"Screaming Flight"

The handsome man who failed to pick up Xia Libing condition.

As he boarded the plane, he noticed that the tall, beautiful woman made a series of subtle metallic clanging and rubbing sounds as she walked, as if she were wearing a suit of armor.

This made him even more confused, and even gave him a strange chill.

Unfortunately, after boarding the plane, he discovered that his seat was right next to that tall, beautiful woman.

In the past, given his personality, being able to spend the journey sitting next to such a beautiful woman would have been the happiest thing for him. He was confident that he could at least get her phone or WeChat before landing.

But now, I just can't feel happy at all.

The beautiful woman was sitting by the window, while he was sitting in the middle. He even considered switching seats with the guy by the aisle—judging from the guy's frequent glances at the woman with the ponytail, he figured the suggestion would definitely be accepted.

But the more he thought about it, the more resentful he felt. He felt it was really embarrassing that he had been frightened by someone's ambiguous look.

If word got out, people would laugh themselves to death.

That makes absolutely no sense.

Moreover, during the boarding process and now, this beautiful woman's eyes and demeanor seem much more normal; she looks like a delicate, harmless young girl.

Although the girl was very tall, looking about 175 or 176 cm even in just sneakers, he was also tall and strong, so there was absolutely no reason for him to be afraid!

Besides, there are people all around you on the plane, so what's there to be afraid of?

After mentally preparing himself for a while, he finally made up his mind and turned to the tall, ponytail-wearing beauty next to him, asking, "Um... excuse me, but if I may ask, what are these drawings in your notebook?" This time, he didn't use any "abstract expressionism" rhetoric; he essentially retracted what he had said when he struck up a conversation in the waiting hall, abandoning all pretense of saving face.

Having just boarded the plane, Xia Libing hadn't yet re-entered her "consciousness world." Hearing the question, she glanced back at the person next to her, noticing their nervousness, and casually replied, "I don't know either."

That's the truth. Regarding the Black Circle Graffiti Xiang Kun drew, she only knew that they were a partial expression of the "Manifested Object Napoleon Cake" in a "Hyper-Sensory State," but she hadn't figured out how to interpret them specifically. Of course, the main reason for this answer was that she didn't want to talk about it anymore.

The person who struck up the conversation wasn't really concerned about getting an answer. Based on the question and the response, he felt that apart from her somewhat aloof expression, the beautiful woman wasn't strange at all. He guessed that, just as he had previously guessed, she was an artist, hence her unique personality.

This gave him a slight sense of relief. It seemed that he had really scared himself in the waiting hall earlier. Being so frightened by a single look that he stuttered was truly embarrassing!

He grew increasingly frustrated, so to prove his point, he forced a conversation and asked Xia Libing beside him, "Um... excuse me, I have another question. I'm curious, when we boarded the plane just now, I heard a lot of metallic clanging sounds coming from you. Could you tell me what it was?"

Xia Libing glanced at him again and said, "Don't be afraid, it's just Coin."

The man who had spoken to him suddenly realized, and felt an urge to slap his forehead. That sound was exactly like the clinking of Coin he had on him! It should be easy to recognize that sound. Why hadn't he thought of that before? What was he doing, making wild guesses?

However, he suddenly remembered the first half of Xia Libing's sentence and immediately explained, "You misunderstood. I wasn't scared, haha, what's there to be scared of? You were able to get on the plane, so you must have passed security. You certainly weren't carrying any weapons, right, haha..." After laughing twice, he felt that he might have gone a bit too far in his explanation and awkwardly shut up.

The young man sitting to his right, who had been stealing glances at Xia Libing while boarding the plane, seized the opportunity to strike up a conversation. "Carrying Coin these days? That's rare, isn't it?"

Xia Libing's answer remained concise, "Personal habit."

And so the chat ended again.

The young man smiled awkwardly, then secretly gave a thumbs-up to the handsome middle-aged man next to him.

The handsome man naturally understood what the guy meant; he admired him for coming up with such an excuse to strike up a conversation.

