Chapter 302: Surprise?

Translator: DragonBoatTrans

Chen Xiaolian felt that this trip was truly an eye opener.

A group of heavily armed SWAT officers rushed into the airplane.

Seeing the MP5s in their hands and the tactical vests worn over their bodies, Chen Xiaolian wisely chose not to make any overt movements – these fellows would really open fire at him. Especially considering the fact that this airplane had just been hijacked by terrorists.

Chen Xiaolian had no desire to become a terrorist in the eyes of this US law enforcement unit and be shot at.

He raised both his hands, wisely placing it where they could be seen by the officers.

Two SWAT officers rushed forward and they quickly pushed Chen Xiaolian down the ground.

“I’m not carrying any weapon. I will not resist” said Chen Xiaolian as he allowed them to press down on him. He also allowed them to place handcuffs on him.

Roddy shouted out. However, after Chen Xiaolian signalled to him, he decided to put up with their rough treatment.

The team of SWAT officers entered the cabin and quickly moved to occupy the strategic positions inside. They even took up positions inside the cockpit.

Anti-terror equipment and instruments were moved inside.

It was not long after the emergency doors were opened and the passengers were instructed to move out from the airplane while being monitored. Then they hastily left the vicinity of the airplane.

The lights on the surrounding police cars flashed about. As for Chen Xiaolian, after he was pressed down by the police officers, he felt something odd.

He felt as though someone was spying on him.

After having his body enhanced, Chen Xiaolian was now very familiar with this sixth sense – this was one of the benefits of having an enhanced body.

He deduced that there must be a SWAT sniper lurking somewhere.

Perhaps there was a sniper aiming at him at that very moment.

Chen Xiaolian chose not to make any movements. Soon, he was pushed into a police car.

He turned to look outside the window and saw that his companion, Roddy, Sawakita Mitsuo and his team were also getting the same type of treatment – Chen Xiaolian’s mind calmed down.

A large number of police officers and bomb defusing experts rushed inside the airplane as they began a thorough investigation.

Well, that no longer had anything to do with Chen Xiaolian.

He simply sat inside the police car and was soon taken out of the airport.

It was presently night. The night panorama of San Francisco – Chen Xiaolian was unable to see it.

While he was seated inside the police car, they had him closely monitored and him told not to look about.

Chen Xiaolian chuckled to himself. These US police officers thought that he was a terrorist.

Since he was not familiar with the roads of San Francisco, it was only natural that he did not know where they were taking him to.

Along the way, Chen Xiaolian communicated with Roddy using guild channel twice. Roddy complained about the stench of sweat coming from the police officers who were escorting him.

“These Caucasians are simply white apes.”

Those were his exact words.

Chen Xiaolian laughed and told Roddy not to openly say that.

Chen Xiaolian was brought to a certain place. However, he was uncertain if it was the police station or some special law enforcement department.

Two police officers escorted him out of the car and into a building through the backdoor. Then, they entered an elevator in an underground parking spot and moved up. After that, they turned into a corridor before they threw him into a room.

The place was obviously an interrogation room, just like in the movies.

The enclosed room had no windows, only a one-way mirror.

After escorting him inside, the police officers did not unlock his handcuffs for him. They simply turned around and left, locking the door behind them.

Chen Xiaolian stood up and stretched his body for a bit before looking at the mirror in the room.

Is someone watching me behind the mirror?

He grinned at the mirror and shouted loudly, “Hey! Anybody home? Is there anyone behind the mirror? Hey! I am not the terrorist!”

Chen Xiaolian stood before the mirror; he waved and jumped.

…

As expected, there was a room behind the mirror. Two people in dark coloured suits were observing Chen Xiaolian’s actions.

“What is this fellow saying?”

“He says he is innocent.”

“Didn’t they say the hijackers are a group of Middle Eastern fellows? How did we end up with Orientals?”

“You’re asking me?”

One of the suit wearing person was a young woman with fine facial features. She pursed her lips to the side and said, “Can’t we just finish this quick? Damn it… I’m just preparing to go on a vacation. To think that something like this would happen. I hate terrorists!”

