Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu

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

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Chapter 29: The Endless Sea

“Ding—”

The four had just recognized they were at sea, and before they could think of anything else, a new hint was updated in the [Cheat Sheet].

[Welcome to The Endless Sea. Please choose a route. East Treasure Beach/West Treasure Beach/South Flying Island/North Flying Island.]

“Are we starting the challenge already?” Qian Ai looked at the options on his arm, confused. “Are we supposed to sail to the coordinate point?”

Kuang Jinxin glanced at the stern inadvertently and made a new discovery. “Captain, the spyglass!”

Ever since Xu Wang was elected, Kuang Jinxin had been very respectful, updating his address to him, almost like a caring little jacket. If it weren’t for the long journey and tight finances, Xu Wang would have liked to give him a red envelope as a fee for changing the form of address.

It was a single-tube brass spyglass, consistent with the style of the entire sailing ship, looking as if it were straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Although the sea was calm, there were still some fine waves gently rocking the ship. This instability was manageable when sitting or standing but became quite apparent when walking on the deck, unless one was used to being on a ship.

All four went to the stern of the ship, and Wu Sheng, who walked the steadiest, naturally arrived first and became the first person to look into the distance.

Xu Wang, Kuang Jinxin, and Qian Ai were a step behind, shading their eyes from the sun and looking out.

Surprisingly, even with naked eyes, they could see some masts and sails of distant ships, albeit a bit blurry. The silhouettes suggested they were similar to their own ship, scattered across the sea surface…

Were there others?

Xu Wang shuddered and eagerly asked Advisor Wu, who had the clearest view, “What do you see?”

“Lighthouses,” Wu Sheng said.

“Lighthouses?” Xu Wang blinked hard and looked again. Indeed, they were ships. Where were these lighthouses?

“One in the east, south, and west.” Wu Sheng rotated the single-tube spyglass, panning it across 180 degrees without stopping, then continued turning it towards the front of the ship, which was behind the four of them. “And another one in the north.”

“Are they far?” Xu Wang asked.

“Very far,” Wu Sheng replied.

“Can you adjust the focus to see closer?” Xu Wang probably knew where the discrepancy in their observations lay.

Wu Sheng rarely obeyed, probably feeling it was safer to scan both near and far. He quickly adjusted the spyglass to bring the view closer.

What was called “near” had already been a difficult distance for the naked eye, but through the spyglass, it became crystal clear.

“There are others,” Wu Sheng reported straightforwardly.

Xu Wang, already prepared, nodded his head and looked at the faint white sails, feeling as if drums of war were beating on them.

Competitors were enemies.

Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face made them realize this.

“No way. So many people in this round?” Qian Ai had finally seen the few small white dots with the reminder of his teammates. He couldn’t tell whether they were five, six, seventy, or ninety. They were scattered too far, in all directions, bobbing up and down with the waves, appearing and disappearing. Regardless of the exact number, assuming one boat represented one team, and if these teams hadn’t yet submitted their papers, the intense competition that lay ahead was imaginable.

Kuang Jinxin moved closer to Wu Sheng, holding onto the last shred of hope. “Can you see the people on the boat clearly? Could they be NPCs?”

He really disliked fighting, not at all. Why couldn’t everyone just sit down, drink tea, and chat together?

Wu Sheng didn’t answer whether they were NPCs or not. He had been operating the spyglass in one direction for a while. Finally, he took his eye off and looked at his teammates. “Who will help me confirm something?”

The three teammates were puzzled. “Huh?”

“I saw Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face,” Wu Sheng said. “I don’t want to admit my eyes are bad, but I’m even less willing to accept this reality.”

Captain Xu bravely stepped forward to take over the lookout task. Without using the spyglass, he could see clearly with his eyes. “Damn, it’s really them.”

“They’re supposed to be in the first round, right?” Qian Ai pushed the captain aside, personally taking over the identification, and soon recognized the harsh reality.

After all three teammates finished identifying, Kuang Jinxin didn’t bother trying himself, just feeling puzzled. “Even if they passed the first level yesterday, they should be back in the second level today. How come they’re here in the third?”

“Unless…” Wu Sheng gazed thoughtfully at the vast sea. “This isn’t the third level.”

Suddenly, the waves surged, and the sailboat tossed. Initially, they could still stand, but soon they had to cling to the railing to stabilize themselves.

“They’re heading that way!” Qian Ai was holding onto the railing with one hand and the spyglass with the other, bracing the spyglass with his knees for stability. His eye was still diligently spying on the “enemy situation”.

“Which way?” Wu Sheng quickly asked.

Qian Ai, not a strategist, couldn’t differentiate between north, south, east, and west and could only gesture with his arm holding the spyglass, swinging it around. “That way—”

Which way is that?

Xu Wang and Kuang Jinxin were bewildered by this answer, but luckily, they had a human compass.

“East.” Wu Sheng quickly determined the direction, glanced at his arm, still scrolling the line [Please select a route.] and had an understanding. “They’ve chosen East Treasure Beach.”

Why, timewise, Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face, who absolutely couldn’t have passed the second level, could appear here and have the right to choose a route just like them?

Xu Wang couldn’t think of an answer but had already made a decision. “We’ll go there too.”

“Uh.” Qian Ai released the spyglass, turning back with a rare hint of compassion. “But targeting the same sheep for its wool isn’t very ethical, is it?”

According to the “Owl’s” nature, on the same route, there would definitely be competition. They had already roughed up Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face once, and to continue pursuing them to bully in a different place was a bit like bullying the weak.

Xu Wang felt conflicted, as unilaterally defining the opponent as a “fat sheep” would only incite more hatred.

Stepping forward to take the spyglass, he continued to track Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face’s ship. “They have more experience than us. Choosing the east must have its reasons. We can follow suit and won’t suffer any big losses.”

As they spoke, the waves grew larger. The deck was completely wet, and everyone’s shoes were soaked through.

What is that?

Xu Wang was about to end his watch when he suddenly saw smaller black dots floating in the open water between the ships. Upon closer inspection, they were floating balls.

Each ball was about a meter in diameter, completely transparent, with a person sitting inside each one, looking like numerous capsule toys floating in the waves.

In the increasingly high waves, these floating balls were hardly noticeable, mostly swallowed by the waves. If not for just now, one had been tossed up by a wave, quickly falling back down, tracing an arc in their field of view, he wouldn’t have noticed them at all.

What kind of operation is this? Can they fight individually?

Xu Wang was puzzled when suddenly, Wu Sheng’s calm voice came from behind. “Quick, look up at the heavens.”

Reflexively looking up, Xu Wang then realized he had complied with such an absurd invitation.

But in an instant, he felt ashamed of his ignorance.

A flying carpet.

A bohemian-patterned flying carpet, carrying four men about ten meters above the sea, was flying northward. All the surging waves had nothing to do with them. They were playing cards, seemingly playing a four-player game of Fight the Landlord by the way they formed words with their mouths.

“That’s fucking possible?!” Qian Ai howled—out the envy, jealousy, and hatred of the four people on the carpet.

How come their items were so targeted? Compared to their own: Death Stare, Hot Wheels, Mr. Thirteen, Cloak of Invisibility… none of which seem capable of navigating water!

Feeling sour like the fox under the grapevine*, a huge shadow suddenly appeared under the sea surface beneath the flying carpet.

*Referencing the Aesop fable The Fox and the Grapes.

A surging undercurrent came from the shadow, causing even their ship, at a certain distance, to shake violently!

A creature, neither fish nor beast, broke through the water, leaping towards the flying carpet!

Its body was several times larger than a whale, fish-like but covered in crocodile-like skin and bony plates, with a crocodilian head but a mouth full of piranha-like sharp teeth!

Without giving those on the flying carpet any chance to react, the creature’s jaws snapped shut, easily swallowing everything, including the people and the carpet, in one gulp. It performed a beautiful tail flick in the air before plunging back into the sea.

The waves rolled violently, like boiling water.

The four spectators clung to the railing, holding their breaths, unable to react for a moment.

“Just like that… are they dead?” Everything happened so fast that Qian Ai couldn’t recover.

“They probably got bounced back to reality… Probably.” Xu Wang couldn’t be certain either, only guessing based on his own experiences of being pounced on by the bear.

Wu Sheng took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, his mood heavy and complicated. “It’s still best to keep a low profile.”

In the completely surging waves, the ship began to tilt.

Initially, the four companions thought it was normal tossing until they realized the tilting direction was consistent and their bodies were increasingly leaning back. They realized something was wrong and turned around one after another to look back.

Then, they understood what it meant to laugh at others while in the same situation*.

*Fifty steps to laugh at a hundred steps (五十步笑百步) Idiom derive from a fable referring to someone having the same shortcomings as others, but to a lesser degree, but still laughing at them.

A huge tentacle stretched out from the waves and had already latched onto the railing on one side!

The tentacle was flesh-colored, like a giant octopus, covered with numerous large and small suckers. The ship was gradually tilting towards the side where the tentacle had hooked!

“What do we do?” Qian Ai instantly broke out in cold sweat.

Xu Wang and Wu Sheng exchanged glances, then suddenly, as if struck by inspiration, both ran towards the cabin!

Qian Ai didn’t wait for an answer but saw the two running away, almost going crazy. “You two can’t be serious—”

Despite his howl, he also ran.

Kuang Jinxin, not understanding why, followed the crowd into the cabin, but as the last one to start, by the time he reached the cabin entrance, the three companions had already come out with weapons.

Originally, Xu Wang and Wu Sheng weren’t looking for a place to hide but rather for suitable “weapons”—since there was a spyglass on the deck, perhaps there were other useful items in the cabin. They hadn’t explored the cabin since landing on the ship.

Why not use stationery?

The lesson of the flying carpet was too severe; who knows if using stationery on this sea is a taboo that leads to certain death.

Indeed, there were “equipment” in the cabin, but—

Ax.

Spear.

Bow and arrows.

Is this the fucking era of cold weapons!

“Where’s mine?” Kuang Jinxin, boiling with hot blood, found that his teammate had only brought three weapons out.

“There’s none left.” Qian Ai, holding a bow with arrows under his arm, strained to pull the bowstring. Releasing it, the string snapped back at his hand, almost causing unbearable pain. “Use this.” He decisively offered the bow to his teammate without hesitation.

Kuang Jinxin, who watched the whole process, felt immense pressure.

“Xiao Kuang.” Xu Wang, holding an ax, hurried towards the tentacles while instructing without looking back, “You keep watch. Report immediately for any movement, be it monsters or other ships!”

“Got it!” The ship tilted beyond 45°, and Kuang Jinxin, holding onto the railing, quickly moved to the stern, combining his naked eye with the spyglass.

Qian Ai, failing to switch duties, reluctantly went to meet the captain.

Xu Wang swung the ax at a tentacle, but the first strike slid off. The tentacle was covered in water and mucus!

Wu Sheng arrived with a spear and thrust it straight in, then turned to Xu Wang. “Again!”

Xu Wang raised the ax high and brought it down forcefully!

Bang—

The ax blade embedded deeply into the wooden railing snapping off the tentacle, leaving about half a meter on the deck, which bounced a few times before sliding into the sea with the tilt.

The injured tentacle quickly left the railing, disappearing into the water.

The ship didn’t right itself, as the waves were getting higher and higher. The force of the rough sea was far greater than that of the tentacle, as if it could capsize the ship at any moment!

Another tentacle stretched up.

No, five!

Five tentacles hooked onto one side of the railing, from bow to stern, as if tied with a tow rope!

Xu Wang wanted to continue chopping, but as he raised the ax, the ship suddenly tipped forward!

Except for Kuang Jinxin at the stern, who clung to the railing unmoved, the three in battle lost their balance and lurched towards the tentacles!

Wu Sheng and Qian Ai reacted quickly, grabbing the railing in time. Xu Wang, holding the ax, couldn’t react in time and crashed heavily into the railing. However, the inertia didn’t stop, and he flipped over the railing and into the sea!

The cold sea water instantly submerged Xu Wang’s eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.

There was no distinction between reality and illusion; in an instant, he thought of one word: death.

It was the innate fear of the deep sea in humans.

Xu Wang held his breath and struggled upwards. Just below the surface, a wave hit him, pinning him firmly under the water, unable to surface! Struggling desperately, his fingers suddenly touched something. Straining his eyes open in the salty seawater, he saw a spear shaft.

Xu Wang grabbed the spear shaft tightly, as if it had a sensor on it. As soon as he gripped it, the spear pulled up forcefully, quickly lifting him to the surface!

Once at the surface, he saw Wu Sheng hanging outside the ship on a rope ladder, one hand gripping the ladder and the other pulling him up with the spear.

Seeing his head emerge and taking deep breaths, Wu Sheng sighed in relief and pulled him closer.

Xu Wang finally returned to the ship’s side, struggling in the turbulent waves to grab the end of the rope ladder and climb back onto the deck with Wu Sheng’s help.

Reborn, Xu Wang knew he owed Wu Sheng a lot, but all he could muster was a dry, “Thank you.”

Wu Sheng was holding the spear against the deck like a mighty general from the Yang Family*. “Next time, we’ll tie a rope on you.”

*A collection of Chinese folklore, plays and novels on a military family from the earlier years of imperial China’s Song Dynasty. The stories recount the unflinching loyalty and the remarkable bravery of the Yangs as they sacrificed themselves to defend their country from foreign military powers.

Xu Wang gritted his teeth but had to accept his indebtedness.

Looking down, he noticed something new. “Eh? Why isn’t it tilting anymore?”

The ship had somehow regained its balance, still bobbing but far more stable than the one-sided tipping before.

“Lao Qian really couldn’t get the hang of the bow and arrow, so he changed tactics.” Wu Sheng gestured towards the bow.

Xu Wang looked up and didn’t see Qian Ai but saw a “human fireball” clinging to the railing, smacking and pounding the remaining tentacle.

The flames around him were over three meters tall, engulfing Qian Ai’s body, or rather, the flames seemed to burst from his body like a “fire coat”, burning intensely. Even standing where Xu Wang and Wu Sheng were, they could still feel the heat hitting their faces.

The fire illuminated the bow, charred the railing, and burned the tentacle.

“Still acting tough? Ah? If I don’t turn you into grilled squid, I wouldn’t live up to my ID Lao Qian Eats All Over China*!”

*[Shen Zhou] (神州) It’s a poetic name for China.

Xu Wang swallowed hard, hesitated for a long while, and didn’t dare to approach, fearing being scorched by his frenzied teammate.

“[Invincible Hot Wheels]?” That was the only fire-related thing he could think of.

“Uh-huh.” Wu Sheng affirmed.

“Can we use stationery?”

“So far, no issues have been found. The flying carpet earlier might just have been an unfortunate accident.”

“Were those tentacles burned away by him?”

“Charred.”

Xu Wang suddenly realized, no wonder after returning to the deck, he always smelled a barbecue aroma.

The last tentacle, using all its might, finally escaped the “clutches” and pitifully retreated back into the sea.

The waves were still large—obviously, the sea floor wasn’t truly calm—but a whiff of burnt smell diluted the tension pervasive in the sea breeze.

The flames of the “human fireball” gradually weakened and finally disappeared, revealing Qian Ai’s face, charred red.

The scorch marks on the railing were all his medals.

“Impressive.” Xu Wang gave him a thumbs up.

Qian Ai returned to his comrades, nodding slightly and giving off a hint of hidden achievements and fame.

Xu Wang patted his shoulder. “Don’t hold it in.”

Qian Ai slightly shook his head. “I thought [Invincible Hot Wheels] would conjure up a cool-looking vehicle that I could ride under my feet and hit people with…”

Xu Wang sighed. “I understand.”

Qian Ai’s dignified expression instantly collapsed. “Why did I turn into a fire wheel! It’s not cool at all, and it’s so hot!”

While Classmate Qian was questioning fate, a warning from Kuang Jinxin at the stern echoed. “Captain, there’s a ship!”

Xu Wang and Wu Sheng were startled, immediately running towards the stern, with Qian Ai, still warm, following a beat behind.

Kuang Jinxin didn’t use the spyglass and was simply staring ahead, not even raising his hand to point out the direction to his teammates, because that ship had already come close to them.

The two ships were no more than ten meters apart, bobbing with the same wave.

The people on the other ship also saw them, eyes meeting, both sides wary.

It didn’t seem like they were heading towards them—just that, coincidentally, the two ships bobbed together.

Suddenly, a charred tentacle tip slowly hooked onto the railing of the opposite sailing ship.

The sea monster that suffered a loss here had found a new target!

Kuang Jinxin quickly shouted, “Watch your back!”

The three people on the opposite deck were startled, reflexively turned back, and quickly saw the tentacle on the railing.

Paying no more heed, the three quickly ran to the cabin and soon came out with an ax and spear.

The same ship, the same weapons.

So, where’s the bow and arrow?

Xu Wang, harboring doubts, noticed not only the absence of a bow and arrow on the opposite side but also one less person. He looked around and finally found the fourth person atop the mast.

That person sat at the top of the mast. They were too high, so he couldn’t see their face clearly—only a slender and well-proportioned body outline could be seen. They were wearing a jacket that was quite nice-looking.

Just like what they had encountered, the other ship also began to tilt under the tentacle’s force.

The one holding the ax among the three was also the main fighter but was less lucky than Xu Wang, hacking twice without really hitting.

The one with the spear jabbed for a long time without really helping. The unarmed one got directly angry, looked up at the mast, and shouted, “Chi Yingxue, fucking get down here and help—”

“Don’t struggle in vain,” the person on the mast said in a leisurely and mockingly cool voice. “With you three’s poor fighting ability, falling into the sea is inevitable. Why waste your energy.”

“What do you mean, ‘you three’!” The shouting person got angry, wishing he had wings to fly up and fight with the one surnamed Chi. “Aren’t you part of the fucking team?!”

The person on the mast pondered for a moment. “In terms of appearance, not really.”

“Fuck!” The one below exploded in rage but could do nothing but curse to the sky. “Recruiting you was really a blunder of my eyesight—”

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu

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

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Chapter 28: Accident

This was the terminal, and nearly every counter had passengers checking in. Identifying those caught up in the same situation among the throngs of people was impossible unless they were as conspicuously foolish and loud as they had been the day before.

At Counter 9, a few people were getting their boarding passes with normal demeanor and attire, indistinguishable from the other passengers.

“Are you sure they aren’t NPCs?” Xu Wang wasn’t doubting Wu Sheng but noted that identifying people required emotional intelligence, not just IQ, which wasn’t Classmate Wu’s forte.

“Of course,” Wu Sheng replied confidently. “If you look carefully, there are obvious differences between them and others.”

Xu Wang frowned, squinting harder, joined by Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai, all peering intently.

After a long time, so long that the others had already finished getting their boarding passes, they turned to prepare for the security check.

Qian Ai couldn’t help but speak up. “There’s no difference…”

Kuang Jinxin added, “Can’t tell them apart.”

Xu Wang looked towards Wu Sheng, hoping he would listen to the voice of the crowd.

As a result, Classmate Wu responded with an expression of “Why do I always have to spell it out so clearly?”

“Eyes,” he said. “Look at their eyes. Only those four have dark circles.”

Xu Wang was speechless.

Kuang Jinxin: “Wu Ge…”

Qian Ai: “It’s Sheng Ge!”

Wu Sheng: “It’s nothing big. I was just a bit more careful.”

Xu Wang: “If you two keep idolizing him blindly, he might just fly to the moon first!”

Despite his words, Xu Wang had to admit that Wu Sheng’s observation was very accurate.

They looked at the glass table and saw their own reflections, resembling panda cubs themselves. Even after twelve hours of sleep, the faint signs of weariness under their eyes persisted. Humans are naturally active during the day and rest at night. No amount of sleep during the day could fully make up for the night’s loss.

With “dark circles” as a distinguishing feature, looking at the vast crowd felt like applying a “filter”, where all irrelevant people blurred into the background, leaving only those with dark circles standing out more clearly.

In the next ten minutes, they discovered two more teams, as discreet as the previous one. Without careful distinction, it was hard to recognize them from the other travelers.

“We look the most foolish by comparison.” Qian Ai observed after watching. “None of them are rushing around recklessly. They’re all sneaking.”

“Must be veteran teams,” Xu Wang guessed. The teams just coming up from stage 1/23 wouldn’t be so cautious. It seemed that these teams must have the experience of passing this level, probably had failed at some point, returned, and now had just completed the first stage again.

Since they had submitted their papers, there wouldn’t really be any intersection with these teams just about to board planes. At most, they would watch from afar, silently noting details in case they encountered them in later stages.

But then—

Xu Wang suddenly wondered, ‘How many people had been watching them last night?’

Perhaps not just last night.

Kuang Jinxin had just mentioned feeling like they were being watched. Yes, just as they could watch others, those who had finished but hadn’t yet moved to the next stage could also watch them.

Spying eyes are always sneaky. The difference lies in whether they harbor malice or not.

“Clearly, we are all victims sucked into this,” Kuang Jinxin murmured to himself, puzzled. “Why don’t I feel any kinship when I look at them, but instead feel fear…”

“It’s not just the fault of those four bastards from yesterday,” Qian Ai angrily recalled. “It makes me distrust every team I look at now.”

“It’s not entirely their fault,” Wu Sheng pointed out sharply. “It’s the existence of a competitive relationship that leads to this inevitable end.”

Xu Wang agreed. “If each subsequent stage only allows one team to pass, and failing teams have to go back, then any two teams might encounter and compete, fundamentally cutting off any path to friendship.”

“But there could be fair competition.” Kuang Jinxin still felt uneasy.

“If the first stage wasn’t hidden and each team could see the others, that possibility would exist. Mutual visibility would facilitate early negotiations,” Xu Wang explained patiently, patting his head. “But the situation now is such that the first stage deliberately creates the impression that teams are hidden from each other. When teams with this mindset enter the second stage, if there are veteran teams present, they will attack such new teams because the information is already asymmetrical and the veterans have an absolute advantage. Naturally, they won’t come out and advocate for fair competition.”

“The teams that are crushed will learn from their mistakes and then crush new teams.” Qian Ai sighed. “It’s a vicious cycle of hatred.”

Xu Wang quietly looked at the bustling travelers beyond the fence, saying, “The Owl intentionally designed the stages this way.”

Qian Ai shivered at the thought. “Can we not use personification? It makes this cursed place seem sentient.”

“It doesn’t need to be sentient, just logical.” Wu Sheng tapped the table gently and continued, “If malice is the operating logic of this world, then all the stages, settings, environments, and conditions for passing are based on this logic, and the behavior patterns of those involved will inevitably lead to this logical conclusion.”

Qian Ai blinked at Xu Wang.

Xu Wang patted his shoulder. “In other words, this world is filled with malice.”

Qian Ai glanced apologetically at Wu Sheng and then sincerely said to Xu Wang, “I like your explanation.”

The four had been sitting in the cafe for less than an hour but were already restless. They should have taken advantage of this rare “post-submission era” to catch up on sleep, but they were too energized from sleeping too much during the day, feeling like fully charged power banks.

With no other choice, they decided to wander around the airport and ended up discovering both good and bad news.

The good news was that the products in the shops were real, unlike the coffee that was ordered but never served. Whether it was convenience stores, bakeries, cosmetics, or various brand shops, as long as the transaction was completed right there with cash, the items were genuinely authentic.

Then came the bad news: these items also required payment, and every shop was clear in its demand for cash only. In essence, one could swipe on their phone, but they had no choice here—there was no mobile signal or wifi at all.

Scouring their pockets, only Qian Ai had brought his wallet. He took out a hundred yuan, spent ten on a keychain, and forty on a big bag of biscuits. The cashier gave him fifty in change, all in the newest edition of RMB, indistinguishable from what circulated in the real world.

The reason for buying these wasn’t out of fondness or whim, but Wu Sheng’s suggestion: if they could pay with real money in the “Owl” and receive items in return, could these items then be used in reality? Even if they could bring them back, items like souvenirs, bags, clothes, snacks, or cakes, and even brands identical to reality, wouldn’t be of much use. For instance, buying an LV here and then claiming it was from the “Owl” at airport prices would make no sense to anyone.

Still, Wu Sheng insisted on testing this theory.

“Understanding all the operational rules of this world is the foundation of conquering it,” he reasoned, compelling Xu Wang, Qian Ai, and Kuang Jinxin to agree and follow his lead.

The four opened the biscuits as soon as they left the store, dividing them among themselves. For about two or three minutes, they did nothing but stand at the store entrance, munching on the biscuits earnestly and attentively, as if they were back in preschool, and snacks were their entire world.

When only one biscuit was left, they finally stopped, and Qian Ai put the individually wrapped biscuit in his pocket along with the keychain and the change, forming a happy and fortunate “Owl family”.

Whether these items could be brought back to reality remained unclear, but at least in the “Owl”, the biscuits genuinely provided them with calories and a sense of fullness.

“If the things here can really be eaten,” Kuang Jinxin suddenly wondered, “does that mean the planes can also be taken? Maybe we can go directly to Shandong from here!”

“You’re being silly.” Qian Ai smacked him on the head. “Even if we could go, it would cost just as much as a regular ticket, and all our stuff is still at the hotel. Are you planning to leave everything behind?”

“That makes sense.” Kuang Jinxin scratched his head and vowed to think before he speaks next time.

But Wu Sheng suddenly said, “It’s not silly.”

Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai looked at him, puzzled.

Wu Sheng added just a few more words, “Not silly at all.”

Their six eyes met for a few seconds. Four of them then turned to Xu Wang.

Xu Wang, imitating Wu Sheng’s tone and slight uptick in inflection, which sounded almost teasing, said, “Understanding all the operational rules of this world is the foundation of conquering it. We may not fly, but we need to explore the situation.”

Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai understood.

Moreover, although Wu Sheng was right there, not moving his lips, they still had the illusion that Wu Sheng was using ventriloquism to speak for Xu Wang—such was the depth of Xu Wang’s understanding and the vividness of his imitation of Wu Sheng, almost to the soul level.

As the four were about to head over to the airline counter to inquire, someone suddenly ran out of the restaurant opposite, bumping into a traveler about to enter and sprinting eastward in a frenzy.

After running for about a dozen meters, a waiter ran out of the restaurant, chasing and shouting, “Thief!”

The four were stunned, facing a dilemma between acting heroically or standing by.

Their hesitation lasted only a brief moment, but in that instant, a chilling voice echoed throughout the terminal—

[Owl: Dear, getting something for nothing* isn’t advisable.]

*(不劳而获) Idiom referring to possessing the fruits of others’ labors without working yourself. From the saying of Confucius.

They recognized that voice; it was the usual teasing prompt that played in their ears. But now, the voice had lost its lively and mischievous tone. It was now cold as a knife, with a hint of eerie mockery that sent shivers down their spines and pained their ears.

The running man suddenly fell to the ground with a scream, convulsing violently as if in extreme pain, rolling around and screaming.

The four watched with horror, but the passing travelers seemed not to notice, continuing their hurried or leisurely pace as if there wasn’t a thief in agonizing pain right there.

The waiter finally reached him, and as the only person reacting to the thief, bent down to reach out. What happened next shocked them.

The moment the waiter’s fingertips touched the thief’s shoulder, the thief suddenly disappeared, leaving only a stack of neatly arranged hundred-yuan bills.

The waiter’s hand didn’t even pause, picking up the bills as if that was what he intended to do all along.

The four watched the waiter walk back into the restaurant calmly with the bills, suddenly feeling confused. Perhaps at the moment of picking up the money, he, like the other travelers, didn’t even see the thief. He was just after the money because… he knew the thief would disappear.

“Was that thief… a real person?” Kuang Jinxin asked hesitantly, already somewhat confused.

“Should be,” Wu Sheng said. “Otherwise, the Owl wouldn’t have spoken.”

“But the Owl’s voice has never been public before.” Qian Ai pointed out a problem, noting that since entering this world, all guidance from that voice had been heard individually by each person.

“It’s probably a warning to others* who might have the same idea,” Xu Wang suggested. “A direct warning for anyone who might think of committing such acts.”

*Kill the chicken to scare the monkey (杀鸡儆猴) Idiom referring to making a public demonstration of punishing wrongdoers to deter others who might copy them.

“Well, it worked,” Qian Ai admitted, now devoid of any criminal thoughts but still somewhat resentful. “Who made it in Shaanxi today and Shandong tomorrow? Does it think money grows on trees?”

“Will he die?” Kuang Jinxin suddenly asked.

“No.” Xu Wang was sure. “The Owl said it’s not advisable. If the consequence of effortless gain were death, then to maximize the warning, it could have simply stated that one would die, which would be a stronger deterrent. There’s no need to be so indirect.”

Kuang Jinxin sighed in relief but was still shaken.

Even if the man wasn’t going to die, the pain he experienced was evident.

Although the incident shook all four of them, standing there wouldn’t help; they still had their path to tread.

After a short pause, they went to the airline counter.

They wanted to inquire about flights to Shandong, but every airline counter gave the same trained response—Sorry, we don’t sell tickets here.

Whether there were flights was secondary; there was simply no place selling tickets in the entire terminal. They thought of trying the check-in counters, maybe swiping their arms or ID cards—Qian Ai had brought his, which was effectively all he had—but as they approached the counter, ground staff stopped them before they could even queue up, with no explanation and just a firm denial.

The security checkpoints treated them the same; there was no way to sneak in.

It seemed that overnight, all functional pathways had closed to them, turning the airport into a pure leisure zone. Shopping was possible, but boarding a plane was out of the question.

Exhausted and disheartened by 4 a.m., the four returned to the coffee shop. With nothing else to do, Xu Wang looked at his friends and, after much consideration, finally brought up something he’d been pondering. “As the captain, I think it’s necessary to set up a communal wallet…”

The so-called communal wallet meant everyone contributing an equal amount of money for shared expenses like food, accommodation, and travel, avoiding the hassle of alternating who pays or splitting every bill. For instance, Wu Sheng had booked the tickets to Shaanxi for him and Kuang Jinxin. He wanted to give Wu Sheng money but was afraid that mentioning it would seem like not treating him as a friend, so he could only mentally plan to return the favor next time, which was quite bothersome.

It wasn’t about being petty. In fact, if the roles were reversed, Xu Wang wouldn’t mind if Wu Sheng didn’t repay him, but as their journey seemed set to be a long one, they couldn’t continue in such an ambiguous manner.

People often say discussing money hurts relationships, but Xu Wang learned from his years in society that discussing money upfront doesn’t harm relationships. In fact, it might even help maintain them. It’s the settling of accounts later that’s truly deadly.

Despite this, money was still a sensitive issue, and Xu Wang was prepared for his teammates’ misunderstanding or opposition.

And indeed, they did oppose.

Qian Ai was the first to raise his hand.

Xu Wang, ever democratic, said, “Go ahead.”

“Why are you the captain?”

“……”

Although the focus of his teammate’s questions wasn’t what he had expected, Xu Wang quickly composed himself and tilted his head innocently. “I thought we had reached a consensus on this.”

Qian Ai wasn’t discontented, just utterly confused, and his confusion deepened after getting a response. He instinctively looked at Kuang Jinxin, who also shook his head in bewilderment.

Qian Ai turned back to Xu Wang. “Um, there are four of us, and two don’t remember agreeing. Are you sure we reached a consensus?”

“Alright, alright.” Xu Wang, unsuccessful in his subtle maneuvering, conceded good-naturedly. “Then let’s choose now. After all, we’re a team and need a leader to avoid chaos and inefficiency…” Before he even finished speaking, he raised his hand. “I’m running.”

His seamless transition from advocating to nominating himself left Qian Ai utterly impressed. By comparison, he felt completely outplayed in rhetoric and strategy. He gave up on competing, but when it came to choosing a team leader, he had another candidate in mind…

Wu Sheng caught Qian Ai’s supportive gaze and promptly responded, “I vote for Xu Wang.”

Xu Wang, bracing for a “fierce competition”, was unexpectedly and pleasantly surprised by Wu Sheng’s gift.

Qian Ai was surprised too, but not pleased. Instead, he doubted his own hearing. “Class monitor, you weren’t like this before. Weren’t you always the one to step up for honors and leadership roles?”

“I was young and naive back then.” Wu Sheng waved off, sighing deeply with a gaze lifted 45 degrees, like a sage reflecting on the past. “Now I’ve matured, become more composed, and objective…”

“Sorry to interrupt.” Qian Ai coughed lightly. “Can we get to the point?”

Reluctantly, Wu Sheng brought his gaze back down, shrugged, and said, “I admit I’m smarter than Xu Wang, but throughout history, the intellectual often stays behind the scenes, acting as a strategist rather than a leader…”

“In Water Margin, Wu Yong was the smartest, but Song Jiang led the team…”

“In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang was the smartest, and Zhou Yu wasn’t far behind, but one followed Liu Bei and the other served Sun Ce…”

“So,” Wu Sheng looked around at his teammates, his eyes finally resting on Xu Wang. “Leadership isn’t about being the smartest. It’s about knowing people, utilizing them, and playing with human hearts. In that, I’m far too lacking.”

Seeing the rare genuine humility on Wu Sheng’s face, Xu Wang wanted to smack him. “Couldn’t you just simply say you support me as the leader…”

The journey might have been circuitous, but the outcome was bright.

Xu Wang was elected and immediately continued the previous topic. “Here’s what I think: this is going to be a long-term battle, and we’ll surely be fighting side by side for a while. Since our living expenses are shared, let’s just pool our money into a ‘class fund’. This way, it’s more convenient, and keeping detailed accounts will also help our team’s sustainable development.”

Qian Ai was the first to raise his hand again, but this time in support. “Agreed.”

“Money” might be a difficult topic, but addressing it openly and clearly, like Xu Wang did, was refreshing.

“Agreed!” Kuang Jinxin was the second to raise his hand.

Wu Sheng nodded. “No objections.”

“Let’s each put in five thousand first. Air tickets are expensive.” Xu Wang thought for a moment. “Xiao Kuang is still a student. If you can contribute less, do so; if not, don’t worry, I’ll cover your part…” To alleviate any potential pressure on Kuang Jinxin, Xu Wang added with a smile, “But it’s a loan, remember. You’ll have to pay it back.”

“No need,” Kuang Jinxin quickly said. “I have five thousand!”

Xu Wang looked at him skeptically. “Don’t bankrupt yourself.”

“Xu Ge—” Kuang Jinxin was unhappy about being treated like a child by Xu Wang, but his argument wasn’t convincing. “If it’s not enough, I can always ask my family for more!”

Xu Wang was both amused and annoyed. “Then what will you tell your family when they ask what you need the money for?”

“For traveling,” Kuang Jinxin replied smoothly. “A few days ago, when my family asked why I ended my internship early, I said I wanted to see the world, so I’m out and about.”

“And they agreed?”

“Yeah, my grandma was especially happy, telling me repeatedly to make the most of my youth and see the world, and if I needed more money, just to tell her.”

“……”

Xu Wang was speechless, unable to decide if the Kuang family was overly indulgent or just thought he was naïve and inexperienced, needing to face the world and its challenges.

