Tower of Overturn

"Yes, yes! This gentleman saved all of our lives!"

In front of the camera, the middle-aged captain rubbed his hands together, displaying an excited demeanor. "Not just us, not just everyone aboard this airship, but also the innocent civilians on the ground!"

He appeared to be in his forties or fifties, with the dove-wing-like features of a prone-spiritual at his temples.

This indicated that his prone-spiritual was some kind of bird from the pigeon order.

Typically, only those with pigeon-like abilities to sense the planet's magnetic field would be chosen as airship captains. Over the open sea, far from the Floating Island, the airship could not receive the island's network signals nor navigate using maps.

Once an airship left the island, it couldn't resupply unless it reached a new island.

The land below was rife with radiation and curses, not fit for landing, and the other few Sky Islands were even farther apart...

This meant that the captains plying the skies between the Sky Islands had to navigate by experience and instinct alone.

That was why the mercenaries didn't dare kill the captain outright.

Unless they had a "pigeon" amongst them, they could only plunge into the boundless sea.

In this world, there were no airplanes—the giant dragons had strictly regulated the maximum altitude for manned flight, so apart from low-flying helicopters, airships were the only option for transoceanic transport. Without a network, finding a rescue target in the vast sea was nearly impossible... and it was even less likely to climb back onto a Floating Island by one's own strength.

Hence, plunging into the sea meant certain death.

"We had just left Chongguang Island not long ago when those people came and hijacked me—my co-pilot and assistant were killed by them on the spot!"

The man said agitatedly.

"What happened then?"

Glass inquired.

"They came with guns, threatening us. And they tied me to the chair, preventing me from launching signal flares to contact the ground.

"I saw them inject my co-pilot with something, and then I heard no more noise from him. Those thugs then used a Physical Link to gain his authority and threw both him and my assistant out. They ordered me to fly as slowly as possible, to take detours, to delay our arrival to Happiness Island as much as possible...

"I was tied up, unable to do anything other than control the direction of the airship. I couldn't accelerate, decelerate, go up, or land... I had no choice but to comply!"

"Yes, I understand..."

Glass spoke in a gentle voice, softly comforting the captain who was gasping for breath and trembling: "What happened after they stole the co-pilot's authority?"

"It looked like... they uploaded some program. It must have been a type of sleeping virus they mentioned over the broadcast later on."

The captain was not very clear on the details but tried his best to explain: "The second class and third deck are communal cabins, but the luxury cabins are private rooms. If the passengers in the luxury cabins want to enter or leave their rooms, or purchase any services, they use a temporarily generated, one-time electronic key. This electronic key, authorized with personal authentication codes, can directly make charges to an individual's account, so it can be safely linked.

"They infected this electronic key with a virus, causing all the luxury cabin passengers to fall asleep—except for this Hero!"

While saying this, the captain looked at Russell with a gaze filled with adoration and gratitude.

Hearing this, the crew member behind Glass, wearing sunglasses, immediately followed the captain's gaze, turning the camera and microphone toward Russell, who was standing beside Amirus.

Although it was Russell's first time being interviewed on such a scale,

his experience as a public relations manager in his past life dealing with the media instinctively brought a perfectly weak but appropriate smile to his face.

He leaned slightly, hunching over as though trying to conceal the injuries on his back, but involuntarily straightened due to the pain.

Of course, all this was just an act by Russell.

—Although Russell still resisted becoming the sort of "entertainment hero" that Bad Day had mentioned,

he was acutely aware that he had no other choice.

Bad Day could not act overtly; Russell could not morally coerce Bad Day into acting to save the passengers;

he could not simply follow Bad Day and abandon these innocent passengers;

and having already intervened, he had to become a "Hero" or else be charged with murder.

From the beginning, he had no choice.

So, even if he felt uneasy or wasn't entirely on board... in front of strangers, in front of the media, Russell would never falter due to whim or mood.

What he excelled at was stripping away his personal biases and handling public relations in the most rational and effective manner possible when working—

It came from an "appealing" instinct that he had nurtured for a very long time.

It wasn't through dignity or gifts, but through wit and sincerity—or rather, through reason and instinct.

If he had decided to do it, he would try to do it to the best of his ability, rather than let his concerns or hesitations ruin the stage that others had set for him.

