Legendary Captain

Chapter 245 The Old King Has Passed Away, the New King Ascends the Throne

"Qin Yue? Who is Qin Yue?" Xu Qing thought for a moment, then quickly remembered Qin Yue's identity: "Jin Yan's boyfriend?"

"That's right!" Li Xianyi said, "I did some research on Qin Yue's background before, and his father's name is Qin Fengyuan."

"That's not right! I remember Qin Yue was barely thirty, maybe in his twenties! The timeline doesn't match up!" Xu Qing said, puzzled. If Qin Yue was Qin Fengyuan's son, wouldn't that mean Qin Fengyuan was over fifty when he had his son? Although having a child late in life isn't particularly rare these days, it's still not normal.

"Qin Yue is not Qin Fengyuan's biological son; it seems he was adopted, so there's no issue with his age," Li Xianyi explained. "When we investigated Qin Yue's background, we didn't go into too much detail. I'll have someone investigate again to see if it matches our guess."

It's not impossible that people share the same name.

However, if Qin Yue is indeed the son of flight instructor Qin Fengyuan, even if he is only adopted, it is still a rather wonderful coincidence.

"By the way, I heard that Xu Xian has gotten himself into trouble again."

Xu Qing put his hands behind his head: "It's a huge mess. However, I've taken a quick look at the bureau's report on the incident, and I roughly feel that Xu Xian has done a good job this time."

The preliminary investigation report for Star Cruises 6333 is not yet available; only a report combining statements from air traffic control, Star Cruises operations control, and the crew has been released. Because such reports, relying entirely on the accounts of those involved, contain a significant degree of subjectivity and are often not very reliable.

However, Xu Qing roughly understood the course of events from this report, and thus could roughly understand what role Xu Xian played in this incident.

Based on Xu Qing's experience, Xu Xian shouldn't have to worry about being criticized this time.

Li Xianyi: "It doesn't need to be as complicated as last time?"

Li Xianyi was referring to the previous forced landing incident on the Kunyang River, in which Xu Xian's actions were highly controversial, even dragging Xu Qing into the mess. He heard that this latest incident has caused an even bigger stir than the Kunyang River forced landing, and even Li Xianyi is worried about whether he can clean up Xu Xian's mess.

"Don't worry, this time Xu Xian is going to become famous," Xu Qing laughed. "Really famous!"

Just as Xu Qing and Li Xianyi were chatting, an uninvited guest arrived at the doctor's office in charge of Xu Qing's case: Li Chengyu from Yunnan TV.

Li Chengyu was assigned by the station to handle the issue of Xu Qing's sudden collapse, but like other reporters, he was turned away by Xu Qing's attending physician.

"I've said it so many times, reporters: patients' conditions are private and cannot be disclosed. Have I not been clear enough, or do you have hearing problems?" The doctor was quite annoyed by the constant barrage of reporters, so he spoke very rudely.

Even for journalists, thick skin is a basic requirement, but the doctor's attitude clearly shows that he has developed aversion and hostility towards the journalist community, so any attempt to persuade him will probably be in vain.

Even though he had basically guessed this outcome before he came, the thought of going back empty-handed and guessing that he would get a lecture from the station's leaders again still bothered him.

Li Chengyu wanted to try again, but when he saw the doctor's completely cold expression, he swallowed back the words he was about to say.

Just as Li Chengyu was about to give up, a nurse came to the doctor's office and called out, "Dr. Chen, there's a patient here who needs your help."

"Coming right away." The doctor was startled and quickly went to turn off the computer, then left with the nurse without stopping.

Seeing that the doctor had left, Li Chengyu figured there was no point in staying any longer, so he prepared to leave as well. But just as he stood up, he suddenly sensed something, turned around, and his gaze fell on the doctor's computer screen.

Lee Seung-woo discovered that the doctor's computer was not turned off.

