MCL CH51

The aircraft floated on the water’s surface, and amid the subtle turbulence, everyone’s mood was far from calm.

In the silent air, only a hoarse, low laugh could be heard. “A water-type… contaminant, let me see… you, a fire-type ability user, ugh! Ahhhhh!”

Before the words could finish, all sounds ended in a roar.

“You don’t need to worry about that.” Lin Xi stepped on the stump of a limb that the healing-coded ability user had just halfway repaired, lazily lowering his eyes. “Seeing you so full of spirit is truly gratifying. Didn’t you say just now that you would follow all my arrangements? Those words, they still count, right?”

“They count, of course they count.”

“That’s good.” Lin Xi smiled with satisfaction, slowly retracting his foot. Under the gazes of the others who had gathered, he looked around and randomly pointed at a few people. “You, you, and you… hmm, and you too. Then I’ll have to trouble you few, follow your boss, and go scout the way outside.”

At his words, the faces of the few people who were pointed at instantly turned pale. “What do you mean by that? Are you sending us to our deaths?!”

These were the people who had hijacked the plane with the man on the ground. They had been more than eager to attack the ordinary people, and at that time, they clearly never imagined that they would be in a disadvantaged position in the blink of an eye.

“How can you say I’m sending you to your deaths? I’m just following your own wishes.” Lin Xi looked at them innocently, seemingly unable to understand such an unreasonable accusation. “This is what your boss said. This is the inner world of a special-A-class rift. In this environment, the existence of ordinary people will only become a burden and a future problem. And now, I’m just making sure that everyone on the flight doesn’t become a drag on you. Without any worries holding you back, I believe you can all handle it with ease.”

As he spoke, his expression had completely changed to one of encouragement, “I believe in you,” which made the already pale faces of these people turn even whiter with anger.

“I f*cking…” Someone erupted in a rage, but with a glance from Lin Xi, a chill ran through his body and the rest of his words died in his throat.

As if it were just an illusion, Lin Xi had already returned to his usual amiable expression in an instant, his tone extremely gentle. “My apologies for my poor expression. How should I put it? I’m not in the mood to discuss with you right now. The time for discussion ended just now. And what I need now is simple obedience.”

He slowly stood up straight, walking past everyone one by one. When he reached the cabin door, he smiled at the flight attendant who was standing there stunned. “Could you please open the cabin door?”

The flight attendant: “Ah? I can…”

Lin Xi turned his head to look. “Miss, can you put up a shield?”

The healing-type girl instantly understood something. As her eyes widened slightly, she could no longer care about the man struggling and wailing on the ground and immediately erected an isolation shield inside the cabin.

The next second, Lin Xi strode forward, grabbed the hijacker’s collar with one hand, completely ignoring the other’s pained wails, and dragged him all the way to the door. The moment the cabin door opened, he gave a sudden, forceful push and threw the man out with extreme neatness.

At the sound of a heavy object landing, the mouths of the people at the scene unconsciously formed an ‘O’ shape.

Thrown from such a height… in this man’s current state, won’t he just fall to his death?

Although he had casually broken a finger just now, Lin Xi’s tall and slender figure was difficult to match with such excessive strength. Then they saw him lightly pat the non-existent dust from his hands as if he had just disposed of a piece of garbage, and looked over inquiringly. “Do I need to invite you one by one?”

After a moment of stalemate, the few figures in the cabin began to move one after another.

As they passed by Lin Xi, many of them cast vicious glares, but they dared not speak out in anger.

The strongest among them had been dealt with without any resistance, let alone the others.

Seeing that the last figure was about to jump out of the cabin door, Lin Xi suddenly reached out and patted his shoulder. “Oh, right.”

A trace of anticipation appeared on the man’s despairing face.

Then he heard Lin Xi say amiably, “One hour. I’ll give you one hour. I hope you can bring back some useful information about this inner world.”

The expression on the man’s face collapsed for a moment. “…I, I know.”

As the few people left, the atmosphere in the cabin finally calmed down completely.

The protective barrier around them was not removed with the closing of the cabin door. In just that brief moment, a clear amount of contamination radiation had already leaked in. The invisible barrier became the last line of defense separating the ordinary people from death.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Lin Xi turned to look.

Jiang Chu met Lin Xi’s gaze. “You might be sending them to their deaths by doing this.”

He was the most experienced among these people. When others hadn’t noticed, he had clearly already figured out Lin Xi’s intention.

However, Jiang Chu chose to wait until this moment to raise his question. In a way, Lin Xi was also grateful for this trust. “I know. So?”

