Ryan, well-versed in this type of situation, immediately covered his mouth and nose, his expression darker than ever. He didn’t waste time thinking about anything else. He rushed toward the hatch he had entered from, slamming into it, but it didn’t budge. From the sound of it, the exterior had been reinforced with steel. Ryan’s frown deepened further as he relentlessly attacked other parts of the cabin.
“Boss! Boss, the plane’s going down!” Tiger shouted, his face pale in the communication feed.
This wasn’t a drone-it required manual control. With Ryan focusing on trying to break out, no one was flying the plane, and it was plummeting fast.
Hearing this, Ryan immediately spun around and, following Tiger’s earlier instructions, quickly leveled the plane. But there was no time left to try and break free again.
“Boss, keep the plane at this speed. We’re coming to get you,” Tiger said, his face as grim as it could get, flying his plane toward Ryan as fast as he could.
Echo watched Ryan’s image on the screen, her face growing pale as well.
Adolph’s face was just as dark on the other communication screen. Once he cut off the link with Ryan, he urgently asked, “What’s the plan? What do you need me to do?” His plane was also heading straight for Ryan.
Tiger, his face even darker, replied grimly, “We’ll need Zero Bomb. Do you have any with you?”
The outer shell of this model was incredibly tough-normal explosives or cutting tools wouldn’t do a thing. Even with Ryan’s strength, there was no way to break through that kind of armor without special equipment.
Adolph immediately panicked and said quickly, “Zero Bomb? I don’t have that. I only have No. Three and No. Four.”
When they rescued Echo, Ryan had used Number One Bomb-not super powerful but definitely effective for small areas. Zero Bomb was even more specialized, made for even smaller, more precise targets. Considering the plane wasn’t that big and its walls weren’t that thick, Zero was the only option.
Larger explosives simply weren’t an option. Their destructive power was so extreme that even using just one would destroy Ryan’s plane. No, it wasn’t about the plane not being able to handle it-it was about Ryan. At that distance, the force would obliterate him, turn him to ash.
This type of explosive was designed for use on ships or land-not on planes, where any explosion could easily be catastrophic. So it wasn’t surprising Adolph didn’t have it on hand. Even Tiger and the others hadn’t brought any. The sudden need for it caught everyone off guard.
Hearing this, Tiger and the rest looked even grimmer.
Adolph slammed his palm on the control panel and said quickly, “I’ll notify the other side to send it over immediately.”
“It’s No. 101 Gas,” Ryan’s voice suddenly came through the communicator.
Bill immediately panicked, blurting out, “No. 101 Gas? That’s a neurotoxin-it only takes a minute to kill! It’s already been over ten seconds; there’s no time to get anything delivered!”
Hearing that, Echo felt a wave of unease wash over her. She watched Ryan on the screen, his hand covering his mouth and nose, his eyes as sharp as ever, filled with nothing but cold authority. Not a hint of fear or panic. But the white smoke around him was growing thicker and thicker. Echo couldn’t help but frown.
Meeting Ryan’s icy gaze on the screen, Echo suddenly nudged Bill standing next to her. Bill followed her eyes and immediately understood, grabbing Tiger by the shoulder. The anxious group fell silent.
The screen was still on, and Ryan’s eyes clearly showed that he understood everything. Even though their voices weren’t being transmitted to him, Ryan could read their lips. That’s why he had spoken at just the right moment.
Echo bit her lip, staring back into Ryan’s cold, indifferent eyes.
The plane carrying Tiger, Bill, and Adolph flew directly above Ryan’s fighter jet. But their faces were still grim.
So what if they had arrived?
They had no explosives, no cutting tools.
In such a short time, what could they do?
The plane’s shell was made of special materials-bullets couldn’t penetrate it, not even enough to let out the gas.
What could they possibly do now?
Echo watched as Ryan’s brow furrowed slightly on the screen, a flicker of some unreadable emotion in his eyes. Meanwhile, the smoke around him thickened, and only forty seconds remained.
Suddenly, Echo jumped up, grabbed Bill by the arm, and demanded, “There’s no other way but explosives?”
Ryan hadn’t been kind to her, but he hadn’t been cruel either. Watching him die right in front of her was something she just couldn’t accept.
Bill, standing in the back of the cargo hold, had already fired countless rounds at Ryan’s plane, but there wasn’t even a single bullet hole. Pale-faced, he shouted, “What can we do? We don’t have explosives, no cutting tools-what can we possibly use?”
Echo’s eyes lit up the moment she heard “cutting tool.” She grabbed Bill’s hand and quickly pulled off her ring, saying, “Use this, use this!”
As she spoke, she pulled out a thin wire and slashed it across the door, instantly creating a small gap.
Bill was stunned.
Echo had worn the ring for so long that it was hard to take off. As she struggled to remove it, she explained quickly, “Turn it left for the wire, and three turns to the right will release… ah-”
Before she could finish, Bill grabbed her legs and threw her out, leaving her dangling mid-air over Ryan’s plane.
“Hurry up!” Bill yelled, gripping Echo’s legs tightly as he clung to the edge of the cargo door, half his body hanging outside.
The others quickly held on to Bill. At this point, Bill was too panicked to understand what Echo was trying to explain. He just did what he thought was best-throw her towards Ryan’s plane.
Dangling above Ryan’s aircraft, Echo’s mind went blank with shock. She glanced around at the clouds swirling around her, and every hair on her body stood on end.
My God, I’m in mid-air! One wrong move, and there won’t even be a body left!
“Hurry up!” Tiger, piloting the plane, heard their conversation. He kept the aircraft steady above Ryan’s and yelled at Echo, trying to snap her out of it.