Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 21: Jiang San’er
At a distance from the bomb, Wu Sheng originally just wanted to find a young man who fit Zhao Yi’s preference to solve the problem in first class thoroughly. Even if Zhao Yi couldn’t end up with him, at least they could talk and distract themselves to avoid being harassed by the scumbag ex. Unintentionally, if their mood collapsed again, they might not be able to escape death.
Unexpectedly, there were unexpected gains with this Xu Erling.
However, Xu Erling had just identified these suspects from the air steward and hadn’t had any substantial contact with them yet.
After leaving first class, about a dozen passengers who fled to economy class were gradually returning to business class under the comfort of the flight attendants. They were still terrified but also felt lucky to have survived what seemed like a near-death experience, presumably because the lion had indeed vanished.
As business class returned to calm, Wu Sheng pulled Xu Wang to the junction between business and economy classes and thoughtfully asked, “Jiang San’er, Feng Liuyi, An Qijiu, which one have you talked to?”
Starting from economy class row 23, Xu Wang clearly remembered that he talked up to Hua Wuwu, so the answer was obvious. “Jiang San’er. I only talked to him.”
Wu Sheng asked, “Was there anything unusual?”
Xu Wang carefully recalled but couldn’t remember the man’s face, let alone the content of their conversation. Having no other choice, he had to return to economy class and count the seat numbers to locate this man’s silhouette, finally gaining a vague impression.
He was an extremely ordinary middle-aged man wearing a dull gray shirt and dark pants. He was slightly overweight, not very talkative, somewhat silent, and had nondescript features—so ordinary that you wouldn’t notice him whether he was in a crowd or standing anywhere else.
“He said his daughter, who married far away, just had a baby.” Xu Wang extracted some relevant information from his memory. “He was going to see his daughter and grandchild.”
Even the reason for boarding the flight was simple and plain, with no dramatic “plot twists”.
“Do you find him suspicious?” Wu Sheng asked, looking at the man’s silhouette. To be precise, from behind the seat back, he could only see the back of his head.
Xu Wang shook his head. If he had found him suspicious, he would have delved deeper into conversation then and there, not needing to recount seat numbers to remember.
“What about Xu Erling? Do you find him suspicious?” Wu Sheng suddenly asked.
This caught Xu Wang off guard. He instinctively glanced back in the direction of first class, then looked up at Wu Sheng. “Do you suspect him?”
“Half and half,” Wu Sheng analyzed soberly. “Anything could happen on this plane. He might be a ‘hint’ or a ‘distraction,’ or even the perpetrator himself.”
Xu Wang pondered for a moment, then slowly shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
Wu Sheng was puzzled by his “source of confidence”. “So sure?”
Xu Wang tilted his head, asking, “With your personality, if you had already set up a bomb, would you come out to confuse your opponents?”
“Of course not.” Wu Sheng almost instantly negated. “With only two hours left, it’s best to quietly hide among the passengers, waiting for the bomb to explode. It’s foolish to come out and deliberately enter the searchers’ line of sight, no matter how clever your words or how unassuming your identity is.”
“Then that’s it.” Xu Wang patted his collar. “Didn’t you feel especially familiar and comfortable when talking with Xu Erling?”
Wu Sheng was about to nod vigorously but then stopped, becoming wary.
“His annoying character is just like yours.” Xu Wang looked deep into his old classmate’s eyes and sighed. “And I think, with the same intelligence as you, if he were the culprit, he wouldn’t be so foolish as to expose himself.”
“……” Wu Sheng had no reply to that.
Either you compliment or you insult; this kind of backhanded praise left him at a loss for words.
Returning to economy class, order had already been restored there too. The flight attendants were busy at the back of the plane, arranging the drink and meal carts, probably soon to be rolled out to serve the passengers and calm their nerves.
The lion had vanished, along with those 3D Chinese characters. Only the Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face remained in the purple circle. Seeing Xu Wang return, the young Handsome looked at him as if with a sword of fury.
