The Beginning

Chapter 22: The Sixteenth Cycle of Time

Li Shiqing and Xiao Heyun are awake again, awakened by the announcement of the arrival of Gang Wu New Village.

At the sound of the station announcement, Boy struggled to pull out his mobile phone and look at it.

13.15.

The timing of this sobriety was perfect, as it coincided with the Gang Wu New Village stop for boarding and alighting.

The two young men, still in a weakened state, knew that the bus had arrived, but they could only watch as several strange passengers got off the bus.

There were seven or eight people getting off at this stop, and the carriage was quite empty as soon as the passengers got off.

When most of the passengers had left the bus, the sturdy man with the bag got on.

The gym bag that had been sitting on his seat was now slung over one shoulder and seemed to be stuffed to the gills, even as he tilted his body a little.

When he got into the car, he looked around and finally chose an unoccupied seat, and then, as Li Shiqing remembered, he put the big bag on the inside window seat.

Following closely behind in the car was the older woman with the large plastic bag in her hand.

The plastic bag had been at her feet before and nothing could be seen wrong with it, but now that the older woman was carrying it to the car, anyone looking at it could see that it was particularly heavy.

Because the bags are so heavy, you have to use two layers of thick plastic bags from the supermarket to keep them from breaking in the middle of the bag, a kind of "double insurance".

They watched as the older man and woman sat down in their original seats, even placing their feet and hand luggage in the exact same spot, without a single difference.

"They got on at this stop?"

It was the first time they had ever seen anyone get in and out of a car properly, and they were both taken aback.

Yet there is little useful information on what is clearly a new discovery.

Both Li Shiqing and Xiao Heyun are physically and emotionally exhausted by the experience, and when they finally recover from their 'weak' state, they look at the fading bus stop sign, but they are not happy at all.

"You rest for a while while I look around."

As if on a sudden thought, Boy got up and got out of his seat and wandered around the carriage.

When he sat back down after looking around, Li Shiqing lowered her voice and asked.

"What are you doing?"

"I was looking to see if any of the passengers who got off earlier had left anything suspicious on the bus, or if anyone had secretly hidden anything."

Boy replied, "But luckily, nothing suspicious was seen."

With an open space like a bus, it's absolutely obvious what strange things are left on it, and with so many people getting on and off, there's no way to hide them, unless there's someone on board to pick them up.

"I reckon it's not likely to be a group effort either. If this was closely orchestrated by some group, there must have been some kind of claim, like controlling hostages for ransom or something, there's no reason that would risk that much just to blow up a bus with not many people on it."

Li Shiqing had already thought about this issue.

"And the fact that we were questioned so much by the police suggests that there was no claim or responsibility from any organisation before this or after this, and it's more likely to be revenge against the community."

But this uncontrollable act of complete confusion about process and motive is even more frightening than an organised and premeditated bombing, and at least Li Shiqing and Xiao Heyun haven't got a clue so far, apart from the fact that the perpetrators must be in the car.

"Then keep checking!"

Boy takes a deep breath and unobtrusively surveys the sturdy older man and the older woman in the flowery dress who are boarding the bus at this stop.

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"Then we'll set our next target at ......."

Xiao Heyun's eyes swept over the older man's bulging biceps and well-developed back muscles and his gaze snapped up.

"Just settle for Auntie!"

"Huh?"

Li Shiqing was stunned.

"Look at that uncle, at a glance, you know is a person who is not good at talking, casually accosted certainly counterproductive, but will make him more alert; you look at his that body, that skin, is obviously used to doing physical work, the strength is certainly not small, hard to grab also can not grab down ...... "

Boy pushed up his glasses and explained squarely, "Besides, he had that bag positioned on the inside, you couldn't have gotten past that older guy to get that bag without doing something, but really, if you had to fight him ......"

He gave a dry cough.

"...... I think the odds are we're no match for him."

Li Shiqing took one look at the older man's good looks and build, and then at the location of the gym bag, and had to admit that Boy had a point.

But ......

"Actually, you just don't want to get beaten up anymore, do you?"

Li Shiqing sniggered, "You don't have to explain so much, I can understand."

