Chapter Nine: d*ath Flight?
In the empty cave, it was pitch black, and many people were whispering, the sound never ceasing.
“Are you listening to their prayers?”
In the darkness, a tender, cold voice asked, sounding like a little girl with a lingering childlike tone.
Silence lingered for a long time.
“Yes, I feel sorry for them. I want to help them,” a soft voice responded, seemingly from a young girl.
“Help them? What a ridiculous statement!”
The girl remained silent, listening intently to the whispers, trying hard to discern the meaning hidden within them.
“I see you’re beyond saving. We are gods, totems, symbols, born to be worshipped, but we do not need to respond to every believer’s prayer.”
“Things like blessing a newly married woman to not burn the food tomorrow—such trivial matters are not our concern, do you understand?”
The girl ignored the little girl and leaned forward in the chaotic, ignorant darkness. She felt she was about to hear the prayers of those humans, those people who worshipped them.
At that moment, a sharp reprimand rang in her ears, destroying everything. The prayers that were becoming clear shattered like bubbles under sunlight, dispersing into nothingness.
“Jumeng! Your duty is to guard the Fushang Sacred Tree, not to pity those foolish people!”
Finally, the girl stopped listening and murmured to the little girl hidden deep in the darkness, “Jumang’s duty is to guard the Fushang Sacred Tree…”
————
“Whoa—!”
In the deep of night, Jumeng woke up on the bed in the old street pawnshop, staring at the ceiling, exhaling a long breath.
Recently, she had been recalling memories from the past.
Those unhappy, rebellious “young” days, amidst a chaotic and ignorant darkness.
However, those memories were too distant, gradually fading and becoming unclear.
She turned her head to look outside the window. The snow that had fallen for several days had stopped at some point, and the moonlight spilled onto the roofs of the old street covered in white snow, resembling a silver ocean.
Then, she repeated the words she had said in her dream.
“Jumang’s duty is to guard Fushang…”
At the end, she added another phrase.
“I am not Jumang, nor is that the Fushang Sacred Tree.”
————
“Whoa—! Finally finished, now the professor shouldn’t have so much to nag about!”
At the first light of morning, sunlight poured through the gap in the curtains, falling onto Luxianbei’s desk. He stretched, and his joints cracked slightly.
He stood up, tidying up the scattered A4 sheets on the table, seeming thoughtful.
On the A4 paper, many oddly shaped symbols were poorly drawn. Some resembled the sun, some looked like birds, some were intertwined trees with the same roots, and others resembled the magpie peach tree with markings identical to those on his hand.
If all these things were related to Stinky Sister… then didn’t she possess several kinds of mythological powers related to urban legends?
I had thought my situation was already extreme, but it seems she might be a bit more extreme?
After all this time, I thought I had become strong, while everyone else was gradually weak—turns out, I’m still the weak one?
Luxianbei shook his head, casually crumpling the A4 paper into a ball and tossing it into the trash can.
Chunwu, Jumang, Fushang Sacred Tree… these were all symbols and patterns he corresponded with the relics, gradually piecing together vocabulary from the information.
He didn’t know when it started, but whenever something related to myths or legends appeared, his first reaction was to assume the related urban legends existed and begin pondering countermeasures.
After all, setting imaginary foes for himself wouldn’t be a loss; at most, it would just tire him mentally. But if he encountered the urban legends born of mythology, coming up with a counterplan on the fly would be perilous.
Though Jumeng wasn’t included, unknowingly, while familiarizing himself with the materials given by Professor Ma, he felt a sense of thrill, unearthing Jumeng’s dirty past little by little.
That feeling was akin to secretly peeking at the love diary of the neighbor’s older sister.
Well, he had quite the stimulating night; he nearly got affected by all the stimulation.
In fact, Luxianbei had originally intended to go into his dreams before setting off to discuss the mysteries of “Human Explosion Engineering” with his ancestor.
However, after viewing the photos sent by Miaomiao Sauce, he became completely unable to sleep.
The figure leaning against the bed, supported by weapons, her delicate face blushing cherry pink from embarrassment, with long legs slightly crossed… all in all, whenever he closed his eyes, it was her image.
This was the first source of stimulation he suffered; to avoid the plot heading in a perverted direction, he decided to wake up and study, but to his surprise, the study materials provided by Professor Ma were equally stimulating.
