UAAG CH4

Entering the small building, the ground floor was empty, swept clean and smooth, like a vacant warehouse.

Zhuo Huan walked at the very front, with the grumbling punk teenager behind him. Fu Cheng was two meters away from them, following at a distance neither too close nor too far. His gaze involuntarily moved up, stopping on the circle of hair casually tied at the back of that man’s head, his mind somewhat dazed.

Reaching the top of the stairs, the man stopped, clicked his tongue softly, crushed the cigarette, and threw it away.

There was no furniture on the entire first floor, only an ashtray placed by the stairs, filled with cigarette butts. This newly arrived butt, its life extinguished, stood with difficulty in the ashtray for a few seconds before toppling over with its companions as Fu Cheng came upstairs.

Undoubtedly, judging by the posture and force used to stub out the cigarette, the butts in the ashtray were all the handiwork of the same person.

The three of them went upstairs together.

Zhuo Huan walked in front, hands in his pockets, body leaning slightly forward, taking two steps as one, and soon disappeared from view.

The punk teenager, carrying a suitcase, found it quite inconvenient. Evidently lacking exercise, he was panting after just a few steps. Fu Cheng lent a hand. The punk teenager looked at him in surprise, lips moving, but didn’t say anything.

When they reached the second floor, a certain long-legged gentleman was already sitting behind a computer, brows furrowed, typing furiously on the keyboard.

“Tell Adrian to send the stuff over quickly. It’s been three days.” The long-legged gentleman pushed off the floor with his right foot, rolling the chair backward. He looked at a beautiful blonde woman with blue eyes, “You should know the limits of my patience.”

The woman smiled slightly while pouring coffee: “But it looks like Adrian doesn’t know.” Saying this, she delivered the coffee to Zhuo Huan’s desk. “I’ll remind him again. Next time you should put the ashtray at the door, Reid. You reek of smoke.”

Zhuo Huan took a sip of coffee, seemingly only then realizing the two newcomers had arrived, and looked at them.

The blonde woman walked up to the two, about to speak, when the long-legged gentleman stood up holding his coffee: “New members, Fu Cheng, Su Fei. Get to know each other.”

Once he spoke, all the staff on the second floor put down their work to greet the newcomers.

After everyone had been introduced, the crowd returned to their tasks, leaving only the blonde woman and a benevolent-looking white old man.

The blonde woman: “Fu Cheng, Su Fei, we’ve met over the phone. I’m Stephanie, you can call me Lina. You just arrived from China; you must be tired. I’ve arranged for someone to take you to the hotel to rest in a moment.”

Hearing this, the punk teenager’s face changed slightly.

Before he could speak, Lina flashed an impeccably perfect smile: “Want to ask why you weren’t sent directly to the hotel but came here first? Actually, it was my own initiative. I wanted you to meet the members of UAAG first. Everyone will be colleagues from now on.” She had been speaking in very fluent Chinese, not sounding French at all. “Those people just now were from EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency). Let me introduce your UAAG colleagues.”

The white old man standing next to Lina extended his hand: “Hader Joseph.” Switching to fluent Chinese, he blinked: “Call me Old Joseph.”

The punk teenager was originally extremely unhappy, but Old Joseph was chatty and humorous, quickly livening up the atmosphere.

Five minutes later, the car Lina arranged arrived. Fu Cheng and the punk teenager went downstairs together.

While going downstairs, Fu Cheng looked back.

That man was standing by the window looking at a document.

Moonlight fell softly on his face as he focused on the document with his head down.

Suddenly, he turned his head.

Their gazes met in the air.

Fu Cheng turned his head away abruptly.

When Lina returned after seeing them off, she saw the long-legged gentleman was no longer looking at the document. He stroked his chin, dug around in his pocket for a long time, then seemed to realize something and reluctantly took a piece of gum from the table and threw it into his mouth.

“Reid?”

“He has a problem with me.”

Lina: “Su Fei? He does have a big problem with you. He was very angry when I talked to him on the phone, accusing you of why you didn’t let him fly directly from Boston to Helsinki but made him go to Shanghai first.”

“I meant Fu Cheng.”

Lina was stunned: “Evan Fu? Did he?”

“I think so too.” Old Joseph interjected with a smile, “Probably because he thinks you’re not as handsome as him?”

“…”

“Tsk.”

“Are you kidding me?”

The wealth of UAAG continued to refresh the imagination of the two newcomers.

The car picking them up to the hotel this time was a Rolls-Royce. At the hotel, each person had their own room, all suites.

Supposedly to get over jet lag, but less than an hour later, Fu Cheng received a call from Lina.

“Old Joseph proposed celebrating the new members joining by going to a bar for drinks. In fact, he just wanted to drink. If you’re not too tired, you’re welcome to join. I’ll arrange a car for you.”

Ten minutes later, Fu Cheng and Su Fei were sitting in a booth at a bar, next to an excited Old Joseph.

“I don’t like Finnish alcohol. Finns’ alcohol lacks flavor, like something little girls drink. Only Marskin Ryyppy is somewhat interesting.” After roasting unceremoniously in Chinese, Old Joseph raised his hand to summon the waiter, switching to English: “A glass of Marskin Ryyppy. Oh, I just love Finnish alcohol to death.”

The waiter nodded with a smile: “Anything else?”

Su Fei immediately raised his hand: “I want a glass of liqueur.”

“In 1983, Brotherso conducted a social brain experiment. Through SPECT scans of isotopes, it was found that alcohol reduces metabolism in the prefrontal cortex, causing atrophy of the cerebral cortex and affecting the transmission of GABA, serotonin, and neurotransmitters.”

