Chapter 3: Success or Death

Time trickled by.

Wang Zun, climbing, could feel it.

His own oxygen was nearly exhausted.

Yet, he was still two or three meters from the cockpit.

This distance, under normal circumstances, was very, very short.

But now, the distance was remote, endlessly long, like an impassable chasm.

The chasm separated not only distance, but life and death.

Without crossing the chasm, only death awaited Wang Zun!

Damn it!!

Gazing at the distance ahead, Wang Zun could no longer hold back, cursing fiercely in his heart.

At his current speed, this distance meant he would suffocate from lack of oxygen before even reaching the cabin door.

Time could not be wasted.

Every second spent here would drastically increase the probability of death.

Wang Zun had no time to think; madness filled his eyes.

Rush!!

Inside the nearly vertical cockpit, he planted his feet on the seatback, summoning every ounce of strength he possessed, and pushed off with all his might.

He leaped forward!!

In that instant, he was like a crazed cheetah.

Starved for countless days, on the verge of death by starvation, finally encountering prey; for this, the cheetah threw itself forward recklessly, determined to seize the chance of survival!

His body soared into the air, flying toward the cabin door.

Two meters.

One meter.

In this moment, the threat of death, the terror of everyone, left no one with the mind to notice someone acting; all were helplessly crying out.

However, two people noticed Wang Zun.

One was Morita Takeshi, who was climbing.

The other was Zhujiang, the flight attendant closest to the cabin door.

Their gazes were vacant, watching Wang Zun leap and soar through the cockpit air, their eyes filled with disbelief.

Too crazy!

Has this Gao Zhongsheng (Kamikawa-kun) gone mad?

They knew the front-to-back distance of the cockpit was very long; from the end near the cockpit to the other end, the distance was at least seven or eight meters, equivalent to a person falling from a two-and-a-half-story building.

Note, this was not a jump from a building, but a crash.

Under conditions of extreme oxygen deprivation, falling from seven or eight meters high would, even if not fatal, certainly cause immediate unconsciousness.

And once unconscious amidst oxygen deprivation, death by suffocation during that unconsciousness was inevitable.

This was no different from suicide by burning charcoal.

Morita Takeshi and Zhujiang, the flight attendant, were shaken to their hearts, their minds struck with shock.

Was this truly a decision a Gao Zhongsheng would make?

Too desperate.

A complete gamble.

Success or death!

Wang Zun knew nothing of the thoughts of Morita Takeshi or Zhujiang, the flight attendant; now, his entire focus was on the cabin door.

Let me reach it!!

Faster!!

In that split second of life and death, Wang Zun thought for less than a blink and made his decision.

He believed he could use his last strength to leap and reach the cabin door.

The result of his judgment...

Was correct!

He reached it!

With a loud bang, Wang Zun, stretching his left arm out with desperate force mid-leap, wishing he could stretch his body until it tore, reached with his left hand and grabbed the cabin door tightly.

The instant he grabbed it.

Wang Zun did not relax; his right hand followed, gripping the door, trying to pull himself into the cockpit.

He did not notice.

Zhujiang, the flight attendant, holding onto the safety belt beside the door, stared straight at him, her expression vacant.

It seemed she had not expected Wang Zun to succeed.

Even less did she expect the one to do all this to be a teenager of seventeen or eighteen.

Bang!

He closed the cabin door to prevent accidentally falling out of the cockpit.

Wang Zun looked into the cockpit.

The situation was indeed developing in the worst direction he had imagined.

The pilot was dead.

The co-pilot's eyes were injured.

With no confusion in his eyes, Wang Zun purposefully shifted his gaze to a spot inside the cockpit, from which he retrieved two oxygen masks.

Throughout the entire process, there was not a shred of searching.

A practiced movement.

All of it showed he knew exactly where the cockpit's oxygen masks were kept.

This behavior, this action...

Was completely unlike that of a Gao Zhongsheng.

It was as if he were the captain himself.

Just now, what Wang Zun had thought was verified.

The system's script points could be exchanged for various things, and among them even included knowledge!

For this, he spent 100 script points to directly gain the experience of piloting an aircraft.

At this moment, he was a Gao Zhongsheng, and also an old captain with extensive piloting experience!

He skillfully put on the oxygen mask.

Having expended all his strength to enter the cockpit earlier, Wang Zun was already suffering from oxygen deprivation.

If he did not put on an oxygen mask, he would faint from lack of oxygen.

After putting an oxygen mask on himself, Wang Zun also put one on Co-pilot Nakano.

There was no other reason; Co-pilot Nakano looked no better, on the verge of suffocating from oxygen deprivation.

"Mr. Co-pilot, can you still assist in operating the aircraft? If so, make a sound."

