Chapter 363 - Chapter 363: Chapter 363 Screaming Flight (1/2)

Chapter 363: Chapter 363 “Screaming Flight

The handsome man who had failed in his advances, although intentionally trying to distance himself from Xia Libing, still involuntarily kept an eye on her state.

When boarding the plane, he noticed that this tall beauty, as she walked, had the subtle sound of metal striking and rubbing against each other, as if she were wearing a suit of armor.

This puzzled him even more and even left him a bit on edge.

Unfortunately, after boarding the plane, he found his seat was right next to the tall beauty.

In the past, with his character, being able to sit next to such a beautiful woman during the journey was a joyous occasion. He believed that, at the very least, he’d have gotten her phone number or WeChat by the time they landed.

However, now, he couldn’t seem to muster any joy at all.

The beautiful woman was in the window seat, he was in the middle, and he even felt like asking the guy beside the aisle if they could switch seats—from the way the other guy was occasionally sneaking glances at the ponytailed beauty, that proposal would certainly be accepted.

But the more he thought about it, the more reluctant he felt. The more he thought the more he felt like he’d been scared by a meaningless glare, and this was indeed quite embarrassing.

If word got out, he’d be a laughingstock.

Absolutely absurd.

Besides, whether it was during boarding or now, the young girl seemed perfectly fine, and she looked just like a delicate and harmless girl.

Although this girl was very tall, even in sneakers, she looked like she was 175 or 176 cm tall. But he himself was also tall and had no reason to be afraid of her!

There were also people next to him on the plane, what was there to be afraid of?

After psyching himself up for a while, he finally gathered his courage, turned his head to the tall, ponytailed beauty beside him and asked, “Um… Excuse me for intruding, but what are these patterns you’re drawing in this notebook?” This time he didn’t use any “abstract expressionism” terms. He had essentially discarded the words he’d used when making small talk in the waiting area and didn’t care about saving face anymore.

As Xia Libing had just boarded the plane and wasn’t yet engaging in “conscious world,” she turned her head to look at the man next to her upon hearing his question. Seeing his nervousness, she casually replied, “I don’t know.”

This was the truth. Regarding Xiang Kun’s black circle graffiti, she only knew that they were partial expressions of the cognitive insights of “Co-manifestation Napoleon Cake” during a “Super Sensory State”, but how to interpret them, she hadn’t quite figured out yet. However, her main reason for answering this way was that she didn’t want to chat too much.

The man who was making small talk wasn’t really interested in getting an answer. From his question and her reply, he thought that the beauty, apart from looking somewhat indifferent, was pretty normal. Just as he suspected earlier, she must have been an artist, hence her unique personality.

This realization helped him relax a bit. It seemed like he had scared himself in the waiting area earlier. His previous stuttering due to fear was truly embarrassing.

Regretting it increasingly, he then forced another topic to prove this point, and asked Xia Libing, “Um…sorry, I have another question, I’m really curious, when you boarded the plane just now, I heard a lot of metallic sounds from your body, can I ask what that was?”

Xia Libing looked at him again and said, “Don’t be afraid, it’s just coins.”

The man seemed to suddenly understand and had the urge to smack himself on the head. That sound was indeed like the clashing of many coins. This was a sound which should have been easy to recognize; why hadn’t he thought of it earlier? What on earth was he speculating about?

But then he instantly remembered the first part of what Xia Libing said, and felt compelled to explain, “You’ve misunderstood, I wasn’t afraid, haha, what’s there to be afraid of? Since you boarded the plane, you obviously passed security. You wouldn’t be carrying any weapons, right, haha…” After laughing twice, he felt like he was explaining himself a little too much and so stopped awkwardly.

The young man sitting to his right, who had sneaked glances at Xia Libing when boarding the plane, seized the opportunity to say, “It’s rare to see someone carrying coins these days, isn’t it?”

Xia Libing’s reply was still brief:”Personal habit.”

And then the conversation ended once again.

The young man smiled awkwardly and gave the handsome man on his side a discreet thumbs-up.

The man obviously knew what the guy meant-and admired his ability to come up with such an excuse to initiate a conversation.

However, his current mood was completely different from when he initially made his advance in the waiting hall; he simply wanted to prove that his previous perception was an illusion.

Looking at the level of my recent attempt at striking up a conversation, it can only be rated below par, cringingly so.

He didn’t continue to talk to Xia Libing, because she had again opened that tiny black leather notebook, reverting to her spaced-out state from before in the waiting hall, showing a clear “Strangers not allowed, don’t disturb me” attitude.

And he didn’t feel the usual desire to chat up a beautiful woman; his mind was inexplicably full of the phrase, “Don’t be afraid”.

Why did she say don’t be afraid? Where am I afraid? Did I show fear? How did she know I was afraid?

After the plane took off, he took out his iPad, put on his headphones, started watching a movie, trying to distract himself, but whenever he saw the ponytailed beauty through the corner of his eyes, those listless, unfocused, emotionless, soulless eyes would pop up in his mind, keeping him from fully immersing himself in the movie.

Images from the movie playing on the iPad flash by, but he didn’t even pay attention to what the story was about. This eerie feeling was making him uncomfortable.

He thought about going to the restroom to wash his face, to clear his mind, but as he lifted his head, he froze.

Everyone on the plane was gone?!

No, not everyone. Apart from him, there was another person still there – the tall ponytailed beauty sitting by the window on his left. She still had the same distant, dazed look. But what she was staring at was no longer the black notebook, but a piece of cake!

A chill rushed from the soles of his feet up to his scalp, followed by a numbing sensation that enveloped his entire body, causing him to break out in cold sweat.

He frantically unbuckled his seat belt, stood up and shouted, “Hello? Is anyone there? Stewardess? Damn, anyone??”

What’s going on here? Where did everyone on the plane go? How the heck did everyone disappear while I was watching a movie?

Damn it, I knew there was something off about this woman! Something really off!

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, he sneaked another look at the ponytailed beauty, only to find that she was gone too!

In her place was only a lonely piece of cake!

He backtracked several steps, stood by the aisle, his body trembling uncontrollably. He looked towards the cockpit and the thought flashed across his mind – if everyone on the plane was gone then… who was flying the plane?

The moment that thought came up, the plane began shaking violently.

Before he could rush back to his seat and buckle up, he had to grab the handrail of the seat next to him and push his body against it.

The shaking and rocking became more and more intense, he didn’t know what to do, so he just held onto the handrail tightly.

Am I going to die?

The first things that popped into his mind were his ex-wife, his son, and his deceased parents.

Thinking about how when his wife was pregnant and when his child was born, he was still out partying, and when his child was hospitalized with a high fever, he used the excuse of a business trip to hook up with a girl he met at a bar. Afterwards, he was caught by his brother-in-law, and finally, in despair, his ex-wife took the child and left him.

When he had just divorced, he felt relieved, as if he could finally spread his wings and pursue his desires, he indulged more extravagantly.

But at this moment, when he knew he was about to die, what he blurted out reflexively was:

“Wife, I miss you…”

The sudden explosive sound of thunder from outside the plane made him more desperate, feeling it was Heaven’s retribution.

But for some reason, the incessant thunder sounded strange. Along with intense turbulence, it seemed like someone was bellowing: