"Duckling" and the surname "Li" were once linked together, but that was a long time ago.
Zhang Ruoshui was stunned for a moment before realizing.
This person... was looking for her!
"Ah! Sir, please don't do anything rash! Let go, let go of him, who are you looking for? I didn't catch what you just said!" The flight attendant shouted, trying her best to maintain composure in both expression and tone.
"I'm looking for Li Xiaoya," he said this time in English, speaking much more fluently. "I'm not talking to you. She should hear me. She should come out to see me, otherwise, everyone on this plane will lose their lives because of her."
The flight attendant was even more frantic: "Sir, I'm very clear that there is no Miss Li on our first-class passenger list..."
Zhang Ruoshui moved slightly, but Wei Wenqing stepped in front of her, subtly shaking his head. The spherical seats in first class effectively concealed their movements.
"What's going on?"
"What happened?"
The commotion had spread to the economy class.
Wei Wenqing stood up abruptly, turning sharply and colliding head-on.
The man grunted in pain as his arm was hit, finally releasing his grip.
The flight attendant collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath while clutching the armrest.
Seeing this, other tall passengers were encouraged and shouted, "Go! Go! Let's take him down together!"
However, being strangers, their coordination was lacking. Before they could act, the man had already knocked one down and twisted another's wrist forcefully.
The passenger screamed in pain.
This deterred others from intervening.
Only Wei Wenqing continued his assault, kicking the man's knee.
The man, unable to withstand the force, leaned forward, flailing his arms to grab the overhead shade.
"Crash—"
A pile of things fell.
Wei Wenqing pressed down on the man's back with his knee.
But the man was strong and resisted several times, almost throwing Wei Wenqing off.
It all seemed to happen in a matter of seconds.
The man, face pressed against the carpet, managed to pull his nose and mouth away slightly, whispering, "Young Master, you've changed. You've become more painful to fight. Since you're out, Li Xiaoya must be beside the seat you just stood up from, right?"
Wei Wenqing's expression changed, and he turned the man around.
The man's jacket, tied around him, fell open.
Several strange plastic bottles were strapped to his waist.
First-class passengers stood up, trying to distance themselves: "What's that?"
"Poison?"
"Toxic gas, isn't it?"
"How did he get that on the plane?"
"Who are you?" Wei Wenqing asked only this.
The man looked strangely at the voice device pinned to Wei Wenqing's chest before saying, "So you don't recognize me anymore?"
Zhang Ruoshui listened to the commotion and dialogue, then unbuckled her seatbelt and walked towards her uncle.
Passing the flight attendant, she patted her hand and whispered, "Tell the captain to contact the ground."
Then, as if nothing had happened, she stopped beside her uncle.
"Sugar mixed with potassium nitrate produces high-pressure gas," she said, glancing at the plastic bottles.
Other passengers, including the flight attendants, were even more terrified upon hearing this.
Zhang Ruoshui then looked closely at the man, noting the scar on his face.
Many people have scars.
Comrades of Kermin also have scars.
But this man's scar was horizontal, a mix of British, French, and Chinese heritage.
"Long time no see, Wei Zhen. I thought you were dead," Zhang Ruoshui said softly.
Her calm tone had a soothing effect amidst the panic.
At least the passengers didn't scream in terror, just looked at her uneasily.
"You are..." The man, hearing his name called by Zhang Ruoshui, was momentarily stunned. "Li Xiaoya?"
No wonder he had to resort to such methods.
He barely recognized her anymore.
Zhang Ruoshui didn't respond.
"He..." Her uncle finally showed some anxiety.
"He was my bodyguard, in theory. But Grandpa got sick, and so did you, so he became Wei Lin's dog..."
The man's mouth twitched with anger and defiance.
But Zhang Ruoshui didn't look at him, continuing, "When I returned to Jin City, Grandpa sent him abroad. Later, Wei Lin was arrested for involvement in my kidnapping... he should have been purged by the board of directors."
Wei Zhen gritted his teeth, glaring at Zhang Ruoshui, his eyes bloodshot: "What kidnapping? You slandered the master."
Zhang Ruoshui looked down at him, admitting frankly, "Yes, I slandered him. Losing to a child of just a few years old, isn't that humiliating?"
"When he colluded with the board of directors, when he used my mother's whereabouts to provoke my uncle, how could he have imagined dying so disgracefully?"
Wei Zhen's eyes were red as he stared at her, his voice hoarse: "Little Miss, you've grown up, become someone to be trusted. But I can never be your bodyguard..."
Zhang Ruoshui nodded, "Right, because now I look down on you."
Wei Zhen choked, still insisting, "You think of me as a dog, but no one wants to wait for an uncertain future... before you appeared, did I have to wait a lifetime? Mr. Wei Lin promoted me, he had the grace of knowing me, so..."