The moment Russell saw Glass, he started adjusting himself.

If the other party were not skilled enough, they probably would not have noticed these subtle maneuvers from Russell.

But Russell guessed right; the dedicated cameraman captured Russell's slightly weakened yet resilient smile in a close-up, then swiftly moved to his side. While keeping the camera steady, he gave a side shot of Russell's blood-soaked back.

Russell caught a glimpse of himself on the screen of the pink helicopter outside through the captain's cabin observation window, checking his own image.

It wasn't until then that Amirus's face had never appeared on the screen. At most, only half of his body showed up, and his pointed ears were never captured.

This was clearly a deliberate control of the situation.

Russell knew at that moment the level of the media reporters he was dealing with.

This round, well, we've encountered some real pros.

After all, predicting such a thing is only something pros can handle... Low-end players can simply be crushed. Overthinking and stacking hypotheses like a thousand-layer cake only makes it easy to end up looking like a clown.

In Russell's view, the capabilities of Glass and her group seemed to be quite acceptable.

"He truly is a very brave and handsome young hero; he seems to have suffered quite a bit in the fight against the thugs from Babel," Glass affirmed right from the get-go.

Then, immediately, she asked curiously, "May I ask whether this... um, young man, was also a first-class passenger?"

The implication being she was preparing to ask Russell, "Since everyone else had fallen asleep, how come you were unaffected?"

—Reporters are the eyes and the mouthpiece of the public.

They have to ask the questions the public is curious about. And for Russell, this was a question he couldn't dodge.

"...Yes."

Russell responded softly, trying to keep his words as brief as possible.

He chose to use a voice that was lighter than usual and more transparent to convey the image of a "polite young man" who was somewhat weak but striving to maintain his decorum: "Although I may appear young... I've actually been of age for several years now."

Personally, he thought this would make him more likable.

At the same time, he was also conveying to Glass and the audience behind the camera that his energy and physical strength had been depleted during the fight with the thugs.

With Glass's EQ, she certainly wouldn't keep grilling Russell with questions. Because she knew... if she managed to extract something, that's all well and good. But if she couldn't, people would develop a dislike for her "insensitivity." The more people liked Russell, the stronger their aversion to her would be.

As a "star journalist" maintaining her own image, she would never engage in actions that could harm herself.

As expected by Russell, Glass pondered for just a moment before deciding to follow his lead:

"When I first saw you, I was actually quite surprised..."

"Because I look... very young?" Russell interjected softly.

With a somewhat shy expression, but seriously, he replied, "But I have actually graduated from Chongguang University with a master's degree."

"You really can't tell!"

This time, Glass's exclamation carried a bit more sincerity: "Chongguang University is one of the toughest universities to get into! May I ask what your major was...?"

"Ah, I have two master's degrees."

Russell's voice became even softer, as if he were slightly embarrassed by the compliments, and he added softly, "Prosthetic Fitting and Maintenance, and Information Security."

"Those two majors are two of the top three at Chongguang University!"

On the side, Glass played the supporting role, praising Russell in front of the audience: "Prosthetic Fitting and Maintenance, along with Information Security and Intelligence Control, these three majors are Chongguang Group's most advantageous technologies!"

Of course, her words weren't false. These indeed were two of the best majors at Chongguang University.

Otherwise, even if he had a Director uncle at Tianen Group he had never met, they wouldn't have arranged for him to work at the headquarters directly.

If he screwed up, it would definitely tarnish the resources his uncle had accumulated at the company over the years.

"Such a delicate and yet so exceptional young man who burst out with such courage in the face of crisis—" Glass mused.

She also realized that this seemingly delicate boy, as tender as a kitten, was not someone she could easily manipulate.

But the questions that needed to be asked still had to be asked.

In a more tactful manner, she inquired, "Then, is your ability to break free from that virus's control so quickly related to your professional knowledge?"

This was actually setting Russell up for a response.

Russell only needed to vaguely confirm it, and the topic would pass.

After all, for a dual-master's degree holder from Chongguang University to accomplish such a feat wasn't strange—at least not to the average public who didn't know much about Babel, nor to Glass herself, who would all be unaware there was anything problematic with that answer.

However, Russell knew that the virus from Babel was unsolvable.

So he couldn't go along with that line of reasoning.

Thus, Russell changed the subject—