“Alright then.” Since the kid had money, he wouldn’t insist. They were all partners, regardless of age, and should respect each other equally. Sometimes, over-special treatment could be detrimental to unity. However, as the captain, he still gave the youngster a hearty pat on the shoulder. “Just don’t force yourself. If things get tough, talk to your brothers. The four of us are comrades in a minefield, already fated to tough it out. No harm in a little more hardship.”

Kuang Jinxin laughed, though his eyes were a bit teary. He nodded fiercely to dissipate the heat. “Yes!”

At five o’clock in the morning, they returned to reality.

The last piece of biscuit and keychain in Qian Ai’s pocket had disappeared, but the change he found was still there.

They weren’t immediately famished. The satiety from the biscuit and Xu Wang’s injury in the icy plain carried over to reality.

From this, Advisor Wu summarized two more points to the “Owl’s Operational Logic”:

(1) Fake items can be consumed in a fake way, real money for real items, usable within the Owl, dissipating outside; food energy can be sustained, and cash can be liquidated.

(2) Equivalent exchange √; getting something for nothing—×.

They didn’t catch up on sleep that day but headed straight to the airport.

Their precise new coordinates were in Dongying, Shandong. There was no direct flight from Yulin to Dongying, so they had to transfer at Xianyang Airport.

This was fine. The 13:05 flight left them an hour and a half to transfer at Xianyang, arriving at Dongying Shengli Airport by 17:30—a total of four and a half hours of travel, so it wasn’t too troublesome. And once in Dongying, they had over six hours to settle in, which was quite relaxing.

Boarding the plane, the four of them thought optimistically.

Then, when the plane arrived smoothly at Xianyang Airport, the sky suddenly changed, and a torrential downpour began, accompanied by strong winds and thunderstorms.

The four sat in the terminal, watching the rain pour down like a waterfall outside the glass, with a growing sense of dread layering in their minds.

“Lucky we’re off the plane.” Qian Ai echoed everyone’s thoughts. “I would have suffocated on board.”

The horror of the red-eye flight was something they definitely didn’t want to revisit in reality.

The storm not only brought back painful memories for the group but also severely disrupted the airport’s normal order, grounding all flights. When would they resume? That depended on the rain.

So they waited.

The group waited from around 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., 5 p.m. to late at night, with no signs of the rain letting up. The tarmac outside was dark and silent, as if the rain had turned into ink.

“Damn.” Qian Ai glanced at the time on his phone. “We won’t have to stay here overnight, right?”

“If the vortex opens up later, won’t it scare everyone?” Kuang Jinxin referred to the anxious passengers waiting around them.

Xu Wang imagined the scene. “They might be scared at first, but they’ll forget after.”

“It’s about the distance,” Wu Sheng noted. “It’s nearly a thousand kilometers straight from here to Dongying. Unless we can get on a plane inside or find some other faster mode of transport, there’s no way we can reach the coordinate point before 5 a.m., let alone pass the level.”

Qian Ai knew he was being pragmatic, but he couldn’t help but want to bring his teammates back to the basics. “Can you guys first think about what if we go in and the flight has left, and if we can’t go far inside, we might have to rebook the tickets…”

“No need.” Wu Sheng was nonchalant. “You can change or cancel flights before they take off.”

Qian Ai looked up in despair.

Xu Wang understood his teammate’s struggle. He handed Wu Sheng a cup of warm water he had just fetched, helping to explain, “That’s someone else’s ticket, not ours.”

Wu Sheng, holding the cup, looked puzzled.

As Xu Wang had taken on the financial responsibility of the communal wallet and had handled the ticket booking, he had the most say—

“We bought non-refundable, discounted tickets, also called ‘Happy Flying’.”

Wu Sheng drank the warm water in one gulp, nodding in agreement. “Nice name.”

Despite Qian Ai’s prayers, midnight came as scheduled, but the storm didn’t stop, and amidst the noisy rain, a clear owl’s hoot was heard.

A purple halo appeared on the terminal’s dome, and except for the four of them searching in all directions, no other passenger noticed.

However, two minutes later, all the passengers saw in horror—they were lifted into the air like a whirlwind, disappearing into the vortex.

After a dizzying sense of weightlessness, the four landed—not on the ground, but on the deck of an old-fashioned sailing ship.

Apart from them, there was no one else on the ship.

Outside the ship, the vast ocean lay before them, the calm sea shimmering with a pale green light under the sunlight.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu

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

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Chapter 27: Reward

The afterglow of the setting sun spilled into the room, the color of the burning clouds. The warmth of the sunset quietly climbed up the bed, dyeing the corners of the eyes and brows of someone deeply asleep, like a mischievous child blowing air, warm and ticklish, determined to disturb peaceful dreams.

After turning over, Wu Sheng woke up leisurely, and upon lifting his eyes, he saw the familiar sleeping face on the opposite bed.

Xu Wang lay on his side facing this way, straddling the blanket, sleeping deeply and sweetly. The evening sunlight outlined his facial features more distinctly. His usual clever spontaneity was still present, yet now accompanied by a bit more docility and tranquility.

Wu Sheng lay there, quietly watching, feeling like there was a calm and peaceful sea inside his heart—blue, vast, and serene.

Time passed, unknown how long…

“What are you doing?”

Xu Wang had been awake for a while and opened his eyes to find Wu Sheng staring intently at him. If one must stare, then let it be, but his gaze wandered, seemingly pondering over something delightful, with genuine joy and cheerfulness deep in his unfocused eyes.

Startled back to reality, Wu Sheng calmly met Xu Wang’s gaze. “You were talking in your sleep. I was debating whether or not to wake you.”

“Talking in my sleep?” Xu Wang raised his eyebrows in skepticism. “What did I say?”

Wu Sheng, with a straight face, replied, “Class monitor, save me…”

Xu Wang narrowed his eyes with complex emotions, warily scrutinizing the speaker, unwilling to believe in his heart yet unable to find evidence otherwise…

“Class monitor, I can’t do it without you,” the speaker added another sentence.

Xu Wang exhaled in relief, and his heart settled down, finding the completely out-of-character “sleep talk” unconvincing. “Wu Sheng, do you know what it means to collapse one’s persona?”

The class monitor, absorbed in his “script”, was stunned. “Hm?”

Xu Wang sighed and glanced at him. “Next time you make up stories, don’t use your own voice for the dialogue.”

They went to bed at five and woke up at five. Having slept for twelve hours, they simply washed up, feeling refreshed and revived. There was no movement next door. Xu Wang was worried that the other two teammates were still asleep, so he sent a message in the WeChat group first—

Wangwang*: [Are you awake?]

*Different [Wang] (旺) that’s a homophone for his name Xu [Wang] (徐望). This [wang] means to be prosperous, flourish, thriving, ect.

In the four-member group named “Unlucky Kids”, responses appeared instantly—

Love Money: [No.]

Tea Sage Lu Yu’s Little Fan: [Yes.]

Xu Wang was amused and was about to reply when someone was quicker—

Sheng Ge: [Lao Qian, you keep sleeping. We’ll go eat first.]

The response from next door was immediate, but this time it was a voice message. “Who’s sleeping? I’m already dressed! Where are we eating?”

Ten minutes later, the four met in the corridor and headed to a restaurant.

In the evening, Beiyue Temple Village was lively, with children playing under the buildings and smoke rising from the houses. Cars, electric scooters, and donkey carts coexisted peacefully on the road. The setting sun stretched their shadows, creating a busting and comfortable scene.

This time, they ventured a bit further and found a seemingly decent Shaanxi cuisine restaurant. As soon as they entered, they were greeted by the pungent aroma of chili oil. Wanting a good chat, they took a private room. No sooner had they sat down, Qian Ai declared, “This meal is on me.” So, when the waiter brought the menu, he naturally took charge of ordering.

With swift efficiency, they finished ordering, and the waiter left, leaving the four alone. Qian Ai leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Ah, it’s evening again. Happy times are always so fleeting.”

He was energetic while ordering, but now his voice carried a hint of resignation and fatigue.

“Are we going to keep up this night-and-day reversal?” Kuang Jinxin asked, propping his head with one hand.

“Probably.” Xu Wang sighed almost inaudibly, reaching for the teapot to pour hot water for his teammates.

Kuang Jinxin quickly intervened. “Wait.” He then pulled out a small bag of individually packed tea leaves from his pocket, distributed some into each cup, and only then took the teapot from Xu Wang to fill the cups with water.

The steam rose gently from the top of the cup, carrying a faint, almost imperceptible fragrance.

“Green tea.” Kuang Jinxin chuckled. “Refreshes the mind and relieves fatigue.”

There’s a saying that if you want to compliment someone for being resourceful, you’d say you could always get meat when following them. But when it comes to Kuang Jinxin, “meat” should be replaced with “tea”.

Xu Wang and Wu Sheng were used to it, but Qian Ai was surprised to see it for the first time, exclaiming, “You carry tea leaves with you?”

Kuang Jinxin scratched his head a bit shyly. “My family grows tea, and I studied this in university.”

“There’s a major for this?”

“Yes, Tea Science.”

“I’ve learned something new. It’s never too late to learn…”

Qian Ai nodded and then ran out of words. For such an unknown field, he really didn’t know what to say.

After pondering for two seconds, he kindly asked towards the half-open door of the private room, “Waiter? Is the food ready?”

It seemed like Qian Ai was more comfortable in the catering field.

His shout probably reached the kitchen directly, as the waiter soon began serving dishes, and eventually, the whole round table was filled with dishes.

Xu Wang looked at the table full of dishes, then at Qian Ai. “Did you order all these?”

“No worries.” Qian Ai patted his chest. “I said it’s my treat. I definitely won’t dine and dash!”

Xu Wang sighed inwardly. “That’s not the point. The question is, can we finish all these?”

Twenty minutes later, Xu Wang regretted his naive question.

“Alright, biangbiang noodles are done. What’s next? I’ll follow your lead!”

“Water basin mutton? Paomo stir-fry? Egg tofu sandwich?”

“Ah, thanks to ‘Lao Shan in Hainan’ for the rocket*. I’ll be eating the water basin mutton then, haha—”

*One of the gifts that users can give a live streamer during broadcast that can be exchanged for cash. 

“Slurp—slurp—”

“This soup is so aromatic and rich, but not greasy, and doesn’t have a hint of mutton smell…”

It was a world of two halves around one round table.

The phone was propped up by a selfie stick. The camera was facing half of the table, showing Qian Ai and half of the dishes. The other half of the table, not captured by the camera, had Xu Wang, Wu Sheng, Kuang Jinxin, and the rest of the dishes. The dishes for Qian Ai alone equated to the portion for the three of them.

But this wasn’t about pushing oneself for the live stream. It was evident that Qian Ai was genuinely enjoying the food, as every smile line on his face was brimming with love and satisfaction for the food.

After finishing the water basin mutton, perhaps due to some fans leaving the live room, Qian Ai suddenly said earnestly to the phone, “For those who like Shaanxi cuisine, please watch and cherish it. I probably won’t be able to eat this tomorrow…”

“What will I eat tomorrow?” Qian Ai read from the scrolling questions on his phone screen, sighing sadly. “I only know tonight. The rest is up to fate…”

‘Live streaming is really a magical thing,’ Xu Wang thought. Not just the audience in the live room, but even he, sitting behind the phone, was tempted to interact with Qian Ai and send him flowers and stars.

As he watched, Xu Wang suddenly felt envious. For this trip to Northern Shaanxi, he had quit his job and might not be able to work until he completely left the “Owl” behind. But this didn’t affect Qian Ai, who could continue working as usual. How nice.

One way to cure melancholy was to find like-minded companions who were also feeling a sense of loss.

In this private room, that naturally meant Wu Sheng and Kuang Jinxin. One had just started a business, working on an extremely important project, and the other was interning in college, supposed to be accumulating professional experience. But then the “Owl” appeared, and all projects and internships were…

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

The sudden rapid tapping sound broke Xu Wang’s thoughts. Turning his head, Wu Sheng had somehow produced a laptop and was typing at a speed invisible to the naked eye.

Xu Wang sneaked a peek and saw a messaging app open with a bunch of codes he couldn’t understand on the screen.

Probably not to disturb Qian Ai’s live stream, Wu Sheng was communicating by typing in the messaging app—

[This isn’t right. This is different from what was initially expected. I’ve said many times, solve the problem when you find it. Trying to skirt around the issue will always lead to a degraded user experience…]

Xu Wang only saw this much before the screen was completely switched back to code, with Wu Sheng continuing his “rush work”, likely addressing the “avoiding issue leads to a degraded user experience” problem mentioned in the messaging app.

Xu Wang wasn’t too happy because now the only one left in the same boat was Kuang Jinxin.

Turning his head, he saw that kid was playing on his phone.

Xu Wang moved closer, about to say something, when he saw the other person writing an answer on Zhihu. The question was about how to differentiate good from bad Pu’er tea.

Kuang Jinxin’s answer wasn’t finished yet, but from the current length, it already resembled a mini thesis.

Good. The only one not focusing on what he should be was himself.

Xu Wang looked out the window. His low spirit was cleared away, and a fiery passion ignited in his heart, burning with the zeal of life!

Student Xu’s zeal lasted until midnight. After the Owl’s call, he was the first to jump into the purple circle, valiant and spirited, as if ready to fight a life-and-death battle.

However, as they handed in their papers, they became idle here. The perilous terminal of yesterday, once entered again today, was just bustling with activity.

Passengers passing by, smiling ground staff, various eateries, and brand stores—everything was just as it was last night.

But the alerts that rang were no longer urging them to the counter for boarding, but the awaited 3/23 new coordinates—three people looked uniformly at Wu Sheng.

After a moment of contemplation, he looked up. “Shandong.”

Xu Wang held his forehead. His first thought was that they had to buy plane tickets. “Isn’t the travel cost too high?”

Qian Ai was stunned for a second, then nodded. “Got it. Next stop, eat multigrain pancakes.”

Kuang Jinxin was calm about where to go; since coming in, he had mainly been looking around, until now.

“Xiao Kuang, what are you looking at?” Xu Wang asked.

“I always feel like someone is watching us.” Kuang Jinxin frowned.

His words immediately put the other three on alert. The relaxation post-submission almost made them forget this level was open. It was very likely that no matter whether they submitted their papers or not, as long as they were in the level, there would be others.

They had learned their lesson about being exposed.

Thinking this, the four hurriedly entered a cafe, choosing a corner spot that allowed them to overlook the terminal through a hollow fence, yet was secluded enough.

As soon as they sat down, the waiter came over to ask what they’d like to drink. They symbolically ordered three cups of coffee and one tea, only to find that the waiter, very politely taking their order, never returned.

“I knew it was all for show.” Qian Ai couldn’t hide his disappointment.

“Don’t get your hopes up.” Xu Wang had anticipated this. “If we could eat and drink anything we wanted upon entering, who would bother going through the challenges?”

“Right,” Kuang Jinxin agreed. “If you could come in every night, eat and take away, there’d be no need to work. You’d be set for life.”

“Forget the coffee.” Wu Sheng redirected the conversation, lowering his voice. “Did you all receive your rewards?”

Kuang Jinxin nodded, showing his [Stationery Box]: [(Defense) Candy House¹], [(Offense) Hit Me If You Dare²].

¹This is referring to the story of Hansel and Gretel (though in Chinese it’s called Candy House).
²This is referring to a meme. I believe it comes from the movie Hail the Judge. There’s a scene in there where some guy is basically saying, “Common, hit me (if you dare)” …to which they actually did. You can see the scene here (it’s in Chinese though). 

“Hmm..” Wu Sheng looked at the two icons and pondered for a while. “Why don’t you introduce them yourself?”

Kuang Jinxin scratched his head in distress. “For defense, it should be similar to [A Clever Rabbit Has Three Burrows]. Maybe it can create a hiding place?”

Qian Ai raised his hand. “I’m more curious about the offense one.”

Xu Wang and Wu Sheng nodded in agreement.

With his teammates’ expectant eyes on him, Kuang Jinxin really wanted to give a perfect reading comprehension answer, but this question was too hard. The phrase “Hit Me If You Dare” was brimming with provocation, making it hard to decipher.

“Xu Ge, Wu Ge.” Kuang Jinxin decided to turn the question around. “What did you guys get?”

This was a very wise decision.

Because Xu Wang, who had been eagerly awaiting Kuang Jinxin’s reading comprehension, instantly deflated, listlessly showing his own arm.

Three teammates peered at it: [(Defense) I Urge You to Have One More Drink¹], [(Offense) Chang’e Flying to the Moon²].

¹This is referencing a line in the poem “The Song of Weicheng” by Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei. The full line is: “I urge you to have another drink, there will be no old friends when you leave Yangguan in the west.” 
²This is referring to the story of Chang’e, the moon goddess. Basically, the story goes, she was the wife of Hou Yi, who was rewarded an immortality elixir for shooting down nine suns. Not wanting immortality without his beloved wife, he gave her the elixir. To prevent it from falling into the wrong hands, she consumed it, which made her weightless. She flew upwards past the heavens to the moon, where she currently resides. Today, the Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated based on this legend.

Kuang Jinxin’s [Candy House] was at least imaginable, but Xu Wang’s…

“Let’s not talk about the defense for now. It’s definitely some kind of protective mechanism. No matter how strange, it can’t be too outlandish.” Qian Ai leaned in, intently looking at the antiquely designed icon of the beauty flying to the moon. “What the hell is this [Chang’e Flying to the Moon]?”

“Since it’s an offense…” Wu Sheng tried to relate to past experience. “It’s probably similar to [Beyond the Nine Heavens], sending the opponent straight to the moon.”

Qian Ai: “……”

Kuang Jinxin: “……”

Xu Wang: “Isn’t that a bit too romantic…”

Wu Sheng: “A place with no oxygen, no food, no life, and no liquid water—sending someone can only be said to be brutal. Where’s the romance?”

