Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
He Zhichu instantly opened his eyes and looked straight ahead. “The brakes have failed?” he asked.
His voice was dry yet sarcastic. He also seemed to be a bit disdainful.
Gu Nianzhi snuck a glance at He Zhichu, her palms starting to sweat. However He Zhichu’s calm expression infected her, so she quickly calmed down.
Gripping the steering wheel tightly, she didn’t try stepping on the brakes again or the accelerator again. She tried hard to avoid any possibility of colliding with the other cars on the road.
Luckily there weren’t many cars on the street. Otherwise, it would truly have been difficult to guarantee that they wouldn’t collide with other cars.
“What should we do? Professor He, this is a main road…”
Gu Nianzhi’s eyes were like stars as her mind quickly started to problem solve. From the best route determined by the car’s GPS, she also needed to avoid the busy crowds of people and traffic, as well as allow herself to safely escape from danger.
She really wanted to call Huo Shaoheng, but Huo Shaoheng was in the middle of attending the Military Literary and Arts Performance.
He must have shut off his phone by now, so it would be useless to call him anyway.
Also, couldn’t she rely on herself to escape from danger?
She had survived in the inhabited areas of the German Alps, and this was only the downtown area of the Huaxia Imperial Capital. There was no way this could be more dangerous than it had been there.
Anyways, she only had to stop stepping on the accelerator and be careful about avoiding other cars. She would drive to a sparsely populated suburban area until the car’s speed gradually slowed down enough that they could jump out of the car.
Gu Nianzhi smoothly put on the hazard lights to indicate that there was something wrong with the car and to ask the cars behind them to keep their distance.
She looked at the GPS as she said to He Zhichu, “We can turn onto this side road, it’s relatively desolate there. After driving another mile or so, there will be a small river…”
Just in case the car was still traveling very quickly by the time they got there, they could consider driving into the river and then smashing the windows with a hammer to escape.
Emergency hammers were indispensable tools in cars.
He Zhichu turned around to look at her strangely. “Nianzhi, aren’t you afraid at all?”
Gu Nianzhi nodded. “I’m scared, but what’s the use of being scared? That can’t save my life. Since I’m scared, I should use that energy to better think of ways to save myself. I’ve faced more serious dangers on the Alps than this, so what’s the big deal?”
She suddenly stopped speaking. From the corner of her eye, she could see He Zhichu looking at her. There seemed to be a small glimmer of tears in his sultry eyes.
Gu Nianzhi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Professor He, what’s wrong with you? Don’t tell me you’ve been scared silly…”
He Zhichu composed himself and looked forward as he replied dryly, “I thought that you would have some psychological trauma after experiencing that kind of a car accident and suffering from that kind of incident.”
He knew that Huo Shaoheng had rescued Gu Nianzhi from a major car accident and that Gu Nianzhi had experienced extreme trauma that had caused her memory loss.
Gu Nianzhi was stunned momentarily.
“You’re overthinking it. How many years has it been? Huo Shao used 10-kilometer cross-country, weighted running to help me recover from my psychological illness a long time ago. Also, shouldn’t we be thinking about how to call the police at a time like this?”
Gu Nianzhi thought that He Zhichu’s brian had gotten fried.
Why was he discussing depression and psychological problems at a time like this?!
What the hell?
“Looks like I really do have to thank Huo Shaoheng…” He Zhichu murmured. He looked down in contemplation before snickering. “Are you sure you want to call the police?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Gu Nianzhi felt even more strange. “Shouldn’t we call 110 and ask for the traffic police to help us prevent an accident?”
Gu Nianzhi crossed his arms and said leisurely, “Use your brain and carefully think about whether or not we should call.”
Gu Nianzhi was confused again.
“Professor He, shouldn’t this be our first reaction in this kind of situation?” Gu Nianzhi asked. “The brakes have failed and we’re in downtown traffic. Aren’t we just waiting for an accident to happen if we don’t call the police?”
“Right. That should be your first reaction, so you’ve already fallen into the trap.” He Zhichu cast her a sidelong glance. He suddenly reached out to help her turn the steering wheel to the side.
Gu Nianzhi finally noticed that she had nearly been driving over the white line.
She busied herself with focussing on the road ahead as she thought about what He Zhichu had said. She replied thoughtfully, “…Okay, so why shouldn’t we call the police? What’s the reason?”
“You can think about this. What is the person trying to do by damaging my brakes?”
“Kill you?” Gu Nianzhi replied tentatively. Her face flushed red upon hearing He Zhichu’s snickering and she immediately said, “That’s not right. We are not going down a steep hill, nor are we on the highway. Even if we hit the curb to forcibly stop the car right now, we wouldn’t be in mortal danger.”
