Chapter 52: Metamorphosis
Mo Shangyun slowly put down his phone. He could still faintly hear the operation control's explanation through the speaker, but Mo Shangyun didn't want to listen anymore. What he saw with his own eyes gave him a more profound shock.
"Xu Cang?" Mo Shangyun could hardly believe his eyes. The man in front of him was covered with dense mud spots, and his shoes were covered with thick mud. The mud at the bottom of his pants had dried and cracked, but the pants above the knees were still wet. Xu Cang's hair was all drooping down, hardened into a mess, which was obviously the result of drying in the shade after being rained on. In Mo Shangyun's sight, Xu Cang's face was as pale as paper, and his eyes, which should have exuded youthful vitality, were full of bloodshot, and his eyelids drooped weakly, as if Xu Cang would close his eyes and fall asleep at any moment.
Tiredness. No need to ask or explore. Just looking at Xu Cang's current expression, his face is already full of fatigue.
That's right, Mo Shangyun knew Xu Cang, because he was the inspector who failed Xu Cang's proficiency inspection three times, the one who caused Xu Cang to fall from a hot new star to a laughing stock among airlines.
Xu Cang probably didn't expect that the captain on duty would be Mo Shangyun. In view of some bad experiences before, even though Xu Cang was not a reserved person, he couldn't help but avoid looking at Mo Shangyun when they looked at each other.
Mo Shangyun turned sideways and faced Xu Cang. He looked Xu Cang up and down for a long time before finally asking, "The company said they couldn't contact you..."
"Oh, it was raining on the road and my phone got wet and couldn't be used. It wasn't intentional." Xu Cang quickly explained.
Mo Shangyun's eyes shone. "You mean you came here in the rain? How did you get here? I saw on the news that the road from Jianchuan to Lushui collapsed and we couldn't go there."
"I can't walk anymore." Xu Cang nodded. "But I met a kind old man on the road. I took a donkey cart and took a small road to Linshui County first, and then walked to Lushui. In fact, if I had followed the plan, I should have arrived here at three or four in the middle of the night. However, it rained heavily halfway through the walk, and I couldn't walk any further. I found a place to take shelter from the rain and waited until the rain subsided before continuing my walk. It wasted a lot of time."
Xu Cang's voice became , as if he was exhausted, but he still tried his best to hide it, revealing a grateful smile: "It seems that I have caught up."
"Yes, you did catch up. But now it seems not to be a question of whether you can catch up or not?" Mo Shangyun is from Erhai City, Yunshang Province. Both Linshui County and Lushui County are under the jurisdiction of Erhai City, so Mo Shangyun is relatively familiar with the surrounding situation.
If Xu Cang's ride in a donkey cart to Linshui County was considered normal, then walking in the dark from Linshui County to Lushui County was simply a crazy act.
Mo Shangyun remembered that the sound of thunder and rain in the middle of the night had woken him up several times, which meant that at that time, Xu Cang was still struggling forward in the wild.
"Teacher, is it still early?"
Mo Shangyun let out a long sigh: "It's just past six o'clock."
Xu Cang's expression changed: "Let's go, it can't be any later."
"Don't you need to get a room, take a shower, and change clothes?"
Xu Cang waved his hand and said, "No, this will waste too much time. I'll just go to the toilet and wash my face and change clothes when I get on the plane."
As he spoke, Xu Cang patted the schoolbag on his back and said happily: "Everything is in there!"
Mo Shangyun looked at Xu Cang's tired and forced smile and said sincerely: "Xu Cang, is this still you?"
Before this, when Mo Shangyun first met Xu Cang, he could tell that Xu Cang was a very spiritual but careless person. Why did he kill Xu Cang three times in a row? One of the reasons was that Mo Shangyun was very disappointed. God gave Xu Cang a terrifying talent, but he wasted it without any burden, which made Mo Shangyun, who valued talent, feel disappointed and angry.
But at this moment, Mo Shangyun could clearly feel that Xu Cang had changed, a change from the inside out, a change rooted in his nature.
"Teacher, of course it's me." Xu Cang put one hand on the minibus and forced a smile: "Teacher, I'm a little tired from walking, can I get in the car first?"
"Ah? Go ahead, you go up first!"
When Xu Cang heard that he could get on the bus first, he held the minibus and walked past Mo Shangyun. As he got closer, the smell from Xu Cang rushed into Mo Shangyun's nose.
It was a feeling of dampness mixed with sweat and some animal body odor.
"Oh..." For some reason, Mo Shangyun suddenly sighed, as if he was as exhausted as Xu Cang.
After Xu Cang got in the car, Mo Shangyun sent a text message to the first co-pilot who had already returned to the hotel, asking them to come back, and then called the operations control department.
When the call was connected, the transport control officer was about to explain to Mo Shangyun, but Mo Shangyun interrupted him and asked, "Who is on duty today?"
"Ah?" The operation control didn't understand what Mo Shangyun wanted to do, but still replied: "It's Mr. Lu."
"Lu Jinghua? I see." After saying that, he hung up the phone. Afterwards, regardless of the time, he called Lu Jinghua right away.
About ten minutes later, the two co-pilots and the crew hurried back to the car. At this time, Mo Shangyun had already made a phone call and got in the car. The two co-pilots in front got in the car first, and the crew behind followed.
One of the attendants subconsciously covered his mouth and nose as soon as he got on the bus, as if he smelled something unpleasant. When he looked inside the bus, he immediately saw Xu Cang, who was dirty all over, sleeping with his head tilted.
Seeing that the flight attendant wanted to ask about Xu Cang's identity, Mo Shangyun immediately pressed down his right hand, made a gesture to silence, and tried to lower his voice: "Keep quiet, let him sleep."
The flight attendant was also smart. He figured out the situation after a quick thought. He explained the situation to the flight attendant behind him and then tiptoed into the carriage.
There was no noise at all when eight people got on the bus. The only sound that could be heard in the car was Xu Cang's faint snoring.
