Chapter 122 — Everyone Was Hypnotized

The flight attendant cast a suspicious glance at Mu Ran’s calm and composed face.

"Ma'am, no, I cannot allow you to bring Captain Gao into the cockpit. It is dangerous and against regulations. Our pilots have undergone rigorous training. Please return to your seat and wait patiently."

Mu Ran’s cold, sharp gaze fixed on the flight attendant’s anxious and guilty face. "Are you sure? I don't believe we are safe right now." Mu Ran curled her lips, her expression chilling.

[Captain Gao, are you willing to pilot this plane?]

Mu Ran skillfully used her slender fingers to communicate with Captain Gao, though her grasp of sign language, learned only a short time ago, was incomplete.

"He says it violates protocol. He is retired and cannot override the current pilot to take control of the aircraft," said the man in sunglasses. Taking advantage of a moment when Lin Chong dodged some falling luggage, he had moved down the aisle to Mu Ran’s side, casting a meaningful look at the captain, who was gesticulating rapidly.

"And who are you, sir? Please return to your seat and fasten your seatbelt!" The flight attendant, already at her wits' end with Mu Ran, was sweating profusely, cursing the appearance of another man. She stood between Mu Ran and the man in sunglasses like a soulless tape recorder, repeating the demand for them to return to their seats.

"Shh—"

Irritated, the man in sunglasses frowned, bowed his head slightly, and extended a slender, scarred hand. He snapped his fingers sharply right in front of the flight attendant’s eyes.

"Sir, you..."

The flight attendant’s eyes went wide with shock and terror, but before she could finish, her eyes snapped shut. Her body went stiff and rigid, and she collapsed heavily onto the floor.

The man in sunglasses moved with lightning agility. Bending down, he used a deft maneuver to grab her wrist and effortlessly pulled her up, depositing the unconscious flight attendant into an empty seat.

"Don't be afraid. Fasten her seatbelt for her."

He snapped his fingers at a sturdy man sitting next to the flight attendant. The man’s eyes, previously wide with fright, instantly turned vacant and dull, as if he had lost his spirit. Without a word, he moved like a zombie, leaning over to buckle the belt for the unconscious attendant.

"Good. You can sleep now. When you wake up, you will have landed safely." The man in sunglasses spoke in an ethereal tone. He smiled faintly at the hollow-eyed man, then leaned against a partition, pulled a pendant from his pocket, and swayed it gently before the man’s eyes. The man immediately slumped over, unconscious.

"Mu Ran, do you trust me?" The man in sunglasses turned his gaze to the woman standing before the captain. Seeing the caution and shock in her eyes, he smiled. He lazily tucked the pendant into his pocket and pointed his long fingers at Captain Gao. "There is only one way to make everyone agree to let this old man fly the plane, and to make the old man himself willing to enter the cockpit."

"What are you planning to do?" Mu Ran stood firmly in front of the captain.

The plane lurched violently. Lacking anything to hold onto, Mu Ran stumbled, nearly falling. Her cold eyes gradually grew flat, masked by a heavy, murderous aura that seemed ready to erupt at any moment. This man, radiating a sinister air, clearly possessed not just mind-reading abilities, but the power of hypnosis. What was his true purpose in approaching her?

"Mu Ran, don't be afraid. I can't read your mind, and I won't hypnotize you, I promise." The man’s tone was gentle, laced with a seductive quality. Despite the plane’s rapid descent and violent shaking, he moved with remarkable stability, his footing sure as he approached her.

"Mu Ran, we’re running out of time." He glanced sideways at Lin Chong, who was stumbling toward them. His eyes darkened with a sudden flash of brilliance as he leaned in close to Mu Ran, his sinister breath brushing against her. "That bald man is quite anxious. He’s coming to tell you that if we don’t get Captain Gao into the cockpit, we’re all going to die."

"Stay away from me. You're disgusting."

Mu Ran raised her hand, shoving away the man's palm as it reached for her chin. Following through with a backhand, she slapped his smirking face hard.

"I find you repulsive. Get lost."

The woman radiated malice. Struggling to stay balanced, she stood on her tiptoes, one hand gripping the man’s throat, and landed another resounding slap on his face. "For the sake of your surname Gu, get out of my sight and stop causing trouble."

She pushed him away, throwing her weight into it. An ordinary person would have been sent sprawling, but the man in sunglasses stood as if nailed to the floor, unmoving despite the plane's violent descent.

"Xiao Ran, hurry! We're running out of time!" Lin Chong staggered toward them.

"Bang—"

Lin Chong was suddenly kicked toward the emergency exit. Unable to suppress his rage, he cursed the culprit, "You!"

"Hmph." The man in sunglasses turned pale with anger, his eyes glinting with provocation. "Baldy, you’d better keep quiet. I know what you’re thinking."

Mu Ran’s bald bodyguard was no ordinary man; his combat prowess was high, and more importantly, his gift for divination could be a powerful tool to help him destroy that other man. But the stubborn bald man was clearly determined to protect Mu Ran to the end. That being the case, he wouldn't hold back much longer.

"What’s happening? Are we going to die?"
"Help!"
"I don't want to die! My wife and I just got married!"