Pausing, Zhuo Huan blew a white smoke ring and smiled nonchalantly: “In other words, you’ll get stupid.”

Everyone: “…”

Old Joseph: “I suspect you’re targeting me.”

Zhuo Huan: “Your prefrontal cortex is fully developed; a little alcohol won’t affect anything.”

Old Joseph: “Oh? Then what do you mean by saying that?”

“Minors are different.”

Su Fei: “…”

“Fuck, do you want to fight!”

Zhuo Huan didn’t even lift his eyelids: “You can’t beat me.”

Without a second word, Su Fei grabbed Fu Cheng: “Brother, help me beat him up!”

Fu Cheng looked at him.

Brother?

The black-haired young man smiled gently: “I can’t beat Teacher Zhuo either.”

Zhuo Huan raised his eyes, gazing quietly at Fu Cheng.

The punk teenager scratched the back of his head in confusion: “Why do you call him Teacher Zhuo?”

Fu Cheng: “Teacher Zhuo is very famous in the Chinese aviation industry. Many people respect him.”

Su Fei: “Huh?”

Old Joseph’s Marskin Ryyppy arrived. He took a hearty gulp and joined the topic: “Reid is famous in the global aviation industry, haha. But it’s the first time I’ve heard someone call him Teacher.”

In the end, everyone ordered a drink.

Su Fei argued plausibly: “I’m so smart; being a bit dumber would be friendlier to ordinary people.”

Lina moved his glass away, smiling: “You’re drunk.”

Fu Cheng only took one sip before going to the bar’s balcony for some air.

At night, there were many people drinking in the bar, and more and more people smoking. Various smells mixed together, making the air foul.

He actually never liked drinking.

Drinking was prohibited when serving in the Air Force. After transferring to civil aviation, alcohol was also prohibited 24 hours before a flight, so he hardly touched alcohol.

The complexity of the bar was swept away; looking up, the sky was full of stars.

After an unknown amount of time, Fu Cheng turned around and saw someone suddenly standing behind him.

His mind trembled violently for a moment.

Fu Cheng: “Teacher Zhuo.”

Zhuo Huan leaned against the open glass door of the balcony. With the light half-bright and half-dim, his upper body was hidden in the shadows, arms crossed, legs crossed, posture casual. He chewed gum, his dark eyes like inorganic gems, reflecting no light, staring straight at Fu Cheng as if he could stare a flower out of him.

“Many people in the Chinese aviation industry respect me?” Zhuo Huan suddenly spoke.

Fu Cheng smiled and said: “Yes.”

“Including you?”

“Including me.” The answer was decisive and crisp.

Zhuo Huan’s eyebrows moved slightly.

Fu Cheng made a detour and walked out of the balcony. He looked back and saw that after he left, Zhuo Huan lit a cigarette and looked up at the night sky with it in his mouth.

So he came out to smoke.

Turning a corner, the figure of the person behind him disappeared completely.

In an instant, the polite and distant smile on the black-haired young man’s face vanished.

A sound like mountains crashing and seas churning rang in his mind. Someone was wailing, someone was roaring, and someone was coldly announcing a death notice. The moment he returned to the bar and saw Old Joseph and the others, the sound stopped abruptly.

Fu Cheng walked over with a smile.

Throughout the night, Old Joseph drank the most; the others only drank a little.

Lina: “Tomorrow morning at ten, a car will pick us up downstairs at the hotel.”

Su Fei, having drunk alcohol, was extremely excited: “Roger that!”

The next morning, the Rolls-Royce picked everyone up and returned to the factory district.

Old Joseph was the last to arrive.

Old Joseph: “I’m not late, am I?”

Zhuo Huan looked up, his voice rapid and cold: “You are late.”

Before Old Joseph could speak, Zhuo Huan closed the folder and stood up straight: “You continue yesterday’s work. Lina, I want to see Adrian’s investigation report before 2 PM today.” Then he looked at Fu Cheng, “You and I, go back to the site for the final on-site collection.”

Su Fei: “What about me?”

“You? Read the data.”

Su Fei: “My major isn’t in this area. You know what I’m good at. Did you bring me here just to read data?”

Zhuo Huan seemed to have heard something interesting, “Do you know how JL917 went down?”

Su Fei: “…Half a year ago, it fell into a farmland one kilometer away from Vantaa Airport.”

“I’m asking you, how did it fall?”

The punk teenager was speechless, “I don’t need to know this for what I’m good at!”

“Last September, you were invited by Boeing to help the NTSB restore data from Air France 405’s badly damaged FDR (Flight Data Recorder). But now you are a member of UAAG. You must at least know why those 145 people died on the very ground you are standing on.”

Su Fei’s face flushed red: “You don’t know the reason either. If the investigation results were out, we wouldn’t need to stand here at all.”

“Because the engines flamed out.”

Everyone’s gaze turned to the black-haired young man who spoke.

Fu Cheng stood across the table, his expression calm as he said: “On December 19, 2019, Japan Airlines Flight JL917, an F435, took off from Tokyo and crashed one kilometer east of Helsinki Vantaa Airport. During the approach, when the plane descended to 500 feet, all four engines suddenly flamed out, causing the crash.”

Su Fei: “Engines flamed out?”

Old Joseph said smilingly: “Yes, it was found half a year ago that the accident was caused by all four engines flaming out together. However, the reason for this engine flameout hasn’t been found yet.”

Fu Cheng: “Currently, the causes of engine flameout known to the public are generally divided into four types. First, fuel exhaustion; second, weather reasons; third, aircraft system error; fourth…”

Zhuo Huan chuckled lightly.

“Human error.”

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