“Are you even human?!” Across the long aisle, Handsome shouted at Xu Wang. “The lion was attacking, and you couldn’t remove the purple circle?! We are lucky to be alive; just a bit less luck, and we would have died—”
“Alright, alright.” Stick Figure pushed him, seemingly feeling that such accusations were both idiotic and embarrassing. “If we died, we would just pop out—not really lose our lives.”
“But it hurts to be injured!” Handsome replied indignantly.
Stick Figure was speechless.
Fair Face glanced over and scoffed at Handsome. “You start crying when someone calls you stupid. This is a battlefield; we are captives. It’s already merciful that we weren’t injured, and you expect them to specially remove the constraints for fear you might get hurt? “
“Everyone, quiet down. What’s the point of arguing? It won’t change the results.” Long Legs couldn’t stand it anymore, feeling embarrassed by the disgraceful scene.
At this moment, Xu Wang had already approached them and seemed to understand the key issue. “When the lion attacked, I didn’t intentionally not remove the purple circle…” He scratched his head and moved closer to the group apologetically, asking seriously, “Can the stationery still be removed?”
Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, Fair Face: “……”
It was truly a miracle that they didn’t die unjustly.
In the following five minutes, Qian Ai shared the experience of “how to remove the effects of the stationery in use with the power of thought”—he had erased those characters at the end of the plane just like that. Actually, it was quite simple. You just need to focus on the part you want to erase and silently chant the name of the stationery you used in your mind. Xu Wang and Wu Sheng then conveyed the critical information they got from Xu Erling to Qian Ai and Kuang Jinxin.
“Xiao Kuang, continue to watch over those four. But as for the suspects, absolutely no leaks.” Xu Wang instructed.
Actually, the so-called “not revealing” was just psychological comfort. Everyone was in the same cabin, and any slightest movement was in plain sight. Whoever they three went to find couldn’t be hidden from Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face; at most, they just couldn’t hear their conversations. They had also considered taking people to Kuang Jinxin’s “Clever Hole” for questioning. Still, when they first tried with a flight attendant, he couldn’t enter the “hole” at all. No matter how they pulled from below, it was like a tough, yet invisible net existed. They could enter without worry, but outsiders were denied access.
Kuang Jin Xin didn’t overthink like his teammates did. Upon receiving the order, he nodded earnestly. “I promise to complete the mission!”
Xu Wang smiled faintly, and after a glance at Wu Sheng and Qian Ai, the teammates understood. “Let’s go.”
Their first stop was Jiang San’er.
Although Xu Wang felt he wasn’t suspicious, they decided to talk to him again for safety’s sake.
However, as soon as the three approached, Jiang San’er suddenly stood up, not even looking at them, and said as he walked forward, “Excuse me, going to the bathroom.”
Qian Ai instinctively made way, but Wu Sheng grabbed Jiang San’er’s arm sharply and asked, “What did you just put in your pocket?”
Jiang San’er slowly raised his head.
In this middle-aged man’s eye, whom Xu Wang remembered as harmless, there was now a sinister light.
Without waiting for a response, Wu Sheng reached into his pocket with his other hand, but Jiang San’er suddenly swung a punch!
He instinctively dodged, and Jiang San’er took the opportunity to break free from his grasp and sprint towards the back of the plane!
Wu Sheng chased after him with all his might, and the slightly slower-to-react Xu Wang and Qian Ai followed suit!
The four inside the purple circle, just recovering half a breath from the ordeal with the lion, now saw a man running towards them as if his life depended on it, just like the previous lion!
The four wanted to cry in despair. “When will this ever end—”
Despite their complaints, as Jiang San’er approached, the “four blades of grass” wilted in every direction.
However, Jiang San’er didn’t charge through them like the lion did but instead made a sudden stop and entered the restroom next to them, slamming the door shut behind him!