He glanced at the office door, then hurried to the doctor's seat. Looking at the screen, he saw the shutdown page was indeed open, but the computer wasn't actually shutting down. It seemed the doctor had been in such a rush that he assumed he had clicked the shutdown option, when in fact he hadn't.

Many of these doctors' computers are password protected, so even if Li Chengyu turned it back on after shutting it down, he wouldn't be able to log in. That's why the doctor felt safe having a reporter in his office after turning off the computer.

But despite all the planning, the doctor still didn't turn off the computer.

Most hospitals now use electronic medical records, and doctors can access the medical records of all patients under their care on the computer.

Since the doctor had simply turned off his computer, he hadn't even closed the electronic medical record page, which saved Li Chengyu a lot of trouble.

Li Chengyu studied the operation of electronic medical records for a while, quickly found the search box, and after entering Xu Qing's name, Xu Qing's medical records popped up.

In Xu Qing's medical records, a report on hand nerve injury quickly caught Li Chengyu's attention. He wasn't a medical professional, and he couldn't understand many of the technical terms in the report. However, he could understand the descriptions of Xu Qing's symptoms and the diagnostic opinions.

After quickly glancing at the report, Li Chengyu's heart began to pound wildly.

He seems to have stumbled upon some explosive news.

Hamchi Airport tarmac.

After a period of processing, the Star Traveler 6333's body was ready for investigation. Therefore, Cheng Guangyu and Feng Guangrong left the hospital and joined a portion of the investigation team at Xianchi Airport to prepare for on-site investigation.

When Cheng Guangyu and Feng Guangrong arrived at Hamchi Airport, the bureau's investigation team had already begun their work. One of the investigators saw Cheng Guangyu and Feng Guangrong coming and immediately went to greet them.

"Have you figured out the general situation?" Cheng Guangyu gestured with his chin toward the plane and asked the investigators.

The investigator pointed to the plane and said, "Director Cheng, Director Feng, we've roughly figured out the situation. Would you like to hear about it?"

Feng Guangrong glanced at the plane, his brows furrowing slightly: "Let's talk as we walk."

As they spoke, the three of them first arrived at the bottom of the plane's nose, which was the starting point.

"During the flight of Star Trek 6333 through a minefield, it suffered numerous lightning strikes. Sixty-two lightning strikes were found on the radome at the nose alone, thirteen of which penetrated the radome directly. We just tested the weather radar, and it is completely unusable," the investigators said. "Not only at the nose, but also on the engine cowlings, winglets, the top of the vertical tail, and both sides of the horizontal stabilizer, there were numerous lightning strikes."

The outer layer of an aircraft structure is covered with a conductive material, which diverts lightning to the fuselage surface and then carries the current away from the aircraft body, thus avoiding damage to the aircraft structure and harmful effects on onboard equipment.

However, if the intensity of external lightning is too high, the current will directly break through the conductive layer, and in severe cases, it will directly penetrate the structural layer of the machine, just as the investigators said, it broke through the radar dome.

From Cheng Guangyu and Feng Guangrong's visual observation alone, there were numerous tiny pits on the surface of the nose radome. These were all caused by lightning strikes.

Some of these pits only ablated the conductive layer material, while others penetrated the aluminum alloy layer; their severity varied. However, even so, just by looking at them with the naked eye, one could roughly understand how harsh the environment Xu Xian had experienced was.

Suddenly, Cheng Guangyu noticed a very obvious dent on the upper part of the nose radome, which piqued his interest. Pointing to the dent, he asked, "What happened to the dent on the radome?"

Cheng Guangyu's words also drew Feng Guangrong's attention to the dented area. Feng Guangrong was also puzzled; the dented area looked as if the radar dome had collided with something.

The investigators, clearly prepared, immediately offered an explanation: "Director Cheng, according to the crew, while crossing the minefield, they saw a small, spherical object slowly descend to the nose of the aircraft. Upon contact with the radome, it exploded violently, and this dent likely occurred at that moment."

