Chapter 1520
Perilous Situation
Chapter 1520 Perilous Situation
Adrian had known since childhood that old Finch had a special spaceship.
It sits in the warehouse, never driven, yet remains spotless.
Much later, he learned the origin of the spaceship, why old Finch had abandoned it, and finally understood his own identity, as well as the cowardice and hypocrisy beneath old Finch's philandering facade.
His feelings for old Finch were complicated.
They both wanted him to live and hoped he would die.
Ultimately, he couldn't bring himself to kill him, so he came up with this plan.
As long as old Finch doesn't leave Anemocracy, nothing will happen.
If he leaves... it will just be a sad accident.
But Adrian knew old Finch too well.
He couldn't live without Anemone. The life of high status had long since corrupted his very being; addicted to wine and women, he simply couldn't live without the Finch family.
If he could, he would have left long ago when he was young.
There was no need to wait until now.
The prize, meticulously maintained but hidden away in the warehouse, was like the moral code he kept hidden in his heart—forever hidden from the light of day.
He won't leave.
He was always just a cowardly coward, possessing only what he thought was kindness, unwilling to compromise his principles, yet unable to leave this quagmire.
He's a complete idiot!
Adrian was certain that old Finch would never start that spaceship before he died. But he never expected that Finch would actually give that treasured spaceship to the Burning Beast!
"Once it leaves the atmosphere, the restraint device will activate, and the self-destruct mechanism will begin its countdown..."
Impelli punched Adrian in the face, knocking him to the ground, his eyes filled with contempt.
You're disgusting!
Looking at the point of light that had completely escaped the atmosphere, Impellio dialed Lin Fan's number.
Antonio's roar came first.
"You damned bastard! You dared to trick us!!"
Impelli rested a hand on his forehead, closing his eyes in deep thought: "It wasn't me, it was Adrian. He installed a self-destruct mechanism on the ship; once it reaches a fixed position..."
"I saw it," Lin Fan interrupted coldly.
On the escape information screen, huge warning signs were flashing wildly, and anyone who wasn't illiterate knew what was happening.
"..." Impelio reopened his eyes and looked at Adrian, who was struggling to get up. "He wanted to kill old Finch, but he didn't expect you to get on the ship..."
"I guessed it." Lin Fan's hands moved non-stop. "Anton, tear this place down."
With a hissing sound, like metal being torn apart, followed by a muffled thud.
"..." Impelio frowned as he listened to the commotion on the other end. "What are you doing?"
"Dismantle the ship!" Antonio roared furiously. "Are we just going to wait to die?!"
"Tell them to come back first!" Adrian, ignoring the blood on his face, rushed to Impelli and said urgently, "Distance is the limiting factor; shortening the distance will stop the countdown."
“Adrian said…” Impellio had just started to speak when Lin Fan interrupted him.
"heard it."
"I'm sorry." Impelio knew that things must be in chaos over there, and Lin Fan's ability to remain calm was already an extreme act of restraint.
"No need." Lin Fan took the repair tools handed to him by Lan Bingru and, following Noah's instructions, searched for the critical limit device among the dazzling parts and circuits.
"Stop talking nonsense!" Antonio yelled at her wrist as he lay on the ground. "I'm busy! Hanging up if there's nothing else!"
"No, come back!" Adrian cried out anxiously.
Unfortunately, nobody paid any attention to him.
"Here, hold this for me," came Lin Fan's voice.
"We're here!" Antonio rushed forward. "Is this the place?"
"Don't bother her," Lan Bingru's voice came through. "It's really tricky, I can't afford to get distracted. Please hang up now." Lan Bingru was already overwhelmed just looking at the dense network of lines, but Lin Fan had to check each and every one of the almost identical lines and nodes... all while under the immense pressure of the countdown.
Impelli hung up the phone and said to the anxious Adrian.
"They won't come back. If you really want what's best for them, provide some useful information, such as the installation location of the limit switch..."
"I...I'll find it right away!" Adrian's hands trembled as he opened his terminal, his mind a jumbled mess.
Recalling Lin Fan's calm voice, Impelli's restless heart gradually calmed down.
"Sir," the subordinate standing behind him whispered, "why would they rather risk dismantling it themselves than come back first to alleviate the crisis?"
"Because they know better than anyone that crises never disappear because of retreat, but only become more greedy because of fear."
Impelli looked at Adrian, who was curled up in a ball with his back to him, looking weak and helpless, and then turned to the light that was still climbing.
"Perhaps in their dictionary there is no such thing as postponement, only complete termination..."
Lin Fan was unaware of the misunderstanding his unconscious response had caused. Inside the spaceship, Antonio was still cursing and swearing angrily.
"That son of a bitch Adrian! Don't let me ever run into him again! And those thrusters are locked down too, I can't even stop them, fuck!"
"Quiet down!" Jin Sichen wanted nothing more than to reach through the screen and give Antonio a good beating. "Don't bother Lin Fan."
Even more eager to get into the screen than him were the group of mechanical engineers who had been urgently summoned to the control center, as well as the research department, flight department... anyone involved in mechanical operation was crammed here.
Everyone was searching for information and compiling solutions on their own terminals, which were then relayed to Lin Fan by Cen Fangyuan.
Limit timer, power lock...
The already difficult operation was made even more challenging by the age of the Finch ship, turning it into hellish difficulty.
Forty years ago, finding the relevant information and matching the structure of the aircraft took a considerable amount of time.
The countdown is a death knell, it never stops.
Lin Fan was completely focused on the operation in front of him and had no idea what he had said to Impelli.
Fortunately, she had a solid foundation in repair. Lanxing's cramming training finally came in handy—her experience in repairing everything allowed her to quickly calm down, analyze the situation, and follow instructions to operate the equipment efficiently and effectively when faced with unfamiliar machinery.
Unlike Antonio, who could only serve as a grumpy laborer.
Lan Bingru, needless to say, carefully handed over the tools from the side. Although she was afraid, her emotions were not as overtly expressed as Antonio's.
Therefore, everything happens for a reason.
If any one of these three people is missing, the difficulty of the task will increase exponentially.
Despite the hurried and rudimentary conditions, through their concerted efforts, they successfully located the limit timing device and removed it before the countdown reached zero.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and then burst into laughter.
“Alright,” Cen Fangyuan said with a smile, “Now let’s fix the accelerator freezing problem.”
On the large screen, the lines on the screen suddenly swayed violently.
"Bingru!" Lin Fan called out, "Anton!"
"Gotcha!" It was Antonio's voice.
Noah only saw Lin Fan reach out and grab something tightly, and the image captured by the earring camera began to shake violently.
"What happened?" Cen Fangyuan asked anxiously.
"Take her to a seat!" Lin Fan didn't reply to them, but continued talking over there, "You go over too! Someone needs to control the direction."
"Don't worry!" Antonio's voice came through. "Just be careful."
Another violent shaking occurred, and all the lines on the screen veered to one side, then suddenly flipped and flew off...
The Noah crew dared not make a sound, afraid of disturbing something, until Lin Fan let out a muffled groan.
"Are you alright?" Jin Sichen asked anxiously. "What happened?"
"It's alright for now." Lin Fan pulled himself back to his original position. "We've hit a meteorite. We need to fix the propulsion lock-up problem quickly."
"Excuse me, everyone."