The instant Tanaka took off his hat, his hat smashed into the back of the chair in front of him.
Jiang Chen, who was about to react, was completely bewildered by the scene. Jiang Chen previously thought the person would bring out some destructive weapon and he was more than prepared to defend himself. But before he could do anything, Tanaka, who took off his hat, became unconscious.
The passenger in the front, who was sleeping, sensed his chair being bumped. He turned around and gave a hard stare at Tanaka. But Tanaka didn’t raise his head as he seemed to have lost all senses.
The flight attendant in the first class cabin noticed this and immediately moved to Jiang Chen. When she saw Tanaka’s head leaning against the back of the chair, she kneeled down and put her face closer.
“Sir, do you not feel well? Sir? Sir!”
Seeing that he had no reaction, the flight attendant kneeled down. She immediately became nervous and wanted to help him up.
“Don’t touch him!” Jiang Chen was alarmed and squeezed the hand of the flight attendant reaching for Tanaka.
From the last assassination attempt, these people didn’t look like people who would avoid harming the innocent. Especially since they were on a transportation device like a plane, what would be the most effective? With a doubt, a bomb was the best option.
“Sir?” The flight attendant looked at Jiang Chen in shock. She didn’t know how to react when this stranger held her hand.
Other sleeping travelers were woken up by the commotion on this side. The two other flight attendants in the front and back noticed the disruption and approached them.
Jiang Chen didn’t provide any explanation for the shocked flight attendant. He just locked his eyes on Tanaka with his head spinning rapidly.
The two other flight attendants looked completely lost at Jiang Chen, who was holding onto the hand of their colleague. They then redirected their gaze to the man with his unmoving head against the back of the chair; they were unsure what to do. The other travelers were all looking in their direction.
Then the door in front of the first class cabin opened and a man with a captain’s hat walked into the cabin and looked in Jiang Chen’s direction.
“What happened?”
Jiang Chen released the flight attendant’s hand. The flight attendant sadly rubbed her hand that had turned red while Jiang Chen pointed at the man beside him and mouthed the word “bomb” without making a sound.
The captain read Jiang Chen’s lips and his eyes immediately turned stern while his gaze shifted between Jiang Chen and the man.
Jiang Chen could read from his eyes the obvious suspicion and hesitation involved in taking a risk.
It was normal to hesitate because anyone randomly pointing at an unconscious traveler, stating he had a bomb would suspicion. The traveler could have some sudden onset of a disease-related symptom, and if he wasn’t treated in a timely manner…
Even Jiang Chen was wondering if the person had anything hidden on him…
“Captain?” The flight attendant looked at the captain anxiously.
“Get little Cao here.” The captain turned and whispered to the flight attendant.
The flight attendant nodded and immediately ran out of the first class cabin. Not long after, a man between twenty and thirty walked into the first class cabin. His appearance looked like any other ordinary passenger, but from the sharpness in his eyes, Jiang Chen acutely sensed his identity might be different.
From the beginning of October 2004, all flights from Hua had a seat unsold. This seat was specifically reserved for undercover police. The undercover cops typically had a special forces background. Not only did they have abilities in close combat, but they also possessed a wealth of experience in deactivating bombs. When the security on the flight couldn’t take care of an unsuspecting situation, the undercover cops would solve the problem.
Typically, they would solve hijacking or bomb problems on board…
When the undercover cop walked beside Jiang Chen, he immediately sensed something was wrong.
Without hesitation, the undercover cop kneeled down beside the person and instructed the flight attendant on the side to open his toolkit. He took out some equipment and began to work on the person.
Jiang Chen, who was sitting beside the person, noticed a drop of sweat rolling down his forehead and splashing onto the red carpet.
“What’s the situation like…” Seeing that little Cao wasn’t saying anything, the captain also began to feel nervous.
He had been a captain for over five years and had been in countless anti-terrorism drills, but it was his first time encountering something like this in real life.
Little Cao gritted his teeth, stood up, and whispered to the captain: “The person is dead; the cause of death is unknown. I found a countdown device on his body and I’m uncertain what it is… evacuate everybody first.”
Then he looked at Jiang Chen and warned him, “Don’t move. I’m uncertain if there are any detonation devices around you.”