Xu Wang: “Let’s check out your rewards then.”

With the topic forcibly shifted, Wu Sheng, oblivious, naturally showed his own Stationery Box: [(Defense) Cloak of Invisibility], [(Offensive) Deep Gaze of Death].

“A cloak!” Kuang Jinxin was the first to excitedly respond, then, realizing it might not be appropriate, quickly covered his mouth, but still, strong envy seeped through his fingers. “[Cloak of Invisibility], that’s so cool…”

Xu Wang was also a bit envious, but not because the [Cloak of Invisibility] was cool; rather, it was rare to encounter a stationery that could be understood just by reading the name.

But on the other hand…

“I urgently need one of you guys to explain,” he said, but his eyes were clearly fixed on Wu Sheng. “How does this [Deep Gaze of Death] work as a weapon?”

Wu Sheng didn’t speak and just gave him a “deeply affectionate” look.

One second.

Two seconds.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds…

“……” Using all his willpower, Xu Wang managed not to look away.

This is a fucking weapon of mass destruction!

Compared to Xu Wang, Kuang Jinxin, and Wu Sheng, who all had at least one perplexing stationery, Qian Ai was much more relaxed. His two rewards were [(Defense) Mr. Thirteen of the Middle Ring*], [(Offense) Invincible Hot Wheels]. [Mr. Thirteen of the Middle Ring], as the name suggests, is about racing, while the [Invincible Hot Wheels] is naturally a weapon.

*This is referring to a mysterious drag racer who (apparently) managed to drive around Beijing’s 2^nd Ring Road in just 13 minutes. The 2^nd Ring Road is about 20.3 miles… so to drive around it in 13 minutes, he would have to be going about 94 miles/hour.

If understanding rewards was a test, then Qian Ai was answering an open-book exam.

“Coincidence, mere coincidence.” Classmate Qian didn’t forget to humble himself a bit to balance his teammates’ moods.

“With this comparison, the first challenge was really straightforward.” Kuang Jinxin suddenly sighed. “Use sleighs to escape, use the Fishnado to deal with bears, and Xu Ge got skate shoes at the ice waterfall. What tools to use at each stage was crystal clear.”

“It’s to familiarize us with the process,” Wu Sheng said. “Without these hints, we wouldn’t even know what to do, and the program would fail as countless users would crowd at the entrance without truly accessing the internal application.”

Kuang Jinxin blinked at Xu Wang.

Xu Wang patted his shoulder. “If this is a game, the first level is a warm-up stage, specially designed for us to get used to the rules so we can better engage in the game later.”

Kuang Jinxin apologetically glanced at Wu Sheng, then faced Xu Wang, sincerely saying, “Xu Ge, I like your explanation.”

Wu Sheng, feeling dejected, turned his head to look outside the café. His gaze suddenly fixed in a certain direction, his eyes narrowing slightly, flashing with alertness.

“What’s wrong?” Xu Wang whispered. Sensing something amiss, he leaned in and looked out the grille with him.

“Counter 9,” Wu Sheng said. “There’s a team there checking in.”

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu

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

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Chapter 26: Night Talk

If someone had told him four days ago that he could share a room with Wu Sheng—not the school’s bunk beds—without any other beds or roommates around, just the two of them, lone men together, staring into each other’s faces, Xu Wang could have imagined a hundred dramatic and explosive scenarios, each with its unique thunderous roars and flames.

Now, this dreamy scene had actually become a reality.

Exhausted to the point of not wanting to move even a finger, Xu Wang was looking forward to diving into bed and sleeping soundly.

Drive*?

*Referring to driving a car, which is a euphemism for sex. 

That’s for when one is alert. Driving while fatigued isn’t recommended!

His eyelids growing heavier, Xu Wang mustered the energy to head to the bathroom. Halfway there, he remembered to call out to Wu Sheng, “You don’t need the toilet urgently, right? I’ll just wash my face first.”

He didn’t look back. It was more of an announcement than a question.

Hearing no response from Wu Sheng behind him, Xu Wang took it as consent and went into the bathroom, hastily washed his face with cold water, brushed his teeth, and finished within a few minutes. Coming out, he found Wu Sheng squatting in a corner, inspecting a half-person-tall hiking bag.

“Isn’t that Xiao Kuang’s bag?” Xu Wang curiously approached.

When they had returned to the room, they were still shocked by the “auntie’s memory loss” and hadn’t noticed anything new in the corner. The issue of Kuang Jinxin’s missing backpack had long been forgotten.

“Yeah, it’s Xiao Kuang’s,” Wu Sheng confirmed. “It must have been stopped at the last moment, just like your fruit knife.”

He opened the backpack, not to rummage through but just to look.

Xu Wang stood behind him, also peering in, noticing that the surface was filled with daily necessities and occasionally glimpsing bits of snack wrappers deep inside.

Clearly, this was a “camping” type of bag, consistent with what Kuang Jinxin had said, and it didn’t contain any dangerous items.

So, such a harmless bag was also stopped…

“Is it really because it’s too big?” Other than its impressive size, Xu Wang couldn’t find any other faults with the bag.

“Maybe,” Wu Sheng mused, still squatting there, thoughtfully.

Xu Wang knew this meant Wu Sheng was starting to enter new information into his database, preparing for future similar queries or updating the answers when the truth was revealed.

Wu Sheng’s mind was like an empire of hackers—at least, that was what Xu Wang thought in high school.

Unable to match Wu Sheng’s brainpower, Xu Wang could only resort to talking; otherwise, it’d be too awkward just standing there. “You and Xiao Kuang really need to balance out.”

After completing his input, Wu Sheng turned back with a puzzled look.

“You two are just two extremes.” Xu Wang gestured towards Wu Sheng’s slim dual-shoulder laptop bag. “His bag can hold an entire world, while yours seems to be full with just a laptop.”

Wu Sheng stood up, raised his eyebrows slightly, and said in a slightly raised tone, “Are, you, sure?”

Xu Wang involuntarily stepped back, his mind suddenly flashing with numerous domineering CEO lines from idol dramas—great, you’ve caught my attention.

His heartbeat skipped, then pounded erratically. Xu Wang tried to maintain a natural expression as he watched Wu Sheng stride over, pick up the laptop bag, then turn back and place it on the table, unzipping it and taking out the items one by one—

Laptop.

External hard drive.

USB drives.

Memory cards.

Power bank.

Kindle.

Earphones.

A box full of identical-looking data cables.

A small pack of clothes and daily necessities that seemed to be stuffed in as shock absorbers for the electronic devices…

Finally, after the display, Wu Sheng slowly raised his eyes with a proud smile at the corners of his mouth, nonchalantly shaking his head at Xu Wang. “Never underestimate a programmer’s laptop bag.”

Xu Wang: “……”

His flustered heart felt foolish!

Wu Sheng, satisfied with his equipment, touched this and looked at that, casually flipping out a box not much bigger than his palm from a pile of mysterious items.

Xu Wang craned his neck to see, finding it to be a small, transparent plastic box with a conspicuous red cross.

“You even brought a medical kit?” Xu Wang was truly surprised. “When did you start living so delicately?”

“It’s called being prepared for anything. The first level was a bear—who knows what we’ll encounter in the second level. I never think my life is too long.”

“Alright, you’re thorough; you’re the best.”

“Still, it’s overkill. After all, with my agility, it’s hard to get injured and even harder to use it.”

“……”

He had blindly praised, so why did he still not dodge the show-off strike?!

“Forget it. Let’s give it to someone who needs it more.” Wu Sheng sighed, walking over and stuffing the medical kit into Xu Wang’s hands, feigning reluctance.

Xu Wang’s mouth twitched, feeling the “gift” was more like a curse. “I, don’t, need, it.”

Wu Sheng tilted his head, innocently asking, “How’s your back after that bear pounce?”

“……” Xu Wang was defeated.

Five minutes later.

Xu Wang took off his shirt and lay on the bed. His mind was in chaos, unable to sort out how things had progressed to this point. If he remembered correctly, it all started with Wu Sheng finding Kuang Jinxin’s hiking bag, so how did it end up with Wu Sheng changing his bandages?

“The wound isn’t too deep,” Wu Sheng commented as he removed the old bandage, inspecting it for a couple of seconds.

Xu Wang rolled his eyes, swearing he couldn’t detect a hint of concern. “Sorry to disappoint you.”

As he waited for Wu Sheng to retort, a sudden chill from the iodine on his wound made Xu Wang gasp. “Brother, are you applying iodine or seeking revenge!”

“Only if you stand the greatest hardships can you hope to rise in society*.”

*Idiom referring to those who have endured innumerable hardships will gain fame and wealth and become a person respected and loved by others. 

“Is that even applicable here?!”

“Now I know why there are fewer and fewer people willing to help others.” Wu Sheng, undeterred, diligently dabbed the iodine around the wound perimeter, meanwhile lamenting the deterioration of the world. “It’s not that there are no good people; it’s just that it’s hard to do good deeds.”

In his soft sigh, there wasn’t only the bitterness of kindness unappreciated but also the frustration of being misunderstood, coupled with a bit of the nobility of repaying evil with good. It was a fully-dimensional, comprehensive occupation of the moral high ground, exerting moral supremacy over his opponent.

Beggars can’t be choosers*. Xu Wang was using Wu Sheng’s bandages, iodine, and labor. He kept his mouth shut under the weight of his conscience.

*One who eats from others has a short mouth; one who takes from others has soft hands. It’s a proverb that means if you accept someone’s generosity or favors, you might feel less obliged to be able to speak out or act freely against them.

As the conversation—or rather, the bickering—came to a halt, the room quietened down, so quiet that it felt like you could hear time ticking away with each of Wu Sheng’s not-so-gentle movements.

“Not really gentle” was Xu Wang’s subjective view. In reality, apart from the initial cold shock of the iodine, he hadn’t felt any discomfort afterward. On the contrary, it was quite cooling and comfortable.

Unable to turn around and see Wu Sheng’s movements and expression, he could only rest his chin on his crossed hands, obediently being a “patient”.

Unfortunately, this patient had a guilty conscience, unable to endure the prolonged silence and peace, always feeling that if he didn’t say something, some ghost might appear. And if, by chance, the person behind him caught it, then he’d never be able to lift his head in front of him again.

“You think…” Xu Wang shuffled uncomfortably, breaking the silence.

But as soon as he spoke two words, he was sharply told, “Don’t move.”

His shoulder was still under Wu Sheng’s care, so Xu Wang didn’t dare to move recklessly, lying still and looking forward. But his mouth still pursued freedom. “What do you think the next level will be?”

“We don’t need to worry about that.” Wu Sheng carefully placed a new bandage on Xu Wang’s wound. “Tomorrow, no, tonight we’ll get the coordinates again.”

“The reward will come too, right?” Xu Wang, resting on his hands, dreamt of the future. “I wonder what stationery we’ll get this time.”

He was genuinely looking forward to it, which Wu Sheng could tell. But precisely because he could tell, he felt the other person’s focus was amusing. “What’s the point? Will it decrease the difficulty of the levels? It’s just a drop in the bucket.”

“……” Xu Wang’s budding desire to have a “nice chat” was squashed with a single comment.

He didn’t oppose being pragmatic, but being pragmatic doesn’t mean every conversation has to be doused in cold water. That hell of a place doesn’t pay wages or provide insurance, and the rewards are the only thing to look forward to. Isn’t even daydreaming allowed anymore? Is living not allowed?

“Hey, later go next door and switch with Xiao Kuang.”

“Huh?”

“Talking to you shortens my life.”

“……”

From where Wu Sheng was, he could only see the back of Xu Wang’s head, but even just that was enough for Wu Sheng to sense the imminent crisis of “the sports rep and the class monitor can’t talk, so the class committee is facing dissolution”.

After a silent ten seconds or so.

The disheartened sports rep heard the class monitor behind him ask in a sincere, curious, and amiable tone. “What do you think the stationery will be?”

The sports rep’s mood brightened.

Sports rep: “Definitely something even weirder and more interesting!”

“Haa…” The class monitor let out a long sigh full of survival instinct. “I think so too.”

Xu Wang was satisfied. Good, the class committee can cooperate for another five hundred years.

Finishing with the last piece of tape, Wu Sheng patted Xu Wang’s lower back. “Done.”

Xu Wang, tickled by the pat, let out a cry. Regretting it immediately, he braced for comments like “Are you made of tofu?” or “You’re overacting.” But after waiting a while with no response, he turned his head to find Wu Sheng already at the bathroom door.

As if sensing something, Wu Sheng, who already had one foot in the bathroom, stopped and turned back to look at Xu Wang.

Their eyes met, and the air froze.

Xu Wang, who was using his small hands as a pillow, felt blessed at the moment. “Thank you.”

Wu Sheng’s eyes softened, and he waved his hand lightly. “No need to be too moved.”

If he weren’t so tired that lifting a finger was hard, Xu Wang would have definitely thrown a slipper at him.

Wu Sheng took a shower and came out almost twenty minutes later. He thought Xu Wang would have already drifted off to the ninth heaven, but when he approached the bed, he found his bunkmate wide awake, staring at the ceiling in deep thought, as if it held the ultimate secrets of life.

“What are you thinking about?” Wu Sheng climbed into his own bed, shaking out his blanket while curiously asking.

“Why hasn’t it disappeared?” Xu Wang said, unsure if he was answering or just talking to himself.

“What disappeared?” Wu Sheng listened but didn’t understand.

Xu Wang simply turned over to lie on his side, staring intently at his bunkmate with an attitude ready for a long night’s discussion. “The stationery. Why hasn’t it disappeared?”

“Is it about [Cao Chong Weighing the Elephant]?” Wu Sheng guessed naturally in that direction. “The reason it might not be usable is probably due to not meeting the conditions, like not enough scores, wrong level, or some other restrictions.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Xu Wang shook his head. “I mean, my head also hurts, but when I entered the ‘Owl’, my [Stationery Box] wasn’t emptied, and none of the stationery disappeared.”

“Did you call the police?”

“No, when Auntie Ling came over, I had the thought of opening the door, hoping she’d discover everything and then help us call the police. Just thinking about it made my head hurt.”

“But you still didn’t open the door, right?” Wu Sheng also lay on his side, facing Xu Wang across the bed. “Thinking and doing are still different.”

“But there was also deliberate intention. This is no different in essence from the others’ calling the police, and I was also warned by the headache.”

“They persisted in calling the police even after the headaches. You didn’t persist in opening the door, did you?”

“Er, no.”

“That’s the essential difference,” Wu Sheng said. “In programming, a command issued is issued, not issued is not issued. The program doesn’t execute a certain command because you ‘want to issue’ it.”

Xu Wang glared at him. “That’s a programmer’s way of thinking.”

Wu Sheng yawned. “How do you know the world inside the ‘Owl’ isn’t a large program?”

“Program?” Xu Wang repeated dully.

“It’s just a metaphor,” Wu Sheng said. “Every world has its operating logic. Here we rely on natural laws and social norms. The ‘Owl’ has its own logic too. It’s just that we haven’t figured it out yet.”

“Crazy. Having to break through levels, explore rules, match wits and courage with ‘colleagues’, and now I need to study its logic too…” Xu Wang sighed deeply, too exhausted to be angry. “I never win the lottery, and yet I’m always accurate in these unlucky situations.”

He expected Wu Sheng to agree, but the other bed was quiet for a while.

Xu Wang looked over curiously and found Wu Sheng’s expression calm, not showing any sign of discontent or anger.

“Don’t you think it’s unlucky?” Xu Wang asked seriously.

Wu Sheng pondered for a moment, then answered seriously, “It’s okay.”

Xu Wang doubted his ears. “It’s okay?”

“Although life is severely disrupted, sleep completely reversed, and work struggle forcibly interrupted, but…” Wu Sheng quietly watched him for a while, then suddenly smiled. “It’s okay.”

Xu Wang watched the smile on Wu Sheng’s face incredulously, taking almost a minute to digest and finally believing that the man was serious.

It reminded him of a test in high school when Wu Sheng complained that the test paper was too easy—a glance before the test would score full marks, not reflecting the real level of learning, making the test process extremely boring and unenjoyable.

Although Xu Wang didn’t understand the term “the fun in learning”, it was clear that the teacher took the words to heart. To give these “top students,” who were unaware of their limits, a lesson in humility, the difficulty of the second test jumped from bronze to king level. For the final big question, Xu Wang couldn’t even understand the question, and Wu Sheng also didn’t solve it within the exam time. In the end, they both handed in their papers without scoring any points for this question.

Later, when the teacher was reviewing the paper, before explaining the answer to the last question, he first gave a lesson in humility, saying that even if you’re good at studying, you need to be modest, prudent, and not too ambitious. But before he finished, Wu Sheng raised his hand, claiming he had solved the question and was “invited” by the teacher, albeit reluctantly, to write three solutions on the board, the last of which was specially marked as not using “formulas learned”, just for reference.

To this day, Xu Wang still believes it was the teacher’s moral fortitude that he didn’t reprimand Wu Sheng with a ruler.

“What are you thinking about now?” Wu Sheng watched as Xu Wang got lost in thought while talking to him, feeling complicated.

Xu Wang brought his thoughts back and sighed at Wu Sheng. In a rare moment, he said earnestly, “I’m thinking, why do you like solving difficult problems and tackling challenges so much? Isn’t it nice to live easily? Ever heard of ‘contentment brings happiness’?”

“I’ve never really understood that phrase.” Wu Sheng sincerely asked, “What’s there to enjoy when you’re satisfied? Isn’t it better to always have a direction to strive in, to always have the joy of climbing?”

