Chapter 170 : Chapter 170
170. We’ve Discovered Advanced Power—Human Power
“Ladies and gentlemen! This flight is about to take off—please sit tight and fasten your seatbelts!”
“Though I don’t think I actually installed any seatbelts.”
“But since the captain and passengers on this flight aren’t normal people… who cares!”
At the center of the clearing Lu Zheng had cleared, Yi Ning’s helicopter stood ready, the rotor blades on top beginning to turn slowly.
In the pilot seat, Yi Ning stylishly slapped buttons on the control panel with a clatter, placing her hand on the control stick to carry out the final flight checks.
“Cabin door OK.”
“Control panel OK.”
“Engine…”
Yi Ning turned her head toward Lu Zheng beside her.
He was seated on the spinning-bike-like device that powered the helicopter, giving Yi Ning a small nod.
Yi Ning then lowered her head to glance at several newly added hamster wheels beside Lu Zheng, where a few mice were enthusiastically running.
“Engine OK.”
After checking everything, Yi Ning looked at Lu Zheng, a rare serious expression appearing on her face: “Our rotor blades completely depend on that thing under your feet. Once you start pedaling, there’s no stopping.”
Lu Zheng curled his lips into a smile.
Yi Ning had told him this more times than he could count.
And Lu Zheng’s response had always been the same—
“Don’t worry.”
The two exchanged a smile and refocused on their respective posts.
Yi Ning raised one hand beside her ear, pretending to wear a headset. In full dramatic flair, she gripped the control stick and spoke to an imaginary microphone: “Ready for takeoff.”
Receiving the signal, Lu Zheng began to press down with his feet on the pedals. Very soon, the spinning bike’s foot pedals were moving so fast they became a blur.
With Lu Zheng’s engine up and running, the helicopter’s rotor blades spun rapidly.
“Woohoo—takeoff!”
Yi Ning pushed the control stick forward.
A feeling of increased gravity pressed down on both of them.
The helicopter began to slowly rise.
Before long, they surpassed the treetops and continued to climb, finally halting at around 200 meters.
After all, this was just a makeshift wooden helicopter—Yi Ning didn’t dare fly too high.
This time, they didn’t have Lu Zheng’s superpowers as a backup. If anything went wrong and they fell from the sky, Yi Ning would definitely be shattered into seven or eight pieces.
But this height was good enough.
Yi Ning maneuvered the helicopter in circles in the sky, hoping to use their aerial advantage to find a route out of the forest.
Unfortunately, all she could see in every direction was more trees.
“Hey, Lu Zheng.”
Yi Ning decided to dump this troublesome task on Lu Zheng.
“Use your super vision and help us find a way out of this forest.”
Lu Zheng: “…”
Though he was acting as the engine, Lu Zheng wasn’t doing anything else. He had long since tried using the window on his side to help Yi Ning find a suitable route.
But just like when he fell from the sky earlier, the scene remained the same.
The forest was unbelievably vast—everywhere he looked was trees. There was nothing else in sight.
“Just pick a direction and fly.”
That was all Lu Zheng could suggest.
Since they were in the sky now, they could fly in a straight line. And the helicopter wasn’t slow. A few hours in one direction would eventually get them to the forest’s edge.
Yi Ning had no objections: “Alright then.”
“Toward the morning st—”
Sunlight shone through the window and onto Yi Ning.
“Ahem.”
She covered her mouth with her fist, trying to hide her awkwardness.
Then, Yi Ning raised her right hand and pointed a finger dramatically in the direction of the sun.
“Let’s chase the sun!”
“Target: human settlement!”
At the same time, she pulled the control stick, steering the helicopter to follow the sun.
…
“Let’s pick another direction.”
Yi Ning gave up not long after setting out to chase the sun.
She pulled the control stick and abandoned the idea of imitating the ancients.
There was no helping it.
Though the sun was radiant, it was also blinding.
It looked close but was utterly unreachable.
And in the process of chasing it, there were countless difficulties and obstacles…
Okay, in plain language: the sun was just too damn bright. Flying directly toward it, Yi Ning couldn’t even open her eyes.
And since they were in the air without any shade, she was drenched in sweat, feeling like her brain had started to overheat and slow down.
To reduce flight risks and ensure a better flying experience, Yi Ning decided to reverse the helicopter’s direction and fly with their backs to the sun.
…
Who knew how long had passed.
Yi Ning sat in the pilot seat, wearing her trademark dead-fish expression.
Bored. Unbearably bored.
No matter how long she flew, the scenery around her didn’t change.
Nothing but trees, trees, and more trees.
If not for the flight direction tracking device installed on the helicopter, she would’ve suspected they were just flying in circles over the same forest.
And since there was no internet, and Yi Ning didn’t have a habit of downloading content, her phone was basically a brick. She couldn’t even listen to some music while flying.
Of course, it’s not like Yi Ning’s phone was completely devoid of interesting content.
As someone who used to be male, it was only natural that her phone had a bit of “color.”
But with Lu Zheng right there beside her, she couldn’t very well pilot a helicopter with one hand while using the other to do her favorite pastimes, could she?
To vent her internal frustration, Yi Ning decided to dump it on Lu Zheng.
“Hey, Lu Zheng. Tell me a joke.”
She had asked him this kind of thing so many times already.
At first, Lu Zheng tried to be understanding, racking his brain to find jokes that could make Yi Ning laugh and keep her from getting too bored during the flight.
But now, his only response was an eye-roll.
They’d only been flying for less than thirty minutes, and after the first ten, Yi Ning had basically been repeating the same request every one or two minutes.
Even someone as patient as Lu Zheng was starting to get fed up.
And besides, he simply didn’t have that many jokes to tell.
Ten minutes after Yi Ning first asked, the only jokes Lu Zheng had left were cold ones like “Want some cold jokes? Here’s a book of cold jokes—set it on fire.”
Most importantly, Lu Zheng realized Yi Ning didn’t even care about hearing actual jokes. She was just bored and wanted to chat.
Lu Zheng rested his hands on the spinning bike’s handlebars, laying his head on his arms, watching the mice in the nearby running wheels dazedly.
Yi Ning had installed those hamster wheels beside him when he requested mental relief during engine duty. They were his “companions.”
Like the spinning bike beneath him, those wheels were also connected to the helicopter’s engine. But because of the mice’s tiny size, their contribution was basically negligible.
Incidentally, Yi Ning had casually mentioned while building the hamster wheels that the original idea was to have Lu Zheng in a human-sized hamster wheel—but due to the cabin’s height, it was changed to a spinning bike instead.
Lu Zheng stared at the mice running in their wheels, feeling lucky he wasn’t doing the same.
“Lu Zheng, do a tongue-twister skit.”
Compared to Lu Zheng, who only needed to pedal, Yi Ning had much more to manage.
To entertain herself, she resumed pestering Lu Zheng.
Lu Zheng rolled his eyes at her and turned his head, hoping to send a silent message of refusal with the back of his skull.
But before he could move much, a sudden, bone-chilling sense of danger crept up his spine.
“Stop the engine!”
Almost simultaneously, Lu Zheng shouted the command aloud.