When Old Li and Old Zhang arrived at the palace with their flashlights, they found the open space completely empty. They circled the clearing several times, yet discovered nothing.

They assumed the ball lightning had vanished the moment they left the monitoring room, so they returned there with a sense of regret.

Yet, upon entering the monitoring room, they were startled to see the white sphere still rolling around on the open ground displayed on the screen.

This time, they ran, flashlights beam darting ahead, returning to the open space in front of the palace at their fastest pace.

But when they reached the spot, they still saw nothing.

By the time they got back to the monitoring room, the ball lightning on the screen had already disappeared.

Later, Old Zhang and Old Li reviewed the recorded footage and discovered that just a moment before they had rushed out to the clearing, the sphere had rolled and settled into a corner beneath the platform. Once they left, the white sphere reappeared, as if deliberately avoiding them.

Old Li’s family had served as administrators in the Forbidden City for two generations, so he was well aware of the various ghost stories within the palace. Seeing this thing actively hide from people, he concluded it must possess intelligence—perhaps one of the spirits of children, those aborted and thrown into wells or moats by emperors and palace maids, whose resentment must be heavy.

Therefore, after this incident, he advised Old Zhang to keep quiet about it, lest they invite retaliation from the spirit.

However, Old Li was somewhat more open-minded. After all, he managed electronic equipment, so he quietly confided the matter to an expert.

After the expert obtained the video for analysis, he concluded it was likely a spider crawling on the camera lens. Because the focus was too close, it couldn't be clearly seen, leading to the misidentification as ball lightning. He told Old Li not to overthink it.

Clearly, I felt this conclusion was unsound. What spider knows when people are approaching the lens that it would intentionally hide under a platform?

Moreover, the angle it chose to conceal itself was precisely where neither man could see it.

“That’s it?” I asked when he paused his narrative.

Number 12 shrugged and replied, “That’s all. Don’t you find it highly unusual?”

“It is very unusual,” chimed in Number 2, chanting under his breath, “but I think Old Zhang was foolish. He didn't heed Old Li’s warning. If the ball lightning had overheard him, it could have caused irreparable harm.”

“So, what does all this mean?” I couldn't help but ask Number 2.

Who knew, the fellow fell silent again, merely chanting with his eyes closed.

The ball lightning, positioned off the front-left side of the aircraft, continued moving at the same high speed as the plane, appearing as brilliant as a meteor as it zipped through the dark clouds.

Most lightning flashes are instantaneous, but ball lightning is evidently the most persistent type.

At this point, Number 12 and I were thinking along the same lines. He remarked, “The duration of ball lightning can range from a few minutes to half an hour—it’s quite long-lasting.”

I pondered for a moment and said, “If we assume, as you suggest, that ball lightning possesses consciousness and intelligence, half an hour seems incredibly short for its lifespan, doesn't it?”

Number 12 shrugged again. “Who knows? Maybe they’re like plankton, dying in a minute or two. Or perhaps they turn invisible, or decompose and then reassemble.”

After a pause, he added, “Oh, right. What I just recounted is quite old news, but something interesting happened recently in Mexico, also involving ball lightning.”

The atmosphere was so tense that I felt a bit suffocated and wanted to distract myself. So, while gazing out at the black clouds and the ball lightning, I asked, “Oh? Tell me about it.”

Number 12 was also staring intently out the window. “There were five or six adventurous young Mexicans who went trekking in a famous deserted area of their country—the kind where you carry huge packs, traverse wilderness, and set up camp wherever you please.”

“Mexico is famously sparsely populated, and there are many mysterious phenomena in the wilderness. For instance, one of the world's most famous UFO crashes is suspected to have occurred there. That’s what attracted these young people.”

“But this time, after walking for several days in the wasteland, the group found nothing unusual except a dead bear and a flock of birds that seemed to have committed mass suicide.”

“One day, a young man from the West of the group went to the roadside to urinate. Habitually, he carried his DV camera, thinking he should film immediately if he spotted anything strange.”

“At first, he recorded nothing out of the ordinary, just as usual. But halfway through, a muffled boom echoed from the gloomy sky, and a bolt of dry lightning struck the grass not far ahead, immediately setting it ablaze.”

