Chapter 2: The Situation Spirals Out of Control

The cockpit was in a terrible state, and the cabin wasn't much better.

"Ahh!!"

"What's going on?!"

"Hey! Hey! How exactly are you flying this plane?!"

The plane kept climbing at a slant, and passengers in the cabin who hadn't fastened their seatbelts were thrown every which way.

Rumble rumble rumble!

The plane was still tilting, almost reaching a full ninety degrees.

Along with the tilt, the plane shook violently, the whole aircraft like a combination of a roller coaster and bumper cars—fast and jolting.

Bang!

The violent shaking sent luggage in the overhead bins slamming around, letting out a tremendous crash.

"Ahh!!"

Another shake, and in the overhead bins, many pieces of luggage burst open the bin doors as they tumbled, crashing down toward the passengers seated behind and below.

Some were struck and screamed; others were knocked out cold by the weight of the luggage itself.

Some had their noses caved in, their faces disfigured, blood streaming out.

Clang!!

The plane shook violently once more; the entire aircraft was now tilted to nearly ninety degrees.

"Help!!"

"Save me!"

Someone was flung from their seat, their whole body launched into the air, hurtling toward the rear of the cabin like the bottom of an abyss; on the way down, they bounced off seatbacks and overhead bins, letting out piercing screams, and finally crashed into the rear wall of the cabin—alive or dead, no one knew.

A few others with quicker reflexes, though flung from their seats, the instant they were airborne, climbed like scaling a mountain, gripping the seatbacks with a death hold, preventing themselves from being thrown to the rear of the cabin.

The plane's upward slant shifted the body's center of gravity; even passengers with their seatbelts fastened didn't fly out, but their bodies were pulled taut, strained by the seatbelts, feeling as if their bodies were about to lift off, a panic rising, fearing the seatbelt couldn't bear the pull of their body weight and would snap.

Everyone's hearts rose with it, as if their hearts too were under gravity, leaping up into their throats.

The screaming and crying grew louder, filling the entire cabin.

The plane climbed nearly vertically; everyone felt as if they stood at the edge of a cliff—and a cliff they were hanging from, no less.

That feeling was enough to scare the soul out of anyone.

Too chaotic, everything was in chaos.

Shouts of terror and screams rose one after another.

A complete mess.

The situation was on the verge of spiraling out of control.

"Sir! Please fasten your seatbelt and don't leave your seat; what you're doing isn't safe."

"Ma'am, please don't panic; we've received professional training, you don't need to worry."

The flight attendants did their utmost to soothe the passengers, and soon sweat was beading on their foreheads.

While soothing them, they couldn't help glancing toward the cockpit door, wanting to know what was happening.

This was an unprecedented situation.

By all rights, even if a plane were climbing, it shouldn't tilt to this degree while ascending.

At that moment, the flight attendant closest to the cabin door, purser Zhujiang Sashiko, gripping her seatbelt and steadying herself on the handrails around her, struggled her way to the cockpit door.

Knock knock knock.

"Captain Hase, First Officer Nakano, are you in there?"

"Captain Hase, Captain Nakano, are you in there? Please respond."

She kept knocking, but the cockpit gave no response; no one opened the door.

In the end, purser Zhujiang's forehead was covered in sweat, and deep terror filled her eyes.

She knew something had definitely gone wrong inside the cockpit!

After thinking it over, purser Zhujiang made a decision and reached for the cockpit door handle.

Just as purser Zhujiang was making her decision—

Wang Zun, seated in the aisle seat, turned his head and, through a gap in the curtain by the cabin door, clearly saw purser Zhujiang knocking on the cockpit door.

His eyes narrowed, a deep glint flashing in their depths.

Three minutes had already passed.

Beyond a doubt, the bird strike had definitely happened.

The plane's excessive tilt was the best proof.

He looked around, observing the situation inside the cabin.

Suitcases and other objects everywhere; the passengers were a complete mess.

The scene looked like leftover scraps after a whirlwind had swept through.

A total shambles.

Vaguely, Wang Zun felt his breathing becoming difficult.

That was because the plane was climbing, and the oxygen in the air was decreasing.

Wang Zun didn't hesitate; he unfastened his seatbelt.