Jiang Chen opened his hands to indicate his understanding, but when he heard from their whispers that Professor Tanaka already died, he was caught off-guard.
From the words of Tanaka, he clearly knew a lot of information. The more he knew, the higher his status was in the organization. It would’ve been a terrible plan to trade one life for one.
He sensed something was off.
Just then, he suddenly remembered that before Tanaka lost consciousness, he seemed to have made a move…
Jiang Chen’s gaze stopped on the hat on the ground.
Jiang Chen picked it up and touched the linen material. He seemed to have detected a metal object hidden in the material.
The captain started to instruct flight attendants to evacuate the first class cabin passengers.
The passengers in the first class cabin started to understand the situation and began to feel anxious. The people who could afford first class were either important or rich. The richer the person, the more fearful they were of death… Of course, Jiang Chen was an exception. Although he had money, he didn’t think he would die.
Supplemented with Tanaka’s comments, he could piece together what happened.
Kurofune… The Kurofune he referred to should be the Nature Selection sent by the Harmony to Earth. Regarding the civilization fusion he referred to, his understanding of the Natural Selection must not be limited to knowing its existence.
For some reason, the organization led by Tanaka received an electromagnetic wave or Klein particle wave from the Natural Selection; they were subsequently manipulated or even brainwashed to become “followers” of the Harmony.
After the conclusion of his conversation with the Queen, Jiang Chen already knew the Queen was aware of his ability to engage in interdimensional travel and even knew about his secret storage dimension.
But what still confused Jiang Chen was that until now, they hadn’t displayed any desire to kill. It wasn’t difficult to understand – just like humans’ perception of bugs, crushing them or not wouldn’t be linked to the concept of killing, especially since they still wanted to capture him to help them return to their “home planet.”
What made the Harmony change their opinion and desperately want him dead?
Jiang Chen fell into deep thought.
While the undercover cop disarmed the bomb, the captain returned to the cockpit. He needed to send a request to the nearest airport to make an emergency landing. The passengers were evacuated; only three people remained in the first class cabin.
They were Jiang Chen, little Cao, and the flight attendant.
Considering how collected Jiang Chen looked, while the flight attendant was anxious, she was curious at the same time. Typically, it should be her who comforted passengers with unstable emotions, but this passenger was special – he didn’t seem to be bothered by the bomb beside him at all.
“Aren’t you afraid?” The flight attendant gulped and asked in a quiet voice.
“What’s there to be scared of?” Jiang Chen smiled.
“Since it’s right beside you…”
“If it really is a bomb, it makes no difference where I sit.”
Only the timing of death would be different.
“Threat deactivated.”
Following a trail of sweat splashing onto the ground, the countdown timer strapped around Tanaka’s waist was stopped. Little Cao felt relieved. He accepted the napkin offered by the flight attendant to wipe the sweat off his face.
Just in a short period of time, his entire body was drenched.
“The bomb is disarmed?” Jiang Chen was surprised.
It was deactivated this easily? Jiang Chen didn’t feel any better about surviving through it all with how easily the threat was eliminated.
“There was no bomb at all… At least nothing I haven’t seen before.” Little Cao spoke while carefully cutting open Tanaka’s jacket and he took out a vest with mysterious hanging plastic balls.
The transparent plastic balls were connected together by soft strings. Under the bright light in the cabin, they looked crystal clear.
“At least treat this as a dangerous good for now… Threat is eliminated.”
Just as little Cao was speaking, the body of the plane shook violently as if it had been hit by something.
“Ahh-”
The flight attendant screamed and was flipped to the ground by the shaking body of the plane. Little Cao also tumbled, but as a special forces agent, he held onto what seemed to be the dangerous vest with one hand while holding onto the seat beside him with the other.
“Fu*k! What’s going on?!” The dangerous item in his hand almost flew out and almost scared Little Cao to death; he cursed after regaining his footing.
Jiang Chen, who had his seatbelt on, didn’t feel too much although the violent shaking did catch him off-guard.
It was normal for the body of the plane to shake when encountering air turbulence, but the continuously trembling of the cabinet made it feel odd.
It clearly wasn’t turbulence – it felt like something struck the plane.
Just then, Jiang Chen looked out the window and was stunned.
The turbine engine was burning in fire!
