The Midnight OwlCh21 - Jiang 32

We're recruiting a translator for this novel.
Join us!

Time until explosion: 2:19:43.

Wu Sheng had originally just hoped to find a young man that fit Zhao 1’s criteria to resolve the issue in first class; at least even if the relationship didn’t work out, Zhao 1 would have someone to talk to and distract herself instead of being harassed by her scummy ex, which had the potential of leading her to another mental breakdown and the rest of them to their deaths. KzIRm2

He didn’t expect to actually get something useful from Xu 20. But all the other man could give him were the suspects as pointed out by the flight attendant; he hadn’t actually had time himself to interact with any of them.

As they left first class, the flight attendants were in the process of calming down the business class passengers who’d run into economy, trying to convince them to return to their own cabin. Their terror hadn’t yet dissipated, but the emotions circling the group held a hint of celebration of having survived, especially since the lion was truly gone.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

As the business class cabin regained a sense of propriety, Wu Sheng lugged Xu Wang to the passageway between business and economy. “Jiang 32, Feng 61, An 79, which ones have you talked to?” he inquired.

Economy class started from row 23; Xu Wang recalled clearly that he’d chatted up to Hua 55, so the answer was obvious: “Jiang 32, I talked to him.” gEbQiD

“Anything particular about him?”

Xu Wang tried to think back on his memory of the person, but he couldn’t come up with a face to match the name, let alone what they discussed. There was no other option; he walked into economy, counted down the seats from a distance, and landed on the man’s backside, which at last seemed to trigger an impression in his mind.

He was an average middle-aged man, clad in a grey shirt and dark-coloured trousers. He was just on the edge of rotund and wasn’t much of a talker; there was nothing particular noticeable about his features. In short, he was beyond average. If you tossed him into a crowd of average human beings, you wouldn’t pick him out no matter where he stood.

“He mentioned a daughter who married far away that just gave birth to a child,” Xu Wang commented, picking his memories for anything that seemed important, “He’s traveling to visit his daughter and grandson.”

uf3EDL

Even his reason for traveling was simple and normal, nothing that would instigate a dramatic “storyline.”

“Do you think there’s anything to suspect about him?” Wu Sheng asked, staring at the man in question’s back. Or more accurately, just the back of his head, which was the only visible thing above the seat back.

Xu Wang shook his head. If he’d suspected anything, he would’ve continued the conversation, he wouldn’t have continued past him.

“What about Xu 20, do you think he’s suspicious?” Wu Sheng suddenly asked. S0iGk4

The question came unexpectedly, prompting Xu Wang to glance in the direction of first class. He turned back to Wu Sheng. “You suspect him?”

“Half and half,” Wu Sheng analysed. “Anything can happen on this plane. He might be the ‘hint,’ but he might also be sending us towards a red herring and is the actual culprit himself.”

After a moment of silence, Xu Wang shook his head. “I don’t think he’s the one.”

“How so?” Wu Sheng found Xu Wang’s sudden confidence questionable. w7cmrL

Xu Wang tilted his head and asked, “With your personality, would you first place a bomb and then go out to misdirect your opponents?”

“Of course not,” Wu Sheng refuted without hesitation, “with only two hours left, it’s enough to just hide myself quietly among the passengers. Jumping out voluntarily to draw the attention of people looking you is stupid no matter what kind of persona you pretend to be.”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

“Szjmais,” rjlv We Qjcu, qjaalcu Qe Vtfcu’r rtlga mbiijg, “Qtfc sbe ajixfv ab We 20, vlvc’a sbe offi atja tf rffwfv frqfmljiis ojwliljg?”

Qe Vtfcu ujnf j nftfwfca cbv bo tlr tfjv, yea atfc rabqqfv, revvfcis bc uejgv. QeWxOh

“Ktja rweu, rijqqjyif qfgrbcjilas bo tlr lr qgjmalmjiis j mjgybc mbqs bo sbegr.” We Qjcu ujhfv lcab atf vfqatr bo tlr biv mijrrwjaf’r fsfr. “Vb P mbcmievfv atja obg rbwfbcf klat atf rjwf lcafiifma jr sbe, fnfc lo tf kfgf atf meiqgla, tf kbeivc’a vgjk jaafcalbc ab tlwrfio.”

“…” Wu Sheng didn’t know what to say to that. Either you insult someone or your compliment them, but how is a person supposed to respond to something that’s both a compliment and an insult?