With a sudden burst of strength, Wei Zhen flipped over, reaching for the plastic bottles on his waist.
Wei Wenqing's face darkened, quickly kicking out.
Zhang Ruoshui simultaneously grabbed a blanket from a nearby seat, covering Wei Zhen's head, twisting it tightly.
Wei Zhen's vision went black, his neck feeling like it was about to be dislocated. He had to use his hands to pull, stumbling and colliding.
People gasped, looking at Zhang Ruoshui with new eyes.
She was a girl!
A very young girl!
Wei Zhen's head hit the armrest, his hands falling limp, his entire head tightly wrapped in the blanket.
The scene was somewhat terrifying.
But it also brought a sense of security.
The passengers breathed a sigh of relief.
"Is it over?" someone asked tremulously.
Just as the words left their mouth, a muffled "boom" echoed through the cabin.
They were still in shock, unable to think clearly, only asking, "What exploded? Where? Where did that come from?"
"The luggage compartment?"
"How did the ground staff let this happen? Goodness!"
In the midst of a few panicked cries, Wei Zhen suddenly lunged again, even though he couldn't see, he still laughed: "How could I come alone? I'm just here to distract attention."
Zhang Ruoshui kicked him in the chin, sending him sprawling.
"Uncle! Watch him, don't let him die! I still have questions for him!"
With that, Zhang Ruoshui pushed past the flight attendant and sprinted towards the cockpit.
The door opened from the inside.
A gust of air rushed in.
The co-pilot staggered out, holding his head: "It... it exploded..."
He emerged covered in blood, revealing the cockpit's situation—
The captain was still in his seat, but half his head was blown off. It seemed something had exploded in his mouth.
The passengers could no longer control themselves, screaming in terror.
The panic spread to the economy class.
The cabin was filled with wailing.
Zhang Ruoshui took a deep breath, relieved.
Fortunately, it was homemade explosives, otherwise, they couldn't have been brought on the plane. Otherwise, the entire cockpit would have been blown up.
She grabbed a bottle of wine from the food cart and rushed into the cockpit, smashing it over a shadow that had just jumped up.
Normally, the cockpit would have a security officer besides the captain and co-pilot.
Where was the missing one? When Zhang Ruoshui saw the cockpit's situation, she thought of this.
So... surprise attacks were no longer effective.
While the man was stunned, Zhang Ruoshui grabbed his shoulder, dragging him into the cockpit, and said succinctly, "He exploded it, control him! Or we all die!"
There were always a few passengers who could quickly distinguish between what was important and what was not, and they rushed up to restrain the man.
"It's too late, the captain is dead," Wei Zhen said.
Wei Wenqing punched him in the nose, silencing his voice, and blood seeped through the thin blanket.
"Yes, the captain is dead," a passenger murmured.
They held down the security officer while looking up at Zhang Ruoshui.
Zhang Ruoshui turned back towards the cockpit and said, "We're still in the cruising phase, the plane practically doesn't need to be controlled."
"But what about landing?" someone swallowed hard, trying to suppress the panic in their voice.
Zhang Ruoshui thought for a moment: "First, contact the ground."
"Do we need to go to the cockpit to operate? Who knows how?"
"I've been on a helicopter and a small combat transport plane, there should be some similarities, right?"
Meanwhile, in the economy class.
Qiu Lan held her husband's hand, her expression grave: "It seems something has happened."
Her husband, Xu Huishan, also frowned: "This... is this the prophecy that Sheng Yuxiao mentioned? Does this mean we've harmed the people on the plane?"
Qiu Lan said sternly, "Don't talk nonsense."
She unbuckled her seatbelt and said to her colleague sitting behind, "Let's go to the front and see if anyone is injured, if they need help."
They were used to fieldwork and had solid basic first aid knowledge.
Others were trembling and didn't dare to go to first class, making Qiu Lan and her colleagues seem a bit out of place.
The door to first class had been broken by Wei Zhen, which now conveniently allowed them to pass through.
As they pushed the door open, they heard Zhang Ruoshui come out of the cockpit saying, "The control panel was blown up, we can't communicate with the ground, and half of the dashboard is damaged..."
"Xiaoya?" Qiu Lan was stunned.
*
The atmosphere on the plane was tense, and the situation at the Zhang household wasn't much better.
"Is this question so difficult to answer?" Old Mr. Zhang asked sternly.
Sheng Yuxiao stood there, not sitting down again.
He moved his lips: "I can't say I don't want to."
Old Mr. Zhang was so angry he blew his beard: "When did you, Sheng Yuxiao, start saying such equivocal things? What do you mean by 'can't say I don't want to'? Do you want to or not? What's on your mind?"
Sheng Yuxiao pursed his lips, trying to regain some clarity: "Because it's something I just thought of."
Old Mr. Zhang: ?
