I'm in Conan, I'm not a gangster

Chapter 656 First, rule out the possibility that they called the police (1st update)
Inside the cockpit, the piercing alarm continued to sound intermittently, and various indicator lights on the instrument panel flashed erratically, reflecting the pale face of the captain's corpse and the messy scene inside the cabin. The atmosphere was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.

When Shiraishi E said, "The captain is dead, does anyone here know how to fly a plane?", Sato Miwako, Miyamoto Yumi, and Miike Naeko, who had just cautiously followed into the cockpit, were instantly struck as if by lightning, their faces turning deathly pale!
"Fly...fly a plane?!" Yumi Miyamoto's voice suddenly rose, filled with disbelief and terror: "How could we possibly fly something like this?! We're doomed! We're really going to die!"

Looking at the densely packed, dazzling dashboard and joysticks in front of her, she felt dizzy.

Sato Miwako panicked, her forced composure completely crumbling: "We police officers only learn to drive and basic hand-to-hand combat and shooting... flying a plane... that's not even in our training! What do we do now?!"

She instinctively looked out the window, where the endless night and clouds stretched out below, and a sense of dread gripped her heart.

Miike Naeko was so frightened that her legs went weak and she almost collapsed again. She said in a tearful voice, "Yeah... why are the police learning this... Shiraishi-kun... are we going to crash?"

Just as the three were in despair, thinking they were doomed, they saw Shiraishi E unceremoniously drag the captain's body away from the pilot's seat and sit down on it herself.

As he quickly scanned the complex instrument panel, his hands began to skillfully operate the various buttons, switches, and joysticks as if they had a mind of their own, and he even had the leisure to ask in a slightly doubtful tone, "Don't you police officers learn to fly planes? I thought this was a basic skill."

"Basic skills?!" The three policewomen screamed almost in unison, shaking their heads vigorously. "What do you mean 'basic'?!"

Miike Naeko watched Shiraishi E's smooth and unwavering operation, as if he were born knowing the function of each button.

She couldn't help but ask in a trembling voice, "Shiraishi-kun...where...where did you learn to fly a plane?"

Without turning her head, Shiraishi E stared intently ahead, her fingers flying across the autopilot panel as she casually replied, "In Hawaii... never mind, that's a tired joke. Anyway, I didn't learn it in Hawaii."

His answer was as baffling as ever, but the three of them didn't have time to delve into it at the moment.

They held their breath, watching Shiraishi E's actions with extreme tension, fearing that a single mistake would cause this behemoth to lose control.

After a series of dazzling maneuvers, Shiraishi E pressed the last button forcefully.

With a slight humming sound, the indicator light on the dashboard that represents autonomous driving lit up with a steady green light.

The aircraft, which had become slightly unstable due to the loss of human control, instantly regained its stability.

"Alright." Shiraishi E released the control stick, clapped her hands, as if she had just finished a trivial matter: "Autopilot mode is set, and the destination has been temporarily locked to the nearest backup airport."

"As long as you don't accidentally touch those buttons, it will fly over by itself."

This unexpected turn of events left Sato Miwako, Miyamoto Yumi, and Miike Naeko completely dumbfounded!

The immense joy of surviving the ordeal and the unbelievable shock instantly overwhelmed their tense nerves.

"That's...that's amazing!!" Yumi Miyamoto was the first to shout excitedly, and couldn't help but clap her hands.

"Really...we're saved! Shiraishi-kun, you're amazing!" Sato Miwako breathed a sigh of relief, a relieved smile spreading across her face.

Even Miike Naoko stopped crying and smiled, wiping away her tears while quietly clapping her hands: "That's great...we're finally saved."

At this moment, she had already forgotten who had agreed to go drinking, which led to this whole series of events.

Faced with the three people's sincere praise and applause, Shiraishi E simply waved her hand dismissively, saying in a relaxed tone, "Basic operation, just basic operation, nothing special."

The crisis was temporarily averted, and the group returned to the passenger cabin area.

Looking at the "goods" who were still bound, unconscious or semi-conscious, Sato Miwako stepped forward and prepared to tear off the tape from the mouth of the young woman closest to her.

"Wait a minute." Shiraishi E pulled her back again.

