UAAG CH13

The special magnetic sensor from the University of Tokyo physics lab was a black rectangular box, 30 centimeters long, 20 centimeters wide, and only about a finger’s height high.

Finnair ground crew installed this small “black box” into the aircraft’s engine to conduct magnetic sensing tests.

“OK, ready for the test flight.”

The test flight proposed by Teichi Tsunai did not mean an exact re-enactment was necessary.

If they really wanted a complete re-enactment, the test pilot would need to fly to Tokyo first, land at Haneda Airport, and then fly the plane to Finland. All he wanted was experimental data from a real aircraft.

Professor Tsuna’s hypothesis and verification regarding the JAL 917 accident were all conducted under laboratory conditions. He used artificially simulated magnetic fields. He needed to confirm that once the aircraft truly took off, it would indeed generate a special reaction with the geomagnetic field.

It wasn’t necessary to collect data identical to the lab results; reaching certain experimental data values would suffice.

August 27, 2020. Finland, Helsinki, Vantaa Airport.

Since the morning, EASA investigators had been conducting test flight inspections on this McFly F435.

The Finnish Aviation Authority had specially opened up a backup runway dedicated to this test flight.

Dozens of ground crew members inspected the entire aircraft thoroughly from the inside out, twice, and refueled the plane. At 6:03 PM, officials from the Finnish Aviation Authority walked out of the VIP lounge with UAAG members, both sides chatting happily. They didn’t go to the boarding gate but stood inside the terminal, looking through the massive floor-to-ceiling glass windows at the aircraft before them.

A middle-aged official said, “There’s still an hour before takeoff.”

Lina smiled. “Yes, according to the schedule, Fu should be preparing to board.”

Just as she finished speaking, a spirited young man walked out from the first floor of the terminal. He walked step by step toward the towering, massive aircraft. He didn’t board immediately but walked around the plane, carefully inspecting it for any defects or omissions.

Before piloting an aircraft, pilots always personally conduct a final inspection of the plane.

This is usually the co-pilot’s duty, but Fu Cheng was the only pilot on this flight, so all tasks fell on his shoulders alone.

After spending fifteen minutes confirming there was no damage to the fuselage, Fu Cheng prepared to board.

However, he didn’t immediately walk up the boarding stairs. Instead, he stopped in front of the nose of the plane and looked up. Through the brim of his black hat, he looked towards the terminal from a distance.

There were dozens of meters between the plane and the terminal. It was dusk now, the light was dim, and against the light, even Fu Cheng couldn’t clearly see who the people in the terminal were. But he knew that everyone from UAAG was standing there, watching him.

Like the dawn goddess Eos gazing one last time at her lover Tithonus—a long, enduring look—Fu Cheng calmly raised his head, looking at his partners in the terminal.

After a long while, he nodded toward those indistinct figures, then signed the confirmation form handed to him by the ground crew.

Then, he turned and walked up the boarding stairs.

At this moment, the earth swallowed the last afterglow of the setting sun. The terminal was brightly lit, but the cockpit was dim.

Turn on the main power switch.
Turn on the navigation lights.
Turn on the inertial navigation system for calibration…

Taxi to the backup runway.
Turn on the right engine, wait for it to start, then turn on the left engine…

Fu Cheng: “Finnair Flight AY032, all preparations complete, requesting takeoff.”

Inside the terminal, Old Joseph held a radio communicator in his hand. The young man’s slightly deep voice came through the black device.

Old Joseph gripped the communicator tightly and issued the task to the tower: “Takeoff permitted.”

The ground tower at Vantaa Airport immediately said, “Finnair AY032, ground wind speed 15 knots, wind direction… takeoff permitted.”

In the cockpit, having received takeoff clearance from the tower, Fu Cheng looked ahead with composure. His hand gently but steadily gripped the aircraft’s throttle lever and slowly pushed it forward. If someone were watching from the side, they would notice that the speed at which he pushed the throttle was almost unchanging.

Smooth, stable, the ultimate safety.

