The Beginning

Chapter 14: The Tenth Cycle of Time

Poor Li Shiqing and Xiao Heyun slept through their ninth time loop in the explosion.

The exhaustion was more mental than physical, so when they woke up again, they were both a bit disinterested in getting out of the car, and even a bit reluctant to struggle with the "explosion".

"I want to lie flat and be salty."

Li Shiqing lounges on the front seat cushion, looking out of the window.

The warm atmosphere of the bus, the kind driver, the friendly and welcoming passengers, apart from the fact that the bus is always in trouble, the environment is much nicer than the serious atmosphere of the criminal police.

"I don't feel hopeful with what someone that powerful can't find out, just us."

The road signs outside the window let her know that this time she was further away from the junction where the tanker had crashed, but had absolutely no intention of struggling any further.

Xiao Heyun, who was a "priority target" for the police officers, was in a worse state of mind, but he didn't give up hope.

The first time he opened his eyes, he pulled out his phone and looked at it, normal as every person who wakes up from a nap.

13:27.

If they hadn't interfered with anything, the car was out at 13.45, which means they had less than 20 minutes to spare.

"Don't think about what happened to us, think about the people who were bombed."

Boy lowered his voice to encourage the unmotivated girl, while pulling out a book and two pens from his backpack, "Think of your parents, think of all the times we've suffered, if you give up now, the real killer will get his way."

At the mention of her parents, Li Shiqing's expression sunken and she gradually sat up straighter.

"I never want to go back to the police station in my life."

Boy drew a crying face in his book and went on to write, "We have to think of something else."

For fear of being overheard by possible "terrorists" in the car, Boy had to use this method of communication.

Li Shiqing took the book handed over by Boy and was delighted when she read the contents.

Not to mention, the writing is quite strong and powerful, much better than the dog-eared writing of many of her classmates.

"I don't want to put my hopes in anyone else either."

She thought about it and wrote in her book, "Catching perverts off the bus has to be our killer, it's usually best to use it sparingly, I feel like I'm going to have an absolute mental breakdown after being interrogated a few more times."

"Wouldn't adding a weibo be the end of it?"

When he had finished, Li Shiqing handed over the book in wonder.

"It's a hassle to have to re-add every time."

Boy blurted back.

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When she heard the word "every time", Li Shiqing, who had been smiling at the familiarity of the "classroom cheat sheet", curled her smile slightly.

Curious, she reached over and saw Boy drawing diagrams and writing 'plans' in his notebook again, and grabbed it out of the blue.

Thanks to her last experience, her head now explodes at the sight of blah, blah, blah plans.

"And come to plan?"

Li Shiqing looked at the 13:30 mark on her phone and squeezed her notebook and glared, "Thinking about plan A and plan B before, it turns out that plans simply don't catch up with change!"

"But there's always one more try ......"

Boy subconsciously argued, "You can't rely on seeing things every time ......"

"Stop it, you're pressed for time, do as I say!"

Li Shiqing pulled out her phone, looked up how to call the police by text message, and lowered her voice to say, "They've found 'that' in the car, is this something ordinary citizens like us can fix? What's the point of fooling around when you have the best teammates not to use them!"

"But I think ......"

Boy wanted to continue explaining.

"You don't want what you think, I want what I think! Listen to me all, I don't think this is something that needs to be discussed, listen to me first!"

Li Shiqing's small hands were tapped and that was it.

Boy had probably never been in contact with such a "strong" woman before, so he was so cowed by her slap that he just watched her toss and turn.

Li Shiqing turned her mobile phone off to silent, edited a paragraph and sent a text message to the "12110" SMS alert platform.

I'm on a 45 bus that is travelling from the River Road section towards Jiangbei station and has not yet reached the Middle River Road intersection, I found a bomb on board, help!

The text message was sent out without incident.

[12110Hello, this is the police receiving centre, W city police friendly reminder: indiscriminate alarm, report false police is a disturbance of public order behavior, need to bear the corresponding legal responsibility. Your police report has now been received, please keep your mobile phone open and give us feedback on whether it is convenient to call back to verify the situation.

"So soon?"

This is almost a second reply, there is no way it could be anything other than an automatic system response.

But back and forth, another text message arrived.

[12110: As this is a text alarm, you have provided too little available information. Please describe specifically your current location, the license plate number or exterior characteristics of the vehicle you are travelling in, and the location of the explosives in the vehicle, thank you for your cooperation].

What a divine typing speed for the responding commissioner!

The spirits of both men were lifted.

But when they saw the "license plate number" cloud, both of them were dumbfounded.

