Chapter 340: Ride a Wave of Chocobos

McKenzie Airfield was not the kind of grand, bustling hub built for massive passenger jets; rather, it was a modest, reclusive strip meant for private, small-scale aircraft.

Its setting lay far from the urban core, tucked deep into the city's rural outskirts where rolling low hills and distant mountain peaks framed the horizon, presenting the scene of a sprawling suburban factory yard strewn haphazardly with large cargo containers, while a handful of gang members drifted to and fro in small groups, casting an atmosphere of thorough countryside isolation.

The Velum was the private vessel belonging to the Vagos gang.

The four of them had arrived at McKenzie Airfield in a compact sedan, only to find two gang members strolling leisurely along the narrow path that led toward the great hangar doors, deep in conversation.

"Beep beep!" Daoist Master Xichi was at the wheel now, demonstrating that the cultivator class possessed an exceptionally swift capacity for learning, having already grasped the basics of operating the machine.

The small sedan blared its horn, yet the figures blocking the path ahead showed not the slightest intention of stepping aside, continuing to stride forward with arrogant defiance.

"Out of the way up ahead! Move aside!"

Liu Ningyun gasped in sudden panic, "Master, turn the wheel, quick!"

Mo Xian also cried out in haste, "We are going to hit him!"

"Ah—!"

A chorus of frantic shouts erupted within the cabin as a portly man directly ahead was sent flying through the air by the impact.

"Master, didn't you say you already knew how to drive?" Mo Xian grumbled in a low, resentful tone.

"Who could have foreseen that someone would hear a horn and refuse to budge," Daoist Master Xichi replied, her expression frosty as she drove straight through the chaos, an immediate volley of gunfire echoing all around them.

Evidently, before they had even laid eyes on the aircraft, they had succeeded in drawing the furious attention of every gang member in the vicinity; this was Vagos territory, a remote suburban stretch where the police rarely managed to arrive in time.

"There are so many of them!" Mo Xian cried out in alarm.

Crash!

The windshield shattered into pieces, and Daoist Master Xichi steered the vehicle forward, crashing through the lines in a erratic path that defied all comprehension.

Rat-ta-tat-ta...

Dressed far more sharply and practically than her usual attire of flowing skirts, the young lady in a black T-shirt and denim jeans leaned out, gripping her weapon and firing wildly into the fray.

"Oh dear!" A sharp cry of agony echoed from the rear seat, and when Mo Xian turned around, she discovered that the snow-white fabric of the young disciple's shirt was stained with a brilliant crimson, the one named Yueyan having clearly taken a bullet.

"Junior Sister, how are you? Can you hold on?!"

"Senior Sister... I... I cannot make it!" With tears pooling in her eyes, she lay across the back seat, whispering, "You must... avenge... me!"

"Rest assured, Junior Sister!" Mo Xian shouted fiercely, "Your Senior Sister will surely avenge you!"

With that, Mo Xian drew a grenade from her pocket, tore the pin away with her silver teeth, and hurled it out into the courtyard: "Go to your graves, all of you!"

Boom!

Several figures were blown into the air instantly, followed by a frantic spray of submachine gun fire directed outside the car.

She turned her head back once more.

"Senior Sister..." Yueyan reached her hand out again.

"Aya, why are you not dead yet?" Mo Xian stared, dumbfounded, at Yueyan, whose chest was thoroughly drenched in blood.

"I just checked... I still have a sliver of life left... I can still be saved..."

Everyone: "..."

Boss Fang's forehead was lined with dark frustration: "..."

It was truly an unbearable sight.

"Master, there is a plane over there! That must be the one!" The sharp-eyed Liu Ningyun immediately spotted the aircraft stationed inside the hangar, firing off a couple of bursts outward as she spoke, "Let us get in quickly, Master, hurry and fly it!"

Fighting their way through, the four scrambled into the aircraft in a chaotic rush; Daoist Master Xichi took the pilot's seat while the others crowded into the back, and after a long moment, as the enemies began to encircle them, someone called out: "Master, why are we not moving?!"

The group looked with utter bewilderment at Daoist Master Xichi sitting up front.

"How is it that this thing seems entirely different from a motorcar?!" Daoist Master Xichi sat within the cockpit, staring at the dizzying array of complex instruments, her head spinning.

"Master, hurry and fly!"

"Drive it, drive it!"

"They are about to charge us!"

"Ah—!"

After all, they were stripped of their extraordinary powers within the game, unable to cast spells or fly on their own accord, and as bullets tore through the air around them, frantic cries and delicate shrieks filled the space without pause.