Under Sato Miwako's questioning gaze, Shiraishi E took out several bandit masks from his seemingly all-encompassing travel bag and handed one to each of Sato Miwako, Miyamoto Yumi, and Miike Naeko, and finally took one for himself.

"Take this with you." Shiraishi E's tone left no room for argument.

"Wearing a mask? Why?" Miyamoto Yumi asked, puzzled.

Shiraishi pointed to the passengers in the cabin who were gradually showing signs of waking up and calmly analyzed, "We don't know anything about these people."

"Although they are victims, who can guarantee that they won't inadvertently reveal our appearance after they get out? This human trafficking group has a huge power behind it, and its protectors may be everywhere."

"You don't want to be targeted by those people and suffer endless retaliation, do you?"

“In fact, from a legal perspective, many aspects of our actions today are in a gray area or are even clearly illegal.”

"Concealing our appearance is both to protect ourselves and to avoid unnecessary trouble."

These words were like a bucket of cold water poured over them, instantly calming the three policewomen down from their initial fervor of saving lives.

They looked at each other, and in each other's eyes they saw lingering fear and agreement.

Indeed, their actions—acting on their own, resorting to vigilante justice, robbing gangs, hijacking planes—any one of these could be enough to land them in serious trouble. They certainly don't want to lose their badges or even end up in jail.

"I...I don't want to be retaliated against," Miike Naeko said softly, taking the mask first.

“I don’t want to go to jail either.” Miyamoto Yumi sighed and took the mask.

Sato Miwako was silent for a moment, then nodded heavily and took the mask: "You're right, it's better to be cautious... Although it's not a good thing to shift the blame to others, it's fine if we shift it to the ruthless bandit Azu."

Yumi Miyamoto nodded and said, "Yeah, that guy does all sorts of evil things!"

Miike Naeko agreed, "Anyway, he won't jump out to refute it."

Shiraishi E smiled without saying a word, but simply put on the bandit mask.

The other three girls also put on masks, which concealed their faces, leaving only their eyes and mouths visible.

Seeing this, Shiraishi nodded in satisfaction: "Alright, now we can start rescuing them." They quickly began to untie the passengers, tear off the tape, and remove the blindfolds... Of course, the four human traffickers did not receive this treatment.

The passengers were in different conditions: some were still in a deep coma under the influence of the drugs; some had a higher resistance to the drugs and had slowly woken up, their eyes glazed and filled with fear; and some had a relatively lower resistance and were still struggling between sleep and wakefulness.

As the passengers gradually regained consciousness, they realized they were on an airplane at an altitude of 10,000 meters, their hands and feet had just been released, and their memories were still stuck in the terrifying moment of being kidnapped. They immediately panicked, letting out suppressed sobs and terrified whispers.

"Quiet! Everyone, quiet!" Sato Miwako, wearing a mask, tried to make her voice sound calm and powerful: "You are safe! Your kidnappers have been apprehended! Please don't panic, stay calm!"

Yumi Miyamoto quickly reassured them, "Yes, we're here to rescue you! The plane will land at the nearest airport, and we'll get you out of here safely! Please cooperate with us and keep order!"

Although the masked thugs looked somewhat strange, their calm words and effective actions gradually took effect.

The passengers' panic gradually subsided. Although they were still afraid, they at least stopped agitating and began to look at the four mysterious white-masked men with eyes full of gratitude and relief.

The atmosphere in the cabin gradually warmed up from the despairing coldness, and everyone began to share how they had been kidnapped.

How were you kidnapped?

"I was approached by a pretty girl, and after two rounds of drinks, I was taken to a hotel. What about you?"

"I was walking home when someone pulled me into their car."

"You guys were right. I was resting at home when suddenly someone rushed in and pinned me down."

"........."

After exchanging ideas, everyone realized that the methods of kidnapping were varied and unconventional.

At that moment, a faint but continuous "beep beep beep" warning sound came from the direction of the cockpit, breaking the temporary calm.

The observant Miike Naeko was the first to notice the unusual sound. She nervously tugged at Shiraishi E's sleeve and whispered, "Shiraishi-kun... there seems to be a sound coming from the cockpit? Is... something wrong?"

