Chapter 14

After the shock passed, an uncontrollable joy surged forth.

Rock climbing is an extreme sport; according to him, globally, the total number of participants across all extreme sports reaches five hundred million—this includes skateboarding, surfing, mountain biking, downhill racing, wingsuit flying, and rock climbing.

Rock climbing accounts for one-twentieth of all extreme sports, with roughly twenty million people worldwide practicing it, and the vast majority engage in indoor rock climbing; the rock climbing skill Qin Yun now possesses is true extreme-level ability—he even has the confidence to climb the cliff face before him without any equipment, using only his bare hands.

This would have been unimaginable before.

To him now, rock climbing is a sport that highly integrates strength, technique, balance, and endurance, which explains why his body underwent such dramatic changes under the system's skill reward.

Without these changes, the so-called skill would merely be a reflection in water or a flower in the mirror.

Easy, unprecedentedly easy—that sense of complete control over his body was incredible!

Qin Yun grinned, didn't linger, and noticed several tourists pointing at him—he feared they thought he was an idiot.

Continuing down the path, Qin Yun saw the grass sliding area; many tourists chose the grass sliding activity, sliding straight down to near the mountain's exit, laughter echoing everywhere. He watched for a while but didn't waste money on it—it was only a five- or six-minute walk.

Soon, he saw the scenic area's exit gate. He found his car in the parking lot, sat in the driver's seat, scrolled through some photos, and selected a few to post to his Moments.

Then he started the car and slowly drove away from the scenic area.

Thus, this trip ended perfectly—the task was completed, the reward claimed, and he had fully, immersively toured the Yeshanpo Scenic Area; everything was flawless.

As the car drove off, he glanced at the navigation and discovered the nearest highway entrance was at Baili Xia.

According to his plan, he hadn't considered check-in tasks along this route—he intended to drive south along the highway, and if any check-in task appeared en route, he'd take time to complete it before returning to his original path.

Right now, he planned to do exactly that: head straight onto the highway, drive from Baoding to Hengshui, enter Dezhou in Shandong, pass through Jinan, exit at Zaozhuang into Jiangsu's Xuzhou, then directly enter Anhui, cross Anhui from Huangshan to Hangzhou, and finally proceed from Hangzhou to Zhoushan.

He would not alter this main route.

Soon, the car entered National Road 108; less than two kilometers later, he spotted the Baili Xia toll station, but just as he prepared to enter, his WeChat received an unexpected video call request.

Qin Yun glanced at it, realized there was no place to stop, so he passed through the toll station first, then pulled over to the side.

"Hey, Brother Qin, are you still at the Yeshanpo Scenic Area?"

In the video, Xia Qingqing wore a backpack, and the background suggested she was at a tourist transit center; however, her expression was anxious, her brows tightly furrowed.

Qin Yun looked back, thought for a moment, and said, "Yeah, I'm still here. What's up?"

"That's great!" Xia Qingqing visibly exhaled in relief, then showed an embarrassed look. "I left a bag at Baili Xia Scenic Area yesterday. Nothing inside matters except my card wallet—I only realized it just now when I tried to buy a ticket at the transit center. Could you please help me retrieve it? Then let me know how I can conveniently pick it up."

"Where are you now? Send me your location—I'll check the distance. If it's convenient, I'll deliver it to you; if not, I can quickly order a Meituan courier." This was no trouble for Qin Yun, so he readily agreed.

Xia Qingqing was overjoyed: "I'm sending you the location and the locker pickup code right away—Brother Qin, thank you so much!"

"Alright, I'll hang up now. I'll message you on WeChat once I've got the bag."

"Mm, goodbye, thank you, Brother Qin."

Qin Yun nodded, ended the call, opened Xia Qingqing's sent location, and realized he'd been careless.

He lightly slapped his own face—regretting it now was pointless. This girl was at the Baoding Passenger Center, a full one hundred and fifty kilometers away—would Meituan courier even accept such a job?

He doubted it.

He reversed direction, soon arrived at Baili Xia Scenic Area, found the storage zone, and within moments retrieved a brown bag—damn, it was a branded item—LVMH!

He opened the bag, confirmed all IDs and cards were inside, then sent photos to Xia Qingqing. He then tried placing a courier order, but for reasons unknown—perhaps due to the scenic area's restrictions or the excessive distance—fifteen minutes passed and no one accepted it.

"Forget it, I'll drive there myself. What a pain."

Qin Yun sighed, canceled the order, and sent Xia Qingqing a voice message telling her to wait where she was—he'd drive over.

At the Baoding Passenger Center, Xia Qingqing put down her phone, patted her chest, and finally relaxed. Losing her ID was manageable—easy to replace—but those random bank cards were a nightmare; replacing each one would give her a headache, especially the few issued abroad.

"This guy's actually pretty nice."

She muttered softly, then found a seat and waited quietly. She'd assumed he'd send a same-city express delivery from the scenic area, but he was coming himself—indeed, there were still good people in the world.

Meanwhile, the unfortunate Qin Yun, resigned to his fate, turned around, entered the Capital Ring Expressway, then switched onto the Beijing-Kunming Expressway, speeding toward the Baoding Passenger Center.

About half an hour into the Beijing-Kunming Expressway, he suddenly saw smoke rising from the tire of a vehicle in the second lane; the car immediately lost control, slammed into the guardrail on the first lane, then flipped over, rolling continuously into the fourth lane, struck by two following cars in succession, and finally crashed hard against the guardrail and stopped.

All vehicles behind instantly braked—Qin Yun included.

But he suddenly noticed white smoke emerging from the underside of one of the vehicles—this white smoke was different from the tire-friction smoke earlier.

"Danger! Spontaneous combustion!"

