Chapter 315: Fear and Despair
BAM! BAM! BAM!
The din of men frantically trying to knock down the reinforced c.o.c.kpit door added to the mounting despair among the frightened pa.s.sengers. Over the last two decades, c.o.c.kpit doors had been manufactured to prevent unauthorized entry and were bullet-proofed. They were constructed with laminated armor and had multi-point strengthened deadbolts. It was next to impossible to breakthrough.
“Mr. Cui turned off the autopilot, and he’s diverted the plane off course to fly through the thunderstorm clouds. The aircraft will take severe damage if hit by lightning, hail or strong winds, and if the airframe or controls are damaged, that’ll be the end for us,” a crew member familiar with the situation explained, his face as white as a sheet and perspiring heavily.
As soon as he said that, the crew and pa.s.sengers seated close by paled, never thinking they’d be so close to death. The plane flew through a raging storm, pealing with thunder and the flashes of lightning—almost like a deathly dance with the devil himself, and one slip was all it took before he devoured them all.
“Step aside!”
Xiao Luo got up his seat and strode toward the c.o.c.kpit door with a purposeful gait.
“Yes, with more people, we have a better chance of ramming the door down!” the purser said, nodding with a glint of renewed hope in her eyes.
“You misunderstand me, I’m asking all of you to step aside,” Xiao Luo said.
“This…huh?”
Everyone looked shocked as they asked themselves exactly what plan this man had in his mind. Did he really think that he could knock down the c.o.c.kpit door all by himself?
“Listen to him, step aside!”
Tan Ningfu had an inexplicable trust in Xiao Luo, and she quickly helped to move the crowd away from the entryway to the c.o.c.kpit.
Xiao Luo gazed at the c.o.c.kpit door, then slowly channeled his Qi flow to his arms, fixing his eyes on two points. He breathed in deeply then blew out forcefully as he thrust both his palms against the reinforced c.o.c.kpit door.
Waves of energy surged back from the impact like a howling wind, sending the onlookers a step back.
BOOM!!!
The door was blown off from its frame and hurled into the c.o.c.kpit like it was. .h.i.t by a speeding train, and numerous instruments and operation b.u.t.tons in the c.o.c.kpit came into view.
“Holy cow! he blew open the c.o.c.kpit door all by himself!”
All the pa.s.sengers in the first-cla.s.s cabin and the flight attendants were startled, and their spirits were lifted, temporarily forgetting the dire situation they were in.
“Hahaha… brother, I love you so much! Hurry up, and let’s drag that sh*tfaced co-pilot out here and whack him to death!” w.a.n.g Yanzu cheered, and finally seeing a glimmer of hope, he was elated.
Xiao Luo instantly stepped into the c.o.c.kpit.
The captain was slumped on his seat, he had been battered and was drenched in blood, appearing to have been struck by a blunt object over the head. The co-pilot, Cui Jihou, an obese middle-aged man, was seated on the right pilot seat, looking stunned.
Xiao Luo grabbed Cui Jihou by his collar, lifted him from his seat like a puppy, and tossed him out of the c.o.c.kpit.
The hostile crowd immediately jumped on him and a.s.saulted him with countless kicks and punches.
The purser kept her cool, and sensibly stopped the crowd from beating up the man. She got in front of the co-pilot and said, “Stop hitting him, he’s the only one who knows how to fly this plane. If he’s injured, we won’t be able to make a safe landing!”
Gasp!
Their anger dissipated instantly, and the mob stepped back, there was a general disorder in the cabin. Some of the pa.s.sengers stared at Cui Jihou, who was on the floor, hoping that he would land the plane. In their fury, they had all rushed at him intending to kill.
Cui Jihou was badly beaten up, and his nose and mouth were bleeding profusely. Yet, he still laughed maniacally and goaded the crowd with a scowl, “Go on, hit me! Let’s go and meet G.o.d together, hahaha, hahaha…”
He sat on the cabin floor facing the pa.s.sengers, flas.h.i.+ng two rows of b.l.o.o.d.y teeth as he chortled away in glee.
