Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 24: Landing

“Don’t—” Yuan Jiuyi’s voice trembled and changed pitch as he instinctively lunged to where the gourd was falling. However, he could only watch helplessly as the glass shattered and blood splattered.

He knelt there, staring woodenly at the vivid red on the ground. After a long while, he slowly raised his head, his eyes nearly bursting with rage.

In his eyes, Xu Wang saw despair, followed by madness. But even after waiting and waiting, Yuan Jiuyi simply looked at him, making no move.

The four stood while Yuan Jiuyi knelt. Logically, they should have had the upper hand in both the situation and momentum, but Xu Wang still felt uneasy under Yuan Jiuyi’s gaze.

As they locked eyes, suddenly, a kick flew in from behind, solidly hitting Yuan Jiuyi on the shoulder. Caught off guard, he was knocked down.

“It’s not a matchmaking session. Why keep staring endlessly?” Wu Sheng said irritably, not withdrawing his leg but instead stepping directly onto Yuan Jiuyi, pinning him down with his weight and looking up to ask the passengers, “Who has a rope?”

Throughout the fight, the passengers had all been tightly buckling their seat belts, fearing even a slight deviation from their seats might involve them in the fray. But now, as it seemed the good had triumphed over evil, a passenger sitting in the rear half of the economy class, whom Xu Wang hadn’t talked to, timidly raised a hand.

“Bring it here—” Wu Sheng said succinctly.

The passenger was very cooperative, rummaging through his carry-on luggage to find whatever might be helpful—ropes, whips, candles.

Wu Sheng: “……”

Xu Wang: “……”

Qian Ai: “……”

Kuang Jinxin: “……”

How many “colorful lives” are hidden on this plane?!

Wu Sheng took only the rope, and his companions, coming to their senses, stepped forward to help. In no time, they tied Yuan Jiuyi up like a rice dumpling. Whether by habit from battle or some fateful coincidence, the spot where Yuan Jiuyi ended up was exactly where they had earlier trapped Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face. The battleground remained, but the opponents had changed.

After all the tumult, Yuan Jiuyi’s head hung completely, losing the last bit of madness.

Qian Ai wiped the sweat from his forehead and breathed a sigh of relief. “This should be good, right?”

Wu Sheng said, “I don’t know.”

“Don’t know?” Qian Ai’s heart, not yet fully relaxed, tightened again. “Don’t scare me.”

Xu Wang looked at him, puzzled.

“If it were that easy,” Wu Sheng looked at Xu Wang, pointing to his ear, “why isn’t there a voice congratulating us for our submission?”

“……”

Xu Wang couldn’t answer that question. Even he, immersed in the satisfaction of thwarting the villain’s hopes, had forgotten about this detail.

As they were lost in confusion, a flash of lightning suddenly streaked past the plane window, illuminating the cabin intensely for a moment. The light was so blinding that the passengers instinctively shielded their eyes, but the plane began to shake violently!

Kuang Jinxin and Xu Wang failed to stand firm and fell to the ground. Wu Sheng steadied himself on the bathroom door frame, and Qian Ai, relying on his weight, swayed a few times but remained standing.

Yuan Jiuyi, already tied up like a dumpling on the floor, was less affected by the plane’s shaking, merely sliding a little left or right.

The four had thought it was just ordinary turbulence and would soon pass, but the shaking didn’t stop and even intensified!

Qian Ai suddenly slapped his forehead. “Damn, it’s not the pilots messing around, is it?!”

The two pilots, once restricted by the [Words Like Pearls and Jade] were now free to act, and their intentions were anyone’s guess!

“Xiao Kuang, Lao Qian, watch Yuan Jiuyi.” Xu Wang, positioning himself as the “leader”, naturally delegated tasks. “Wu Sheng and I will go check the cockpit.”

“I’ll go,” Qian Ai volunteered. “I’m familiar with them.”

Xu Wang helplessly patted his teammate on the shoulder. “Familiarity built entirely on hatred isn’t ‘familiar’; it’s an ‘old grudge’.”

As a particularly violent bout of turbulence nearly tossed them, Xu Wang and Wu Sheng agilely entered the service area’s “burrow” and quickly made their way to the cockpit. Climbing out, they saw the captain and co-pilot anxiously operating the controls, not looking like culprits but rather like they were struggling to resolve a crisis.

“The bomb threat has been neutralized,” Xu Wang declared as he approached the captain, seeking to establish his contribution before inquiring, “What’s the situation now?”

