Political Screening

The sudden crosswind threw Li Zhi into a scramble. He tried hard to control the plane's attitude, but as an inexperienced novice, he wasn't having much success.

Screeech!

Pop!

The plane's rear wheels touched down. Because its attitude wasn't quite right, the tires on the two sides didn't touch down at the same time. The right rear wheels hit the runway before the left ones.

With all the weight bearing down on the right rear wheels, one of the tires couldn't take the pressure and blew out!

The plane's right wing also scraped against the runway, throwing up a long trail of sparks. The people in the control tower watched in terror, but they didn't dare disturb Li Zhi.

The instant the tire burst, the reaction force bounced the right landing gear back into the air. The plane was left with its right landing gear airborne and its left landing gear on the runway.

Fortunately, much of the pressure had already been relieved by then, and the tires on the left landing gear could still hold. Even so, the blue smoke rising from their friction against the runway showed that they were still badly damaged.

The left landing gear didn't bounce, and gravity brought the right landing gear back down onto the runway.

The plane finally leveled out. Its nose gear touched down on the runway as well, raising a cloud of blue smoke.

The people watching the plane could finally breathe a little easier, but they still didn't dare let their guard down. The plane hadn't come to a complete stop yet.

All three sets of landing gear were on the runway now. The plane was veering slightly, but Li Zhi corrected it, slowly bringing it back into line.

With the automatic braking system working, the plane slowed more and more. At this point, lowering the flaps could also have helped it slow down.

But the runway was long enough, and Liu Jian didn't suggest it to Li Zhi for fear of a mistake in the rush.

The plane was still rolling. As it passed the fire engines and ambulances stationed on both sides of the runway, they immediately followed it.

By now, some well-informed reporters had also arrived at the airport, but they had all been stopped in the terminal.

As the plane slowed, the passengers in the cabin finally began to cheer. Whether they knew one another or not, they embraced.

Those who had never experienced surviving a disaster really couldn't understand the feeling!

Every passenger had behaved very well during the incident. Faced with death, none of them had unleashed the evil in their hearts or made unreasonable trouble.

Some had broken down and cried, but those were perfectly normal reactions for an ordinary person.

The successful landing wasn't Li Zhi's achievement alone. It belonged to everyone on the plane!

After the brief cheering, everyone began to cry again. They wept for joy, and they also needed to release the negative emotions in their hearts!

At last, the plane came to a steady stop in the middle of the runway, and the fire engines close behind immediately turned on their high-pressure hoses.

The plane's wings, landing gear, and the area around its fuel tanks all needed to be cooled down urgently. The closer they got to the end, the less they could afford to be careless.

The plane hadn't stopped at a jet bridge, and it couldn't wait for a tug to tow it to one, so the chief purser opened an emergency exit.

That single pull cost at least a hundred thousand yuan, but this wasn't the time to worry about that. Ensuring the passengers' safety was the top priority.

The emergency exit slid open in an instant, and the escape slide inside sprang out immediately. In less than three seconds, the inflatable slide was fully inflated.

"Everyone, go down one at a time. Leave your luggage for now. Our staff will help you retrieve it later!"

The flight attendants were professionally trained, after all. They regained control of their emotions faster than ordinary people and directed everyone to leave the plane one at a time.

The plane had landed successfully, but that didn't mean the danger was entirely over.

After all, the plane had just been through an accident, and there could well be other hazards that hadn't yet been discovered.

Under the flight attendants' direction, all the passengers slid down from the plane. After a quick examination at the medical vehicles nearby, they were taken by shuttle bus to the airport's VIP lounge.

Li Zhi, however, was still in the cockpit. As a special forces soldier in his previous life, he almost instinctively avoided drawing too much attention to himself in such circumstances.

Only after seeing the plane come to a steady stop on the runway and the passengers disembark in an orderly fashion did the people in the control tower give vent to the emotions they had long struggled to contain.

