Chapter 212: Escaping Disaster

Chuxue was staring out the window, lost in thought, when she saw a sidecar motorcycle hurtle past their passenger bus at tremendous speed.

Once she made out the figures through the flying dust, her eyes went wide—weren't those the two Misses from the state-run restaurant earlier?

When she saw the dagger in the man's hand inside the sidecar's bucket, she immediately connected it to what had happened before and understood these people were surely targets that Fu Yan Cheng and his team meant to capture.

Just then, someone inside the bus noticed something off about the sidecar: "That man's got a blade, and that Miss has blood on her neck."

"Oh my, those two Misses aren't being held up, are they?"

The driver up front grew anxious: "Shut the hell up, all of you. If you don't want to live, don't drag me into it."

That shout jolted everyone on the bus back to their senses—if those people turned on them, they'd be the ones to suffer.

For a moment, no one dared speak; they just watched the sidecar overtake the bus and speed ahead, heedless of the dirt road's bumps.

Some women were patting their chests, unsure whether they were scared for themselves or worried for the two Misses on the bus.

But before long, the bus driver began to slow down, then simply pulled over to the side of the road.

The passengers in the back couldn't see what was happening up front; someone asked, puzzled: "No one's getting on or off, so why are we stopping?"

The driver said, a touch impatient: "If you don't want trouble, shut your mouth."

Saying so, he nimbly shifted into reverse, but the road was narrow to begin with, and there happened to be a pile of stones by the roadside. Before he could finish turning the bus around, someone stopped him: "Stop the bus. Open the door."

When everyone saw the man below waving a dagger, the bus erupted into chaos.

Chuxue's face darkened too: Just my luck.

The shouting from below grew fiercer, and the banging on the bus door didn't stop.

The ticket seller, seeing the man pick up a stone from the roadside, was so frantic she was about to cry: "Brother Lu, hurry, hurry, he's going to smash the door window with a stone!"

But the road was too narrow; even though he tried his best, he was still a step too slow.

They only heard *crack, crash*—the glass on the bus door shattered.

The man with the dagger was still yelling: "Stop the damn bus, you hear me?"

The driver's forehead was drenched in sweat, but even so he didn't stop what he was doing.

Because the maneuver was so abrupt, the bus lurched violently, and the passengers inside instantly became a mess—screams and wails rose in an unbroken chorus.

Chuxue looked up and spotted the crank handle sitting on the hood up front. She crawled over at once, snatched it up, and jabbed it straight out at the man outside who was trying to pry the bus open with his bare hands. Caught off guard, the man let out an "Ah!" and, clutching the spot he'd been struck, staggered back several steps.

Once he saw it was a girl who'd struck him: "You little bitch, how dare you lay a hand on me—just wait till I peel the skin off you."

In that same moment, the driver finally managed to swing the bus around and floored it, shooting off.

He came face-to-face with Fu Yan Cheng and his team, who were in pursuit. The driver, too focused, didn't notice who was in the jeep; he just kept waving at the vehicle: "Don't go up ahead, there are bandits up the road, don't go."

But the jeep was moving too fast—he probably couldn't even make out what he was shouting.

After driving for a stretch, the driver saw no movement behind them, and only then pulled the bus to a stop: "That scared the hell out of me."

Chuxue could tell—this driver, though his temperament wasn't the best, was genuinely a good man. If it had been anyone else, they'd probably have been scared into obediently stopping, but he, for the sake of his passengers, had stubbornly fought to escape disaster in that critical moment.

Whether it was for himself or for the passengers on board, he deserved praise.

Once the bus had come to a full stop, the driver simply slumped into his seat.

The ticket seller, coming back to her senses: "Brother Lu, are you all right?"

The driver took a moment to recover: "I'm fine, damn it."

He turned to check on the situation inside the bus and happened to meet the eyes of Chuxue, who was still holding the crank handle at an angle behind him: "Miss, thank you for stepping in just now."

Chuxue glanced at the crank handle in her hand and quickly put it back where it belonged: "No need to thank me. You were fighting so hard for everyone—how could I just stand by and watch?"

(End of this chapter)