Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 13: Attack
The scream stirred the entire economy class into a commotion. Four flight attendants, two men and two women, who were preparing meals at the tail end of the plane, immediately stopped their work and quickly walked down the aisle toward the “scene of the incident”, reminding passengers left and right, “Please stay seated in your own seats and fasten your seat belts.”
They tried hard to make their voices sound calm and firm, but they couldn’t hide the underlying fear and trembling.
The passengers complied, and the noise gradually subsided, soon reaching the other extreme—the entire cabin fell into a suffocating silence.
No longer just watching, Xu Wang stood up and raised his legs, striding over Ms. Mu Nine Eight’s legs, and jogged to the wing area. But he couldn’t see anything because of the four flight attendants blocking the way. He had to crane his neck and ask Qian Ai, who was sitting closer, “What’s happening?”
Qian Ai was seated next to the screamer, so he had a clearer view than the flight attendants and immediately provided information. “It’s a time bomb with a password, taped under the window with duct tape, and the countdown is at 3 hours 58 minutes!”
Xu Wang felt a shiver run down his spine, and before his brain could process, he blurted out, “Move aside, move aside. I can defuse a bomb!”
The flight attendants quickly moved aside, and even the passengers seated in the aisle stood up to give way to Xu Wang.
“You too, come out!” Xu Wang pointed to the passenger sitting by the window who was the first to discover the bomb and screamed.
The passenger was more than eager to move, immediately scurrying out. Without another word, Xu Wang squeezed in to join Qian Ai in a close circle around the bomb, almost touching their noses to it.
It was a black box, taped to the bottom near the window with duct tape in the shape of a cross. The tape was wide and shone with a cold light, like silver foil.
The countdown wasn’t on the black box but on the horizontal silver foil, displaying blood-red numbers, steadily decreasing to 3:57:08. The vertical silver foil was covered by the horizontal one, dividing it into two parts: the upper part was a display screen with four blank spaces “_ _ _ _”, and the lower part had numbers 1–9 and letters A–Z arranged in a 5×7 grid.
The “please enter” implication couldn’t be more obvious. No wonder Qian Ai immediately said it was password-protected.
“When did you learn to defuse bombs?” came a familiar voice filled with mockery. Without turning around, Xu Wang knew it was the first-class passenger.
“I was lying about defusing bombs, but your bad omen is real,” he retorted without looking back. “Thanks to your good luck, we’re really going to be blown up!”
“Don’t panic. If it’s a challenge, there must be a way to solve it.” Wu Sheng squeezed in too, making the tight space even more “intimate”.
Xu Wang tried to ignore Wu Sheng’s presence and focused entirely on “observing” the dangerous object, while Wu Sheng didn’t have to work so hard; he was naturally focused when facing tough problems.
“35 choices for 4 digits,” Wu Sheng said after a glance. “If the four digits can’t repeat, there are 1,256,640 possible passwords. If they can repeat, there’s an additional 243,985 possibilities.”
His tone was calm and assured, and even listening to him, one could feel the glow of intelligence.
Xu Wang, putting aside “old grudges”, turned around excitedly. “Can you crack it?”
“How can I?” Wu Sheng shrugged righteously. “With over a million combinations, even if I tried them one by one, there wouldn’t be enough time, and even if there was, my fingers would wear out.”
“……” He must be blind for liking this guy!!!
Kuang Jinxin was the last to come over. With no more space left in the row, he had to stand in the aisle next to Wu Sheng, struggling with a flight attendant trying to pull him away while straining to listen to his teammates’ discussion, fearing missing a single word that might affect their coordination. After listening for a while, he realized that all three were circling around “cracking the password”, an academically high-end approach, and couldn’t help but lean in after pushing a flight attendant aside. “According to the [Cheat Sheet], shouldn’t we be asking the passengers?”
The teammates, who were about to break their heads thinking, all turned to look at him puzzled. “[Cheat Sheet]?”
