A few minutes ago, Shi Lei had pressed the gas pedal all the way down, and the small car surprisingly kept up with the steady SUV ahead.
“Cut through.” Shen Ning said to the driver in the car, “Block the way up front so they have to stop.”
Shi Lei was stunned for a moment. “Huh?”
Such big vehicles on the main road—others are in large models, and our small car trying to cut through, wouldn’t we just get knocked flying?
The order from the commander’s girlfriend didn’t seem all that reasonable.
“Shen Chai, why don’t you calm down a bit? We’ve already caught up with them, so we can follow them until they stop. Then you can get out and explain… well, there’s no time to explain now.” Shen Ning pushed open the car door and directly followed outside.
What followed was just that very scene.
Director Kang pulled over to the side of the road, and Xu Chuyao opened the car door and got out.
“What’s the matter? In such a hurry—why didn’t you send a message on your phone…”
Shen Ning rushed over, grabbed her, and quietly whispered into her ear:
“Don’t go.”
“Wait, why are you…”
“Don’t go.”
Maybe it was to avoid being overheard, or perhaps it was hard to explain, but the girl just kept repeating those words quietly by her ear.
Xu Chuyao was very puzzled—not doubting Shen Ning, but wondering how she knew not to go. What did this have to do with the Ya Ha Tower… Wait, could it be that?
Shi Lei secretly exhaled cold air.
Thinking about the nature of that thing, it really fit!
The car stayed parked on the roadside for quite a while before Director Kang couldn’t help but step forward and ask, “Miss Xu, what are you guys…”
“Sorry, we have to go back.” Xu Chuyao said, “The child had a nightmare.”
This one sentence stunned Principal Qiu and Director Kang, who looked back and forth between her and Shen Ning.
“Child?”
“Yes, the child’s mind is very sensitive, and childhood trauma left her fragile.” Xu Chuyao rubbed Shen Ning’s arm and pressed the girl’s head against her chest. “She’s especially afraid of nightmares. We have to take her back quickly, back to a familiar environment.”
Shen Ning originally felt somewhat unhappy about this identity arrangement, but after being comforted, she decided to obey everything.
After hearing her explanation, Principal Qiu took a long moment to piece things together. “You’re saying this student has some psychological issues? But just the other day she was perfectly normal on stage.”
Really normal? I think you old codger are just talking nonsense.
Xu Chuyao cursed silently in her heart, then sighed and spoke seriously: “You don’t know. She looks normal most of the time, but when an episode hits, it’s severe. You all know, she mentioned on stage before that when the Clown Gang first launched an attack in the underground mall of Center City, she killed them all by herself.”
“I’ve heard about that.”
“But what you definitely don’t know is what really happened. The Clown Gang turned off the lights in the underground mall during the attack. It was pitch dark, triggering the child’s claustrophobia. That’s why she went berserk and killed everyone. Normally, she’s very kindhearted; she wouldn’t even hurt an ant passing by.”
“Besides claustrophobia, she also suffers from aphasia, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, multiple personality disorder, and so on.” Xu Chuyao said while soothing the girl on her chest, “Coming all this way made her uncomfortable, so she hurriedly came looking for me.”
Principal Qiu’s eye twitched. “What about the Ya Ha Tower incident?”
“Don’t mention it. I’ll report back and ask them to send someone else.” Xu Chuyao hugged Shen Ning and walked toward the car. “Don’t worry, baby, be good.”
Just then Shi Lei’s car had also stopped nearby, and the two girls got directly into the back seat. With a command, the car immediately turned around.
The black SUV remained parked on the roadside. Principal Qiu and Director Kang stood there, watching Xu Chuyao and the others leave.
“Principal, what should we do?” Director Kang asked cautiously, “Go back as well?”
“You get in the car first.”
Principal Qiu took out his phone and dialed a number:
“She’s not going.”
At that moment, in Shi Lei’s car, in the back seat, Xu Chuyao patted the girl’s shoulder: “Get up now, how long were you planning to hide?”
Then Shen Ning stood up.
This scene greatly shocked Shi Lei, who was driving. “Ah, so it was all just an act.”
“Of course not,” Xu Chuyao retorted, “Do you really think Shen Ning has a whole bunch of mental illnesses?”
Shen Ning silently fastened her seatbelt and said nothing.
