Su Lanzhi and Jing An could hardly believe what they were hearing. No matter how hard they tried, they could not understand why anyone would specifically come with bombs to blow up their villa in this world.
"Where could they even get bombs? Maybe they're just bluffing? Where did you get this information? Can we trust it?" Su Lanzhi asked anxiously.
Jing Shu briefly explained Wang Dazhao's intel, then asked, "Who benefits most from chaos in our country right now? The U.S., obviously. The more chaos, the better for them. Their foreign spies have been exposed, so now they're using locals, smuggling in explosives and stirring up unrest. Otherwise, with our country's strict control, how could things like this happen?"
Bombs were most dangerous once detonated, but even before that, they were lethal.
"Jing Shu, how are you planning to stop them? There are only three of us, and we don't have the villa's traps. Why don't we wait for Yang Yang and the armed police to come?" Jing An suggested.
"Dad, drive to South Alley. If you see a group of people, it's definitely them. Run over as many as you can. Some of them came by car, some on bicycles. I'll be on the other side, setting boulders and traps to slow them down. Don't worry, I won't reveal myself. It's so dark tonight they won't see me anyway."
After careful thought, Jing Shu decided to trick her parents into going somewhere safe. Even after drinking Spirit Spring for half a year, they were only stronger than average.
Besides, once the fighting started, she did not want any distractions. In this life, she would not tell her parents about the Cube Space again. Possessing treasure was a crime in itself. Better to let them survive the apocalypse in peace.
In Jing Shu's words, Jing An bore the heavy responsibility, while she herself faced little danger. Jing An could feel the weight of hope placed on him. After dropping Jing Shu off at her chosen spot, their BYD Song sped away.
"Jing Shu, be careful. Don't be reckless. We'll stay in touch," Jing An urged.
They agreed to send a number in their family group chat every three minutes to confirm safety. Only then did her parents drive away with a little peace of mind.
Jing Shu panted in the heat, her breath ragged. She watched her shared location with Wang Dazhao grow closer on the map and quickened her pace. Two streets later, she reached the intersection.
It was a desolate place, rarely visited even before the apocalypse, with little traffic.
The sky was starless, only faint red glimmers shone in the dark. Wu City was now a dead city without a trace of light. Maybe the scientists were right. Darkness had saved the earth. Otherwise, with the sun blazing and temperatures over fifty degrees, humanity might not have survived at all.
Up ahead, two minibuses approached, crammed with over a hundred people—half overloaded. Their speed would be slow.
If she only blocked the road with stones, it would not work. Even without sunlight, vehicles still had bright headlights. They would not blindly crash.
Her only option was to crouch in their blind spot, then launch her cone-shaped weapons to strike head-on and wreak havoc inside.
But that alone would not be enough. If even one person escaped, they would be trouble later. Jing Shu narrowed her eyes. Anyone who dared target her… none would leave alive.
She found withered saplings planted on the roadside before the apocalypse. Collecting over a dozen, she cleared space in the Cube Space and set them aside.
Then she began her meticulous preparations. She believed individual strength was limited, but intelligence was limitless.
"I'm in the first bus. The one carrying the bombs is Zhetian's third-in-command, in the second bus. He's two meters tall, heavily built, and carrying a black case. Be careful! We're almost there!" Wang Dazhao messaged.
"When the bus stops, jump out the window and run. If you're slow, you'll die," Jing Shu instructed.
She saw faint lights in the distance. They were almost here. Her heartbeat accelerated. Adrenaline surged through her veins, making her pulse quicken with excitement. As the headlights drew closer, her eyes glimmered brightly.
"Run slow and die?" Wang Dazhao muttered, not fully understanding. But since Jing Shu said so, he resolved to leap out as soon as the bus stopped. Luckily, every window was open, and he was by one.
With everything in place, Jing Shu crouched behind a cone-shaped boulder. Her pupils contracted until they were pinpricks. Two minibuses drove toward her at about fifty kilometers per hour, one trailing the other. "Now!"
…
"Lao Zhang, drive faster! And tell the ones ahead to speed up too. We've been crawling forever. How long until we get there?" Zhang Qiang barked into his radio, sitting in the passenger seat, irritation on his face. He grumbled, "I don't know why Shangguan Jun worries so much. It's just a villa. You'd think it was more dangerous than an oil field guarded by armed police. He had to convince the boss to send a huge team just to bomb a villa. We could've snuck in and blown it up ourselves. No one would know. Damn this heat! It's killing me."
"Yeah, yeah, I know some of you have cops planted among us. So what? You won't have time to prepare an ambush at that community."
The driver, Zhang Shifu, slammed the gas pedal. "Brother Qiang, this is the fastest I can go. We're overloaded by twenty people already!"
Just then…
Multiple cone-shaped boulders suddenly shot toward them, appearing out of nowhere.
Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The deafening sound of brakes screeching filled the air, but it was too late. Several massive rocks smashed into the bus. One even pierced through the front windshield. The overloaded vehicle was struck hard, killing five or six instantly.
"What the hell is that? Where did all these rocks come from?"
The two buses skidded out of control, slammed with stones, and flipped over, sliding along the ground.
Zhang Qiang's legs shook violently, and the stench of urine and feces filled the bus. He stared in horror at the mangled faces of his companions. Beside him, half of Zhang Shifu's upper body was gone.
Screams erupted inside the vehicle. Chaos reigned. Many were too injured to move.
"Get off me! I can't get out!"
"Move, damn it! Let me out first!"
Overloading and sudden braking had caused the bus to roll. People piled on top of one another, crushing those below. Some were dead, others were flung outside.
"Did you think this was over?" Jing Shu's laughter rang coldly in the darkness. She had invested heavily tonight. They had better not disappoint her.