“Yes.” Kuang Jinxin never considered himself the smart one. “A diligent mouth can bring out the golden steed. Doesn’t that mean we should ask more questions?”
“Wait a second, it seems our information isn’t quite symmetrical,” Xu Wang said, pulling Kuang Jinxin’s arm over to check the [Cheat Sheet].
Indeed, at the end of a series of boarding prompts, there was an additional message that the other three didn’t have—[ A diligent mouth can bring out the golden steed].
Kuang Jinxin realized something when he saw his teammates’ expressions. “You didn’t receive it?”
“What have you been doing just now?” Wu Sheng skipped the time-wasting questions and got straight to the point.
Kuang Jinxin looked confused and plunged into endless contemplation. With the teammates occupied with thinking, Qian Ai was left to listen in. But his sharp eyes caught a flight attendant trying to pull Kuang Jinxin away again. He immediately sprang up, supporting himself on the back of the seats, and leaped over Wu Sheng and Xu Wang’s heads, landing firmly in the aisle. He grabbed the flight attendant’s neck. “Hey man, try me if you’re tough. Don’t bully the kid!”
His dominance and fierceness were a stark contrast to the person who was behind the locked door not long ago!
Perhaps inspired by his teammate’s robust support, Kuang Jinxin finally caught a clue amidst his chaotic thoughts. “I talked to my neighbor! After a dozen sentences or so, the [Cheat Sheet] rang, and I looked at it and continued chatting more enthusiastically. If it weren’t for the scream, I could have continued to find out everything about them—from their origins to their jobs and social connections!”
That’s it!
In the first challenge, Xu Wang lost his shoes, so [(Defense) My Skate Shoes] was given to him; this time, the only one who genuinely talked to “passengers” was Kuang Jinxin—Xu Wang had asked for names and then quickly dismissed further conversation—so the special [Cheat Sheet] prompt was given to him.
Everything was unpredictable in advance but retrospectively traceable.
Xu Wang looked at Wu Sheng, not with a question but with certainty. “The person who knows the password is among the passengers.”
Wu Sheng nodded, his eyes intense. “If we ask the right questions, we can pass this level.”
Xu Wang pursed his lips, suddenly hesitating. “Is it really that simple?”
Who doesn’t know how to chat? Just by asking around, we can pass the level?
“You’re just overthinking and doing too little.” Wu Sheng stood up, stretching his shoulders. “In the time you’re wondering, we could have questioned several people already.” He scanned the area and then divided the tasks. “I’ll go to the first class, Xiao Kuang to the business class, and you and Lao Qian stay in the economy class. One of you asks from front to back, the other from back to front, to maximize efficiency.”
“Got it!” Qian Ai responded almost reflexively, then, after a moment of reflection, he added, “Class Monitor’s heroic demeanor hasn’t diminished over the years.”
“Even if you flatter me now, you won’t get any test papers to copy,” Xu Wang retorted irritably, then stood up to address the four flight attendants. “We can solve the crisis. We don’t need your help, but we also don’t want you to interfere. Otherwise, if it blows up, no one can escape.”
His usually smiling face became stern, which was all the more intimidating.
“Continue serving water and food as you would. Try to calm the passengers and leave the rest to us.”
The two flight attendants nodded continuously. After Xu Wang finished speaking, one immediately turned to fetch the beverage cart, and the other began to softly reassure the nearby passengers.
The two male attendants were more cautious and didn’t move.
Xu Wang fixed his gaze on the one struggling with Qian Ai, and after a moment, the attendant loosened his grip, signaling a truce.
Qian Ai also relaxed his vice-like grip, dusting off his clothes, all the while exuding an air of a master fighter.
Xu Wang was a bit baffled. “You’re capable of this, so why were you so timid when we knocked on the door earlier and even used your chain lock?”