For the moment, everyone forgot Li Zhi, the person most responsible for bringing the plane down safely.

A set of boarding stairs was brought over and positioned outside the door. Large numbers of police officers and security personnel, and even soldiers, began boarding with all kinds of instruments and equipment. This was the first hijacking in Dragon Country, after all, so the plane naturally had to undergo another rigorous inspection.

Even sending the rescued passengers to the VIP lounge was, in part, a way of keeping them under house arrest. After all, whether someone was good or bad wasn't written on their face.

Only then did everyone realize that the great hero who had saved everyone on the plane was still in the cockpit!

Could something have happened to him?

The security officer took out a security key he had prepared earlier and got ready to open the cockpit door from outside.

Before he could insert the key, someone opened the door from the inside.

Li Zhi naturally couldn't stay inside forever. After all the passengers had been escorted off the plane, he calmed himself and prepared to come out, meeting the security officer who was about to open the door.

"Comrade, please come with us!"

The airline employee who had boarded with them was just about to say something, but a soldier who had stepped forward at some point beat him to it.

The soldier's words weren't polished, but his manner was very respectful.

Li Zhi had saved nearly a hundred people on the plane and deserved everyone's respect; but suspicion of him hadn't been completely dispelled. After all, Li Zhi was still a "child" who had only just come of age, yet he had managed to deal with several hijackers barehanded. People couldn't help being suspicious, and naturally they couldn't allow him to move around freely.

"This round of assessments is now completely over. Those who qualify will receive their admission notices by July 31!"

There was actually one more, most important step: the political screening. It would be conducted without the candidates' knowledge.

There could be no criminal record within three generations. Even those whose paternal or maternal cousins had criminal records would be eliminated at the final hurdle!

"If you haven't received a notice by July 31, you can choose to apply to another college. You can contribute to Dragon Country wherever you are. Thank you all for choosing the Air Force Flying College first!"

A week had passed since the hijacking, and the flying college's reexamination couldn't be postponed because of it. Although Li Zhi was the great hero who had saved the plane, there were also many suspicious points he couldn't satisfactorily explain.

For example, killing the hijackers would have been difficult even for a well-trained soldier under the same conditions, let alone a young man like Li Zhi, who was still wet behind the ears.

Under the normal procedures, Li Zhi would certainly have missed the college's reexamination.

But Li Zhi had made it in time, naturally because Lei Hu, the military officer in charge, had intervened. With a military leader of Lei Hu's considerable rank vouching for him, those problems were no longer problems.

Although the two had never formally met, Lei Hu thought very highly of Li Zhi. To fly a large commercial airliner successfully without any training or study was nothing short of the work of a flying genius!

The country naturally had a great need for such a genius. How could Lei Hu let trivial matters hold back such a promising talent?

After all the candidates had eaten lunch at the flying college, the college buses took them to the airport or the high-speed rail station.

The college reimbursed the airfare and train fares for the entire reexamination trip. Conditions in Dragon Country had improved, so naturally the candidates didn't have to pay for that themselves.

After just one day, Yuzhou Airport had returned to its usual bustle. An incident without major casualties wouldn't affect one of the country's largest international airports.

Li Zhi didn't refuse to fly just because he had been through one aviation accident. Nothing went wrong on his flight back to Jinling either. After all, uneventful flights were the norm.

"Mom, I'm home!"

Those were always the first words he said when he opened the door. Strangely enough, almost everyone said the same thing. Almost nobody said, "Dad, I'm home!"

His father was sitting on the sofa reading the newspaper. It was Sunday, so he didn't have to work.

"Mom?"

Even after seeing his father's resentful look, Li Zhi continued calling for his mother, but got no response.

"Dad, where's Mom?"

Li Zhi finally spoke to his father, but the first thing he asked was, "Where's Mom?"

"Your mom went to get you a protection charm!"

