Chapter 34: The Twentieth Cycle of Time (V)

There are many people who have had the experience of

Long after an incident has passed, you may still feel bad about your previous performance and even regret it for the rest of your life.

It could be a momentary mistake in a job interview, a bad choice before a big decision, or even a fight where you didn't "play" sharp enough, which can become a knot in your heart for years to come.

So this question, which might seem 'odd' to the casual observer, is once again taken by Mr. Zhang as a sign of the girl's frustration at not being alerted in advance.

How strong must a person's sense of justice be to feel the pain of being a "survivor"?

Mr. Zhang, who had not experienced this, could not relate to it, but that did not stop him from respecting the girl.

"Ah, that's an interesting question ......"

Mr. Zhang was just stunned for a moment before he started to think.

"But I haven't thought about it, I'll have to think about it before I can answer."

A young girl's first thought after a brush with death is not to run away, but to help the police find the real killer, and in the process to explore the question "what should I do if this happens to me so that I don't have any regrets", even if this question seems like a "pipe dream". "But her questions deserve to be taken seriously.

"That's a harsh condition you've got there ......"

Mr. Zhang thought for a moment, and said with a slight headache, "First of all, the time is only thirty minutes, you should know that if you call the police directly to report the incident, it will take a little time from receiving the police to dispatching, plus getting out to the police ...... and your car is still a moving bus, the position of the car can change at any time as the time changes ......"

Mr. Zhang's question is one that Li Shiqing and Xiao Heyun have also been struggling with.

They had also called the police, and as a direct result of that call, Mr. Zhang was "sacrificed" in that time loop.

"So what you're saying is that if we meet something like this, we shouldn't call the police, but find a way to solve it ourselves?"

Li Shiqing asks while quietly turning on the recording on her mobile phone.

"No, when you meet something like this, you two aren't in a position to solve it, and whether it's too late or not, you still need to inform the police first."

Mr. Zhang had no regard for the pride of the two youngsters and said very directly: "There is a bomb in the car and the driver is still an accessory, you two alone will not be able to create a deterrent effect on the culprits, nor will you be able to gain the trust and help of the passengers through your status, you will only end up worse by solving the problem yourselves and if you cannot get a hit, you might even provoke the culprits earlier. "

"A few years ago, we dealt with a bus arson case, the arsonist was harbouring a grudge against society because he had been unemployed for many years and wanted to do something 'big' to get back at society. At the time he got on the bus with two water bottles full of petrol guts, and some passengers on the bus noticed the heavy smell of petrol on him and questioned each other directly in the bus about what was going on."

He sighed, "That prisoner was already a thief, and just as others asked about the smell of petrol, he simply smashed two water bottle guts and set them alight with a lighter. That one bus arson case also had a bad impact, and although the driver opened the door in time, it still caused a lot of casualties."

Mr. Zhang was worried that the two young men were too hot-blooded and reminded them with real examples of implementation.

"When facing a vicious prisoner, it is best not to confront them directly, let alone provoke them, because very often, the prisoner is also struggling violently inside and keeps swaying, and you don't know what he will do next."

Hey, it's all on point.

Boy sighed inwardly, hating to nod furiously along.

"For the thirty minutes you are talking about this time is indeed too short."

As Mr. Zhang spoke, he was also intrigued, picking up a scrap of paper and drawing the diagram in reverse.

"Let's see ah ...... Well, the bus usually moves at a uniform speed, the distance between each stop to each stop you can find out with your mobile phone map, and the time can be roughly estimated ...... "

Today, they, the task force, had been studying the bombing and had become so familiar with the start and arrival of the bus line that they drew up a route map at once.

"You said you only had half an hour, so that's roughly where this is, near the penultimate stop at the 'Gang Wu New Village' station ...... eh?"

Mr. Zhang scratched his chin with his pencil, "Is this the platform where Tao Yinghong got on?"

"Yes."

Boy nodded, "Let's assume she's already on the bus and it's driving away from the platform ......"

"Also, if she hadn't gotten on the train yet, you guys could have just contained her at the station and called the police, no point in asking me how to stop the explosion."

Mr. Zhang just said what he said, talked to himself for a while, and started drawing again.

The old cop's instincts are so keen they scare the shit out of people.

Li Shiqing and Xiao Heyun were secretly relieved.

"The speed of the car averaged 32km per hour as shown by the surveillance footage and the estimated time to the next stop based on the distance was around 13:23 ......"

By estimating the time, Mr. Zhang was able to roughly estimate the time that the bus would arrive at each location.