"A small ball of light?" Cheng Guangyu and Feng Guangrong looked at each other, not understanding for a moment what this so-called explosive small ball of light was.

Investigators also seemed somewhat unsure: "The crew described the small, orange-yellow ball of light as descending at a relatively slow speed. It exploded upon contact with the radome surface. Based on these descriptions, we suspect it was a ball lightning strike."

"Ball lightning?" Cheng Guangyu and Feng Guangrong were both taken aback. Ball lightning—what a science fiction-like term!

"Yes, it's ball lightning. The crew themselves also tended to think that was the answer."

"The crew member, you mean Xu Xian?" Cheng Guangyu said helplessly, "He's a pilot, how would he know about ball lightning?"

To be honest, airplanes encounter various discharge phenomena when passing through areas with high electrical charge, among which the arc discharge of St. Elmo's Fire is relatively rare. Encountering ball lightning is even rarer, one in ten thousand.

"Yes, the crew member I mentioned earlier is Xu Xian. When I questioned him, I found that he had a very thorough understanding of ball lightning, and it didn't seem like he was just saying it offhand," the investigator said. "Ball lightning explodes upon contact with certain objects, and the explosive energy varies. However, judging from the damage to the radome, the explosion of this ball lightning does not seem to be very violent."

If the explosion were powerful enough, it would have blown the radar dome away, rather than just leaving a dent.

"Isn't it severe?" Cheng Guangyu's lips twitched. The windshield near the radar dome was covered with spiderweb-like cracks. Although it might only be an outer layer crack, it was still frightening enough.

"Furthermore, the right wing of this aircraft is severely damaged. Part of its upper skin has peeled off, and there are obvious cracks in the main fuel tank. According to the crew, the right wing's main fuel tank leaked out completely in a short time, causing the right engine to shut down. We have only conducted a surface inspection so far; we will have to wait some time to assess the internal condition," the investigator said. "According to our calculations, the damage to the right wing is extremely severe; it can only withstand about ten more minutes of damage, after which it is in danger of breaking at any moment."

"The wing broke off." Feng Guangrong's eyes twitched involuntarily. His expertise was in aircraft performance, and he knew better than anyone the force required for a qualified aircraft to cause its wing to break off. He truly couldn't imagine what Xu Xian had gone through when he crossed the minefield.

"Not only the main wing, but the vertical tail of the aircraft was also severely damaged, and cracks appeared on the flap support shaft. In fact, even if the right engine of the aircraft had not shut down, and the crew had decided to land with the flaps at position 30, it would not have been possible. Given the damage to the flap support shaft, the support shaft would have broken at the highest position of 25, and the flaps would have become uncontrollable."

"Goodness! Just tell me what's still usable on this plane; it sounds like there's hardly anything normal left." Cheng Guangyu said with a wry smile, "For a plane like this to fly back is amazing!"

"That's quite impressive!" Feng Guangrong couldn't help but exclaim.

"By the way, the reason this time was the leak of that hazardous material, right? Can we take a look at the cargo hold now?" Cheng Guangyu asked.

"Director, although the cleanup over there is complete, just in case, let's wait a couple more days," the investigator advised. Waiting a little longer until the toxins have completely dissipated is the safest approach. After all, the cargo hold inspection isn't the priority, so there's no need to rush.

Cheng Guangyu thought about it and realized it made sense: "Then forget it, let's go into the plane and take a look."

After Cheng Guangyu finished speaking, he prepared to walk around to the front door of the cabin, but he was stopped by the investigators after taking only two steps.

"Director, there's something I'd like to ask."

Cheng Guangyu and Feng Guangrong stopped at the same time. Cheng Guangyu was quite amiable to his subordinates, and said with a smile, "Ask whatever you want."

"The press office at the bureau has been urging me to produce an investigation report as soon as possible, and I'm starting to feel the pressure."

Cheng Guangyu frowned: "The Information Office?"

