29: A-001 has lost contact; highest emergency response plan activated!

At this moment, the entire hall was so quiet that one could hear the faint sound of the central air conditioning's airflow.

Everyone's eyes, whether intentionally or not, glanced toward the giant radar screen in front of the chief controller.

In the northwest corner of the screen, within a deep red area representing severe thunderstorm weather, a light dot that should have been flashing had completely disappeared.

Below the light dot, its identity was labeled: CA4527.

Time passed, second by second.

The timer in the lower right corner of the screen jumped from "04:59" to "05:00".

Five minutes.

In the field of air traffic control, this was a critical threshold.

Fine beads of sweat broke out on the chief controller's forehead.

He picked up the communicator, his voice sounding a bit tight as he struggled to remain calm.

"CA4527, Central China calling, please respond if you hear me."

In the channel, there was only the sizzling white noise of static.

"CA4527, Central China calling, please respond if you hear me!"

There was still a deathly silence.

The controller put down the communicator and took a deep breath; he knew he couldn't wait any longer.

He pressed a red button and connected to the internal emergency line.

"This is Central China Tower. I declare that Flight CA4527's incident level has been raised to 'Level One Loss of Contact'."

"Repeat, 'Level One Loss of Contact'."

"System determined as 'Signal Interruption'."

His words were sent simultaneously to two places within just dozens of seconds via the encrypted line.

The Emergency Command Center of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

And, the Air Force Command Center of the Central Theater Command.

An invisible storm was quietly unfolding at the official level.

Meanwhile, another storm had already been ignited in the online world.

The first to show signs of commotion were several well-known domestic aviation enthusiast forums.

A stickied post was rapidly pushed to the top.

[Title: Are any aviation fans tracking CA4527? The ADS-B signal was interrupted near the northern mountainous area of Yuzhang!]

The original poster of the main thread posted a screenshot of a flight radar app. On it, the plane icon representing CA4527 abruptly stopped over a mountainous area, its flight path ending suddenly.

"Holy crap? What's the situation? Did it enter a thunderstorm zone?"

"At this position, the thunderstorm intensity is very high. I just checked the weather cloud map; it's a purple warning."

"Signal interruption is normal, right? It'll be fine once it passes through the clouds."

"It's not normal! It's been interrupted for five minutes! And look at the final altitude data, it dropped too fast! This is definitely not normal!"

Initially, most people were still discussing technical issues with a sense of optimism.

But soon, panic began to spread.

Almost at the same time, scattered posts began to appear on Weibo.

"Does anyone know what happened to CA4527? My brother is on this flight!"

"Help! My girlfriend is on CA4527 flying from Jiangcheng to Yuzhang. Is there any inside information? I'm going crazy with worry!"

These words, mixed with sobbing and despair, along with screenshots of anxious chat logs from passenger family groups, quickly spread across the internet.

The topic "A plane flying to Yuzhang has lost contact" began to quietly appear at the bottom of the trending search list and climbed at a terrifying speed.

Ordinary people were just guessing and praying.

But some media and self-media outlets with a keen sense of smell had already started making frantic calls, trying to dig up first-hand information... the Ninth Bureau.

In an office without any markings.

Chen Jianguo was wearing reading glasses, browsing through the daily public opinion reports automatically captured and categorized by the system on his screen.

His finger scrolled the mouse wheel as his eyes quickly scanned line after line of titles.

"A certain celebrity suspected of tax evasion; tax department intervenes in investigation."

"The 'Miracle Tree' at the Jiangcheng Flower Expo draws international attention; tourist numbers break historical records."

"..."

Most of this information had nothing to do with his work, but it was a task he had to complete every day.

He needed to grasp every pulse of social sentiment.

Suddenly, his finger stopped.

His gaze locked onto an entry that the system had just determined to be "rapidly rising in popularity."

[CA4527 Lost Contact]

Chen Jianguo frowned.

He saw the related terms again.

[Jiangcheng -> Yuzhang]

Yuzhang?