However, his feelings now are completely different from when he first struck up a conversation in the waiting hall. He simply wants to prove that his previous feelings were just an illusion.

If we're really judging my flirting skills, my conversation just now was a complete disaster—it was incredibly awkward.

He didn't continue talking to Xia Libing, because the latter had opened that small black leather notebook again and was in the same dazed state she had been in when she entered the waiting hall, clearly displaying an attitude of "keep away, don't bother me."

Moreover, he didn't have his usual desire to flirt with beautiful women; his mind was inexplicably filled with the phrase "Don't be afraid."

Why did she tell me not to be afraid? What am I afraid of? Did I show any fear? How did she know I was afraid?

After the plane took off, he took out his iPad, put on his headphones, and started watching a movie, trying to distract himself. But when he glanced at the ponytail-wearing beauty next to him out of the corner of his eye, his mind kept replaying those blank, unfocused, emotionless, and soulless eyes. He just couldn't fully concentrate on the movie.

The movie scenes playing on the iPad kept flashing by, but he didn't pay any attention to what they were about. This strange feeling made him very uncomfortable.

He wanted to go to the restroom to wash his face and clear his head, but when he looked up, he was suddenly stunned.

Everyone on the plane has vanished?!

Oh no, besides him, there was another person still there—the tall, ponytail-wearing beauty sitting to his left by the window. She still had that indifferent, dazed expression, but the thing she was staring at in her hand was no longer the black leather notebook, but a piece of cake!

A chill ran from the soles of my feet straight up to my scalp, then my scalp started to tingle, and my whole body began to tingle, and cold sweat poured down my face.

He frantically unbuckled his seatbelt, stood up, and shouted, "Is anyone there? Is anyone there? Flight attendant? Holy crap, is anyone there??"

What happened? Where did everyone on the plane go? I only watched a movie for a bit, and everyone disappeared in the blink of an eye!

Holy crap, I knew this woman was suspicious! She really was suspicious!

As he was thinking this, he secretly glanced at the ponytail-wearing beauty next to him, only to find that she was also gone!

On her spot, only a lonely piece of cake remained!

He took several steps back, standing in the aisle, his body trembling slightly uncontrollably. Looking towards the cockpit, a thought flashed through his mind: if everyone on board was gone, then... where were the pilots? Who was flying the plane now?

The moment this thought crossed my mind, the plane began to shake violently.

He didn't have time to go back to his seat and fasten his seatbelt, so he could only grab the armrest of the seat next to him tightly and press his body against it.

The vibrations and shaking grew stronger and stronger. He didn't know what to do, so he could only hold on to the handrail tightly.

Am I going to die?

At that moment, the first things that came to mind were his ex-wife, his son, and his deceased parents.

Thinking back to his early years, when his wife was pregnant and their child had just been born, he was still out partying and indulging in pleasure every night. He also thought about how, when his child had a high fever and was hospitalized, he used a business trip as an excuse to go to a hotel with a girl he had just picked up at a bar, only to be caught by his brother-in-law. In the end, his ex-wife could no longer tolerate it and divorced him, taking their child with her.

When he first got divorced, he felt finally free, like a bird soaring in the sky or a fish leaping in the sea, with a vast forest waiting for him to explore, and he became increasingly unrestrained.

But at this moment, knowing he was about to die, what he instinctively blurted out was:

"Wife, I miss you..."

The sudden clap of thunder outside the plane filled him with even greater despair, making him feel that this was divine punishment.

But for some reason, the continuous thunder grew increasingly strange, accompanied by violent shaking and tremors, as if someone were shouting:

"Sir, wake up..."

He opened his eyes and saw a young man's face, which was awkward and slightly disgusted.

Behind the young man was the aisle, and the passengers on the other side of the aisle were also looking at him with surprise and odd expressions.

Are all the people on the plane here?

Was I dreaming?

Then he realized his current situation: his head was craning on the shoulder of the young man next to him, and his hands were tightly gripping the young man's pants, which was very indecent.

