Full of confidence, Li Wu confirmed that the bus bomb in his setting had a ten-second countdown that only triggered after a button was pressed.
There was still one minute until the explosion. In other words, the mastermind behind the scenes hadn't pressed the timer yet. As long as he got off the bus within fifty seconds, he could avoid the ending where everyone died.
With this in mind, Li Wu let out a pained whimper, clutched his stomach, and stumbled toward the front doors, trembling with every step.
The comic had briefly described the driver as an honest man strictly devoted to his duty. If Li Wu just yelled to get off, the driver definitely wouldn't agree. But if he pretended to be violently ill, he could easily trick him into pulling over.
Sorry about this, but it's to avoid a total party wipe.
From the corner of his eye, Li Wu glanced at the driver. Unsurprisingly, the man noticed his distress and asked urgently, "Kid, what's wrong?"
"My stomach is killing me... Can you let me off? I can't hold it anymore..."
The driver hesitated for a moment. After confirming the surroundings were safe, he eventually pulled over to the side of the road and opened the rear doors.
The instant the doors opened, Li Wu grabbed Raiden Mei and dragged her off the bus.
"Eh?"
Raiden Mei was completely bewildered. Caught completely off guard, she was pulled off the bus, and then the two of them sprinted wildly through the messy wind.
They wove through the noisy streets, darting past the flow of traffic.
They didn't stop until they ducked into a foul-smelling alleyway filled with garbage. A place like this, which only homeless people and scavengers could stomach, was absolutely safe in the current timeline.
Li Wu took a deep breath and gave a brief explanation: "You're in danger right now. Someone is targeting you. Stay here for a bit. I'm going to make sure they've gone far away, and then I'll come back to take you to school."
After delivering the exact lines the comic's protagonist used when saving Raiden Mei, Li Wu turned and walked away.
"...A savior for beautiful girls?"
Raiden Mei narrowed her eyes. Her light-purple pupils revealed a hint of curiosity—and danger—as she watched Li Wu's retreating back.
Squeaking rats scurried around her feet. The nauseating stench of the sewers mixed with the pitch-black sludge, creating an indescribable odor that permeated the dim, sunless alley.
Realizing the environment she was in, Raiden Mei couldn't stop her body from trembling, her gaze growing feverish.
Not far away, in the middle of a crowd, a man in black wearing a mask and a hat was speaking into his phone.
"The target got off early. She was taken into an alley by an unknown male. Remember to contact someone to retrieve the fake bomb tonight. Don't leave any traces, I'll—"
Before he could finish, Li Wu pressed the 'end call' button for him and yanked his hat down over his eyes.
"Ruslan Basayev, nickname 'Caucasus'. The pay for this job is pretty good, isn't it? Just contact the right people, plant a bomb on a bus, and your daughter studying abroad won't have to worry about food or clothing for the rest of her life."
"Let me think... Krasnogorsk. That's where your daughter goes to school, right?"
Li Wu's voice drifted eerily from behind him.
On the bustling street, no one noticed their confrontation.
Caucasus's body stiffened, his hands involuntarily clenching into fists as his whole body tensed up. As an Ural mercenary who had infiltrated the Far East, his identity was an absolute secret.
When his name was read out, he was still able to calmly consider how to respond. The person behind him didn't have a weapon pressed against his back; he just needed to turn around, and with his years of life-and-death combat experience, he could easily overpower them.
But the moment his daughter's name was spoken, Ruslan's mind went blank, and that thought was instantly snuffed out.
Who exactly is this guy? Why does he know so much? Does he have accomplices?
His professional instinct made Ruslan immediately realize that the person behind him wasn't acting alone. Even if he killed this guy, it wouldn't change anything.
"What do you want? To turn me in? I can go to prison, but don't touch my family. Those are the rules of the trade."
"You want to talk rules with me? Rules can be dead, and people can be too. From now on, you do exactly as I say. You don't have a choice."
Li Wu's voice still had the youthful innocence of a teenager, but his unnervingly calm tone and highly threatening words made Ruslan afraid to make a move.
In reality, Li Wu's heart was pounding.
Because...
This guy was canonically set to have Mike Tyson-level combat power.
If they went strictly by the comic's setting, Ruslan could easily instantly kill him.
It was all his own fault. Back then, to make the protagonist suffer, he had ridiculously buffed the random mob villains. Just this one normal guy had killed the protagonist over twenty times before the MC finally got the crucial intel needed to clear the scenario.
But Ruslan didn't know any of this. Under Li Wu's threats, he chose to compromise.
"Fine. Don't touch my wife and daughter. They don't know I do this kind of work."
"That's not important. What's important is that, if I want to, the consequences will be more than you can bear. As a mercenary, you're a failure. This is your first assassination job. Did you really think those people just wanted to scare the target with a fake bomb? If I hadn't intervened, everyone on that bus would be dead. The bomb was swapped out by them ages ago. If anything went wrong, you'd just be the scapegoat. In the end, you wouldn't be able to keep the money or your life."
Li Wu tried his hardest to calm his racing heart, doing his best to play the part of a ruthless mastermind.
Hearing this, Ruslan's pupils shrank. He had been deceived by his employers?
"One month. For the next month, you must follow my orders. Whatever I tell you to do, you do it. After a month, roll back to your own country. At least for now, no one has died, so I can pretend this never happened."
Unlike the comic, where the protagonist directly told Ruslan to turn himself in, Li Wu knew better.
There were still several crises coming up, and they would be very difficult to solve on his own. He needed to borrow some muscle.
More importantly...
