The sky above the Pacific Ocean was clear.

Flight EA-217, bound for Ecuador, carried over one hundred passengers from different parts of the world. Some were traveling for work, others for vacation, and some simply searching for a fresh start.

Among them were four strangers who had never spoken to one another:

Lieutenant Alexander Rowe, a Special Forces officer returning from an overseas assignment.

Dr. Lian Yuan, a trauma surgeon traveling to attend an international medical conference.

Kai, a gifted aircraft maintenance engineer flying to inspect a newly established aviation facility.

You, an ordinary young woman whose journey had nothing to do with war, medicine, or engineering—yet fate had chosen you just the same.

For hours, the flight was perfectly normal.

Passengers chatted.

Children laughed.

Flight attendants served meals.

No one imagined that within minutes, their entire lives would change forever.

Without warning, the aircraft was struck by a violent electrical storm unlike anything the pilots had encountered before.

The plane shook violently.

Cabin lights flickered.

Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling.

Screams echoed throughout the cabin.

One of the engines exploded into flames.

Emergency alarms filled the aircraft.

The pilots desperately tried to regain control, but the instruments had already failed.

The plane began losing altitude at an alarming speed.

People cried.

Some prayed.

Others held onto strangers, believing they were about to die.

Alexander immediately unbuckled his seatbelt and began helping terrified passengers despite the crew ordering everyone to remain seated.

Lian rushed toward an injured flight attendant who had been thrown against the galley wall, trying to stop the bleeding even as the aircraft continued shaking.

Kai fought his way toward the rear of the plane, hoping to assess the damage, but another violent impact threw him across the cabin.

Then...

Everything went white.

A deafening explosion.

Metal tearing apart.

The sound of trees snapping beneath thousands of kilograms of steel.

And finally...

Silence.

The characthers: