C15 Chapter 15

The three of them were savoring their first-ever flight.

The in-flight meal, the faces from all over the world, the beautiful flight attendants and sharp-looking crew—it was like something about it all kept pulling at their attention. Like they’d just come in from the sticks, they kept looking around at everything: what kind of newspaper this person was reading, what game that person was playing, what someone else was eating.

All around them were people with different skin tones and features, from different countries, all headed to the same destination. Everyone was going to the United States, but clearly not for the same reasons. Different people, different lives—do the same thing, and the purpose behind it can be completely different. That much was obvious.

Some might be going on vacation, chasing a good time and a change of scenery. Others might be flying to the States because they had no choice—trying to earn a living, looking for a foothold. And some might be headed there to carve out something bigger for themselves.

After all, the U.S. was a developed country—more opportunities, more money moving around. Maybe today they were riding in coach like everyone else, and tomorrow, in the blink of an eye, they’d have a private jet of their own.

Everything was an opportunity, and everything was unknown. Catch the right break and you could get rich overnight. Miss it, and you could be the one who gets crushed. It felt like fate playing its hand in the background. Anyone stepping into a new society and taking it on had to be ready for that—getting rich overnight or getting torn apart. Either way, it was a choice they were making.

Thinking about all that, Shidian couldn’t help but feel it in his gut. He was just a student. Somehow he’d ended up seeing the professor’s stone, and the professor had asked him to help track down a stolen treasure. He was still in school—no special skills, no connections—so why did the professor trust him?

Something that could’ve been shipped over with a courier, and instead the professor insisted the three of them go in person. And whatever the professor might be keeping from him and Chen Rui—that was something he needed to figure out.

Lately, more and more strange things had been happening. The stranger it got, the less it made sense, and the more careful he needed to be. He wasn’t a kid anymore. He had to stay alert and know how to protect himself—especially with Chen Rui and Chen Xinxin right there with him. He couldn’t let anything happen to them.

“Sir, is there anything else I can help you with?” a flight attendant walked over and asked Shi Dian.

“No, thank you.” Shi Dian gave a small nod in appreciation.

“Wait.” Chen Xinxin suddenly called out to the flight attendant who was about to leave. “Bring us three glasses of red wine!”

“What do you need red wine for?” Chen Rui asked, a little puzzled.

Chen Xinxin shot her brother a look of pure disgust. “To drink it. What else?”

“Uh…” When you put it that way, there really wasn’t anything to argue with. Shi Dian and Chen Rui could only look helpless.

“Hello, your red wine,” the flight attendant said, returning quickly with the drinks.

“Thanks.” Chen Xinxin happily lifted her glass.

Shi Dian and Chen Rui were resigned, but if she wanted to drink, they’d drink with her. A little wine wasn’t a big deal.

“Hold on, Xinxin.” Chen Rui frowned, still confused. “You still haven’t said why we’re drinking red wine.”

“You’re my brother and you still don’t get it—your brain never kicks into gear.” Chen Xinxin looked at him like he was hopeless. “It’s our first time on a plane and our first time going to the States. Of course we should have a glass of red wine to celebrate.”

“Uh…” Shi Dian was completely defeated by this girl. She wasn’t wrong, even if it didn’t feel all that necessary. But since she wanted to drink, they’d go along with it. It wasn’t a big deal.

“You two don’t know the first thing about romance,” Chen Xinxin said, giving them both a look of contempt.

Even though it was their first trip to the States, the unknown journey ahead—and whatever awaited them—left no one feeling truly sure. And the less certain they were, the more dangerous what they might face could be.

A faint uneasiness crept into Shi Dian’s chest.

The three of them clinked glasses on the plane and downed the red wine in one go—both to celebrate their first trip to the States and to steady each other’s nerves. No matter what dangers lay ahead, the three of them would stand together, help each other, and get through it all.

Shidian downed his drink in one gulp, then said, “This trip is supposed to help the professor recover what was stolen—the Moon Wheel tablet. But I’ve got this nagging feeling it’s not going to be simple, and it definitely won’t be easy. Even if we’re heading to the States—supposedly a great vacation spot—I’m afraid we won’t actually get any time to enjoy it.”

“Exactly,” Chen Rui agreed. “Xinxin’s right. The professor asking two people like us—who haven’t even really stepped into the real world yet—to help him has to mean something. And I’m guessing this is way more complicated, and way more dangerous, than we think. We need to be mentally prepared. If things go sideways, we leave.”