“Really?” The co-pilot looked at him with surprise. This was a rare piece of good news on this flight.

“Watch the front!” The captain sternly reminded, then quickly glanced back at Xu Wang and Wu Sheng. Though strangers, perhaps the merit declaration worked, and he gave them an answer, “The plane has entered a thunderstorm.”

“What do we do?” Xu Wang, unfamiliar with flying, understood that “thunderstorm” sounds ominous. No wonder the outside had been filled with thunder and lightning.

The captain looked ahead. “Nothing much. Just fly through.”

Xu Wang cleared his throat, trying to make his question sound unquestionable and respectful. “Are you sure about that?”

The captain turned back to look at him again, his voice steady and deep. “I am a professional.”

If Qian Ai were standing here, seeing the captain’s serious face, he would have complained, “Now you start to act tough.”

But Xu Wang hadn’t seen the captain talk much before and mistook his usual demeanor for stern professionalism. He immediately closed his mouth, expressing through his actions respect and trust in the captain’s expertise.

Returning to the rear of the plane, Qian Ai and Kuang Jinxin immediately asked, “What’s going on?”

Wu Sheng replied, “The plane has entered a thunderstorm area. The turbulence will last for a long time.”

Qian Ai’s complexion changed. “Isn’t it on autopilot? Can’t the radar detect the thunderstorm area?”

Kuang Jinxin also asked shakily, “Will… Will there be danger?”

“I can’t answer your questions. I don’t know how to fly either, but the captain…” Wu Sheng looked towards Xu Wang.

Xu Wang understood and nodded, continuing, “Right, the captain said he is a professional.”

“Boom—”

“Click—”

“Bang—”

Thunder rumbled, lightning flashed, and luggage compartments popped open.

All four exchanged looks, palms sweating—the situation was indeed not looking good!

“Divine punishment,” Yuan Jiuyi suddenly muttered softly from the ground.

The thunderstorm seemed to pause for a moment.

No, it paused in the ears of the four, as if the world suddenly quieted down, leaving only Yuan Jiuyi’s hoarse and unpleasant voice, creating extreme discomfort.

“What did you say?” Xu Wang also deliberately softened his voice. In front of such a person, one must never be hasty; a moment’s impulse meant defeat.

“Divine punishment.” Yuan Jiuyi smiled faintly. “You broke the gourd, not only ruining the sacrifice and my cultivation but also the spiritual path of those 893 people. Such a great sin naturally warrants divine retribution.”

He was calm, giving the illusion that the crazed believer from before was just a phantom.

But a closer look revealed that the madness hadn’t gone from his face but had retreated into the depths of his eyes, taking root and deeply embedded.

“Spiritual path…” Xu Wang wanted to laugh but couldn’t. Although he knew it was futile to discuss morality with a lunatic, such bandit logic was still infuriating. “Ask those 893 people if they agree…”

“No.” Xu Wang suddenly shook his head, moving closer to Yuan Jiuyi and hurling words at him. “You can’t ask them anymore. They’ve already reincarnated and are living new lives. The only one going to hell is you.”

Yuan Jiuyi suddenly grinned with a creepy and penetrating smile. “I’ve left three surprises on this flight, and you’ve only found one. Such a pity. Going to hell? Let’s all go together then…”

Xu Wang was stunned.

He hoped Yuan Jiuyi was just babbling in his death throes, but a chill ran down his spine.

Yuan Jiuyi’s smile faded as he tilted his head slightly, mouthing something slowly and silently.

Xu Wang didn’t catch it, but Wu Sheng, standing beside him, saw and understood clearly.

Yuan Jiu Yi was counting down—five, four, three, two, one.

Wu Sheng, almost at the moment of reading the lip language, forcefully hugged Xu Wang, instinctively protecting him with his body!

And just a half-second after he hugged Xu Wang, the rear metal wall of the plane suddenly exploded!

The flying debris didn’t reach them but was sucked out by the immense force of the explosion—creating a huge hole in the tail of the plane!

The cabin’s air pressure went out of control instantly. The differential pressure between inside and outside made the four, who had nothing to hold onto, suddenly lift off the ground!

Cabin depressurization!

The thought flashed through Wu Sheng’s mind as he instinctively stretched out a hand, gripping the bathroom door frame at the last moment before his body completely lifted off, finally stopping the backward momentum!

Xu Wang was dazed at the moment Wu Sheng hugged him, but as soon as the explosion happened, his first action was to tighten his grip around Wu Sheng’s waist!

