Chapter 204: Chapter 172: Joining and Divergence

The members of the academy, with their sharp senses, clearly saw the commotion both inside and outside the plane.

"Is this also part of your plan, Dean Wu?"

"You let them experience despair first, then you rescue them from that despair. This way, their trust in us will increase dramatically. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant, Dean Wu!"

Lin Tianhe watched the dozen or so Gray Snakes relentlessly attacking the cabin, and he couldn’t help but glance at the perfectly composed Dean Wu.

Their group had also been occasionally attacked by wild Soul Beasts, but those brainless creatures were already piled haphazardly on the muddy ground nearby.

"You’re overthinking it. If we save those people, they might not trust us. In fact, they might even blame us for not rescuing them sooner. I just wanted to use this opportunity to screen them."

Dean Wu gave a cryptic smile, stood up, and said to the teachers and students around him,

"It’s about time. Go help them."

In an instant, a dozen or so smaller Wood Demons sped toward the plane.

There was no need for Yin Yi or Egg Pancake to act. Han Ning followed behind the Wood Demons, walking up to the thick cabin door.

In just an hour, the plane’s original blue and white paint job had been stained a grayish-black by the constantly falling rain.

The dozen or so Gray Snakes climbing on the outside of the portholes were instantly swept away by the Wood Demons.

Han Ning commanded the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm to simulate two suits of Cyan Light Armor and was about to destroy the door to get inside, but Dean Wu stopped him.

"Wait!"

"Every part and component of this plane is an important treasure. It will be a great help to us when we study industrial materials in the future. It’s best not to destroy it."

Since the airstairs hadn’t been lowered, Dean Wu walked under the cabin door, took out a megaphone, and said slowly in a calm voice, "Ladies and gentlemen inside, can you let us in now?"

"Quick, flight attendant, let the Easterners outside in."

"This place is Hell! I want out!"

"No! What if the people outside deliberately let those long snakes in to force us to open the door?"

Just then, the distinguished-looking Mr. Louis shot out of the business class cabin as if he’d seen something terrifying. He and several of his attendants blocked the door.

"That’s bullshit! If they wanted to kill us, why would they go to all this trouble?"

Finally, a few passengers couldn’t stand Louis’s attitude any longer. They dragged him and his people away from the door and turned to shout at the flight attendants, who were still standing there in a daze, "Come on, open the door! You don’t want to die a horrible death in here, do you?"

The captain, who had initially planned to observe a while longer, glanced at the terrified passengers in the cabin, gritted his teeth, and gave a slight nod to the flight attendants.

Anyone without training wouldn’t know how to open the cabin door.

Two flight attendants went up together, fiddled with the door for a moment, and then gave it a hard push.

The heavy cabin door was pushed open, revealing several Xia Country faces outside.

A behemoth over thirty meters tall sat quietly behind the people from Xia Country. Bathed in the deep darkness of the night, it looked like a Demon God.

Raindrops falling from the sky evaporated within a one-meter radius of its body, burned away by an invisible current of heat.

Several vines wrapped around the bodies of the people in the lead, carrying them into the cabin.

A Crystal Shield, shimmering with a frosty white light, rose up to protect them from any sudden attacks from the people inside.

"Everyone, welcome to the Insect Continent... It seems your journey wasn’t a smooth one."

Dean Wu glanced at the crimson blood spattered around the cabin, shook his head slightly, and looked at the frightened and uncertain faces as he spoke, seemingly to himself,

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Wu Xingguo, and I am from Xia Country..."

The interior of the passenger plane was a relatively sealed environment, so the white mist ubiquitous on the Insect Continent had not yet endangered the lives of the passengers inside.

After hearing Dean Wu’s simple self-introduction, the passengers’ expressions relaxed slightly.

’Thank goodness. This elderly Eastern man isn’t actually a monster in human skin.’

"We are in a very dangerous world..."

Dean Wu then briefly explained the current situation on the Insect Continent to everyone, including the ubiquitous white mist, the dangerous Insect-men, and the most miraculous of all, the Soul Beasts.

After his introduction, about ten-odd minutes had passed.

Dean Wu paused, then stated his intentions:

"I won’t force you to stay or leave. For those who wish to join our Lin University School of Engineering, we will guarantee basic food and lodging. However, you will need to regularly complete tasks assigned by the school. You must demonstrate your value. We do not support freeloaders."

"I will give everyone twenty minutes to think it over. Those who want to leave here with us can raise their hands, and my side will take a count."

As soon as he said this, the cabin erupted in an uproar.

In the crowd, Lisa, who was clinging tightly to her father’s arm, looked at the few Xia Country faces standing at the front and whispered to her father:

"Dad, what should we do? Should we join them?"

