Legendary Captain

Chapter 183 King vs. King! Calamity vs. Calamity! (Seeking monthly votes!)

"Huh?" Qin Yue's wrist was grabbed by Xu Xian, and his expression tightened. He noticed that Xu Xian was covering his ears and immediately understood: "You're having ear compression?"

Despite the excruciating pain, Xu Xian repeated, "Don't lower it too fast, my ears hurt too much."

"Is it because of a cold?" Feng Jun looked at Xu Xian's almost distorted facial features, and felt pain just looking at them.

Xu Xian still doesn't know the cause. Most people know that a cold can worsen ear pressure symptoms. However, Xu Xian never expected it to hurt this much.

I remember confidently telling myself before the flight that a minor cold would be nothing serious. It turned out that the cold itself was nothing serious, but the ear pressure caused by the cold was a big deal.

"Star Travel 6778, I'm turning right to heading 270, let's maneuver a bit." Xu Xian's facial features were all scrunched up. If he continued to descend at such a high rate, Qin Yue was really worried that Xu Xian's eardrums would be damaged.

Ear pressure generally doesn't cause serious consequences, except for some discomfort. However, Qin Yue had heard of pilots whose eardrums ruptured from ear pressure.

A minor eardrum rupture can heal on its own, but a more severe rupture requires surgery. Even if the surgery is successful, some patients may still experience hearing loss as a long-term consequence.

The physical requirements for pilots include not only vision requirements, but also hearing requirements, even though an electronic hearing test is only required once every four years.

It's clear that Yunnan Airport is quite quiet at this time. Not only are there very few planes approaching, but there are also very few ground takeoffs; otherwise, Xu Xian and his team would be continuing their approach at this point.

"Quickly check, deploy wheels, flaps fifteen!" Qin Yue gave the order: "After deploying, change personnel, there's nothing else to do."

Xu Xian didn't persist. The pain in his ear came in waves, as if a giant hand was pinching and squeezing his head, and he really couldn't bear it anymore.

After confirming that the speed was not a problem, Xu Xian lowered the landing gear and flap handles to position 15. He waited a little while until both the landing gear indicator light and the flap 15 indicator light turned green before he felt relieved.

"Landing gear down, three green lights; flaps in position, green light! Brother Yue, hand over communications!" This is where Xu Xian's professionalism shines through. Even under these circumstances, Xu Xian still clearly understands the shift in responsibilities.

Qin Yue was in charge of operations, while Xu Xian was in charge of communications. When Xu Xian left his seat, he specifically stated that he was handing over the communications responsibility to Qin Yue, clearly handing over responsibilities to ensure that there would be no ambiguity in communications duties.

This is just a small detail, and there's not much technical skill involved. It just shows that Xu Xian is very meticulous.

Qin Yue smiled and said, "Answer the call! You can get up too!"

Qin Yue's next sentence was addressed to Feng Jun, who was in the observer's seat. Actually, even without Qin Yue's prompting, Feng Jun had already started unbuckling his seatbelt and folding up his seat.

At the same time, Xu Xian unbuckled his seatbelt, pulled the seat back, took out his headphones, and got up to move to the seat that Feng Jun had vacated.

The two exchanged positions in the cockpit entrance corridor. Feng Jun straddled the right seat, while Xu Xian lowered the observer's seat, preparing to sit down and rest for a while.

As soon as Xu Xian sat down, he downed half a bottle of mineral water.

Chewing and swallowing can help relieve ear pressure, but even after swallowing almost all his saliva, Xu Xian still didn't see any significant effect. Once he reached the observer's position, he drank mineral water, which provided some relief.

As soon as Feng Jun sat down and put on his headset, he immediately said, "Answer the communication!"

"Communications!" Qin Yue glanced at Feng Jun's condition and then gave the order: "Check immediately, flaps 30."

"Quickly check, flaps at 30!" Feng Jun quickly got into the zone and, following the instructions, placed the flap handle at the 30 position.

"Flaps 30, green light in place!"

