The Beginning

Chapter 17: The Eleventh Cycle of Time (III)

When Li Shiqing first started university, her mother was worried about her falling in love at an early age, and she spent a night of agonising advice with her.

Li Shiqing has forgotten most of what she said that night, except for a few words that she has always remembered.

Mum said, "You can't force a relationship between people, when the other person is no longer in love, you don't have to force it, it's good to get together and leave yourself some last decency, the most important quality for a woman is self-respect."

She says, "You can't think that just because the other person is a man that they should give in to you and cooperate with you in everything, because what you don't want to do, what you don't want to happen, they don't want to do either. If you get used to being dependent, you lose the ability to stand on your own two feet, and that's putting all the chips in someone else's hands who can shuffle the deck and start over at any time."

She adds, "A good relationship is one where both people are getting better at it, and if you find that one person is suffering, or one person is getting worse, then there is something wrong with the relationship and you need to reflect on it. If it's not your problem, then it's time to end the relationship. If the problem is not solved, time will bring it to an end even if you don't want it to."

Although her mother was talking about how one should respect and love oneself in a relationship with a man, Li Shiqing always felt that her mother's words were just as true when placed in the context of normal human interaction.

After all, relationships are a form of "human interaction".

So, even if they are just ordinary friends, Li Shiqing has always followed this guideline to get along with them.

She is not "retreating" or "posturing", she is extending her hand to Boy, not as an invitation but as a promise.

Her "goodbye" was a wish that he would "never see it again".

"If I let go and leave now, then I won't be a 'very good' person in my life."

A pair of large, warm, dry palms came up and took her hand gently in theirs.

The coldness of Li Shiqing's fingers softened his heart.

Her heart may not have been as dashing as it turned out to be, or perhaps she was just holding back the fear and reluctance in her heart, but she still wanted to set him free with the utmost goodwill.

"I'm not going to run."

He used to wonder why such an ordinary girl would encounter such strange things.

Now he knows.

--because she was such a good girl, even God couldn't bear to let her go like that and wanted to give her a chance to live.

And because she was such a good girl, God couldn't even bear to let her "go it alone", living in such a cruel world.

At least for now, his thoughts are in agreement with that master in the underworld.

"You don't have to ......"

Li Shiqing was worried that he could not save face because of his moral constraints and tried to persuade him again.

"I understand what you're saying, but my pride won't allow me to do this 'hide behind someone else and enjoy the fruits of their labour with peace of mind' thing. Just think of it as looking after my pride, okay?"

Boy's previous impatience and anger have now calmed down and he has returned to the calmness and goodwill he had when he first met Li Shiqing.

How could he be more cowardly than a little girl?

Boy even joked with her. "If I feel like I can't hold on anymore, I'll tell you to give me a 'half day off' and let me get off and go on a wave, okay?"

"Yes! OK! No problem! It's okay if you want to give it up! Thank you!"

That said, no one could have known that they would have to face this alone without fear, and the moment Boy smiled at her again, a glow of hope returned to Li Shiqing's eyes.

"Thank you so much, you're a great guy!"

Clearly capable of such a long speech just now, she could only express her surprise and gratitude in such barren language in the face of the kindness of others.

"Well, the two of us are still polite to each other what, are all in the same boat ...... er, a car, already 'over the hill' friendship, the next more to help each other."

After reaching some kind of "friendly agreement", Boy looked in the direction of the bridge and said with some concern, "I don't know what's going on there now, and that's not good without the car, there's so little information available."

They arrived at the station and got off the train at just over 13.20. Several of the bombings were at 13.45, which is why Li Shiqing specifically mentioned this time when she reported the incident.

But they all knew that the bomb could have been detonated at any time and they did not know whether the police had succeeded in stopping it.

"At least there was no smoke in that direction and there were no vibrations coming from it."

Li Shiqing also looked up and looked out, "If we hit the tanker again, the sky will surely fall apart, right?"

"Let's hope so."

Having decided to 'go with Li Shiqing', Boy didn't mention anything about 'just getting past the police and getting on with life', but turned on his phone and searched the internet for news and information.

Li Shiqing's mobile phone was switched off and she was left sitting on the sidelines, nervously waiting for Boy to find out.

"Look at this!"

After about twenty minutes or so, there was a news article on a local forum about a bus explosion.

It's horrible! Two police cars just pulled over a bus on the River Road bridge and we were watching and wondering what was going on when the bus blew up! Everyone on the bus was killed, it was so horrible!

Below this post, there is another footage captured on a mobile phone.

In the picture, two police cars followed one after the other next to a bus, with police loudspeakers blaring the words "police inspection, pull over", and the bus did follow the police car in front of it and slowly drove to the emergency lane on the bridge, many passing cars slowed down, obviously wanting to spectate ......

But the moment a couple of policemen got on the bus, the bus suddenly exploded!

With a "Holy shit, there's a bomb!" The camera shakes violently and the filmmaker and driver in the passenger seat both run out of the car in panic, ending the footage.

Hundreds of people left comments below, mostly questioning the authenticity of the footage, while others said it was a live clip from a film, a wide range of opinions that piqued everyone's curiosity.

Naturally Li Shiqing and Xiao Heyun saw the post, and by the time they had watched all the footage taken on their phones, both were as pale as if they had seen a ghost.

"Knowing there was a bomb, no, shouldn't the road have been closed first ......"

