At that moment in time, Chen Xiaolian himself was not aware of it.

This first phase of the quest was somewhat special. Generally speaking, punishment instance dungeons were all of the compet.i.tive type. If this was a compet.i.tive type quest, then Chen Xiaolian and Roddy would be excluded.

Unfortunately, this first phase of the quest just happened to be a non-compet.i.tive type of quest.

This situation ended up being a problem for Chen Xiaolian.

Each pa.s.senger death would cost him 100 points.

All of the hijackers had explosives on their bodies. Once those explosives were triggered, almost everyone within the airplane would have no way of surviving.

That was only natural. Whenever such an accident occurred within a flight, the rate of mortality would be very high.

…

These terrorists were very clever.

Obviously, the patient just now had been poisoned by the terrorists.

That was one of their strategies. First, instigate panic among the flight crew and utilize this unexpected incident to suss out who the air marshals were – the latter was certainly the prime objective of their actions.

After taking advantage of the incident to kill off the two air marshals, the terrorists had managed to complete their objective by half.

…

Sharp screams reverberated throughout the interior of the airplane as no small number of pa.s.sengers frantically screamed out while some others burst out in tears.

Seeing the black coloured muzzle of a gun, no one dared to put up any form of resistance.

The terrorists at the back side of the airplane walked forward with a little girl held within his arms. He pointed his gun at the surrounding pa.s.sengers and shouted loudly in English.

Not far away from Chen Xiaolian was Takas.h.i.+moto s.h.i.+zuka, whose face had become pale. A female terrorist held her by the throat and used her to block her front. This j.a.panese flight attendant was somewhat able to maintain of modic.u.m of calmness. However, her pale face and her s.h.i.+vering legs revealed the terror she felt within her heart.

As for Chen Xiaolian, a bearded fellow was standing before him, pointing the muzzle of a gun at him.

Chen Xiaolian dropped his hands down and stared intently at the terrorist.

“Back! Back!”

The terrorist continued to point his gun at Chen Xiaolian. After checking what was happening around him, Chen Xiaolian decided.

These fellows were all criminals. If he were to resist, he was confident that he could finish off the terrorist standing before him. However… there were also terrorists in the front and back of the cabin. There was no way for him to finish them off simultaneously. Once they go berserk and set off their explosives… everything would come to an end.

After having come to that conclusion, Chen Xiaolian made a decision. He took a deep breath and quickly took two steps back. At the same time, he raised both his hands and made a gesture to show that he was not a threat.

Since I have no confidence in being able to deal with all the terrorists simultaneously, then… it would be best for me to wait for an opportunity.

Chen Xiaolian slowly retreated until he was at a safe distance.

Roddy who was at the front part of the cabin had his head raised and he was staring intently at the back of Takas.h.i.+moto s.h.i.+zuka's figure.

The female terrorist turned to face Roddy. As long as Roddy got up, all he needed was one step to rush forward – Chen Xiaolian believed that Roddy would certainly be capable of finis.h.i.+ng off the female terrorist with just one move.

However, Chen Xiaolian had already used the guild channel to contact Roddy: Do not act rashly.

Roddy was originally holding onto a metal spoon. He then slowly let it go.

“Stand up!”

It would appear that the female terrorist was the leader here.

The two fellows who were in the front area of the cabin obeyed her command and they pointed their guns at the first-cla.s.s pa.s.sengers. They shouted, “Everyone stand up! Up!”

Sawakita Mitsuo slowly backed away. There was a very calm look on his face. However, there was also a peculiar look within his gaze.

Like Chen Xiaolian, Sawakita Mitsuo had also received the prompt from the system informing him about the quest. A perplexing smile appeared on his aged face before he dropped his hands and backed away until he was back by his seat.

“Great Teacher!”

The middle-aged man who had already stood up whispered.

“Wait first,” said Sawakita Mitsuo with a faint smile. Then, he turned to look at Nagase Komi.

Nagase Komi had the same cold and indifferent expression on her face. She slowly pulled out her earphones and cast an icy glare at the terrorists.

Sawakita Mitsuo gently shook his head.

Soon, all of the pa.s.sengers in the first-cla.s.s cabin had been forced to stand up. The terrorists pointed their guns at them and forced them all to move to the back of the cabin.

Everyone present was forced into the back half of the cabin.

The terrorists were cautious as they did so. They would constantly have one fellow stationed at the other end. As for the two terrorists who were by the female terrorist in the front side of the cabin, they would be careful to maintain a certain distance from the other pa.s.sengers. With the exception of the two hostages in their hands, they would never allow others to come close to them.

Soon, the front side of the cabin had been emptied.

All the pa.s.sengers there had been forced to move to the back half of the cabin.

The terrorist in the back side of the cabin occupied the last two rows. He created a certain distance between himself and the pa.s.sengers and pulled the little girl, forcing her to sit beside him. At the same time, he also took off his jacket to reveal the hidden explosives around his body.

“How did these fellows even manage to get these things past the security? Are the security personnel blind or something?” Chen Xiaolian swore inwardly.

However, he knew that matter was not something that could be blamed on the security personnel – this was a quest arranged by the system.

Simply put, this was a setting.

Moreover, after observing them carefully, Chen Xiaolian realized that the explosives on the terrorists' bodies had a plastic texture.

There were like Lego toys that appeared to have been a.s.sembled together.