Time waits for no one; if he didn't do something, he and everyone on board would die here.

Click!

Two sounds of seatbelts being unbuckled rang out.

Wang Zun heard it, paused slightly, and looked toward the sound beside him.

The sound of seatbelts — one came from himself, the other from the passenger beside him.

It was a middle-aged uncle.

From his hazy memory, Wang Zun recalled that this man was called Tian Wu, who had once chatted with Wang Zun on the plane.

Wang Zun was looking at Tian Wu, and Tian Wu was also looking at Wang Zun.

Staring at Wang Zun's cold, unflustered expression in the face of danger, Tian Wu was astonished.

It seemed he hadn't expected that amid such chaos, a high school student like Wang Zun would be this calm.

Unexpected!

And Wang Zun was equally surprised, suddenly recalling that when the plane tilted skyward and chaos broke out, this uncle Tian Wu seemed different from the others — flustered, yes, but not helpless; he had a strong heart.

"You…" Tian Wu began, wanting to say something.

Bang!

The bang was like a sudden thunderclap, dozens of times louder than the pop of a champagne cork.

The situation changed abruptly — the cockpit door was opened by Zhujiang, the purser.

"Ah!!"

"Ah!!!"

"Ah!! Save me! Please save me!"

"Wife! Grab my hand!!"

The noisy, clamorous cabin merged into a single chorus of terrified screams.

The moment the cockpit door opened, the pressure difference between inside and outside caused the cabin to decompress, and the door instantly became a vacuum cleaner with hundreds of times the suction.

Sucking in everything inside the cabin.

Even the air was sucked away!

Endless suction surged wildly — the oxygen, paper cups, phones, everything inside the cabin was sucked out, and even the people and the oxygen masks that had dropped from above were about to be sucked out.

The girls clutched at their hair being tugged by the suction, screaming at the top of their lungs.

The men were also panicking, each face terrified, pale as paper.

Those who hadn't fastened their seatbelts earlier were all dragged by the terrifying suction, their bodies pulled toward the cabin door.

Those who had been holding onto the seatbacks to keep from falling out of the cabin had their bodies abruptly change direction in midair, pulled toward the door.

However…

The terrifying suction wasn't the worst part.

The worst part was that the suction had sucked all the air out of the cabin.

The cabin was instantly deprived of oxygen.

Without exception, everyone's face flushed red, mouths opening and closing in great gulps.

These were the symptoms of breathing difficulty!

The oxygen at high altitude was too thin — too thin to sustain normal human breathing.

On top of that, the strong high-altitude air currents were bitingly cold, causing the cabin temperature to plummet.

The cabin now resembled a great ice cave.

Bitterly cold and lacking oxygen.

Every one of these conditions was fatal to the human body.

"I, I don't want to die!"

Someone spoke with great difficulty; death and cold made his voice tremble and shiver without end.

At this moment, everyone — flight attendants included — felt as if they had arrived at a freezing abyss of hell, where the Grim Reaper roared within, emanating a blood-red glow, snarling viciously as it prepared to reap the lives of the 232 people aboard.

Madness.

The situation had completely fallen apart!

A fear called death was spreading rapidly!

Damn it!

Wang Zun gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath, grabbed the oxygen mask in front of him, took a fierce gulp, then gripped his seatbelt with both hands and bellowed with all his might.

"Put on your oxygen masks!! Put on your oxygen masks!!"

The scene now was total chaos.

Under the fear of death, everyone had lost their composure — they didn't even think to put on the oxygen masks right in front of them, only knowing how to cry and scream.

He had to guide everyone, forcibly pulling the chaotic situation back.

Otherwise, the situation would spiral into an irreversible loss of control.

He shouted again and again.

His voice was loud, bellowed with everything he had, practically drowning out the roar of the air.

His words spread throughout the small cabin.

Everyone heard his shouts.

One must understand that when facing danger, people are both frantic and rational — when they hear a command that makes even a little sense, they will instinctively obey it.

And Wang Zun's words were like a life-saving straw, like a powerful shot of adrenaline, striking everyone.

The first to react were the well-trained flight attendants, and that uncle named Tian Wu — they looked at Wang Zun, then shouted along with him in unison.