Qin Yue immediately announced: "Landing inspection checklist!"

"Landing checklist: Engine start switch continuous, speed brake pre-position green light, landing gear down (three green lights), flaps in 30% position (green light)! Landing checklist complete! Landing instructions received!"

As Feng Jun finished completing the landing checklist, another voice came from the control tower: "Star Travel 6778, is Xu Xian the co-pilot?"

"Huh?" Xu Xian, who was drying water in the back, was holding a mineral water bottle. His cheeks were bulging, like a hamster looking for food for the winter, and his big eyes were full of confusion.

He didn't even have his headphones plugged in; he only heard his name mentioned from the speaker.

"Me? Did they call me on the radio just now?" Xu Xian swallowed the water in his mouth and asked the two people sitting in front of him.

Feng Jun nodded: "Do you know anyone in the control tower?"

"No!" Xu Xian remembered that he didn't have many friends in the field of regulation.

Just then, the control tower repeated its message: "Star Travel 6778, is Xu Xian up there?"

This time, the words were clear and distinct, reaching Xu Xian's ears perfectly.

"It really is me! Or is it just a coincidence of names?" Xu Xian quickly plugged in his earphones, thinking that even if the names were the same, the flight numbers wouldn't be.

Moreover, the sound of the traffic control seems a bit familiar.

"1,000 feet, landing configuration complete, stable approach! Lights on, clear for landing!" Feng Jun did not answer the tower's question, clearly leaving it for Xu Xian to handle.

"Stable approach confirmed!" Qin Yue was already wiping his hands with a damp towel to remove the sweat from his palms so that he wouldn't slip when holding the plate later.

While wiping his hands, Qin Yue still had the mind to joke with Xu Xian: "Didn't you say you didn't recognize anyone? I was calling you just now, right? I shouldn't have made a mistake."

Xu Xian rubbed his right ear, put on his headphones, and asked Qin Yue, "Shall I call back?"

Despite the conversation being unrelated to work, Xu Xian still politely sought the captain's opinion.

Qin Yue shrugged: "Whatever you want, it's not a big deal."

With Qin Yue's permission, Xu Xian returned to the control tower: "Hello, this is Xu Xian. How can I help you?"

Shortly after Xu Xian replied, the control tower spoke up: "I'm the control tower from the day of the emergency landing on the Kunyang River. If it's convenient for you, could you call the control tower after we arrive at the port?"

As the base airport for Star Travel Airlines, most of the pilots have their aircraft numbers registered with the Dianyun Airport control tower, so the control tower isn't worried that Xu Xian doesn't know.

"Ah? It's him? No wonder his voice sounded familiar." Xu Xian suddenly realized.

The control tower currently in operation is none other than Zheng Sheng, the same control tower operator who handled the Kunyang River emergency landing incident.

Zheng Sheng actually wanted to give Xu Xian his private phone number, but it would be very inconvenient to expose his private number on a public frequency, so he opted to ask Xu Xian to call the control tower's work number first.

However, Xu Xian, a person who dislikes socializing, was very reluctant to have any interaction with a complete stranger. But he couldn't refuse directly, so he simply said, "We'll talk about it after we land!"

Zheng Sheng didn't press the matter further and didn't reply.

"The air traffic control during the emergency landing?" Qin Yue paused for a moment. "I heard that some people were punished by the air traffic control. Maybe you shouldn't go, so you don't get beaten up."

While the aviation and air traffic control circles have some overlap, they are ultimately two separate fields. Qin Yue had heard that many air traffic controllers were punished during the Kunyang River emergency landing incident, and he feared that this control tower controller might be one of them. What if this person was still angry and wanted to challenge him to a real-life fight? Looking at Xu Xian's thin arms and legs, his fighting ability was probably trash; wouldn't he get beaten up?

Out of concern for Xu Xian's safety, Qin Yue advised Xu Xian to pretend nothing had happened.

