The plane crash happened abruptly; all electronics failed, the plane lost all power, and only by the pilots’ manual control was it able to glide. But that wouldn’t last long, and the other two wing planes were in the same situation; all three planes were descending toward the rainforest below.
"Are you dressed?" Ye Shikai walked into the cabin, where all the Hidden Guards had changed into their parachuting suits and were making final preparations. This time, the Hidden Guards were the elite of the Netherworld Palace, calm in the face of danger and maintaining order.
"Reporting to the lord, we’re all ready." Ye Shikai nodded, hurriedly put on a parachuting suit, then walked over to Ji Qian and smiled slightly, "Are you ready? We’re about to parachute."
"I’ve been ready." Ji Qian smiled and said, although cultivators, in theory, can fly, this is only possible for extremely powerful masters. Neither Ye Shikai nor Ji Qian has such strength at present; at best, they are capable of wall-climbing.
"Hold on a second." Ye Shikai stepped forward, connected a metal chain to Ji Qian, and their parachuting suits stuck closely together.
"What are you doing?" Seeing what Ye Shikai intended, Ji Qian’s face turned red immediately, and everyone else tactfully turned away.
"Flying together." Ye Shikai said with a smile. Just then, the cabin’s indicator light turned green, and the back of the cabin slowly opened.
"Everyone, prepare to parachute. Release the red smoke for marking," Ye Shikai shouted loudly. All the Hidden Guards from the three planes jumped out, fluttering like butterflies, a magnificent sight. They had red smoke grenades tied to their ankles to mark their landing spots.
"Are you ready?" Ye Shikai smiled at Ji Qian, then held her in an embrace and jumped out towards the outside.
The two were tied together, Ji Qian on top, Ye Shikai below, both spreading their limbs. Parachuting is a sport loved by many extreme sports enthusiasts. Although their actions looked romantic, the environment below them was not so inviting...
"How far are we from our destination below?" Ye Shikai yelled, as they rapidly descended, surrounded by the sound of wind. You couldn’t hear without shouting.
"There’s still some distance."
Ten minutes later, South America, the unknown rainforest.
"Huff huff, Boss, everyone from plane 2 has assembled," Soul Destroyer hurried over to Ye Shikai, leading a group. Soul Destroyer was in charge of plane 2, and Demoness was in charge of plane 3. At the first sign of the plane’s trouble, they both ordered everyone to prepare to parachute.
"Good, stand by here," Ye Shikai nodded, stood up, and surveyed the surroundings. It was a primeval forest; towering trees and dense foliage blocked the sun from sight.
"Where did Demoness and the others land?" Ye Shikai continued asking.
"Unknown for the moment..."
"This primeval forest must have its own special magnetic field, which was why as soon as our planes entered the area, the electronics were disrupted and shielded by the magnetic interference, causing the planes to lose power and forcing us to make an emergency landing," Ji Qian speculated, pulling out a GPS, which wouldn’t turn on at all. Even the simplest compass was unusable; the forest’s magnetic field was so strong that it completely disturbed the Earth’s natural field, essentially making the forest an independent microenvironment.
"So we’re unable to send messages to the outside world?" Soul Destroyer said with a grave face, worried.
"Indeed, but let’s not be pessimistic. We’re not in danger for now," Ye Shikai glanced at everyone. The current situation was less than ideal; morale could dip even amongst the most spirited, especially in adversity, in Desperate Situations. At times like these, Ye Shikai had to lift everyone’s spirits.
"Shoo shoo." Suddenly, a rustling of grass and leaves arose, as if wild beasts were rapidly scurrying. Everyone sharply raised their weapons, vigilantly scanning their surroundings.
"Relax, it’s me." At this moment, a woman’s voice came from the shrubs. It was Demoness, followed by Hidden Guards. Now all three groups were gathered, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Did you encounter a fight?" Ji Qian observed the cloaks led by Demoness, noting some torn clothes and bloodstains, which seemed to indicate they had encountered danger.
"Ugh, don’t mention it. As soon as we landed, we were attacked by a pack of wild beasts. They came biting at us without a word," Demoness sighed and showed an injury on her arm to everyone.
"The wild beasts were like mad, gunshots couldn’t scare them off; we had to use firepower to drive them away in the end," Demoness explained to everyone. Ghost had already warned them about this; the beasts in this area, being isolated for so long, even included demonic beasts with extraordinary strength; human weapons could only have so much effect.
"Truly demonic beasts, extraordinary indeed," Ye Shikai said softly.
"We have three with minor injuries and one seriously injured."
"No worries, I’ve got medicine here; you guys go and bandage up," Ye Shikai took out special ointment made by Zi Yun from his Storage Ring, all of which were good for restoring the body.
"Now, without electronic devices, we also can’t use altimeters," Ye Shikai mused, the most concerning thing for him was that once they couldn’t use electronics, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack to find the awakening fruit in this rainforest.
"Boss, what do you think?" Soul Destroyer asked.
"The growth of trees is greatly related to the sunlight and water they receive. Generally, trees can grow tall and strong in places with ample sunlight and water," Before Ye Shikai could speak up, Ji Qian suggested.
"So you’re saying..."
"Deeper into the rainforest, where sunlight is more abundant, I think we should head deeper," Ji Qian stated calmly.
Yanjing, Netherworld Palace Base.
"Lord Ghost, we’ve lost contact with Netherworld King’s private jet over the South American rainforest, as well as Demoness and Soul Destroyer," That day, before Ghost could wake up, the news hit him like a bolt from the blue.
"When did this happen?" Ghost shouted loudly. A plane losing contact was always a serious matter; although Ye Shikai was the Netherworld King, this did not mean there were no dangers.
"Half an hour ago... and we have lost contact."
"Send out a rescue team immediately. Don’t enter from the air; switch to a ground entry. We must find them." Ghost, annoyed, scratched his head and spread out a map, pinpointing the area where the plane went missing.