The middle-aged man beside her sighed and said, “Who doesn’t? The only one who loves terrorists are those military buggers.”

“I’ll take care of this one. You go deal with the other one.” The young woman sighed. “My leave is going to be wasted now. I have already promised my old man I would help out with the farm.”

“All right now, farm girl. Stop thinking about your leave,” said the middle-aged man with a grin as he pushed the door open and walked out. Before walking out, he reached out to pick up a folder that was on the table.

The young woman stared at Chen Xiaolian through the mirror. She regarded him intently and frowned.

…

After being cooped up inside the room for over an hour, Chen Xiaolian had long since stopped standing before the mirror. He sat before the table inside the room and closed his eyes to rest.

After finishing off the poisoned passenger, the system finally issued out the prompt stating that their quest had been completed.

Chen Xiaolian inspected the system prompt.

Seeing the number of points awarded, Chen Xiaolian could not help himself but to swear inwardly.

What a wonderful number. Back in the airplane, Chen Xiaolian happened to hear the chief flight attendant mention that number. The flight that he was on just happened to have that number of passengers (minus the number of terrorists).

Each hostage who died will cost him 100 points.

However, after completing the quest perfectly where not a single hostage died, he was awarded with only 465 points?

That meant that each hostage saved only gave him 1 point.

The system really had an overbearing method of calculation.

As Chen Xiaolian was grumbling to himself, the door of the room opened up.

A woman walked in.

It was a young woman.

Although she wore an old-fashioned suit, her attire could not conceal her graceful body shape.

There was a pair of glasses on her face, which also could not reduce the charm of her facial contours. Instead, it gave her an added disposition of competence.

That was especially so considering her pointed jaw that was slightly elevated. Then, there were her eyes that exuded a hint of coldness and pride.

No question about it. This was a very beautiful woman, one with a brilliant mind and valiant disposition.

When Chen Xiaolian saw her, he became stunned.

He gaped with widened eyes as he looked at the young woman who had just entered the room. He then rubbed his eyes to confirm that he was not mistaken.

He nearly blurted out a name.

Thankfully, Chen Xiaolian was able to force down the words that were on the verge of escaping his mouth.

The name that he swallowed down was…

Nicole!

The Floating Angel: Nicole!

…

Nicole was refreshed into a… US police officer?

No, maybe not the police.

Could it be the CIA? FBI?

At that moment, there was a look of extreme excitement on Chen Xiaolian’s face.

After Nicole was killed in battle, this is the new identity that the system had assigned to her after the refresh?

A law enforcement officer of the US?

Chen Xiaolian stared curiously at Nicole.

His stare made Nicole feel uncomfortable.

During the interrogation process, she would usually be the one to cast a sharp stare at the one being interrogated as a mean of exerting pressure on them.

Today however, this fellow was doing that to her?

“Is there something on my face?”

Nicole held back the fury she felt within her and sat down. She cast a cold glare at Chen Xiaolian.

“Err… no,” Chen Xiaolian answered as he sighed inwardly.

Who knows if this is a coincidence of if this is something the system arranged…

“Now, I need you to answer some questions,” Nicole said as she opened the folder placed before her.

“Name?”

“Chen Xiaolian… err, Xiaolian, Chen.”

“Age.”

“18 years old.”

“Country of citizenship?”

“China.”

“Gender?”

“… can’t you see for yourself?” Chen Xiaolian’s eyes twitched.

Nicole closed the folder and cast a cold glance at Chen Xiaolian before speaking, “Now, I hope you can fully recount to me the events that occurred on the plane.”

Chen Xiaolian sighed and said, “I think we can just leave out some stuff, can’t we? Just go ask any passengers who were on the plane and you will know that I am not a hijacker. I am the hero, you know? I saved the people on the plane! I helped finish off the terrorists, helping avert a huge issue and crisis for the US.

“Even if you don’t want to thank me, or have me escorted to the Whitehouse to receive some medal or something equally honourable… is there a need to view me as a criminal, imprisoning and interrogating me?”

