Chapter 7: The Ninth Cycle of Time (I)

After the familiar commotion, Li Shiqing and Glasses Boy were once again thrown out of the car, thanks to the tacit cooperation of Li Shiqing.

In the midst of the commotion, Glasses Boy understands through the other's movements and dialogue that the girl in front of him remembers everything and is almost beaten to death as a pervert due to his overwhelming look during the play.

This time, Li Shiqing didn't need to be reminded, and the two got out of the car and ran hand in hand towards the road they had come from.

"Towards, where to run?"

The glasses Boy asks Li Shiqing, the "local snake", out of breath.

"I, we can't give the police, the police catch."

Li Shiqing sec.

There were cameras all along the way, and the last time she got off the bus and all went into hospital, she was still immediately found and then controlled and questioned non-stop.

This time, it must not happen again.

How could she be controlled by the police when she still had a load of questions she wanted to "exchange" with this Boy?

"Let's run away from here first!"

As they ran, a deafening explosion sounded behind them once more, and both men shuddered with surprise, but neither turned around.

Li Shiqing because she had suffered the loss of looking back, and Boy with glasses because he didn't want to look back.

Without having to look back, he knew.

The hot wave of gas would sweep over everything, the hot tarmac would be full of bewitching sparks, the smoke would rise into the air like a dust storm, and the explosions would fall like a meteor shower of debris with astonishing heat, hitting all the people who were running away without mercy ......

Even though there were not many pedestrians in the vicinity, the sight of such a scene still caused a riot.

"Did the chemical truck explode!"

"There's a terrorist attack ahead!"

When the explosion first happened, no one could tell what had happened, and everyone was on edge, trying to get away from the explosion.

As Li Shiqing ran, she felt something was wrong, and when she looked back, she almost fell unconscious again.

Behind her were a dozen passers-by who ran along with her for unknown reasons.

Glasses Boy, who should have been keeping up, probably because of his lack of fitness, has fallen behind.

How the hell is this going to "quietly" go under the radar of the police?

She's a frontrunner!

"Why are you so physically challenged!"

Li Shiqing quickly ran to the end of the group and yanked up a half-dead figure, "That's only how far you've gone!"

"Yes, it's not far. ......"

Boy was panting like a cow, "But, but it's too fast!"

There are a number of shops near this area and a larger supermarket complex not far away, and many startled passers-by chose to run to the supermarket not far away.

"Let's go to the supermarket!"

Considering that Boy's fitness was a problem, Li Shiqing thought better of it and dragged him into the crowd, running with him towards the supermarket.

Given the current conditions, and the mental and physical state of the two men, the only other option was this supermarket.

Li Shiqing had never been to this supermarket before either, but this chain of supermarkets all had a similar layout in the city, so Li Shiqing led Boy to the clothing section of the supermarket, breezed through and found a humble changing room, dragged him in and immediately unlocked the door to the changing room.

"There's no surveillance here."

"Youngsters nowadays yo ......"

At the sight of their "eager" behaviour, an older woman passing by gave them an unimpressed look and shook her head as she walked away, slurping her tongue.

She was afraid of hearing something spicy to her ears.

Li Shiqing and Boy, who had burrowed into the changing room, did not make any noise.

After standing awkwardly in the cramped and ambiguous changing room for a while, making sure that there was no sound outside, Li Shiqing breathed a sigh of relief, leaned against the wall of the changing room and asked in a lowered voice.

"It's an explosion, right?"

When he heard the word "explosion", Glasses Boy frowned and his face turned white.

"It was an explosion ...... and, this time, it had nothing to do with the tanker."

He couldn't help but stroke his neck.

A moment ago, he was killed by a flying explosive that pierced his neck.

"What's that ringtone ......?"

Glasses Boy rang the last ringing bell and muttered, "Last few times it didn't seem to be there?"

"No, there was."

Although she has died too many times, Li Shiqing still remembers how her first "accident" occurred.

"The first time I was awake, I was awakened by this sound."

"It was also when the bell rang and the car went out of control and then I lost consciousness from the head impact."

She remembers it well.

There is naturally no need to say anything more about what happened after losing consciousness, which they are both experiencing today.

"You've died many times?"

Hearing Li Shiqing's recounting of an "experience" that he had not had before, Boy asked in astonishment, "So you really knew the car was going to crash when you pulled me out? How many times did you die in total?"

"Let's see, one, two, three, four, five, well ...... plus three after concussions, I died eight times in total."