Li Shiqing shivered and said.

"It's too short a time to come."

Boy also clenched his fist and gritted his back teeth, "You called the police and said in detail, but when you finished you turned it off, and this kind of thing sounds so absurd, the police must have gone to find out what happened and make sure it wasn't someone calling in a false alarm first ......"

Even if someone from the nearest police agency was sent, there would only be enough time to find the exact bus. To evacuate people and control the roads would require the cooperation of several departments, not to mention the fact that "bombing" is something that can only be done by more specialised departments.

The post was quickly removed from the forum, and while people on the forum were debating whether the posters had been removed because they were "spreading false content", someone pointed the way directly to Twitter and told everyone that the story was true.

With a heavy heart, Boy opened up Twitter again.

Although the post was deleted from the local forum, many media and self-publishers have already reposted the story, in addition to a number of people who were on the bridge at the time uploading videos recorded on their car recorders or mobile phones.

There is no one who can be calm in these images.

The riots and fear were like a plague that quickly infected all the cars and pedestrians present at the time. The video of people's wailing screams and the roaring horns of vehicles accompanied by a background of rolling smoke was an apocalyptic scene.

And indeed, the scene of the accident was gut-wrenching enough.

A number of vehicles slammed on their brakes at the time of the explosion because of the violent noise, which caused a series of car accidents on the bridge, affecting dozens of oncoming vehicles and injuring many people.

A driver who thought he was in a "terrorist attack" and chose to turn around in the middle of the road regardless, only to cause an even bigger accident halfway down the road.

There are pedestrian walkways on both sides of the River Road Bridge, and the impact of the bus explosion sent explosives flying onto the walkways, unceremoniously slamming them into fleeing passers-by, who have now been taken to the hospital, leaving behind a trail of bloodstained glass and deformed, charred scrap metal.

"Oh my god ......"

Li Shiqing looked at the riotous scenes in those images and drew in a breath of cold air.

Neither she nor Boy had ever seen the scene of a bus explosion before.

The first time she got off the bus that time, she got off the bus and went to the hospital, not knowing what the scene was like, although she saw a number of burn victims in the hospital.

Xiao Heyun was better and was burnt to death straight away.

After that disembarkation, they quickly moved away from the scene of the explosion and that area of the road was immediately blocked off without causing any further disturbance.

On top of that, every time they had an accident, they were on the bus, "living and dying" with it, and as soon as their eyes opened and closed, they were in another time loop, completely unaware of what was going on behind them.

Boy pursed his lips and skilfully searched the internet for available information, but in the modern world, information is expanding at an explosive rate, and with this expansion comes a situation where it is difficult to select the correct and truthful content from the vast amount of information available.

With less than an hour to go, most of the media did not dare to speculate until the results of the incident were announced, and there was more than enough public opinion to express outrage at the tragedy, regret and mourning for the innocent victims involved in the disaster, but not much usable information could be found beyond that.

Rather, there were one or two whispers that the police would force the car to stop because they had received a call claiming that there was a bomb in the car and requesting an investigation.

However, before the police could verify the real situation, the car exploded and killed a number of police officers who were in the car to check it out.

But this kind of information is of no use to "parties" like them.

"You're right, that's what happens when you don't have a plan."

Li Shiqing trembled, her face full of remorse.

"I was in too much of a hurry, I should have looked for more clues ......"

"You did what you had to do by remembering to go to the police in that situation."

Boy reassures her without looking up and keeps swiping through the local police interface.

"There's so little time and it's to be expected that a lot of things can't be stopped."

This explosion was unlike the previous ones, which were all collisions with tankers and left nothing at the scene. This explosion should have left a lot of clues and evidence, such as what the explosives were and where they were in the car, and then investigating the surveillance based on these clues, we should be able to find out who brought the explosives onto the car.

But as Boy said, there was "too little time", and I don't know if it was because the scene was busy with relief efforts or because we couldn't rush the case until there was a clear picture, but there were no clues to the real killer on the internet.

During this time, Li Shiqing and Boy shifted their location in the park several times, finally hiding near a rockery where few park goers approached.

At around 4 or 5pm, Boy also received a 'summons' call from the police, but was simply ignored by Boy on the pretext that he 'couldn't make it' and then ignored and hung up on all calls.

The two men made up their minds to avoid the day and die without going to the police station.

As it gets darker and darker, and the park is almost empty, the two men have yet to find any useful clues on the internet, but the rumours of Li Shiqing's phone call are getting more and more sinister.

Some say the 911 call was an internal disagreement within the bandits someone's conscience, some say the caller was a self-directed acting personality, others say the caller was provoking the police in this way, like the big villain in some suspenseful movie or TV show who always leaves all kinds of clues ......

"I'm famous now."

Li Shiqing laughs to herself, "I never thought I'd turn into a 'villain' again."

Boy's phone is running out of battery and instead of swiping it all the time like he did before, he now pulls it out every ten or twenty minutes to check for any new news.

"What's wrong with you ......"

Li Shiqing sees Boy staring at the screen of his mobile phone, freezing for a long time, and stretches his head in wonder.

It was a local police bulletin that did not explain the circumstances of the explosion, but merely announced the identities of the police officers who had died in the line of duty during the incident.

On the illuminated screen, it was the amiable-looking middle-aged police officer who appeared ......

Mr. Zhang.