Chapter 1387
What does "another plane crash" mean?!
Cui Mingzheng was walking down the mountain path.
My mind was still filled with the image of Iida Iryu, carrying a sword and slaying monsters all over the world.
Suddenly, a noisy commotion came from my ear.
The sound was interspersed with a few exaggerated wails and unrestrained laughter, which sounded particularly jarring in the night wind.
Cui Ming frowned.
He followed the sound.
The temporary camp on the outskirts of Su Na Mountain was brightly lit, with several high-powered searchlights illuminating the open space as if it were daytime.
When he walked through the crowd and got to the front, he found that everyone was gathered in a circle.
Two people, covered in dust and dirt, stood in the circle.
Shinjo and Dagu.
The two men were covered in black ash, their flight helmets were askew on their heads, their uniforms were torn in several places, and there were several bloody scratches on their faces from tree branches.
Not far behind them, the wreckage of the Flying Swallow No. 1 was emitting wisps of smoke. Its nose was stuck in the soil, its wings were broken in two, and the tail thrusters were still making a hissing short-circuit sound, like a large, flattened metal insect.
Cui Ming walked over.
The members of the Victory Team immediately made way for him.
Hori stood to the side, holding a calculator in his hand, his fingers frantically pressing keys on it, muttering to himself, his expression as serious as if he were solving a world-class problem.
Lina squatted on a rock, her hands supporting her chin, staring blankly at the pile of wreckage, as if her soul had left her body, leaving only an empty shell swaying in the night wind.
Deputy Captain Zongfang leaned against the armored vehicle, looking up at the sky with a desperate expression that said, "I don't know these two people," while clutching a crumpled mission report in his hand.
Cui Ming glanced around, his gaze finally settling on the still-smoking pile of wreckage.
His eyelid twitched.
"what's the situation?"
His voice still carried that urgent, burning tone, but his speech was a beat slower than usual, clearly stunned by the scene before him.
Deputy Captain Zongfang took a deep breath and tried to keep his voice steady.
"Instructor, your bombing formation was very successful."
He paused, his gaze drifting to the pile of wreckage, and his lips twitched again.
"But Shinjo and Daigo crashed again."
Cui Ming's brows furrowed even more.
He turned his head and stared at the two team members who were standing there as if they were being punished, his eyes filled with disbelief.
"Another crash?"
His voice rose a few decibels, and his finger unconsciously pointed to the pile of smoking metal.
"How did you manage to crash again?"
He stepped forward, speaking rapidly, as if interrogating two soldiers who had made a mistake.
"The monster barely fought back this time, right? Sukuna-ki was blasted almost transparent; it couldn't even leave the mountain. How could it possibly fight you?!"
Shinjo and Daigo exchanged a glance, their faces displaying a complex mix of grievance, embarrassment, and bewilderment.
Xincheng lowered his head, kicked a small pebble on the ground, opened his mouth, and after a long while, managed to squeeze out a sentence.
"Instructor, this time it's really not our fault."
His voice grew softer and softer, and he almost swallowed the last few words.
"We...we were just carrying out our mission normally, and then it crashed."
Daigo nodded frantically beside him, his eyes so sincere it was as if he were making a vow.
"Really! We didn't do anything! The plane bombed itself!"
Upon hearing this, Cui Ming's expression changed from shock to suspicion.
He turned to look at the outer edge of the crowd, where a pale blue particle of light was gathering.
Kena's projection appeared.
She crossed her arms over her chest, her long, silvery-white hair swaying gently in the virtual breeze, her exquisitely beautiful face filled with disdain that said, "I knew this would happen."
She didn't even bother to glance at Shinjo and Daigo, and spoke directly to Choi Myung in a clear and venomous voice.
"Cui, you'd never guess how those two idiots fell down."
Kaina's projection leaned slightly forward, as if telling an absurd joke.
"When your bombing squadron blasted the mountain, debris flew everywhere, and a rock the size of a fist was blown into the sky by the blast wave."
She held up one finger and gestured in the air.
"Generally speaking, when these kinds of stones hit the outer shell of an aircraft, they will at most leave a dent, and they won't even scratch off much of the paint."
