Chapter 18: The 1997 Air Crash of X Giant Baby

  Each picture I drew actually hides a huge clue inside.

  After everything was ready, we set out on our journey to leave Longcheng and head to Shandong. Before departing, I said to Zou Guan: "Once we're gone, you'll have the trouble of taking care of Wuyi Society."

  "Go ahead and rest assured, I'm used to being lonely by myself." Zou Guanjia bent his waist, trimming the flowers and grass at the door, with his curved back facing me.

  "This is, this is my first time going so far away."

  Zou Guanjia still didn't turn around, he held the delicate silver scissors and cut off some extra leaves that had grown on the side. He said: "Hmm, everything needs to be done carefully. But people must learn to be independent, they must learn to grow up."

  I carried a heavy load on my back, walked to his back, patted him on the shoulder and said: "Hmmm, I've been living independently for so many years, my survival skills are super strong, you don't have to worry about me anymore."

  After finishing, we left the Wu Xie Society. On our way to the airport, I felt a bit sentimental because when I said goodbye to Wu Xie Society and Zou Guan Jia, I actually felt a hint of reluctance to part with them. Had I taken Wu Xie Society as my own home and haven? Or had I regarded Zou Guan Jia as my own kin whom I relied on for survival?

  Arrived at the airport, went through registration procedures, boarded the plane and waited for takeoff. Kui Ruo Lan's seat was by the window, she and I swapped seats. Chen Qiu Yang teased her, saying: "Kui Ruo Lan, I've noticed that your face has been a bit off since boarding. You're not afraid of heights, are you?"

  Hu Ruolan's face was extremely ugly, with a murderous look, and she didn't care about Chen Qiuyang.

  The plane started taxiing on the runway, accelerating, and at the moment of takeoff, Rouran suddenly grabbed my left hand with great force, causing a sharp pain.

  It wasn't until the plane had leveled off that Kui Rulan finally calmed down.

  Chen Qiuyang, who was sitting next to me, got up and went to the bathroom. I said: "If I had known you were afraid of heights, we would have chosen to take the high-speed rail."

  Aiwu Lan brushed the wavy curls hanging on her forehead back, took a deep breath and said: "Actually, I don't have acrophobia, but rather...I have psychological trauma related to airplanes."

  I gazed at her and said, "I know, isn't it related to the 1997 plane crash? The last time you and Chen Qiuyang discussed the black box audio of the plane crash, I sensed something. I remember that terrible plane crash actually had a little girl who survived, she was the only survivor."

  When I finished saying this, for the first time, I saw a look of abnormal horror in Kui Ruo Lan's eyes, filled with despair and darkness. She lowered her head, covering her face, and said: "Yes, I admit it, I am the only survivor of that plane crash. But no one knows that I am the only survivor. My identity information at that time has been erased. That nightmare, I don't want to mention it again. Zhu Thirteen, let's make a deal, okay?

  I was seeing Kyoko for the first time, usually rough and big-mouthed, looking at me so seriously and sincerely. I said: "I know, from this moment on, I can't ask you what happened in that plane crash anymore, right?"

  Ailian smiled beautifully and said, "Thank you."

  Chen Qiuyang returned and said, "Boss, I saw you and Aoi Roran chatting very intimately. Should I go to another seat? I'm very considerate, I don't want to be a third wheel."

  Kui Ruo Lan slapped a palm on Chen Qiuyang's plump buttocks, holding back her laughter and saying: "Great, best if you roll out of the plane right now."

  I saw that Huierlan had finally returned to her usual self, so I also felt at ease and closed my eyes to rest. I don't know how long I slept, but the plane suddenly shook violently, jolting me awake. I looked around and was shocked to discover that all the passengers in the cabin had disappeared, leaving only row after row of empty seats, like a series of tombstones lined up.

  "Where's Rouran? Where's Qiuyang? Where have you all gone?" I shouted loudly, sprinting down the corridor, but I didn't meet a single person. Everyone seemed to have vanished into thin air.

  I suddenly felt that something was swaying outside the window, because the glass window turned black and bright in turns. I came to the window and looked out through the small glass window. Under the plane was a thick layer of cloud like a blanket, but it wasn't snow-white, it was as if dyed with ink, pitch-black. Looking at this static black cloud layer like a mountain range, a strange fear rose in my heart.

  A flash of lightning kept appearing in this dark cloud. The layer of clouds that was watching the thunder from high altitude was so terrifying and frightening, I was just thinking of leaving the window when I suddenly saw a strange picture:

  In the midst of that vast, endless expanse of dark clouds, there seemed to be a gigantic pink baby's head. The baby's head occupied the entire sky, as its face was hidden behind the clouds, with only half of it visible through the gap between two black clouds. The pink baby's face was turned sideways towards me, with one shiny black pupil sparkling like a black pearl, and bright red lips that looked like those of a New Year's doll. If I had seen a normal-sized baby like this on the ground, it would have been an extremely cute kid. But in the high sky, a gigantic pink baby covering the entire sky, blinking with a shiny black eye, was too frightening!

  Suddenly, the plane started shaking violently again. I suddenly opened my eyes and found Qiuerlan staring at me anxiously.

  It's just a dream, all of this was just a nightmare!

  "Are you okay? You didn't just have a nightmare, did you? You just let out a scream. It scared me."

  I found that my back was wet and sticky, and I had broken out in a cold sweat.

  I took the tissue handed over by Rouran and said, "Yes, I had a somewhat strange nightmare. Fortunately, the turbulence of the plane woke me up. If not, I don't know what kind of ghost I would have dreamed about."

  Kui Ruo Lan picked up a cup of boiling water and took a sip, asking with interest: "What kind of terrible nightmare was it that scared you so much?"

  I casually said, "Nothing much, just that I had a dream where I was curious to take a look outside the window at the beautiful high-altitude scenery, and unexpectedly saw a huge pink baby in a bunch of dark clouds."

  Just as I finished speaking, the cup that Rouran was holding slipped from her hand and fell onto her body.

  Her eyes once again exuded that desperate dark fear, boundless and endless like the dark cloud I saw in my dream. Her voice was a little trembling, she muttered: "Thirteen, you're saying, you saw a pink baby's face in the clouds?"

  I nodded and said, "To be precise, it was me in my dream who saw that."

  Ailian stopped talking, lowered her head and didn't respond to me anymore. Her shoulders hunched up, allowing her head to sink in. I knew this was a gesture of fear wanting to escape.

  I really want to keep asking, but I know this matter is related to the plane crash that happened to Ruo Lan in 1997, and I have already made an agreement with her not to mention it again.

  In the end, in 1997, what happened to the plane that Kui Rulan was on before it crashed, and what exactly happened inside the cabin, only Kui Rulan, the sole survivor, knows. I believe that when she is willing to mention it, she will naturally tell me.

  The plane landed at Yiwu Airport in Jinan, departing from Liaocheng and heading west. We took a tricycle with a canopy to a place called Liu Long Village because there was only one narrow mountain road leading directly to Liu Long Village.

  We sat at the back of the tricycle, and this road was so bumpy that it almost made me vomit my heart, liver, spleen, and stomach. Chen Qiuyang said: "This rugged mountain road is too difficult to walk, I don't understand why Du Jie, a billionaire, doesn't donate some money to build a road? Moreover, he has so much money, but he still abandons his own father in the old house? This is really the cold-bloodedness of the rich."

  "I said, 'This is what Du Jie's father insisted on doing when he returned to his hometown. Many elderly people of the older generation are like this, and as they grow old, they like to return to their roots, and no matter how big or luxurious the city is, it can't compare to the place where they grew up.'"