MCL CH49

The ability users in the cockpit reacted quickly, but even so, by the time they returned to the cabin, their faces still turned a few shades paler at the scene before them.

In a short period of time, the entire cabin had been completely taken over.

The perpetrators were clearly all ability users. Thinking back now, they probably hadn’t shown up to gather in the cockpit earlier precisely because they were waiting for this moment.

In the sudden standoff, one of the hijackers spoke first, “It seems you’ve already discussed a suitable solution. But I have a better proposal here, I wonder if any of you are interested?”

No one answered. All eyes fell on the newly elected captain.

Under this gaze, Jiang Chu stood his ground and asked, “What proposal?”

The hijacker’s hand slowly rose. The moment it opened, a bolt of lightning struck the ceiling panel directly. A crackling explosion brought a strong smell of burning.

He listened with satisfaction as screams rang out again, then gently blew away the residual smoke from his palm. “If I’m not mistaken, the captain just now called you over to ask for help, right? Of course, when ordinary people face a situation like this, the first thing they think of is to ask ability users for help. It’s understandable. But personally, I think this way—right now, no one knows what’s hidden in this rift. Instead of wasting too much energy protecting these ordinary people who are as fragile as glass, it’s better to prioritize maximizing our own survival rate.”

As he placed his hand on the shoulder of the person next to him, the office worker immediately flinched away in terror as if electrocuted. To this, the hijacker merely raised an eyebrow nonchalantly. “These people, to put it nicely, are ordinary folks who need protection. To put it cruelly, they are the initial source of mutation for aberrations. Are you sure you want to take such a huge risk by staying next to these time bombs and ensuring their safety?”

Several of the ability users exchanged glances. No one answered him.

The atmosphere in the entire cabin froze completely.

Although it sounded harsh, everyone actually knew that what he said was not without reason.

Even just being near a rift was enough to be fatal for ordinary people, let alone being directly dragged into this inner world. Right now, the enclosed cabin was like a sterile vacuum environment for these ordinary humans. But once this enclosed state was breached even a little, the leaking contamination radiation would turn the entire cabin into a petri dish for aberrant mutations.

“Don’t… don’t abandon us.”

Someone, in desperation, began to sob and plead, but was quickly and viciously pushed back down by another hijacker standing guard nearby.

Lin Xi listened as a few ability users behind him began to discuss in low voices. He had no intention of joining in, but slowly scanned the cabin, tugged on Yan Xingzhou’s sleeve, and said, “Including these few, there are more than 20 ability users here, right? This ratio, our country’s ability awakening rate has become very high recently!”

Yan Xingzhou: “The awakening rate has indeed been much higher in the past two years, but it’s only reflected in the numbers. The ability strength still needs to be improved.”

Lin Xi nodded sincerely. “Indeed, sometimes quality is more important than quantity.”

“…” Jiang Chu had already sensed something was wrong when he noticed the others starting to discuss. He was frowning, paying close attention to the shifting stances of the ability users. When his attention fell on Lin Xi and he overheard this conversation, the corner of his mouth couldn’t help but twitch fiercely.

Is this the fcking time to be concerned about the national awakening rate?!

Perhaps sensing Jiang Chu’s gaze, Lin Xi turned to look at him. Their eyes met, and he gave a friendly smile, continuing on the same topic as before, “It seems you think so too, right?”

Jiang Chu: “.”

Think so my ass!

He almost couldn’t hold back the curse on the tip of his tongue. He took a slow breath. “…I don’t pay much attention to that.”

Lin Xi showed a disappointed expression. “I see.”

Jiang Chu: “…”

The hijacker clearly didn’t have much patience and soon spoke again impatiently, “So, what’s the verdict?”

Surprisingly, the twin-tailed girl with the healing ability, who looked gentle and weak before, was the first to stand up in the silence. “I… I still want to try my best to protect everyone.”

Her following words grew softer and softer under the hijacker’s cold gaze. In the end, she trembled slightly, but still ensured that every word was clearly enunciated.

“Yo, little girl, I didn’t expect you to have such ideals.”

A cold curve hung on the corner of the hijacker’s mouth. He seemed to be casually rubbing his palm, but the muscles in his hand tensed silently with the movement. Suddenly, without any warning, he raised his hand, and in an instant, a bolt of lightning shot straight towards the girl.

Everyone’s expression changed dramatically in this sudden situation.