Qin Yun's face changed—he immediately realized this, since all three vehicles were new energy cars.

Without hesitation, he checked his rearview mirror, accelerated rapidly toward the accident vehicle, stopped fifty meters away, then opened his door and ran out.

While running, he dialed emergency services.

When he reached the accident vehicle, the white smoke beneath the middle car had grown significantly; the driver of the last car quickly opened his door and fled far away.

Qin Yun arrived at the second car and saw it wasn't just the driver inside—there were three others, clearly a family of four.

At this moment, the four were desperately pulling at the door, but couldn't open it; panic and fear overwhelmed them, especially the two children, who screamed in terror.

The driver spotted Qin Yun and shouted frantically: "Help! Help! The door won't open!"

Qin Yun glanced at the car's underside—no flames yet. There was still time.

He ignored the driver and sprinted toward the guardrail. The driver thought he was leaving and screamed in despair.

"No! Come back! Help!"

Qin Yun scanned the area, found a stone the size of a palm, then ran back.

The driver saw what he held and instantly understood.

Qin Yun climbed onto the hood, gripped the stone in his right hand, and smashed it hard against the front windshield.

*Crash! * The glass instantly cracked—but didn't shatter completely; it remained stubbornly bonded together.

At this moment, his vehicle repair skill activated again—he easily identified the glass's fixed points, then unhesitatingly struck the edge with the stone and stomped down with all his leg strength, amplified by his rock climbing skill; the entire pane of glass shattered with a *crash*.

"Hurry! Flames are appearing—get out now!"

Qin Yun urged them; the family of four moved quickly and escaped just as the flames fully engulfed the car.

"My toy!" the boy cried, seeing the fire and realizing his hands were empty.

But at this moment, who cared about a toy?

Qin Yun quickly ran to the overturned vehicle at the very front. The searing heat just inches away made his brow furrow tight—if things kept going like this, this car would definitely be caught up in it.

Just then, a drone appeared above his head.

"Please leave immediately. The vehicle is at risk of exploding. Traffic police are on the way—"

Before the drone's voice could finish, Qin Yun said loudly, "There are still three people inside the car."

The drone's voice cut off abruptly, then came a hurried reply: "We'll contact the fire department right away. You stay safe."

Qin Yun paid it no mind. He crouched down and kept observing. The moment he saw the driver's neck twisted at that angle, his heart sank with a jolt.

That person was gone!

The man in the passenger seat and the elderly man in the back still had their chests rising and falling—clearly still alive. But they had obviously been knocked unconscious by the impact and likely had no strength to climb out on their own. If he didn't hurry and save them, being burned to death was the most probable outcome.

Qin Yun glanced at the car's door handles—they were all hidden-style, but during the rolling, the rear-seat window glass had shattered. Right now, the car was flipped, and the passenger side was pressed against the guardrail, so that side was useless.

He thought for a moment, then looked up at the drone: "Three males. The two in the front seats are around forty, the one in the back is around seventy. Apart from the driver, the other two are still breathing."

After saying that, Qin Yun suddenly stripped off his clothes, revealing a lean, wiry upper body. He wrapped his right hand with his T-shirt, then gripped the edge of the car door still studded with glass shards, and with a sudden burst of strength, the not-very-obvious muscle lines on his arm instantly tensed tight.

The car door let out a "squeak, squeak" and was pulled open by a gap of about ten centimeters, but it couldn't be opened any further. Qin Yun glanced down and saw that one end of the door was pressed against the ground.

He ran to the middle car, picked up that rock again, and in a few quick swings smashed through the driver's side window. By now he couldn't worry about whether it might cause any danger to the driver, but he still tried his best to keep the shards from splattering onto the corpse, to avoid trouble later.

He took a look—the door could be opened, it wasn't pressed against the ground like the back seat.

He gripped the window edge again, and as he exerted force bit by bit, the door was slowly pulled open. Only when it was wide enough did Qin Yun stop.

Then he unbuckled the seatbelt and dragged the driver out first. By now, however, the burning vehicle behind them had already erupted into raging flames, and the temperature of the blaze made some people who had been about to come help immediately shrink back.

"Brother, get out of there fast—if the car explodes you're done for!"

Someone shouted from a distance.

Qin Yun paid no heed. By now he was drenched in sweat, but he still managed to drag the passenger out. Just then, three people suddenly came running from the front, and helping one another, they took the two people Qin Yun had dragged out and carried them farther away. This let Qin Yun breathe a slight sigh of relief.

Qin Yun climbed to the back seat and checked on the old man's condition. Apart from one broken leg, everything else seemed fine.

At a time like this, of course he couldn't worry about whether moving the injured man might aggravate his wounds. Qin Yun could already feel a tremendous sense of danger—if he delayed any longer, even he himself might be in peril.

It was only because his strength now was nothing like before that he could manage carrying an old man weighing over a hundred jin. Otherwise, he really wouldn't have been able to handle it.

After finally getting the man out of the car, suddenly there was a "pfft—" and Qin Yun saw the vehicle's battery pack rapidly swelling up. A pungent smell hit him in the face, and then a tongue of open flame instantly leapt into the air.

"Shit!"

Qin Yun got a fright. Carrying the old man on his back, he ran forward at top speed. After running several dozen meters, the third car also caught fire. In the span of just a few breaths, all three vehicles were instantly engulfed in flames.

If he had been even one minute later, Qin Yun might have been trapped inside the car.

He set the old man down on the ground. Only now did a wave of belated fear hit him—his entire body was drenched in sweat. He actually wasn't a particularly brave person, and he didn't even know why he had suddenly been able to muster such great courage to save people.

Clenching his fists, Qin Yun suddenly realized that he seemed to have changed too.