Landon and the rest stayed in the control towers while going over their thoughts about the pirates.

There was no other way.

They had to wait for the information from the air force teams.

That way, they could know where all buildings were and estimate how many pirate crews were on the island.

Following that, they could divide the soldiers and marines into teams and tackle the mission head-on.

"Air Force 1A to control tower 1."

Ready to take off!"

"Air Force 1B to control tower 1, Ready for take-off."

"Air Force 2C to control tower 2, Ready for take-off."

"This is Control tower 1.

Permission granted.

Over!"

Just like that, all 8 ships (control towers) sent their air forces up in the air in an orderly manner, just like how airports would prepare for takeoff.

Now, the success of the mission lay in the hands of the air forces.

.

'Shhhhhhhhhhh!'

Yanji listened to the steady sounds of the hot air balloons excitedly.

This was his first mission after joining the Poison Lily Brigade.

More still, this was the first triple-S mission that he had ever taken, so how could he not be pumped?

"Yanji, focus!"

"Sorry, sir!"

"Hmmm.

It's alright.

We have people waiting for the information at hand, so just remember that every second counts.

Our eyes, binoculars and night vision eyewear are our greatest weapons now."

"But senior, what about the Thermal Visioning one?"

"We are too high up in the sky for it to properly detect or sense any heat from those below, so we can only rely on the rest.

Your North, I'm South.

Focus on your targeted area, and after that, you'll look West and I'll do East.

Understood?"

"Yes sir!" Yanji replied gleefully.

He quickly placed his night vision goggles on and observed the scene below intensely.

They flew over the targeted region that they had been assigned to on the map and roamed around it carefully.

Yanji's eyes opened widely when he spotted several massive campfires below.

The very low sounds of people yelling, dancing and enjoying life could be heard from above.

Just as they predicted, these pirates were currently enjoying themselves to stupor.

He counted and placed several 'X' signs on the map indicating where the buildings were located.

And after that, he put the map away and drew a layout of all 14 buildings scattered around the place.

Without a doubt, he could tell that this place belonged to one of the pirate captains and his crew.

He drew the layout and even pinpointed where all the visible paths were around each one.

Luckily, there wasn't any massive wall that surrounded the buildings.

.

Pirates typically felt that walls would be their stumbling block in bad scenarios.

This wasn't a city or town that had several other novels or guards that would come for backup if something ever went wrong.

No!

They were on an island several months or weeks away from other areas.

So if they enclosed themselves while under attack by an enemy who came prepared, then it would only be a matter of time before the enemy broke through the walls.

And when that happens, all of them will be slaughtered.

But, if they didn't have any will, the moment they notice an enemy, they would have a chance of fleeing to the forest and hiding within some of the secret hideouts that they had created over the years.

From there, they could come up with their next plan of attack underground in the deep forest.

So enclosing all 14 buildings with a massive wall like how regular estates did, was just digging their own graves because they would be trapped inside while defending against the enemy.

It seemed like a pretty bad idea when they knew that backup might not even arrive for the next months or weeks.

One should know that they also kept all their treasure within their underground hideouts.

And 3 pirate crews on the island had different underground hideous only known to themselves.

Yanji didn't know why there were no walls enclosing the buildings, nonetheless, he still drew a layout according to what he saw.

And he also took it upon himself to count the number of pirates that he saw outside the buildings.

He even marked the locations where some of them were sleeping with cups in their hands.

.

As his first time on such a dangerous mission, Yanji dared not underlook any information.

Even the stray forest animals that he accidentally spotted around the forest regions were also marked on the map too.

At least, those passing through that place should stay extra vigilant not to get attacked.

Animals usually chose times for the night.

So when they started their missions, most creatures would be in their resting place.

Hence they should be vigilant while passing through these resting areas.

Additionally, it would be good if they could take down the animals with aesthetics before the creatures made loud noises alerting the pirates of their arrival.

That's why Yanji noted down everything seriously.

"This is Air Force 1D to Control Tower 1.

Mission accomplished."

"Good job A.F 1D.

We'll be waiting for your return.

Over."

Yanji's chest swelled with pride as he and his senior steered the balloon back to the ships.

His lips stretched wider into a going grin and his eyebrows arched towards the sky in contempt.

His senior patted his chest and gave him 2 thumbs up in encouragement.

Maybe those in the control tower didn't notice, but he had been struggling to contain his nervousness while reporting all their findings just now.

He wiped the nonexistent layer of sweat off his forehead and smiled stupidly at his senior.

"It's natural to be somewhat nervous since this is your first time on this sort of mission.

But don't worry, you'll get used to it with time."

Yanji looked at his senior warmly: " Thank you senior."

"Hmhm.

Let's move!"

.

With that, the duo made their way back to the ship while talking about their observations about the enemy.

They could finally move onto phase 2 of tonight's operation.