MCL CH48

Chapter 48: Once, Too, I Took It Upon Myself to Guard Humanity…

Under the astonished gazes of the crowd, the convoy belonging to the Third Bureau sped through the city, heading straight for the outskirts.

“Director Su,” the information officer turned to report the newly received information to the man in the back seat, “Captain Qi’s side has already sent the confirmed passenger information. There are a total of 135 passengers on that plane, including 23 ability users. The action team is currently confirming the information files of these ability users with the Anomaly Management Bureau, but it is said that it can already be confirmed that there is at least one healing-type coded ability user on board. With any luck, they might be able to hold on until our support arrives.”

“With any luck?” Su Qiuyin, who had been resting with his eyes closed, lazily lifted his heavy-lidded eyes upon hearing this. He reached out to take the documents handed over by the information officer. “The time flow inside a rift’s inner world is already different from the outside. This time, it’s an extremely rare aerial rift. We don’t have any accompanying spatial-coded ability users. It will take at least an hour to arrange for personnel to enter. To survive for more than an hour in a special-A-class rift with so many people, unless there is a special-grade high-intensity ability user on that plane…”

His words trailed off subtly as his gaze fell, and his eyes narrowed silently. A dark curve that could probably be called a smile appeared on his lips. “Oh, perhaps, there really is a special-grade on that plane.”

“A special-grade?” The information officer was stunned. “Who… who is it?”

He asked almost subconsciously, but he quickly realized the impropriety of the question. Throughout the entire Hua country, and even the world, although special-grades were not as rare as X-coded ability users, they were definitely at the top of the pyramid. The files of these individuals were always kept secret and were not something ordinary team members of the joint bureaus could know.

As expected, Su Qiuyin did not answer the question.

His gaze lingered on the name on the list for a long time. After a moment, he suddenly spoke out of the blue, “Speaking of which, the Third Bureau will soon have a very interesting colleague.”

The information officer: “Huh?”

Su Qiuyin did not answer, but looked directly out the window. “But more than that, what I’m more concerned about is—if I remember correctly, A-class and above contaminants are already considered intelligent species, right?”

At the same time. Inside the rift’s inner world.

After a series of violent jolts, the passenger plane seemed to have crashed head-on into something. In a dizzying spin, the entire cabin, filled with screams, became like a hell on earth.

The sound of equipment exploding could be heard continuously. A strong smell of burning stimulated the nostrils, and after gradually subsiding, only a muffled chorus of groans and cries remained.

People were constantly calling for help, constantly crying out for rescue, and some had even completely broken down in the face of this sudden situation.

Then everyone gradually discovered, looking out the side windows, that what they saw was no longer the world of pristine white clouds from before, but a bottomless darkness.

“Hello everyone, I am the captain of this flight. At this time, I can only regretfully inform you—”

With the flight attendants forcing themselves to pay attention and rush to help, the plane’s broadcast finally came on, timely answering the passengers’ questions, but at the same time bringing an even stronger sense of despair. “The plane unfortunately encountered an aerial rift during its flight. Because we failed to avoid it in time, we have now been drawn into an inner world. Please try not to panic, stay in your seats, and follow the arrangements of our flight attendants. Patiently wait for external support. I repeat, everyone, I am the captain of this flight…”

After repeating the message, the captain was clearly trying hard to control the tremor in his voice. “Additionally, if there are any awakened ability users on this flight, please come to the cockpit to discuss countermeasures. Before external support arrives, we need your assistance. I repeat, if there are any awakened ability users on this flight, please come to the cockpit to discuss countermeasures. Other ordinary passengers, please remain quietly in your seats. If you have any needs, you can contact our flight attendants. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Upon learning of the rift’s appearance, Lin Xi had already cursed a certain damn contaminant thousands of times in his heart. Now, listening to the broadcast, he looked up and saw, amidst the rising and falling cries, several figures successively unbuckling their seatbelts and getting up from their seats, heading towards the cockpit.

Lin Xi turned his head to look. “Should we go over and see?”

Yan Xingzhou nodded. “It’s at least better than staying here.”

Lin Xi had already guessed that Yan Xingzhou would answer this way. He smiled and stood up from his seat. Just as he stepped into the aisle, he heard a conversation from the back row.

“Mom, should I… go over and see too?” The boy’s voice sounded full of hesitation. When Lin Xi looked back, he happened to catch the apprehension in his eyes, and the worry as he looked at his young mother.

At his age, it was already very rare to maintain such composure.

The existence of rifts was already considered basic common knowledge for humans.

This little boy was obviously also very clear about what it would mean for an ordinary human like his mother to be exposed to the radiation inside a rift.

Before the mother could answer, Lin Xi had already reached out and ruffled the boy’s hair.

The boy looked back, his eyes lighting up slightly. “Pretty big brother… ah, are you an ability user too?”

