Once the luggage was loaded, the staff were supposed to leave. Eric lingered, pretending to arrange the luggage, delaying until the last moment before squeezing into the largest suitcase. She emptied its contents into the supermarket and curled up tightly, breathing slowly, waiting for the plane to take off.
"Hurry and check! Who hasn't left yet? Come out immediately!"
"Find them! Anyone still here will be fired!"
Eric's heart raced, but she dared not alter her breathing to avoid detection. As she inhaled and exhaled softly, she heard movements outside, and soon, another employee was found.
It turned out someone else was hiding here too!
The employee was dragged out, pleading, "I don't want to die; let me go with this flight!"
"If everyone did this, it'd be chaos! The support staff take the last flight—what's the rush?"
"Is there anyone else inside?"
"Liu's missing."
"What's wrong with Liu? Why do something so foolish? Search quickly—"
A phone rang, and the person answered, "…Liu's been found? Good. She's unconscious? Probably exhausted. Rub some menthol on her…"
The voices faded as they left.
Click. The cargo hold door was locked.
Only after the plane took off did Eric dare to emerge from the suitcase.
The moment she stepped out, she took deep breaths; the air outside, though still poor, was far better than the stifling suitcase. The cargo hold was pitch dark, and Eric sat quietly, awaiting the plane's descent.
She dozed off and woke to the plane's landing.
Four hours had passed, and Eric realized this was the most restful sleep she'd had in days.
The plane touched down smoothly, and once the doors opened, passengers disembarked while the luggage was unloaded. Eric found a blind spot, blending into the baggage handlers exiting the hold, then slipped into the restroom to change clothes.
Later, in the departure hall, she used cash from the stolen wallet to buy a drink and a strawberry sandwich from a vending machine.
Sitting on a bench, she ate while watching news updates on the hall's electronic screens.
"…Multiple areas have fallen…Predictions of the toxic fog's spread…"
"Breaking news: Ten minutes ago, Z Corporation announced the activation of their latest protective shield research, which effectively blocks the toxic fog…The company's stock surged…"
The departure hall buzzed with excitement, and Eric straightened up.
She immediately thought of the sanctuary's glow.
Where is Z Corporation located?
When she'd stolen the car and wallet, Eric had also taken the owner's phone, but it was long out of power.
She didn't need to ask others; people in the hall were already whipping out phones or laptops to locate Z Corporation.
"Moon City? That's quite far from here."
"No direct flights, but we can fly to Star City next door, then take a high-speed train to Moon City."
"Can Z Corporation's shields be shipped to our city?"
Amid the chatter, Eric approached the service desk.
She learned a flight to Star City was scheduled for tonight and asked, "Which one? Is the plane already here?"
After confirming, she hurried to the end of the hall, peering out the floor-to-ceiling windows at the runway, where the plane undergoing inspections was visible.
Checking her watch, she had six hours to find a way aboard.
This airport's security was even tighter, and Eric struggled to find an opportunity to slip in. It was only when emergency alerts announced the toxic fog's arrival that chaos erupted, creating a loophole in airport management.
With the fog's invasion, all flights were expedited, including the one to Star City. In the final moments, Eric replaced a targeted staff member and entered the cargo hold. However, a colleague remained nearby, instructing her, "You go ahead; I'll finish the inventory."
She mumbled, "I'll help."
"No need; go on!"
Reluctantly, Eric shuffled toward the door, ducking into a hiding spot at the last second. During the luggage loading, she had already scouted a suitcase to hide in, its contents emptied. She quickly climbed onto the rack and squeezed inside.
What puzzled her was that the colleague never left either.
When the cargo door finally shut, Eric let out a long sigh of relief.
In the oxygen-starved confines of the suitcase, Eric once again slipped into a disoriented slumber. When the plane touched down, she awoke to find her limbs numb, her movements stiff as she clumsily crawled out of the case. In her haste, she tumbled to the floor, her face meeting the hard surface with a jarring thud.
Sitting up, she massaged her sore cheeks and sighed, then proceeded to rub life back into her legs before finally steadying herself against the luggage rack.
Suddenly, she noticed another suitcase nearby shaking and sliding. With a clatter, it toppled over, and the zipper slowly gave way, revealing the head of her colleague.
They stared at each other, wide-eyed.
"You're a player?" Eric's voice was hoarse from prolonged silence.
The man blinked, then chuckled. "Didn't expect to find another one here! Hey, lend me a hand, will you?"
Eric ignored him, focusing instead on stretching her limbs in preparation for the imminent escape.