"That's right!" the investigator said bitterly. "Since yesterday, they've been calling me every two hours, urging me to submit the investigation report. Director, why is the bureau in such a hurry this time? Even our Aviation Safety Department isn't in a rush, so why is the Press Office so anxious?"

This investigator was just a junior employee in the Accident Investigation Division of the Aviation Safety Bureau. He was being bombarded with phone calls from the press office every day, which was really getting to him.

Cheng Guangyu suddenly lost interest: "The old king is gone, the new king has ascended the throne! How realistic! Forget it, if they're still pressuring you, just have them come find me. Remember, don't let external factors affect your investigation pace. Absolutely do not miss any details because of time constraints. You just focus on the investigation; I'll handle the rest!"

Shangdu Renxin Hospital Main Branch.

Some of the more seriously injured from Star Travel 6333 were eventually transferred to the nearby Renxin General Hospital for more specialized treatment, including Xu Xian and Lian Shanxue.

In the early morning, Wen Jingshu was walking through the hospital corridor when a nimble figure suddenly darted out from the end of the corridor.

"Hello, sister-in-law!"

Before Wen Jingshu could even recognize who it was, she smelled a fragrant breeze, followed by a beautiful figure slipping into her arms.

"Xu Sheng!" Upon recognizing the person, Wen Jingshu couldn't help but show a hint of surprise: "Why are you here?"

The person who arrived was Xu Xian's younger sister, Xu Sheng!

Xu Sheng winked at Wen Jingshu and said, "Didn't I ask you where you were yesterday? That's why I came to find you as soon as I got back to the country."

"Huh?" Wen Jingshu was probably still recovering from the surprise: "You didn't even tell me you were coming back to China, so I didn't prepare a gift!"

"What gift are you preparing? We're all family!" Xu Sheng said with a grin. As she spoke, Xu Sheng's gaze swept past Wen Jingshu, her eyes suddenly lighting up as she waved behind Wen Jingshu: "Brother!"

Wen Jingshu was startled and immediately turned around, only to find Xu Xian pushing Lian Shanxue, who was sitting in a wheelchair, for a walk. Her expression immediately darkened.

Attracted by Xu Sheng's voice, Xu Xian looked over and immediately spotted Xu Sheng.

"Xu Xusheng!" Xu Xian was so shocked he could barely speak. "What are you doing here?"

"Xu Sheng?" Lian Shanxue frowned. "Who did you run into?"

"Um... I think I ran into my sister." Xu Xian swallowed hard. "Wait here for a moment, I need to talk to my sister for a bit."

As he spoke, Xu Xian, his heart pounding, took two steps forward, grabbed Xu Sheng's arm, and forcibly dragged him to a corner in the distance.

Only Wen Jingshu and Lian Shanxue remained in the room.

In fact, Lian Shanxue had heard Wen Jingshu's voice just now, and she knew that Wen Jingshu was right next to her.

The two women remained silent for a moment, and the atmosphere became slightly somber.

Suddenly, Lian Shanxue spoke up: "I just heard Xu Xian's sister call you sister-in-law?"

Wen Jingshu's expression remained unchanged, and she said calmly, "Xu Xian and I were once engaged."

"In the past?" Lian Shanxue's emotions showed a slight fluctuation, but it wasn't reflected in her voice. Even after hearing that Xu Xian had been engaged to Wen Jingshu, her voice remained almost unchanged.

"Once upon a time!" Wen Jingshu repeated, emphasizing the word "once upon a time."

Lian Shanxue fell silent instantly, understanding Wen Jingshu's meaning: "So you knew him before I did?"

"Much earlier!"

At this moment, Lian Shanxue's face showed a hint of sadness: "Xu Xian is a sentimental person. So, the reason he said he wanted to go abroad with me is because..."

A peculiar light flickered in Wen Jingshu's eyes, and her voice, seemingly devoid of any emotion, rang out: "It's because of pity!"

(End of this chapter)