This move saved him and the remaining two companions—when Wu Sheng, holding onto the door frame with one hand, realized Xu Wang had already actively embraced him, he released his other hand to grab the frame. What was a single-handed grip became a two-handed grip, increasing the force and stability. As flying Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai simultaneously grabbed their partner, Wu Sheng had changed from a “one supporting one” to a “one supporting three”, and didn’t let go!

Realizing what was happening, passengers began screaming in succession. They dared not move, as standing up meant being pulled out through the hole by the strong airflow. So they could only grip their seat belts, anxiously watching the four men!

The situation was Wu Sheng gripping the bathroom door frame, Xu Wang firmly hugging his waist, Kuang Jinxin pulling on Xu Wang’s legs, and Qian Ai holding onto Kuang Jinxin’s feet! The four companions were like a flag made of four patches of cloth, blown parallel to the ground, on the verge of flying away at any moment!

Yuan Jiuyi!

Xu Wang suddenly thought of him and looked around, only to find the tied-up villain already sucked onto the hole, barely stuck there with his head and feet against the edges due to the immense suction pressure!

However, this was ultimately a futile effort.

The four companions watched helplessly as his body slowly bent under the external force and eventually, unable to resist the pull, flew out of the cabin!

But just as he was sucked out, the pain on his face from resisting the pull vanished, replaced by a smirk.

He just looked at Xu Wang, Wu Sheng, Qian Ai, and Kuang Jinxin as he flew out of the cabin.

If this signified death, then all four clearly saw; in the last moment before his end, he was smiling.

As the continuous depressurization caused oxygen masks to fall, the flight attendant, unable to unbuckle her seat belt, could only loudly remind the passengers, “Don’t panic, everyone. Please put on your oxygen masks—”

Wu Sheng’s hand was already beginning to numb, and he knew that if this continued, they would inevitably be pulled out into the sky.

At the critical moment, he caught sight of the “hole” on the ground!

Taking a deep breath, Wu Sheng tensed his entire body, concentrating all his strength into his hands. Then, slowly, he released one hand while relying on the remaining hand to support the pulling force of his companions behind him. The released hand reached for the edge of the hole.

His fingers were almost touching the edge of the hole.

Closer.

Even closer.

Finally, a third of Wu Sheng’s palm passed over the edge; he gripped hard, securing hold of the hole. The other hand followed suit, and thus the entire body’s center of gravity shifted from the door frame to the ground!

He exerted force backward with both arms, pushing his upper body forward, and finally, his whole body squeezed into the “Clever Burrow”!

Instantly, the feeling of “decompression” disappeared. Inside the burrow, everything was normal. Wu Sheng landed on the ground, pulling in his teammates, who were attached to the rope.

“Fuck, I thought I was really done for this time!” Qian Ai, still in shock, lay on the ground, not daring to move in fear of taking flight again.

Wu Sheng was relatively more composed. Though exhausted, he was the first to sit up and look at the still prostrated Xu Wang. “How are you? Are you alright?”

Xu Wang was face down, not moving, only showing Wu Sheng the back of his head.

Wu Sheng was starting to worry and was about to reach out to touch him when Xu Wang suddenly turned his head, a face full of perplexed and unresolved dilemmas. “Why was he smiling?”

Wu Sheng, who had almost lost his life, was still thinking about the villain. “That villager, after poisoning the entire village and dying himself, resurrected three days later, completely free of all ailments, and attained immortality. So, his own death is the final step of sacrifice or ascension.”

“I know, so I understand he wasn’t afraid of dying…” Xu Wang finally sat up, his face still clouded with confusion. “But the sacrifice was already disrupted by us. Whether dead or alive, he couldn’t possibly ascend.” He looked questioningly at Wu Sheng, asking, “Why then, at the very end, was he still smiling?”

Wu Sheng fell silent, understanding the real crux of Xu Wang’s confusion.

Yuan Jiuyi wanted to ascend, failed, and wanted to take them with him in death, also failed, so the last expression should be one of unwillingness, not calm and pleasure.

Unless… he still had a way to ensure their demise.

“Three surprises.” Both gave the answer in unison.

The password bomb was the first. The recent explosion was the second. So what was the third?

“Hey, hey, hey?!”

The plane suddenly tilted severely, and amidst Qian Ai’s confusion, all four were slammed into the burrow’s wall due to the tilting direction. Before they could react, the plane began to descend! Not a normal descent, but a rapid drop like a free-falling elevator!

