Emergency Landing
Before returning to Lanman from Frostraven, Milo visited Old Ruan, who was living in a luxury nursing home.
“Before, because of Miles, I couldn’t openly use money, but now there’s no obstacle. I’ve registered you for a lifetime membership for this hospital, and I’ve also calculated the discounts for the shops in Wudong Port. There’s no PIN on the card, so keep it handy for emergencies. If you encounter any more difficulties, just contact Gary, and he’ll help you solve them.” As he spoke, Milo looked up at the window. “It’s a pity there’s hardly any sun here all year round, but at least it’s absolutely safe.”
Old Ruan sighed: "I heard that Miles lost a lot of money, to the point of ruining his company. Didn't you indirectly offend Xigong by kicking out Glenn this time? I was thinking... now that you can go back to your old life, could you... just stop here?"
Milo smiled gently, but there was no smile in his eyes: "Old Ruan, you know these words mean nothing to me."
Old Ruan lowered his eyes and said no more. Having entangled themselves to this extent, no matter which side the scale tipped in, it was destined that these two would not have a good ending. Without personally shattering it, one cannot feel the pain of being severed. Without pain, there is no possibility of healing. Sometimes, he truly couldn't understand whether it was Miles who was unwilling to let Milo go, or Milo himself who was unwilling to let go of himself.
"Old Ruan, before I leave, I want to ask you something. I hope you can tell me the truth."
"Go ahead and ask."
“I know that you, Chatchai, and Miles’s driver are all Suma Natawa’s men. Why have you never told me this?”
Old Ruan's eyelids twitched, and a look of evasion flashed in his eyes.
"Thinking back now, I realize that your willingness to help me back then wasn't just for money," Milo said calmly. "Even if you don't tell me, I have my own ways of finding out. If you can tell me the truth yourself, maybe it will save me some trouble."
The Milo before him seemed unchanged, yet everything about him appeared different. Old Ruan was surprised to find himself sensing a subtle, almost imperceptible, pressure emanating from Milo. He could tell that Milo would take this matter very seriously.
"Six years ago, on the day of your coming-of-age ceremony, Mr. Green actually assigned me a task beforehand. I was responsible for taking you to Frostraven, and the trust fund was originally intended to give you a way out. No one expected that you would take Blaise to the hospital the night before last. I didn't see you the next day, and Mr. and Mrs. Green were forced to board the plane again. I only had time to silence all the survivors from that day."
As he spoke, a hint of self-reproach flashed in Old Ruan's eyes: "Later, I searched for you for two years, but I couldn't find any news about you. I thought you had died in that fire. It wasn't until you came to me four years ago that I learned you had been rescued by Miles and were living a different life."
"What about Suma? I saw her pharmaceutical factory in Gangu with my own eyes. Are those things related to the land and factory owned by Lianhua Machinery? I checked, and she also got her doctorate from the Frestraven Medical School, and she had the same advisor as my father. Is there really such a coincidence in the world? Old Ruan, six years ago, were my parents really just driven to their deaths by Bobby Thornton and Tate Dale because they were trapped in the Shengyuansu cooperation?"
“Suma…we brothers were indeed saved thanks to her arrangements. She’s an extraordinary woman, with remarkable vision and ability at such a young age. I remember when Mr. Green and his group were discussing cooperation with Sigon, she let us choose whether or not to go out. I chose the Green family, Harold chose the Dale family, and Chatchai volunteered to stay. Looking back now, she was trying to give us a way out. It was also then that I learned she and Mr. Green had studied together.”
Old Ruan looked at Milo earnestly and said, "My mission is to protect you for Mr. and Mrs. Green and ensure you live a good life in your later years. As for the rest, I really don't know, and those things are not something someone of my status could know."
The elderly man, leaning against the hospital bed, had graying hair and a deep weariness on his face.
"I understand." Milo suppressed the urge to question him, stood up and said, "Take care."
Old Ruan frowned, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping himself.
Milo walked to the door, then turned back: "I promise you, if I'm lucky, I will come back to see you."
*
"You not only seized their power, but you also kidnapped them. How could you do this with such poor manners?" Nonai's laughter was particularly clear amidst the deep roar of the engine.
The cabin was filled with the soft hum of the climate control system. Milo leaned back in his large leather seat, his gaze passing over the small round table in the center of the cabin, which was set with crystal glassware, and landing on Aoi Tai opposite him: "You can ask him if I forced him."
Kui Tai sat by the window, facing the three people in front of him, and said, "Glen has fallen, what am I still doing staying in Frostraven? I might as well go with you to Lanman to find a new way to make money."
“You put it quite bluntly,” Nona said, raising his champagne glass with a half-smile. “But if I were you, I wouldn’t leave. It would be a good opportunity to take credit for this in front of Oscar Baker, or I could turn around and go and join Arian Thornton.”
Aoi smiled, then looked at Milo, her gaze moving calmly, as if she were truly waiting for his answer.
"Sister, do you think I can afford to mess with these two people? I still really want to live."