The purser kneeled down next to Cui Jihou, held his shoulders firmly and said, “Mr. Cui, I don’t know what you are going through, but you must put your grievance aside. You can’t direct your anger at these pa.s.sengers, they are all innocent. Please, pull yourself together and make sure that the plane lands safely.”
“Yes, she’s right, we are innocent, please don’t take out your anger on us.”
“We are sorry for beating you. Captain Cui, please hurry up, get back in there and pilot the plane.”
“We have no quarrels with you, even if you wish to die, please don’t drag us down with you.”
The pa.s.sengers spoke one after another, doing their best to coax Cui Jihou to fly the plane.
w.a.n.g Yanzu was holding a fan, waving it at Cui Jihou and smiling like a lapdog. “Mr. Cui, hear me out. No obstacle in life is impossible to get through. No matter how big it is, it will turn small tomorrow, and until the day after tomorrow, it’ll account for nothing,” he said, “and I can see that you have a wife and kids, right? If they learn that you’ve committed suicide this high up in the sky, how do you think they’ll possibly feel?”
Cui Jihou suddenly lost control of his emotions and became aggressive. With his bloodshot eyes bulging in anger, he grabbed w.a.n.g Yanzu’s collar and yelled at him, “My wife had an affair with another man, and the son I’ve raised for more than ten years is not mine! I killed them both and hid them behind a wall in my home…”
w.a.n.g Yanzu froze, petrified by his horrifying, psychotic expression. The others were stupefied, dropping their jaws in disbelief. Who could’ve expected that Cui Jihou would actually murder his own wife and son?
Then reality hit—why would a murderer want to pilot the plane and land it safely? There was only one thing this man had in his mind now, and it was to die!
“I advise you all to stay in your seats and wait for the doors of heaven to open. It’s too late now, too late for anything. I’ve disengaged all communication and tracking devices. We’ve lost all contact with air traffic control. Now, the plane is just flying blind, and it’ll just keep flying ahead. Even if I return to pilot the plane, I won’t be able to find an airport,” Cui Jihou said, and added, “a Jumbo needs a long and s.p.a.cious runway, this plane cannot land anywhere. So, we’ll end up either getting breaking up in this storm cloud, or the plane will run out of fuel and plummet to the ground like a meteorite. Bang! We’ll all turn into ashes, hahaha… hahaha…”
Cui Jihou looked unhinged as he gave a vivid account of what would happen in the end.
Pilots would establish their flight routes before departure to avoid bad weather, and all civil aviation aircraft was tracked closely by the control tower on the ground, which would advise the flight crew on everything from bad weather and wind patterns, to the direction of runway to land the aircraft. The captain and co-pilot merely had to monitor the flight according to the flight plan, and make nominal alterations to the course in unforeseen weather changes. But without serviceable flight instruments and the ability to communicate with ground control, the crew would have no way of knowing where the plane was heading. This was the situation they now found themselves in—they had to locate an airport and find a way to safely land the aircraft.
“You jerk!”
A male safety officer lost his mind. He grabbed Cui Jihou by the hair and pummeled him with a volley of punches.
“Arrgh, ummph… what’s the use, let us all die together, hahaha….”
Despite being beaten to a pulp and soaked in blood, Cui Jijou was still laughing insanely.
At that point, everyone on board knew that they were about to die. Some trembled uncontrollably, while others appeared reconciled with their impending deaths. Some even put pen to paper and wrote notes to leave behind to their loved ones. Adults with children were holding onto their kids tightly. Everybody dealt with death in different ways.
The entire cabin was in dead silence, while in the frigid conditions outside, lightning flashed incessantly, only meters from the fuselage. The crackling sensation of static electricity numbed the senses, as hairs stood on end in the charged atmosphere. The aircraft’s power supply system had been disrupted, and lights were flickering intermittently, intensifying the heavy air of despair that fell upon the pa.s.sengers and crew.
…