What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 561: Chapter 561: It’s Over!

When the passenger plane carrying Xiang Kun started to decrease its altitude and approach the airspace of the airport, something unexpected occurred.

Two birds smashed into the windscreen, shattered into pieces, their bodies pulverized with their guts and blood splattering all over the glass.

The captain, co-pilot, and safety officer in the cockpit were all startled, but before they could process what had happened, another two birds collided with the windscreen.

This time a larger bird was involved, the impact causing a snowflake-like pattern of cracks on the windscreen.

The crew remained calm. The aircraft’s windscreen typically has a laminated structure of 388 or 386, which means each layer of glass is 3mm, 8mm, and 8mm thick. The outer layer of 3mm glass is coated with a transparent conductive film that has electrothermal functions for deicing and defrosting. It’s not the structural layer, so even if it shatters, it won’t directly jeopardize the overall integrity of the windscreen.

Instances of birds colliding with the windscreen are not uncommon, and such events are considered during the design process.

Just as the captain and co-pilot were about to report the situation to the airport control tower, they suddenly noticed a swarm of more birds rushing towards them, their arrival almost immediate.

…

The passenger plane, which had already started to descend, suddenly experienced a few violent jolts.

The passengers on board became a little nervous, but a few frequent flyers reassured their fellow passengers in hushed voices, “It’s okay, we probably just hit turbulence.”

However, Tang Baona and Yang Zhen Er were a bit anxious and panicked due to Xiang Kun’s seemingly “preemptive” action and his serious expression.

But before Tang Baona could ask anything, everyone on the plane clearly heard the sound of something hitting the aircraft. Then someone gasped and pointed towards the window on the right.

Because they were about to reach the airport, the sunshades had been opened, and many passengers saw sparks and black smoke billowing out from the right wing.

Next, various birds slid past the side of the aircraft one after the other. Some almost skimmed the fuselage and windows, while others struck the wing head-on, turning into a mass of crushed flesh and blood. Occasionally, birds even flew into the jet engine.

Aircraft engines are designed with the possibility of bird strikes in mind, and even undergo “bird ingestion tests” to ensure engine integrity after a collision with a bird.

Normally, if a small bird weighing a few hundred grams hits the engine, it will not cause a shutdown but may momentarily decrease thrust or cause instability in the compressor. For larger birds, with proper and prompt handling, it’s usually possible to safely shut off the engine without causing secondary damage like fire, then rely on the other engine for landing.

But the problem was that the passenger plane was now faced with a dense flock of birds that was doggedly and fearlessly charging at the aircraft like a suicide squad.

It was as if the plane was either their glorious and coveted destination, which they rushed towards with fervor, or perhaps it was the sworn enemy of all birds, which they would rather clash with and perish together than avoid.

The passengers inside the cabin screamed in horror. They had just been frightened by the fire caused by the engine collision, and immediately after, several huge birds slammed into the cockpit windscreen, causing it to finally break. The pressure inside the cabin changed dramatically, which triggered the cockpit door’s electromagnetic lock to automatically unlock and then open to balance the pressure.

The sudden opening of the cabin door instantly led to a chaotic situation inside. Fortunately, as soon as the problem had occurred, whether it was the crew or the passengers, they had already fastened their seatbelts and were prepared for it. Except for some bird guts, debris, and blood from the cockpit that caused a round of screams, there wasn’t any major incident.

Yang Zhen’er was sitting in a window seat, in a direct line of sight to the flaming engine, witnessing bird after bird colliding into it and turning into blood mist. This sight terrified her to such an extent that she was crying and screaming, and grabbing Tang Baona’s hand, “We’re doomed! What are we going to do, Nana? We’re finished, Brother Xiang! I don’t want to die! I’m still a virgin, too, damn it! Old Xia, save us! There are still so many games and animations I haven’t watched! I’ve even downloaded two new series that I haven’t had the chance to binge yet! If I knew this would happen I wouldn’t have taken this plane! When I sneezed this morning I just knew something was wrong! This was a sign from the heavens! Nana, I don’t want to die! Brother Xiang, if you have any superpowers, now would be the time to use them! Mommmmm…”

But at that moment, the cabin depressurized, and everyone roared in panic, so her cries were drowned out in the chaos. Even Tang Baona, who was sitting next to her, could not understand what she was saying.

Of course, Xiang Kun heard her clear as a bell, but he had neither the time nor the mood to tease Yang Lao San at the moment. He swiftly pulled down the oxygen masks for Yang Zhen’er and Tang Baona, then closed his eyes and entered the “Super Sensory State”.