"Holy crap, really?! He didn't sound like he wanted to hit me, did he?" Xu Xian shuddered. If what Qin Yue said was true, wouldn't he be targeted by a bunch of guards? What if someone covered him with a sack in the middle of the night, grabbed him, and beat him up?

However, judging from the tone of that person's voice just now, it seems that he was mostly kind and didn't seem like he wanted to hit him with a club.

Qin Yue said earnestly, "You can know a person's face but not their heart! The duty officer at the time was dismissed; you really angered them."

Qin Yue wasn't part of the regulatory circle after all. Even if he had some information, it wasn't specific enough to match the information to the actual situation, so he just used it to intimidate Xu Xian.

Of course, given Qin Yue's life-loving nature, he definitely wouldn't go. Therefore, according to his principles, he would naturally try to persuade Xu Xian.

In this emergency landing incident, the air traffic control's performance was extremely poor. There were problems with the clearance, the duty officer was not present, and if the focus hadn't been entirely on the flight operations, the air traffic control would have been in complete chaos.

"Then I'll have to think about it," Xu Xian said thoughtfully.

"The altitude is 500 feet, the heading is good, and the glide path is good," Feng Jun reminded them at this moment.

"That's enough, we're about to land. Think about it carefully yourself." Qin Yue wiped his hands and the steering wheel, and stopped arguing with Xu Xian, focusing on landing.

Feeling the waves of ear-piercing pain, Xu Xian looked at the now clearly visible track and couldn't help but sigh, "It's finally going to end."

After landing, his ear felt much better. Xu Xian thought that given his condition, he shouldn't fly tomorrow and should take a sick leave. Today's flight happened to have two first officers on board, and if he wasn't feeling well, it wouldn't be a problem if someone else was on board. But tomorrow's flight is a two-person crew, and if his ear pressure worsens again tomorrow, it might cause a crew incapacitation.

Medicine doesn't work very well for colds; it takes time for the cold to clear up. Luckily, I have a three-day rest period after tomorrow's flight, so I'll just take tomorrow off. With the next three days of rest, my cold should be almost completely gone.

On the way out, Qin Yue was still asking Xu Xian with great interest if they had called the control tower. At first, Xu Xian thought Qin Yue was kind and approachable, but as they spent more time together, he found that Qin Yue was incredibly talkative and incessantly chattering, which was really annoying.

"Brother Yue, I didn't hit him!" Xu Xian repeated these words for the third time.

Qin Yue clicked his tongue: "Actually, after thinking about it, not everyone in the control area was punished. It seems one of them even received a reward that day. Maybe it was that person who contacted you, out of gratitude for your great kindness, wanting to share the money with you?"

"A reward? Is it for the control tower operation that day?" Xu Xian asked hurriedly.

"How would I know?" Qin Yue shrugged. "You should make a call and check it out. If it's really something good, it'd be a shame to miss it."

"That makes sense, that makes sense!" Xu Xian thought that if the person who received the reward really contacted him, he would inevitably be treated to a meal, and he could get a free meal.

Xu Xian has always been very enthusiastic about eating and drinking for free.

The car arrived at the company gate, and everyone got out with their boxes. As they were about to part ways, Qin Yue pulled Xu Xian aside and said, "We're both unlucky people, our auras don't match. Look at how badly a simple cold has affected us today. What does that mean? Even God doesn't want us to fly together! In the future, if we're ever scheduled to fly together again, why don't you try your best to skip some shifts?"

Generally speaking, captains have a very busy flight schedule. Even if a captain skips a shift, there's usually no one to cover for them. Therefore, Qin Yue could only ask Xu Xian to put in some effort; there are quite a few people who can cover for a co-pilot who skips a shift.

Those two unlucky old folks shouldn't get together.

Xu Xian's eyes lit up when he heard Qin Yue's words. It was hard for him not to support him! He had caught colds before, so why was his ear pressed so hard?

These two people are definitely incompatible according to the Five Elements; they shouldn't meet, otherwise, some problems might arise.