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Back in economy class, everything had resumed order again. The flight attendants were at the back of the plane busying themselves with the food and drink trolleys, probably in order to serve some refreshments to calm everyone down.

With the lion gone, the pile of Chinese characters were gone as well; all that was left was the prisoners in the purple circle, who glowered at Xu Wang as soon as they saw him approach. ETzHq4

“Are you even human?!” the handsome one shouted down the aisle, “The lion was coming straight towards us, couldn’t you have gotten rid of the purple circle?! It was only because we got lucky, otherwise we would be dead, for fuck’s sake—”

“Enough, enough.” The skinny one prodded him, seeming to find his public tirade humiliating. “If we die we go back to reality, it’s not as if we’d really die.”

“But we’d be injured!” his teammate exclaimed angrily.

Skinny didn’t respond. CdSR3J

The calm, fresh-looking one shot a look towards Xu Wang and Wu Sheng, then snorted. “Don’t be stupid, this is a battlefield and we’re prisoners. It’s benevolent enough of them to show us a bit of mercy, but you’re expecting them to let us go just so you feel comfy?”

“Quit fighting already, it’s not like fighting lets us submit the task,” the tall one cut in, not wanting anyone to witness the civil unrest within their own team.

By this point, Xu Wang had arrived in front of them and figured out what the problem was. “I didn’t leave the circle there on purpose when the lion came…” He scratched his head somewhat apologetically. “We can undo the item’s effects?” he asked in a serious tone.

The other team: “…”
It was a miracle they hadn’t died by accident yet. UN12Hm

In the following five minutes, Qian Ai shared his experience “undoing the items’ effects”—it was how he’d gotten rid of all the characters piled at the back of the plane. All it took was focusing on what you wanted to get done while repeating the item’s name in your mind; at the same time, Xu Wang and Wu Sheng shared what they’d learned from Xu 20 with Qian Ai and Kuang Jinxin.

“Xiao Kuang, you keep watch over these four, but make sure you don’t leak the suspects’ names,” Xu Wang ordered.

In truth, the secrecy was arbitrary and just to set themselves at ease. Everyone was in the same cabin and there was only so much space for secrecy. The other team would be able to see exactly which passengers they were going after; at most, they wouldn’t hear what was being said—At first, they considered taking the suspects into Kuang Jinxin’s “rabbit holes” to interrogate, but after experimenting with a flight attendant, they found that the latter couldn’t even go inside the “hole.” No matter how hard they pulled, it was as if there was a solid net preventing outsiders from entering.

Kuang Jinxin wasn’t much of an over-thinker; having received his orders, he gave a firm nod and promised, “I’ll get the job done!” bNLlF3

Xu Wang smiled, then looked at Wu Sheng and Qian Ai.

His teammates read his mind: “Let’s go.”

The first stop was Jiang 32.

Even though Xu Wang didn’t think there was anything suspicious about the guy, it was better to be safe and converse with him a second time. pfXFRb

However, something unexpected happened. When the three of them approached, Jiang 32 suddenly stood up and, without sparing a glance at them, moved to the side. “Pardon me, going to the restroom.”

Qian Ai moved out of the way instinctively, but Wu Sheng grabbed Jiang 32’s shoulders. “What did you just put in your pocket?” he asked loudly.

Read more BL at chrysanthemumgarden (dot) com

Jiang 32 turned around slowly. There was something sinister in the eyes of this man who’d left a completely harmless impression in Xu Wang’s mind.

Wu Sheng didn’t waste any more time—he reached out with his other hand and searched the man’s pockets himself. Right then, Jiang 32’s fist came flying at him! He sidestepped reflexively, giving Jiang 32 an opening to wrench free of his grasp and run off towards the back of the plane. yxwg19

Wu Sheng bolted off after him, and half a second later, Xu Wang and Qian Ai went to catch up.

Inside the purple circle, the prisoners were just getting over their lion scare, and now they saw some man charging directly towards them like another lion.

All four of them were done: “Is there no end to this?!”

But despite their complaining, the second Jiang 32 came upon them, they fell like dead weeds again, splayed in all four directions. TqdkO4

Jiang 32 didn’t crash into them the way the lion did however. Instead, he braked right before them, then darted into the toilet stall they were next to and closed the door with a slam.