But the anticipated sound of the door closing didn’t happen; instead, there was a dull thud as the door hit someone’s arm—Wu Sheng had caught up.
Out of desperation, Jiang San’er pressed the restroom door against Wu Sheng, who was halfway through the door and didn’t budge an inch!
Xu Wang and Qian Ai arrived soon after and barged in with force!
Jiang San’er couldn’t withstand the impact and was sent flying. However, due to the cramped space of the restroom, he just staggered back a step, his back hitting the wall hard.
Wu Sheng was the first to squeeze in, reaching straight into his pocket and quickly pulling out three small packets of white powder and a piece of foil.
Seeing as how he was now exposed, Jiang San’er stopped struggling and dejectedly hung his head.
Now it was Wu Sheng, Xu Wang, and Qian Ai’s turn to be dumbfounded.
Having visited anti-drug exhibitions in school or watched legal shows since they were children, they knew what this was. Carrying such substances is illegal, regardless of being on a plane, and exceeding a certain amount could even lead to the death penalty. No wonder Jiang San’er ran towards the restroom—to flush it down at thousands of feet high, unnoticed.
But this had nothing to do with the bomb code they were looking for.
“Hey.” Xu Wang kicked him lightly, still asking, “What were you doing near the wing when you boarded the plane?”
Jiang San’er listlessly raised his head, already defeated, but still answered, “I boarded late, and the overhead bins were full. I was looking for a place to put my luggage all the way to that side.”
The three exchanged disappointed glances.
This was something that could be verified by checking the luggage, so there was no reason for Jiang San’er to lie.
Sighing, they closed the restroom door from the outside and left Jiang San’er behind.
Turning around, they faced three pairs of eyes reveling in schadenfreude, with only Long Legs maintaining his composure.
Qian Ai, annoyed at Handsome who looked happiest, threatened, “Believe it or not, I’ll put a ‘井*’ around your neck too.”
*Well.
The handsome guy scoffed and turned away.
Suddenly, Xu Wang thought of another question and asked Long Legs, “What happens if all teams in the same level fail their submission?”
Long Legs shrugged. “Then everyone goes back to the starting point.”
As expected.
Xu Wang had hoped for a “no retreat in case of a draw”, but it seemed the “Owl” wasn’t that kind.
“What do we do now?” Qian Ai asked. “Find the next one?”
In front of the Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face, he still concealed the identities of Feng Liuyi and An Qijiu. However, if they ran around like Jiang San’er later, this secret wouldn’t be kept for long.
“Let’s check Jiang San’er’s luggage first,” Wu Sheng suggested after some thought. “We’ve come this far; let’s see if the luggage is really near the wing as he said. If it is, we can be completely relieved and move on to the next one.”
Xu Wang agreed.
Aside from some magical communication barriers, Wu Sheng’s logic, meticulousness, and bluntness were highly commendable.
The three took Jiang San’er to the area near the wing, opened the overhead bin, and let him find his own bag.
Jiang San’er, like a suspect being escorted to the crime scene for identification, cooperated and found his bag quickly.
The location of the bag proved he wasn’t lying, but to be safe, Xu Wang still checked it on the spot. Just as he pulled out a piece of clothing, a small booklet fell out with a “clatter” onto the ground.
Wu Sheng picked it up and handed it to Xu Wang and Qian Ai.
It was a self-printed booklet that was quite thin, with “Meeting Ling Zhen” printed on the cover, along with a talisman-like pattern.
Qian Ai stared at the pattern for a while, feeling uneasy.
Wu Sheng opened the booklet, and the first page was an image of an immortal meditating. The immortal, with long white hair and beard, sat in a lotus position, eyes closed in cultivation, with a line of small text written beneath: Meeting Ling Zhen; knowing boundless magical power.
Before Xu Wang and the others could ask, Jiang San’er asked first, “What the hell is this?”
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