Chapter 7: This Plane Comes from Mount Akiyama

Inside the control tower hall, gazing through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the massive NH137 airframe loomed larger and larger before them.

Panic swept through the crowd, turning their faces deathly pale.

In their eyes, the NH137 was like a wild ox beast the size of Rushan.

This giant beast roared, whipping up a howling gale as it charged toward the control tower.

Fear and screams instantly filled the tower.

Despair spread.

Undoubtedly, if the NH137 struck the control tower, given its enormous size and speed, the chance of survival was as slim as an ant's.

The NH137 airframe swung inward, looking as if it would hit the control tower any second.

"Step on it!!"

Inside the cockpit, Wang Zun roared.

Co-pilot Nakano didn't think twice and stomped hard on the brake pedal.

The wheels scraped against the ground, sending sparks flying and emitting a deafening screech that made the eardrums of everyone in the control tower and at the airport ache.

Wang Zun gripped the control stick tightly, pulling it in one direction.

Stop it for me!!

On the control tower, the NH137 was still closing in, less than a second away.

Many closed their eyes, waiting for death to arrive.

The SAT, the police, and the onlookers' eyes bulged with rage, their hearts pounding wildly; they could only watch helplessly as a major casualty event was about to unfold.

They had forgotten the hijacking.

They only knew that soon there would be massive casualties, an irreparable major disaster.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds...

Huh?

Inside the control tower, everyone who had closed their ears heard the sound of the wheels skidding sideways, piercingly loud.

However, aside from the skidding sound,

there was nothing else.

They froze, confused.

Where was the huge impact sound that should have come?

Slowly opening their eyes to look,

"This!!"

Everyone who saw it clearly was violently shaken, their minds utterly horrified.

The NH137 did not crash into the control tower as expected.

Instead, the NH137 swung around, its tail passing by, coming within less than one meter of the control tower.

That one meter was the distance between life and death.

The control tower's floor-to-ceiling windows vibrated, the doors shook; although the NH137 did not crash into it, the swinging airframe whipped up gusts of whistling wind, strong as a small tornado.

Feeling everything before them,

watching the NH137's swinging motion right in front of their eyes,

the airframe kept spinning and rotating in place, yet never collided with the control tower.

Inside the control tower hall, everyone's legs went weak, feeling as though they had survived a disaster.

There was also a shock so great it left them dazed.

Watching the NH137 airframe continue to spin, and seeing that spinning motion, a single word popped into the minds of everyone witnessing this scene.

Car drifting!

They were not mistaken; the NH137 was drifting.

Just like a car driver performing stunts, driving a car and drifting in circles in one spot.

Except now, what was drifting and spinning in circles was not a car.

It was a commercial airliner dozens of times larger than a car!

"Is he treating the plane like a car?" Fujinaga Shoji, piloting a fighter jet and looking down from the sky, was speechless with astonishment.

Performing stunts with a plane; as an ace pilot, Fujinaga Shoji could do that too.

Provided the plane was in the air.

After all, performing stunts with a plane is an aerial display.

But performing stunts with a plane on the ground, even drifting like a car stunt, was absolutely unprecedented; no one had ever done it, because that was completely suicidal, throwing one's life away.

Yet, on the ground, the NH137 was doing exactly this life-risking car drift, and with 231 people sitting inside the aircraft.

His thought was not one he alone had.

Everyone at the airport had it.

Their faces stunned, they watched the NH137 continuously drift and spin, slowing down gradually through friction, and throughout the entire time the NH137 never crashed into the control tower, maintaining its distance.

"Is that definitely a plane?"

Someone inexplicably rubbed their eyes, staring hard at the NH137, feeling as though they were hallucinating.

Thinking the NH137 was a car.

Others murmured, "Did they send a car driver to pilot the plane?"

No one could answer his question.

Because, while his words were nonsense, they held a grain of truth.

Inside the cockpit.

"Step!"

"Release!"

"Step!"

"Release!"

Wang Zun gave orders to Vice-Captain Nakano with rhythmic regularity.

With every command shouted, he controlled the movement of the joystick in his hand, while pushing and releasing the reverse thrust lever.

Mori Takeshi and Vice-Captain Nakano understood clearly.

It was precisely Wang Zun's series of maneuvers, before and after, that resolved the crisis.

From the beginning of the process until now, the cockpit had been silent, containing only Wang Zun's words, spoken one character at a time.

The atmosphere was tense; Mori Takeshi and Vice-Captain Nakano dared not even breathe, focusing their entire attention on Wang Zun's commands.

As direct participants in the changes of NH137, how could the two of them not be clear about them?

NH137 was drifting.

Kamikawa Mitsu was controlling the drift of flight NH137, forcibly twisting the crisis of a rollover and bringing them a visual feast.

Unbelievable.

How on earth did he do it?

Although both airplanes and cars are called vehicles, their operation is not the same; even their size differs greatly.

Mori Takeshi stared dumbfounded at Wang Zun, suddenly recalling a sentence Wang Zun had said to him while piloting the plane.

"I have 2,000 hours of flight experience."

The words echoed in his mind.

His gaze grew even more strange; he very much wanted to open his mouth and ask Wang Zun.

"So, Kamikawa Mitsu, besides your 2,000 hours of flight experience, do you also have 2,000 hours of driving experience, and have you fused the two experiences together?"

Time dripped by.

The drifting, circling NH137 gradually slowed down and came to a gentle stop.

Looking closely.

NH137 had stopped, its tail facing the control tower...

The distance between the two was still one meter!

For a full minute or two, the people at the airport remained stunned, finally snapping out of their 'Akiyama Drift' trance.

"Quick! Drive the passenger stairs over; all officers and SAT, follow me."

Saito, the Chief of the Public Security Bureau in charge of this hijacking operation, stepped forward.

The action was perfectly synchronized, without any muddiness or delay.

When the passenger stairs reached the cabin door, Chief Saito raised his left hand to head level and clenched his five fingers.

SAT personnel quickly positioned themselves at the front and rear of the aircraft; some had already climbed onto the plane's roof via equipment, moving with great speed, completing the task within a few minutes.

As for the police, they drove their patrol cars one by one, stopping near NH137, opening their doors to get out, leaning against the car doors, and aiming their pistols toward NH137.

At Chief Saito's single order, SAT would immediately storm in.

The atmosphere instantly froze, tense to the extreme.

Media reporters grabbed their cameras to film, while onlookers grabbed their phones to snap photos.

Gazing at NH137, Chief Saito's face was cold, his eyes sharp as an eagle's.

"Chief Saito, everything is ready." A subordinate handed him a megaphone.

Taking the broadcast device from his subordinate's hand, Chief Saito nodded: "Wait for my command before you act."

"Hai!"

The situation inside NH137 was unclear; it was unknown whether the criminals possessed lethal weapons.

A forced assault would be unwise and could easily cause hostage casualties.

To ensure absolute safety.

Chief Saito did not intend to launch a forced assault; he planned to use a combination of soft and hard tactics.

First, he would attempt to persuade the hijackers to surrender.

On the other side,

Inside flight NH137.

With the plane stopped, the passengers in the cabin felt as if a weight had been lifted, feeling alive again, hugging each other in joy.

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