“Yes, I just awakened my ability not long ago,” Lin Xi said, half-truthfully. He glanced at the mother and son, his slightly curved eyes smiling gently. “I think you should just stay here obediently. You saw just now, the number of ability users on this flight is quite a lot. Saving the world is not something a child like you needs to worry about. Just leave it to us adults.”

The boy thought for a moment and said, “…Then you guys, do your best.”

Lin Xi very smoothly ruffled his head again. “Yes, we’ll try our best.”

After bidding farewell to the mother and son, Yan Xingzhou walked on, looking at the increasingly pale faces of the surrounding passengers, and slowed his tone with a meaningful implication, “Try our best?”

Under this inquiry, Lin Xi’s tone was calm. “Doesn’t it sound like something I would say?”

“It doesn’t,” Yan Xingzhou answered without concealment. “If it were the old you, you at least wouldn’t have answered so ambiguously.”

“True. If it were the old me, I probably would have taken everyone’s lives and deaths upon myself, and tried my best to ensure everyone’s safety,” Lin Xi said, walking slowly through an atmosphere of despair, his different-colored pupils holding a faint mockery. “So, people always change.”

“It’s okay. In some ways, I might even prefer the you of now.”

As Yan Xingzhou said this, he had already arrived at the cockpit door and pushed it open, walking straight in.

The moment they entered, they could feel a wave of gazes cast upon them.

Lin Xi, as if completely oblivious to such scrutiny, followed Yan Xingzhou in, lazily glanced around, and then silently found a corner, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

After waiting for a while longer, a few more people arrived one after another.

The intervals between arrivals grew longer and longer, until the corridor outside the cockpit finally fell completely silent.

The already small space now seemed very crowded. In the end, besides the plane’s crew, a total of 18 ability users had chosen to gather here.

Perhaps there were others who had yet to gather, but since they hadn’t come by now, they had clearly decided to stay out of it.

“Thank you all very much for coming here.” The captain looked at the ability users present with gratitude and got straight to the point. “I’m very sorry to trouble you all, but you’ve already seen the current situation. Including us staff, the number of ordinary people on this plane is indeed too large. Although all flights are now updated with anti-contamination radiation structures, in a situation where we are unsure of what will happen next, I think it’s better to be prepared.”

He glanced around and asked with a hint of expectation, “First, I’d like to ask, do we have any healing-type coded ability users here?”

As his voice fell, a girl with two pigtails raised her hand. “I am. I can try my best to ensure the contamination protection barrier around the plane.”

“That’s great!” Only at this moment did the captain truly relax a little.

For ordinary humans, the existence of contamination radiation was in itself fatal. The importance of a healing-type coded ability user was like an oxygen tube in a high-pressure environment, almost capable of deciding life and death.

As they went through the questions one by one, a general understanding of the abilities of the ability users present was quickly established.

An “fire-type” ability user like Lin Xi could be said to be one of the most common ability types, instantly lost among the crowd.

Soon, an ability user who was said to have had rescue experience was recommended as the captain. Under his command, all the ability users were quickly divided into two teams. One was responsible for maintaining the safety inside the plane, while the other team would leave the plane when necessary to explore the specific situation of this inner world.

The recommended captain was named Jiang Chu. Lin Xi listened to his arrangements from the side, a hint of admiration in his eyes.

It was clear that this man did have some experience. At least, the basic task arrangements were flawless. Most importantly, in such a sudden situation, the vast majority of people would subconsciously choose to protect themselves. Anyone could see that staying on the plane would be the safest choice at the moment, but he was very decisive and willing to lead people out to explore.

The ability users on the scene had been listening to the task assignments quietly. At a glance, although there was some apprehension on their faces, their gazes were all very firm.

A smile flashed across the bottom of Lin Xi’s eyes, instantly covered by his lowered eyelids.

[What foolish humans, they have no idea what they are about to face.]

[This blind confidence, you find it funny too, right? I really look forward to seeing what kind of expressions they’ll show next.]

“It is quite funny,” Lin Xi replied faintly in his heart. “But I do think, it’s quite good.”

[Good in what way?]

“Is it not good?”

Lin Xi’s eyes curved, a sentiment that no one could decipher at the bottom. “I too, once took it as my duty to protect humanity.”

[And so you died.]

[Hee hee hee, this is the price of trusting humans too much. You worked so conscientiously and unreservedly for them, and what about them, who don’t know how to be grateful? How did they treat you?]

[Thinking about it this way, it really doesn’t seem that funny anymore.]

“I’ve said it before, I don’t need you to constantly remind me,” Lin Xi said, turning his head to look at the closed cockpit door, his voice trailing off, “But, not every human has such an awareness.”

As if to prove his words, the moment his voice fell, a sudden, violent noise pierced through the door, coming from the cabin on the other side.

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