It took them a great effort to crawl to the cockpit.

“What now—” Qian Ai felt he was going mad. Had he known it would be like this, he would have opted out from the start!

“The recent explosion caused one engine to flame out,” the captain said without turning back, still as steady as ever.

“Wasn’t the explosion at the tail?” Kuang Jinxin didn’t understand. “Aren’t the engines under the wings? How could the explosion affect it from that far?”

“There were two points of explosion,” the co-pilot replied. His voice wasn’t as steady as the captain’s. Large beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead. “One at the tail and one at the wing.”

The companions were stunned, looking at each other. Was this the legendary third surprise? But the tail and wing exploded simultaneously. Logically, surprises should come one after the other. Who reveals two at the same time?

Yuan Jiuyi was already gone. No one could provide a definite answer. All Xu Wang could hope for now was a safe landing. “Captain, one engine flamed out… It’s alright, isn’t it?”

Qian Ai interjected, “Is this the legendary third surprise?”

Xu Wang stood up anxiously, pacing around. “The password bomb was the first surprise. The recent explosion is the second. What’s the third? Another bomb? Where? The second was the tail bomb…”

The captain turned and gave him a “deep, deep” look.

Xu Wang immediately understood and nodded. “Got it. You’re the professional.”

“Calling, calling.” The co-pilot picked up the radio to contact the ground. “This is flight XXXX, above XX airport, with tail damage and one engine out. Requesting priority landing.”

Kuang Jinxin raised his hand. “Why is it a priority landing and not an emergency forced landing?”

“Because we’ve already arrived ahead of schedule.” Wu Sheng pulled out the boarding pass, which clearly marked the departure, landing times, and airports, which was indeed consistent with what the co-pilot was communicating.

“Priority landing granted. Priority landing granted…” the response from the radio sounded like magpies singing to the companions’ ears.

Soon, the plane began its descent. Both the captain and co-pilot became even more serious, while the four’s ears distinctly felt the discomfort caused by the continuous decrease in altitude.

The sky outside the window had dawned a whitish hue, not yet fully bright, so the ground was still dotted with lights.

As the plane’s altitude lowered, the scenery on the ground became clearer. Long and dense lights dotted the ground, like a bright ribbon stretching far. It was the highway. Around were irregular lights scattered here and there, signifying an urban area.

“Deploy the main landing gear,” the captain commanded.

The co-pilot immediately proceeded with the corresponding operation.

The four, although unfamiliar with flying, knew that takeoff and landing were the most critical and accident-prone moments, so they tensed up involuntarily. No one spoke, not even daring to breathe heavily, for fear of disturbing the pilots’ operations.

But what’s meant to come will always come—

“The main landing gear won’t deploy!” The co-pilot wished to remain calm, but his anxiety and panic were hard to hide.

The two previous crises hadn’t flustered the captain, but this statement made him turn pale.

After several unsuccessful attempts to open the main landing gear, the captain made a decisive decision. “Fuel is running low; we have no choice but to perform a belly landing.”

The co-pilot’s expression was akin to witnessing the end of the world. “One engine has already flamed out. We can’t precisely control the plane. Under these circumstances, a belly landing will certainly result in heavy casualties!”

“Better some survivors than none!” The captain finally snapped back at the co-pilot and then grabbed the radio to contact ground control directly. “Flight XXXX’s main landing gear won’t deploy. Preparing for a belly landing.”

He said “preparing”, not “requesting”, and didn’t even wait for a response from the ground before throwing down the radio and fully focusing on flying the plane!

This was the third surprise.

Xu Wang didn’t know how Yuan Jiuyi tampered with the landing gear but knew that he had never experienced such a heart-pounding moment in his life as on this plane. He unconsciously gripped the back of the captain’s chair, not sure if he was encouraging the captain or comforting himself. “I know you’re a professional…”

After a long silence, the captain sighed. “Pray for good luck.”

Wu Sheng: “……”

Qian Ai: “……”

Kuang Jinxin: “……”

Xu Wang: “Don’t change your lines at a time like this—”

The altitude of the plane was fifty meters.

Thirty meters.

Twenty meters.

Ten meters…

The four companions gripped whatever they could, awaiting the verdict of fate.

Finally, the plane landed.

The impact was intense at the moment of touching down, but the screeching friction, white smoke, or even fire they had imagined didn’t occur. The air brakes on the wings deployed normally, and after sliding on the runway for a while, the plane came to a steady stop.