"I'm giving the most efficient solution!"

While his tone was quite hard, Boy's expression was clearly annoyed, "There are only four suspicious characters, using the elimination method, and if there's nothing suspicious about the older woman either, that leaves only the uncle with the bag. In this case, 'desperation' has value ......"

"Well, well, efficient and effective, then we'll stick to the old rule of outsmarting them first."

Li Shiqing agrees in kind.

The two men observed their bearings; the older woman was sitting just ahead of them on the right, separated by an aisle, and from their position they could only see the back of one of her heads, with little possibility of accosting her.

And the huge plastic bag was sitting in the clearing at her feet, so if she really wanted to grab it, she could have grabbed it without having to bend down at all, and a hard grab was unlikely.

"You have so many spooky ideas, think of one."

Boy prodded.

Li Shiqing racked her brains for a while and came up with a not-so-brilliantly bad idea.

"There's a lousy reason to use it and see. To beat a dead horse, I'll try it and you'll see what happens!"

"What's the solution?"

Boy asks.

"Gee you leave it alone, I'll try it and come back if it doesn't work."

After saying this, Li Shiqing ran to the older woman in front of her in three or two steps.

By the way, Li Shiqing is no stranger to this older woman.

The first time she "caught a pervert", she begged the older woman to get out of the car with her to testify because she was closest to her, but she refused on the grounds that she was "in a hurry to get home and cook dinner".

On several subsequent occasions when there were accidents in the car, the older woman neither helped nor stepped in to help, apparently being a non-nosy person like the man in the mask.

So Li Shiqing has no idea whether such people can be "duped" or not.

"That ......"

"What's the matter with you?"

Seeing this little girl standing in front of her with a squirming and embarrassed look, the slim older woman finally couldn't resist opening her mouth first.

Seeing that the older woman was paying attention to her, Li Shiqing's eyes lit up and she squeezed up next to her, getting very close to her body and lowering her voice to a whisper and asking.

"Does auntie have that on her? The one you use when you have your period? My period came suddenly but I didn't have anything on me to change."

Although she was asking such a "nonsensical" question, her eyes were quietly staring at the bag at the woman's feet.

Through the layers of the plastic bag, she could vaguely see that inside was a larger iron-grey object and that there was a long handle sticking out of the mouth of the bag ......

Hmm? There's a shank?

Li Shiqing wondered what it could be.

"Hey little girl don't stick so close to me!"

The older woman, obviously not used to having someone near her, reached out and pushed her outwards, shaking her head coldly, "I don't have that, ask someone else, I haven't had a period in years!"

The older woman's refusal was not at all polite, not only not polite, but not at all loud, and not at all meant to protect the delicate pride of a "shy" young girl.

It's a good thing Li Shiqing was acting, otherwise he would have died of shame with that voice.

In fact, Li Shiqing is more than a little embarrassed, even if she is acting.

Many people in the car still heard the older woman's "period", especially Boy, who was sitting in his seat ready to "see what happens", and was dumbfounded on the spot, peeking at Li Shiqing with a helpless face.

She had already used such a reason to "hit on" him, so what kind of opportunity did he have to see?

You can't run up and say you have one, can you?

"Why aren't you leaving?"

Seeing that Li Shiqing had been refused but had not yet left, the older woman frowned at her in disgust, "Don't you keep standing here!"

"Then, ma'am, you always have toilet paper, right? Kleenex will do!"

Li Shiqing refused to give up and stood still, pleading in a whisper, "Just get some tissues or something, I'm getting off at the next stop and I'm ashamed to look at myself if I get it on my clothes."

As she spoke, she crouched at the feet of this older woman and covered her stomach with her hands.

"Aunty help me, you know this, can't hold it in!"

"Why are you so thick-skinned, you boy, you said no!"

The older woman's face changed as soon as she saw her crouch down and refused to leave. She half stood up and swept the carriage, seeing that there were no younger women in the car except herself, and her face turned even darker.

"Get off at the next stop in a hurry!"

Crouched down, Li Shiqing got closer to the plastic wrapped object, almost to the point of reaching for it, so she gritted her teeth and chose to take the risk.

