Chapter 1: Chapter One

Azure seawater rolled up in waves, lazily and listlessly slapping against the fine white sand before retreating with a seeming reluctance, leaving only a faint, damp mark behind.

A salty, fishy sea breeze, neither gentle nor harsh, blew towards a lush, verdant island.

On the beach below the island sat a woman with a straight back, wearing a loose, yellow jacket. Her usually lazy, fluffy curls were plastered wetly against her coat.

Her eyes were calm yet despairing, holding a flicker of anticipation as she stared at the horizon. She tightly gripped the elongated cuffs of her sleeves, seeking a sense of security. Her pale, delicate face was hard to read.

But one thing was clear: she was beautiful. Hers was a beauty like the hazy fragility after misty Jiangnan rain, yet her brows held the proud aloofness of an orchid. Her back, which would never slouch, was proof of this.

She possessed a contradictory aura. Suddenly hearing footsteps, her expression instantly changed. She withdrew the despair and hope from her eyes, and her entire presence sharpened.

A casual, poised nonchalance settled upon her. The place she sat seemed no longer a beach, the clothes she wore no longer a jacket. It was as if she sat at the pinnacle, surveying the world, dressed in exquisite attire.

Li Yuanxi, carrying a bundle of wood, pursed her lips in annoyance, gracefully rolling her eyes. President Wei, keep up the act. I want to see how long you can keep this up.

“Say, President Wei, how about moving your noble rear end over here to help me pick up a few coconuts?” Li Yuanxi said, strolling past a contemplative Wei Shu with an armful of branches.

Hearing Li Yuanxi’s deliberate teasing, Wei Shu didn’t get angry. She simply took another look at the calm, vast sea, then stood up and silently followed Li Yuanxi.

Her upper body was wrapped in the long jacket, while her lower half wore an off-white skirt that reached nearly to her knees. The back of the skirt was covered in sand and mud. Wei Shu frowned, pretending not to notice as she walked stiffly behind.

Not yet accustomed to openly patting the sand off her own bottom, Wei Shu took a deep breath. Even though “the crowd” was just Li Yuanxi, it made an ungraceful act even more impossible.

She quickened her pace silently, overtaking the casually strolling Li Yuanxi. Li Yuanxi looked relaxed and content… yeah, right. She just wanted to see the clean freak get mad but have to hold it in – that was the joke.

Wei Shu didn’t know what Li Yuanxi was thinking. She just silently picked up the green coconuts on the sand and walked toward the temporary shelter farther up the beach.

Seeing her unhappy but forced to endure, Li Yuanxi felt a bit of satisfaction, a smile tugging at her lips.

She turned her head, looking at the windy sea, and sighed.

She and President Wei had been stranded on this desolate island for three days now.

Li Yuanxi watched the waves roll in, their crashing sound bringing back flashes of terrifying memories in her mind.

“Mayday, Mayday…”

The super-large passenger jet flew steadily in the stratosphere, the flight smooth, without a trace of turbulence.

But inside the cockpit, the six flight crew members, including two captains, had grim expressions. The pilot in the left seat, a plain-looking, serious man, spoke in a calm, rapid, forceful voice.

“Get out the QRH. Loss of thrust on both engines. Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is…”

“Thump—”

“No response from the control column. Hydraulic system out of control…”

Sudden turbulence. The plane lurched up and down violently. People who had been sleeping soundly were thrown up into the air, then slammed back down.

“Ahhh—”

The cabin was filled with terrified screams. Li Yuanxi, in her yellow jacket, had been wearing headphones, enjoying her rest time after mountaineering.

But now, she felt as if someone had struck a heavy blow to her heart. Her whole body was tossed high. The super-large passenger jet, capable of holding six hundred fifty people, erupted in screams of terror.

Li Yuanxi’s ears rang; she couldn’t hear anyone.

Suddenly, everyone was slammed back into their seats. Oxygen masks dropped automatically from above. Everyone frantically reached out, grabbing masks and pulling them over their faces.

Before they could catch their breath, the plane tilted sharply to the left, plummeting straight down. Everyone’s body tilted left. Some were held by their seatbelts, hanging upside down.

“Woo—”

Soon the plane started to spin and tilt left, descending at an incredible speed.

Li Yuanxi turned her head. For a moment, time slowed. She could clearly see the terrified expression on everyone’s face.

The person beside her, the usually proud and aloof Princess Wei, her beautifully styled hair – a French wooden horse curl – was a complete mess, plastered across President Wei’s arrogant face.

President Wei’s eyes were full of terror. Her face and lips were the same color: deathly pale.

Her hands flailed helplessly in the air. Her chestnut-colored long hair, also flying, glittered in the sunlight, but no one was there to admire it.