"But only eight to ten minutes is not enough time to get from the police to the police in the fastest time possible. Even if you could contact our CID directly and get out as fast as you can, it would take about fifteen minutes to get from us to the route of the 45 bus."

"If 13:30, the bus probably arrived here ......"

Mr. Zhang has drawn a circle at the crossroads on the map.

He looked at the position and frowned.

"Even when we arrive there is a problem of how we can get on board."

Mr. Zhang has fully subscribed to Li Shiqing's hypothesis.

Looking at the map, Li Shiqing and Boy looked at each other with astonishment.

It was not just a coincidence or an act of God that the junction circled by Mr. Zhang happened to be the temporary pick-up point of the taxi where they first got off for "catching a pervert".

"So, what if we were on the bus and could have found a way to create a disturbance and get the bus to stop at this location?"

Li Shiqing pointed to the spot and hurriedly pursued it.

"If we can make a temporary stop, when the bus stops and opens the door, we can take the opportunity to get on, but it is too difficult to subdue the driver and the bomb-carrying suspect at the same time, because it is an irregular stop and a few people suddenly come up, which can easily cause the suspect to be alerted and even directly cause very serious consequences."

Mr. Zhang dismissed Li Shiqing's 'plan' and offered a solution.

"So if it were me, the right thing to do when I learned that you had a way to cause a riot would be to teach you to stall between the first and second stop and delay the bus to the second stop."

Mr. Zhang pointed to the "East River Road Station" and said.

"If we can successfully delay until the police arrive at this stop, then we can disguise ourselves as regular passengers and board from this stop."

"Once a police officer disguised as a regular passenger gets on board, we can position ourselves according to the suspect's location, subdue them at the most opportune moment and seize the pressure cooker carrying the bomb."

Cool!

Asking a police officer is really good!

The two young men's eyes lit up.

"But, but!"

When Mr. Zhang saw how excited the two young people seemed to be about the result, he couldn't resist and suddenly poured cold water on them.

"In my years of experience in handling cases, I have come to the lesson that no matter how perfect a plan is, all sorts of things can go wrong in the course of execution ......"

"The biggest difficulty and variation on this hypothesis that you have come up with is how one should control a bus that is moving. It seems to me that even if we, the police, manage to get on the bus and successfully grab the pressure cooker, it doesn't mean that we will 100% be able to control the driver at the same time."

Mr. Zhang shook his head, "The driver is in control of the steering wheel, the brakes and the accelerator, which means he is in control of the lives of the whole car, not to mention that he is a dangerous person who has the idea of 'dying together', and if there is a slight deviation in this arrest process, the final result will be The car will be destroyed and everyone will die together."

With Mr. Zhang's "explanation", Li Shiqing and Boy's emotions, which had just been heated up by finding the answer, cooled down a little with the cold water poured by Mr. Zhang.

"So even if time could be reversed and started over, there's still no 100 per cent solution to this event?"

Li Shiqing asked dismally.

"Little girl, life is not a game, not everything can be started over, sometimes it's just a thought that creates an outcome that no one wants to happen."

Mr. Zhang knew that they wanted to find an "answer" to comfort themselves, but in fact, even if their hypothesis were to happen to him, a veteran of many years in the criminal police, he could not say that it would be "100 per cent" solved.

"I don't know how many comrades have died in the line of duty just because of that little change. There are many of them who are smarter than I am and many who are stronger than I am, and being smart or being fit is of no use in the face of having certain situations, sometimes it really is just a little 'luck' that counts."

"What if it's really like playing a game where you can start over again and again?"

Boy's mind wanders and suddenly asks, "If you can keep 'correcting' and 'trying' ......"

"Haha, you two, you really have a great imagination!"

Mr. Zhang was amused by Boy's "what if" and now he was sure that the two young men were joking and the atmosphere was suddenly lightened from the dullness of the moment.

"If you can try it again and again, then of course you can 'correct the mistake'! As long as the plan is precise and well executed, and the driver can be successfully subdued, there will be a time when this bombing will be successfully stopped."

"The key is also in the driver, and as long as the driver can be controlled to keep him from thinking 'self-destructive' thoughts, there is a good chance of success."

Mr. Zhang pointed out the key points.

"That's why it's so important to understand the motives of the driver couple for doing this."

Saying Cao Cao Cao Cao Cao arrived, they had just talked about the issue when the officer called " Fang Zi" knocked on the door and entered.

" Mr. Zhang, take a look at this!"

The phone he holds in his hand is showing a news video from a few years ago.

"Four years ago today, at exactly 13.45pm, the driver Wang Xingde and his wife Tao Yinghong's only daughter were killed instantly in a car accident on the Cross River Bridge!"