Nonai smiled when she heard "sister": "Poor thing, are you really that naive? You can't afford to offend those two families, but you can afford to offend this one in front of you?"
Nonai's words were somewhat teasing, but Aoi didn't laugh. He glanced at the other person who remained silent throughout the entire room.
Outside the window, the sea of clouds rolled in. Blaise lowered his head slightly, his gaze fixed on the tiny, rising bubbles in the almost untouched glass of champagne on the low table in front of him.
Aoi reached for the glass of champagne, but just as her fingertips touched the stem, a sharp, piercing cracking sound rang out without warning, and sharp shards of champagne, along with splashing liquid, exploded violently in all directions.
The alarms then sounded one after another.
"Damn it! Something's up!" Nonai reacted quickly, and Blaise in the cabin immediately moved upon hearing the commotion, swiftly pulling a machine gun from a compartment in the aircraft's storage compartment.
The two worked together seamlessly, moving quickly forward. Nonai stepped forward and opened the cockpit door. Sure enough, the captain was unconscious, and the plane was tilting violently out of control. She pushed him aside, took the pilot's seat, and quickly took control of the aircraft.
On the cockpit LCD screen, four sets of spiraling red dots are swooping down from above the clouds.
Nonai turned on the radio and shouted sharply, "Four L-39s have arrived!"
Upon hearing this, Blaise immediately used parachute lines to secure the unconscious captain to his seat, rolled over the debris scattered on the floor, and looked out the window.
Two silver-gray wings swept past the porthole, the electronic warfare pods mounted on the fuselage reflecting a faint light.
The sound of metal tearing came from the cockpit. Nonai's curly hair was whipped up by the airflow. She gripped the throttle valve with one hand and pushed it all the way down, while slapping the emergency release button with the other. She said decisively, "I'll make the emergency landing. You take them to the tail section and parachute out! Quickly!"
The parachute bounced off the ceiling, and Blaise pulled open the emergency exit door. At 30,000 feet, the air currents whipped up rainwater, flooding the cabin and instantly filling his shirt.
Aoi grabbed the hatch handle and shouted, "There are only three parachutes!"
Nonai's roar exploded through the walkie-talkie: "You have thirty seconds left!"
Outside the porthole, two enemy planes were performing scissor maneuvers, their machine guns weaving a net of fire through the clouds. The special plane nimbly tilted, barely dodging the attack, but black smoke was already billowing from its wings.
Blaise strode forward and tossed one of the parachutes to Nonay in the cockpit. Looking at the two remaining parachutes on the ground, the three people in the cabin formed a triangular standoff.
Aoi twitched his toes slightly, his gaze fixed on Blaise's feet, judging his movements.
Unexpectedly, Blaise grabbed a parachute and threw it at him, then picked up the remaining one and quickly pulled out the parachute lines to tie a knot.
Aoi narrowed his eyes slightly, only then realizing that Blaze was planning to temporarily modify the paracord to make a two-person parasol, which he would share with Milo.
Blaze placed Milo's hand on his waist, almost pulling Milo into his arms, and turned to Aoi, holding up three fingers.
Aoi understood and followed his instructions.
The third enemy plane emerged from the cumulonimbus clouds, sparks flying from its nose, and the cabin floor began to bulge abnormally.
"Three, two, one, jump!" Aoi gritted his teeth, grabbed his parachute, and leaped into the clouds.
In the overwhelming feeling of weightlessness, Milo clung tightly to Blaise, feeling as if his flesh was being torn apart, while the rainforest below was closing in at an alarming rate. The turn of events was so sudden that he didn't even have time to react. He could only grip Blaise's waist so tightly that he felt like he was melting into his body, listening to the other's strong heartbeat, barely managing to keep himself from losing his mind under the threat of death.
Above them, Nonai's special plane suddenly pulled up at a high angle, its belly brushing against the enemy plane's missiles as it hurtled straight into the thunderstorm clouds.
A series of explosions came from deep within the clouds. Not long after, burning wing debris streaked across the sky like a meteor shower, and the silhouette of another parachute drifted and gradually became a tiny dot.
*
The immense impact made his internal organs feel like they were about to shatter.
After an unknown amount of time, Milo finally regained a vague sense of consciousness. His vision was completely wet, and he couldn't open his eyes. He tried to move, but found his hands and feet were bound. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe calmly, finally realizing that his eyes were filled with thick, sticky blood.
The pounding of his heart rang in his ears, and a warm embrace enveloped him tightly. Milo finally opened his eyes and found himself completely locked in Blaise's arms, unable to break free no matter how hard he tried.
His breathing quickened, and Milo looked up to see Blaze staring at him with his eyes open. Blaze's lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to speak, but no sound came out, and there was a hint of helplessness in his eyes.
Milo noticed the bruises all over his face, his hearing aid was smashed, and a chunk of flesh and skin had been sliced off his forehead. Milo instantly understood that the blood in his eyes was from Blaise. Because they were hugging so tightly, it had flowed into his eye sockets.