The engines let out a dull, heavy hum, and the plane began to move slowly on the runway. The speed increased, faster and faster. Just as it reached 256 kilometers per hour, a faint, almost inaudible sound of cutting through the air rang out. The nose of the plane pulled up sharply, the empty seats on board trembled slightly, and then the plane lifted off the ground, soaring into the clouds!

What followed was an incredibly smooth flight.

So smooth it was almost boring, as if they hadn’t taken off at all and were still parked on the ground.

Inside the terminal, everyone watching the departing plane let out a collective sigh of relief.

Old Joseph sighed in relief, then laughed. “Why are we relaxing? The real difficulty is just beginning. It will take about an hour for Fu to fly the plane to the projected magnetic field detection site.”

The official from the Finnish Aviation Authority smiled. “Shall we go back to the lounge and wait together?”

Watching Fu Cheng take off just now, even though he knew such a small thing as taking off was a piece of cake for Fu Cheng, Su Fei still clenched his hands nervously, sweating for fear of an accident. Now that the plane had at least taken off smoothly, the punk teenager breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, he seemed to remember something and looked around.

Su Fei said in surprise, “Oh right, where did RIP go? I haven’t seen him since just now. Hasn’t he come back from the restroom yet?”

Hearing this, Lina revealed a helpless smile.

Old Joseph froze, then the corner of his mouth twitched.

Only Su Fei and the official didn’t understand what was happening.

Old Joseph didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “It’s not too late to return now. Should I notify the tower to inform Fu Cheng?”

Lina: “Forget it. No one can stop him from doing what he wants to do.”

Su Fei looked bewildered. “??? What are you guys talking about? Who? Who wants to do what?”

Meanwhile, Fu Cheng had already flown the plane out of Helsinki’s range.

The McFly F435 uses a fly-by-wire system. During the climb phase after takeoff, control can be handed over directly to the computer. Fu Cheng wasn’t idle either; he picked up a strange black “calculator” and observed the data on it.

This was the magnetic field intensity display sent by Teichi Tsunai from Tokyo, delivered along with the magnetic sensor.

Data measured by the magnetic sensor would be transmitted to this display in real-time. Although this was just backup data—the real data was being fully transmitted to the aircraft’s black box to ensure complete recording even in case of an accident.

Fu Cheng looked at the jumping numbers on it. To be honest, he could roughly understand Teichi Tsunai’s paper, but he had absolutely no idea what the numbers displayed on this device meant.

Soon, the numbers on the display jumped to 137 one moment, then changed to 3 the next, fluctuating wildly.

“Could it be broken?”

Although one shouldn’t question a physics professor from Tokyo University, the frantically jumping numbers really forced Fu Cheng to be suspicious.

Just as he was considering whether to contact the ground and report the strange fluctuating numbers on the display, suddenly, a faint thud sounded in the empty passenger cabin.

Fu Cheng looked up abruptly, his expression changing.

He waited for a long time, hearing no further strange noises from behind, but he didn’t let his guard down. Moving gently, he set the display aside, unbuckled his seatbelt, and tiptoed up.

A baton was kept inside the cockpit of the McFly F435 so that in the event of a hijacking, the pilot could defend themselves as a last resort. Fu Cheng found the security box with practiced ease, took out the baton, and walked step by step to the cockpit door.

Gripping the baton with both hands, his eyes stared fixedly at the handle of the cockpit door.

Just as Fu Cheng was debating whether to open the door or trust this security door that supposedly couldn’t even be blasted open by a bomb, the clear sound of a key turning rang out.

…Holy shit?!

His pupils dilated violently. Before Fu Cheng could recover from the shock, the security door was pushed open from the outside.

Almost as a reflex, his expression turned cold, and holding the baton, he struck down with force.

Zhuo Huan opened the door leisurely, looked up, and suddenly saw a baton coming at him. His pupils constricted, and he dodged sideways as fast as he could, but he was still hit on the right arm by the baton. His whole body sank downwards, nearly dropping to one knee, stumbling before managing to steady himself.

