"I know, go back and keep an eye on him for me."

Li Ruilin waved his hand.

After Zhang Wenjun left, he glanced at the bottom drawer of the desk, gripping the handle in hesitation for a long time, but still didn't choose to open it.

...

In the barbecue restaurant, the two had been eating until 11 PM.

Seeing that it was almost time, Gu Ji hastily gulped down the last bite, then immediately pulled Chen Zhiyu into a cab, heading back to Lukou International Airport.

"DBX017, Emirates flight, arrives at 2:17."

In front of the international arrivals, according to the flight information provided by his dad, he glanced at the display screen above the exit, "15 more minutes..."

It was already past 2 AM, with only three red-eye flights left, so there weren't many passersby waiting around.

"It's been 15 minutes, why is there no movement?"

"Maybe the flight is delayed..."

"Here they come, here they come!"

Just as Gu Ji was speaking to Chen Zhiyu, a commotion of footsteps echoed from within the international exit. The bustling passengers, both domestic and international, either pushed luggage carts or carried bags as they walked out, quickly embracing the people who had come to pick them up.

But as the majority left and the crowd thinned, he still didn't see a trace of his dad.

Chen Zhiyu caught a passerby.

"Excuse me, may I ask if you came from the Emirates DBX017 flight?"

"No, we were from All American Airlines."

After getting a response from the passerby.

Gu Ji immediately looked up and indeed saw a flight arriving around the same time as his dad's, and the next second, the flight information updated.

[DBX017] Scheduled: 2:17; Origin: Dubai; Change: Unknown; Current Status: Flight Delayed.

Chen Zhiyu widened his eyes and pulled out his phone.

"It's really delayed, but the weather's pretty good in Ningzhou today?"

"The change time is unknown, meaning they haven't even planned a reschedule for landing; looks like we'll be waiting some more."

Gu Ji looked at the time on his wristwatch.

"You have work tomorrow, I mean today, if you can't stay, you should go back first. I'll find you again tomorrow night."

"Leaving you here alone would make me look like a jerk!"

Chen Zhiyu raised his arm, resting it on his shoulder.

Unexpectedly, Gu Ji dodged away after a nudge.

"Then don't blame me if you're late tomorrow!"

"I'll just skip sleep tonight, let me stay a while..."

...

Thus, the two waited at the international exit for over an hour. Another group came out, but his dad's flight was still showing as delayed.

"Waiting like this isn't a solution, let me call and check."

By 3 AM, Gu Ji was already extremely tired.

He took out his phone and dialed Emirates' customer service number. After giving the flight number, the customer service still couldn't provide a definitive arrival time, responding only with "TBD".

He instinctively sensed something was amiss.

Flights can be delayed for several reasons: weather, air traffic control, mechanical issues, passenger reasons, or flight sequencing changes.

The term "TBD" is mostly seen before a flight, seldom during flight or landing. The lack of a specific explanation from the airline might indicate a more serious reason for the delay.

Next to him, Chen Zhiyu found the flight route on an application, discovering that the flight hadn't even reached Shenzhou City.

Since there are no direct flights from Dubai to Ningzhou, it should first stop at Shenzhou.

Theoretically, the flight should have arrived at Shenzhou Caiqiao Airport around 11 PM last night, staying for two hours before flying to Ningzhou.

"Not even reached Shenzhou? Could it have..."

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey! Don't say such things, let's wait a bit longer."

Chen Zhiyu quickly interrupted Gu Ji.

The two found a bench along the edge of a landscape garden to sit and wait yet another two hours, still with no news.

Without a choice, Chen Zhiyu contacted his father in Dubai.

Chen Hongsheng rushed to the airport late into the night to inquire, yet still couldn't get a definitive response.

"Have some soy milk, be careful, it's hot."

Chen Zhiyu somehow came back with two cups of soy milk.

Gu Ji, now both tired and worried, finally felt a bit of solace after drinking the warm soy milk. He checked his watch:

"It's five o'clock, why don't you go to work first?"

"I can't possibly concentrate on work knowing this, don't worry, I'll just take a leave from my supervisor later."

"You just started... oh, right, you started a month before me."

Whether from lack of sleep or worry over the flight status, Gu Ji's thoughts gradually became dull and numb.

Six o'clock.

Gu Ji and Chen Zhiyu both took leave from their supervisors.

Until around seven, more people gathered at the international arrivals again, suddenly, his phone vibrated—an incoming call from Emirates.

"Hello, this is Emirates, are you Mr. Gu Ji?"

"Yes, is there any news on the flight?"

"We regret to inform you that at approximately 10:38 last night, the Emirates DBX017 flight your father, Gu Jian, was on, flying from Dubai to Shenzhou, unfortunately, lost contact and crashed over Assam in northern India. We are deeply saddened, and the airline has already urgently contacted the Indian Civil Aviation Authority to establish an incident handling..."

Clang.

The phone dropped.

In that moment, it felt like a bolt from the blue for Gu Ji, or as if something drained all his strength, leaving his brain unable to command his body, his ears buzzing uncontrollably as he collapsed.

Chen Zhiyu hurriedly came over to support him, anxiously calling out.

But he couldn't hear anything clearly.

To be honest, the disaster handling knowledge he learned had prepared him for this prolonged unexplained delay, but hearing the news firsthand, he still couldn't believe it.

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