Ruslan and Bronya were old acquaintances. He had even saved a young Bronya's life on a battlefield raining bullets.
In the comic, because of this exact incident, Bronya was the Valkyrie most hostile toward the protagonist. Even up to the latest serialized chapter, their relationship hadn't thawed in the slightest.
"I don't want to kill anyone."
"I know. The orders I give you won't make you uncomfortable. But you must execute every single one of them, no matter how strange they seem."
Ruslan was taken aback. He hadn't expected his new, non-paying employer to be quite so principled.
Fueled by curiosity, Ruslan casually asked, "Like what?"
"Like the first order: continue your cover. Tell me everything about the intel you exchange with the people who hired you to kill her. Also, give me some money. Not much, just two hundred thousand Far East Yen. That's not even a fraction of your down payment."
"Other than that, I'll ask you to do some chores. Maybe some intimidation, maybe running errands—but definitely no killing. I trust you won't refuse. If I die, or if I lose contact, there will naturally be people who inflict bottomless revenge upon you."
Two hundred thousand Far East Yen was actually only about ten thousand Shenzhou Yuan.
Ruslan nodded. A deal was struck.
After giving a few more instructions, Li Wu turned and hurried back to the alley where Raiden Mei was waiting. Meanwhile, Ruslan picked up his phone and called his employer: "Sorry about that, I accidentally hit the end call button earlier. I found a safe spot before calling back..."
On the other side, Li Wu let out a long breath, patting his chest as his expression relaxed, feeling as if a heavy burden had been lifted.
[You adapted pretty quickly. Flipped a key character that easily.]
"Who do you think I am? I have a flexible moral bottom line. I'm not as rigid and righteous as the protagonist. As long as I can achieve my goal, the ends justify the means. After all, the results will vindicate the process."
"What's the saying? 'Once I conquer the capital, there will naturally be great scholars to justify my rule for me.'"
"Your hint is useless. Just watch me speedrun this!"
A confident smile curled on Li Wu's lips.
[Oh? Seeing you so full of energy actually makes me look forward to whether you'll still be able to smile like this later... Friendly reminder: Please read my hint carefully.]
The system offered no further explanation. No matter how Li Wu tried to strike up a conversation, it remained utterly silent.
Li Wu didn't press the issue. The most pressing matter was ensuring Raiden Mei's physical and mental well-being.
"Are you alright, Raiden-san? I'm sorry about earlier... I saw you looking really uncomfortable on the bus, so I thought of an excuse to get you off. After we got off, I saw a bunch of guys in black staring at you, which I thought was suspicious. But I checked, and it was just a coincidence. There's no danger. We still have time; if we walk to school together, we won't be late."
Standing at the entrance of the alley, bathed in the molten gold glow of the morning sun, Li Wu wore a gentle, friendly expression.
In the comic, just like in all cliché plots, this was exactly how the protagonist easily moved Raiden Mei's heart. His gentle yasashii demeanor and smile, like sunlight piercing through the cracks, slipped into the tightly shut doors of the girl's heart.
Sure enough, Raiden Mei covered her mouth, a radiant smile blossoming on her face.
"Thank you. You're... Li Wu, right? I saw your name on the attendance roster before. Thank you, Li Wu!"
[Raiden Mei is forcing a smile.]
The system triggered a narration on its own.
Forcing a smile?
Li Wu froze on the spot, his eyes locked onto Raiden Mei in utter disbelief. Her face, as beautiful and stunning as a blooming camellia, was completely flawless. Her skin was as pale and tender as a freshly peeled hard-boiled egg, and she wore a gentle, healing, and adorable expression. This is what you call forcing a smile?
Li Wu: System, are you messing with me? Sowing discord, huh...
Unexpectedly, the system completely ignored his internal complaints.
Li Wu could only set the issue aside for now. He turned and walked up to Raiden Mei, continuing to play the part of the sunny, cheerful comic protagonist: "We're classmates; it's only right that we help each other out. Let's go, I'll walk you to school. If anyone bullies you again, tell me. I might not be able to solve it myself, but we can figure something out together."
Saying that, facing the brilliant morning sun, Li Wu extended his hand to Raiden Mei.
The warm sun rose higher, its sacred and magnificent light shining down upon the two of them, as if witnessing a profoundly significant ceremony.
Raiden Mei hesitated for a moment. She reached her hand out, then pulled it back. After going back and forth a few times, Li Wu simply grabbed it.
"I'll only drag you down..."
Raiden Mei tried to pull away, but Li Wu held on tight.
"Caring too much about others is your strong suit. I just can't stand seeing good people not get rewarded. I've heard a bit about your father's situation. Until the dust settles, I won't make any judgments. But you are innocent. I don't want innocent people to suffer tremendous malice. No one wants to see an undeserved disaster strike."
"I'll help you as much as I can within my means. If I feel like I can't help you anymore, I'll tell you straight up and leave."
"So, until I bring up leaving myself, please trust me, okay?"
Li Wu's words were sincere, his gaze fixed squarely on Raiden Mei, showing not a hint of wavering.
As a webcomic author, the label Li Wu gave himself was "a fence-sitter who steers with the wind; whichever side is winning is the side I lean on." He could pivot any topic with masterful skill. If it wasn't for a lack of resources, his acting skills could easily crush any trending idol actor.
[Raiden Mei's affection is decreasing, and she has developed a certain degree of disgust toward you.]
[Disgust increased. She finds you nauseating.]
[Disgust increased. She desperately wants to leave.]
[Disgust increased. She has developed murderous intent toward you.]
[Please... protect yourself.]