In fact, sometimes she would indeed talk to herself, and it really did look like schizophrenia.
“I don’t mean that. I’m just wondering… why put on such a show?”
“Because the situation wasn’t right—someone wanted to harm me.” Xu Chuyao exhaled deeply.
Good grief, she said how could she send Shen Ning alone to the tower? There must be something strange up there. Going up is easy; whether you come down alive is another matter.
Xu Chuyao didn’t have the dangerous intuition that Shen Ning had because she herself couldn’t explain many things. No matter—better to go back first and sort it out later.
[Chuyao doesn’t want to suck her thumb: mission terminated, return to Center City, assemble at the airport quickly. Inform each other, reply with a ‘1’. Also, Yu Yuwei and You Jia, are you there? Before leaving, please help grab my and Shen Ning’s stuff from the dorm.]
It wasn’t even noon yet, and upon seeing such a message, members of the Crisis Response Team were somewhat at a loss, but still obediently complied.
The small car headed straight for the airport, and Shen Ning glanced at Xu Chuyao quietly, hesitating and unsure how to speak.
They came in with such momentum, but now sitting down, they realized they didn’t even know how to explain things.
“No need to explain.” The Sexually Repressed Shadow said, “Chuyao knows a lot.”
The Broken Shadow nodded as well.
Do things like this really not need explaining?
But Xu Chuyao seemed to truly understand, making an excuse to fake a run and escape in one go, her goal clear and her drive full.
“I’ll send a message to the captain to skip lunch and hurry up and come pick us up.”
After sending the last message and receiving a reply, the big, tough girl finally relaxed, closing the car window and resting her eyes.
On the way here, she had been thinking, following that strange guess—that over a thousand ordinary people caused the complete annihilation of both sides. She still hadn’t figured out under what circumstances such a result could occur.
She couldn’t figure it out until Shen Ning ran over and hugged her, whispering not to go. Chuyao’s clever mind twitched, and three words popped into her head:
X Crystal!
Xu Chuyao didn’t know the exact values, but judging from how it was presented in the original story, if all the ordinary people inside the tower had been converted, then the twenty students and about ten Clown Gang members, even combined, wouldn’t have much resistance.
X Crystal definitely wasn’t used by their side. The Clown Gang was probably just a pawn. But how X Crystal got into the Clown Gang’s hands, and why it was used in Ya Ha City—Xu Chuyao didn’t dare think about it, so she just told everyone to run.
The small car arrived at the airport. The specially assigned plane for their mission was already parked, and Captain Yin Cheng was waiting by the runway.
“Miss Xu,” he walked forward to greet her, “Let me confirm—you want to terminate the mission early?”
“That’s right, but whether it’s officially early termination is another matter.” Xu Chuyao walked straight onto the plane. “Can you contact Minister Long? If possible, contact him as soon as possible. If not, just return for now.”
Seeing the gravity of the situation, Yin Cheng didn’t ask more and turned around to call the crew to prepare for return flight.
After a while, members of the Crisis Response Team arrived one after another. Upon receiving the message in the group chat, they began packing. After so many operations, their trust in Xu Chuyao’s commands was absolute.
You Jia brought Xu Chuyao’s luggage and even reminded, “That little box on the bedside is packed in too.”
“Thanks, well done.”
Shen Ning’s luggage was packed by Yu Yuwei, who quietly said after handing over the suitcase:
“Shen Ning, your book is in there too. I packed it in but didn’t open it.”
Shen Ning silently took the suitcase. Should she explain to them? Say it was just curiosity to occasionally look at it—would that be any use?
Everything moved quickly. Once everyone was aboard, the plane immediately took off, heading toward Center City.
Only then did Shi Lei, who had been watching everything unfold, seem to come to terms with it. He crouched down beside Xu Chuyao’s seat and quietly asked:
“Leader, are things here really that complicated? Is it really dangerous where we are?”
Xu Chuyao looked at him with a relieved gaze. “You finally understand. Let me put it this way: if Shen Ning and I hadn’t acted out that scene on the road, we probably wouldn’t have even gotten on the plane now.”
Shi Lei trembled all the way back, just like a little kid listening to Chuyao’s stories at night.
Just then, Captain Yin Cheng walked over and handed Xu Chuyao a satellite phone.
“Miss Xu, Minister Long is looking for you.”
Why did the translation take such a dramatic nose dive all of a sudden?