He was startled, quickly let go of her hand, sat up straight, and apologized repeatedly, "Oh dear, I'm so sorry, I actually fell asleep..."

The young man smiled wryly and said, "Sir, were you having a nightmare?"

"Pretty much, haha." He replied awkwardly, then noticed that the flight attendant seemed to have been drawn by the commotion. She came over to check but then went back. Other passengers were also frequently turning around and whispering. Remembering something, he quickly asked, "By the way, when I was asleep just now, did I... say something?"

The young man's expression was somewhat strange as he said, "You expressed your longing for Madam."

He was even more embarrassed and apologized repeatedly, glancing out of the corner of his eye at the ponytail-wearing beauty sitting to his left—she was still looking down at the strange drawings in her notebook, seemingly oblivious to what was happening around her.

Although he knew it was all a dream, probably caused by the lingering thought that had been haunting him since the waiting hall, and that he was just scaring himself, the psychological impact of the ponytail beauty in his dream persisted even after he woke up. As a result, even though he felt embarrassed, his body would still unconsciously lean towards the young man on his right, and he didn't even dare to look directly at the ponytail beauty's face.

During the remainder of the voyage, he would sometimes let his mind wander to all sorts of strange legends, and at other times he would constantly berate himself for what kind of foolish and ridiculous ideas they were, repeatedly trying to correct his feelings with logic and science.

As soon as the plane came to a stop, he unbuckled his seatbelt and, ignoring the flight attendants' advice, grabbed his luggage and ran to the exit to wait.

It's so stuffy on this plane.

Before getting off the plane, he was still a little unwilling, feeling that he shouldn't have been so cowardly. So he turned around and looked at the passengers in the cabin behind him who were getting their luggage. It was the first time since waking up from the nightmare that he looked at the ponytail beauty properly.

But to his surprise, the ponytail-wearing beauty was also looking at him. When their eyes met, he felt a chill rise from the bottom of his heart. He didn't dare to linger and quickly got off the plane and entered the jet bridge.

Watching the man's retreating figure disappear at the exit, Xia Libing withdrew her gaze, scratched her head, and looked down at her phone, which had just been turned on.

I received a message on WeChat from Xiang Kun, which was a black man with a question mark face.

Then he added, "Whose dream?"

Looking at the time, it was exactly the same time that the person sitting next to me had been jolted awake from their dream.

Xia Libing sent a cake emoji, followed by a right arrow, then a circle, then another arrow, followed by a person sleeping with a "Zzz" emoji.

On the other side, Xiang Kun immediately understood what she meant: she was referring to how she connected the CAKE01 book to a Black Circle Graffiti that Xiang Kun had given her, and then through that Black Circle Graffiti, she triggered a dream about someone. As for who that person was, judging from the operating mode of "Emotion-Infused Object to trigger a dream," it was most likely the sleeping passengers around Lao Xia on the plane.

Just now Xiang Kun suddenly had a feeling, and then, following his intuition, subconsciously sensed the Black Circle Graffiti he had given to Lao Xia before, and unexpectedly entered a dream.

But that dream was clearly not something he caused; it was something that already existed, something he entered into halfway through, just like the dream he had of Liu Shiling on the bullet train.

In other words, this dream doesn't need his support. Through his perception, he discovered that the root of this dream's existence comes from the several "Super-Linked Object" Coin on Lao Xia's body.

Could it be that Lao Xia has also gained the ability to perceive other people's dreams through "Emotional Injection objects"?

However, the message Lao Xia sent next refuted his guess.

"Can you see dreams? I can't. In the 'world of consciousness,' I only know that dreams are happening, but I can't find the 'entrance.'"

Xiang Kun then realized that Lao Xia hadn't directly established a special connection with the Black Circle Graffiti like he had, but rather had first entered the "consciousness world" through the "CAKE01" book with which he had already established a connection, and then contacted the Black Circle Graffiti within the "consciousness world," similar to how "Little Apple" contacted the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving" through the Minions.

Lao Xia can trigger dreams in nearby sleepers through Black Circle Graffiti, but he cannot perceive the specific content of those dreams, clearly indicating that this "function" has not yet been fully realized.