Wei Shu wanted to grab onto something for security. Her mask was tangled with strands of hair, and tears welled up in her phoenix-shaped eyes, the same eyes she usually despised.

Li Yuanxi’s eyes widened, focusing on the tears in Wei Shu’s eyes. This was the first time she had seen this ruthless, cold, and gossipy woman cry.

She actually cried!?

Her eyes, usually smiling without mirth, were brimming with tears that flowed endlessly. If she weren’t about to die, Li Yuanxi would have loved to mock her.

Li Yuanxi hung upside down, held only by her seatbelt. Several people in the cabin had been thrown free, crashing heavily into the firmly closed cockpit door, instantly falling silent.

Li Yuanxi looked at the flight attendants floating in the air, tossed about by inertia, and closed her eyes painfully. In an instant, time sped up, magnifying everyone’s fear.

The plane’s shaking was mixed with a rumbling sound. Li Yuanxi turned her head and saw black smoke rising from beneath the wing.

Whether it was the wing or the engine that was burning, it was not a good sign.

But Li Yuanxi had no time to think about any of this.

Wind. Extremely cold wind suddenly blew in. A tearing sound came from above. The metal skin of the plane’s roof was ripped open layer by layer by an invisible hand.

Li Yuanxi saw white cloud-mist. The bitingly cold wind, as sharp as a blade, tore open the entire roof. The sky was instantly bright, and everyone’s hearts turned to ice.

Li Yuanxi gripped her seat tightly with both hands, her body hanging down, the seatbelt cutting into her abdomen. She pursed her lips, feeling nauseous but unable to vomit. This was her second time in a plane crash, wasn’t it?

The first time, she had died. Died in the plane’s disintegration.

The second time?

Strangely, amidst her panicked heart, Li Yuanxi felt an unusual calm. The woman beside her, however, was far from calm.

Wei Shu gripped the armrest tightly, clenching her teeth, squinting as she tried to refasten the seatbelt that was about to be pulled apart by the force.

The wind was so harsh on her face, hurtling down at this speed was no different from being scraped by an ice blade. Wei Shu held her breath, pulling hard at her seatbelt, trying to clip it back together.

But the belt wouldn’t cooperate. It slid loose, widening the loop. Her entire body was flung out, hanging in the void, floating like a kite, miraculously still caught by the remaining end of the belt.

Wei Shu’s first instinct was to try and hold down her skirt, but survival instinct made her cling to the tiny piece of seatbelt still connecting her.

Just then, a slender, beautiful hand gripped her wrist firmly, pulling her back in.

Wei Shu looked up, squinting into the gale to see who was holding her. Li Yuanxi gritted her teeth, tensing her entire body, straining to hold onto her “nemesis,” preventing her from flying away.

Wei Shu stared at Li Yuanxi’s action, momentarily stunned. All she could do was pray silently in her heart that Li Yuanxi could hold on, that she wouldn’t let her fly away.

She didn’t want to die in some unknown place, smashed into a pulp, eventually becoming one with the earth.

Li Yuanxi’s arm held Wei Shu in a death grip. The plane was descending faster and faster. The immense impact force, Earth’s gravity, and the wind’s pull were becoming too much for Li Yuanxi.

The veins on her hands bulged. Suddenly, with a jolt, the entire fuselage began to spin as it fell. Everyone inside was tossed back and forth.

Li Yuanxi felt like she had been thrown into a washing machine, churning endlessly. The wind screamed in her ears, filling them, her eardrums screaming in protest.

Finally, she saw the black ground. The plane roared down. No more than ten people on board were still conscious.

People were thrown out continuously. Trolleys, luggage – everything had been flung away long ago.

Li Yuanxi felt her arm go numb. During the constant spinning, her arm had slammed into the seat several times. It had lost all strength.

She couldn’t hold onto Wei Shu much longer. The churning food in her stomach had long since been vomited out, carried away by the wind.

The oxygen mask was ripped from her face by the gale. Tears streaming from her eyes were whipped away instantly. The skin on her cheeks was flattened by the wind. She couldn’t even open her eyes. Her lungs were filled with cold air.

Suddenly, the plane gave a few final lurches and plunged into the water. The high-speed jet skipped across the sea surface like a giant stone, bouncing a dozen times.

“Creeaak—”

The plane broke in two. One half caught fire.

The other half began to sink slowly. Li Yuanxi and Wei Shu were unlucky enough to be in this half.

Both were knocked unconscious by the impact. Wei Shu was lying on top of Li Yuanxi. The final jolt of the plane had thrown Wei Shu against Li Yuanxi, and they ended up hugging each other. Under the immense force, both passed out.

A super-large passenger jet, N968, was now scattered across the ocean. All six hundred fifty people on board were gone. The last remaining tail section of the plane sank silently beneath the surface of the sea.

Just then, a hand broke the water’s surface. A head emerged from the sea.