The player hoisted himself up, grinning. "You're pretty impressive, huh? So many players have been killed by the fog already. On my side, it's just me and Yuan left. What about you?"
"Your side?" Eric realized then that the restaurant she'd landed in was just one of multiple entry points; this mission had other player drop zones.
"Not sure. We got separated along the way. You mentioned Yuan—is he here too?" Eric scanned the cargo hold.
"Nope! Yuan's working as a flight attendant now!" The man beamed. "He's a genius hacker. We've been hitching rides and forging tickets all thanks to him. Smooth as butter! This plane was the only one we couldn't hack, so Yuan got himself a flight attendant role, and I snuck in as a baggage handler."
Hearing this, Eric couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy. But envy aside, she took pride in her own resourcefulness. Relying on others was unreliable; true strength came from within.
"Don't leave yet. Yuan's already arranged high-speed rail tickets. Let me see if I can get you one too."
Tempting. Yet Eric shook her head. "I've got my own plans." Originally, she had two strategies: one was to try her luck at the train station, though she knew the final leg would be tougher than before. The other was to drive herself to Moon City.
But when she'd knocked out the uniform's owner, she'd confiscated his phone and discovered a map of the route between Star City and Moon City. To her delight, there was a river connecting the two!
This simplified things—she had a lifeboat stored away from previous missions.
The player was curious. "So, how're you planning to get there?"
"I've got my ways."
Seeing she wasn't inclined to elaborate, he shrugged and dropped the subject.
After a brief exchange, the plane came to a halt. The moment the cargo door opened, Eric bolted out, the other player hot on her heels, startling the supervisor.
His shock quickly turned to fury. "You two! What are your names? Violating regulations like this—"
But nobody stayed to listen. Eric was already halfway down the runway.
The airport was a sea of people, the tarmac lined with landed planes. Eric squeezed her way out of the terminal, initially hoping to save fuel by hailing a taxi. But the streets outside were jammed with NPCs vying for rides. She abandoned the idea, instead finding a spot to retrieve her motorcycle and set off for the docks.
The motorcycle proved a wise choice—the roads were gridlocked, the air thick with the blare of impatient horns.
Arriving at the docks, she found them equally crowded, with ferries, small cruisers, and cargo ships all packed with passengers. Even kayaks dotted the water, bobbing precariously like tiny leaves.
Everyone was desperate to reach the final safe haven.
Searching for a secluded spot to launch her lifeboat, Eric walked a long stretch along the riverbank. Yet every inch of shoreline was occupied; even if she launched, it would be a traffic jam. As she searched, the worst news arrived—the toxic fog had breached Star City.
Panic erupted along the riverbank as people scrambled to board any vessel, hoping to follow the river to the safety of Moon City.
On the deck of a cargo ship, a player stood eagerly watching the horizon.
At the train station, Yuan and his companion struggled through the crowd to validate their tickets.
On the highway, Aaron and the red-dressed player pedaled furiously on bicycles.
The fog closed in from all sides, converging on Moon City as the final refuge.
At the river's edge, Eric finally found her chance to launch the lifeboat, but she didn't set off immediately. First, she took time to familiarize herself with the controls.
After ten minutes of trial and error, she exhaled sharply. "Here goes nothing!" she muttered, pushing off into the current, joining the throng of survivors navigating the turbulent waters toward a new beginning.
Had someone told her she'd encounter a "traffic jam" on a river, she would've laughed it off as a joke. But now, caught in the chaos, she could only grimace.
Her skills were sorely lacking! On calm, open waters, she might've managed, but the river was a madhouse. She bumped into one vessel after another, often finding herself blocked and unable to maneuver.
Precious time slipped away. By the time the others left her behind and the waters widened, the fog was already at her heels.
Panic was out of the question; she steadied herself and pushed the lifeboat to its limit.
Two hours later, the fog was a kilometer behind her.
An hour after that, it loomed just three hundred meters away.
Twenty minutes more, and it was a mere fifty meters off.
Ten minutes later, a gust of wind carried tendrils of fog to her back, instantly corroding her clothes and the skin beneath.
Gritting her teeth against the pain, Eric grabbed clothes, cardboard, and plastic sheets from the supermarket, layering them over herself.
Each protective layer was stripped away, the pain intensifying with every loss. Her hands trembled, but she resisted using a healing kit.
Moon City was just ahead. Bearing the agony, Eric drove onward, finally plunging into the white protective shield.
To her surprise, the massive city shield was, in fact, a colossal glowing circle. The moment she crossed it, a voice echoed in her mind:
[Player Eric has completed the ordinary mission: Escape the Toxic Zone, earning 4 points.]