These two words touched a very tight string in his mind.

He took off his reading glasses, rubbed his temples, and leaned back in his chair.

Jiang Ming's hometown was in Yuzhang.

The moment this thought jumped out, Chen Jianguo's heart contracted sharply.

He immediately sat up straight, picked up a black phone on the desk without any logo, and pressed a speed-dial key.

The phone was answered after only one ring.

"Civil Aviation Information Center."

"This is Chen Jianguo from the Ninth Bureau."

"I need you to immediately verify the full passenger list of Flight CA4527. Highest priority. Send the file to my terminal within three minutes."

"Understood!" There were no questions on the other end, only a crisp and decisive answer.

Hanging up the phone, Chen Jianguo stared at the computer screen, motionless.

The office was terrifyingly quiet.

Beep.

A soft sound interrupted his thoughts.

An encrypted file reception window popped up on the computer screen.

Chen Jianguo clicked it open immediately.

A dense list of passengers appeared before his eyes.

He directly used the "Ctrl+F" search function and, with a slightly trembling hand, typed two characters into the search box.

Jiang Ming.

Enter.

On the screen, a name was instantly highlighted in yellow.

Jiang Ming.

Gender: Male.

ID Number: 36010220XXXXXXXXXX... Chen Jianguo's pupils suddenly contracted.

He stared fixedly at that string of ID numbers.

It matched the string of numbers in his file perfectly.

Boom.

Chen Jianguo felt as if something had exploded in his brain.

His expression became incredibly grave in an instant, even turning somewhat pale.

target a-001.

This unique transcendent anomaly who could summon Ravens, command cat colonies, and make Dead Wood Meets Spring.

He was on that plane that had lost contact!

Chen Jianguo stood up abruptly. Because he moved too fast, the chair was pushed back, making a harsh scraping sound.

He walked quickly to a safe in the corner of the office, entered the password, and opened the door.

Inside, a red telephone lay quietly.

He picked up the phone.

Taking a deep breath, he dialed the number that had only a single digit.

The other end picked up almost instantly.

No greetings, no pleasantries.

Chen Jianguo used all his strength to keep his voice steady.

"Reporting."

"target a-001 is confirmed to be on the lost Flight CA4527."

The other end fell into a silence that lasted for three seconds.

Three seconds later.

A majestic and calm voice came through the receiver.

"Activate the Emergency Response Plan."

"Comrade Chen Jianguo, from now on, you have the highest coordination authority over all relevant departments."

Emergency Response Plan.

This was the highest-level disposal plan formulated at the inception of the Ninth Bureau, led by the top leadership and involving top think tanks from dozens of departments, to deal with extreme accidents involving Jiang Ming or direct conflicts with the state.

This plan had only existed in theoretical deductions.

Everyone hoped that the day would never come when it would be activated.

But today, it was activated.

"Yes!"

Chen Jianguo answered loudly and hung up the phone.

He put down the phone and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, all emotions had faded, leaving only steel-like determination.

He pressed a master switch on his desk.

Within one hour.

Huaxia, Jingdu.

Inside a secret facility hundreds of meters underground.

A temporary command center, usually sealed for backup, was brightly lit.

Giant circular screen walls were lit up one after another.

On the screens, weather cloud maps, airspace radar maps, real-time public opinion monitoring data, and satellite reconnaissance footage began to refresh frantically.

Personnel in different uniforms poured in from all directions.

Military liaison officers in position.

National Security intelligence analysis group in position.

Air traffic control technical expert group in position.

Meteorological expert group in position.

Online public opinion guidance group in position... Telephones rang one after another, and the sound of typing formed a continuous stream.

Countless orders were issued from this small room, transmitted to every nerve ending of this vast country.

The entire state machine began to operate at an unprecedented speed for the sake of finding one person.

Chen Jianguo stood in the center of the command center, looking at the scene before him, and picked up a master communication microphone.

"My first order."

"Find him at all costs. If he is alive, I want to see him; if he is dead, I want to see his body."