Even the guns in their hands were similar. It was as though their exterior was made of plastic and they were smaller than the average firearms.

“Special firearms.” Roddy communicated with him using the guild channel. “Looks like they used plastic materials to get past the security… however, these type of firearms are generally small-calibre and can dish out less in terms of firepower. Also, it cannot be fired consecutively. Maybe that is where we can find an opportunity to act.”

“First, we need to figure out the detonation method of those explosives,” Chen Xiaolian replied with a frown. “Wait first.”

Then, the pa.s.sengers that were seated in front arrived at the backside of the cabin and Chen Xiaolian deliberately moved close to Roddy.

As it so happened, Nagase Komi and Sawakita Mitsuo, seemingly on purpose, moved very close to Chen Xiaolian and Roddy.

The five of them deliberately sat together in the same row.

Chen Xiaolian winked at Nagase Komi. She reacted with a frown before finally revealing a wry smile.

“Cooperation?” Chen Xiaolian mouthed out the word without making a single sound.

Nagase Komi hesitated for a moment and glanced at Sawakita Mitsuo who was seated beside her. The old man gave a meaningful glance at Chen Xiaolian before responding with a faint smile.

One minute later, the terrorists finished setting up their positions. Two of them took to the backside of the cabin, another two took to the front end of the cabin and one stood in the middle of the corridor, carefully checking the pa.s.sengers.

“Don't talk! And don't whisper! You are not allowed to make a single noise! That is, if you do not want to die.”

After those words of warning were repeated three times, the cabin turned quiet.

Of the two terrorists staying in the front side of the cabin, one of them was the female terrorist. She had released Takas.h.i.+moto s.h.i.+zuka and had her join the rest of the flight attendants. They were huddled together in front of the other pa.s.sengers.

“Now, I need to open the door of the c.o.c.kpit.”

The female terrorist sneered and pointed the muzzle of her gun at the chief flight attendant, forcing her to use the intercom aboard the plane to contact those who were inside the c.o.c.kpit.

The chief attendant picked up the intercom handset and said a few words. However, before she could continue, the female terrorist shoved her aside, picked up the handset and quickly spoke into it.

Two minutes later, the female terrorist furiously hung up.

Obviously, the crewmembers inside the c.o.c.kpit had refused to open up the door.

After having suffered from so many terror attacks, especially the infamous terror attack that happened in US over a decade ago, most of the airline companies in the world had strengthened their c.o.c.kpit doors as an anti-terrorist measure.

The c.o.c.kpit door was resistant to any attempts to break through and was also bulletproof. Given the lack of equipment available within the airplane, any attempt to break through the c.o.c.kpit door would prove very difficult.

“In that case, let's do this.”

The female terrorist hesitated slightly before quickly making her decision.

She walked forward and picked up the intercom handset again. She sneered and said, “Esteemed captain, I know that you can hear me. So, I'll say this. I will give you two minutes to consider… two minutes later, you must open the c.o.c.kpit door and surrender to us. Otherwise… we will begin killing the pa.s.sengers! Every 30 seconds that goes by, we will kill off one of the pa.s.sengers. We will keep doing so until you open the c.o.c.kpit door. And now, the countdown begins.”

After saying that, she walked over and grabbed the chief flight attendant. Grabbing her by the hair, the female terrorist dragged her to the front and had her kneel in the middle of the corridor while pointing a gun at the back of her head.

“We'll start with your colleague!”

The chief flight attendant had already burst into tears and snot flowed out from her nose as she kneeled on the ground, s.h.i.+vering. She helplessly mumbled, “Oh G.o.d, Oh G.o.d…”

…

“What should we do?”

Within the c.o.c.kpit, the captain who was wearing pilot uniform furiously slammed his fist down on the dashboard.

“We cannot open the door. Once we open it, we're dead men,” said the vice-captain. He was a middle-aged man with a panicked expression on his face.

There was a co-pilot within the c.o.c.kpit. He too had a nervous expression on his face and he said, “They will not be able to get in. The door is specially made.”

“I'll discuss things with them again.” The captain picked up the intercom handset and took a deep breath.

…

“These actions of yours are pointless. We have already reported this hijacking incident. According to the latest laws pa.s.sed for the US, hijacked airplanes will not be allowed to enter US airs.p.a.ce. Since 911, such an event would never be allowed to repeat itself. It won't be long before the Air Force fighters come to our location. If you are thinking of hijacking this plane to repeat 911, you can forget about it. The moment we enter an airs.p.a.ce deemed dangerous to them, the Air Force fighters will shoot us down!”

The female terrorist listened to what he said but sneered. “This is not something for you to worry about, Mr Captain. This is our problem… as for you, all you need to worry about is surrendering to us. What happens next is up to us.

“Now… let me remind you. You have already wasted a lot of time. You have another 10 seconds remaining!”

She pointed the muzzle of her gun down and the sobbing sounds of the chief flight attendant grew louder as her legs trembled in fear.

Additionally, there was a strange scent in the air.

The female terrorist lowered her head and saw that the chief flight attendant had been scared to the point of ***.

Considering the situation she was in, no one would ridicule the chief flight attendant. She knelt in the middle of the corridor with a gun pointed at her head. As for the pa.s.sengers behind her, their faces were all pale. Some of them sobbed softly, some of them were panicking and some were frantically tracing the cross and muttering the name of their Lord…

“Five, four, three…”

The female terrorist coldly counted.

“Wait!”