Three Accomplices

The medium transport plane flew through the night, pushing steadily inland, but in the end, it still could not outrun the sun rising over the horizon. Only when dawn silently spilled across the thousand-mile wilderness did the transport plane from Lake City reach the designated airspace.

From start to finish, the transport plane's cabin was empty. Everyone was huddled in the cockpit. Of course, there were only three people aboard: the pilot, the copilot, and Horned Demon.

As an unwelcome guest who had forced his way aboard, Horned Demon had enough self-awareness to openly show his distrust of the two crew members. He remained planted in the cockpit until the transport plane reached the destination he wanted.

What was even stranger was that the empty cabin remained empty all the way, while the cockpit stayed utterly silent. Horned Demon, who usually had the gift of gab, somehow kept his mouth shut. Unless they turned around, they could barely sense his presence. If silence could accumulate, the transport plane would have crashed from severe overloading halfway through the journey.

At last, upon reaching the target airspace, Horned Demon spoke. "Descend..."

The transport plane pierced the clouds and continued lowering its altitude. Through the porthole, the gently rolling red soil of the wilderness below had taken on an outline Horned Demon found familiar. After glancing at the plane's instruments and calculating the sun's angle and elevation, Horned Demon was finally satisfied. He patted both pilots on the shoulders. "Good. Maintain this altitude and circle around for a while longer... Watch out for Aberrant Species. That shouldn't be a problem for you."

Just as Horned Demon had said, at an altitude of six to seven thousand meters, there was no shortage of flying Aberrant Species. Circling around was hardly a good option. Yet