Chapter 318: Chapter 317: Bai He’s Broken Legs

Qi Xiao’s phoenix eyes were filled with a smile as he tilted his head to look at her. "Little Xu Station Chief, Little Xu Dean... and now, there’s a new title: Little Xu Pilot."

Their gazes collided in the air, and Xu Ying’s face suddenly felt hot.

She smiled with crescent eyes and asked, "Coach Qi, where is the training base?"

"Three hundred kilometers away," Qi Xiao added, "Don’t worry about the distance. I’ll be flying this Airbus H145 every week to take you to flight training classes."

Xu Ying’s ears burned with a "whoosh" sound.

Who takes a helicopter to school?!

Just thinking about learning to fly a helicopter made Xu Ying extremely excited. She grabbed Qi Xiao’s wrist, touching his pulsing veins, and then let go. "Captain Qi, can we try flying now?"

Qi Xiao’s long, thick eyelashes cast fan-shaped shadows under his eyes.

When this aircraft arrived, he had already applied for a flight plan from the relevant department. "Of course we can."

Qi Xiao held her cool fingertips with his backhand and pressed them onto the ignition button, the paw print logo fitting right into her palm.

All the command lights in the cabin lit up.

Qi Xiao stepped back half a step, resting his right hand casually on his left chest, giving a knight’s salute with a touch of indifference. "Fox-One special flight, Captain Qi Xiao is at your service anytime."

As he bowed, the silver chain of his wolf fang necklace drew a silver arc from the open collar of his shirt.

Xu Ying’s heart pounded furiously, a blush spreading across her cheeks.

"Do we need to make any flight preparations?"

——"Leave everything to me."

*

Qi Xiao changed into a black flight jacket, his slender fingers were checking the instrument panel.

Xu Ying also put on a small-sized flight jacket prepared by Qi Xiao.

Seeing Xu Ying approach, he casually picked up the noise-canceling headphones from the co-pilot seat, with the metal buckle glistening in the sunlight.

"Come over." He beckoned to Xu Ying, his voice mixed with the sound of the wind.

When Xu Ying sat in the helicopter’s co-pilot seat, he reached out to brush aside the hair that the wind had disrupted from her temples, his fingertips grazing her ear, placing the headphones over her head.

The leather strap carried his body temperature, and Xu Ying detected a faint amber citrus scent from his wrist.

"Seat belt."

Qi Xiao leaned over, carefully pulling the seatbelt, the metallic buckle making a soft "click" as his breath brushed against her collarbone.

Xu Ying looked down and saw a small flight badge at the back of his neck, appearing and disappearing with his movements between the collar.

The roar of the engine sounded, and the veins on the back of Qi Xiao’s hand stood out as he held the control stick.

He tilted his head to check Xu Ying’s condition, his profile was bathed in the halo of the light. "Ready?"

After Xu Ying nodded in response, he pressed the communication button as Qi Xiao adjusted the headset with one hand, tapping the communication button lightly with his knuckles three times.

Amidst the static noise, the small mole on his Adam’s apple gently rolled with his low report:

"Area control, this is Fox-One, requesting a test flight for hospital special equipment."

He rubbed the microphone with his fingers, the electromagnetic waves turning this small gesture into subtle static noise. "Coordinates synchronized, maintaining altitude below 300 meters."

Qi Xiao was evidently familiar with the area’s control. From the other side of the radio came the laughing reply of the air traffic controller: "Received, Fox-One. Flight area check complete."

In the background noise, there was a faint sound of keyboard typing, "Is your ’special equipment’ codename still QX-09 today?"

Xu Ying saw Qi Xiao’s eyelashes suddenly quiver. He replied quickly, unable to hide the sudden redness in his ears: "...Correction, today’s equipment is upgraded to XY-52."

The radio suddenly erupted in suppressed laughter: "Understood, test flight permission for equipment XY-52 is granted. Wishing Captain Qi... " The static noise paused subtly, "... a successful and smooth test flight."

