Chapter 37: Those who ascend to the heavens often know that rising is easy, but descending is difficult.

Central airspace of the Seres State, Turbulence Layer.

In this region, saturated with chaotic spiritual power fluctuations and severe communication interference, no aircraft of any significant size can traverse with ease. Theoretically, the maximum safe size for passage is limited to a single occupant.

The rocket body surged forward toward its target. The intense vibrations, filtered by the radiance-stone magic shield, did not pose much of a problem for Ye Sheng. While there were wind-shielding runes, they were not of a high grade, and the chill at this altitude was intense; Ye Sheng could feel her body temperature gradually dropping.

But it did not matter.

She would arrive soon.

Surrounded by flashing lightning and rolling storm clouds, she looked up to catch glimpses of the starry sky, light spilling through the gloom. Ye Sheng gripped the welded handles on the fuselage tightly, a look of excitement on her face.

Whoo-hoo!

This is great. Flying through the sky is truly wonderful.

Ever since she heard her teacher talk about these concepts in elementary school science class, Ye Sheng had been planning her "runaway via a single-seat, disposable aircraft through the Turbulence Layer."

It should be noted that Ye Sheng was not the type to act on impulse or pure passion. She preferred to fathom the underlying logic of things, calculate with precision, and then seize the opportunity to achieve success in one fell swoop.

To this end, she had secretly consumed many novels and films themed around running away from home, discovering a fatal problem: the choice of transport was paramount. Setting aside the artistic liberties taken in fiction, if she were to run away, using ordinary transport would likely result in her being apprehended by reinforcements hired by Professor Ye the moment she arrived at the station.

She might even be caught just entering the station.

Professor Ye’s connections were quite formidable.

Therefore, she took advantage of her projects in the laboratory to steal—no, "scavenge"—some parts. How could it be called stealing when the project resources were allocated to her by her mother’s lab?

She snuck these parts home, tinkered with them in the warehouse, and relying on computer modeling simulations and the power of "I reckon" during assembly, she finally completed the "YS-I Prototype" this year.

To ensure the feasibility of her runaway plan, Ye Sheng even used a school field trip as an opportunity to conduct an on-site investigation of the "Shan Hai" system building. She discovered that the capital’s air defense system was not as airtight as she had imagined—at least, not in the academic and educational districts.

Strict air defense was for the exterior. The academic district was filled with scholars running experiments; "Shan Hai" couldn't be bothered with ordinary high-energy reactions and airspace signals, and their response times were sluggish.

This aligned with the defense principles of the Era of Extraordinary Resurgence: tight on the outside, loose on the inside. Most major powers in the world followed roughly the same protocol.

All she had to do was reach the Turbulence Layer before the air defense system could respond.

The next critical technical problem was ensuring the aircraft would reach her intended destination. Once she entered the Turbulence Layer, she would be untraceable, but she would also lose all means of external communication and could not use electronic navigation.

To avoid going off-course, she had to utilize an inertial integration trajectory algorithm to calculate the aircraft's path on an offline, local map.

This required sensing modules and algorithmic modules, which were the core technology of the YS-I Prototype. Ye Sheng had even published a paper on it, though Professor Ye, oblivious to the true purpose, merely thought it reflected Ye Sheng's academic interests.

Heh.

It sounded a bit too calculating, but that was just the kind of person Ye Sheng was. She seemed as indifferent as a chrysanthemum on the surface, but deep down, she harbored many heavy, frenzied, and stubborn thoughts.

Either stay home and continue to lock horns with her mother, or... launch a runaway plan that was guaranteed to succeed!

The gale whistled, whipping her school uniform into a frenzy. Fortunately, Ye Sheng had found time during the takeoff phase to tie up her long, black hair, pinning it behind her head and exposing her slender, elegant neck.

Otherwise, she would likely be in quite a sorry state right now.

She stared at the screen before her, observing the data and adjusting parameters.

When the phlogiston levels hit 17%, Ye Sheng shut down the engine. The remaining journey would be completed through inertia; it was only during the landing phase that she would need to restart the engine to adjust her position.

As for the landing site in Maple Sugar City, she had chosen that at the time of takeoff as well.

It was an abandoned ancient ruin where all valuable resources had already been mined, leaving behind only the ancient infrastructure materials—hard-textured and possessing high spiritual power absorption capabilities—which were perfectly suited as a landing point.

Not long after, the aircraft’s signal reappeared on the "Shan Hai" monitoring panel.

The headquarters, far away in the capital, issued instructions to the local authorities in Maple Sugar City, and on the outskirts of the city, an emergency construction crew stood ready.

"Where is it going to land?"

"Not sure yet. It just came out of the Turbulence Layer. What the hell, there are no big missions lately, why is there an emergency landing all of a sudden..."

"The person’s identity must be significant. Otherwise, why make such a fuss?"

"It’s here! The Maple Sugar City radar station received a communication request; the party provided coordinates."

"Coordinates provided by the one flying in the sky? Ha, looks like there’s some friction with the capital..."

Construction vehicles lined up, accelerators floored, heading toward the target location.

In the passenger seat of one of the excavators, Li Xingming leaned back comfortably against the seat, adjusting his hard hat.

Yes, children.

As a local powerhouse in Maple Sugar City, the Li family had responded to the central department’s call by dispatching numerous construction workers to support the operation.

Li Xingming was among them.

After all, Li Xingming’s specialties were mathematics, physics, and runes—a fact known from his school to the Li household. The assembly point for the construction crew was not far from the First High School, and they just happened to be short a surveyor.

The regular surveyor had gone off to a karaoke club last night and couldn't be reached.

The Li family’s manager had slapped his forehead, made a single phone call to drag the young master off the street, and ordered him to go lay concrete.

Initially, Li Xingming wanted to find an excuse to decline, but then he glanced at his phone and saw the message Ye Sheng had sent him before she entered the Turbulence Layer during takeoff.

Haha, running away by rocket? That’s invincible.

Overjoyed, Li Xingming let out a hearty laugh. He felt completely invigorated and actively responded to his family’s call, joining the construction crew.

This was the core DPS unit of the team, the ADC of the game, the "Big Daddy" who carried the team. Since the "Big Daddy" was running away to find him, he had to rush over to give her a warm welcome, right?

Now he had no choice but to lay concrete.

"Look, kid, I’ll say it up front: on-site surveying relies heavily on empirical formulas and requires specialized spiritual tools for measurement, which is vastly different from what you learn in school. Just listen to my instructions later and focus on the calculation part..." the uncle driving the vehicle nagged him incessantly.

The uncle glanced at him in his spare time and noticed this brat was playing on his phone, causing his face to redden with irritation: "Hey man, are you even listening?"

"I am."

"Then why are you still on your phone?"

"I’m communicating with the person in the sky. She said there’s no need to set up a landing field; she can perform an autonomous, damage-free landing."

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