This overly casual attitude stunned Jiang Chu, and his brows furrowed completely. “You…”

Lin Xi knew what he was going to say. “Of course, if you have a better reference point, you can also bring it up at any time.”

He smiled slightly. “If you can’t, then what I’ve done is the best choice at the moment. People always have to bear the consequences of their own actions. Since they wanted to use others as stepping stones, they shouldn’t mind being stepped on by others. And Brother Jiang, you also said it was only ‘possible.’ Isn’t there still a possibility of not dying?”

Glancing at the closed cabin door, Lin Xi said slowly, “It’s only one hour. I also hope that they can return safely.”

Jiang Chu opened his mouth, but in the end, said nothing more.

He had indeed guessed Lin Xi’s intention in sending those people out.

When the level of danger in an inner world inside a rift is uncertain, many teams will also choose to appropriately throw out a few baits and use the survival time of the baits as an evaluation criterion.

This was indeed a method that commanders often used in special environments. Jiang Chu had been with many teams and had seen such arrangements before, but it was rare to see someone who could toss away human lives so casually.

If one were to say he was cold by nature, a truly selfish commander would often choose to abandon the most useless chips in his hand. And it was obvious that the ability users who tried to hijack the plane were mostly stronger than the others at the scene. But to say he was a good person full of kindness—this seemingly harmless man’s attitude towards human life was undoubtedly too indifferent.

However, no matter what, there was indeed no other choice at the moment.

The corners of Jiang Chu’s mouth pressed down silently. He said nothing more. “Understood.”

An hour is not long, but it is not short either.

The others watched from a distance as Jiang Chu went to talk to Lin Xi. No one dared to approach. They exchanged glances, and saw the panic in each other’s eyes.

Time passed by, minute by minute.

Lin Xi leaned against the wall by the cabin door with his eyes closed, resting. Silently, he felt someone drape a coat over him. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Yan Xingzhou stood beside him and reminded, “It’s been 50 minutes.”

“Yes, it’s not looking good for them.” Lin Xi was clearly not surprised by this result. He slowly yawned. “Those few are not weak. If even they can’t last an hour outside, then the rest of the people on this plane, even if they’re all added together, probably won’t be able to hold out until support arrives.”

When Yan Xingzhou came over, Jiang Chu had tactfully made way, considering their relationship. Now, hearing this from the side, he couldn’t help but look up. “…”

Do you have to be so blunt?

Yan Xingzhou, however, smiled silently. “The others?”

Lin Xi smiled without speaking.

Suddenly, the expression on his face changed slightly. He abruptly turned his head towards the door. “Did you hear anything?”

Yan Xingzhou frowned. “What?”

Lin Xi really wanted to think that Yan Xingzhou was deliberately teasing him, but his expression clearly didn’t look like it.

Looking at the other people in the cabin again, they were either anxious, terrified, or sobbing. In this enclosed environment, they clearly hadn’t noticed anything else unusual.

A mournful wail, sometimes distant, sometimes near, fell into his ears, like a sorrowful lament, or a desperate chant. In this environment, it sounded even more ethereal.

But Lin Xi was sure that this was not his illusion.

So, was he the only one who could hear this singing?

The voice in his mind suddenly popped up, confirming his guess: [We’re doomed, we’re doomed! This damn rift is actually the territory of the Siren clan! They must be coming for me! They must be!]

“…” Lin Xi asked silently, “Of all the previous rifts, was there any that wasn’t coming for you?”

[This is different.]

Calamity’s usual tone of delighting in chaos became uncharacteristically serious. [You were human before, so you don’t know about the open and secret struggles in our world of contaminants. Do you know how hard it was for me to become the king of contaminants back then? One of the biggest obstacles was this damn Siren clan! These things do nothing all day but sing, and they look down on other contaminants with their noses in the air. They’ve coveted my position as the king of contaminants for a long time. They were reluctant to pledge allegiance back then, and now they’ve probably heard some rumors… I’m really, a tiger in a flat land gets bullied by dogs!]

Lin Xi: “…I’m not interested in the developmental history of you contaminants.”

[It’s no longer a question of whether you’re interested or not.]

[Although I don’t know who’s coming, none of those guys from the Siren clan are easy to deal with. Since they’ve found their way here, He won’t be willing to leave empty-handed.]

[Didn’t you hear those out-of-tune songs? That’s Him calling you. He’s already discovered that you are my current host.]

At this point, the originally listless voice suddenly let out a low laugh: [Don’t be unhappy, great Executive Officer Lin. There will probably be many more things like this in the future. After all, now—you and us are the same kind.]

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