novel-bin Chapter 46 Tunnel
Chapter 46 Tunnel
As the bus traveled along the highway, laughter gradually filled the air.
Su Zixu was sitting in the last row of the bus, near the aisle, leaning forward and looking ahead.
The group of people on the bus looked like college students. Although they weren't wearing school uniforms, Su Zixu could tell just by their demeanor.
"Looks like we don't need to look for anything to attach to anymore; Liu Runyu is definitely up ahead."
Su Zixu looked at the tunnel not far ahead. He planned to wait until the car entered the tunnel before getting up to look for Liu Runyu, so that he wouldn't be too conspicuous.
The bus entered the tunnel after about three minutes of driving.
The dim yellow lights in the tunnel passed by the bus one after another, making the interior of the bus flicker between light and shadow.
Su Zixu picked up his water cup and left his seat under the pretext of getting more water.
On the way to the water dispenser, Su Zixu carefully observed each student on the bus.
Just as he finished getting the water and was walking back, he saw several students who had been laughing and talking just moments before suddenly freeze in their smiles, their eyes fixed on the front of them.
The students on the bus all stared at something in front of them, their expressions filled with horror.
Su Zixu turned around and looked in the direction the bus was heading.
Suddenly, a huge, muffled cracking sound came from the top of the tunnel ahead. First, gravel fell down in a rustling sound, and then large swathes of earth and rocks collapsed with a roar, accompanied by a strong wind.
The crack at the top of the tunnel quickly snaked towards the bus, and the driver immediately swerved the steering wheel and slammed on the brakes.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
When Su Zixu saw the landslide, he was thrown out by the enormous inertia and crashed headfirst into the car window, losing consciousness.
When Su Zixu opened his eyes again, he was breathing rapidly.
He was still shaken by what had just happened, and the laughter around him made him inexplicably uneasy.
"It's a miracle that Liu Runyu is still alive after the tunnel collapsed."
Su Zixu's temples throbbed. He clutched his still-pounding heart, thinking to himself that Liu Runyu's fate was indeed strong.
Time was of the essence, and because he was unsure what would happen if he experienced the same memories repeatedly, he had to persuade the driver to stop the bus before it entered the tunnel.
But after all, it's on the highway, so getting the driver to stop voluntarily is easier said than done.
There was an even more pressing problem: he didn't see Liu Runyu in the car.
"Could it be... that this isn't the center of the memories?"
Su Zixu frowned. "Liu Runyu...is he somewhere else?"
But a few seconds later, Su Zixu dismissed the idea.
Because if this weren't the center, the tunnel collapse wouldn't be the culmination of the entire memory.
Alternatively, Liu Runyu should be able to be seen whether the bus is moving or stopped, since this memory fragment is meant to torment him.
If the main characters aren't even there, then repeating this scene over and over again is just self-entertainment.
As he was thinking, Su Zixu suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
To confirm his suspicions, he no longer hesitated and got up to walk towards the driver.
"Master, I'm sitting in the last row. I just felt something was wrong with the rear tires. Could you please pull over in the emergency lane?" Su Zixu said urgently to the driver.
"The back tire? I feel fine."
The driver glanced suspiciously at the rearview mirror, clearly not taking Su Zixu's words to heart.
"Master, please stop the car and check. Is a few points more important than the lives of everyone in the car?"
Seeing that the driver remained unmoved, Su Zixu's tone became even more anxious.
"Hey, we're still on the highway, why don't you go back to your seat?"
The teacher in charge, unaware of what had happened, saw Su Zixu standing beside the driver and, worried about his safety, came over to offer advice.
Seeing that the bus was about to enter the tunnel, Su Zixu couldn't care less about anything else and told him about the potential collapse inside the tunnel.
The driver glanced at him as if he were an idiot, then waved him off, telling him to hurry back.
The teacher in charge was stunned for a few seconds, then stepped forward and grabbed Su Zixu's arm, saying:
"Are you dreaming, buddy? Go back and sit down. It's dangerous to stand on the highway."
After saying that, he pulled Su Zixu to a seat in the back row.
Su Zixu tried to break free, but found that the teacher in charge's hand was like a pair of pliers, and he couldn't pry it open at all.
Su Zixu turned his head to look behind him, and at this moment the bus had arrived at the entrance of the tunnel.
"Looks like I'll have to resort to force," Su Zixu thought, his gaze falling on the window breaker next to the rear door.
He then stopped resisting and let the woman pull him inside.
Seeing that Su Zixu was no longer resisting, the woman's strength noticeably loosened.
As the two reached the back door, Su Zixu suddenly pushed the woman away. The woman lost her balance and fell onto a student nearby.
This immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the car, and Su Zixu couldn't care less about anything else.
He quickly grabbed the window breaker and smashed it repeatedly against the rear door glass.
Cracks of varying sizes quickly appeared on the glass. When the students on the bus saw Su Zixu's actions, they stopped joking and playing around and stood up to stare at him.
"Wouldn't it be better to stay and keep us company?"
A whisper exploded in Su Zixu's ear, and a chilling feeling instantly enveloped his entire body.
Su Zixu felt his limbs suddenly stiffen, and he had to bite his tongue hard to stay awake.
A sense of crisis washed over him. He heard rustling footsteps behind him, but he dared not and had no time to turn around.
The woman kept repeating that sentence, her hands firmly gripping Su Zixu's arm that was holding the window breaker.
A loud crash came from afar as a boulder fell to the ground. Su Zixu mustered all his strength and kicked the nearly shattered door.
"Click."
A cold wind, accompanied by a crisp sound, entered the bus, and Su Zixu's face was instantly scratched by several small cuts from shards of glass.
The moment the boulder crashed into the front of the bus, Su Zixu steeled his resolve, leaped off the bus, and jumped off.
After a brief loud bang and a strong tremor, everything returned to calm.
Su Zixu staggered to his feet. His left foot was broken, the bone protruding from his calf. Half of his face was wet and burning with pain.
His right arm was also torn off by the woman, and blood flowed out from the jagged cut.
"We need to hurry."
Su Zixu knew he couldn't hold on much longer in this state, so he limped toward the bus.
The bus overturned on the ground, its upper part crushed and almost completely deformed.
Su Zixu crawled towards the bus using both his hands and feet, his goal being the area where the bus stored luggage.
The lower half of the car was smashed in two by a huge rock, with one half of the rock falling into the luggage compartment.
Several suitcases were still under the boulder, all of them crushed.
Su Zixu climbed to the side of the boulder and vaguely heard a crying sound.
He followed the sound and dug through the nearby rubble, revealing a blue suitcase.
Half of the suitcase was buried in rubble, but you could still see something wriggling inside.
The crying became clearer. Su Zixu tried to pull the box upwards, but found that he couldn't move it. He then leaned into the compartment and opened the box a crack.
Immediately afterwards, a hand reached out urgently from inside the box and pulled the zipper down along the seam.
Before long, the person inside the box came out.
"Let's go," Su Zixu said weakly.
"Big brother, what's wrong? I was playing hide-and-seek, but no one came to find me." Liu Runyu's eyes were red and swollen, and his tone was just like a child's.
"It was so dark just now, it scared me to death."
Liu Runyu kept looking around, his tone gradually becoming uneasy, "How do we get out of here, big brother?"
"Carry me on your back, I can't walk anymore."
Su Zixu was drenched in cold sweat from the pain, and his consciousness was gradually fading. "Hurry up."
Fortunately, Liu Runyu was obedient enough to quickly step forward and pull Su Zixu onto his back.