"Brother Yue, you noticed too? I've got your word in mind, that's exactly what I was thinking too," Xu Xian assured him, patting his chest.

Although Xu Xian wasn't particularly afraid of any mishaps with the plane, it was best to minimize the number of flights. It wasn't like he had a mental problem or was hoping for an emergency.

The two men, who seemed to understand each other perfectly, smiled at each other, creating a scene that was extremely jarring.

"What are you laughing at?"

At that moment, a woman's voice broke in. Qin Yue turned his head and, upon recognizing the person, shuddered: "Li Jinyan! What are you doing here? Weren't you in Tianning?"

The woman named Li Jinyan was extremely tall, even a little shorter than Xu Xian. Her short, dashing hair gave her a rather heroic look.

"Is Yunnan all yours? Can't I come?" Li Jinyan pinched Qin Yue's waist hard, making Xu Xian's heart jump.

Given the situation, Xu Xian felt it was inappropriate to remain on the scene any longer, so he said goodbye to Qin Yue, "Brother Yue, I'll be leaving now."

After saying that, he gave Li Jinyan a polite smile and prepared to leave.

Just as he turned around, Li Jinyan's voice came from behind him again: "Xu Xian, I'll come find you in a couple of days!"

Xu Xian paused, turned around, and pointed to himself: "Looking for me?"

"Yeah! Don't you want to catch up?" Li Jinyan laughed, grabbing Qin Yue's wrist and dragging him toward the parking lot.

Looking bewildered, Qin Yue leaned closer to Li Jinyan and asked, "You two know each other?"

"We've known each other since we were kids!" Li Jinyan said.

"Know him when we were kids? Wait a minute! Isn't your dad...? Could he be that little kid from twenty years ago?" Qin Yue's face was full of shock.

Li Jinyan stopped abruptly, her right hand, which had been gripping Qin Yue's wrist, now seized his collar, pulling him close. "So, you remember this: if you want to live a good life, you'd better not fly with him again. Two troublemakers together, it's no wonder trouble is brewing!"

"Don't get excited, don't get excited!" Qin Yue said with a forced smile, "I didn't know that guy had such a powerful background! I'm already unlucky enough, this guy is even more powerful than me! He was born with special connections, I can't compare, I can't compare!"

Li Jinyan laughed: "You can't beat him in terms of quality, but in terms of quantity, you've left him far behind."

"Likewise, please excuse my embarrassment!" Qin Yue laughed it off, perfectly concealing his awkwardness.

"Stop talking nonsense!" Li Jinyan dragged Qin Yue and started walking again. "What did you mean by leaving without saying goodbye in Tianning last time? If you don't explain yourself clearly today, I'll cripple you!"

"No, no! Getting too angry is bad for your health! Don't tear my clothes, you'll ruin them!"

Accompanied by Qin Yue's miserable howls, the two figures gradually disappeared from Xu Xian's sight.

"What's going on?" Xu Xian was a little confused.

Recalling Li Jinyan's appearance, he shouldn't recognize him. However, there was a strange sense of familiarity about him, which felt quite surreal.

"Forget it, never mind! As long as they're not creditors, it's fine!" Xu Xian's only fear was Xu Jingyang's creditors; the others were all fine.

Clearing his mind of distractions, Xu Xian returned to the preparation room and handed in the mission briefing, fuel manifest, manifest, and data package. He then went directly to see the flight surgeon.

"Are you asking for sick leave?" The flight doctor frowned, looking at Xu Xian, who appeared perfectly normal. "What's wrong?"

"I have a cold, and my ears are sore!"

"Ear pressing? Today?"

Xu Xian nodded: "Just today! My cold isn't serious, but for some reason, the pressure on my ear is particularly bad today, it's almost like I'm losing my ability to breathe!"

"Disabled? That serious?" The flight doctor paused, then asked, "How many days will you need to be on leave? When will it start and when will it end?"

Xu Xian's condition clearly means she can no longer fly; if something goes wrong on the flight, she can't afford the consequences.

