If Shang Zheng was truly going to send her to the young director of the Zhou Group as You Mo-nian had hinted, then why had he given her a plane?
At the moment she saw the plane, she had indeed been touched and astounded. She had even contemplated the possibility that perhaps this plane was Shang Zheng's way of fulfilling her wish. However, such a presumption was far too optimistic and presumptuous, so she dared not believe it.
She, Su Mi, was powerless and without influence, and her looks could only be considered above average. The cost of that plane could easily buy a hundred top-notch beauties. She absolutely did not believe that it was a gift from Shang Zheng out of the blue to help her fulfill her dream.
He had said it himself: he never did good deeds.
Could it be, then, the perverse taste of the wealthy? The preference of that terrifying young director of the Zhou Group? So Shang Zheng had packaged and groomed her like this, into a frail girl who could fly a plane?
This speculation sent shivers down her spine.
She snapped back to reality and glanced at Luo Xiru, who was still chattering away. The meal vouchers were given to her by You Mo-nian. Regardless of his ulterior motives, she had already obtained what she wanted from him.
Suddenly, she reached out and pushed the lever, flipping the control panel to switch to manual driving mode. The fighter jet instantly accelerated to sub-light speed, shooting out like a cannonball from the atmosphere of the Hope Planet.
Luo Xiru was stunned for a moment. He grabbed her shoulder with one hand. "Su Mi, what are you doing?! This will send us flying to other planets!"
Su Mi wriggled free from his grip and manipulated the controls nervously and somewhat clumsily, as if riding the waves in the dark expanse of the sky, bumping along towards the blue planet at the top of the galaxy.
"Brother! Leave me be! This has nothing to do with you! I'll let you go once I reach my destination! Shang Zheng won't blame you!" she shouted. "Brother, please give me a chance to survive! Just half an hour! In half an hour, I can land on another planet!"
However, the usually amiable Luo Xiru stared at her fixedly and shook his head. "You're crazy! You're crazy! You actually want to betray Sir!"
He stood up abruptly and drew his gun from his waist. "Get up! Leave the seat! Otherwise, I'll shoot immediately!"
"No! You won't shoot!" she gritted her teeth.
"I will." He cocked the safety. "This is a grenade launcher. One shot can turn your head into minced meat. Miss Su, stop this crazy behavior at once. If you attempt to betray, I kill you, and Sir will surely not blame me. But if I help you escape, my whole family will die!"
Su Mi placed her hands on her head and slowly stood up.
Seeing that the plane was about to hit a debris belt, Luo Xiru quickly thrust his gun back into his waist and sat in her seat, frantically adjusting the flight direction.
This was the opportunity Su Mi had truly been waiting for.
She quietly and swiftly dragged out the already-hidden discarded fuel bottle from under the seat and smashed it hard against the back of Luo Xiru's head.
He let out a muffled groan and slowly slumped over in the chair, blood oozing from his head.
Su Mi dropped the fuel bottle as if it were scalding hot. His eyes were closed, and it was quite possible that he was...
I'm sorry. A voice in Su Mi's heart was crying out in pain. He had been really nice to her, but she had no choice but to attack him underhandedly. She wanted to reach out and check his breath, trembling as she approached his nose, but found that her heart was pounding like a drum, and she couldn't feel whether he was still breathing or not.
She tried to calm herself down and dragged him from the seat, laying him flat on the ground. She sat in the driving chair and looked down at the radar display. The flight path to her destination was clear. She quickly switched the driving to auto-navigation mode.
She let out a long sigh and leaned back in the chair.
Great, she had finally escaped.
In just half an hour, she would be able to reach another planet.
She took out the items she had prepared long ago from her bosom – a brand-new identity card, a credit card, the key to a hotel, a landing permit – all of which she had asked You Mo-nian to prepare secretly for her.
Once she landed, she would be able to truly live a free life. She could search for Earth slowly. Even if she couldn't find it, she wouldn't be at the mercy of others anymore and wouldn't be poverty-stricken.