"Ah—! Junior Sister is going to die! Master, hurry and drive!" Mo Xian screamed.

"This spiritual artifact is far too intricate, even your Master does not comprehend how to operate it!" Daoist Master Xichi stared grimly at the various buttons and dials, pressing them at utter random.

At long last, the aircraft jolted, and the propeller at the front began to spin.

"It moves! It moves!"

"Can it take to the sky?" Liu Ningyun and the others were clearly fascinated by this craft that required no spiritual energy to fly, "Is this how it ascends?"

"Why will it not take flight?!" The aircraft had already rolled out of the hangar, but at this moment it was behaving entirely like a flightless ground-bound fowl, showing no inkling of taking to the air.

"Fly, hurry! Why won't this thing take off?!" The surrounding gang members had begun to fire upon them with relentless fury, forcing the maidens to duck beneath the window frames.

"I do not know how to make it fly!" Daoist Master Xichi was still hitting buttons blindly.

"The birds other people pilot can fly, so why does ours only walk upon the earth? Could it be that we are riding a flightless ground-chicken?" Yueyan remarked whimsically.

Mo Xian shouted loudly, "Should we try channeling some spiritual energy into it?"

"Hahaha! Senior Sister, my stomach hurts from laughing! Do we even possess spiritual energy right now?" Yueyan sat at the very back, laughing until her stomach ached even as her life bar depleted, "Should we perhaps place a few spirit stones inside it?"

"Master, we are surrounded!" Liu Ningyun yelled, leaning out to fire her submachine gun in wild bursts.

"We are going to crash, turn quickly! Turn!"

Boom!

The aircraft slammed heavily into a massive shipping container ahead, tearing one of its wings clean off.

"Can a plane with only one wing still fly?" Mo Xian asked, her face a picture of utter bewilderment.

"Senior Sister, you ought to ask if a chicken with only one wing can still fly."

"Quiet, all of you!" Daoist Master Xichi at the front could no longer endure the bickering; by this time, the aircraft was repeatedly bashing into the containers, turning only to strike another container, crashing in every imaginable fashion until finally even the propeller was snapped away.

"It is over, it has become a plucked chicken," Yueyan lamented, her face drenched in tears.

"Aya, why are you still not dead?" Mo Xian looked at Yueyan, who was still drawing breath and speaking despite having spilled enough blood to cover the floor.

"Senior Sister, pull me up, I can still take down two more!" Yueyan lay flat within the cabin, munching stubbornly on snacks as she spoke.

"..."

Boom!

The aircraft exploded.

GG!

Soon enough, the joyous four-member prison break squad was reduced to a recruitment cry: "A new Prison Break heist, looking for an experienced pilot who knows how to fly, three waiting for one!"

"Senior Sister, why did you leave me behind?"

Mo Xian replied, "Useless Junior Sister! What else can you do besides lie there and eat snacks?"

"It is Master who cannot fly the plane, so why lay the blame on me!"

Daoist Master Xichi: "..."

"Wretched junior sister, how dare you find fault with Master, I suppose you are weary of living!"

At that moment, Mo Xian drifted over to Boss Fang's seat: "Boss, do you know how to pilot a plane?"

"Indeed," Boss Fang said, gesturing toward his screen. "A new heist, the Prison Break. Seeking one more salted fish to cheer from the sidelines. Three out of four!"

"How is it already three out of four?" Mo Xian peered at the screen, and true enough, two teammates had already joined—one was a young maiden of sixteen or seventeen clad in white, her countenance cold and aloof.

ID: Nalan

And as for the other...

Beholding the woman on the screen whose form-fitting attire accentuated her voluptuous curves, a lady of exquisite, ethereal beauty with chestnut hair and emerald eyes, Mo Xian could not help but inwardly curse, "Vixen!"

"Senior Sister, are you joining or not?" Liu Ningyun called out.

"Go ahead without me, I shall play a match with Boss Fang to learn how to pilot a plane!"

"You actually went off to play with Boss Fang all on your own?!"

Yue Yan exclaimed, "How could you abandon us?!"

Staring intently at Boss Fang's screen, she muttered, "And to think you are still with this..."

Returning to her own seat, she murmured under her breath, "To think she is still mingling with that vixen!"

"What absolute rubbish! This fairy is clearly mingling with Boss Fang!"

"Boss Fang is starting a new heist?" Liu Ningyun knitted her brows. "Shall we go and see?"

Daoist Master Xichi nodded. "Could it be that Boss Fang truly knows how to fly a plane?"

Yue Yan said, "...Then I suppose I shall go look as well."

.