Xu Wang was ecstatic, uncontrollably patting the captain’s shoulder. “I knew you could do it!”

The captain finally took a long breath and muttered to himself in confusion. “The landing gear suddenly started working again. How strange.”

The companions didn’t care about the strangeness; they were just relieved that this red-eye flight had landed smoothly. Whatever came their way on the ground, they weren’t afraid anymore, as long as it wasn’t back into the sky!

Returning to the cabin, the flight attendants had already opened the emergency doors, and passengers were sliding down the inflatable slide one by one in an orderly manner. With the body of the plane damaged and the engine out, it was imperative to evacuate the passengers as quickly as possible.

The four mingled with the passengers and also experienced the slide. Outside the plane, ambulances and fire trucks were on standby, and engineers rushed under the plane for various checks to prevent secondary accidents.

Just as Wu Sheng stood up from the slide, he heard familiar, loud wailing and turned to see. Indeed, it was Shen Yisi. He was about to approach when another young woman, faster than her, rushed forward and hugged the child, tenderly consoling, “Don’t cry. Mommy’s here.”

Family members can directly come here?

The thought had just arisen when Wu Sheng dismissed it. Having experienced so many bizarre events, it seemed unnecessary to fit this situation into regular norms.

Moreover, the young woman and Shen Yisi’s features were almost identical, so clearly, they were related.

As expected, Shen Yisi dove into the young woman’s arms, crying even harder. “Mom, mom… Grandma, grandma is gone…”

Xu Wang, who was wondering what Wu Sheng was looking at, came over and caught this line, instantly regretting and wishing for time to rewind.

The young woman, unaware of everything that had happened on the plane, could only comfort her son as best she could. Through her words, Xu Wang and Wu Sheng finally understood the story of Shen Yisi—the grandson wanted to travel abroad but his parents were too busy, so his grandmother, who had always been in good health, took him. However, the elderly lady suffered a sudden, severe illness abroad and passed away, leaving Shen Yisi alone on the return flight with only a box of ashes in the cargo.

But now, the urn was missing.

The engineer, who had just crawled under the plane, suddenly came out again, holding a bundle of blankets in his hand. Another engineer standing by perplexedly asked, “What’s that?”

“Probably a cabin blanket.” The maintenance engineer was also confused. “But it seems to be wrapping something… Strange, how did it get stuffed into the landing gear compartment…”

While muttering to himself, the engineer laid it on the ground and started unwrapping the blanket layer by layer, curious to see what was inside.

His wish was quickly fulfilled, as the item wasn’t wrapped very tightly. In just a few moments, the contents revealed themselves.

And then… both engineers froze in the cool morning breeze.

A lacquered wooden urn.

The body of the box was carved with exquisite designs, with scenic mountains and rivers on the right, eternal greenery on the left, and a black-and-white photo of an old lady in the center. The old woman was smiling, her gaze seemingly meeting everyone who looked at her—kind, friendly, and warm.

“Grandma!” Shen Yisi, who had been tired from crying, looked up from his mother’s arms and noticed the situation, immediately calling out happily!

The young woman followed her son’s gaze and stood still, astonished.

Of course, she wasn’t afraid of her mother, but she couldn’t understand why the urn that was checked in the cabin ended up here.

Wu Sheng and Xu Wang understood though.

The elderly lady was fussy, afraid of the cold, and needed to be wrapped in a blanket to be snug and stable in the drafty landing gear compartment, and thus, she saved her own grandson and, incidentally, the entire plane.

What if Kuang Jinxin hadn’t given the child a blanket when he went to the tail of the plane?

Perhaps the fate of the plane would have been entirely different.

It turned out that among all the villains, sins, and evil thoughts lurking in this ordeal, the most critical task line was merely a small blanket of kinship and that little bit of goodness in the bottom of people’s hearts.

At the same time, a long-missed voice resounded in the ears of the four—

[Owl: Congratulations on passing the 2/23 test and handing in your papers! successful See you tomorrow~~]

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Kinky Thoughts:

Just a bit of note. The theme revolves around school (roster, stationery box, cheat sheet, report card), so the terms translated are related to that theme.

When you see something like “stationery”, it refers to items/props (common in unlimited flow novels). Likewise, when the Owl congratulates them on passing the test (handing in their papers/submission), it’s like the system telling them they passed the “instance”.

Just keep that in mind.

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