Wang Zun asked aloud.

"Yes."

With the situation critical and his eyes injured, Co-pilot Nakano had no time to see who was speaking to him; he inhaled the oxygen from the mask deeply and replied quickly.

Wang Zun nodded.

Just as he was preparing to move Captain Hasegawa aside.

The cockpit door behind him opened, and Mori Takeshi entered.

After constant effort, Mori Takeshi arrived at the cockpit door a step later.

"How about I take over?" Mori Takeshi looked at Wang Zun moving Captain Hasegawa's body and moved to sit in the captain's seat.

Anyone with eyes could see it.

Mori Takeshi did not trust Wang Zun to fly the plane.

He was seen looking at the co-pilot, then at Wang Zun.

Since the co-pilot was fine, as long as the co-pilot guided him step-by-step to fly the plane, the chance of survival would be at least a little higher than with Wang Zun.

With Mori Takeshi's entry, Co-pilot Nakano looked over, somewhat anxious.

What time is this, and they are still arguing over who flies the plane?

Besides, does it matter who flies? The person who just put the oxygen mask on me clearly seemed quite skilled, should be quite...

Huh?!

A high school uniform?!

Following the high school uniform and looking up, Co-pilot Nakano finally noticed Wang Zun's face.

In an instant, his face changed drastically.

The one who put the oxygen mask on him was actually a teenager!

What kind of joke is this!

Letting a teenager fly a plane is simply treating life as a game; no, he cannot be allowed to fly.

Co-pilot Nakano immediately spoke out: "Let the Mr. from the back come..."

Clang!

Like a thousand-pound iron block smashing onto the ground, the sound was dull, striking straight into everyone's hearts.

The aircraft suddenly tilted sharply to the left.

"Ah!!"

Without any warning, the aircraft's movement caused screams of terror to rise throughout the cabin.

Even inside the cockpit, the three of Wang Zun changed color.

"Not good!"

Wang Zun's pupils contracted sharply.

Looking back through the left cockpit window, he saw the left wing covered in a layer of frost.

This was reaching the limit altitude; the aircraft's fuselage could not withstand the high-altitude cold current and had already begun to ice up.

Right now, only the wings are icing, but as time passes, the engines on board will also freeze; by then, with the engines losing operation, everything will be over.

Without engine operation, what would Wang Zun use to fly the plane?

Wang Zun did not hesitate; he sat down heavily in the captain's seat, giving Co-pilot Nakano and Mori Takeshi no chance to speak.

"Let me fly; I have two thousand hours of flight experience. Sit down quickly."

Wang Zun roared, one hand gripping the control stick, maneuvering the plane to stop and ascend.

With the other hand, he put on a headset and pressed the cabin broadcast switch.

"Everyone in the cabin, sit down, fasten your seatbelts and pull them tight! I need to stabilize the plane for descent; absolutely do not leave your seats!"

The clear broadcast voice echoed throughout the cabin.

Because Wang Zun had previously roared about wearing oxygen masks, the people in the cabin felt an inexplicable sense of reassurance at his voice.

Therefore, when Wang Zun's voice came over the broadcast, everyone instinctively complied.

But the fuselage shook too violently, growing more and more intense.

Many people simply did not have time to tighten their seatbelts.

Icing on the left wing caused the plane to lose balance, beginning to tilt and roll to the left.

A plane's greatest taboo is rolling.

Once rolling begins, under the strong high-altitude air currents, the plane will spin around its fuselage like a top; at that point, correcting it will be extremely difficult. Not to mention the wing icing, which makes the wings fragile; with such spinning, the wings will surely break in no time.

Hold it steady for me!!

Wang Zun gritted his teeth, gripping the control stick tightly, trying to level the plane's balance.

But the high-altitude air currents were too strong; the control stick was like a runaway wild horse, extremely difficult to tame.

The plane's spinning continued.

Inside the cabin at this moment, everyone felt as if they were on a high-speed windmill ride at an amusement park, being slammed up and down within the cabin.

Some, under the constant spinning and shifting center of gravity, felt their stomachs churn, vomiting directly.

Others were struck and bled, sustaining injuries.

Wails of terror, screams of fear, and shrieks rang out continuously; the loud sounds passed through the cabin door into the cockpit.

The situation grew increasingly critical.

Hearing the commotion in the cabin, Morita Takeshi and First Officer Nakano's hearts pounded violently, their minds equally panicked.

What should we do!

What can be done!

Morita Takeshi perhaps did not know how dire the situation was, but First Officer Nakano did.

As a First Officer with over ten years of flying experience, how could he not know the degree of the plane's roll? Not to mention him; even the more senior Captain Hasegawa would be unable to level it quickly.

Moreover, while the plane was rolling, carried by the air currents, it continued to climb.

Now they faced two major problems.

One was correcting the plane's balance.

The other was stopping the plane's ascent and descending in altitude.

If these two were not resolved, everyone would die!

It was just... resolving these two problems while the plane was rolling was too difficult.

As difficult as climbing to the sky.

First Officer Nakano was nearly in tears; the rolling made his stomach turn, wanting to vomit and cry, his liver and gallbladder trembling violently.

He had already lost all hope, closing his eyes and waiting for death.

Morita Takeshi was the same; his face was pale, covered in a deathly gray, with no hope left in his eyes, only despair.

He no longer intended to argue over who should pilot.

The current situation was not something a Gao Zhongsheng could solve by piloting, nor could he.

It was useless; it was all useless.

The only one who could save them was Captain Hasegawa coming back to life, but even if Captain Hasegawa did come back to life, could he really solve it?

The possibility was infinitesimal.

As the plane rolled, as if Death was flipping cards, a heavy oppression filled the cabin and cockpit, and the atmosphere of death spread.

Suddenly.

Click!

The sound of a switch being flipped came through.

Unlike the two in despair, Wang Zun's expression was solemn, his gaze sharp as lightning; one hand gripped the control stick tightly while the other quickly flipped the switches in the cockpit to adjust the wing flaps.

In just over ten seconds.

His hand movements never stopped.

Between each control stick manipulation, Wang Zun would adjust the wing flaps, his eyes frequently scanning the PFD display and the ND display.

As the various information on the PFD changed—the altitude bar, the vertical speed indicator, the attitude indicator, and so on—Wang Zun gripped the control stick tightly to make adjustments.

At the same time, he glanced at the ND display with the corner of his eye and took corresponding measures.

Throughout the entire process, his reactions were too fast.

Whenever information on the displays changed, or the air currents and clouds ahead shifted, in an instant, Wang Zun would react.

Such reactions were completely like a conditioned reflex, without thought.

It was as if they were instinctive movements.

It seemed he knew exactly what operation to perform under these circumstances and with this information was the most correct.

Time ticked by.

One second, thirty seconds, one minute...

The plane's rolling changed with time, showing an inverse relationship; the fuselage stabilized, slowly stopping its roll.

First Officer Nakano, in his despair, noticed the change in the plane.

In an instant, he suddenly looked at Wang Zun.

At that look, he froze on the spot, his eyes widening to roundness, as if seeing a ghost.

Before his eyes, a Gao Zhongsheng, whose attire and age perfectly matched the image of a high school student, was actually skillfully piloting the plane.

As his eyes moved, his hands coordinated the operations accordingly.

This scene was extremely visually striking.

Watching Wang Zun's eyes and hand movements, fast and accurate, the sequence of reactions was clean and without hesitation.

Too miraculous.

Feeling the plane's rolling gradually cease as it entered a state of balance.

Co-pilot Nakano's body shook violently, his mouth opening wide.

Impossible!!

He almost shouted it out, but closed his mouth in time.

The reason was simple: he was afraid, terrified that a single word from him would disrupt Wang Zun's "performance."

Not long after.

The plane finally balanced and stopped ascending.

Co-pilot Nakano's heart surged beyond measure; from his expression to his inner thoughts, everything interpreted shock.

He did it.

This Gao Zhongsheng did it.

He accomplished something even a captain with over twenty years of experience could not; it was too incredible.

Simply unimaginable.

For a moment, Co-pilot Nakano stood stunned, unable to regain his senses for a long time.

Is this Gao Zhongsheng really a Gao Zhongsheng...

Tian Wu was equally dazed; witnessing Wang Zun's entire operation, he was deeply shocked and filled with lingering fear.

If he had insisted on piloting the plane just now, refusing to let Wang Zun take over, the consequences would not have been optimistic; death would have been inevitable.

Involuntarily, Tian Wu stared blankly at Wang Zun, his expression complex.

Am I getting old, or has the era changed?

Are Gao Zhongshengs these days so formidable?

On the other side

Tokyo Aviation Administration.

Everyone kept calling NH137, yet still no one responded.

Judging from NH137's coordinates on the screen, NH137 was not only ascending continuously but shaking violently, about to reach its altitude limit.

Minister Sada fell silent, his face looking as if he were under spending restrictions, gloomy and terrifying.

Judging from the screen, it looked like NH137 had encountered trouble.

Serious trouble.

The degree of NH137's shaking on those coordinates was like that of a drunken burly man, swaying left and right; where was this flying a plane? It was completely like driving a bumper car.

"What exactly is Captain Hasegawa doing! Is his twenty years of piloting experience gained by eating shit?!"

Previously, a staff member had given Minister Sada detailed information on NH137.