The rainforest was filled with the sour smell of decaying leaves. Not far away, Aoi Tai dragged himself over with difficulty, his body clearly bearing many injuries.
"Damn it." Aoi squatted down in front of the two, helped Milo pry Blaze's arm off, and grabbed the rescue kit next to him.
I flipped through it and found it full of useful emergency supplies; it seems Blaze has gained experience.
Seeing Milo staring blankly at him, Aoi pulled a medical bandage out of his bag, tossed it to Milo, and said, "Don't let him die. This is Aplin. We still need him to get out of here."
Blaze propped himself up and sat up, and Milo noticed that his left arm was also dislocated.
Milo began to bandage Blaise's wound, keeping his head down the entire time. Complex emotions weighed on him, and he almost struggled to control his trembling as he treated the wound.
Two fresh shell casings on the humus layer were tinged with verdigris in the morning light. Aoi picked them up and ran his fingertips over the dents in the casings: "Russian AK series. Looks like there are other people in this rainforest."
As she spoke, Kui Tai glanced at Milo and said bluntly, "You don't need to feel guilty. To be honest, we're all in this mess because of him. He killed Meng Sha, and they've wanted him dead for a long time. Didn't you see? Behind Aplin is Mount Chila. Meng Sha has a brother named Meng Tuo, who's a notorious psychopath. I reckon it won't be long before they bring people into the rainforest to search for people. If they catch us, we'll all be dead with him."
Before Milo could reply, a faint mechanical roar suddenly echoed in the sky. The sound of silencers whistling past their ears, the bark of the trees above them burst open with the size of bowls, making a rustling sound, and the sound of footsteps breaking branches and leaves grew louder as they approached.
"So annoying!" Aoi pulled the two of them into the natural shelter formed by the aerial roots of the banyan tree. Bullets from deep in the jungle made a series of muffled thuds as they struck the buttress roots.
Aoi knelt on one knee in the pile of decaying leaves, rummaging through the bag, cutting off the drooping vines with his dagger, and deftly setting up tripwires.
Milo silently watched Aoi's movements and quietly hid a folding knife.
"I reckon we can hold out for a while," Aoi thought to himself, looking down.
I don't know how long I walked, but I could hear the sound of tripwires coming from behind me every now and then.
It wasn't until dusk that they finally found a tree hollow to use as temporary shelter.
There were several bags of compressed biscuits in the package, and Aoi Tai ate them without any hesitation, not understanding Milo's plan to save food: "We might be killed in the next second, wouldn't it be worse to starve to death?"
Blaze, who had been leading the way all day, was now leaning against the tree hollow. Milo wanted to give him something to eat, but he saw that Blaze had his eyes closed and seemed to have fallen asleep.
Aoi looked at Milo and asked, "Without a hearing aid, can't he hear us now?"
Milo nodded, then glanced at Blaise, leaned forward and touched his cheek. Sensing something was wrong, he touched his forehead again.
"He has a high fever. Are there any antibiotic injections in there?"
Hearing Milo's words, Aoi Tai, who was eating a cookie, was taken aback.
Milo immediately went forward to rummage through the luggage.
"Hey! Listen!" Aoi grabbed Milo's arm, his big brown eyes darting around quickly. "If he really has a fever, we're just a burden with him. Besides, those drug dealers aren't after us. I have an idea. I'll throw him out tonight, and they won't chase us once they find him."
Seeing that Milo didn't speak, Aoi squatted down, thought about it seriously, and said, "That's right, there's always a risk in him being alive. It wouldn't be good if he caught up with us and took revenge. In that case, I can just strangle him. If you're scared, cover your eyes. I'll be quick."
Milo stared at Aoi in shock. Aoi still wore that pure and innocent expression, making no attempt to disguise himself, yet his words carried a naive cruelty.
Seeing that Milo didn't move, Aoi pursed his lips slightly, somewhat displeased: "You want to save him? Hasn't he been relentlessly pursuing you? Now that you finally have a chance, aren't you going to kill him?"
"Aoi, who exactly are you?" Milo's expression turned slightly cold. "Would a corporate spy know how to parachute from a high altitude? Could he identify the target by looking at the bullet casing? More importantly, would someone like that know how to set tripwires and detonates mines by hand in a primeval rainforest?"
Aoi pursed his lips, as if he was thinking about the answer.
Before Aoi could react, Milo stepped forward and rummaged through his bag.
Aoi Tai grabbed Milo's hand and stopped him from moving.
"Let go!" Milo retorted. In the struggle, he tore open the only antibiotic syringe he had and forcefully injected it into Blaise's arm.
Aoi pushed Milo aside, picked up the empty syringe, and said angrily, "It's no use giving him that injection! He'll get infected without medicine and will still die. Don't even think about saving him!"
These words were utterly shameless and more like childish behavior. Milo was enraged: "Even if I wanted to save him, what business is it of yours?"
"Because you can't care about him!" Aoi raised his voice, "If you care about him, you're betraying Yuuma!"
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