Except no, there was no expected door slam; just the muffled sound as the door made contact with a human wrist—Wu Sheng had caught up.

Enraged, Jiang 32 pushed the door against Wu Sheng, but half of Wu Sheng’s shoulder was already through the door and he wasn’t budging. This was followed by the added force of Xu Wang and Qian Ai, who positioned themselves against the door as well.

Jiang 32 didn’t have enough strength to put off all three of them and went flying. But the toilet stall was tiny, so really, he only staggered back a few steps until his back slammed against the wall. vJpezu

Wu Sheng squeezed into the stall first and stuck his hand straight into the man’s pocket. Soon enough, he dug out three small bags of white powder and a piece of tinfoil.

Finally acknowledging his own defeat, Jiang 32 stopped struggling and simply dropped his head dejectedly.

This time, it was Wu Sheng, Xu Wang, and Qian Ai’s turn to be shocked.

Since primary school, they’d been exposed to anti-drug awareness campaigns, but even those who’d never gone through the education would know what was in those bags just by having watched a few crime shows. Drug possession was illegal, whether on a plane or not, and being caught with an amount above a certain threshold led to the death penalty. It was no wonder Jiang 32 was fleeing towards the toilet—no one would know a thing if he flushed it away hundreds and thousands of kilometres in the sky. 03dCzc

But this had nothing to do with the bomb password they were looking for.

“Oi,” Xu Wang gave the guy a frustrated kick, and asked just to confirm, “when the flight was still boarding, what were you doing loitering around the middle of the cabin?”

Jiang 32 lifted his head miserably, completely defeated. Still, he answered: “I boarded too late and the overhead bins were all full, so I searched my way to that area and found a space there.”

The three teammates mimicked each other’s disappointed faces. Jiang 32 had no reason to lie. All it took was going to check for his suitcase to know that he was telling the truth. uN7deh

Sighing, they shut the toilet door from the outside, forgetting the man inside. When they turned around, they were met with three pairs of smirking faces; only the tall man had the decency to not react.

Qian Ai grit his teeth at the handsome one, who looked the most gleeful. “Believe me, I could put a 井 (well) around your neck.”

Read more BL at chrysanthemumgarden (dot) com

The man let out a ‘tch’ sound and turned away.

All of a sudden, Xu Wang was struck by a passing thought. “If both teams in a stage fail to submit the task, what happens then?” he asked the one with the long legs. abdsMr

Long Legs shrugged. “Then everyone goes back to the beginning.”

As expected.
He’d been hoping that if it were a tie, no one would be bumped back, but Owl clearly didn’t have any intentions of being benevolent.

“Now what?” Qian Ai asked. “Do we go look for the next one?” He tactfully left out the other two suspects’ names since they were with the other team, but if the other two ran all over the place like Jiang 32 did, the secret wouldn’t last long anyways.

“Let’s first check for Jiang 32’s bag,” Wu Sheng said after considering their options. “Since we’ve already reached this point, we might as well check to see if his bag is really near the wings. If so, then we can settle down and move to the next one.” zi82w

Xu Wang was in agreement. Wu Sheng clearly had issues communicating with people, but his logic and analytical skills got full marks.

The three of them dragged Jiang 32 to the middle of the cabin, opened the overhead cabin, and told him to search himself. He cooperated like a suspect being forced back to the crime scene for a reenactment and picked out his bag.

It was exactly where he said it would be, but just to be safe, Xu Wang dug through his bag. As he was pulling a piece of clothing out, a small booklet fell and landed on the ground with a light thud.

Wu Sheng picked it up and brought it before Xu Wang and Qian Ai. uFt2AD

It was a minimalistic, self-printed pamphlet of sorts; thin, with the words “Spiritual Zen Society” printed on it and an image that looked like some kind of talisman.

Qian Ai stared at the symbol for a while, feeling unsettled.

Wu Sheng flipped it open. The first page consisted of a picture of an immortal with long, streaming hair sitting in a lotus seat, eyes shut in meditation. Printed in small words at the bottom were the words—The Master of Spiritual Zen’s powers are boundless.

Before Xu Wang and his companions could say anything, Jiang 32 asked, “What the hell is that?” 63ywAV

Leave a Comment

1 comment

  1. 😂😭😂😭😂 every single chapter is wild, I love this story so much!!

    Thank you for the chapter!!