These two kinds of stimulation weren’t about who arrived first; they were something special, layered together, creating an exceptionally overwhelming stimulation that made Luxianbei exclaim he couldn’t handle it.
After tidying up the desk and organizing the necessary items for this trip, he glanced at the time and cursed inwardly—it was bad.
In a hurry, he grabbed the coat that was probably still asleep and dashed out.
He had an appointment with the professor at eight o’clock at the school gate, and now it was already seven fifty-five.
I haven’t even had breakfast! Luxianbei thought gloomily.
He could afford to be late for the professor, but not for breakfast; skipping breakfast was bad for his health.
Thinking about surviving year after year, taking care of his health wasn’t too early, considering he was already nineteen.
————
At around eight in the morning in University City, the sky was almost bright, holding an air reminiscent of “struggling to do sit-ups, forcing himself to get up.”
When Luxianbei hurried to the entrance of Huacheng University, it was already a little past eight, and he searched around but found no sign of Professor Ma.
So, feeling frustrated after planning to stand someone up, yet being stood up himself, he briskly crossed to the other side of the road to a noodle shop specializing in ginger duck noodles and seated himself. He waved his hand and ordered a large bowl of dry mixed ginger duck noodles, light on the chili and heavy on the greens.
As soon as he finished speaking, a warm, gentle voice came from behind.
“You must be Luxianbei.”
“That’s me!” Luxianbei blurted out, only to freeze a moment later.
At this time, the noodle shop had just opened, and there were hardly any customers. He hadn’t paid much attention when he entered, but upon hearing the voice from behind, he noticed a man sitting at a table in the back corner.
With a gentle demeanor, bright eyes, and a sharp-featured handsome face, he appeared healthy with a wheat-colored skin tone.
The man looked quite young, but there were hints of gray at the roots of his hair, adding a touch of sorrowfulness to his refined charm.
Wait, who are you, handsome?
Did you just step out of some tragic second male lead in a domineering CEO novel?
As Luxianbei puzzled over how to talk to the stranger, the man picked up a bowl of noodles and sat down across from him without asking for permission, then began to speak non-stop.
“I’ve heard Professor Ma mention you, saying you are the most talented student he’s seen in nearly a decade.”
“By the way, I read your paper—it’s insightful. If only it could delve deeper, it would be even better.”
“Oh, you’re still a freshman, right? If a freshman can write a paper of that level, that’s impressive; presumably, it has something to do with your family background?”
“……”
Family background? My family background is twenty-four types of Sichuan cuisine and thirty-two kinds of snacks!
Faced with the man’s overly familiar remarks, Luxianbei couldn’t help but complain inwardly as he continued to eat his noodles quickly.
Though he wasn’t the heroine from a domineering CEO novel, he didn’t particularly like the man across from him resembling a typical tragic second male lead.
Not only because the man interrupted his meal, but also because the very first time he locked eyes with the man, he hadn’t sensed any spirit energy fluctuations but noticed a momentary flush in his eyes.
While it was possible that the “alarm” malfunctioned, it was even more possible that there was a danger present.
To put it simply, he caught a whiff of a slight ominous air off the man.
If not for that, he could have exchanged banter and had a little comedy show with this man.
Five minutes later, as he finished the last piece of vegetable, with not a single scallion left in the bowl, Luxianbei wiped his lips, stood up, and expressionlessly told the man, “You’ve still got noodles left…”
After saying that, he hurriedly rushed toward the small door leading to Huacheng University.
————
Although Luxianbei had an appointment with Professor Ma at eight o’clock, he only got into the professor’s car at eight thirty.
The flight was booked for ten, and getting to the airport would take about an hour. With the risk of missing the boarding time looming, Professor Ma hit the gas and sped down the road.
Sitting in the car, Luxianbei tightened his seatbelt silently and couldn’t help but ask, “Professor, when you were young, did you ever participate in the Huacheng Car God competition or spring descent races?”
“No, why are you asking that?”
“I have a friend who’s a taxi driver and claims to be the second car god in Huacheng; I think your speed is already catching up to him,” Luxianbei replied expressionlessly.
Professor Ma, “……”
“By the way, Professor, why were you so late today? Aren’t you usually very punctual?” Luxianbei asked again.
“It’s all because of your teacher’s wife…” Professor Ma paused mid-sentence, fell silent for two seconds, then sighed, “Ah, forget it! The struggles of adulthood—you wouldn’t understand.”
