"So, I declined the invitation to stay and work at my mentor's research institute and flew to Happiness Island."
"Because I was broke, my uncle bought me a first-class ticket from Chongguang Island to Happiness Island. But looking at all that stuff..."
Russell said, embarrassingly lowering his head and whispering, "I didn't dare use any of it. Because I didn't know if the drinks, snacks, books, and movies in first class cost money..."
He emphasized, adding, "I didn't even drink the water! I didn't touch anything... I didn't even connect to the room's local network. I guess it must be for that reason—I never felt the presence of any virus from the beginning."
"Did you just sit there the whole time?!"
Glass exclaimed in surprise.
It seemed a bit melodramatic, but Russell was slowly realizing that this was just her personal style.
Russell added, "Not the whole time. I actually had a paper to write, so I wrote it in my room."
As he spoke, he reached towards the prosthetic on his left hand and lifted it in front of Glass, "Look, I got this far..."
"Aaaaaah! No need to show that to Glass, it makes her head hurt just seeing a paper—"
The pink-haired cat-eared idol waved her hands frantically, uttering a cute cry of despair.
Russell couldn't help but smile, his lips involuntarily curling up.
He felt a closer connection with Glass and continued with a more relaxed tone, "At that time, that man probably didn't expect that I hadn't fallen asleep... He was carelessly making a call at the door."
"A call? A radio?"
"Yes, an old model radio prosthetic body. It must have been a banned unauthorized prosthetic."
Russell nodded, his tone growing somber, "Then, I realized... he had a gun."
"—A gun?!"
Glass cried out in a mock horror.
Russell had gotten used to her somewhat affected yet sufficiently sweet and cute exclamations.
"A shotgun... The moment I saw it, I realized things might get worse."
He spoke gravely, "So, I acted... from behind, a decapitating strike."
"Don't be afraid," Glass comforted Russell, perhaps genuinely because she liked his words and looks, "You killed a man for the safety of the passengers, to save so many people. I believe the viewers will support you..."
"No. I didn't act to protect the passengers on the airship..."
Russell hung his head, speaking softly, "I was actually just scared for my own safety. I freaked out at the sight of the gun."
—Without a doubt, this was a lie.
Russell had truly fought for the lives of the passengers, not his own safety.
But ironically, although he spoke so many lies, he could not bring himself to utter this most truthful statement.
The reason was simple.
Because people would not believe that anyone could be so noble—to fight for others' lives at the risk of their own.
If Russell spoke the truth, people might instead think he was boasting and grow to dislike him. They might even begin to doubt everything else he had said.
Therefore, Russell skillfully vilified himself, downgrading his motives to something more understandable and relatable, "My mind was blank, but the swordsmanship I practiced and the Spiritual Energy Weapon I had illegally brought aboard helped me. Before I even realized it, I had chopped off his head.
"His accomplices heard the noise and quickly came to investigate. As soon as they entered, they started shooting at my room—I was lucky I hid under the table, avoiding their initial burst of gunfire and rushed out to kill them. I got injured then, but I did my best to eliminate them.
"I think... maybe I'm actually quite strong? I even felt a bit proud."
Russell said this, somewhat embarrassed yet also fearful as he shrank back, "But I worried, if they had more accomplices, they might realize their fellows were dead and might target the captain. I thought they might despair and decide on a murder-suicide—I thought this and rushed to the cockpit to see if anyone else was there."
At this point, the captain who had been saved by Russell couldn't help but speak in his defense:
"The young man is right! Those people were insane, if he had come any later, we would have been doomed!"
"Those bastards made me circle around to Happiness Island, but after a big detour, I was nearly out of fuel!"
This was to prevent someone from hijacking the airship and escaping to other Sky Islands.
Thus, the airship was not equipped with much fuel, just enough to reach the neighboring Sky Islands.
"— And I told them this, yet they still wouldn't let me land! I couldn't reach the lever to stabilize the airship for a hover above the apron, so I could only slowly rotate around the apron, further burning the limited fuel remaining… But they completely ignored me, never untying me!"
"I was so desperate! If the fuel were to run out, the airship would naturally fall—its inertia would cause it to crash into the nearby residential area. If that happened, not only the passengers on the airship would be affected, but even the people on the ground waiting to receive it, as well as the nearby buildings might suffer!"
The captain moved aside to reveal the fuel gauge: "Look here! After I was untied, with the mindset of caution, I immediately sent out a 'fuel exhausted' warning to the ground, prompting the crowd to start evacuating, and then I began to land. If you check with the ground unit, you should be able to find my alarm record from then."
"I'll take you to see my room."
At that moment, without waiting for Glass to say anything, Russell took the initiative to speak.
This was exactly what Glass—and the numerous viewers hidden behind her—wanted to see.
Thus, naturally, she didn't raise any objections.
By this stage, Russell had already silently taken control of the rhythm of the interview.
He led Glass, the captain, Amirus who had been silently smiling beside them, and the camera crew to his room.
Listening to his interview, the curious passengers also stretched their necks wanting to see—but the men in black were intimidating them, preventing them from standing up, let alone breaking into the interview setting.
In the moment of opening the door,
Russell's heart slightly lifted.
But after opening the door, his heart was set at ease.
The scene inside was chaotic, with blood splattered everywhere on the ceiling and floor, windows shattered by bullets, and a room in disarray due to the pressure difference.
Three headless bodies lay on the floor, with even a head impaled on the glass. They were still clutching guns in their hands.
— Thankfully.
Fortunately, Bad Day was not in the room.
He had indeed left using some method unknown to Russell before landing.
The cameraman, seeing this gruesome and bizarre scene, not only didn't avoid the camera or blur anything—but instead thoroughly scanned the scene. He gave several close-ups to the head pierced by shattered glass, the wounds on the headless bodies on the ground, and the guns they were holding.
"... Why didn't you use a gun to confront the criminal in the cockpit?"
Unable to hold back, Glass asked.
This was a question arising from her heart.
Although there were at least three guns here, this child insisted on using swordsmanship to confront the vicious criminal…
And Russell had been waiting for this remark.
He had always been steering Glass's thoughts in this direction.
Once these words were spoken, they could definitively end this crisis PR session and establish his unassailable moral character—
"... Because I have never used a gun."
Russell said softly, "I was afraid of accidentally harming Mr. Captain, who was inevitably in the same direction as the criminal."
The moment Russell logically stated this,
He internally acknowledged his enlightenment.
The interview had ended.
— The first major challenge after Russell's memory had awakened… had finally been passed.