She paused, a mocking smile curving her lips, her gaze sweeping coldly over Shinjo and Daigo.
"but."
Kena's voice suddenly rose, carrying a sharpness that bordered on collapse.
"That rock had the worst serendipity; it hit the bomb in the aircraft's payload bay that hadn't been dropped yet!" A collective gasp rippled through the crowd.
The calculator in the well-dwelling hand fell to the ground with a clatter.
Lina covered her face and let out a long groan through her fingers.
Deputy Captain Zongfang turned around and pressed his forehead against the armored vehicle's hull, his shoulders trembling slightly.
Kaina's projection spun in the air, then spread her hands, her disdain overflowing from the screen.
"And then? Then the bomb detonated! The plane exploded into a fireball in mid-air!"
Her voice came down like a barrage of bullets.
"I watched the whole thing! That rock wasn't even aimed at the cockpit! It was aimed at the bomb! It was like it had eyes!"
After listening, Cui Ming fell silent.
He stood there, still holding the beam gun in his hand, the residual heat on the barrel completely dissipated.
His gaze slowly shifted from shock to a bewildered look bordering on awe.
He slowly turned his head to look at Shinjo and Daigo, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the two as if he were examining two artifacts beyond the scope of physics.
"you."
Cui Ming's voice was a little dry. He cleared his throat and reorganized his thoughts.
"You guys have really gotten a bit involved in the law of causality."
His tone carried an unquestionable certainty, and he tapped his finger twice in the air.
"As long as you take to the skies, you will inevitably crash. It doesn't matter if there are monsters or enemies; even if bird droppings fall from the sky, they can clog your engines."
Xincheng opened his mouth, wanting to explain something, but was interrupted by the sound of digging a well nearby.
Digging well, he picked up the calculator from the ground and pushed up his glasses with a serious expression.
"Instructor, I've done the calculations. Based on normal probability, the chances of them crashing one plane after another are even lower than winning the lottery."
His expression grew even more serious.
"But they've crashed countless times already. This isn't a matter of probability; it's a curse."
Lina jumped down from the rock, pointed at Shinjo and Daigo, and let out a grief-stricken accusation.
"I never want to write crash reports for them again! It's always the same template! They don't even change the wording! People in the command center ask me, 'Lina, are you just copying and pasting?'"
Xincheng lowered his head in grievance and kicked at the pebbles on the ground.
"We didn't want to either."
His voice was muffled, like that of a wronged child.
"I even prayed before setting off today."
"Whom do you worship?"
Deputy Captain Zongfang suddenly turned around, his eyes filled with murderous intent.
"Worship that god of plane crashes?!"
Daigo shrank back and muttered to himself.
They were worshipping the badge of the winning team.
Kaina's projection floated to Cui Ming's side, crossed her arms, and looked down at the two unlucky guys with a resolute tone.
"Cui, I hereby formally request that from now on, my system will remotely lock down any aircraft that Shinjo and Daigo are to pilot."
Her chin was slightly raised, and her eyes were full of determination.
"I'd rather assist a drone than watch these two get hit by rocks again! It would traumatize my computing core!"
Cui Ming took a deep breath, looked up at the sky, and then looked down at the still-smoking wreckage.
His expression shifted from shock to his usual calm, but a trace of doubt about the laws of the universe lingered in his eyes.
He patted Kena's projected shoulder—but missed—and then turned and walked toward the command vehicle.
"Alright, clean up the wreckage and write the report."
His voice regained its usual fiery urgency, but his steps were slower than usual, as if he were processing this absurd fact.
"In addition, provide ground combat equipment to Shinjo and Daigo."
He added without turning his head.
"From now on, these two are not allowed to go to heaven without my orders."
Behind them came the simultaneous wails of Shinjo and Daigo.
"No!!!"
The sound was both shrill and comical, echoing in the night wind of Su Na Mountain, startling a flock of birds that had just landed.
The members of the Victory Team stood there, looking at the two unlucky guys, and their faces all showed a relieved expression of "finally free".
Meanwhile, Kaina's projection in the air gave a thumbs-up before turning into particles of light and dissipating into the night, leaving only a crisp echo.
"A wise decision." (End of Chapter)