Upon learning that NH137's captain was an old pilot with twenty years of flying experience, Minister Sada was greatly surprised.

What on earth is going on?

An old pilot flying a plane as if playing a prank, treating it like a rocket!

The more he thought about it, the more Minister Sada's heart sank to the bottom.

No!

Following this trend, NH137 will disintegrate; there is no possibility of survival for anyone on board.

We cannot wait any longer.

Immediately, Minister Sada waved his hand and issued an order.

"Go apply for support from the Air Self-Defense Force, have them send a reconnaissance plane to investigate NH..."

Before he finished speaking.

"Minister Sada, it stopped, it stopped, NH137 is no longer ascending!" Yamane Yichi shouted excitedly.

"Let me see!" Minister Sada froze for a moment, then hurriedly stepped forward to look at the screen.

The screen displayed.

NH137 had changed; it was no longer climbing in altitude but had turned its direction.

Seeing this, Minister Sada breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Good, good, it finally stopped climbing in altitude.

He was truly afraid the plane would keep flying upward, because the plane had already reached its altitude limit.

Disintegration would be a matter of minutes.

By then, all 231 people on board, including the flight crew, would inevitably have no chance of survival.

And he would not be able to escape blame; at the upcoming press conference, he would kneel to apologize and announce his resignation due to his own fault.

However, although NH137 was no longer gaining altitude, the crisis had not been resolved.

"Quickly use the computer to calculate how much fuel reserve NH137 has left, whether it is enough to return and land, and what possible damage the airframe might have sustained when it reached its altitude limit.

Also, continue contacting NH137 for me!"

"Hai!"

Before NH137 landed, Minister Sada dared not relax.

At the same time.

NH137 flight, cockpit.

The plane was descending in a balanced manner, yet Wang Zun did not relax; his eyes burned like torches as he constantly monitored every movement, while slightly opening his mouth to speak to Co-pilot Nakano.

"Mr. Co-pilot, Tokyo Air Traffic Control is on the line."

"Confirm whether the aircraft information was sent successfully."

"Check all instruments; check the specific damage to the aircraft."

To ensure absolute safety, Wang Zun needed to obtain information on all aspects of the aircraft so he could make decisions in the shortest possible time.

His calm operations and orderly commands left Co-pilot Nakano and Mori Takeshi staring in disbelief.

Their mouths had been hanging open since a moment ago.

Gulp...

Swallowing with difficulty, Co-pilot Nakano and Mori Takeshi stared, their expressions filled with shock and confusion.

Are my eyes not blind?

Is Kamikawa Mitsu (Gao Zhongsheng) really a Gao Zhongsheng?

It was unimaginable that the person giving such orderly commands and skillfully piloting the aircraft was a Gao Zhongsheng.

If someone had told Mori Takeshi not long ago that a Gao Zhongsheng could pilot an aircraft like this,

he would have been certain.

He would have slapped them without hesitation.

What kind of joke is this?

Compared to Mori Takeshi's thoughts, Co-pilot Nakano kept scanning back and forth.

He kept looking between the Gao Zhongsheng uniform Wang Zun wore and his face.

Even having seen Wang Zun pilot the aircraft before, Co-pilot Nakano still felt deeply bewildered.

Or, to put it another way.

It was precisely because he saw Wang Zun pilot the aircraft that Co-pilot Nakano felt bewildered, a sense of self-doubt.

What on earth is going on?

How can a Gao Zhongsheng pilot so skillfully? Moreover, that piloting skill is not at all like a novice; it's more experienced than an experienced pilot, looking like someone who has flown for at least ten years, with experience exploding to the max.

But the Gao Zhongsheng in front of him is only seventeen or eighteen years old.

Seventeen or eighteen? More than ten years of piloting experience?

What kind of joke is this?

If this were true, wouldn't this Gao Zhongsheng have been piloting since he was in the womb?

But looking at the reality before our eyes,

this really is the only possibility.

Even if the Gao Zhongsheng didn't start piloting from the womb, he must be the type who grew up in the cockpit, exposed to it since childhood, growing up piloting aircraft.

"Mr. Co-pilot?"

Seeing Co-pilot Nakano make no move, Wang Zun looked over, his gaze cold and stern.

The crisis is not yet resolved.

Until the aircraft reaches the ground and the script is completed, Wang Zun cannot relax his tightly strung nerves.

"Uh... sorry, I'll handle it right away."

Stung by Wang Zun's gaze, Co-pilot Nakano quickly snapped out of his shock and began operating according to Wang Zun's orders.

He didn't notice that Mori Takeshi was looking at him, his expression extremely strange.

This scene was too dreamlike.

A co-pilot actually obeying the orders of a Gao Zhongsheng to operate the aircraft.