“…Forget it. I don’t understand your high-IQ world.” Xu Wang gave up the discussion, turned over, and lay facing away from Wu Sheng, so as not to get more upset by looking at him.

“You don’t need to understand.” Came the understanding voice from the next bed. “Just admire me.”

Xu Wang: “Good night!”

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu

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

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Chapter 25: After Submission

Under the night sky, Hongshan was vast and desolate. The Zhenbeitai, enduring over four hundred years of wind and frost, no longer bustled with daytime tourists and stood quietly atop the mountain in the biting wind, like a general surveying the land he guarded.

Suddenly, a purple light appeared mid-air, gradually enlarging until it became a manhole-cover-sized purple vortex. Then, four living people fell out from it, pitter-pattering onto the Zhenbeitai.

The thud of landing mixed with cries of “Ouch” abruptly broke the tranquility of the mountaintop.

If one were to look down from above Zhenbeitai at this moment, they would see four figures in the shape of a ‘大*’, all facing upwards, either panting heavily or taking deep breaths, all exuding a mix of relief and exhaustion from a narrow escape.

*Means big, but the character looks like a person sprawled out.

Qian Ai: “Why do I feel like I’ve been thrown out…”

Xu Wang: “Just be glad you made it out alive. What, you expected to be carried home in a sedan chair?”

Kuang Jinxin: “It’s only 4:20…”

Qian Ai: “Four twenty? I feel like it’s been forty days…”

Wu Sheng: “Let’s rest for two minutes and then quickly get going. The wind is fierce at the top of the mountain.”

However, after two minutes, the sense of accomplishment from “passing the test” started to emerge amidst the exhaustion, belatedly bringing a hint of excitement.

“This time we made it out alive. I definitely owe you big time.” The flashback of the battle scene made Qian Ai sit up suddenly, looking down at Wu Sheng seriously. “If you hadn’t grabbed the doorframe when the tail exploded, all of us would have flown out!”

“It was alright.” Wu Sheng stood up, dusting off the dirt from his clothes, trying to be modest. “In that situation, finding something stable to hold onto is instinct. I was just a bit quicker in reaction and movement.”

Xu Wang, lying there, glanced at Wu Sheng, seeing his lips and brows about to fly up with pride. He wanted to almost warn Qian Ai, “Stop praising him, or he might think he can fly to the moon.”

Perhaps feeling the same way, Qian Ai didn’t continue with the praises but changed the subject. “But I was really shocked when you were ‘carrying the three of us’. How have you trained these past years? Why is your physical fitness so good?”

Wu Sheng was less pleased to hear that. “When have I ever been unfit?”

“In high school,” Qian Ai recalled. “Do you remember once, when Xu Wang and that tough guy from Class 7 were fighting in the corridor? We were afraid of getting caught by the teacher, so none of us dared to help, except you went to help Xu Wang. Then that Class 7 guy pushed you, and you fainted.”

Wu Sheng: “……”

“I remember even if you don’t,” Xu Wang chimed in, getting up energetically to continue the story. “Then the teacher came, and instead of dealing with us, she rushed you to the infirmary first. After all, the top student is precious.”

“Right, right.” Qian Ai nodded vigorously. “And later didn’t that Class 7 guy, fearing punishment, collude with you, claiming you guys weren’t fighting but just playing around?”

“Pfft,” Xu Wang scoffed. “I didn’t even want to deal with him from the start. A punishment is a punishment; as long as it wasn’t easy for that guy, anything was fine,” he said, glancing at Wu Sheng. “Who knew that after waking up, this guy would insist we were just playing.”

“He was helping you.” Qian Ai couldn’t stand it and spoke up for justice. “If he hadn’t said that, you both would have gotten a major demerit.”

“Why do you always say he was helping me?” Xu Wang couldn’t hold back any longer. “Just now you said he stepped in to help me; he was breaking up the fight—a neutral party.”

“Both of you wait a minute.” Wu Sheng couldn’t bear it any longer and had to interrupt to defend his youth. He first looked at Xu Wang. “First, I did step in to help you. Even Lao Qian can see it. Are you that obtuse? Otherwise, why do you think you got off with just a verbal warning?” He then glanced at Qian Ai. “Second, you two haven’t really thought I actually fainted all these years, have you?”

Xu Wang, still tangled in whether it was breaking up the fight or taking sides, received new information, and his brain almost couldn’t keep up. “Huh?”

Qian Ai was also taken aback. “You didn’t really faint?”

“Of course, I pretended to faint,” Wu Sheng stated as if it were obvious. “If I hadn’t ‘fainted’, wouldn’t it have become a three-person fight? If I said I was breaking it, would that guy admit it? So I had to faint. Once I fainted, that guy got scared. As long as he chickens out, everything else is easy to handle…”

“I get it!” Kuang Jinxin suddenly sat up. In the first level, they encountered Xu Wang, and while Xu Wang only saw Wu Sheng without noticing him and Sun Jiang beside him, the two had reminisced about high school when Xu Wang was kicked into the goal by three burly men and Wu Sheng called the teacher over. Wu Sheng had then said, “This is called using your brain!”

Qian Ai: “……”

Xu Wang: “……”

Wu Sheng felt gratified. He found a kindred spirit in Kuang Jinxin amidst high mountains and flowing water.

After chatting for a while, the little excitement from their submission gradually dissipated, and tiredness crept back in. The four of them, sneaking out of the scenic area under the cover of night, called a taxi with their phones, and within fifteen minutes, they were back at the hotel.

Standing outside the hotel, they suddenly remembered a grave issue—when they entered the “Owl” at midnight, they were communicating with the proprietress through the door. After they were all swept away, how would the auntie outside the door react? Leave filled with doubts? Rush into the room to find no one? Or simply call the police?

No matter the scenario, they needed to provide a reasonable explanation.

Now, through the glass door, they saw the auntie dozing off at the front desk.

“What do we do?” Qian Ai scratched his head a little worriedly.

“Go in.” Xu Wang made a decisive decision. “What will be, will be. Let’s play it by ear.”

With that, he was the first to walk in, followed closely by Wu Sheng. Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai exchanged glances and followed suit, steeling themselves.

As if sensing their arrival, the auntie happened to wake up and open her eyes at that moment. She was about to yawn, but as she opened her mouth, she saw the four of them entering. So, the yawn stopped, and her eyes and mouth opened wide.

The four stood still, not moving forward or backward, just quietly watching the auntie, adopting a strategy of no action until the enemy moves.

“You guys…” The auntie finally spoke, but her tone was not accusatory; she was just purely puzzled and surprised. “When did you go out? I’ve been here all the time. How come I didn’t see you?”

The four were baffled by this unexpected question. They looked at each other, and finally, Xu Wang said, “Uh, we went out earlier for a late-night snack. You might have been asleep and didn’t notice.”

“Oh.” The auntie accepted the explanation without any problems and even kindly reminded them, “It’s very cold at night. Kids should wear more.”

Her attitude was natural, and after speaking, she yawned and put her hand on the counter, ready to continue her nap.

Even the most oblivious person could sense something was off. Xu Wang, throwing caution to the wind, directly asked, “Auntie, you came to our room earlier…”

He stopped halfway, partly cautious not to reveal too much, and partly because he genuinely didn’t know how to continue. It’s not like he could say, “You came to our room, and then we disappeared. How do you feel about that?”

The auntie, waiting for the continuation, finally responded to the first part. “What? When did I come to your room?”

The air suddenly went quiet.

Xu Wang, suppressing his disbelief, pressed further, “Around midnight last night…”

“Kid, what are you talking about?” The auntie laughed as if they were children making up stories. “I’ve been here all night. When did I go upstairs?”

The air went utterly silent.

They looked at the auntie, and the auntie looked back at them, equally baffled.

In the long silence, the four finally realized one thing—the auntie had lost her memory.

This disjointed conversation ended with the auntie’s bafflement and the four’s heart-thumping realization.

They were shocked by the absurdity of the “memory loss” and even more so by the power of the “Owl”. But after calming down, they thought, if the “Owl” can pull real people into its world, where even injuries sustained there can be brought back to reality, what’s so impossible about altering someone’s memory?

Still, it was terrifying.

This terrifying power blurred the lines between the “Owl” and “reality”, making those who used to clearly separate night and day, relegating the “Owl” completely out of their lives as if it were just a dream or a test, feel a chill in their hearts.

Back in the room, the four sat in silence, either on chairs or on the bed, speechless for a long time.

“Actually, looking at it from another angle, it’s a good thing. This way, we won’t be considered lunatics, and we don’t have to lie to cover up a strange disappearance.” Kuang Jinxin was the first to speak. He patted his face, and his eyes regained their vitality and optimism. “Let’s sleep. Tomorrow is a new day.”

Xu Wang sighed.

They wouldn’t be considered lunatics, but they had also completely lost the chance to seek help.

But on this night of hard-fought battles, it was better not to discuss such heavy topics.

“Agreed.” He patted his legs, standing up from the bed and loudly seconding Kuang Jinxin. “Sleep!”

“I’m not going back to my room.” Qian Ai immediately raised his hand. “I’m feeling very insecure right now. I want to sleep with you three!”

“Lao Qian.” Wu Sheng seriously corrected him. “Just because we three share a room doesn’t mean we sleep together.”

Qian Ai paused, then retorted. “It’s the same thing. Why nitpick?”

“No, no, no.” Wu Sheng shook his head firmly. “There’s a big difference…”

“Can you talk about something useful!” Xu Wang couldn’t take it anymore and threw out a practical suggestion. “Then let’s push the three beds together and sleep all four of us.”

“Don’t push them together. The gaps between the beds are uncomfortable to sleep on.” Kuang Jinxin volunteered. “Qian Ge, I’ll go to your room and accompany you.”

“Alright.” Xu Wang thought this was a good idea, patting Qian Ai’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. No matter what happens, Xiao Kuang will protect you.”

Qian Ai looked at Xu Wang’s serious face, then at Kuang Jinxin’s sincere one, and finally at Wu Sheng, who seemed oblivious to the outside world, feeling his martial prowess was being insulted, but…

“That works.”

After sending off Qian Ai and Kuang Jinxin, the room was left with just Xu Wang and Wu Sheng.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

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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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu

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

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Chapter 23: Code

Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face disappeared in the torrential rain in an instant, leaving no trace, as if they had never been on this plane.

“Are they… dead?” Kuang Jinxin’s voice was hoarse from crying, yet he was still worried about his adversaries.

Xu Wang had no answer because he was uncertain too.

“It can’t be.” Qian Ai was still sprawled on the ground, “the lingering numbness” preventing him from standing up. He continued to lie there, fortunately able to speak again. “This place is like this. Once it assesses that you’ve been too severely injured, it will send you home early. I’ve been pounced on by a bear, sucked into a tornado, and both times I was bounced back to reality.”

“Isn’t the Fishnado your own or your teammate’s stationery?” Xu Wang was confused. “Why would a Fishnado send you home?”

Qian Ai turned his face away. “I refuse to recall that.”

Passengers sitting next to the bomb on the wing reacted not to the sudden disappearance of Long Legs but to the bomb itself. The color drained from their faces, and their voices were tinged with an accusing tone filled with tears. “Didn’t the captain say the bomb would be defused soon? It’s been over an hour…”

Wu Sheng didn’t bother to converse further, directly entering the three digits that hadn’t been input by Long Legs—9, 1, 4.

The countdown to the explosion, which had been ticking down, now stopped.

Wu Sheng could hardly believe it was so smooth, yet he couldn’t control the ecstasy rising within him.

“Well? Has it stopped?” Qian Ai, supported by Xu Wang and Kuang Jinxin, stood up unsteadily at the tail of the plane, still concerned about the situation.

Wu Sheng breathed a sigh of relief and was just about to respond when something flickered in his peripheral vision!

Instinctively, he turned back to look at the bomb. The countdown, which had been stationary, had started moving again!

And—

It was ticking down at a rate of one second per change, but the countdown was decreasing by five seconds each tick.

The countdown had accelerated fivefold.

“Damn! Are they trying to kill us?” Xu Wang, called over by Wu Sheng, couldn’t accept this reality. He now felt like kicking the bomb into oblivion.

“No, wait.” Wu Sheng suddenly seemed to remember something, shaking his head. “No, it’s not the two of them.”

“Is it me then!” Xu Wang was on the verge of frenzy.

Wu Sheng suddenly leaned in, nose to nose, eye to eye, and slowly but clearly said, “They don’t have the blood gourd.”

Xu Wang’s throat inexplicably went dry, repeating softly, “Blood gourd?”

Wu Sheng nodded. “Yes, the small pamphlet said that after the sacrifice, a blood droplet would form on the glazed gourd. According to the legend, only when the blood in the gourd is full is the sacrifice complete, and one can ascend to immortality. They firmly believe this, even willing to sacrifice everyone on the plane, so they must have an identical gourd hanging around their necks. But when Lao Qian was putting a loop around their necks earlier, there was no red string gourd.”

“Could they have hidden it?”

“If they had thought that far ahead, they wouldn’t have kept knocking on the door until we came out with evidence before thinking of running.”

“The times are evolving, and society is progressing; maybe they have more advanced tools for sacrifice now?”

“If you always apply real-world logic here, then there’s no solving this. Think about it. Why was it such a coincidence that when you were in the luggage compartment asking questions, it triggered the luggage to fall? Why were only the two of them coming to help you pick up the luggage? If this were reality, and the only two ‘good samaritans’ happen to be criminals, how low would that probability be?”

Xu Wang looked steadily at Wu Sheng. His irritation was gradually cooling, and his rationality slowly returned.

“So every piece of information related to the main storyline provided here is useful. The booklet specifically mentioned the blood gourd, so it must mean something.”

Wu Sheng exhaled in relief, approvingly patting his head. “You’re finally getting it.”

Xu Wang wanted to shake off his hand but felt somewhat subdued due to his earlier “gaffe” and let him be.

For always maintaining at least basic rationality and calmness in any situation, Xu Wang truly admired Wu Sheng, even though he had never told him so. He remembered that during exams, whenever he encountered a question he couldn’t answer, he would start panicking, wanting to flip the desk within minutes. The rest of the paper would be futile, answered in haste, and utterly messy.

On this matter, he had once humbly sought advice from Wu Sheng, who generously shared his experience: First, skip the question and continue with others; second, after finishing the rest, return to the ones skipped.

Xu Wang always felt that this advice was easier said than done.

Even if he skipped the question, it would still linger in his mind, affecting his state. And when he returned to the questions he skipped, would he suddenly have an epiphany? — That was what he once asked his class monitor.

If he remembered correctly, they were in their sophomore year of high school then. The class monitor, exuding an inexplicable coolness, flipped his bangs and gave him an unforgettable answer—Why would it affect your state of mind? There isn’t a question in this world I can’t solve; answering them earlier or later is just a matter of order.

“He’s dead! Ahhhhhhh—” A sudden scream from the back of the plane pulled Xu Wang back from his thoughts.

Wu Sheng had already stood up before him, leaving behind the instruction “Watch the bomb,” and sprinted towards the tail of the plane.

Xu Wang stayed put, craning his neck like all the other curious passengers to see what was happening at the tail of the plane.

He saw that the two passengers, Feng Liuyi and An Qijiu, who were previously sitting, were now both on the ground, with the flight attendants performing emergency CPR on them.

Three minutes later, Wu Sheng returned with a somber look on his face. “They didn’t make it.”

Xu Wang was shocked, yet a sense of absurdity emerged as the surreal world and real emotions intertwined into a confusing experience.

“Poison,” Wu Sheng said. “They acted too quickly in taking the pills. Lao Qian and Xiao Kuang didn’t even have time to react.”

Xu Wang hung his head.

He had been hoping to pry some information about the blood gourd from these two, and now he was back to square one.

As the countdown to the explosion continued, Wu Sheng suddenly asked, “How many people in economy class haven’t you talked to yet?”

Xu Wang didn’t understand his intention but answered truthfully, “I talked up to Hua Wuwu—about forty-something people left.”

“There’s no time.” Wu Sheng glanced at the clock. “With the countdown accelerating five times, we have only 16 minutes left. We can only take a gamble now.”

Xu Wang asked, “Gamble on what?”

“Every person in first-class has a story, and I’ve talked to everyone in business class without finding anything suspicious. But there are many people in economy class, so I’m betting on the high probability that the culprit is there,” Wu Sheng explained. “But we only have time for one thing now: either you quickly relay the information of the people you’ve talked to, and we look for clues, or we split up and talk to those we haven’t spoken to yet. So you also have to gamble. Is the culprit among those you’ve talked to, or those you haven’t?”

Instinctively, Xu Wang wanted to say the culprit is among those he hasn’t talked to. But considering the painful lesson that “he hadn’t detected any hints from talking to Jiang San’er”, Xu Wang rarely reflected, and after some thought, he solemnly made his choice. “Among those I’ve talked to.”

Wu Sheng slightly furrowed his brows. “You’ve talked to thirty-something people, and there are forty-something left. Are you sure you want to bet on the minority?”

Xu Wang shrugged, confessing honestly, “Not sure, but since you’re asking me to choose, I can only trust my instincts.”

Wu Sheng looked at him for two seconds, then smiled. “If you trust your instincts, I trust you.”

Xu Wang was caught off guard and felt a sweet flutter in his heart, struggling to maintain his composure as he heard a childish voice calling, “Uncle—”

Both Xu Wang and Wu Sheng turned their heads, seeing a five- or six-year-old boy standing in the aisle, tilting his head and blinking big eyes at them, his face so adorably carved and rosy.

“Xiao Yisi?” Wu Sheng recognized the child, who had lingered long on the suspect list of Xu Erling, even compared to the likes of Washington, Edison, Luo Binwang, and Cao Chong.