“No,” Shidian shot back, clearly not having it. “If we already promised the professor, then we have to follow through. That’s the kind of responsibility a college student today should have.”

“Alright, alright,” Chen Rui said, already irritated the moment Shidian started on that stuff. “Yeah, yeah—you’re patriotic. You can stop.”

“That’s not the main point,” Shidian said with a grin.

“Oh? There’s something else in that head of yours besides that?” Chen Rui asked, giving him a look full of contempt.

“Uh…” Chen Rui’s question left Shidian awkwardly stuck—because, honestly, he did tend to say those lines a lot.

“Don’t you want to know why the professor picked us—well, not just the two of us. The three of us. What’s his real reason?”

Shidian hurried to steer the conversation elsewhere.

“Yeah, that’s true,” Chen Xinxin chimed in right away. “I really want to know what the professor’s up to. I always feel like he’s got some agenda we haven’t even imagined—something we haven’t seen at all. I want to know all of it. And this Moon-whatever stone—this mysterious thing—what even is it?”

“Fine, fine, fine. I swear, you two,” Chen Rui said, like he’d just figured something out. He looked at Chen Xinxin, then at Shidian, making both of them flush. “You’re really playing off each other, huh, little sis?”

“All right, all right—let’s be serious.” Shi Dian quickly cut Chen Rui off. If he let that punk keep talking, who knew what would come out next. Better to make him hit the brakes now.

“So, on this trip, we’ve got to stay on high alert,” Shi Dian stressed to Chen Rui and Chen Xinxin. They both agreed. This was the farthest they’d ever traveled, and they were heading somewhere unfamiliar—different surroundings, different language. They had to look out for themselves.

“Okay, so how do we stay on high alert?” Chen Xinxin asked, her face serious.

“Hmm…” Shi Dian lowered his head, thinking. Then he suddenly looked up and pointed at a guy sitting diagonally in front of them, fast asleep. “See that guy?”

Chen Xinxin nodded, confused. Yeah, she saw him—so what? Chen Rui and Chen Xinxin both had no idea what Shi Dian was getting at.

“Look at his skin,” Shi Dian said.

“It’s pretty dark,” Chen Xinxin answered, taking the question seriously.

“Dark, right?” Shi Dian kept a straight face. “And what does dark usually mean?”

“Unknown. Hidden,” Chen Rui replied.

“Exactly,” Shi Dian said. “So how do we stay alert? When we see a guy like that, we shouldn’t think, ‘Wow, he’s really dark.’ We should think, ‘Under that dark exterior… is there a white guy’s face? Does he have some other agenda?’”

“Uh… no, man. You okay? You seriously just said that out loud?” Chen Rui and Chen Xinxin had been confused, but the second Shi Dian said that, their confusion turned into pure disgust. “Are you for real? You’re really gonna say something that stupid? What if you mess things up and ruin my sister’s future happiness?”

The moment he finished, “BANG…” Chen Rui got smacked hard on the back of the head. Chen Xinxin glared at him, cheeks puffed out. “What, are you trying to sell me off now? What are you even saying? Seriously.”

Chen Rui and Chen Xinxin had the whole group cracking up right away. Even though the joke was at his expense, it didn’t feel nearly as awkward anymore—after all, the one actually hurting wasn’t him. It was Chen Rui, and that was his problem.

“Ow! Ow! Ow!” Chen Xinxin didn’t hold back at all. Chen Rui yelped like crazy. “Xinxin, are you really my little sister? Why are you hitting me so hard? Are you trying to murder your own brother?”

“Maybe don’t act like such an idiot,” Chen Xinxin snapped, turning her head away.

Seeing she was genuinely mad, Chen Rui hurried to apologize. “Okay, okay, my dear little sister—my bad. I was wrong. I promise, for sure, absolutely, one hundred percent, I’ll never joke about you again. Deal? Please?”

Only after he owned up properly did Chen Xinxin look back. But to everyone’s surprise, she immediately smacked him on the head again. “That’s more like it. Since you promised, I’ll forgive you—barely. And I’ll barely let you keep being my brother, too.”

“Sure, sure,” Chen Rui said quickly, grinning and nodding at her. “Then this ‘barely’ brother thanks you for your incredible mercy.”

The others nearby couldn’t help laughing. Watching the scene, the tension from earlier had almost completely faded.