# 1417
Chapter 1418: The Crashing Helicopter
Beep—beep—beep—!!
A sharp alarm blared through the cockpit of the transport helicopter, red warning lights flashing continuously as the two pilots frantically worked the control panels, trying to stabilize the aircraft.
"Unit 2, Unit 2! Report the status inside the cabin!" One pilot opened the comms and asked coldly.
"Damn it! Something bit through while we were breaking through the blockade and has been latched onto the cabin chain gun—" The pilot was cut off by a barrage of gunfire. "We can't handle it! It's chewing through the tail rotor!"
"Whatever it takes, get rid of it! This is something Commander Zuo specifically ordered us to deliver... We went through hell to break out of the Chennan Pass battlefield. We absolutely cannot be destroyed here!"
One pilot shouted with bloodshot eyes.
BANG—!!
A deafening roar echoed from inside the cabin, thick smoke billowing back as the helicopter swayed wildly in the air, plummeting rapidly toward the sea below!
"We... static... failed..." Broken transmissions came through the radio, the relentless alarms nearly drowning them out entirely!
"Shit!" One pilot cursed furiously.
"The aircraft's out of control, we're going down..." The other pilot's face twisted with bitterness. "Didn't die fighting those Heavenly Temple bastards at Chennan Pass, and now we're going to die in a crash over Great Xia waters... Should've known better than to come."
"It's a shame these supplies won't make it..."
"Look! There's an island ahead!" Just as one man was about to give in to despair, his peripheral vision caught a faint outline of an island on the horizon.
"Useless—it's too far. At our descent rate, we'll never make it..."
As the two pilots stared in near-total despair, the transport plane hurtled toward the sea. Given the aircraft's size and falling speed, hitting the water would be no different from hitting concrete. Crash and death were inevitable.
Just as they prepared to close their eyes and meet their end, an invisible force suddenly gripped the descending fuselage, suspending it at more than ten meters above the sea's surface, propelling it forward at impossible speed in a way that defied all laws of physics!
"What happened? Did power come back?"
"No... no, it didn't." One pilot swallowed hard, bewildered. "That's not right, power hasn't restored—"
"Am I seeing things?" The other pilot rubbed his eyes. "We're... we seem to be getting closer to that Island?"
...
Dawn's faint light rose from the edge of the horizon.
Lin Qiye, who had been standing lost in thought by the shore all night, slowly opened his eyes as if sensing something, and abruptly turned to look in a certain direction.
"Helicopter?!"
Lin Qiye jumped to his feet from the beach. In his spiritual perception, a damaged transport helicopter was hurtling toward this island at incredible speed!
"A helicopter? Where did a helicopter come from in this place?" Cao Yuan, who had just emerged from the air-raid shelter, asked with confusion.
He turned to look, and indeed, a dark silhouette was rapidly approaching against the pale, fish-belly-white sky!
"Wait... this entire area is restricted airspace. How would a helicopter pass through here?" An Qingyu adjusted her glasses, a gray glint flickering in her eyes. "And that helicopter appears to be already damaged. The rotors aren't even spinning—how is it flying?"
As they spoke, the helicopter roared across the sea, heading straight toward them!
"It's a Chennan Pass aircraft!"
Recognizing the markings on the transport plane, Lin Qiye quickly raised his hand. A swathe of night sky materialized beneath the incoming giant fuselage, cradling it and spinning it in a half-circle to dissipate its momentum, then gently lowering it onto the sand.
Cao Yuan strode forward, about to search for casualties, when an alarmed shout came from behind him:
"Careful! There's something inside!"
SSSSSCR—!!
A figure the thickness of a water bucket shot out from the shattered cabin door in a blur of crimson, hurtling straight toward Cao Yuan's face. A divine beast-level aura swept outward like a tide!
Cao Yuan's pupils contracted sharply, his hand instantly finding the hilt of his Straight Blade, about to draw—
A Sky-Piercer Halberd descended from the heavens, skewering the crimson blur and pinning it into the sand dozens of meters away!
Cold sweat dripped down Cao Yuan's brow. Only now did he get a clear look at that crimson figure's true form.
It was a sixteen-legged crawling creature!
The red crawler, pinned to the ground by the Sky-Piercer Halberd, let out a sharp shriek—then tore itself cleanly in half to escape.
But before they could take any further action, a black iron staff came crashing down, gouging a hideous crack across the beach and the nearby sea simultaneously!
Nie Jinshan's expression was blank as he pulled the black rod free. The red crawler had been crushed into a bloody paste, utterly destroyed. The Sky-Piercer Halberd flew back on its own to Tang Yusheng, who stood on a nearby reef. His face was阴沉.
"Another divine beast raised by the Heavenly Temple?" Li Kengqiang stepped out from nothingness, crouching to examine the mangled corpse, muttering to himself.
"There are still survivors inside."
Lin Qiye's spiritual sense swept over the plane. He quickly opened the cockpit door. Through billowing smoke, two figures stumbled out, completely disoriented from the violent turbulence.
Baili Pangpang walked into the rear cabin, scanned the area, and shook his head at Lin Qiye with resignation.
Besides these two in the cockpit, all other personnel had perished.
Lin Qiye helped the two to sit on the beach. One of them had already snapped back to reality, looking around in bewilderment:
"Where... where is this? Weren't we about to crash? How did we get here?"
"That doesn't matter." Lin Qiye pulled his Coat of Arms from his chest, speaking with gravity. "I'm Lin Qiye, captain of the Great Xia Night Watch's [Nightfall] squad. What happened to you?"
"[Nightfall]?! You're [Nightfall]??"
Upon hearing the name, relief flooded the pilot's face. "We're the Chennan Pass mobile transport team! We just broke through enemy lines from the front and were ordered by Commander Zuo to carry out a mission!"
"The front?" Cao Yuan frowned. "Which front?"
"Chennan Pass, of course!"
"What happened at Chennan Pass?"
The pilot looked at Lin Qiye and the others with confusion. "The Heavenly Temple has invaded Great Xia. Chennan Pass is about to fall... Didn't you know?"
Upon hearing these words, Lin Qiye and the others felt their hearts sink!