"Did you remember that?"

Li Shiqing looks at Boy with bated breath and hopes that he has a good memory.

"Neither did I."

But it turns out that even Boy's excellent memory doesn't help.

"Who gets in the car to remember that?"

They hadn't even paid attention to the number plate!

So Li Shiqing scratches his head and continues to compose text messages, while Boy keeps an eye on the road outside the car, which has reached the intersection, ready to warn drivers of motorbikes and tankers.

I can't be sure if the person who planted the bomb is in the car and I can't talk to him. We are now past the Middle River Road intersection and I do not know the number of the bus. There is no obvious difference in appearance between this bus and the buses on the same schedule. Estimated time of explosion at 13:45, please resolve immediately! Solve it immediately!

"Driver, watch out for the motorbikes on the right, they're going to run the red light early!"

Boy stood up and shouted and sat down again.

Because he used an affirmative sentence rather than a guess or a request, the driver subconsciously slowed down, and the car passed that junction without a hitch when the text message was sent, brushing past the tanker truck that had just come off the bridge.

It proved easy to get safely through this junction without any disruptive events.

After the first hurdle, the two breathed a long sigh of relief.

[12110: Please continue to keep your mobile phone open and protect yourself, we are already arranging a solution. Do you know the exact time of the explosion because the one in the car was a time bomb? Was there a countdown clearly displayed on the bomb? Is there a way to get the driver to make a temporary stop and get everyone off?]

Li Shiqing was worried when she read the police reply.

If it was really a ticking time bomb in sight it was fine, as the police said, just get off the bus and leave a bus about to explode to the police to sort out.

The problem was that she had no idea if the bomb was timed or where it was planted.

Besides ......

She looked up at the driver who was concentrating on driving at the front.

Would she have died so many times if she could have gotten the driver to stop and let everyone off?

When Li Shiqing stared at his phone for a few moments, Boy poked his head around to finish reading the police questioning and snapped his fingers.

"It's easy to find out if it's a ticking time bomb ......"

He took the phone from Li Shiqing's hand.

Li Shiqing looks on in confusion as Boy suddenly stands up.

With an almost pompous gesture, the latter switched on the phone's speakerphone, turned the volume to maximum and broadcast a call.

[Dudududu, hello, this is W City 110 Command Centre, what do you need help with?

All of a sudden, everyone in the carriage who heard him instantly looked over at him, with expressions of either surprise or curiosity.

You can't tell from the expression alone that anything is wrong.

Li Shiqing was dumbfounded when she didn't expect her companion to use such a "trick".

"Hi, I'm on a 45 bus which is travelling over the river bridge from River Road to Jiangbei Yicun station ......"

Immediately afterwards, his roar suddenly resounded through the carriage.

"Please call the police immediately, a bomb has been found on our bus!"

Boom!

Almost as soon as the words were spoken, a violent wave of air instantly engulfed everything ......

--

When he woke up again, the corners of Boy's mouth held a smug upward glance.

He'd been wanting to do this for a long time, and it was great to be able to shout out "there's a bomb in the car"!

"You've just gone mad!"

Li Shiqing, however, was shocked by the sudden explosion and could not recover from it for a long time.

Enduring the tearing sensation and weakness from the blast, she struggled to pull her phone out of her pocket; the time was 13:25.

"It's a few minutes early again."

Li Shiqing murmured.

Outside the window, the stop sign for the last stop before going onto the bridge is faintly visible at the back, obviously having just pulled out of the last stop not long ago.

The bus stop sign not far away made her begin to believe the speculations Boy had made in the restaurant.

"Time and space correspond to each other, and we are advancing the time at which each time cycle occurs."

"It's not timed."

Boy braced himself with difficulty.

The explosion just now, as painful as it was, made Xiao Heyun sure of one thing.

"...... And, it didn't ring a bell."

They had just exploded at a time that was not 13.45.

Unlike Boy's delight at finding out the truth, Li Shiqing nodded in agreement, but her expression was even more bitter.

If the terrorist is a time bomb remotely controlled by a mobile phone, it may not necessarily be in the car, he just has to be able to operate it using his mobile phone.

This was especially true as the same mobile phone had rung several times before, which made the two men suspect that the bomb in the car could have been using a timed device.

But just now there was neither a mobile phone ringing nor did it reach 13.45 when the car suddenly exploded.

The ability to detonate a bomb on the spur of the moment in response to Boy's alarm can only mean that ......

"The man is in the car."

"The real killer is in the car."

As they came to this conclusion, the two men looked around the car, creeped out.