LCFM Chapter 49

“Before I die, I still have one last wish.” Jiang Xinghuai said weakly, lying on the seat.

Fu Yan stood calmly to the side, watching Zheng Yi and Kang Cheng, whom he had just called in. The words he was about to announce were stuck in his throat by Jiang Xinghuai’s sudden declaration.

“Say it,” Kang Cheng said, eyes red and lips trembling.

Zheng Yi’s face was pale and heavy as well. Although this young man’s temper was stingy, reckless, and impulsive, at the moment he had rushed forward without hesitation to save that little girl, he had already become a hero.

Though this little hero wasn’t very mature, he was still admirable.

“My last wish is…” Jiang Xinghuai’s eyes moved slightly. “I… I want to play a game.”

“Alright! I’ll play with you!” Kang Cheng immediately nodded.

“But I don’t have a console,” Jiang Xinghuai said weakly, his voice as faint as a thread of air.

“I’ll find one!” Kang Cheng, with the skill that once earned him the title of top reconnaissance soldier in his recon unit, instantly located Fu Yan’s hidden handheld game console in the second seat of the third row.

Zheng Yi wasn’t that easy to fool. He cast a suspicious glance at Jiang Xinghuai, then at Fu Yan.

Jiang Xinghuai suddenly covered his mouth and coughed a few times, looking as if he were in great pain.

Zheng Yi hurriedly said, “I can play with you, too. I’ve never played a game before, but I learn things quickly.”

“That still won’t be enough to beat me,” Jiang Xinghuai said just as quickly.

Zheng Yi: “…………”

Fu Yan: “……”

“That’s enough.” Fu Yan looked at the three of them who had already started playing, rubbed the space between his brows helplessly, and said, “There’s something I need to tell you.”

One minute later.

“What!” Zheng Yi shot up from his seat.

“Antibodies!” Kang Cheng turned around in shock. His hand slipped from the controls, and the in-game character froze in place. Jiang Xinghuai seized the chance and unleashed a full combo, instantly finishing him off.

Oh yeah!

He won!

“You said his wound has started healing!” Zheng Yi asked again, staring intently at the wound on Jiang Xinghuai’s wrist, his expression serious and tense.

“He has antibodies, too!” Kang Cheng shouted again.

“I’m guessing the nosebleeds and sudden fevers he had before were his body’s antibodies fighting against the virus,” Fu Yan said.

“What does that mean?” Jiang Xinghuai was stunned when he heard that.

What did his nosebleeds have to do with any of this?

“It means you’ve already been infected,” Fu Yan said.

“It was that mutant from the first time I met you all,” Kang Cheng recalled the day he and Fu Yan had saved Jiang Xinghuai.

He had pointed a gun at Jiang Xinghuai, who was bleeding from an injured ankle, doubting whether he’d been infected.

“Most likely,” Fu Yan nodded.

Jiang Xinghuai suddenly reached back and touched the barely visible bite mark scar behind his neck. Thinking back, it felt like that was where everything had started—

That woman in the bar who had suddenly gone mad.

“Actually, it might’ve been even—ah!”

The plane suddenly jolted violently. Kang Cheng and Fu Yan, who were standing, quickly grabbed the seats to steady themselves.

Jiang Xinghuai caught Zheng Yi, who had fallen to the floor, and held him in place. He looked up and asked, “What’s going on? Turbulence?”

“Sit tight.” Fu Yan made his way to him through the shaking and fastened his seatbelt.

“You sit down.” Jiang Xinghuai grabbed his hand, not waiting for him to pull away. Just then, several men’s screams came from the front cabin, followed by the sounds of a crowd growing restless.

The noise was too chaotic, but Jiang Xinghuai vaguely caught a few indistinct words. Something about the outside, and a thing.

Instinctively, he turned his head to look out the window.

“Captain!” Lei Pengtao burst in at that moment.

“What happened!” Kang Cheng grabbed the back of a seat for support.

“There’s something outside the plane!” Lei Pengtao’s words made everyone’s backs go cold in an instant.

“Where!” Jiang Xinghuai shouted, pressing close to the window.

Everyone turned to look outside. Several monsters were clinging to the underside of the wings, their arms stretched out rigidly. The wind speed was too strong. One of them lost its grip and was instantly sucked into the spinning turbine.

Bang! A burst of blood mist exploded. Within the sparking engine, the creature was shredded into pulp in an instant, disappearing completely.

The plane jolted and tilted sharply downward.

The remaining monsters, caught in the turbulence, were sucked into the wildly spinning engine one after another.

In the next second, the sparking turbine exploded with a thunderous roar, flames bursting in all directions.

The plane lost power on one side and immediately lurched violently to the other.

Disaster struck in an instant.

Screams filled the air. The cabin plunged into chaos.

Everyone knew. If the plane went down, not a single person here would survive.

“Lei Pengtao! Keep the passengers calm!” Kang Cheng struggled to his feet amid the violent shaking, grabbed the radio, and shouted, “Da Bin! Report the plane’s status!”

“The left turbine has completely failed. With only the right turbine, the plane can’t maintain stable flight. Estimated loss of control in ten minutes.”
There was a brief pause from the other end of the radio before the voice continued, “I suggest… we make an emergency landing now.”

Kang Cheng froze for a moment.

There was no control tower, no runway. No one could guarantee a safe landing.