The man in sunglasses gave Mu Ran a lingering look, his eyes full of hidden, playful malice. He cupped his hands around his mouth like a megaphone and shouted to the passengers, "Everyone, trust me, we will be fine. Trust me. Look at me, look right here."

As he spoke, he narrowed his eyes at Mu Ran and gestured for her to close hers. Mu Ran kept a cold face, noticing his other hand reaching into his pocket—likely for the hypnotic pendant. She reacted instinctively, closing her eyes tightly and gripping the back of the seat behind Captain Gao.

It seemed Gu Yan intended to hypnotize everyone on board.

In truth, the moment Mu Ran had seen the face beneath those sunglasses, she recognized him as Gu Yan, the son of Gu Beicheng’s uncle. She knew him because of Bai Zehan. Back when she had retired from the entertainment industry to marry Bai Zehan, she had developed mild depression. After the marriage, Bai Zehan frequently sent her to the beds of various men, and Mu Ran had completely lost the will to live. Before Bai Zehan poisoned her, she had attempted suicide.

Because she still had some utility, Bai Zehan had brought in Gu Yan, a famous psychiatrist from the Imperial Capital, to treat her. Mu Ran had forgotten the details of the treatment, but the memory of the pendant in that man’s hand remained vivid. Back then, Gu Yan would sway the pendant before her eyes and tap a cup three times with a small spoon. Her intense desire to die would instantly vanish, but her soul would be shrouded in a thick, hazy fog. For months afterward, she remained under Bai Zehan’s control, sent to producers and directors. Her mind was conscious, her body had sensation, but she could not control her own limbs.

Now, Mu Ran realized with shock that in her previous life, Gu Yan hadn't just been treating her depression—he had been hypnotizing her.

On the plane, Mu Ran kept her eyes tightly shut, recalling those months as a living corpse before her death. The terror of that inescapable hypnotic state had lasted months. She felt a jolt of fear, her body tensing as she stayed on high alert. Gu Yan was truly diabolical; his hypnotic power was formidable.

"Please, everyone, relax. Don't be nervous. Come, look at the pendant in my hand."

Everyone in the cabin stared blankly at Gu Yan. Their faces were pale and their eyes lacked focus, all fixed on the jade pendant in his hand.

"Relax. You are just riding a roller coaster. Don't be afraid. In half an hour, the ride will stabilize. No one be nervous. Come, take a deep breath, and follow the movement of the pendant with your eyes."

Gu Yan smiled faintly, his dangerous, deep eyes squinting to emit a seductive light. As he saw everyone slowly succumb to his hypnosis, his smile grew even more bizarre.

Mu Ran, eyes closed and feeling a sense of unease, remained silent, her internal sense of crisis mounting. Gu Yan was not a man to be trifled with. He could read minds and perform hypnosis! Furthermore, the helplessness and pain she had suffered under his hypnosis in her past life remained unforgettable.

Suddenly, she felt a tug on her sleeve.

Mu Ran instinctively opened her eyes and looked in the direction of the sensation. It was Captain Gao.

The captain’s brows were furrowed, his face pale. He pointed silently toward Gu Yan, his sharp eyes filled with confusion. He quickly moved his fingers, using sign language to ask what the man with the pendant was doing.

Mu Ran glanced at Gu Yan, then caught sight of Lin Chong, who was lying on the floor, frantically signaling toward her. Lin Chong pointed at the captain, urging her to convince him to go to the cockpit before it was too late. Because Captain Gao could hear nothing, he was immune to Gu Yan’s hypnosis, leaving him as clear-headed as Mu Ran and Lin Chong.

Mu Ran turned to the captain and used sign language, pleading with him to hurry to the cockpit. But the captain remained skeptical; breaking into the cockpit was a crime. Mu Ran anxiously tried to explain that the person currently piloting the plane was a nepotism hire with no emergency experience.

Suddenly, a bizarre, chilling voice cut through her movements.

"Even if you move your hands until they blossom, Captain Gao won't go to the cockpit. Why are you so guarded against me? Mu Ran, I am only hypnotizing them to keep them from panicking. Why do you and the bald man see me as such an unforgivable villain?"

Gu Yan clamped his hand onto the wrist of Lin Chong, who was trying to stand up, and tossed him aside.

"Look, everyone is so calm and composed."

Gu Yan stepped with perfect balance, leaning in close to Mu Ran and inhaling the fragrance radiating from her. "This is the merit of hypnosis. If I didn't, I fear some of them would have been frightened to death by now."

Mu Ran and Lin Chong, who was clinging to an armrest on the floor, looked in the direction Gu Yan pointed. The passengers were indeed calm and indifferent. Despite the violent turbulence, they showed no trace of fear, watching movies or chatting as usual, some even napping peacefully.

Hypnosis? Gu Yan’s technique was truly powerful.

"Only hypnosis can break through Captain Gao's internal principles and make him go to the cockpit with you." Gu Yan toyed with the pendant, arms crossed, standing as steady as a rock on the swaying plane.

"Gu Yan, why is your balance so steady?" Mu Ran checked on the captain, then cast a sharp, piercing look at the man’s face, still marked by her slap. She still didn't know why he had approached her. Was it because of Gu Beicheng? Did this man have a grudge against him? But in her past life, she had never heard of a connection between Gu Beicheng and Gu Yan.

"How do you know my name? Hmm? Are you that interested in me?"