“The young man recorded the spectacular scene with his DV, very excited. But then something even stranger happened. From the pile of burning weeds, a small figure made of electric light, only about five inches tall, slowly emerged!”

“The little figure was no taller than the top of his foot, moving very slowly, like a child just learning to walk, its posture stiff and awkward, as if afraid a wrong step would make it fall.”

“Looking closely, the little person was entirely composed of lightning, faintly glowing blue. It was very small and thin, somewhat resembling a stick figure, but the way it walked was so uncannily lifelike that the young man was stunned speechless.”

“Just then, his companions, alerted by the sound of the thunderclap, rushed over, thinking something had happened to him. As the group approached, the lightning figure suddenly flashed and vanished.”

His story was so bizarre that I could hardly believe it. However, I think I had seen the video before, just without these detailed accounts. It seemed Number 12’s words held some basis.

So what exactly is ball lightning? I truly couldn't fathom it.

Not just me; scientists have dedicated centuries to researching ball lightning, yet remained utterly stumped.

They had even tried to generate it using machinery, but all attempts ultimately failed.

Number 12 informed me that scientists still cannot explain why some ball lightning, when moving at high speed, instantly dodges people walking toward it. Furthermore, some ball lightning can penetrate walls and appear directly indoors. These remain unsolved mysteries.

To think that such a ghostly, mysterious phenomenon was appearing right before our eyes was incredible. Some people never witness it even once in their lifetime!

If the situation were less grave, I would certainly pull out my phone to take a picture. But with the slight turbulence of the airliner, I knew the situation was extremely critical, leaving no time for photography.

Someone complained then, “When will this troposphere finally end?”

No one answered the question, but Number 2 muttered to himself, “It won’t end easily. If we don't negotiate, we’re dead today.”

I was about to ask him what he meant, but the passengers’ screams immediately drew my attention.

“Look, the ground-rolling thunder is increasing!” many people shouted.

I hurried to look out the window. Sure enough, three or four more luminous spheres of light had caught up from behind, overtaking the plane on its side, and then, just like the first one, they hovered ahead and to the side of the aircraft.

“Look over here, too!” cried passengers near the window on the other side.

I looked, and on the plane’s opposite flank, about a dozen spheres of ball lightning were flying alongside the aircraft.

“What do these things want?” Many voiced this question, as flying in formation with the plane was clearly a conscious action; otherwise, they wouldn't maintain such synchronized speed.

One wave had barely subsided when another arose. As the number of spheres increased, they began slowly drawing nearer to the fuselage from a distance.

I watched the spheres grow larger, each one exceeding two meters in diameter, discharging in radial bursts like sea urchins, looking extremely dangerous.

Everyone held their breath, unsure of the entities’ intentions, and what might happen if the plane were struck.

But it was easy to guess it wouldn’t be anything good.

The lightning entities approached slowly at first, but then they began accelerating. One was rapidly closing in on our window, almost touching it in an instant.

Just then, Number 12 shouted, “Get down! It can penetrate walls!”

As he spoke, the Number 2 beside me suddenly roared, much like a Shaolin monk breaking bricks.

The ball lightning at our window seemed struck by something; it instantly dispersed, slowed down, and was quickly left far behind by the plane’s speed.

I thought to myself, who exactly is this Number 2, to disperse a ball of lightning with a mere shout?

As I wondered, the scriptures Number 2 was chanting grew louder: “Om mani padme hum…”

Contained within the string of incomprehensible verses seemed to be infinite solemnity and sanctity.

At this moment, the surrounding spheres of ball lightning appeared to hesitate, hovering just outside the windows.

And at that precise instant, while chanting, Number 2 suddenly brought his hands together in prayer—the Buddha pendant on his wrist snapped, its beads scattering across the floor.

Simultaneously, all the ball lightning around the aircraft seemed grievously wounded; they convulsed with contraction and expansion, and then, in a single instant, vanished completely.

And just as that happened, the plane broke through the cloud layer, revealing a bright moon hanging high in the sky.

The people on the plane were slow to react to what had just occurred. After a full ten seconds, a cheer erupted.

The elderly couple opposite us clung to each other tightly.

As the intercom announced that the plane was safe, I noticed Number 2’s forehead was covered in a thick layer of sweat.