Chapter 13: The Plane Crash

Life Pendant, one of the Judgment set treasures, ranges in rank from the lowest, Level 8, to the highest, Level 1. All of them increase the maximum life of troops, but their additional attributes vary. The one in Jessica's hand was already quite advanced, at least capable of supporting the owner in extensively casting resurrection spells and similar abilities.

Now that Jessica was willing to use this item as collateral, it was clear just how desperate she was to return. Gaga glanced at Li Bin and the others, who wore expressions of anger, then carefully accepted the Life Pendant. He spoke earnestly, “In the name of the Joshua Commerce Guild, I guarantee to return this item to you once we receive the commission.”

Jessica waved her hand dismissively and boarded the airship. Before she ascended, she uttered just one sentence: “Don’t arrange for me to be with them.”

Soon after, Li Bin was invited aboard as well. According to Gaga’s introduction, this airship was one of their boss’s several mobile cities. Inside, it was the equivalent of a Level 5 town and could soar at altitudes of tens of thousands of meters. With a full recharge, it could fly for a hundred days straight. It was specially used by the guild for transporting troops and resources.

This time, their task was merely to drop Li Bin and his companions off at Abila City in the Duchy of Warner, which was on the Moon Essence Continent—four continents away from where Li Bin currently was. At the airship’s speed, the journey would take about thirteen days. During this time, the airship would not land for rest, but to keep Li Bin and the others from getting bored, they were free to use the ordinary facilities onboard.

Additionally, the airship carried a large amount of supplies. Li Bin and his group could purchase equipment through equivalent exchange.

But what most attracted Li Bin was the laboratory on the airship. The Spirit Machinery Department’s lab was as renowned as the Necromancy Department’s undead research room.

Upon seeing it, Li Bin immediately used boredom as a pretext to stay. Gaga, unaware of Li Bin’s true situation, assumed he was merely a necromancer player. As long as he didn’t damage anything in the lab, there was no harm in letting him remain, so Gaga left him alone.

With his basic necromechanical abilities, Li Bin had no trouble reviewing the experimental schematics of the Spirit Machinery Department. In just two days, he had combed through all the designs in the laboratory, forcibly memorizing some of the better ones.

Li Bin was confident that, given enough time, he could turn all the spirit machinery constructs from these designs into undead creations. Whether for his own use or to trade within the organization for internal currency, it would be a worthwhile choice.

Just as Li Bin was happily immersed in his research, a gargoyle suddenly flew into the laboratory from outside.

Li Bin looked up. The gargoyle was gray-white all over, with no weapons installed on its limbs. He realized this was a Spirit Machinery servant gargoyle, specifically made for miscellaneous tasks.

He asked, “Is there something you need?”

“My master wishes to say, the airship may be in danger,” the gargoyle servant said, enunciating each word.

Li Bin was momentarily stunned and asked again, “What did you say?”

“We are flying over the territory of the Yan Sun Continent and have now entered the bounds of the Kongfeng Continent. At present, we are under attack by Kongfeng’s forces.”

“Under attack?” Li Bin could scarcely believe such an explanation. He grabbed the gargoyle servant’s arm and said, “Take me to your master. I’ll ask him directly.”

The servant offered no resistance and led Li Bin to the topmost deck of the airship, where Li Bin could view the situation for himself.

Directly ahead, a colossal flying object, so vast its edges were invisible, blocked the airship’s path. Swarms of bizarre creatures poured forth from its mass.

“That is...”

“Kongfeng Continent,” Gaga replied, his expression grave. “It’s a continent that always floats at altitudes of tens of thousands of meters, inhabited mainly by flying creatures of the air element, gaseous species, and thunder element. But I heard that a few years ago, this continent was unified. Normally, it doesn’t travel along this route.”

“Could it be?” A thought flashed through Li Bin’s mind.

Gaga, who had the same realization, gave a wry smile. “I suspect they’re conducting a secret mission, and we just happened to blunder into their path.”

“Any hope of escaping?” Li Bin knew the rules for secret missions: even if they wouldn’t indiscriminately kill, they certainly wouldn’t let anyone who had witnessed their movements escape.

“Our speed is slightly faster than theirs. If we change course immediately, we might get away. But they have a large number of flying units, and if we engage in aerial combat, things will get very serious.” Gaga hesitated as he surveyed the scene.

But the inhabitants of Kongfeng Continent gave Gaga no time to hesitate. When the airship failed to promptly respond to their commands, a host of air elementals surged out from the continent.

Seeing his airship about to be attacked, Gaga hastily deployed a squad of gargoyles to intercept, and the airship itself began a rapid descent, aiming for the Yan Sun Continent below.

Li Bin understood Gaga’s intention. Clearly, Kongfeng Continent didn’t want outsiders to know about their operation. If Gaga fled, Kongfeng would risk exposing their own mission by pursuing, but if they didn’t chase, they’d let them escape. The dilemma now rested not with Gaga, but with the mysterious master of Kongfeng Continent.

What Li Bin didn’t expect was that, just as Gaga began his escape, Kongfeng Continent unleashed over a dozen bolts of lightning at once. The blasts not only destroyed the gargoyles blocking the air elementals, but also struck the airship’s tail with pinpoint accuracy.

Hit by lightning, the airship spun in midair and began plummeting downward. Li Bin didn’t need Gaga’s explanation to know that, once the airship crashed, none of their party would survive.

Desperate not to die, Gaga scrambled for ways to control the now-derelict airship. Meanwhile, Li Bin had already summoned the bone dragon through Reed, preparing to escape with his elite troops if things went south.

Fortune favored Li Bin and his companions. Just as the airship was about to smash into the ground, Gaga suddenly shouted with joy, and the airship made a sharp turn, descending gently until it finally landed safely.

Although inspection revealed the airship was no longer functional, Li Bin and his companions, along with their troops, had survived.

Taking responsibility as befitted a manager of a major trade guild, Gaga placed all blame for the air disaster on himself and issued an apology to Li Bin and the others.

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