Chen Xiaolian deliberately complained.

Nicole was silent. She stared intently at Chen Xiaolian.

A few seconds later, she took a deep breath and said, “We have already asked the flight captain, the other crew members and several other passengers on the airplane. The testimony we obtained were more or less consistent. Everyone claimed that you and your friends had saved them. You were the ones to resolve the crisis by finishing off the terrorists.”

After saying that, Nicole purposely paused before continuing, “Still, the things they recounted sounded hard to believe. After reading their testimony, I thought I was reading some Hollywood movie script.”

“At the very least, it could prove that I am innocent,” Chen Xiaolian replied with a faint smile.

“Even so, there are a few matters that I would like you to verify. There are also a few questions we would need you to answer.”

Nicole smiled coldly as she watched Chen Xiaolian.

She spoke in a slow but grim tone of voice.

“Mr, we checked your flight information. This is the first time you travelled to the US, is that right?”

“Yes.” Chen Xiaolian nodded his head. “However, I have to say. It seems that my experience here have not been a good one.”

“You recently like to travel abroad a lot?” Nicole toyed with the pen on her left hand. “We’ve checked through your information. A few months ago, you travelled to a small tourist country in Southeast Asia. Next, you went to Japan. Then, just a few days ago, you went to London.”

“You sure have quite the detailed information. Yes, it is correct.” Chen Xiaolian did not bother hiding anything.

“According to the information on you, you are a student. What I am curious to know is, how could a student travel around the world so frequently?” Nicole said coolly. “Additionally… who is your guardian? How could a student get the money to travel around the world like you?”

“… it seems your information is not detailed enough,” said Chen Xiaolian with a faint smile. He blinked and said, “Besides being a student, I am also an author. Mm… writing novels can be fairly profitable.”

Nicole was feeling somewhat frustrated.

She had been trying to keep the atmosphere coercive and grim – however, this Oriental youngster before her seemed unfazed by her at all.

Truth was, Chen Xiaolian was not fearful of Nicole.

After all… they had just fought side by side one month ago.

How would Chen Xiaolian feel fearful toward Nicole?

“All right, so you have a source of income… we will have to verify this.” Nicole then said in a heavy tone, “But you are a student, how would you have so much time as to travel around so much?”

“I am a delinquent who likes to skip classes. Is that a crime now?” Chen Xiaolian stared with an innocent, eyes widened expression. “Since when did truancy become a crime?”

“…” Nicole held back the desire to swear out.

She took a deep breath and continued asking, “What is your purpose in coming to the US?”

“Travel,” Chen Xiaolian replied with a cool smile. Then, he recalled something and added, “To attend a meeting.”

“Meeting?” Nicole’s eyes flashed.

Chen Xiaolian gave her the address for the summit.

Roddy had told him that the address leads to nowhere on the internet.

However, Chen Xiaolian decided to tell Nicole about it anyway. “There is an invitation card inside my luggage bag. You can go check it out.”

Nicole’s eyes narrowed and she wrote something down on the folder. “I will be checking it out.”

“Then, is the matter solved?” Chen Xiaolian smiled wryly and extended his hands out. He asked, “Can you help unlock these handcuffs for me? Also, can I get something to drink?”

Nicole ignored Chen Xiaolian and continued instead, “I still have a few questions that I hope you can answer.”

He raised his head and saw that Nicole’s eyes were glinting sharply!

“First, according to the testimony from the passengers on the plane, in the process of dealing with the terrorists, you had opened up the doors of the airplane! Is that true?”

Chen Xiaolian retracted his smile and sighed. “Yes, that did happen.”

“Colour me curious. During a flight, especially when it is at a high altitude, the airplane doors cannot be opened… at the very least, it is not something that you passengers should be able to control. I am very curious to know, what method did you use to open the airplane doors? According to the testimonies we obtained, back then, neither you nor your companions entered the cockpit. You also do not have any opportunity to get to the lever that controls the doors.”

Chen Xiaolian listened quietly. Then, he looked into Nicole’s eyes and said, “… is that the only question? Is there any other question?”

