Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The image on the screen flashed a few times. It finally fixed on a middle-aged Arabian man who had deeply sunken eyes, tall nose, thin sculptural facial features. Additionally, he also a black shoulder-length hair wrapped tightly in a white headscarf and beard on his chin that covered the entirety of his neck.
He was kneeling sullenly on a piece of wool felt praying a few times piously before standing up. He was very calm at first. Nevertheless, gradually, he became overwhelmed with emotion and began to shout madly, “This is the warning given by the believers of Allah to all of you in the world! For decades, Western pagans have brutally invaded our homeland, burned our houses, killed our children, and plundered the wealth buried deep below the land that Allah has given us! Today, they laid the devil’s eyes in the sky, intending to monitor the children of Allah! We will never allow this! Never ever allow this! At this moment, we will use the sword of ruling to stab the devil’s eyes!”
When that middle-aged Arabian finished shouting, a series of gunshot sounds resonated around him. The image of the video shifted across many men who had his face covered with a black robe as he held many guns. They shouted and landed on two massive missiles that seemed to be no less than three meters tall hidden in the middle of the oasis.
“That missiles looked very advanced. I wonder how these terrorists got it…” When Zhang Lisheng saw that the screen video on the screen showed two ground-to-air missiles erected on a tall launching rack about to be launched, he muttered in astonishment.
“This missile is the Russian ‘Kalissa 3,’ I believe. When the Soviet Union’s Iron Curtain ended at the end of the previous century, politicians from many small participating countries sold these missiles to the market. At that time, it was said that you only need to pay two tons of toothpaste to get your hands on one.” Maddie, who was by the side, explained. “Actually, it’s not that difficult to get weapons on the international black market. The difficult part is to transport the weapons.”
“You actually knew about this?” Dumbstruck, the young man looked up at the girl beside him. When he turned his head, the tails of the two missiles on the screen of the mobile phone lit up at the same time. They spurted out flaming fire columns and blasted into the sky, heading towards one of the space shutters hovering in the air.
The distance of tens of thousands of meters was instantaneously narrowed in just slightly over ten seconds. The missiles dragged out a long, white tail. As they did so, the missiles drew a faint arc in the air as it was about to hit the space shuttle. Then, an intense light flashed outside of the space shuttle, causing the quality of the video to plummet.
A loud noise immediately resonated from the sky. After a while, the quality of the video became clear again. When the smoke around the space shuttle dispersed, the space shuttle remained to hover in the air unscathed, gleaming brightly in a milky, white glow under the illumination of the sunlight.
“It has ended?” When Zhang Lisheng, who had already turned his attention back onto the video, saw that the video had stopped playing, he asked in confusion. “That spacecraft looks completely unscathed! What’s the intention of that guy from the Mohammed Honor Society for publishing such a video?”
“They left a message after the video saying that they have intimidated the devils since the spacecraft didn’t retaliate after their initial attack,” Maddie explained again.
“Oh how absurd! Do these extreme religious fanatics live in their own illusions? I can’t believe they can actually come up with such absurd conclusions…” Zhang Lisheng sneered.
However, before he could finish his words, he suddenly remembered the hundreds of native warriors’ loyalty to him. He recalled how they had cut off their necks under the totem pole so that the Tudenan tribe that had conquered the entire Shrimp B1 Island could be renamed to become Wizard Li. At once, his heart clenched. His tone grew solemn, “Once the power of this kind of blind faith erupts, it would often be more powerful than what sane people could do!”
“Yes, Lisheng. It’s undeniable that the technology used by these space shutters is very advanced, so I don’t believe that they don’t have any defense system at all. However, they still didn’t show any form of countermeasure even after receiving an attack. This shows that the owner of the space shutters is maintaining a good, friendly attitude towards the people of Earth. However, nobody knows what would happen if those irrational madmen from the Middle East continue to attack them several times.”
“Don’t worry, Maddie. If the owners of the space shuttle really have a good intention for coming to Earth, then they would never turn hostile over several innocuous missile attacks.” Zhang Lisheng said as he handed the phone back to the girl.
“Why do you think so?” Maddie took the phone and looked at the young man in confusion.
“Simple. These spaceships are parked in the Earth’s atmosphere and suspended on top of our heads. This is equivalent to sneaking into someone else’s courtyard silently and just standing there, staring into the window of the house. How could they possibly not prepare themselves for a ‘beating’ after doing do such a thing? I just have a question in mind, which makes me feel strange. Why is the person attacking them the smallest and the weakest ones in the ‘house’? What are those ‘big guys’ doing right now?”
“Perhaps those ‘big guys’ knew how big they are, so naturally they have more things to take into consideration. It’s also because of this that they could pull it together better.”