“Uncle.” Shen Yisi was looking for Wu Sheng, and upon seeing him respond, he immediately smiled like a milk flower. “My grandma said she’s cold and asked me to get a blanket.”

“Grandma?” Wu Sheng was puzzled. “Aren’t you traveling alone?”

“Wait.” Xu Wang tapped Wu Sheng’s arm urgently. As Wu Sheng turned, Xu Wang’s eyelashes nearly fluttered off as he mouthed “Blan—ket.”

A perfectly normal word was made to sound fragmented and broken by Xu Wang.

Wu Sheng’s mind clicked, his ears seemingly ringing with the sound of the soft Wu dialect and the grating of the Rainstorm of Pear Blossom Needles.

“I’m not traveling alone,” Shen Yisi, still clueless but sweetly smiling, replied. “I’m with my grandma. Our seats aren’t together; I’m on top, and she’s below. She says the bottom is spacious but a bit cold.”

Xu Wang: “……”

Wu Sheng: “……”

The air froze.

Grandmothers and little kids, the two most fatal elements in horror movies, all present. TAT

“Uncle?”

“Uh, that is.” Xu Wang found his voice again, though still strained, but tried to sound friendly. “Little buddy, go to the tail and ask a flight attendant for a blanket.”

Shen Yisi obediently nodded. “Thank you, Uncle!” then wobbled towards the tail.

The light cast his small figure into a long shadow, and Xu Wang felt as if something was about to spring out from that shadow at any moment.

His gaze followed Shen Yisi to the tail, just as a flight attendant emerged from the galley. Shen Yisi seemed to call out, or maybe not, but the attendant didn’t hear him, stepping around him and continuing forward.

Shen Yisi stood there, bewildered, and even from just seeing his back, one could sense his helplessness.

The bodies of Feng Liuyi and An Qijiu had been moved to a corner by Qian Ai and covered with clothes. Now at the tail were Qian Ai and Kuang Jinxin, one guarding the bodies and surveying the whole situation, the other without tasks and simply helping Qian Ai look around.

Soon, Kuang Jinxin noticed Shen Yisi, took a few steps forward, bent down with a smile, and started talking to the child.

Qian Ai didn’t move but was paying attention, his ears perked for any noise.

From the distance between Wu Sheng and Xu Wang, they couldn’t hear their conversation, but they could clearly see Shen Yisi gesturing several times, after which Kuang Jinxin nodded and turned towards the galley for supplies. Not far off, Qian Ai, who had evidently heard the conversation and unlike the oblivious Kuang Jinxin, had listened in on the grandmother’s phone call.

Consequently, he was now entirely tense, pressing himself against the cabin wall, his face filled with a look of despair as if to say, “I really don’t want to watch a horror movie. Why am I being forced to?”

Xu Wang and Wu Sheng sighed in unison, sending across a look of genuine understanding to Qian Ai through the space.

In the blink of an eye, Kuang Jinxin emerged with a blanket, handing it to the little kid.

Shen Yisi must have said thank you, as Kuang Jinxin smiled and patted his head.

The child happily returned with the blanket, and Kuang Jinxin watched him go with a sense of “respecting the old and loving the young*” satisfaction arising within him.

*(尊老爱幼) Idiom referring to one’s good moral character (as they respect the old and take care of the young, which is considered a virtue in China).

He watched the child, and his three teammates watched him with subtly complex emotions.

Luck, after all, might be tied to age, character, appearance, height, personality, and hobbies—some people just score higher overall, something not to be envied.

As the countdown to the explosion continued.

“We could ask everyone to strip down and see who has a gourd around their neck. Wouldn’t that person be the culprit?”

“If you announce, ‘Everyone, please take off your clothes’, the moment you do, they could easily remove the gourd. Would you even notice then?”

“…You are right.”

Xu Wang shut up, then took half a minute to recall and another two and a half minutes to relay, at the fastest speed of his life, the information about all the economy passengers from seats 23–55 he had talked to.

During this, Wu Sheng didn’t utter a word. The silence was nearly driving Xu Wang to despair, until he finished talking about the last person he had conversed with—Hua Wuwu.

“What did you say?”

Xu Wang was caught off guard by Wu Sheng grabbing his wrist and was startled. “What, what?”

Wu Sheng urgently repeated, “What did Hua Wuwu say to you?”

Xu Wang really didn’t want to repeat. “He said he also wanted to have a ‘fast and furious’ adventure at thirty thousand feet, but alas, a pear blossom falls in the rain in vain, nowhere to find a begonia…” Rolling his eyes, he looked speechlessly at his teammate. “Are you only interested in these inappropriate topics for kids?”

Wu Sheng ignored his teasing, finally grasping the crucial point. “‘Also’? What do you mean ‘also’?”

Xu Wang matter-of-factly responded, “That means he saw someone else doing it.”

Realizing the significance, he abruptly froze.

Wu Sheng knew he had caught on. “Right, that’s it. Who exactly did he see doing it with whom?”

In the journey of “being chatty,” the triggered events were mostly centered around the “subject” of the inquiry—like “What’s my job?”, “What do I like?”, “My boyfriend cheated on me,” and the like. Rarely did anyone talk about “what others did”.

In Wu Sheng’s case, Xu Erling did. Initially, Wu Sheng thought he was just a detective character, until he connected him with someone else, thereby unearthing three suspects.

In Xu Wang’s case, only Hua Wuwu mentioned such an unrelated topic. But upon reflection, it wasn’t that simple.

Who exactly did Hua Wuwu see?

“Who and who? I don’t know them. How would I know their names?” Hua Wuwu glanced at Xu Wang, who had rushed over. “Oh, you remember to ask me now? You were so indifferent when I tried chatting earlier.”

Wu Sheng stepped in front of Xu Wang, looking down at Hua Wuwu. “I’ll entertain you. Go ahead. Talk about anything.”

Hua Wuwu looked up at him, swallowing unconsciously, suddenly finding the previous guy more approachable and gentle.

“It was the one who died.” No more beating around the bush, Hua Wuwu gave the answer.

Wu Sheng was surprised, and at the same time, a heaviness sank. “The two of them?”

“No, it was one of them and another person…” Hua Wuwu stood up, surveyed the economy class, and finally fixed his gaze on a spot, whispering to Wu Sheng. “There, seat number ninety-one. He and one of the dead were galloping in the restroom. Took quite a long time.”

The heart that almost sank to the bottom was rekindled with hope!

Number ninety-one. Wu Sheng silently recited the surnames and got it—Yuan, Yuan Jiuyi!

“The two of them, in the restroom…you saw it?” Xu Wang looked at seat ninety-one. It was a well-dressed passenger who had his eyes closed, seemingly just another well-mannered businessperson.

“Two guys enter the restroom together, fiddle around for over ten minutes before coming out. What else could they possibly be doing? Discussing life while squatting on the toilet?” Hua Wuwu flicked his silver-white hair with an expression of “bud, you’re too green” on his face. “The times are different now. Nowadays, with gender equality, men and men, women and women—they’re all equal.”

No need for further questions.

Hua Wuwu didn’t care what Yuan Jiuyi and either Feng Liuyi or An Qijiu might have been doing in the restroom. As long as he and Wu Sheng were clear that Yuan Jiuyi had indeed interacted with one of those two.

Perhaps, he had separately sought out Feng Liuyi and An Qijiu to the restroom for “nefarious planning”, and just happened to be seen by Hua Wuwu one of those times.

As the countdown to the explosion continued, Qian Ai, Wu Sheng, Xu Wang, and Kuang Jinxin gathered at the tail of the plane. Two rows ahead was Yuan Jiuyi’s back.

“Ready?” Wu Sheng asked.

Qian Ai nodded, taking a deep breath.

Wu Sheng and Xu Wang said in unison, “Let’s go.”

Qian Ai didn’t move, but his voice shot out like an arrow piercing clouds, aiming straight at Yuan Jiuyi. “口口口口口—”

Nearby passengers were startled and turned their heads at this sudden outburst.

Qian Ai’s voice faded, but the anticipated three-dimensional Chinese character didn’t appear.

“Huh?” Qian Ai, not giving up, shouted again, “口口, 88, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven!”

Still nothing.

Frustrated, Qian Ai wondered if his stationery had expired right at this crucial moment.

“Qian Ai,” Wu Sheng suddenly said in a low voice, audible only to them, succinctly conveying a new strategy. “[A Single Leaf Blocks the Eyes].”

If the function of this stationery worked literally as it suggested, it would achieve the effect Wu Sheng desired.

This maneuver wasn’t part of the original plan. [A Single Leaf Blocks the Eyes] was Qian Ai’s last piece of stationery, but he didn’t hesitate at all, decisively using [(Defense) A Single Leaf Blocks the Eyes] on Yuan Jiuyi!

A sudden gust of wind arose, carrying a long, narrow green leaf shot towards Yuan Jiuyi like a dart!

At the same time, Wu Sheng leaped forward with lightning speed!

The green leaf covered Yuan Jiuyi’s eyes, and he instinctively reached up to swipe it away, but the leaf clung to his eyes as if it had grown there, impossible to remove!

In that moment, Wu Sheng reached his side, instantly spotting the red silk thread hidden in his collar. While Yuan Jiuyi struggled with the leaf, Wu Sheng deftly hooked his finger and gave a hard tug, successfully breaking the red thread!

Wu Sheng looked at the red silk thread in his hand, unsurprised to find a glaze gourd attached to it.

Like the person in the small pamphlet, Yuan Jiuyi’s gourd was also nearly filled with blood, only missing a small drop at the tip of the gourd.

Wu Sheng quickly returned to the tail to regroup with his teammates, while Yuan Jiuyi finally managed to tear off the green leaf, turning his gaze towards the tail with a sinister look, no longer resembling a human but more like one possessed by a demon.

“Give me the gourd,” he demanded in a hoarse voice, as if slashed by a knife.

Wu Sheng watched him from afar. “Want the gourd? Give us the code.”

Yuan Jiuyi was silent.

The entire cabin seemed to fall into a deadly silence with his quiet.

The countdown continued, with only a little over three minutes left at five times the speed!

Finally, Yuan Jiuyi spoke again, even more chillingly. “I’ll say it one last time. Give me the gourd.”

Wu Sheng’s lips were tightly pressed, his expression steady, but inside he was anxious. They didn’t have much time; they couldn’t keep stalling with Yuan Jiuyi.

“Fine, here.” Suddenly, Xu Wang spoke up and swiftly snatched the red silk thread from Wu Sheng.

However, just as he picked up the gourd, his hand suddenly slipped for some unknown reason. One end of the red silk thread wasn’t grasped firmly and slid right out from between his fingers. The thread became vertical, and the glass gourd immediately began to slide down the thread. In an instant, it was in free fall, about to hit the ground and shatter!

“Ahhhhh—!” Yuan Jiu Yi roared furiously, rushing toward the tail like a madman!

Xu Wang quickly crouched down, catching the gourd at the very last moment and then lifting it up with a gentle smile towards Yuan Jiuyi. “Come any closer, and I’ll really smash it.”

Yuan Jiuyi stopped in his tracks about two meters away.

Xu Wang stood up, his smile fading as he looked intently into his eyes. “You’re not in a position to negotiate with us.” His voice was deep and heavy, perfectly imitating Yuan Jiu Yi, sounding like the ultimate villain. “Either you tell us the code, and we’ll return the gourd to you—after all, you’re only missing a drop of blood. If this sacrifice doesn’t work, you can always plan for the next one. Or, you insist on not telling, then I assure you, I’ll make sure that your gourd is destroyed before the bomb explodes.”

“Haa.” Xu Wang suddenly reverted to his own voice, feigning regret. “Without the gourd, I wonder to which wandering spirit or ghost this plane full of lives will be sacrificed.”

“0893.” Yuan Jiuyi could hold out no longer. His bloodshot eyes were fixated on the gourd in Xu Wang’s hand. “My completed sacrifice, plus this plane, makes exactly 999 lives, returning to the singular. The True Lord will ferry me across, and I shall ascend to immortality.”

Xu Wang shook his head, unwilling to converse further with the lunatic. Though he knew it was fake, hearing about those 893 lives still unsettled him.

In a moment of distraction, Wu Sheng had already dashed off, colliding with Yuan Jiuyi and sprinting to the wing!

The countdown continued, with Wu Sheng taking a deep breath to stabilize his fingertips and pressing down the numbers one by one.

0.

8.

9.

3.

The countdown continued, with Wu Sheng waiting almost a minute before the seconds no longer changed.

The countdown truly stopped.

“Give me the gourd!” Yuan Jiuyi demanded impatiently.

Xu Wang extended his arm towards him, slowly opening his palm.

Yuan Jiuyi’s face brightened, immediately stepping forward to take it.

But just as he was about to grasp the gourd, Xu Wang’s palm suddenly flipped.

The gourd fell to the ground, shattering into pieces of fresh blood and bits of glass.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu

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

---

Chapter 22: Counterstrike

There was still 02:10:04 left until the explosion.

You recognized the damning drugs in your pocket, but not this inconspicuous pamphlet found in your luggage?

The three huddled together, hastily flipping through the pamphlet. The more they flipped, the fewer their questions, but the heavier their hearts sank.

It was a brochure, or rather, a missionary pamphlet. The pamphlet depicted Master Ling Zhen as an omnipotent deity, claiming that faith in Master Ling Zhen could overcome all disasters, heal all illnesses, and grant eternal life to the soul. More chilling was a story of a “believer attaining eternal life” detailed in the pamphlet.

In the late Qing Dynasty, a villager suffering from a serious illness received guidance from Master Ling Zhen in a dream and awoke to find a red-threaded lapis lazuli gourd around his neck, about an inch in size, completely translucent. From then on, the villager devoted himself to Master Ling Zhen, sacrificing pigs, cattle, and sheep. After each slaughter, a drop of blood would appear in the gourd.

However, when only one drop was needed to fill the gourd, no matter how many animals the villager killed, no more blood would accumulate. So, on Master Ling Zhen’s birthday (the 14^th of the ninth lunar month), the villager hosted a banquet for the entire village but poisoned the food, leaving no one in the village alive. The last drop of blood thus filled the gourd.

For his “meritorious sacrifice”, the villager was summoned by Master Ling Zhen. Not only was his illness cured, but he also obtained eternal life. Those who perished in the “sacrifice” were described as “chosen lucky ones”, whose souls ascended to heaven to be forever by Master Ling Zhen’s side.

“What kind of bullshit is this!” Qian Ai, covered in goosebumps from reading, recalled the cover pattern and felt even more creeped out. “Who would believe such crazy stuff unless you’re psycho.”

“You wouldn’t believe it because you’re not suffering from any ailments or disasters, but those who are in pain and desperately seeking psychological comfort and spiritual support would.” Xu Wang, with years of sales experience, had seen and understood the human heart the most.

“The 14th of the ninth lunar month…” Wu Sheng closed the pamphlet, looking at his teammates. “That’s today.”

“What do you mean?” Qian Ai asked incredulously. He widened his eyes at Wu Sheng, then glanced at Jiang San’er, getting chills. “You’re not suggesting this guy planted the bomb to sacrifice the lives on this entire plane to this ‘Master’, are you?”

Their discussion was fully overheard by Jiang San’er—they hadn’t bothered to exclude him. To their surprise, Jiang San’er started vehemently denying any connection with a face full of horror. “This isn’t mine. It has nothing to do with me!”

His voice trembled as he ranted, and his facial muscles quivered. The idea of “sacrificing the entire plane’s passengers” seemed to have deeply shocked him.

But Qian Ai had already branded him as a “deranged cultist”, indignantly grabbing his collar. “It was found in your bag. If it’s not yours, is it ours?!”

Although Jiang San’er was middle-aged and overweight, he wasn’t tall. His pudgy body hardly matched Qian Ai’s biceps, and as his collar was grabbed, his heels lifted off the ground, leaving only his toes struggling to touch down.

Seizing the moment when Jiang San’er’s psychological defenses were at their weakest, Xu Wang interjected, “The code.”

Whether it was the injustice of being falsely accused or the fear of being blamed for a whole plane of people’s lives, Jiang San’er burst into tears. “I really don’t know any code. I just brought some powder on board. Even if you increased my guts a hundred times, I wouldn’t dare do something like bombing a plane…”

After a long, hard look at him, Xu Wang sighed. “Lao Qian, let him go. It’s not him.”

“But the pamphlet was in his bag…” Qian Ai was reluctant to give up; they had been tormented for two hours and had just begun to find some clues!

“His seat is very far from here.” Wu Sheng analyzed calmly. “Anyone could have tampered with his bag easily.”

“But didn’t he board the plane late?” Qian Ai countered. “If the overhead bins were almost full by the time he stored his luggage, wouldn’t it be odd for someone to come and rummage through after that?”

Reminded of something, Xu Wang looked at his teammates meaningfully. “What if during the flight the overhead bins opened due to turbulence and the bags and suitcases clattered to the ground?”

Qian Ai was still processing this when Wu Sheng immediately understood. “Did the luggage fall during the flight? Who cleaned it up?”

“Two flight attendants, me,” Xu Wang paused, “and two passengers.”

“Who?” Wu Sheng asked urgently.

“I don’t know their names.” Xu Wang shook his head, but his gaze was intense. “But I can recognize them.”

“Xu Ge, Wu Ge, Qian Ge—” A sudden call interrupted the tense atmosphere, relaxing the trio’s taut nerves.

It was Kuang Jinxin from the back of the plane. Only he had this kind of magical, zen-like influence that made one relax upon hearing his voice, regardless of what he was saying.