“Yes,” answered Nicole with a sneer. “According to the testimonies from the passengers, you and your companion boarded the airplane from China. As for the other three people who helped you deal with the terrorists, they boarded the airplane in Japan. Did you know each other from back before?”

“…no.”

“However, according to the testimonies by the other passengers, you seemed quite familiar with them. How do you explain that?”

“… explain?” Chen Xiaolian considered the question before answering, “If I say we hit it off, does it count as an explanation?”

“… … …” This time, Nicole was unable to hold it in. She cursed: F**k!

“Hey, language!” Chen Xiaolian deliberately smiled at her and continued, “See? I have been cooperating properly. And don’t think I don’t know anything. Don’t the US have something called human rights? Do you have the right to hold and interrogate me? Can’t I get a lawyer or something? Oh right… before you started interrogating me, you did not even tell me my rights. Does that count as a threat? Are you even the police or what? If I don’t even know who you are, don’t I have the right to refuse answering your questions?”

Chen Xiaolian deliberately smiled teasingly and said, “What if you are just the janitor here?”

Nicole was so furious she almost flipped the table!

Janitor?

She gritted her teeth, removed her work suit, pulled out the ID card that was hanging down her chest and placed it on the table. “See this, I am not a janitor. Homeland Security, agent Nicole Dawson.”

“Nicole? That’s quite a good name. By the way, I like Nicole Kidman.”

“Enough!”

Nicole pounded down on the table heavily!

She cast a fierce stare at Chen Xiaolian and said, “Don’t think that you can get away just by acting the fool, flight saving hero!

“I am not one of those passengers and I am definitely not one of those flight attendants who became an obsessed fan after being saved by you!

“The airplane doors require a special code to open! Not to mention, when the airplane is travelling at such a high-altitude, the resulting difference in pressure makes it impossible to simply open the door! How did you do it?

“Or… do you have some special method that we do not know of to control the airplane itself?

“Finally, according to someone’s testimony, the poisoned passenger that you killed off in the end was a terrorist who disguised himself as an ordinary passenger.

“However, how did you know who he was?

“Additionally, when you killed him, there were at least four eyewitnesses who said that you suddenly pulled out a big cold weapon! Yet, when we inspected the interior, we found no such thing! Even so, we did find marks left by the weapon inside the cabin. The only thing missing is the weapon!

“Naturally, we can’t find it on your person as well!

“If so, where did the weapon fly off to? Where did you keep it?”

Chen Xiaolian frowned.

Opening the airplane door?

That was Roddy’s Mechanical Heart skill.

As for the Sword in the Stone… naturally, he had summoned it back into his system.

However… these words…

There was no way he could explain all these to Nicole.

At least not to this ‘ordinary human Nicole’.

After weighing the matter, Chen Xiaolian sighed.

He then said.

“I remember seeing this in the movies. Don’t you US police have a habit of saying this? You have the right to remain silent, right?

“Now, I want to exercise that right.”

After saying that, Chen Xiaolian closed his mouth and simply smiled gently at Nicole.

…

“How did it go?”

Nicole had left the interrogation room and entered the other dark room. When she entered, the middle-aged man who was waiting for her asked.

Nicole’s face was unsightly as she said, “Not good. This fellow is acting the fool. He refuses to answer the important questions.”

There was a look of frustration on the other middle-aged man’s face as he said, “I interrogated the other fellow. He too, refused to speak.”

Pausing, he sighed and continued, “The testimonies from everyone on the plane are consistent. These fellows are the heroes who dealt with the terrorists and saved everyone… we have no reason or right to continue holding them in custody. Unless we find something that can prove that they are suspicious fellows or that they are terrorists.

“The present situation is somewhat problematic. The media have gotten involved. Some of them interviewed the passengers and they are now asking: Where are the heroes? Why did the government take the heroes away? Damn it. Captain is getting a headache from being vexed by them.”

“Something about this just smells fishy,” said Nicole with a frown. “Even though everyone in the airplane said that they are the heroes, I still think there is something strange about this.