Shiraishi E immediately stood up: "I'll go take a look."

He quickly returned to the cockpit, where a red indicator light on the main communications console was flashing continuously, accompanied by regular beeping sounds. The screen showed that it was requesting voice communication from the ground control tower.

Shiraishi E took a deep breath, adjusted her throat muscles, and tried her best to imitate the captain's slightly hoarse voice from her memory, then pressed the call button: "This is flight XXX, please speak. What is the matter?"

His ability to imitate is extremely strong, but subtle differences may be obvious to professionals.

An eerie silence fell over the other end of the communicator for two or three seconds, with only the hissing of electricity.

Then, a cold, emotionless voice replied briefly: "Received. Nothing."

Immediately afterwards, the communication was unilaterally cut off by the other party, leaving only a busy tone.

Shiraishi looked at the now silent control panel, sighed helplessly, took off her mask and rubbed her temples: "Tsk... How come this person's ears are so sharp? They didn't even give me a chance to argue or stall... This is bad, our identities have definitely been exposed."

The tower controllers clearly sensed something was wrong with the sound and acted swiftly and decisively, without hesitation.

He returned to the cabin and briefly explained the situation. Miyamoto Yumi immediately turned pale with alarm and anxiously grabbed her arm: "Our identities have been exposed?! What, what should we do next? Will the control tower sound the alarm? Will we be intercepted by fighter jets?"

Shiraishi stroked her chin, her tone carrying a dark humor: "First, we can rule out the option of them calling the police and patiently waiting for them to handle us."

Miwako Sato's expression was not good as she recalled what happened on the deserted island at Koshien Stadium.

Her voice was hoarse as she said, "Call the police? How could they possibly call the police... To them, we are the biggest trouble and the biggest evidence. The more likely scenario is... to silence us."

She paused for a moment: "Maybe... they'll use unconventional methods, such as... guiding us to crash 'accidentally,' or... more directly, bombing us with missiles to ensure that we, the plane, and all the 'evidence' are completely destroyed."

"A missile?!" Miyamoto Yumi and Miike Naeko were terrified by this terrible possibility, exclaiming in unison, their voices trembling.

Yumi Miyamoto, her face deathly pale, shook her head violently: "Miwako! Don't, don't joke like that! This isn't funny at all!! How could you shoot down a passenger plane with a missile?!"

Miike Naeko was also trembling with fear: "Y-yes...that's outrageous..."

Sato Miwako's face showed no sign of joking, only extreme seriousness and a hint of lingering fear. She looked earnestly at her two friends: "I'm not joking with you!"

"Do you remember what I told you about Koshien before? Shiraishi-kun, where did you and the others go?"
"Shiraishi-kun, where are you going?" Sato Miwako asked hurriedly.

Without turning her head, Shiraishi said, "While I was organizing things in the warehouse just now, I noticed a few sealed military packages in the corner with parachute markings on them. I'll go get them and see if they're usable."

Of course, this was all a ruse; he had to go to the cargo warehouse and fill it with parachutes.

Otherwise, everyone on this plane is doomed!
"Parachute?!?"

These words struck the three policewomen like a thunderbolt!
I was just speculating about a possible missile attack, and now Shiraishi is actually preparing a parachute?! Doesn't that confirm her worst-case scenario?!
Miike Naeko panicked instantly, her voice trembling with tears: "It's all over... Parachuting?! I... I've never learned to parachute! What do I do?!"

Yumi Miyamoto, as if all her strength had been drained, slumped back in her chair, her face filled with despair: "Who has ever learned this?! I haven't learned it either! Am I doomed?!"

For someone who has never learned to skydive, jumping out with a parachute is almost tantamount to suicide.

Sato Miwako looked at her two friends, whose faces were ashen, and then at Shiraishi E's departing figure.

She suppressed her immense fear, forcing a smile that looked more like a grimace than a cry, trying to reassure everyone and herself. Her voice trembled as she said, "This... this... skydiving... it shouldn't be too difficult, right?"

"On TV, it looks like... you just pull the rope, right? With a 'pop,' it unfolds... and then it slowly slows down and comes down."

But her own trembling voice and pale face, her voice growing softer and softer, couldn't even convince herself.

(End of this chapter)