"Auntie, I don't believe you don't have any paper, just let me have a look, forget it if you don't have any!"

She threw out the words quickly, and with that, grabbed the plastic bag and ripped it away in her direction!

"What are you doing!"

When Li Shiqing tried to turn over her plastic bag, the woman's voice changed as she panicked and lifted her leg, kicking Li Shiqing away without mercy.

"Ouch!"

Li Shiqing didn't expect the older woman to kick her, so she was kicked and fell backwards, missing the plastic bag she had half-ripped.

She fell heavily into the aisle, hitting her head with a loud bang.

"What's wrong with you people! Why are you kicking people!"

Xiao Heyun, who had been watching the front, was not expecting such a turn of events and jumped to her feet, darting over to help her.

There was another man, however, who moved faster than he did.

"Little girl, is everything okay?"

The uncle with the bag who got on the train at the same stop as the woman in the flower coat helped Li Shiqing, who had fallen, to his feet.

Li Shiqing was grimacing as she covered the back of her head.

"No, it's fine ......"

Seeing that it was another "suspect" who helped her up, Li Shiqing panicked and stammered, "Just, just a little fall ......"

Seeing Boy approaching worriedly, she waved a hand at her companion, signalling not to worry, but her gaze unobtrusively glanced over at Ookami, who was nervously gathering up the plastic bag opening.

It was only a glimpse, but it was enough for her to get a good look.

In that bag, there was a pot.

A pot with handles, tall and thick.

As a housewife in a hurry to get home and cook, there seemed nothing wrong with carrying a pot, but something flashed through Li Shiqing's mind and she couldn't catch it, so she had to thank the 'suspect' uncle.

"Thank you, Uncle."

"It's nothing, people nowadays, eh ......"

The plainly dressed uncle was indeed as uncommunicative as Boy had guessed, and even though he was upset with the kicking woman, he couldn't say anything directly.

Seeing that Li Shiqing had thanked him and was leaving, he hesitated for a moment and called out to her.

"Eh, little girl, wait a minute ......"

Li Shiqing and Boy stop in their tracks with a start.

He turned his head back to his seat, dragged the large bag that was sitting on the seat next to him, and actually placed it on the next seat in front of them, bending over to rummage through it.

"The little girl is asking for toilet paper, isn't she? I have it here."

He was sitting in front of him and vaguely heard a few words of conversation, plus just that "period" blah blah blah didn't purposely lower his voice, so he could roughly guess what the little girl was looking for from the middle-aged woman.

Li Shiqing and Boy were not expecting things to go this way and were utterly confused, staring wide-eyed at the older man rummaging through his bag right in front of them.

Instead of a bomb, as they had suspected, the bag contained an inexplicable pile of miscellaneous items, including clothes, a few pairs of canvas shoes wrapped in plastic bags, and Xiao Heyun even caught a glimpse of a bowl, as if the uncle had stuffed all his belongings inside.

"I took everything with me when I left, I remembered there was an unopened packet of paper, ah, found it, here it is!"

He fished out a packet of "Heartwarming" tissue paper from his bag, "I didn't unseal it last time we had dinner, but I paid for it anyway, so I took it back with me. Don't worry, little girl, it's unopened and clean!"

Li Shiqing thanked him nervously, took the paper from the uncle and followed Boy back to his seat with a cold chill running through his body.

"It's not the masked man, it's not the old grandfather selling melons, it's not the uncle with the bag, it's, it's the, the ......"

Boy was tongue-tied and in no better shape than Li Shiqing.

They had skipped the older man because he was too fit, and tried to check the older woman first, with the intention of "eliminating" and starting with the easy-looking people.

But now, by mistake, they had seen the contents of the kind uncle's bag without using any "wisdom" or "force".

If you use what Boy calls the "elimination method", the only answer is ......

"I remembered what that look was."

Li Shiqing grabbed Boy's hand, which was moist and dripping with cold sweat.

She looked to her companion with horror in her eyes and clutched his hand tighter and tighter.

"She's carrying a pressure cooker!"