"Put your oxygen masks on!"

"Put on your oxygen masks and breathe!"

Shouts rang out one after another, and the panicked passengers followed suit, putting on their oxygen masks.

No one had expected that the situation hurtling toward disaster would be forcibly pulled back by a high school student.

However, Wang Zun and everyone else understood.

The crisis had not yet been resolved.

Sweeping his gaze over the passengers who had all put on their oxygen masks, Wang Zun's eyes burned like a beacon in the dark night, staring straight toward the cockpit.

He understood that to completely resolve the crisis, he had to reach the cockpit!

Meanwhile.

Tokyo Aviation Administration Bureau.

Watching the computer display NH137 continuing to climb, exceeding the assigned 6,300, Yamanaka Bai Chi was startled and kept calling out on comms.

"NH137, you have exceeded 6,300, please adjust altitude immediately."

"NH137, come in please."

"NH137?"

…

Repeated calls, no one answered on the comms.

Seeing NH137 still climbing abnormally, Yamanaka Bai Chi hurriedly reported to Director Saida.

By the time Director Saida of the Aviation Administration Bureau arrived, NH137 had already reached an altitude of 7,500 and was still climbing, showing no sign of stopping.

"Everyone listen, keep calling NH137."

Director Saida's expression shifted as he quickly issued orders.

"Also divert all flights in NH137's airspace to prevent mid-air collisions, and have them call NH137 as well."

"Connect me to the Meteorological Bureau, have them share the weather conditions in NH137's airspace."

"Get me NH137's full flight information as fast as possible—maintenance crew, passenger details, I want everything."

"Yes!" the entire bureau responded in unison.

Director Saida's brows knit tightly, his gaze fixed dead on the screen tracking NH137's movements.

"What the hell is the captain of NH137 doing."

……

Flight NH137 continued climbing higher into the sky.

The higher it went, the thinner the air became, and the colder the temperature dropped.

Cold swept through the cabin; along with bodies shivering from the chill, everyone's heart sank at that moment too, as if plunging into an icy cave, a bone-deep, biting cold.

"I don't want to die!!"

"Someone save us!"

"I want to go home!!"

Although everyone had put on their oxygen masks and was temporarily safe from oxygen deprivation and suffocation, the death crisis had not been resolved—the plane was still climbing. Judging by the trend, it wouldn't be long before it neared the maximum altitude reachable by commercial aircraft.

When that happened, the extreme atmospheric pressure at that altitude would tear the entire plane apart.

And all the passengers would be exposed to the high-altitude sky.

The outcome was obvious.

No chance of survival at all!!

The panicked screams in the cabin earlier turned into helpless sobs and desperate shouts.

Then, with the tinnitus and ear pain brought on by the high altitude, everyone grew even more uneasy, sinking deeper into despair over death.

Among them, the most desperate was Zhujiang, the chief flight attendant, who had opened the cabin door.

When the cabin door opened, she had gripped the door frame and was not sucked into the cockpit, and at that moment she had discovered the situation inside the cockpit.

Captain Hase was dead, and First Officer Nakano had suffered injuries to both eyes.

Watching First Officer Nakano strain to open his eyes and reach for the captain's control stick, but the distance was too far and his hand couldn't reach; wanting to get up, but the seatbelt held him down; wanting to unbuckle the seatbelt, but discovering his thigh was injured—under this forceful climb, he couldn't move at all.

Zhujiang, the chief flight attendant, despaired.

She desperately wanted to help, but her legs kept trembling nonstop, and combined with the gravitational pull of the climb, she simply couldn't take a step.

At the same time.

Taking advantage of the suction that had lifted the cabin door curtain, Wang Zun, seated in the aisle seat, turned his head and finally saw clearly what was happening in the cockpit.

The captain looked like he was dead…

Seeing this, Wang Zun couldn't help wanting to curse.

"Damn it, whatever you don't want to happen, that's exactly what happens."

This was absolutely the worst possible situation.

The captain who could fly the plane had run into trouble, and from the look of it was most likely dead.

As for the first officer, his eyes were bloodshot—clearly his vision was impaired. Relying on him to fly the plane back safely was absolutely impossible.