“This is indeed a reasonable reason, but it’s impossible to not have at least a trial probe. Pretending that this whole thing is not an issue is not helping.” Zhang Lisheng shrugged. Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in his mind, “Unless… Unless…”
“Unless each of the country’s governments has already contacted the shuttle ships and have come to a tacit understanding. Perhaps, the religious extremists in the Middle East don’t understand this tacit understanding, for they’re not qualified to contact the owner of the space shutters in the first place.” Maddie’s eyes lit up as she rambled on endlessly.
“I also think so too. Hey, if that’s the case, then this puzzle has more pieces than we thought. How could a foreign civilization reach a tacit agreement with all the powerful governments on this planet within a night? Where did they come from? What’s their purpose in achieving such tacit understanding? What do they want from the Earthlings, and what kind of price are they willing to pay? All of these are still a mystery,” Zhang Lisheng said and sighed. Leaning back onto the seat of the plane, he turned his head and looked out the window.
When the girl by the side saw that the young man had chosen to remain silent, she did not say a word. Instead, she took out the thin blanket that the plane provided from under her seat and gently put it on him.
“I didn’t even use this thing when I was swimming in the Arctic Ocean for a year.” Suddenly feeling that his body had become warmed, Zhang Lisheng looked down at the blanket and shook his head with a chuckle, before putting it back onto Maddie.
“You may not need it, but it’s always more comfortable to be wrapped in a blanket.” The girl bent down and took another thin blanket from under the young man’s seat and covered it on him. “If you don’t want to share a blanket with me, you can have your own one.”
Zhang Lisheng did not reject again this time. He just shrugged and wrapped himself in the thin blanket. Taking this opportunity, the girl leaned her head on his shoulder. She then remarked jokingly, “I’ve helped put a blanket on you twice, so in return, can you lend me your shoulders as a pillow, Lisheng?”
The young man was stunned but said nothing. He turned his head back to look out of the window and just let Maddie place her head on his shoulder.
The plane cruised smoothly in the sky, from daytime to night. The girl and the young man maintained this intimate position and finally fell asleep. Only when the plane was about to land while the flight attendants walked into the plane aisle politely, reminding the passengers to fasten their seat belts did the girl finally awakened after hearing Zhang Lisheng’s voice.
She looked out at the dark window and asked in astonishment, “It’s already so late? Have we reached New Mexico, Lisheng?” Maddie lowered her head and rubbed her eyes while yawning involuntarily.
“Yes, the plane is about to land soon. Quickly fasten your seat belt,” Zhang Lisheng extended his neck and placed his head against the cabin window to look at the ground. “There’s almost no light below except for the airport. Santa Fe in Noah World is much more desolate than I thought.”
‘New Mexico’ was located in the US southwestern desert region. It had an area of more than 300,000 square kilometers and a population of just over two million. It’s not even comparable to Brooklyn in New York City.
However, although it was sparsely populated here, and the economy was not as developed as any of the 51 states in the US, there were many magnificent natural landscapes here. One can find sceneries such as red rock cliffs, expansive desserts, high mountains, and so on. Tourists would come all year round, so for this reason, the scattered light on the ground was definitely not something Zhang Lisheng expected.
To his surprise, the instant his words left his mouth, Maddie, who was running her fingers through her hair, suddenly said, “Lisheng, are we not landing at the airport in Santa Fe, but directly in Feren City?””
“Isn’t Feren city just a small town on the border of the US and Mexico? They’ve actually built a civil aviation airport here?”
“There was no airport here in the first place. Since Feren is the last stop to the Noah World, the federal government has been specially built an airport for transportation convenience. It has already been in use for over two months. If we had flown to Santa Fe, we’d have to spend at least a day in the car, traveling by intercontinental road tomorrow before we could reach Noah’s entrance. It would not have been as convenient as flying directly into Feren City,” Maddie explained.
When she was speaking, the plane began to slowly descend, dipping slightly down towards the airport runway and lowering its landing gear. After a sudden jolt, it landed safely and cruised a few hundred meters on the flat track before finally stopping slowly.
A loud male voice resonated from the cabin’s broadcast, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m Captain Myron Kavos. The United Airlines AST0906 has arrived safely at Noah Airport in Feren City, New Mexico. I’m very honored to have serviced all of you. May you have a happy new life, goodbye.”
“Looks like the pilot is a guy who loves to show off.” When Zhang Lisheng heard the broadcast, he commented as he stood up to line up leave the plane with Maddie amidst the applauding crowd.
The night wind in New Mexico’s wilderness was much colder than that in New York City. The young man braved the cold wind and looked around at this vast airport that had seven to eight boarding gates. The runway was at an international standard, but the other buildings were simple and crud. Taking a few deep breaths, he took off his coat and chivalrously draped in over Maddie, who was standing beside him.
“Thank you,” the girl was stunned but immediately smiled exceptionally bright at Zhang Lisheng. Right at this moment, a black SUV sped in the parking apron and stopped beside the airport before the airport bus arrived.
Two tall men in deep-colored suits with the same colored ties jumped out of the car and walked towards the young man.