Li Shiqing counts the number of times she has tried to get out of the car, and laughs bitterly as she recounts the previous attempts.

"...... That's what happened, I started out like you and was paranoid about making the car turn around or stop, then realised it was useless and came up with the idea of 'catching the pervert' and dragging you out of the car. "

She rubbed her forehead and said in a daze, "It's just that I was so unlucky that I fell myself into a concussion when I got off the bus and completely forgot what had happened to me in the bus."

"But now that I think about it, I'm instead glad I lost my memory at that time."

Li Shiqing's head is leaning against the wall, slightly depressed.

"If I had entered the time loop again when I thought I had successfully disengaged, I would have had an emotional breakdown and become a complete lunatic."

At these words, Boy with glasses sighed as he too remembered the beginning of the "time loop".

"It was when you said you didn't know me that I nearly cracked up."

He had thought that at least one of them knew what was going on, but the girl posed as if she didn't know him and he was back in the car that had only recently been involved in the accident, heading towards the accident destination ......

If he didn't have a big enough heart, he would probably be going crazy.

Although the current situation is not far from crazy.

"You're amazing to have lasted so long. I've only time cycled three times and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed."

Shuddering as he thought of his last horrific experience of death, Glasses Boy said, "When I woke up just now, I didn't want to stay in the car for a second. Even if it means dying, I don't want to die in the car again."

"I'm sorry!"

Hearing Boy's complaint, Li Shiqing flinched, her face growing white.

"Really, I'm sorry! I didn't know that if I pulled you out of the car I would get you involved, and I thought it would save your life. I would have jumped out of the car myself and never pulled you off if I'd known I'd be pulled into the 'time loop' just by getting off!"

What's worse than death?

It's non-stop death, and there's no end in sight.

No one knew this desperation better than she did.

"Forget it, I'm probably going to die with or without you pulling me off."

At the sight of Li Shiqing trying desperately to hold back her tears and apologise, Glasses Boy rubbed his nose uncomfortably and reassured her instead.

"Didn't you say that the first time you woke up the car was in an accident? So whenever something happens to the car, something happens to me with it ......"

"So what difference does it make whether something happens in the car or under it?"

He smiled to himself.

"As fucked up as this situation is right now, at least God gave us a chance to figure out what's going on."

"You, you're such a good person ......"

Eyeglass Boy reassures, causing Li Shiqing to look up in disbelief.

She had been right in her guess that this Boy was, indeed, a gentle, considerate and sensible man.

"Is that a nice card you're sending to me?"

Boy with glasses made a joke to lighten the mood, only to stop the conversation a little uncomfortably when he probably remembered how he got off.

"I'm not that good either, I just thought we could ...... help each other out next?"

Anyway, it's better to be "teammates" with someone like that, even if you're in trouble together, than to have to work with someone who is paranoid or just blames each other.

How many people could have known that Li Shiqing was the culprit who pulled them into an infinite time loop without taking their anger out on her or cursing at her?

Not to mention reassuring her in turn and trying to make her feel less guilty.

"It's shameful to say this, but if I hadn't found out there were other people like you stuck in the bus with me, I probably would have laid flat and let fate take its course."

Li Shiqing, wiping tears from her eyes, found the situation horrific just thinking about it, "So much hope was given to me and then erased, I didn't think I would be able to keep going."

Boy is stunned, his expression aghast.

"Ah, I was actually thinking the same thing."

The two men looked at each other and smiled.

"My name is Xiao Heyun."

Boy with glasses smiled and held out his hand.

"I'm a programmer who has just joined the workforce."

"I'm Li Shiqing."

Li Shiqing froze for a moment and hurriedly extended her hand.

"I'm a junior attending U of W."

An unsolicited exchange of names implies trust and reconciliation.

Li Shiqing was so grateful that she almost cried again.

For a while, the small dressing room seemed to be a "safe house" after the storm, a small and cramped environment, but one that brought the two young minds and bodies closer together.

The two strangers, who did not know each other before, now trust each other for no reason, and the original strangeness dissipates.

"It's one fifty-five, the police must be looking for us everywhere after such a big incident, there's no surveillance here but the odds are we'll still be found."

When Li Shiqing's mood had calmed down a bit more, Xiao Heyun, the glasses boy, took out his mobile phone and looked at it, then put it back in his pocket.

He pushed down his glasses and his expression suddenly became serious.

"Time is running out, so let's exchange information."