The girl was so scared she froze on the spot, even forgetting to defend herself. Her only reaction was to instinctively close her eyes. At the last second, she was pulled away by someone.

The exploding electric light was like scattered fireworks. After taking the hit head-on, Jiang Chu’s already petrified arm was left with a dark scorch mark.

But he only glanced at it before retracting his gaze, staring fixedly at the few people opposite him. “Since we’re discussing, it doesn’t seem appropriate to resort to violence at the first disagreement, does it?”

The few hijackers clearly hadn’t expected there to be an ability user as powerful as Jiang Chu on the plane. They couldn’t help but exchange glances.

The leader raised an eyebrow, his expression unchanged as he smiled. “How nice. At least it gave you a chance to be a hero saving a damsel in distress.”

His words were somewhat shameless, causing others to look at him askance, but he seemed completely unaware. His gaze shifted around on Jiang Chu. “But that’s fine. You should be their leader, right? Come, let’s have another good discussion.”

“There’s nothing to discuss.”

Jiang Chu, however, stood still. After checking to make sure the girl was not injured, he continued, “I’m not sure about the others, but my meaning is the same as hers. Some things, it’s not my style to just give up without trying.”

“Very… hmm, principled.”

The hijacker pulled at the corner of his mouth in a smile that wasn’t a smile and looked at the others behind him. “So, what about you?”

Under his inquiry, the surroundings fell silent again.

Several ability users silently exchanged glances, and then people began to move one after another, walking towards the hijackers.

The hijacker let out a soft whistle, looking very pleased with this result.

Seeing that a dozen people had come to his side in the blink of an eye, he said with satisfaction, “Well, it seems this time the minority will have to obey the majority.”

Jiang Chu’s face had become extremely ugly.

After all the ability users had made their choice, the ones still left on his side, besides the healing-type girl from before, were a gentle-looking man who also seemed to have a support-type ability, and—the red-haired man who had been talking grandly about the ability awakening rate just now, along with his conversation partner.

No matter how you looked at it, the disparity in strength was immense.

Lin Xi looked up and happened to see Jiang Chu’s hesitant gaze. “?”

[He seems to really dislike you.]

Lin Xi heard the voice in his head start to kick him while he was down, as usual. “…”

Jiang Chu’s silence clearly satisfied the hijacker. He smiled and clapped his hands. “Since no one has any objections, let’s make this quick.”

Make what quick?

The other ability users who had just defected felt guilty and didn’t dare to look at Jiang Chu’s face for a moment. Hearing this, they were also at a loss.

Then they looked up and saw that the hijacker’s companions had already grabbed the passengers next to them from their seats.

Vaguely sensing something, the ability users’ faces also changed. “What are you trying to do?!”

“Wasn’t I clear enough just now? Of course, it’s to solve some unnecessary trouble. Take my advice, put away that cheap kindness.” The hijacker glanced at those few, his expression as if mocking their ignorance. “You probably don’t know yet, right? This time, we’ve been drawn into a special-A-class rift.”

“What, special-A-class?!”

Everyone’s face went blank for a moment.

So it really is special-A-class. That is indeed a bit tricky.

Lin Xi lifted his eyelids without surprise. As he looked, he happened to see the electric light in the hijacker’s hand about to strike the person next to him.

This time, it didn’t have a chance to explode.

All the points of lightning were completely swallowed by a trail of fire that followed close behind.

The hijacker was momentarily stunned. He looked around and his final gaze landed on the red-haired man in the corner.

At this moment, he was indifferently lowering his head and flexing his finger joints. And dancing at his fingertips was the exact same red-black flame that had just appeared before his eyes.

The hijacker’s face darkened instantly. “Did you not understand what I said?”

“I understood.”

Lin Xi slowly looked over, his expression pleasant and amiable. “That’s why I feel there’s no meaning in discussing it.”

He looked from one person to another at the scene, as if casually counting them. His final gaze landed on the hijacker, and with a smile, his eyes curved even more, like gentle crescents. “How should I put it? Compared to things like the minority obeying the majority, there’s a saying I might like more—truth is often in the hands of the few.”

The corner of the hijacker’s mouth pressed down to its limit. “So what you’re saying is?”

“What I’m saying is, why don’t we have another discussion?” Lin Xi slowly stood up from the wall. “I’ve always been a very easygoing person. If the result of the discussion is not satisfactory, I don’t mind continuing—to discuss a few more times.”

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