"We lack food, water, and the means to deal with those strange Soul Beasts. It’s better to join them than to hide in the cabin and starve. Besides, they don’t seem like ferocious villains, do they?"

After the fierce struggle with the Gray Snake just now, Leon’s hands were still trembling slightly.

He had just seen with his own eyes that the Gray Snake he and a few other strong men had killed with every ounce of their strength was dispatched by the Soul Beasts at these people’s side as easily as swatting a mosquito.

"Mm-hmm!" Lisa blinked her sapphire-like eyes, quietly watching the few Easterners standing at the cabin door.

The father and daughter waited for the passengers in front of them to clear a narrow path. Leon then led his daughter to Lü Xiuning.

Lü Xiuning glanced up at the blond-haired, blue-eyed pair and asked, "Name, age, nationality, and any specialized skills?"

"Leon Julian, 43 years old, dual citizenship in Pulu Country and France. My profession is Nuclear Power Engineer."

"A Nuclear Power Engineer?"

When Lü Xiuning heard this term, he couldn’t help but look up at the middle-aged man before him.

He was a little over 185 centimeters tall, with slightly curly blond hair and a pair of unremarkable black-framed glasses on his nose. He wore a blue shirt, and his arms were thick and muscular.

"Which nuclear power plant or agency did you work for?" Lü Xiuning paused and continued writing on his paper.

"Glaflin."

"Glaflin?"

Even though Han Ning didn’t usually follow news about nuclear power, the name still sounded somewhat familiar to him.

"One of the largest nuclear power plants on Blue Star, located at France’s Gravolyn Port."

Lü Xiuning explained casually, a faint smile on his face.

"Mr. Leon, and this is your...?"

"She’s my daughter, Lisa Julian. She also has dual citizenship. She’s 18, and just this morning, I was about to take her to enroll at France Central University of Technology’s High-Level Power Academy."

Lisa had vibrant, sapphire-like eyes, snow-white skin, and an oval face. Her long, golden hair was tied back. Compared to her father, her build was relatively petite, and she had a certain Eastern quality to her features.

While the others were talking, she stood quietly to the side, not interrupting at all.

Noticing the somewhat strange looks from the people in front of him, Leon added, "She has about one-eighth Xia Country blood..."

"One-eighth... that’s basically negligible."

Han Ning wasn’t sizing Lisa up because she was pretty or had the charm of an Eastern beauty. He felt that the young woman’s eyes were especially full of Spirituality, and even her Spiritual Power fluctuations were different from an ordinary person’s.

’It’s as if... she’s exceptionally Talented?’

After Lü Xiuning finished recording the father and daughter’s information, he continued to ask:

"Let me confirm one more time, do you both wish to join our School of Engineering? After joining, you must complete a certain amount of work every day. The work will not be light. In return, the school will provide food and lodging and teach you how to raise Soul Beasts."

"We’re sure. We have no other choice," Leon said with a forced smile.

The "enrollment" registration continued.

Besides Leon and his daughter, the two pilots and about 150 other passengers from several different countries also expressed their willingness to join the school.

But not everyone wanted to join.

Seeing a dozen or so crew members joining the school together, Louis—the blond-haired, green-eyed man with his hair meticulously combed back—frowned and spoke up:

"Captain, I’d like to ask, after you join this school of these Xia Country people, who gets ownership of this plane?"

The captain replied quite politely:

"Mr. Louis, the plane belongs to us, Lufthansa Airlines. As employees of the company, the plane naturally belongs to us. As for how the plane will be managed between us and the school, that will require further discussion."

"Then where will we stay? I bought a ticket from your company, so I have the right to reside on this plane." Louis’s frown deepened.

"I’m sorry, this falls under force majeure... Perhaps Mr. Wu should explain?" The captain looked at Dean Wu.

Dean Wu explained:

"Heh... Mr. Louis, we will be moving the plane back to a safe area within our school grounds. How about this... We’re not unreasonable. Out of humanitarian concern, I will arrange a relatively safe place for those of you who don’t join us to live. However, there will be no supply of food or materials."

"If you want to live on the plane, that’s also fine, but do not damage any of its facilities."

Hearing Dean Wu’s explanation, Louis’s expression softened slightly, and his tone relaxed a bit:

"Wu, you said earlier that any human can form a contract with these strange Soul Beasts and command them in battle. Are you sure?"

"Yes. But you must be careful of the mist here. It carries a potent paralyzing toxin."

Louis nodded and said, still in a proud tone:

"Thank you for the information. However, if you people from Xia Country can survive here, I believe we can too. I have no intention of taking orders from a group of Easterners."

"As you wish." Dean Wu just smiled and said nothing more.