The fighter jet traveling at sub-light speed didn't seem to convey that fleeting speed against the vast backdrop of space. Su Mi couldn't help but gaze at the dark and boundless expanse outside the window, the strange and magnificent cosmic scenery.
Her destination – the "Freedom" Planet – was gradually coming into view. The azure sea, the snow-white atmosphere...
Just then, her neck suddenly tightened. A thick arm wrapped tightly around her neck, with such force that she couldn't struggle or resist at all.
Luo Xiru! He wasn't dead! He had woken up!
This realization made Su Mi breathe a slight sigh of relief, but then a greater fear surged into her heart, making her mind a mess.
"Let go..." She clawed desperately with both hands, trying to attack the person behind her. But how could she compare to Luo Xiru's combat skills? With a side throw, she was slammed heavily onto the ground, and her back and waist were in excruciating pain.
Luo Xiru's face was covered in blood. He slapped a certain spot on the driving control panel with his palm, producing a muffled thud. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief and turn to look at her, wiping the blood from his face roughly and cursing, "You're really ruthless!"
Su Mi remained silent. She picked up the fuel bottle on the ground and threw it at him. But he was already on guard and caught the fuel bottle with his bare hands, then pushed her down.
She crashed heavily into the instruments in the middle of the cabin. Her spacesuit was instantly torn open with a long gash, and even a bloody scratch appeared on her shoulder, revealing half of her fair and slender shoulder. Her various important documents fell all over the floor, and she leaned against the cabin, looking extremely wretched.
Luo Xiru walked over, removed her helmet, and took off her spacesuit. She struggled hard but couldn't break free, looking even more wretched. He then took out a first-aid kit, bandaged his own head briefly, and also stopped the bleeding for her. Then he sat down on the ground in front of her, pointing his gun at her.
"Aren't you going to take care of the flight instruments?" she gasped for breath and asked. She only had superficial wounds, while his injuries were much more severe.
Luo Xiru was also a bit dizzy. He gasped for breath and said, "I've activated the safety mode."
"What safety mode?"
"Fortunately, I haven't told you about this yet!" Luo Xiru was fuming. "A plane without a flight permit is like a bullet without being fired, both having safeguards. Once the safety mode is activated, it will automatically fly back to the preset location."
Her heart sank. The preset location...
No matter how she pleaded, threatened, or bribed along the way, Luo Xiru remained unmoved and never let her out of the range of his gun. Forty minutes later, after the violent bumps during the passage through the atmosphere, the fighter jet slowly landed in the garden that Su Mi was all too familiar with.
Luo Xiru glanced out of the window and almost immediately stood up, opened the cabin door, and walked out.
And Su Mi was leaning blankly against the cabin wall, looking through the window of the cockpit at Shang Zheng, whom she hadn't seen for days. He was standing in front of the plane with his hands behind his back, his extremely handsome face slightly raised, looking fixedly at her through the window.
Probably having just returned from a meeting, he had a uniform jacket draped over his arm, his hair neatly combed, looking majestic and solemn. After a brief stare, he threw the jacket to Mu Assistant beside him and then strode towards the cabin door with a gloomy face.
Since her transmigration, Su Mi had never been this scared. The gloomy sky outside the cabin and the messy interior of the cabin were nothing compared to Shang Zheng's gloomy expression at this moment.
Soon, he entered the cockpit. His handsome face was in shadow as he glanced at Su Mi, and instead, he smiled.
That smile was somehow gentle and amiable, making Su Mi shiver all over.
He skillfully closed the cabin door tightly and locked it. He walked up to Su Mi, his gaze sweeping briefly over the scattered documents on the floor. He walked straight past her and sat in the driving seat.
"Learned it?" His voice was low, with a hint of amusement.
Her heart skipped a beat. She answered calmly, "The basic operations."
He nodded. "Then come and drive."
She couldn't imagine at all how he would deal with her. Everyone knew that Shang Zheng hated betrayal the most. And she had not only saved You Mo-nian on her own initiative but also tried to escape in the plane he had given her. Even if he shot her dead, it would probably be too lenient.