Qi Xiao decisively ended the communication, only to meet Xu Ying’s curious eyes.

"What is the medical equipment XY-52?" She poked at the still-warm radio.

"Is it the code name for this aircraft?"

Qi Xiao’s left hand suddenly lifted the collective pitch control, the helicopter lifting its head sharply like a wolf caught by the scruff.

In the sound wave’s roar, his voice came through the headset: "It’s a codename for you."

The deep radio tone made Xu Ying’s ears tingle.

As the helicopter soared, Qi Xiao’s right hand suddenly covered Xu Ying’s hand. "Don’t hold onto the seat; hold here."

He guided her to press down on the central control panel, the palm’s long-standing calluses from holding the control stick, warmth continuously seeping through the touching skin.

Outside the window, the desert unfolded at an astonishing speed. Qi Xiao suddenly tilted the helicopter, causing Xu Ying to exclaim and lean onto his shoulder.

He chuckled softly, showcasing a beautiful hover turn. "Look East."

It turned out to be a group of cheetahs running along the dunes chasing shadows, and standing up on seeing the helicopter, they collectively waved their paws.

"Hold tight." Qi Xiao suddenly lowered the control stick, the helicopter plunging downward like a diving falcon, almost skimming over the palm treetops of an oasis.

The massive rotor airflow lifted the dew on the treetops, exploding into countless fine droplets of water against the windshield.

Xu Ying’s exclamation stuck in her throat, turning into a joyful giggle.

She watched as the rotating airflow created a ring of silver on the lake’s surface.

Qi Xiao’s lips curled up in a barely noticeable smile. He maneuvered the aircraft into a tilt, the wind stirred by the rotor just grazed a patch of flowers. Instantly, thousands of petals took to the air, forming a pink-purple blizzard in the sunlight, with a few even passing through the open window, landing in Xu Ying’s outstretched palm. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Xu Ying suddenly realized, how could there be such a large patch of flowers in the desert?

Someone had prepared this beforehand.

"This is cheating..." She clutched at the petals, turning to find Qi Xiao looking at her through goggles covered with water droplets.

Behind the glass that refracted rainbow-colored specks, his eyes were focused and tender. "The passenger’s first flight experience must be perfect, of course."

Xu Ying’s face lit up with two small dimples. "The passenger is very satisfied, giving Captain Qi a five-star rating!"

The helicopter slowly descended beside a mirror-like lake, the startled droplets exploding in the sunlight into countless diamonds.

As Xu Ying jumped down from the cabin door, her boots sank into the wet mud, she inhaled the fresh air of the ground, a sweet metallic smell mingled with the direction of the earth penetrated her nostrils—

A white crane was crawling forward, supporting itself on the ground with a broken wing bone, its legs severed at the joints, exposing a morbidly white bone stump.

Blood dragged two sticky red lines on its crawling path, each inch forward producing a fresh bead of blood dripping from the break.

"Oh my..." Xu Ying urgently turned to Qi Xiao. "Quick, get me my animal emergency medical kit."

Qi Xiao hurriedly took the medical kit from the helicopter and handed it to Xu Ying.

Xu Ying knelt beside the Bai He, urgently stopping its bleeding.

The crane suddenly convulsed violently, and entwined around its broken leg bone was a special steel cable—carbon fiber towing rope used for aerial photography drones.

The knot even caught half a propeller blade.

When Qi Xiao’s shadow loomed over, it brought along a whirlwind of blood scent. He knelt on one knee, a tactical knife expertly slicing through the steel cable on the crane’s leg.

He raised the half propeller debris, the sharp edge wrapped with several crane feathers. "German-made octocopter drone, camera gimbal model."

Xu Ying furrowed her brows, her gaze sweeping over the reeds, finding remnants of mineral water bottles and snack bags, along with a birdwatching guidebook-like map.

"This white crane appears to have its legs severed by a drone operated by a bird observer..."