“Right, so this is getting interesting. And then?”
“…Then this is not meant to murder you. But why then would they damage your brakes?”
He Zhichu glanced at her. “Right, so you’d call the police because the brakes were damaged.”
Gu Nianzhi was silent.
She seemed to understand now.
Under normal circumstances of brake failure, they would call the police whether they crashed into the curb to stop or collided with other cars.
“The enemy actually wants us to call the police. However, since the enemy has used such troublesome fanfare, it must not be so that the police can get a chance to rescue us, but…” Gu Nianzhi thought of something and her face turned a bit pale. “That’s the trap. Once we call the police, we’ll have walked right into the trap!”
He Zhichu nodded with satisfaction. “The foolish can be taught.”
Just as he was about to explain one step further, his eyes flashed quickly. He noticed flashing police lights in the rearview mirror and replied dryly, “See, you didn’t have to call the police for them to come. They are obviously setting a trap for you and me.”
Gu Nianzhi looked up into the rearview mirror and was shocked to see a series of police cars behind them. They were flashing their lights and were locked onto their car, intending to forcibly stop them.
Gu Nianzhi was very nervous and turned the steering wheel towards the side road.
The GPS indicated there was a side road there that led to a nearby river.
“Are you scared? He Zhichu cocked his head to look at her. “If you’re not scared, you can trade spots with me and let me drive.”
Gu Nianzhi glared at He Zhichu and couldn’t help saying loudly, “Are you crazy?! The brakes failed and we have police behind us, and you want us to switch seats right now?!”
He Zhichu gripped the steering wheel and laughed. “…You see, the brakes failed and we can’t continue to use the accelerator either. When the police catch up to us, we’ll be in trouble.”
“How will we be in trouble?” Gu Nianzhi refused. “Professor He, you’ve had wine, you’re the one who will be getting in trouble if you drive!”
“I’m fine, I took sobering medication and am okay now.” He Zhichu didn’t want to reason with Gu Nianzhi anymore. He gripped the steering wheel with one hand and used the other to undo Gu Nianzhi’s seatbelt. He nodded at her, “I’ll count to three and you can move up a bit so I can sit over there.”
Gu Nianzhi suddenly discovered that, although He Zhichu appeared thin and lithe, his hand was shockingly strong.
She was completely immobilized by his one hand clamping onto her.
She had no choice but to nod and mumble, “I must be crazy too…”
As she spoke, she heard He Zhichu count to three and bowed her body to stand halfway up. He Zhichu shifted on his side to sit behind her while keeping both hands on the steering wheel before moving his legs over.
Gu Nianzhi quickly scrambled onto the front passenger seat and put on her seatbelt with a shudder.
He Zhichu turned to look at Gu Nianzhi before saying, “Nianzhi, promise me that you won’t tell anyone else about this, no matter what things or equipment you’re about to see. That includes Huo Shaoheng. Can you guarantee that?”
Gu Nianzhi pursed her lips. “Professor He, what is your reasoning?”
He Zhichu looked down. “Neither my car nor I want to be treated as lab rats.”
Gu Nianzhi understood this and blinked in surprise.
He Zhichu smiled at her and said quietly, “Thank you.” He then reached out to probe his hand under the steering wheel to find a button to press.
A small LED screen rose up above the steering wheel.
It appeared to be a control panel.
He Zhichu said coolly, “The person who damaged my car must not know that my car has two systems.” As he spoke, he placed his finger on the indent on the LED screen and used the fingerprint lock to activate the second system.
The car emitted a low rumble and the engine went silent for an instant before starting to make noise again.
Even Gu Nianzhi could sense that the entire car’s performance had changed.
It became even quieter and more comfortable to ride in. Even the tiny bumps on the road she’d felt before could no longer be noticed.
He Zhichu pressed on the brakes. They were working now.
He then slammed hard on the accelerator and it quickly shot forward.
From their rearview mirror, Gu Nianzhi could vaguely see that the police cars they had escaped from had caught up to them again.
He Zhichu pursed his thin lips and quickly pressed on the LED control panel several times before changing to video mode.
Gu Nianzhi looked over and was shocked to find that this thing was like a driving recorder!
The only difference was that this driving recorder was recording the entire car and at all times, including the undercarriage.
On the LED control panel, they could clearly see two lewd men crawling under the car to damage the brake system. Then they took out two bags of white powder and used black tape to tightly attach them to the car.
Gu Nianzhi’s mind instantly felt like 10,000 mythical beasts had stormed through it.
What a vile trick!
