Chapter 51
Chapter 51
The plane was in the middle of takeoff. Wei Sen had the aisle seat, Lin Xiaoxue was in the middle, and by the window sat a heavyset middle-aged woman of about forty.
Lin Xiaoxue still hadn’t woken up. The middle-aged woman, meanwhile, was holding up her phone and filming the view outside.
From the woman’s phone screen, Wei Sen saw only pitch-black sky beyond the window. The lights on the wing blinked red, and she could faintly make out the plane climbing rapidly, plunging into dark clouds.
The woman wasn’t wearing a watch. She was one of this plane’s original passengers.
Judging by the sky outside, it should be the middle of the night.
Wei Sen glanced at her watch. 02:00.
This was a red-eye flight!
Wei Sen immediately realized something was wrong. Domestic flights after midnight had been canceled long ago, yet this plane had taken off at two in the morning. And whether it was the passengers’ faces or the cabin’s interior, none of it looked like an international flight.
There was something wrong with this time.
Either they had already been affected by Contamination, or… the entire flight had been affected by Contamination!
The middle-aged woman lowered her phone and turned to look back at her.
Seeing that her eyes were normal, Wei Sen secretly let out a breath of relief. At least from the outside, she looked like a normal person.
“What are you staring at me for, kiddo?” the middle-aged woman asked with a smile, putting away her phone.
“You know me?” Wei Sen asked.
“Are you so happy you’ve gone silly? Wake your little sister up. Falling asleep the second you get on the plane-what kind of behavior is that? Look how nice the view is outside!” As the middle-aged woman spoke, she turned back toward the window.
But outside the window, it was clearly pitch-black. There was nothing to see at all.
Wei Sen looked at Lin Xiaoxue and suddenly realized something.
This Instance was the same as Zhihui Primary School. They all had assigned identities.
And the people inside the Instance would accept those identities by default. They wouldn’t find it strange.
So this time, she and Lin Xiaoxue were the daughters of the middle-aged auntie beside them.
“Xiaoxue, wake up.”
Lin Xiaoxue woke in a daze, went blank for a few seconds, then suddenly sat bolt upright. “Sister Sen! We’re in a new Instance?!”
“Yeah.”
Wei Sen remembered falling asleep in the Real World in the early hours of the morning.
She had no idea how long she had slept. When she came to, she found herself back in that endless dark space again.
Only this time, “God” had not appeared. Instead, in the vast darkness, there had been a single white door.
Written on the door were the words:
[Instance: Infinite Flight
Instance Difficulty: C-Rank (Mortality Rate: 20%)
Instance Participants: 13]
C-Rank was the lowest difficulty Instance, so Wei Sen hadn’t thought too much about it. After pushing the door open and stepping through, she had lost consciousness, until she woke up on this flight.
“Sister Sen, I remember seeing a door too. It said this was a C-Rank Instance, with thirteen participants!” Lin Xiaoxue recalled.
“Mm. That door should be the Gate of Xuanpin CC mentioned.”
“The Gate of Xuanpin?” Lin Xiaoxue clearly didn’t quite understand.
“Chapter Six of the Tao Te Ching says: ‘The valley spirit never dies. It is called Xuanpin. The Gate of Xuanpin is called the root of heaven and earth. It seems to endure forever, and its use is inexhaustible.'” A familiar voice came from behind them.
Wei Sen and Lin Xiaoxue turned and peered through the gap between the seats. The person speaking was Xu You. She was wearing a black jacket and sitting in the outermost seat of the row behind them.
“Sister You!” Lin Xiaoxue cried out happily.
Xu You leaned closer to the two of them and said, “Xuanpin is a term used in Daoism and cultivation. It also carries the meaning of subtle transformation and birth, referring to the Dao giving rise to all things without revealing how they are born. So the ‘Gate of Xuanpin’ refers precisely to the Dao producing all things, the place from which all things emerge.”
“Wow, Sister You, you’re amazing!!!” Lin Xiaoxue looked so worshipful her eyes were practically turning into stars.
Wei Sen thought for a moment. “Interesting.”
“What identities did you two get?” Xu You asked.
“I’m not sure yet.” Lin Xiaoxue scratched her head and looked at Wei Sen.
“Xiaoxue and I are sisters, and that woman is our mother.”
At that, Lin Xiaoxue turned in shock to look at the middle-aged woman beside her. For a long while, she couldn’t tear her eyes away.
Xu You struggled to crane her neck a little closer to Wei Sen and lowered her voice. “I’m an air marshal.”
“That’s a pretty good identity.” Wei Sen gave a faint smile, then asked, “Let’s each check for clues and rules first.”
“Mm.”
Wei Sen turned back, but Lin Xiaoxue was still staring in the middle-aged woman’s direction.
“Xiaoxue?”
Hearing her name, Lin Xiaoxue turned around. There seemed to be a glimmer of tears hidden in her eyes as she smiled at Wei Sen. “What is it, Sister Sen?”
“Is something wrong?”
“Nope!”
“Then check around first and see if there are any clues,” Wei Sen prompted.
“Okay, Sister Sen!”
Wei Sen found an ID card and a boarding pass in her pocket.
The name on the ID was hers, but the date of birth was 1998.
The exact time and destination on the boarding pass had been corroded by Eerie Entity power and were impossible to make out, but one year was still visible: 2022.
They were currently in a 2022 Instance. By that calculation, she should be twenty-four this year.
Then Wei Sen found a slip of paper in the seatback pocket in front of her:
[Flight Passenger Rules (I):
1. During takeoff and landing, do not unfasten your seat belt or move around at will, no matter what sounds you hear or what sights you see!
Otherwise, we cannot guarantee your personal safety.
2. No matter when or where, for the safety of yourself and the other passengers, you must obey the flight attendants’ instructions!
3. The following items are not allowed on the plane:
Lighters, e-cigarettes, power banks over 20,000 mAh, controlled knives, red liquids over 100 ml, alcoholic beverages, and foods with strong odors.
Supplementary note: If you have already brought any of the above items, please hand them over to the crew immediately for destruction. Do not attempt to hide them, or you may be subjected to an “Extra Check”!
4. In the event of air turbulence, return to your seat immediately and fasten your seat belt.
If you are in the restroom, press the green button at once. (Note: There is only one green button in the restroom. If you see more than one, choose the oldest one.)
Supplementary note: A crew member will come to assist you within 30 seconds. If no one responds after 30 seconds, keep pressing the button repeatedly until you hear knocking on the door. Note that the knocking must be three knocks. If it is not, do not open the door.
4. Regarding onboard beverages
This flight only provides coffee, tea, juice, cola, and mineral water. Red wine is not available.
If a flight attendant proactively asks whether you would like red wine, politely decline and choose another beverage instead.
If a flight attendant hands you red wine without asking, immediately get up and go to the restroom. Lock the door from the inside and wait 5 minutes before returning to your seat.
If you hear any passenger proactively ask a flight attendant for red wine, do not make eye contact with them!]
At the same time, Lin Xiaoxue found the same rules in her seatback pocket, along with her own ID card and boarding pass.
Her boarding pass was also affected by Contamination, so the full information could not be seen. The ID card bore her name, and the age on it happened to match her real age as well: eighteen.
Wei Sen checked her watch again. Sure enough, the group chat already existed.
[Infinite Flight (13)]
There was also a small group this time. When Wei Sen tapped into it to check, she froze.
[Group A (6): Wei Sen, Xu You, Lin Xiaoxue, Huang Xinze, Xia Susu, Zhu Zhaoyang]