"Screw it!"

A flash of resolve and ruthlessness crossed Wang Zun's eyes as he made a decision that no one else dared to make.

Unbuckle the seatbelt!

At the same moment, he called out to the system in his heart.

"System, can the Script Points be exchanged for anything, including…"

Before he could finish, a startled shout came from beside Wang Zun.

"Kamikawa-kun, what are you doing! Don't unbuckle your seatbelt!"

Tian Wu's expression changed.

This Gao Zhongsheng who looked utterly down on his luck—why did he always do the unexpected?

First, when even the adults couldn't keep calm, he had pulled the chaotic situation back together, and now he was about to unbuckle his seatbelt.

Completely incomprehensible.

Wang Zun turned his head while unfastening his seatbelt.

"I'm going to the cockpit."

As he spoke, seeing Morita Takeshi about to say something, Wang Zun lowered his voice so only he and Morita Takeshi could hear, then spoke again.

"The captain seems to be dead; I saw blood."

"What?!"

Morita Takeshi's face changed in shock, shifting colors repeatedly, looking utterly terrible.

He finally understood why Kamikawa Mitsu had disregarded safety and unfastened his seatbelt.

The captain was dead.

Kamikawa Mitsu intended to go to the cockpit and pilot the plane.

Morita Takeshi's face shifted between helplessness, despair, and shock.

The captain's death filled him with deep despair and powerlessness, while Wang Zun's actions left him astonished.

He never expected a Gao Zhongsheng, under the threat of death, to be calmer and more composed than they adults, sparing no opportunity to survive.

While Morita Takeshi was lost in thought, Wang Zun did not stop his actions.

After unfastening his seatbelt, he took a deep breath from the oxygen mask.

Immediately, he arched his body, grabbed the adjacent seats with both hands as leverage, and climbed upward, ascending toward the cockpit at maximum speed.

It is worth mentioning that there were two reasons he told Morita Takeshi the truth and did not fear panic upon Morita Takeshi learning it.

First:

Morita Takeshi's seat, located on the inner side, offered no view of the cockpit.

Therefore, he knew nothing of Wang Zun's actions or the severity of the situation.

So Wang Zun intended to tell Morita Takeshi the truth because Morita Takeshi was very kind-hearted; without knowing the truth, he would likely try to stop Wang Zun, after all, Wang Zun was merely a high school student.

A Gao Zhongsheng heading to the cockpit would naturally make anyone think chaos would ensue.

Second:

Through the previous chaos, Wang Zun observed that although Morita Takeshi was panicked, he did not scream in terror, leading Wang Zun to conclude that Morita Takeshi possessed extremely strong mental fortitude and could control his emotions well during danger.

High-altitude winds howled, roaring loudly, echoing in his ears.

The fierce wind whipped Wang Zun's hair, yet could not shake his heart.

Faster!

Even faster!

Wang Zun climbed rapidly, constantly urging himself on in his mind.

The plane was currently at a minimum altitude of 8000.

The oxygen was extremely thin!

And Wang Zun was merely a Gao Zhongsheng; the original owner had hardly exercised, possessing a very poor physique. Under these conditions, he was effectively moving while holding his breath.

He estimated he would suffer from hypoxia within a few minutes.

Therefore, for him now,

time was life!

He must reach the cockpit before hypoxia set in.

Wang Zun kept his body low, nearly lying flat on every airplane seat, to lower his center of gravity, enabling him to grip the seatbacks more firmly and prevent himself from sliding toward the rear of the cabin.

On the other side,

After a brief moment of distraction, Morita Takeshi regained his senses, gritted his teeth, and unfastened his seatbelt.

He too intended to go to the cockpit.

In his view, Wang Zun's performance was impressive, but ultimately he was just a high school student who certainly could not pilot a plane; rather than let him take control, it was better for Morita Takeshi to do it.

At least, he was older and more experienced; though he had never piloted a plane, he had at least seen others fly helicopters.

Wang Zun ignored Morita Takeshi, climbed straight ahead, and simultaneously did not forget to ask the System.

"System, how many Script Points are required to acquire knowledge of piloting an aircraft?"