Li Zhi's father answered irritably, then ignored him and went back to concentrating on his newspaper.

Li Zhi didn't mind his father's irritated tone. This was how father and son had communicated since he was little, and they were both used to it.

Li Zhi's mother made it back before dinner. She had gone to the Great Buddha Temple to get him a protection charm. Whether it worked or not, it could at least offer some psychological comfort, so Li Zhi didn't refuse it.

What followed was a long wait. During that time, Li Zhi didn't lower his standards for himself, and he kept up his daily workouts.

At the same time, between workouts, he reviewed some of the flying knowledge he had studied before. After actually flying a plane once, he had a different understanding of it.

While Li Zhi exercised and studied as usual, his political screening was also being conducted in secret. Fortunately, none of his close relatives within three generations had broken the law or violated regulations.

The staff conducting the screening also learned about Li Zhi's earlier experience, the incident involving CM696.

When he came across the information, the staff member could hardly believe his eyes. What kind of god is this? He hasn't even entered flying college, and he already has experience flying a passenger plane!

He immediately reported the news to the college. They couldn't let such a promising talent slip away!

He also visited Li Zhi's home as a matter of routine to ask his parents' opinion. Because of the college's special nature, a student joined active service upon formal enrollment, so his parents had to be consulted.

Reaching this stage basically meant admission to the college was a done deal. Anyone who failed the political screening wouldn't have made it this far.

Although Li Zhi's mother had always said she didn't agree with him going to flying college, she wouldn't stand in the way of her son pursuing his dream. Naturally, she gave her consent when the screening officer asked.

Sure enough, about five days after the screening officer asked his parents' opinion, the admission notice arrived in Li Zhi's hands.

Looking at the red admission notice in his hands, Li Zhi knew that the dream he had held across two lifetimes finally had a chance of coming true!

Even so, he didn't dare be careless. The flying college dismissed several times as many students each year as an ordinary college. Getting in wasn't Li Zhi's ultimate goal; once inside, he still had to find a way to stay!

The notice said he was to report on August 15, nearly a month earlier than at other schools, so Li Zhi began preparing to leave the moment he received it.

Finally, on the thirteenth, under his parents' reluctant gazes, Li Zhi set out for the college.

The flying college was run on fully military lines. Over the next four years of study, Li Zhi would have few opportunities to come home.

Although Li Zhi had arrived two days early to report in, he was still among the last group. By the time he reached the dormitory the college had assigned him, his three roommates had already made up their beds.

"Hello, I'm Wang Chen. That's Liu Zhixin up on that bunk, and Lin Dong has the bunk below yours. Glad to be roommates with you!"

As soon as Li Zhi entered the dormitory, a roommate greeted him.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Li Zhi. Nice to meet you all!"

"Hello!"

"Hello!"

They had all been strangers until yesterday, after all, so they couldn't become familiar with one another right away.

"Our last roommate is here now. Let's go out for a meal together, or we might not get another chance in the next few years!"

The fastest way to build a relationship was always over a meal, so Wang Chen suggested they all go out to eat.

Pilots' diets were very strictly controlled. Even though they were still only students, they wouldn't have many chances to eat out over the next four years.

No one turned down Wang Chen's suggestion. As roommates for the next four years, they all wanted to get along.

Since they were already flying college students, they all tacitly refrained from drinking. Alcohol wasn't good for pilots.

The dining table really was the best place for people from Dragon Country to bond. Before long, the four were calling one another brothers, and they had learned a little more about each other.

Wang Chen was the oldest, making him the eldest of the four for now. His family was also local to Yuzhou.

Liu Zhixin was a month younger than Wang Chen, putting him in second place. His family seemed to have a military background, but he only mentioned it briefly, and the others tactfully didn't ask more.

Li Zhi was the youngest of the four, which had much to do with his having skipped two grades in elementary school. After all, with an adult's soul attending elementary school, skipping only two grades was already the result of considerable restraint!