But now he was asking her to fly the plane? She slowly stood up and asked in a low voice, "Where to?"
His voice was casual, as if he wasn't angry at all. "Take a spin in space."
After saying this, he smiled and looked up at her. His already extremely handsome face, with that carefree and unruly smile, looked even more handsome than usual at this moment.
She was puzzled but walked calmly to the driving seat.
He didn't let her, though. He turned to stare ahead, suppressing his smile, and said faintly, "If you fly well, I won't hold you accountable."
Su Mi was stunned for a moment. She could hardly believe his leniency and her good luck. Her tightly clenched hands were sweaty.
She quickly nodded and stood in front of the driving panel, whispering, "Thank you, sir."
Shang Zheng didn't reply.
The driving position was already not spacious, and he was tall and big. Leaning on the seat, he instantly occupied most of the space. She almost had to press her whole body against the driving panel, and even so, her legs and buttocks inevitably touched his long legs.
"Fly." His voice came coldly, making it hard to tell whether he was angry or not. "Let me see what you've got."
Su Mi focused all her attention on the driving panel and the view ahead. This was her first time flying the fighter jet alone, and she was so nervous that her palms were sweating. Initially, she was extremely scared because Shang Zheng was pressed closely behind her, but as the fighter jet gradually ascended, she immediately focused all her attention on the operation and momentarily forgot the threat behind her.
Until the plane ascended to a high altitude in the atmosphere and broke through at a higher speed. The violent bumps caused by her unskilled operation made her stagger and almost fall. Her body inevitably bumped into Shang Zheng behind her, and several times she almost fell into his arms.
And he remained silent throughout. When she accidentally fell into his arms once, he was like a statue, watching coldly.
Soon, the plane was about to break free from the gravitational pull and enter space. Su Mi stepped on the pedal –
It wouldn't move! She couldn't step on it!
She immediately realized that her foot strength was already weak, and it always took a lot of effort for her to step on the pedal. Now, standing up with limited space, it was even more difficult to exert force.
She immediately panicked. If she failed at this moment, the whole plane would be in danger of deviating from the flight path and falling back into the atmosphere again.
"I can't step on the pedal! Sir! Sir!" she yelled. "The plane will crash!"
The shrill alarm suddenly rang out in the cabin, and Su Mi was horrified.
But at that moment, a cold and solid body, with a gust of wind, suddenly pressed tightly against her back. Before she could react, the pedal under her feet was successfully stepped on, and the plane instantly broke through the atmosphere and shot straight into the dark space.
She let out a long sigh of relief, but in the next second, she was too nervous to speak.
Because Shang Zheng maintained that position and didn't move.
He was much taller than her, and his long legs almost enveloped her. One hand had somehow looped around from behind and effortlessly wrapped around her, while the other hand reached down.
"Sir... Sir! What are you doing?" She was completely panicked, feeling as if all the cells in her body were about to explode, both nervous and afraid.
"Keep flying." His voice came from her shoulder socket. "Fly around the geosynchronous orbit at three times the speed of sound. There are many debris belts here. Concentrate on flying."
Su Mi was startled. She had been learning to fly for less than a month, and she had never flown the geosynchronous orbit before. Luo Xiru had said that even novice regular air force pilots wouldn't dare to fly the geosynchronous orbit for the first time. But Shang Zheng was asking her to...
"Can't do it, sir! Can't!" Su Mi was desperate and didn't care anymore. "I can't fly it! I'll die!"
However, Shang Zheng seemed not to have heard her words. With a pull of his hand, Su Mi felt a chill on her body.
The clouds ahead were misty, and the debris belts were like hideous ghosts, constantly rushing towards her. Su Mi was distracted for a moment and almost hit a large rock. She was so scared that she used all her strength to turn the control lever and just managed to avoid it, already breaking out in a cold sweat.
And Shang Zheng's body was pressed tightly against her at this moment.