"I have a shift tomorrow, and then I have three days off, which should be enough for me to recover," Xu Xian said to the flight doctor, following his own plan.

"Just for one day, right?" the flight doctor confirmed. "Your name is Xu Xian? Is there a number after your name?"

The aviation medical team has already searched for Xu Xian's name on the computer, but with so many people in the entire group, there might be others named Xu Xian, so the aviation medical team needs to confirm the numbers after Xu Xian.

No, there are no numbers.

"Okay!" the flight doctor replied. "I've emailed the dispatch center to cancel your flight tomorrow! However, you need to complete your medical records within 48 hours, including your medical record book, prescription slips, invoices, and sick leave certificate! The hospital you go to must be a public tertiary hospital! We don't recognize small hospitals or private hospitals."

These are all standard procedures, and there's plenty of time to make up for it in two days.

"What if they don't give me a sick leave certificate? I just have a cold." Sick leave certificates from top-tier hospitals aren't issued randomly. Sometimes, hospitals are reluctant to issue sick leave certificates for minor illnesses.

"If you really can't get a sick leave certificate, just email your squadron leader explaining the situation and copy me. If your squadron leader replies and agrees, then it's fine. But you should still try your best to get the sick leave certificate!" the flight doctor said. "Also, your ear pressure is so severe this time, go back and rest well, don't let it develop into otitis media!"

"Yes, I know!"

After settling his sick leave, Xu Xian left the company building. Remembering the control tower issue, he hesitated for a moment, but decided to return the call first.

Xu Xian had the Dianyun Tower's work landline number saved in his phone's contacts. After dialing it, someone answered after a few rings.

"Hello, I'm the co-pilot of Star Travel 6778."

"I know, I know, Xu Xian, right!" The person on the other end of the phone recognized Xu Xian immediately without him needing to identify himself. A voice came from the other end: "Brother Sheng, over here, Xu Xian!"

After a burst of noise, it seemed like a different person was on the other end of the phone, starting by saying, "Is this Brother Xu Xian?"

"Brother Xu Xian?" Xu Xian got goosebumps all over, but still managed to answer, "It's me! What did you need from the frequency earlier?"

"Brother Xu, this is Zheng Sheng, the control tower operator who spoke to you on the day of the Kunyang River emergency landing! I received a reward from the bureau for that incident. Thinking about it, I didn't really help much; it was all thanks to you, Brother Xu. If it's convenient for you, would you like to go out for a meal together?"

Wow! Is it really possible to get a free meal and drinks?

However, we should still be polite in terms of procedures.

"It's so unfair to make you spend money!"

Zheng Shenghao said generously, "It's nothing, it's nothing! It's all what I should do! Oh, by the way, there's something else I wanted to tell you!"

"What is it? Good news or bad news?" Xu Xian's heart skipped a beat, and he asked instinctively.

"I guess it's a good thing! It's hard to explain over the phone. We can talk about it over dinner, okay?"

"I see!" Xu Xian pretended to wait a moment, seemingly thinking, before finally saying reluctantly, "Then I'm sorry!"

Upon hearing Xu Xian's agreement, Zheng Sheng was overjoyed: "Then, Brother Xu, I'll go find a place. Once I've decided on the location and time, I'll let you know! Could you give me your number? I'll contact you later."

"Oh, okay! I'll tell you then."

"You said it, I'll remember!"

"1536****269! Got it?"

After a pause, the person on the other end of the phone replied, "I've got it!"

"Okay, then let me know when you've made your decision!"

"no problem!"

After hanging up the phone, Xu Xian grinned from ear to ear. He could get another free meal—perfect! And Zheng Sheng said there was some other good news too—wasn't that double happiness?

Could it be that my luck is about to change?

Just as Xu Xian was overjoyed, he felt another sharp pain in his ear.

"Why the hell does this still hurt?"

Qin Yue is a very important person, extremely important! Just as important as Xu Xian!

I need more than a hundred monthly votes!

(End of this chapter)