Chapter 233 - 219: Fly Fast
Aisar was about to burst into tears.
The lava was about to pour into the sea.
They were really going to die here.
Dai Mao suddenly let out a cry. It snatched Jiang Si with one of its giant claws, then gestured with its eyes for Aisar and Bailiman to grab its other leg.
Overcome with joy, Aisar and Bailiman burst into tears. They scrambled to grab Dai Mao’s leg, slinging Jiang Si’s guns over their own backs as they did.
Dai Mao soared higher and higher, but the volcano was erupting faster than they had imagined.
The sky was filled with lava and flying ash, making it difficult to breathe.
Splatters of lava seared their skin with a painful SIZZLE.
Thankfully, Dai Mao shielded them from eighty percent of it.
They flew on and on, surrounded by desperately fleeing vultures and seabirds.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The thunderous noise was deafening. Jiang Si furrowed her brow and forced her eyes open, only to be stunned by the sight that greeted her.
She was suspended hundreds of meters in the air, surrounded by vultures.
The surface of the sea was covered in lava, a vast expanse of fiery red. The seawater itself was boiling away, sending up thick plumes of white steam.
Jiang Si had no idea how a volcano had erupted while she was unconscious. Seeing that Bailiman and Aisar were alive, she breathed a sigh of relief.
The vulture carrying them showed no aggression, which put Jiang Si slightly at ease. But in the next moment, she witnessed a truly staggering sight.
The entire volcano exploded in an instant, then visibly sank beneath the waves.
Then, a monstrous tidal wave came roaring toward them.
Jiang Si frantically shouted to the vulture, "Quick, big guy, fly higher! We’re not going to make it!"
She thought Dai Mao was dead, that this was just another kind-hearted vulture.
Hearing her voice and sensing the danger behind them, Dai Mao reacted just as the wave was about to crash over them. With a powerful surge, it rocketed up into the clouds.
When Jiang Si broke through the cloud cover, she let out a heavy sigh of relief.
No wave, no matter how high, could reach them here.
But soon, the sub-zero temperature above the clouds had her shivering uncontrollably.
So were Bailiman and Aisar.
They had been wearing light clothing on the volcanic island. With the island gone, the rest of the region was a freezing, sub-zero wasteland—to say nothing of the temperatures high in the sky.
The temperature here was at least minus thirty degrees Celsius.
Jiang Si quickly urged the vulture, "Quick, fly down!"
Dai Mao dove, and Jiang Si felt as if the goosebumps on her skin were freezing solid.
It was just too cold.
Her face felt frozen in place.
Dai Mao landed on a sheet of ice. Jiang Si quickly pulled the shivering Bailiman and Aisar with her as she burrowed into the feathers on Dai Mao’s chest.
The down on Dai Mao’s chest was world-class, providing the ultimate insulation.
Huddled inside and leaning against Dai Mao’s warm body, Jiang Si instantly felt like she had come back to life.
She let out another heavy sigh of relief, finally able to take a look at her surroundings.
They were surrounded by ice, likely on a frozen patch of sea.
Jiang Si had a compass around her neck from the cruise ship. She took it off and checked it carefully. Once she had her bearings, she hesitated. Should she have Dai Mao fly them the whole way in one go? Or should they hide in its feathers and let it shuffle across the ice?
’I really want to just pluck his feathers,’ Jiang Si thought, ’but I’m afraid he won’t be able to fly without them.’
Jiang Si couldn’t help but sigh, "I wish you could just give me your feathers."
The words had barely left her mouth when Dai Mao, as if it understood, shook its wings, dislodging a few feathers.
But it was nowhere near enough to make a single piece of warm clothing.
Jiang Si sighed. "This is way too little."
Dai Mao’s little eyes seemed to ponder for a moment. Then, it willingly plucked a clump of down from its chest and offered it to Jiang Si.
Touched and surprised, Jiang Si said, "It’s like you can understand me."
Then she looked closer and noticed the goofy tuft of feathers on this vulture’s head—it was identical to Dai Mao’s.
’Could it be? Is this a resurrected Dai Mao?’
’How did he come back to life?’
’What on earth just happened?’
’Why can’t I remember any of it?’
Jiang Si looked at Bailiman, wanting to ask her, but Bailiman couldn’t speak. She had no choice but to give up for the time being.
She stroked Dai Mao’s chest. "Thank you," she said.
’Maybe we can have Dai Mao fly for a stretch, and then when we can’t take the cold anymore, we can quickly land and take cover again. We’d make much better time that way.’
Jiang Si thought it was a pretty good idea, but in the next instant, a flock of vultures appeared in the sky above them.
These vultures looked like mutated zombie vultures!
A jolt of alarm shot through Jiang Si. She yelled for Bailiman and Aisar to grab on to Dai Mao’s talons. "Dai Mao! Quick, fly!"