After delivering the utterly dejected Jiang San’er back to his seat and securing him with the seatbelt, the three hurried toward Kuang Jinxin, expecting some mischief from the Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face group. But as they neared the back of the plane, they heard a strain of light music emanating from the beverage cart area.

The music was soft, but the sound quality was rough.

It was the passenger call bell.

“It’s been ringing continuously, and I didn’t dare to answer.” Kuang Jinxin had witnessed Xu Wang’s “bumpy” journey from the economy class and had developed an indelible psychological shadow from such emergencies, knowing well his own limited coping ability, so he called his teammates to handle it first.

The three looked at each other, sensing an ominous vibe—the call bell had been ringing for so long, yet no flight attendant had responded; it was clearly a trap set for them!

However, while the trap was the same, the curiosity and exploration spirit people held toward this confounding world varied subtly.

Qian Ai was the first to raise his hand, suggesting with a tone full of lingering fear from being overwhelmed, “Better to mind our own business. I say we forget it.”

“Answer it,” Wu Sheng said nonchalantly, hands in pockets, seemingly carefree, but his eyes and eyebrows betrayed his competitive spirit. “We’ve overcome the toughest eighty hurdles. This last one won’t be an issue.”

Both expressed their opinions, but neither took any action, making Xu Wang feel a sense of responsibility—was this not waiting for him, the “team leader”, to make a decision? With a rush of adrenaline, he boldly pressed the answer button!

Wu Sheng raised an eyebrow in approval.

Qian Ai clutched his chest; his feelings of closeness and distance were too apparent!!!

At the same moment, a grandmother’s fast-paced and heavily dissatisfied voice came through the speaker. “Why does everyone have blankets except for me? Are you bullying an old lady like me? And let me tell you, the air conditioning is too strong. It’s the easiest to catch a cold when you’re sleeping, you know?”

Despite the soft tone, the Wu dialect somehow made the old lady’s rant sound like the Rainstorm of Pear Blossom Needles*.

*There are a few references I found (xuanhuan (fantasy) novel Douluo Dalu, wuxia novel The Legend of Chu Liuxiang). Apparently, it’s a hidden weapon composed of needles that, when used, launches out needles at speed of a torrential downpour (thus the name).

Xu Wang quickly tried to pacify her. “Ma’am, don’t worry. Just tell me your seat number, and I’ll bring a blanket right over to you.”

“What number? It’s all empty down here, so I just sat wherever.”

Xu Wang was confused. “Down here?”

“Yes, it’s dark too—scarily pitch black.”

“……”

“Oh right, I also forgot to say. What’s with this plane allowing lions on board? If the cage breaks, someone could die, you know!”

The three teammates took a step back, shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand, as if to draw more warmth from the sun.

“Hello? Are you listening to me? Hello—”

Click.

Xu Wang ended the call.

“I told you not to answer it…” Qian Ai almost cried.

Wu Sheng remained unfazed, as if he feared nothing, but still glanced at the hang-up button to make sure it was really off before heaving a sigh of relief.

“It’s okay. Don’t be scared.” Xu Wang tried to bolster his spirits, smoothing down the erect hair of Classmate Qian. “Ignore these insignificant ‘supernatural lines’. Let’s continue looking for those two who were helping with the luggage.”

With the chill from the cargo hold lingering, the three teammates walked the length of the plane back and forth, finally stopping at the junction between economy and business class.

“Recognize anyone?” Wu Sheng understood his posture.

Xu Wang nodded.

Qian Ai nervously swallowed. “But you look like disaster is about to strike…” He wasn’t good at reading facial expressions, but the “gravity” on Xu Wang’s face was hard to ignore.

Wu Sheng cut to the chase. “Which seat numbers?”

Xu Wang slowly looked up. “61, 67.”

Qian Ai frowned. “Why do these numbers sound familiar?”

“Feng Liuyi, An Qijiu.” Wu Sheng’s voice deepened. “The two suspects we were originally going to question.”

Qian Ai, slow to realize, suddenly understood.

“Why even ask then?” It was clear now. “The bomber is among these two… Wait.”

Qian Ai’s face turned pale. “Don’t tell me both are involved?”

Xu Wang and Wu Sheng fell silent.

Why couldn’t it be? There wasn’t a rule stating there could only be one bomber.

In the silence of his teammates, Qian Ai couldn’t stay optimistic. “I don’t want to fight three against two…”

His lament was heartfelt, as if the side with fewer people was their own.

01:45:37 left until the explosion.

Economy class was peaceful, with only the flight attendants occasionally walking by, offering services to those in need.

At an unsuspecting moment, two flight attendants at different locations simultaneously stopped, bent down next to a seat, and spoke to the passengers, as if by coincidence. Yet, if one had keen ears, they would hear both uttering the same script. “Excuse me, sir. Your luggage is occupying someone else’s space. Could you please move it?”

The reactions of the two passengers were identical; both were somewhat irritated—

Feng Liuyi: “Does luggage have fixed positions?”

An Qijiu: “Does it matter where the luggage goes?”

Though they said this, both still got up with the attendant’s assistance—one opened the overhead luggage compartment above his seat, and the other walked forward a few rows before opening another compartment.

Their luggage was simple. Feng Liuyi carried a backpack, and An Qijiu had a wheeled carry-on.

As they reached for their luggage, suddenly two figures darted out! One snatched Feng Liuyi’s bag and the other An Qijiu’s suitcase, and both ran towards the tail of the plane!

The flight attendants had only been asked to make the passengers retrieve their own luggage—it was difficult to identify whose was whose among all the luggage racks—unaware of the ensuing “robbery”, leaving them momentarily shocked.

Feng Liuyi and An Qijiu quickly reacted, chasing after. “Stop right there—”

But they were a few seconds too late; by the time they reached the tail of the plane, they only managed to hear the restroom doors slamming shut. Unwilling to give up, they pounded on the doors as if their lives, not just their luggage, were at stake. “Open up! Open the door quickly—”

Inside the left restroom, Xu Wang effortlessly dumped the bag upside down, spilling a variety of printed materials all over the floor—pamphlets, notebooks, flyers, and even a banner proclaiming “Meeting Ling Zhen, knowing boundless magical power”. While planning, Xu Wang had anticipated finding clues in the two’s bags; the sheer volume of items exceeded his expectations.

In the restroom on the right, Qian Ai struggled in vain to free the zipper from the combination lock, eventually getting so frustrated that he hopped onto the suitcase and jumped on it until it gave way. As he huffed and lifted the now shapeless lid, neatly folded clothes lay inside, contrasting starkly with the greasy exterior of An Qijiu outside. Flipping the suitcase over, clothes cascaded out, along with a yellowed and darkened sheepskin.

The sheepskin, the size of an A4 paper, depicted a chilling scene in dark brown: a landscape littered with corpses, rivers of blood, and a figure ascending to the heavens with a butcher’s knife in hand. Despite its crude execution, the few strokes eerily conveyed a manic joy in the ascender’s narrowed eyes.

Atop the sheepskin was titled: “The Ascension from Sacrifice”.

The persistent sound of door banging in the background became almost white noise to the passengers, until the restroom doors on both sides swung open simultaneously! Xu Wang emerged clutching a stack of “heretical proselytizing materials”, and Qian Ai held the sheepskin.

Seeing them, Feng Liuyi and An Qijiu’s expressions turned pale. They had lost their earlier bravado. In a panic, they turned to run back into the enclosed cabin. But Wu Sheng, who had been waiting with a dining cart, charged forward with all his strength.

The skinnier Feng Liuyi was sent flying before tumbling to the floor in the aisle.

The more robust An Qijiu lost his balance and staggered backward, ultimately sitting down within the purple circle!

Long Legs, Handsome, Sticky Figure, and Fair Face managed to dodge with their bodies but not their foot. As An Qijiu landed, there was a “four-in-one” cry of pain. Apparently, his ass had landed on all the four’s ankles, most likely fracturing them.

“Lao Qian—” Xu Wang and Wu Sheng called out in unison!

In fact, there was no need for their call. Qian Ai, having a clear understanding of his role from the previously formulated tactics, had already bellowed out six “O’s”, firmly encircling the necks of Feng Liuyi and An Qijiu—three for each. The rings stacked up perfectly, leaving no space from neck to chin, making it impossible for them to move their heads in any direction. Above the shoulders, they could only stare straight ahead, immobile.

“The code.” Xu Wang approached the two men, undeterred by the presence of Long Legs, Handsome, Sticky Figure, and Fair Face, and demanded directly. Feng Liuyi remained silent.

An Qijiu still tried to negotiate. “Take this thing off!”

Xu Wang bent down closer to them and sighed deeply. “It’s impossible to take it off, but easy to add another one.” He looked back and called out lightly, “Lao Qian…”

The two, already in agony from their constricted necks, were genuinely frightened by the possibility of another addition. That would mean their necks would literally separate from their bodies!

“0914—” both blurted out the password almost simultaneously.

Xu Wang and Wu Sheng exchanged glances; 0914 was indeed the birth date of the revered Master Ling Zhen, September 14^th.

Owl: [Someone used [(Defense) Breakout*] on you~~]

*Break out of the encirclement (突出重围) Idiom referring to successfully escaping or breaking through a tight or difficult situation, often associated with siege or encirclement of enemy forces (which is quite apt considering what they’re trapped in).

The alert made Xu Wang’s body jolt, but no attack followed. Wu Sheng, looking puzzled by Xu Wang’s sudden change in demeanor, asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Not good!” Xu Wang realized something was amiss and quickly turned around. The purple circle that had been restraining Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face had disappeared. Somehow, Fair Face had produced a stun gun and was holding it in his hand!

Despite having checked their arms and confirmed all the [Stationery Box] were empty, Fair Face had somehow obtained a weapon! He reached out to grab Kuang Jinxin’s arm, intending to pull him in as a hostage!

“Xiao Kuang—” Xu Wang lunged forward, but it was a step too late! Fair Face had already grabbed Kuang Jinxin’s arm and pulled with force!

But the arm slipped away.

Stunned, Fair Face stood there as the stun gun’s sparks illuminated his bewildered face. Meanwhile, Qian Ai had already reacted, leaping back far, his chest heaving with a mix of shock and anger, but his face full of fury. “Just as Wu Ge said, you’ve clearly lost, yet you insist on bargaining with intelligence instead of conceding. Surely there’s a scheme! You’re just trying to reap the benefits!”

Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face stood up and formed a circle, back-to-back. Aside from Fair Face, the others were unarmed, but without the purple circle’s restraint, each was a force to be reckoned with. Their gazes were filled with renewed aggression, far from their earlier nonchalance.

Wu Sheng, Xu Wang, Qian Ai, and Kuang Jinxin gathered together, facing off against their adversaries.

Fair Face, still hung up on his failed hostage maneuver, demanded to know what trick had been used. Kuang Jinxin looked to Xu Wang for guidance. Xu Wang shrugged. “Tell him. Let them lose with embarrassment.”

Kuang Jinxin complied, showing off his slippery, buttered arms to Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face, boasting about how Xu Wang had anticipated their scheme and prepared by smearing all the butter from the pantry on his arms. “Guess you couldn’t have guessed that. While you were still nursing, Xu Ge was already selling houses,” he bragged.

Wu Sheng: “……”

Qian Ai: “……”

Xu Wang: “Uh, let’s leave the bragging to us in the future.”

Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face retaliated, unwilling to back down. Although they hadn’t landed a hit, the four-on-four standoff was evenly matched, and they weren’t intent on a lethal confrontation. They only wanted to turn in their submission.

Suddenly, Long Legs ran towards the corridor, presumably to input the code on the bomb. Wu Sheng was the quickest to react, realizing the intention and chasing after, but he was slightly late.

At the critical moment, Qian Ai took a deep breath, about to shout, but suddenly felt a gust of wind by his neck. He instinctively turned his head to see Fair Face’s stun gun flying towards him, still sparking with electricity, not losing its charge despite being airborne.

Qian Ai couldn’t dodge in time and was struck squarely by the stun gun. In an instant, he felt his entire body go numb, followed by intense pain, as if his brain had turned to wood.

“Lao Qian!” Xu Wang cried out in urgency, intending to retrieve the stun gun, but as he bent down, he was tackled to the ground by Stick Figure.

Long Legs, prepared for the moment, immediately went for Xu Wang’s sleeve after the tackle.

Xu Wang struggled in vain, watching helplessly as Long Legs opened the [Stationery Box] on his arm and pressed the only [Cao Chong Weighing the Elephant] button, hoping to use it!

Xu Wang didn’t know if his stationery could attack himself, but even if it couldn’t, it could still be used on any passenger. Long Legs’ goal was clear—to deplete his stationery!

However, something strange happened. The icon for “Cao Chong Weighing the Elephant” didn’t move, vanish, deform, nor did it even flicker. If not for the vibrant pattern, one might think it had already been used and thus was unresponsive.

Both Xu Wang and Stick Figure were perplexed. Seizing the moment of distraction, Xu Wang forcefully pushed Stick Figure away. Meanwhile, Qian Ai was still lying on the ground dazed, Kuang Jinxin and Handsome were tensely facing off, and Fair Face went to retrieve the stun gun.

At the wing, Long Legs’ fingertip had already pressed a “0.”

Clever tricks are nothing in the face of desperate acts—Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face’s level of commitment to this contest was crushing, as if this wasn’t just a challenge to be attempted but a do-or-die battle.

Victory or defeat hinged on a moment, and in Xu Wang’s eyes, that moment suddenly slowed down.

He saw Long Legs’ fingertip leave the “0”, saw the dust particles rise from the button, saw the trembling of the fingertip, and watched it slowly move towards the “9”…

Suddenly, the fingertip hesitated just millimeters from the “9,” frozen in place.

Xu Wang felt a sudden chill on his nose.

Lifting his head, time seemed to snap back to normal as a drizzle of raindrops fell on his face.

It started raining inside the cabin.

“Shit!” Stick Figure cursed as the raindrops landed on his face, sizzling upon contact and leaving a red mark, though not breaking the skin.

Handsome, Long Legs and Fair Face were in no better condition. The pain made them instinctively seek shelter, but the relentless rain seemed to follow them everywhere!

At the wing, Wu Sheng tackled Long Legs. The two wrestled amidst the chaos, but still audible were Long Legs’ cries of pain from the raindrops.

Confused, Xu Wang caught a raindrop and bravely tasted it. His tongue wasn’t harmed, but the rain… was salty?

Observing the passengers, although they were drenched and used various methods to shield themselves from the rain, none exhibited the same cries of agony as Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face. It was clear—the rain hitting them, and the other passengers was just ordinary rain, but on their opponent’s side, it was like corrosive liquid, eating through clothes with each drop and causing painful red spots on skin.

“F-Fuck, thinking I’m a pushover*…” A sincere sobbing voice broke through the cabin, hard not to stir empathy.

*The tiger doesn’t show off its power. Proverb that basically means don’t underestimate my strength.

Xu Wang looked towards the source and saw Kuang Jinxin tearfully vowing revenge. “I-I’ll make sure you… you’ll regret hurting Qian Ge… He’ll haunt you even as a ghost…”

Qian Ai lay on the ground. His limbs were still numb from the shock, but his mind was clear. He wanted to tell his teammates, “I’m not dead! I’m still alive!“

Xu Wang finally understood Long Legs’ hesitation before pressing “9”.

At that moment, their opponent’s ear must have received a playful alert—someone has used [(Offense) Tears Like Rain] on you~~

So, Xu Wang’s decision to have Kuang Jinxin guard Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face wasn’t random; it was strategic. How does the saying go? Don’t bully the honest, or you’ll pay a dire price.

Kuang Jinxin cried for five minutes straight, dredging up every sad thought he could muster. However, after five minutes, he found himself unable to cry any longer.

Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face had been scalded to the point of having a “painted face“, and when the rain finally stopped, the look in Kuang Jinxin’s eyes was nothing short of naked hatred.

The four of them no longer bothered with the code, slowly gathering together and advancing towards the rear of the plane.

Wu Sheng was still at the wing with the bomb, and Qian Ai was still lying on the ground, leaving only Kuang Jinxin and Xu Wang at the tail.

Long Legs twisted his wrist. “We don’t want to make this ugly. You forced our hand.”

Handsome gritted his teeth. “You can do anything to me, but you shouldn’t have touched my face…”

Stick Figure swung his arm. “Ready to get a taste of your own medicine?”

Fair Face, in the midst of fleeing, had somehow managed to retrieve the stun gun. Its buzzing electric sound replaced his silence with a call for revenge.

As the four of them closed in, Xu Wang unconsciously stepped back until he was against the metal wall. He pressed [Cao Chong Weighing the Elephant] again to no avail. Kuang Jinxin was still in a daze after his sobbing.

Qian Ai, lying on the ground and unable to rise, still tried to support. “If you dare, come at me…”

Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face stepped over him, now only two steps away from Xu Wang and Kuang Jinxin.

Xu Wang held his breath and suddenly twisted Kuang Jinxin’s thigh!

Kuang Jinxin let out a cry, and immediately the tears came flooding back.

With the tears came the rain.

Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face’s mental shadows resurfaced in the rain, cursing in unison, “Fuck”—their frustration mixed with a sense of helpless despair.

“Xiao Kuang, don’t blame me,” Xu Wang hastily explained. “This is all for the team.”

But Kuang Jinxin wasn’t listening at all, busy inflicting pain on himself—pinching his arm, twisting his thigh; wherever it hurt, he targeted.

“No,” Xu Wang quickly intervened. “You don’t have to be so harsh on yourself…”

But in a moment of his inattention, the kid had taken self-inflicted damage to a new level, hurting the enemy a thousand and himself eight hundred.

Now that he had found the trick, Kuang Jinxin cried thoroughly, from a “misty drizzle” to a “torrential downpour”, the rain getting heavier and more corrosive as he went.