Xiang Kun knew very well that this bird attack was no accident, but a deliberate assault orchestrated by someone behind the scenes. That puppet-master was none other than the “mutated big bird” that he had encountered twice — most recently just moments ago when Xia, Old Three, and Alice managed to drive it away together!

He was also confident that the “mutated big bird” instigated this attack on the passenger plane specifically for him!

…

Tang Baona felt the plane tilt, then plunge downward.

For a moment, she and all the other passengers resigned themselves to their impending deaths, believing there was no hope for survival.

Uncontrollably, tear began to flow from Tang Baona’s eyes. Her right hand was clasped with Yang Zhen’er’s, her left reaching out to find Xiang Kun’s hand.

But the moment her fingertips touched Xiang Kun’s broad, sturdy palm, a wave of coolness spread from the point of contact throughout her body, surprisingly easing her fear and tension. She instinctively turned to look at Kun, only to find him with his eyes shut, as though fast asleep.

If anyone else saw this, they might think that despite his imposing looks, this bald guy was a just scaredy-cat who couldn’t confront the crisis at hand. But Tang Baona knew better: Xiang Kun wasn’t closing his eyes out of fear. He wore an expression of calm that didn’t suggest evasion or denial, more like someone taking a power nap.

Tang Baona oddly felt reassured. The chaotic noise around her seemed to recede into the distance, as if she were detached from the plummeting aircraft.

The next moment, the aircraft abruptly stopped in its descent, the nose lifting before it once again took to the sky, flying steady as before.

The cockpit door closed, and the cabin quickly regained some semblance of calm.

Tang Baona realized that everyone in the cabin was staring at the starboard window. A child yelled something; she turned around and saw, through the window next to Yang Zhen’er, a little girl in a white princess dress perched on the wing of the airplane!

The little girl appeared to be around five or six years old, with delicate and adorable facial features. She was frowning, staring intently ahead, clutching a small knife, as if guarding the wing of the aircraft. Her small black shoes seemed glued to the wing.

As Tang Baona and the rest of the passengers were wondering how this little girl could have appeared and how she was able to stand still on a fast-flying airplane, she suddenly leaped towards the front part of the engine’s turbine stream tube, colliding with an incoming bird and preventing it from entering the engine.

The passengers gasped in awe. Yang Zhen’er, who was sitting next to the window, let out a high-pitched scream, attempting to jump up but was restrained by her seatbelt.

However, soon, the passengers discovered that the girl in the white dress reappeared on the left wing, gripping the small knife, defending the wing and engine just as before.

The engine on the right which was on fire had already stopped, and there was a bird stuck in the left engine causing it to malfunction slightly. If the left engine were to be severely damaged or even set on fire, then this plane would truly be doomed.

“Mommy! Is that Super Girl coming to save us?” A little boy who had been crying until his face was smeared with tears and mucus loudly asked his mother.

At this point, the vast majority of passengers shared the little boy’s mindset.

Under extreme despair and predicament, any glimmer of hope or miracle can become a lifeline that people desperately cling to.

Moreover, the pretty little girl who had suddenly appeared outside the airplane was indeed protecting it. The plane, which had just been uncontrollably plummeting, was now maintaining a relatively stable state of flight.

However, as soon as Tang Baona saw the little girl, the phrase “Little Elf” sprung into her mind.

Before this, she had never seen what “Little Elf” looked like, but in her imagination, “Little Elf” was indeed a little girl. She even conjured up an image of “Little Elf” based on Little Fatty Girl.

She knew that “Little Elf” had been following by her side, protecting her.

She had assumed that even “Little Elf” wouldn’t be able to do anything about this air disaster that they were facing today, but now it seemed that “Little Elf” hadn’t given up on her, and was still trying to protect her!

Excited, Tang Baona tugged at Xiang Kun’s hand and asked, “Xiang Kun! Xiang Kun! Do you see that? That’s ‘Little Elf’!” Her voice came out muffled within her oxygen mask.

However, when she looked back, she found that Xiang Kun’s eyes were still closed, showing no reaction, as if he was really asleep.

Tang Baona felt something was off, she turned to Yang Zhen’er. Just moments ago, Yang Zhen’er, like herself and everyone else on the plane, had clearly seen “Little Elf.” Why was Yang Zhen’er showing no reaction now? This wasn’t a characteristic of Yang Lao San.

As Tang Baona looked at Yang Zhen’er’s face, she found Yang Zhen’er’s gleaming eyes were fixated on “Little Elf” through the left window. Despite the tear tracks around her eyes from her recent crying, her eyes now held no traces of panic or fear, not even much surprise or tension.