It's a bit like controlling a computer on a local area network and then commanding the printer connected to that computer to start working, but she has no control over what's being printed and has no idea what it's printing.

Xiang Kun then told Lao Xia what he had perceived about the traveler's dream, and then asked curiously, "He seemed very scared in his dream, his fear level was off the charts. At first, I even suspected that the dream was triggered by the eight-armed wooden carving. Did you do something that frightened him?" He suspected that Lao Xia might have used some kind of psychological method, otherwise, if the Black Circle Graffiti he gave Lao Xia was the trigger for the dream, the emotional type should have been focused.

However, Lao Xia replied with a panda shaking its head emoji, denying it.

Xiang Kun didn't ask any further questions. He knew Lao Xia was sensible, so he sent a message: "Have you landed yet? Did you call a car? Get some rest these next couple of days and catch up on your sleep."

Lao Xia replied with a panda nodding emoji.

A dozen minutes later, Lao Xia suddenly sent another photo. The photo was clearly of an open-air parking lot at the airport, and you could vaguely see several people standing next to a GL8, seemingly putting their luggage down.

Then Lao Xia sent another message: "Could you make sure that car can't leave for a while?"

Xiang Kun was taken aback. This was over a thousand kilometers away; did they think he was some kind of god?

However, he knew that Lao Xia wouldn't make random suggestions or demands, and strictly speaking, he could indeed do it, but he would need Lao Xia's assistance—using the "Emotion-Infused Object" on her body to locate her, descending in a "Hyper-Sensory State," and then relying on the influence of the "Super-Linked Object" to interfere with the car's electronic system, preventing it from starting, just like he did with the three car thieves in that abandoned factory.

So Xiang Kun asked, "Which car do you want to take?" If you want to take that car, why won't they start it? Are those people up to something?

After glancing at the photo again, Xiang Kun suddenly realized something.

At this moment, Lao Xia replied to the message: "I won't get close, they're using Flash Space."

"Flash Space"? That was what he and Lao Xia called "Shenxing Technology." He instantly understood the situation there and recognized the identities of the blurry figures in the photo.

One of them is Mi Qiao, another is Zhou Rui, and the third is "Assistant Gao" who has been with Mi Qiao since Qicheng City.

Xiang Kun immediately sensed the small piece of paper tucked into Mi Qiao's softcover notebook, which had established a "Super-Sensory Link," and its location was indeed at the airport in Citong City.

It seems that Lao Xia ran into Mi Qiao and Zhou Rui at the airport.

Xiang Kun had previously told Lao Xia about "Shenxing Technology" and shown her the photos Alice had collected of Zhou Rui, Fang Pingfang, and others. Although there were no photos of Mi Qiao, the photos described in detail Mi Qiao's "disguised" appearance. Lao Xia guessed that he recognized Zhou Rui first and then deduced the identities of Mi Qiao and the others.

He couldn't help but wonder, what were Mi Qiao and the others doing in Citong City? Hadn't they been investigating the "mutated ants" and "mutated birds" near Wushu Mountain?

Could the relevant clues be in Citong City, or have new traces of "Mutated Creature" appeared in Citong City, and they've come to investigate?

Although somewhat interested in their intentions, Xiang Kun still didn't want Lao Xia to make contact with them.

However, he then thought that Lao Xia must know and be very clear about the situation he was worried about. She was not the kind of person to act rashly, and her decision must have its reasons.

Moreover, Lao Xia said, "I won't get close," so he probably won't have direct contact with them.

Judging from the postures of Mi Qiao, Zhou Rui, and others in the photo, they should be getting into the car and leaving soon. It would be more troublesome to interfere after the car starts moving, and it might even cause a car accident, which could endanger others. He currently has no way to accurately control the car remotely through "Super-Linked Object".

So Xiang Kun, who was still in Tang Baona's living room, made an excuse to go to the bathroom, flipped down the toilet seat, sat on it, closed his eyes, and entered a "Hyper-Sensory State".