“They are able to open the airplane’s door while it was travelling at a high-altitude.

“And this fellow can just pull out a cold weapon out of nowhere. But when we checked the airplane, we found nothing!

“The Hell! Could he be a magician?”

“It’s not just that.” The middle-aged man smiled wryly and continued, “Look at this testimony.”

He pulled out a piece of paper from his folder and placed it on the table. “One of the eyewitnesses who was seated at the centre told us how the Japanese bald girl killed off the terrorist who was inside the cabin. Read this part: The girl’s fingers suddenly elongated, just like Wolverine’s claws, which then pierced through the terrorist’s throat.

“The Hell!

“What Wolverine?!

“Are we reading a Marvel comic now?”

Nicole suddenly sighed.

…

Chen Xiaolian and his companions’ luggage had been sent over as well.

His luggage bags had been opened up and searched thoroughly. That included Chen Xiaolian and Roddy’s mobile phone and all other items they brought with them.

Naturally, after being arrested, they had also taken his Storage Watch from him.

All of them were placed on a metal table.

Several agents searched through the articles at least three times.

They did not find anything suspicious among them.

They even pulled out the zipper of their luggage bags.

“Clothes, digital products, headphones… wallet. Oh, there are a few credit cards as well. These all seem normal.” The middle-aged man then raised up the invitation card. “Oh, these must be the travel invitation card that they talked about. Did you fellows check it out?”

“Yes, we’ve sent someone to verify it. We had our men check-up on the QR code on the card. As for the address… the New York Police Department verified it with us. There is a problem with the address.”

“You mean it’s forged?” The middle-aged man’s eyes flashed.

“No.” One of the agents replied. There was a peculiar look on his face as he continued, “The address could not be found using the housing data. However, it does exist… just… it’s classified.”

“Wait? Classified? What does that mean? Who put it under classified?”

“Who else? That place is located within the US. Naturally, we did it,” the agent said with a complicated expression. “Did I not make myself clear? The address belongs to one of our government’s very high-level department. After trying to check it out, I found that I did not have sufficient clearance to access the necessary information.”

“You mean to say… this meeting… is organized by one of our own government department? And a very high-level one at that? These fellows were invited by our own government to attend this meeting? We organized this meeting?”

“Mm, that’s correct.”

“… damn,” the middle-aged agent swore. “Did you tell the captain about this?”

“Naturally, captain is now trying to contact Washington. We still do not know what is going on here.”

Nicole stood coldly beside them. Her arms were crossed as she listened in on their conversation.

Occasionally, she would turn around to look at the mirror on the other side.

Chen Xiaolian was seated before the table.

At least these police officers did not abuse me.

They had brought him some water and a plate of sandwiches.

Chen Xiaolian finished the fare they prepared for him in two minutes. Then, he spent the rest of the time sitting there with a dazed look on his face.

Truth was, he was using the guild channel to chat with Roddy.

However, Chen Xiaolian did not tell Roddy about his meeting with Nicole.

He was aware of Roddy’s ways. If he was to find out that Nicole was here…

That little fellow will get over excited!

In the event that he does get too excited and cause a havoc within this law enforcement department, things could get bad.

Even though both him and Roddy had handcuffs on them, if Roddy wanted to force his way out, these law enforcement officers can forget about stopping him.

He would rather not have a repeat of what happened to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.

“I’ll go talk to him again!” Nicole took a deep breath and said with a firm expression.

“What is wrong with you?” The middle-aged agent frowned. He said, “Since this is something related to the higher ups, I estimate that we won’t be able to hold them for long. Don’t waste your time. Maybe, this is something we shouldn’t interfere in.”

“I feel that there is something strange with this fellow,” said Nicole as she shook her head. She knitted her eyebrows and continued, “When I first walked into the room, I saw the way he looked at me. There was something strange about it.”

“Strange?”

“Mm… he seemed… very…” Nicole shook her head and chose not to finish her sentence.

Very pleasantly surprised?

He was pleasantly surprised to see me?

What the Hell?

…