“Everyone, return to your seats! Fasten your seatbelts! Do not panic! We will protect everyone’s safety!” Lei Pengtao’s voice came from the front cabin.

“I agree to the landing,” Kang Cheng said, then quickly organized the soldiers to help everyone fasten their seatbelts.

The five soldiers then spread out, each taking a seat and securing their own belts as the plane prepared for descent.

Jiang Xinghuai turned his head slightly to look out the window. He knew the plane was descending rapidly and unstably. But for some reason, he didn’t feel the slightest bit of panic or fear.

Maybe it was because an hour ago, he had already thought he was going to die. But somehow, he had survived. Or maybe… it was simply because Fu Yan was holding his hand.

Jiang Xinghuai’s hand was tightly clasped in Fu Yan’s.

“You can hold my hand,” Kang Cheng said to Zheng Yi.

“Thanks, but I’m good,” Zheng Yi replied with a half-hearted smile.

The next instant, the plane hit the ground.

Jiang Xinghuai’s whole body was thrown upward by the violent impact, only to be yanked back down hard by his seatbelt. The next second, he was flung to the left, then pulled back, slammed to the right, then pulled back again.

Over and over again.

Jiang Xinghuai’s waist hurt so badly it felt like it was going to snap, until his head slammed against the seat in front of him.

Before he lost consciousness, he tried to look at Fu Yan. But his vision had already gone completely dark.

A few seconds, or maybe a few minutes, passed.

Jiang Xinghuai could feel that the plane, furious and violent just moments ago, had finally settled down. But his ears were ringing terribly. He didn’t know how much time had passed before he faintly heard someone calling his name.

“Jiang Xinghuai! Jiang Xinghuai!”

It was Fu Yan’s voice.

He struggled to open his eyelids.

He saw Fu Yan, with blood trickling down his forehead.

He reached out to touch him.

Fu Yan lowered his head and kissed his cheek, then unbuckled his seatbelt. “It’s okay now.”

Jiang Xinghuai’s head throbbed as if it would split apart. His stomach churned. He pressed his abdomen and vomited until there was nothing left.

“Stay seated, don’t move.” Fu Yan handed him a bottle of water, then walked toward another unconscious person.

Jiang Xinghuai took a sip of water, then slowly got up to look around.

The plane had been badly deformed by the crash, but the build quality seemed decent. At least the fuselage hadn’t ruptured.

Most people had been knocked unconscious. Fu Yan and Zheng Yi quickly moved through the cabin, giving brief examinations to everyone who had fainted or been injured.

“Give him some water,” Fu Yan said to Jiang Xinghuai, who was following beside him to help, before heading off to treat another person’s wounds.

Jiang Xinghuai crouched down and held the bottle to a little boy’s lips.

“Is he your dad?” the boy asked Jiang Xinghuai.

“What?” Jiang Xinghuai glanced toward Fu Yan, who was ahead of him.

“Your dad’s a doctor. He’s really amazing,” the little boy praised.

“Of course,” Jiang Xinghuai said smugly, then got carried away. “Hey, no, what do you mean really amazing? My dad’s super amazing! My dad can even shine shoes better than—hey! Mm—”

Fu Yan turned around and clamped a hand over his mouth.

No one on the plane was in critical condition. The most serious injury was a fractured finger.

When Kang Cheng heard this, the weight in his chest finally dropped. Then, with a heavy kick, he forced open the plane’s warped door.

He raised his gun and scanned the surroundings quickly. The area was wide open, scattered with low, dilapidated buildings. It looked like an abandoned factory.

Kang Cheng exhaled in relief. A place like this probably wouldn’t have large clusters of infected.

But before he could even finish that breath, a twisted head appeared in his line of sight not far away.

A face covered in black lines, a body smeared with blood.

He raised his gun and pulled the trigger—

The second one…

The third…

The eleventh…

From all directions, infected figures staggered toward them, surrounding them completely.

“It’s over…”

Kang Cheng heard someone behind him whisper those words.

All the soldiers raised their guns, forming a shield at the front.

Most of the people here couldn’t move anymore. Breaking through was nearly impossible.

All they could do was hold their ground.

Just then—

Thud-thud-thud-thud—

The rapid chopping sound of helicopter blades suddenly roared above them.

Everyone looked up.

A small helicopter was hovering right above them.

Before Kang Cheng could react further—

“People below! Find cover! I’m about to open fire!” a voice shouted through a loudspeaker from the helicopter.

“Get down!” Kang Cheng reacted instantly, turning around and pushing down the stunned crowd behind him.

A low boom sounded, and then explosions erupted wildly all around them.

A few seconds later, when Jiang Xinghuai stood up, he covered his ringing ears once again.

There was nothing left around them except scorched black earth.

The helicopter circled above, then slowly began to descend.

Jiang Xinghuai stared at the helicopter with blue letters painted on its side and suddenly felt a sense of familiarity.

“This helicopter… looks kind of familiar,” he whispered to Fu Yan. “I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before.”

Fu Yan looked at the helicopter, raising his eyebrows slightly—a rare expression for him.

The strangely familiar helicopter slowly landed in front of Jiang Xinghuai.

“Wait! This is… this is your helicopter!” Jiang Xinghuai suddenly realized.

The helicopter marked with the blue letters FLYY was the very same one they had seen before in the courtyard of Fu Yan’s villa!

A round head poked out from the cabin door.

Jiang Xinghuai shouted in delight, “Godfather!”

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