This had been the routine for more than thirty years before any business trip; who could blame the old man for having a handsome face? Professor Ma thought resentfully.
Luxianbei glanced sideways at Professor Ma’s tired face, momentarily speechless.
“……”
Though I “don’t understand,” it seems like I kinda do.
————
Fifty minutes later, following Professor Ma’s speed and passion, they arrived early at the A018 boarding gate of Huacheng Airport.
Standing in front of the boarding gate, Luxianbei looked through the glass at the monks chanting around the plane with conch sounds. Faint spirit energy fluctuations came through, and his expression became complex.
“Professor, what is this? Blessing the plane?”
Professor Ma took a sip of hot water, settling down, and casually replied, “Luxianbei, you haven’t been out for a long time, have you?”
“Yeah, roughly two years,” Luxianbei admitted.
Since that car accident… he thought, and his eyes flickered with a momentary gloom.
“Two years?” Professor Ma nodded. “That’s about right. This has only become popular in the past year, and only two or three airlines are doing it. They say it’s to prevent urban legends from attacking during flight and to ensure safety.”
Upon hearing this, Luxianbei seemed to suddenly remember something and tilted his head, “Wait, is it because of that infamous airplane urban legend incident that circulated online before?”
“Seems like it,” Professor Ma replied, though he wasn’t entirely sure.
Luxianbei nodded thoughtfully.
Though back then, he didn’t see anything, he heard everything, scrolling social media with blind phones or listening to news updates—that was basic stuff, so he had heard about that incident.
Over a year ago, a flight had an accident mid-air, resulting in destruction and fatalities; subsequent investigations revealed the left engine had stalled.
Though it was a low-probability event, it fell within the rational understanding of mechanical failure.
However, after a mysterious recording from a phone supposedly belonging to a victim was uploaded online, public opinion began to take a strange turn.
Eventually, it even became a rumor of a terrifying urban legend attacking the plane, which was totally absurd!
“I say, it’s all those people online making a fuss that caused the incident to escalate. They completely disrespected the deceased; I don’t believe any of that!”
As Luxianbei was about to remind Professor Ma to be cautious, he heard him continue, “When I left this morning, I used copper coins for divination; our trip will be smooth!”
Luxianbei facepalmed, “It’s better if you don’t fully trust the results of the copper coin divination; what if we really run into trouble?”
After the societal beatdowns and anti-beatdowns of Dream City Entertainment City, he had become less superstitious about the results of copper coin divination.
That thing could be manipulated.
Hearing Luxianbei’s comment, Professor Ma said, “Psh! Stop saying such unlucky things. With you around, how could anything go wrong?”
Just having me around is what makes things likely to go wrong! Luxianbei thought self-deprecatingly and echoed Professor Ma, “Alright! As long as you’re happy!”
As they spoke, he turned to look toward the waiting hall, his gaze cutting through the crowd when he suddenly noticed a figure, his expression sinking.
Twenty meters ahead, the “tragic second male lead” was just thirty seconds from arriving at the boarding gate.
At that moment, he saw Professor Ma walking toward the “tragic second male lead,” enthusiastically shaking his hand.
Luxianbei was dumbfounded.
Professor, what are you doing? Let go of him; that thing is dirty!
“Luxianbei, come quickly! Let me introduce you to this man—our school’s youngest visiting professor, Hu Yue. He’s also a famous antique collector in Moon City, joining us on this trip to Tangcheng.”
“……” Luxianbei opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a scream from the corner behind him.
“Where are the security guards?! Help, he’s hitting me!”
Hearing that familiar scream, Luxianbei’s heart tightened. He quickly turned around and saw Liu Banxian being grabbed, scratched, and pulled hair by three middle-aged women, chased all the way into A018 boarding gate.
Luxianbei, “???”
Good grief, it’s all familiar faces!
The slightly ominous man, Liu Banxian who was always getting beaten, and me… have we all ended up on the same flight?
What kind of chaotic combination is this?
This can’t be a d*ath flight, can it?
Thinking of this, Luxianbei pulled out his phone and found the photos of Jiang… er, Miaomiao Sauce, clasping his hands together in front of his chest.
Miaomiao Sauce, bless me. Amen…
(EMMM, I originally wanted to write a shorter chapter, but unexpectedly, I wrote 4K; those night owls waiting for the update had a hard time…)