“I didn’t know how many people were outside the door. Of course, safety first!” Qian Ai said, glancing at the two male attendants with a satisfied smile. “You have to make sure you can take on whoever you’re up against.”
“……” Stripping away the veneer of high-flown rhetoric, wasn’t this just bullying the weak and fearing the strong!!!
Wu Sheng glanced at the bomb’s countdown, about to remind the other two to stop with their nonsense and start acting, but suddenly felt a shadow overhead.
Instinctively, he looked up to see a large net descending out of nowhere!
The four of them hadn’t yet split up, and they had no chance to react against the swiftly descending net. The dense net seemed to have some kind of magic power, passing through seats and everything else, aiming only for them.
In an instant, the net fell and then scooped up, capturing all four and lifting them into mid-air!
“What the hell is this!” Qian Ai struggled within the net; even his tall 1.9-meter frame was futile against it.
“Hey, don’t kick me!” Kuang Jinxin, already disoriented from being scooped up, got kicked by the struggling Qian Ai, adding to his disarray.
Xu Wang and Wu Sheng weren’t faring any better.
The four were like fish in a net. No matter how much they thrashed, they couldn’t escape.
A familiar mocking voice rang in their ears at the same time—
[Owl: Someone used ([Offense] One Fell Swoop*] on you~~]
*Capturing all in one net (一网打尽) Idiom referring to an action or event that achieves or accomplishes many results.
The four froze, and before they could react, the net suddenly swung forward, like a plastic bag being thrown along the aisle toward the tail of the plane at breakneck speed!
The flight attendants at the tail, preparing the meal cart, were terrified and instinctively dodged to the sides!
Qian Ai: “I don’t want to dieeeeee—”
Kuang Jinxin: “Shouldn’t the riddles be progressive in difficulty, from guessing idioms to matching poetry lines*?”
*He’s referring to [Fei Hua Ling] (飞花令). It’s a popular game among poets and scholars where one participant throws out a phrase or a topic and the other participants must respond with a poem or phrase that matches the given theme in terms of rhyme, word count, and often must contain a specific word.
Wu Sheng: “Close your eyes, hold your breath, and prepare for a high-altitude fall or water entry. You probably won’t die.”
Qian Ai: “Really?!”
Wu Sheng: “Just a guess.”
Kuang Jinxin: “……”
Qian Ai: “Help—”
Qian Ai’s last long wail served as a tragic soundtrack for the net’s collision with the metal wall.
It was also at this last moment that Xu Wang, who had been looking back ever since the net took off, finally caught sight of four unusual faces.
They were scattered among the passengers, blending in with the unknowing travelers, all standing up to look at the “mysterious net.”
If it wasn’t for Xu Wang’s initial intention to “catch someone”, they might have remained unnoticed until the end.
All the passengers were screaming and panicking, but only a few had subtle expressions and shifty eyes, betraying their guilt and revealing a slight nervousness as they awaited the outcome.
The moment the net hit the tail, all four felt an immense impact, as if every bone in their bodies was shattered. The pain was soul-crushing.
Suddenly, the world went quiet.
The temperature plummeted, cold to the bone, and the air thinned.
Pain raged through their bodies, but they could only grab the net’s openings and gasp for breath.
As if thinking they weren’t miserable enough, the mocking voice reminded them again—
[Owl: Someone used [(Offense) Beyond the Nine Heavens*] on you~~]
*(九霄云外) Idiom referring to a distant place so far away there’s no trace (AKA out of this world).
Wu Sheng was the first to open his eyes, enduring the intense pain and bitter cold, looking around.
They were still in the net, but no longer inside the plane. The net hung like a ball thousands of feet high in the air; below were thick clouds, and above was the glaring sun.
Why could they see Qian Ai without being in a team?
Wu Sheng finally found the answer.
They were caught in one fell swoop.
They were thrown beyond the nine heavens.
They thought it was a level to pass, but in reality, it was a battlefield.
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