The rain continued, creating a tense atmosphere in the cabin. Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face began to feel their bodies changing under the relentless “terrifying downpour”.

Another five minutes later, amidst the deluge, Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face tearfully awaited that affectionate message—

“Dear~ I’m giving you an early holiday. Sending you home.”

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu

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

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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?”

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu

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

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Chapter 20: Suspects

Wu Sheng and Qian Ai had a premeditated plan to scatter separately, but the lion didn’t. So after the two split, it continued to sprint forward along the narrow corridor under the effect of inertia.

While Xu Wang and Wu Sheng spoke these few words, the lion had already approached the tail of the plane. Its arrival caused the original business class passengers gathered at the tail to panic and scream again, scattering in all directions.

In an instant, the tail of the plane was emptied, revealing its original inhabitants—Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face—as well as Kuang Jinxin guarding them.

At this moment, they saw for the first time what was rushing towards them.

Kuang Jinxin was scared stiff, standing motionless, but since he wasn’t directly in the path of the aisle, the charging lion wouldn’t knock him over.

Directly in the path was the purple circle.

Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face, now all turned uniformly pale. As the lion charged directly at them, Handsome let out a long howl to the sky. “I told you, if you notice something wrong, end the conversation quickly. Don’t linger! Ahhh—”

In the midst of the second, desperate cry, Xu Wang finally grasped the true meaning of this hint. It wasn’t a hand warmer sent in the snow to the opponent, but a burning desire for survival for oneself.

Before the Handsome’s wail ended, the lion, without slowing down, had charged into the purple circle. At that moment, it didn’t resemble a lion but rather a bullfighter! As if they were possessed, Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face quickly dodged to the side! The circle drawn on the ground was only around their feet, and now they looked like four plants in a pot suddenly wilting, their roots still in the pot but their bodies leaning every which way, stretching out in all directions!

The lion charged past the purple circle and slammed into the metallic wall at the tail of the plane, creating a deafening noise! Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face avoided disaster. Though shaken, fortunately they were unharmed, except for Long Leg whose trouser leg got slightly scraped by the lion’s claw, tearing a hole—such was the plight of having long legs.

Wu Sheng, who was closely watching the battle, suddenly shouted from across the aisle, “Lao Qian, use your tricks!” He shouted with all his might, causing his whole body to tremble, and thus, the vibration transferred to Xu Wang, who was holding him, also trembled subtly.

Xu Wang secretly took a deep breath, then stealthily exhaled, pretending to naturally hold Wu Sheng tighter.

His nose occasionally rubbed against the other’s clothes, the familiar scent taking him back to their bunk bed days in room 222. Those were days now seen through a filter, memories that made one yearn.

Xu Wang’s heart was popping like popcorn, yet his face remained impassive, still sternly carrying on as the silent cornerstone bearing his teammate.

It wasn’t until Qian Ai made a move that it pulled back Xu Wang’s wandering mind—

“8888888! 口口口口口口口!”

Qian Ai shouted from across the aisle, his sneaky figure contrasting with his sky-shattering voice.

Almost simultaneously, above the lion’s head at the tail of the plane, seven “8s” and seven “口*” appeared out of thin air!

*Means mouth.

Xu Wang was dumbfounded, while Kuang Jinxin and Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face were stunned. The lion, lying on the ground, hadn’t recovered from the impact. In the next instant, the 8s and 口s rapidly descended, like guided missiles accurately finding their targets—the lion’s limbs and torso!

One by one, the “口” fitted onto its body, like numerous hula hoops, three “8s” stacked on top of each other, locking its two front paws, three “8s” locking its two back paws, and the remaining “8” tying a knot on its tail. The lion was trapped layer by layer and still not fully recovered from the previous impact, couldn’t break free for the moment.

Long Legs, Handsome, Stick Figure, and Fair Face watched, dumbstruck. This ability, this effect, this visual impact… This is fucking stationery bought with money!

While allies admired and opponents were astounded, Qian Ai dared not be careless. He stealthily climbed out of his seat, gathered his qi, and roared again. “Steamed lamb, steamed bear paw, steamed deer tail, roasted duck, roasted chicken, roasted gosling, braised pork, braised duck, soy sauce chicken, cured meat, pine flowered pig’s belly!!!”

Numerous wooden three-dimensional Chinese characters rained down, completely burying the trapped lion, eventually forming a small mountain of characters!

The lion seemed to struggle a bit but soon gave up. Only heavy, angry breaths escaped through the cracks of the wood, expressing its final fury.

Qian Ai sighed in relief, carefully peeking out from the gap between the seats, gazing towards the tail. He could take his time, but Ren Wuba (58), who he was sitting on, couldn’t take it anymore. “Brother, can you get off?”

While Qian Ai apologetically stood up, continually apologizing to the passenger he had used as a cushion, Xu Wang, who had comfortably been a cushion, didn’t loosen his grip in the slightest, maintaining the hugging posture, and seriously asked Wu Sheng, “Who did you say owns the lion?”

Wu Sheng didn’t seem to find anything wrong with the posture and quite naturally shifted his weight on Xu Wang while replying, “Zhao Yi.” He had learned the culprit’s name from Qian Ai during the brief respite. “A girl from first class.”

“Was she cheated on by a scumbag?”

“Yes.”

“Then the lion should be chasing the scumbag to bite him. Why is it bothering you?”

“…On this plane, are you still looking for logic?”

“Sorry, I was young and naive.”

“Hey, isn’t it awkward for you two to talk like this?” Qian Ai stood on the aisle next to them, inexplicably watching two class reps. “If you have something to say, stand up and say it properly. Look how you’re squeezing the passengers.”

“……” Xu Wang mentally kicked Qian Ai off the plane a hundred and eighty times, each without a parachute, reveling in the thought when suddenly he felt lighter.

Wu Sheng got up.

Sighing internally, Xu Wang also stood, but without pausing, he walked directly towards first class. Wu Sheng, puzzled, asked, “Where are you going?”

“First class.” Xu Wang didn’t look back, continuing forward while limbering up. “Who knows how long those wooden frames can hold it. We need to find the one who can stop it.”

Wu Sheng didn’t hesitate for a moment and told Qian Ai, “You and Xiao Kuang watch economy class—communicate at any time if there’s any situation.” He then followed Xu Wang’s footsteps.

Kuang Jinxin was completely oblivious to the situation, studying the word “儿” that had fallen to the side, lifting it to examine it, then hooking it around his neck, engrossed in study.

*Child.

Qian Ai looked at him, then at the increasingly distant back of Wu Sheng, suddenly losing all sense of security.

First class.

The short-haired girl was sitting calmly in seat number one while glasses girl stood in a corner with her back to the world. A man who looked like a “scumbag” was behind the glasses girl trying to sweet talk her. Another man, also looking like a “scumbag” but with the added description of “muscular” was kneeling in front of the short-haired girl, feignedly slapping himself. It was quite embarrassing with his poor acting. The only one that was alone was a girl with slightly wavy, gorgeous hair sitting in Seat 5. She didn’t interact with anyone, but she didn’t look well either—her face was pale, her makeup smeared—obviously looked quite scared while her gaze out the window revealed panic and confusion.

Xu Wang had never met Zhao Yi before, but whether by seating arrangement or the situation at hand, he could identify her easily.

“Stop slapping yourself. Your face must hurt, and your hand must be sore.” He approached the short-haired girl, grabbed the muscular scumbag beside her, tossed him aside, and then squatted down in front of her.

Zhao Yi was looking down, not crying, but her eyes were dull. Xu Wang tilted his head, looking up at her with a mischievous smile. “Hey, bad girl.”

Initially, Zhao Yi frowned in distaste at the unexpected smile, but upon hearing his words, she froze and instinctively asked, “What did you call me?”

“Bad girl,” Xu Wang repeated. “You must be the magician, for that lion trusts and likes you enough to listen to you. You should be partners, friends, but now you’ve let it run amok, not caring if it hurts people or gets hurt itself.” He blinked innocently. “Did I get it wrong by calling you a bad girl?”

For the first time, Zhao Yi’s face showed fluctuation in emotion—a mix of anxiety and worry that she couldn’t fake. “It hurts?!”

“I didn’t see any blood, but it must have been hit hard, probably quite painfully.” Xu Wang sighed. “I guess it’s all internal injuries.”

Zhao Yi anxiously stood up, wanting to leave, but Xu Wang also stood up and blocked her way. “Why not just turn it back into cargo? It’s quieter there, with better air circulation—more conducive to rest and recovery.”

Zhao Yi bit her lip and remained silent.

Xu Wang didn’t miss any trace of emotion in her, including the reluctance in her eyes.

He pulled a wry smile, laughing helplessly. “You haven’t vented all your anger yet, and you don’t want to withdraw your most intimidating method, right?”

Zhao Yi finally looked at him, their eyes meeting for the first time.

“Who are you, exactly?”

The question was somewhat late, but Xu Wang was happy to answer. His years of experience in real estate sales had taught him, “As long as the customer is willing to communicate, no contract is impossible to sign.”

“Xu Wang,” he said openly.

Zhao Yi shook her head more directly. “I don’t know you.”

Xu Wang was even more straightforward. “I don’t know you either, but I almost died because of your broken heart.”

“I’m not heartbroken,” Zhao Yi said defiantly.

Xu Wang was waiting for this response. “If you’re not heartbroken, then who are you putting on this show for?”

Zhao Yi’s eyes widened in frustration. This pouty look inadvertently made her a bit cute.

Xu Wang grabbed the muscular scumbag again, about to continue speaking, but the man broke free.

“I’ve tolerated you for long enough. Who the hell are you?!” The muscular scumbag, as if not content with just breaking free, pushed Xu Wang hard. He had been holding back his anger, not daring to vent on Zhao Yi, and now he finally found an outlet.

Caught off guard, Xu Wang stumbled and fell. Wu Sheng, who had followed, saw this and immediately darkened his face, about to step forward, only to see Xu Wang leap up and deliver a flying kick to the muscular scumbag’s waist. “You cheating NPC dare to hit me—?!”

The muscular scumbag let out a cry of pain, staggering back a few steps. His face twisted in pain and contorted with anger. Wu Sheng halted in his tracks, instinctively raising his hand to protect his waist.

In the corner, the first scumbag, perhaps remembering a kindred spirit in cheating, temporarily paused his reconciliation efforts and turned with an unfriendly expression towards them.

He didn’t even glance at Wu Sheng—his malevolent gaze was fixed on Xu Wang. But Xu Wang, who had his back to him, was fully focused on handling the muscular scumbag and didn’t see him.

In a split second, Wu Sheng smoothly extended his leg. The first scumbag, right beside him, stumbled solidly over it and fell flat on his face.

Xu Wang was startled and turned to see the scene, confused. “What happened?”

“I don’t know.” Wu Sheng shrugged and shook his head. “Maybe his shoes were a bit slippery.”

Xu Wang felt something was off but didn’t have time to ponder it. He turned back, grabbed the muscular scumbag by the collar, and turned to Zhao Yi. “Take a good look. Such trash, you can find a truckload in any garbage dump. He cheated on you. You should be setting off fireworks in celebration, thanking him for not marrying you! This is a cause for celebration, and yet you’re hanging onto him to vent your anger. Are you not full and just idling around? Aren’t you afraid he’ll cling to you again?”

The muscular scumbag, resentful yet pained, dared only symbolically struggle, lest another kick render him unable to walk properly ever again.

“And you.” letting go of the muscular scumbag, Xu Wang called out to the one on the floor. “Stop lying there. Come over.” The first scumbag had initially intended to come to help but ended up falling before he could make a move, now dizzy and aching all over. The little courage he had ignited earlier had long dissipated, and now being singled out, he lay still, feigning death.

Xu Wang, exasperated, directly asked, “Are you the one who cheated and got cheated on?” The first scumbag turned away; the summary was too accurate for his every cell to resist acknowledging.

Without needing a response, Xu Wang already had his answer. He grabbed the first scumbag, dragging him like a dead fish to the corner to join the muscular scumbag. “You two find whoever you want and resolve it yourselves. Nobody cares. Just stay away from good girls from now on. They’re not in the same world as you and don’t share the same dreams, thanks.”

After schooling the two scumbags, Xu Wang turned back to Zhao Yi. Not giving her time to think, he directly asked, “What kind of man do you like?”

Zhao Yi, overwhelmed by the turn of events, subconsciously looked at the muscular scumbag. Xu Wang forcefully redirected her head. “That type is a pass. Choose the next one!”

Zhao Yi blinked in confusion but then began to ponder, gradually a hint of shyness coloring her expression. She murmured softly, “Cheerful, smart, someone I can talk to…”

“Then it’s settled. I’ll help you find a boyfriend, and you’ll put the lion back in the cargo hold.”

“……”

Zhao Yi hadn’t quite grasped how things had been agreed upon so swiftly, but under Xu Wang’s eager gaze and considering he had just helped her vent her anger with a kick, she somewhat involuntarily lifted her hand and flipped it gently.

In a blink, an empty cup appeared in her hand. She placed the empty cup back on the table, then looked at Xu Wang with a much gentler expression. “It’s gone back.”

Xu Wang sighed in relief, pondering how to portray “finding a boyfriend” as a prolonged battle, at least long enough to defuse a bomb—he surely couldn’t just leave a bomb unattended while setting up blind dates for Zhao Yi. But then he heard Wu Sheng say, “Wait for me.”

He looked up to see Wu Sheng already hurrying toward business class.

Xu Wang was puzzled and hadn’t figured out why, but Wu Sheng returned soon, accompanied by a young man.

“Xu Erling.” Wu Sheng patted the young man’s shoulder, introducing him to Xu Wang. “Cheerful, smart, quick-witted—not only talkative but also eloquent. Definitely matches her preferences.”

Xu Wang was surprised at Wu Sheng’s efficiency. Just as he was worrying, Wu Sheng had already brought the solution.

But—

“Classmate Wu,” he said somewhat perplexedly to his understanding teammate. “Usually we follow ‘not only’ and ‘but also’ with different words to show progression.”

Wu Sheng shrugged. “But I think emphasizing it this way highlights the point better.”

Xu Wang: “……”

While the two coordinated their approach, Xu Erling was less pleased. “What did you call me here for!” He asked, but his brain, not slower than Wu Sheng’s in speed, had already analyzed the current situation. So, without waiting for an answer, he glared at Wu Sheng, righteously declaring, “Before the bomb perpetrator is found, I won’t engage in any romantic affairs!”

“Your suspect is only six years old.” Wu Sheng rolled his eyes and, without further ado, pushed Xu Erling towards Zhao Yi. “I think you should engage in some romantic affairs.”

“You’re just afraid I’ll find the criminal before you!” Xu Erling was genuinely angered. Obviously, questioning his reasoning only made him upset, but stopping his actions truly touched his bottom line. “Push me again, and I won’t be polite…huh?”

In the midst of the scuffle, Xu Erling and Zhao Yi’s eyes met.

One was disheveled and irritated, the other quiet and despondent, but in an inadvertent glance at each other, their minds were captivated.

If this were in a shoujo manga, flower petals would be scattered.

“Uh, well, my name is Xu Erling.” He let go of Wu Sheng, or more accurately, pushed him far away, then the young man named Xu tidied himself up and introduced himself.

Zhao Yi lowered her head, not speaking.

Xu Wang understood at a glance. This was clearly going somewhere!

Relieved, he quietly moved towards Wu Sheng and gestured with his eyes: mission accomplished.

Wu Sheng nodded, understanding the complete message—since things were settled here, it was time to return to economy class to continue the urgent task.

Unexpectedly, the previously comfortable Xu Erling suddenly stood up again and strode towards Wu Sheng. His pace was so fast, he even beat the retreating Xu Wang.

Wu Sheng, observing the suddenly serious and earnest Xu Erling, was puzzled.

Xu Erling didn’t beat around the bush, directly saying, “Saying Shen Yisi had issues was me deliberately disrupting you. I was afraid you’d find out before me…”

Wu Sheng was silent, sensing there was more to come.

Indeed, Xu Erling leaned closer, lowering his voice. “I asked the flight attendant. There was no bomb before takeoff, so it must have been placed after passengers boarded, probably sneakily placed amidst the chaos of storing luggage after boarding. According to a flight attendant who was helping with the luggage in that area, during the boarding time, three people loitered around where the bomb was placed, and none of their seats were nearby. The attendant found it odd, so he had a deep impression of them.”

Wu Sheng was surprised. “Did you find all this out?”

Xu Er Ling’s lips curved up, that self-satisfied and smug look returning.

“Since you’ve already investigated this far, and you’re worried we’ll catch the criminal before you, why tell me all this?” Wu Sheng couldn’t fathom his logic.

“Because he now has a more important goal than catching the criminal.” Xu Wang, not as keen on deduction but observant, noticed the pink bubbles in Xu Erling’s eyes and knew this “young detective’s” life had taken a turn.

“The cases never end. Solve one and there’s another, but opportunities to end singlehood…” Xu Erling touched his nose, a rare hint of shyness appearing. After a moment, he cleared his throat and returned to seriousness. “Cough, anyway, I don’t want to be alone, so I’ll leave the rest to you!”

Wu Sheng looked at him, then at Zhao Yi, finally understanding. Never did he expect that his random matchmaking would actually foster true love, making him feel both subtly pleased and complex, as if after helping others harvest wheat, he returned home to find his own field still barren.

“Who exactly are those three people?” Xu Wang, unaware of Wu Sheng’s distractions, simply asked.

Xu Erling looked up said in slow and deep tone, “Jiang San’er (32), Feng Liuyi (61), An Qijiu (79).”

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Kinky Thoughts:

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