The next moment, he looked up and raged, completely losing his composure, “Fuck!”

“Fu, Cheng!”

Fu Cheng: “…”

Fortunately, although this was only a test flight, the plane was fully equipped with everything it should have. Fu Cheng quickly found a medical kit in the prep area.

The man sat in the co-pilot’s seat, his right arm still numb and immobile. Seeing Fu Cheng return to the cockpit with the medical kit, Zhuo Huan sneered and forced out a “tsk” from his throat.

Fu Cheng glanced at him calmly and squatted down without changing his expression.

“Take off your clothes.”

Zhuo Huan looked at him coldly.

Fu Cheng: “Take them off so I can apply the medicine.”

Zhuo Huan: “Where is your apology?”

Fu Cheng paused, looked up, and said indifferently, “I don’t think there was anything wrong with me hitting a stowaway who shouldn’t have been on the plane.”

Zhuo Huan: “…”

Damn it.

Fu Cheng: “I’ll take you back.”

While struggling to take off his jacket with his left hand, Zhuo Huan said, “If you go back now and take off again, you’ll waste at least two hours round trip.”

Fu Cheng pondered, “Did you intentionally wait until I flew out of Finnish territory to reveal yourself? So that even if I wanted to take you back, I couldn’t?”

Enduring the sharp, bone-piercing pain in his arm, Zhuo Huan looked at the young man looking up at him and actually had the mind to think: It seems like ever since last night, this person hasn’t said ‘Teacher Zhuo’ or used the honorific ‘you’ once?

Without answering the question, Zhuo Huan took off his jacket.

He was wearing a T-shirt underneath. At this point, expecting him to take off the T-shirt by himself was unrealistic; his right arm couldn’t move at all.

Seeing this, Fu Cheng placed the medical kit on the floor and grabbed the hem of his T-shirt with both hands.

His fingers inevitably brushed against the man’s lean, firm abdominal muscles. Fu Cheng’s fingers trembled slightly. Zhuo Huan leaned back in the chair, seemingly completely unmoved by the young man’s fingers touching his skin. He looked down, watching Fu Cheng help him undress.

After taking off the T-shirt, at an altitude of twenty thousand feet, the clear moonlight spilled onto the man’s beautiful, elegant muscle curves, glowing with a radiant sheen like the handsome sun god of mythology. A powerful masculine aura rushed forth.

This man always looked lazy and casual, but who knew he actually had such a good physique.

Because of his squatting posture, Fu Cheng was face-to-face with those four thin abdominal muscles.

Pursng his lips, he looked away with an indifferent expression, opened the medical kit, and began applying medicine to Zhuo Huan.

The cold liquid medicine was smeared onto the red and swollen injury, and a sour, stinging sensation pierced through his nerve cells straight to his brain. This hurt even more than being hit, so painful that Zhuo Huan almost couldn’t control his expression.

Laughing from the extreme pain, Zhuo Huan said, “Striking so ruthlessly—are all air force pilots like this?”

Fu Cheng was silent for a while. “You should be glad I saw it was you the moment I struck. Otherwise, we’d be making an emergency landing at the nearest airport right now to rush you to the hospital, where you might still be savable.”

Zhuo Huan: “Fu Cheng.”

Fu Cheng looked up.

In that instant, the plane flew into an area with frequent solar particle activity. Magnificent, brilliant cyan auroras exploded into existence, crashing through the front windshield of the cockpit with an overwhelming beauty that stole one’s breath away.

This exquisite light was reflected in the depths of the black-haired young man’s eyes, turning his black pupils into translucent glass.

And those eyes were looking at him, clear and limpid.

In a split second, all the words he wanted to say were stuck in his throat.

After a long while, Zhuo Huan hooked the corner of his lips, opened his mouth, and silently said a sentence.

Fu Cheng: “…Teacher Zhuo, what did you just say?”

Zhuo Huan: “Nothing.”

Support me on Ko-fi