Her expression, her gaze, were just like when she had heard some juicy gossip, or bought a rare collectible or peripheral in the past.

Yang Lao San also recognizes “Little Elf”! – Tang Baona immediately made a judgement.

…

The little girl outside the plane was, of course, Alice who had co-manifested.

On this plane right now, besides the “super-connected objects” on Xiang Kun himself, Tang baona, and Yang Zhen’er, there were numerous “super-connected objects” in their three suitcases. In the passenger cabin, in the passengers’ carry-on luggage, there were also many “super-connected objects”. Even the plane itself has many parts that are “super-connected objects”.

Previously, Alice had already used Nana’s several world-renowned viral songs to massively distribute “emotion infused objects” to Boeing and Airbus’ various parts suppliers. Assisted by Alice’s aggressive active propagation, they created many temporary “emotion infused objects”, making the automatic establishment of “super-connected objects” environment en masse a reality.

After getting a hold of the methodology to link those parts, for Alice, using spread-out “super-connected objects” and “emotion infused objects” in various airports to associate parts present in assembled airplanes, has become fairly straightforward.

So, even though this plane had been in service for many years, many parts on it had already turned into Xiang Kun’s “super-connected objects”.

In other words, this plane, even without the pile of “super-connected objects” Xiang Kun brought along, in itself, was an airborne “super-connected object matrix” that could support Alice’s co-manifestation and abilities.

The only regret is that there wasn’t a wide-range deployment of “super-connected objects” in the sky, otherwise, that “mutated big bird” would not have had the opportunity to make this sneak attack.

Alice was guarding the remaining engine while keeping a close watch on the distance. She had already locked in the position of the “mutated big bird”.

The mutated big bird was clearly aware that the plane’s flight had returned to stability, saw Alice standing on the wing of the plane, and noticed it didn’t have any other bird flock to drive against the airplane – units of the bird flock had to be positioned in advance, under its “navigation”, they would fly toward the flight direction of the plane. In order to avoid being discovered by other humans in advance, it manipulated the bird flock to arrive at the predetermined area in batches. Only when the target plane was about to arrive, did it gather and ascend.

It had originally thought that the few hundred birds it had gathered making a suicidal collision would be enough to bring the plane down, but however it did not anticipate that the plane could still fly so smoothly.

Where was it going to find so many birds again? Even if it managed to drive them over, they wouldn’t be able to reach the right position to launch a “head-on collision”. Not every bird has the flying speed and altitude that it possesses.

The mutated big bird was actually quite wary of Alice. After all, back in Chongyun Village, it had been blasted by Alice’s pork knuckle throwing weapon, leaving several holes in its body. So it didn’t get too close to the plane.

However, what it hadn’t expected was for the little girl on the wing to suddenly disappear when it was still about twenty or thirty meters away from the plane. The next thing it knew, its head was filled with a “ya-hei!” and the little girl in the white skirt wielding a scalpel appeared dropping from the sky, landing on it.

Of course, the mutated big bird had no idea that within the range of influence of the plane’s “super-connected object matrix”, Alice could co-manifest.

With one hand she grabbed onto the feathers of the mutated big bird, while with the other she held a scalpel and kept stabbing it.

The mutated big bird writhed and struggled, but Alice still stuck firmly onto it. Whenever she was thrown off, she would disappear and then co-manifest again; she always managed to catch it.

But after the mutated big bird flew in the opposite direction of the plane for a few seconds, Alice and her vicious scalpel disappeared – it had successfully moved out of the plane’s “super-connected object matrix” impact range.

Although Alice only managed to grasp onto it for a mere few seconds, the mutated big bird ended up being stabbed over thirty times. Even though Alice and her vicious scalpel had vanished, the wounds were very much real and persisted.

Thanks to the mutated big bird’s high resilience, even after being stabbed several times in the head and neck, it was still desperately flying. If it stopped and took a break for a while, these wounds would’ve healed in about twenty minutes. But it didn’t dare stop, all it could do was to fly off in a skewed direction, trying to escape with its wounds.

…

In fact, if it were an ordinary passenger airplane, suffered such a large-scale and concentrated suicidal attacks directed by the mutated big bird, and suffered such serious damage, it would have been doomed.

Even without Alice’s presence and protection, the impact that the plane suffered would have been even more devastating, causing the left engine to also be destroyed and completely shut down.

In a cockpit that was in disarray, with various electronic equipment malfunctioning, pilots all injured, two engines stopped, and the body and wings severely damaged, there was no possibility of a successful emergency landing.

However, now, the one “driving” this Boeing 737-800 was not the pilot, but Xiang Kun.