Book 2: Chapter 74 - Take Qian Li
Love Code At the End of The World
Xue Gie’s superpower was actually very powerful. Not only could she control rainwater like I had seen previously, but she could also control snowflakes. Hence, Raffles told me to bring Xue Gie with me just in case.
When I arrived at the hangar, I saw Sis Ceci and Uncle Mason.
Sis Ceci was patting down two thick overcoats that looked like they were made of some animal skin. One was white and the other one was black.
Uncle Mason leaned against Ice Dragon and said, “Waifu, say something for your son.”
“What’s there to say?” Sis Ceci shook the overcoat at Uncle Mason. The hair on it was sent flying at Uncle Mason, making him sneeze. “Ah-choo! Help your son. Talk to Luo Bing so that she would forgive him.”
“He deserved it!” Sis Ceci threw the overcoat that she had patted down to Uncle Mason and continued with the other one.
“How old is our son? He only wanted to make Luo Bing happy but he didn’t use the correct way. His intention was good.”
*Bang!* Sis Ceci shook the other overcoat at Uncle Mason and retorted glumly, “How old? He is going to be eighteen after the new year! He has to take responsibility for what he’s done wrong! Tell him to apologize on his own. I won’t help him!”
“He just wants to keep his face!” Uncle Mason said softly. “Not like you don’t know our son. Seventeen years old is when a young man wants his face the most! You saw how troubled he feels recently. He’s just like back then when you ignored me. I reckon our silly son still doesn’t know that it’s real!”
“Captain!” Xue Gie came to stand next to me, cutting off Uncle Mason’s speech.
Since Xue Gie had come, I couldn’t eavesdrop anymore.
I looked at her and her eyes were shimmering. I gestured for her to move forward with me. “Let’s go!”
“Yes!” She looked extremely energetic. I didn’t know if it was because she was going on a mission or if it was because she had patched things over with Bill.
I walked out of the tunnel with her. Uncle Mason coughed awkwardly into his hand.
Sis Ceci greeted us and placed the white overcoat over me. She looked at me with a gentle gaze. “It’s cold outside. Put this on.”
I looked at the other one in Uncle Mason’s hand. Uncle Mason passed it to me. “This is for Qian Li.”
“For Qian Li?” I looked at them confusedly. “What about Xue Gie?”
Sis Ceci smiled.
“I don’t feel cold, Captain,” Xue Gie said expressionlessly.
I was shocked. It turned out that Xue Gie wasn’t afraid of the cold.
“Hurry up and return soon!” Sis Ceci commanded solemnly.
Xue Gie and I nodded. Then, I took the black overcoat and walked to Ice Dragon.
Ice Dragon started up its engine and opened the cabin door as I approached it.
“Uh, Luo Bing…” Uncle Mason called me. When I turned to look, he was being dragged away by Sis Ceci. “Let me finish my sentence!”
“Stop being a busybody! Don’t disturb Luo Bing! They are going on a mission!” Sis Ceci dragged Uncle Mason away.
I pulled the overcoat tighter around me and turned to enter Ice Dragon.
The cabin door closed as Xue Gie stood dumbfounded inside Ice Dragon. Her eyes were glowing with excitement. She had never entered Ice Dragon before, nor had she driven any flying vehicle or spaceship. Even though she had gone through training, she had only been using the mock flying system. How could it feel the same as the real thing?
“Xue Gie, sit down,” I told her. She came back to reality and followed me to the pilot seat.
When I sat down, I realized that my operating lever had been installed and there was even a bitten apple logo on it. I held the operating lever and felt strange. Now there would always be the image of a cucumber in my head whenever I held it.
At first, I had requested for Raffles to install an operating lever for me because I hadn’t been used to Ice Dragon’s controls. However, after he had installed it, it made me feel awkward as he used to constantly emphasize its thickness being like a cucumber.
Xue Gie sat down carefully on what had been Harry’s seat. The back of the seat molded against her body, frightening her. I extended my arm to pat her thigh. “Don’t panic.”
She looked at me and the anxiety in her eyes slowly dispersed, and she regained her calm.
Then, the protective shield of the cockpit shone, displaying data in front of us. Xue Gie focused on the view before her and started to get excited.
“Oh, long time no see, my dear Bing Bing.” Ice Dragon appeared before me and flashed me a cunning smile. “The temperature outside is falling sharply. It is not suitable weather for heading out for sunshine.”
“Save your bullshit. Let’s go.” I held the operating lever and Ice Dragon rose up.
As Ice Dragon took off, I did feel a drastic change in temperature. It was as though the spaceship had taken off at the hot Hainan and emerged in the freezing Beijing.
“Ice Dragon, don’t you have a heating system?” As we flew out from Noah City, I saw the unusually pale sky. I had never seen such weather. The blue in the sky seemed to have bleached out by something, so glaringly white it was like a huge white paper had covered up our sky.
My breath condensed in the air as I spoke. I looked at Xue Gie, who was dressed in her usual uniform. She didn’t look like she was suffering from the cold at all. On the contrary, her eyes were glistening with excitement.
The coming snowstorm seemed to make Xue Gie extremely excited.
“Er.” Ice Dragon shrugged. “You have to ask my designer.”
“Connect Raffles,” I said while Ice Dragon continued to travel forward.
Xue Gie looked around wonderingly, her eyes reflecting the pale sky outside. The far away sky looked like a drop of ink had just dispersed in clear water, gradually tinting the sky a gloomy grey color.
Raffles’ image appeared before me. “Luo Bing, how’s the weather outside?”
“Why didn’t you install an air conditioner in Ice Dragon?” I thought it was unreasonable. The planes back in my world had air conditioning.
Raffles was stunned and he blushed. He seemed to be ashamed that he had committed such a mistake despite having two brains. He stole a glance at me bashfully and looked away. “We don’t have any raw material to make freon.”
It was my turn to be stunned. I had totally forgotten that I was at the end of the world. People couldn’t even eat well and dress well. Who would have the time to research air conditioning? Something that had seemed so normal and easy to get in my own world was so difficult to get here.
Well, it’s okay. Freon ain’t anything great.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know. It’s okay, I’m not cold.” I felt that I had asked a stupid question.
He looked at me confused. “Luo Bing, the air conditioner turned obsolete a hundred years ago because freon damaged the atmospheric layer too badly. How did you know about air conditioning?”
I froze. Oops. I said something wrong again.
“I…” I didn’t know what to say.
“However, there’s no air conditioning now, so if we only made one or two, it shouldn’t cause much damage to the atmosphere…” He started thinking aloud to himself and didn’t pursue the question further. I let out a breath of relief.