He hadn’t flown a Dragonfly much, but he had piloted it once or twice before. It wasn’t that hard to operate.

The cockpit was crawling with Slime Mold. Crimson masses had nearly swallowed the seats and crept up over the control panel and sticks.

Although the sight was a bit grotesque, after spending so much time with Little Feather, Falling Feather was used to it and didn’t find it all that obstructive.

Sitting in the familiar spot, he reached out and flipped the power switch. Feeling the light tremble, he looked at the gauges before him and his eyelids started to twitch violently.

The needle remained dead at zero. The batteries were completely drained.

Falling Feather let go of the throttle with a face full of dismay and leaned back in his seat. “Holy shit!”

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Just when he’d been given a little hope, it had been yanked away again.