Capítulo 173: Fox Spirit
As long as there is enough power, even a brick can fly. But if it loses power, even an airplane will fall from the sky.
The civilian airliner in the sky lost most of its power and began to stall, struggling to maintain altitude. The plane wobbled and showed signs of veering off course. Despite the pilot's best efforts, the plane continued to plummet rapidly.
The wings on either side of the aircraft were engulfed in flames, diving toward the ground like a fiery bird. There was still some aviation fuel left in the aircraft's fuel tanks, and an impact on the ground would certainly cause an explosion and fire, resulting in massive casualties in the residential area.
At this moment, a shadow flashed by, but the people on the ground, who were in a state of panic, did not notice that a girl had disappeared.
"Control tower, the plane is out of control."
"Stabilize the aircraft and try to fly toward an uninhabited area."
"Yes, sir."
After a brief silence, a deep voice sounded over the communication.
"Old friend, good luck."
"Thank you."
"Really, is there nothing more we can do?" The copilot, a middle-aged man, turned his head and said in a hoarse voice.
"It's been quite some time with you," the captain, with graying hair, smiled bitterly. "You should know the situation by now."
The copilot fell silent, taking a slightly yellowed photo from his pocket, showing a beautiful little girl. He gently stroked the photo in his hand.
"I might not be able to celebrate your birthday with you."
For a moment, the cockpit was immersed in a sad atmosphere. They knew there was no way to save this plane. All four engines were damaged, and the landing gear was broken, making an emergency landing impossible.
The city was all around them, and while landing on the highway might offer a glimmer of hope, to avoid harming innocent people, they chose a small hill in the distance. It was sparsely populated, but hitting it would mean certain death.
"Old Joe, why don't you call your granddaughter?" the middle-aged copilot suddenly suggested. "This might be your last chance."
"Old Joe…"
After a while without a response, the middle-aged copilot felt strange and looked up, seeing the captain, called Old Joe, staring blankly ahead, eyes wide in disbelief.
Following the captain's gaze, the copilot was stunned by the sight.
Ahead of their plane, there was a human figure floating thousands of meters in the air.
Indeed, a person was floating in the sky at an altitude of several thousand meters.
She had silver-white hair, wore a fox mask, obscuring her face, and had a perfect, exquisite figure, dressed in a black and red gothic dress, her skirt fluttering in the wind.
The person seemed to notice someone had spotted her and waved to greet the two in the plane.
"Am I seeing things?" Captain Joe wiped his eyes, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed hard.
"It doesn't seem like it."
Suddenly, the person in the fox mask vanished before them, disappearing without a trace as if she had never been there.
The captain and copilot exchanged glances, seeing the fear in each other's eyes.
Could this be the guide to lead them to the afterlife?
Suddenly, the aircraft shook violently, catching the captain and copilot off guard. Their bodies lurched forward, and if not for their seatbelts, they might have been thrown out.
In the passenger cabin of the airliner, screams erupted. To prevent panic, the crew hadn't told them the truth, but most passengers knew something was wrong. The burning wings outside the window indicated a severe incident, and the unsteady aircraft confirmed their fears.
Now, with the violent shaking of the aircraft, they believed the end was near, their screams and cries forming a continuous cacophony. Some had already written farewell letters, closing their eyes to await death. Fear permeated the cabin.
Even the flight attendants had lost hope. In this line of work, they understood flight accidents better than ordinary passengers. With such a severe accident, survival seemed nearly impossible.
Time seemed to pass in an instant, like a fleeting moment yet also feeling like an eternity.
The cabin was filled with low sobs, hearts pounding wildly, as if about to leap out of their chests, waiting quietly for death. Yet, after a long time, the expected crash didn't occur, and the shaking subsided, replaced by an oppressive silence.
Passengers exchanged glances, unsure of what had happened. Some wondered if they had reached the afterlife.
After a while, a brave passenger unbuckled his seatbelt and walked to the window, pulling back the curtain. His eyes widened, and he stood there, stunned. When others asked what he saw, he didn't respond, as if frozen. More passengers unbuckled and approached, only to be equally dumbfounded.
What they saw outside the aircraft's window was no longer thousands of meters in the air but the ground—indeed, it was the ground. More precisely, it was grass, with flowers and trees, gardens, and even mountain streams and scenic pavilions nearby.
The cabin erupted with excitement. Passengers screamed, waved their arms, and vented their fear and joy of survival, with some even sobbing uncontrollably. Even the crew couldn't contain their emotions, jumping and shouting with joy.
They had prepared for certain death, knowing they couldn't escape. Yet, against all odds, they survived. This feeling of escaping death was exhilarating, like waking from a dream.
"This looks like the Summer Palace."
Suddenly, a passenger exclaimed in disbelief, silencing the cabin. The passengers, slowly awakening from their joy and sadness, began to notice many inexplicable things.
"What on earth is going on?"
It was known that emergency landings wouldn't occur in a park, where there are many fake mountains, streams, flowers, and trees, leaving no flat ground. Landing here would most likely result in a crash. Moreover, they felt no impact, which was incredible.
"By the way, I think I captured something on camera, though I'm not sure if it was just my imagination." A female passenger stood up, hurriedly took out her mobile phone, and showed it to the crowd.
Earlier, when they were in the air and thought they were doomed, she disregarded the rule against using phones on planes, taking out her phone to send a final message to her family. However, the plane's violent shaking accidentally triggered the camera, capturing an image.
The photo showed a blurry figure, indistinct but visibly small. She wore a white fox mask with red patterns and a Gothic-style short dress, her white hair flying in the air.
The crowd fell silent, exchanging glances, a strange atmosphere filling the cabin.
"Could this really be the legendary fox spirit?" an elderly woman, seemingly in her seventies or eighties, murmured to herself.
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