From the moment the underground garage was found locked, Jing Shu felt something was wrong. She regretted not having bulletproof windows installed on the electric car. Her mind flashed through the list of enemies who might still be alive.
Emmm, there were quite a few, but very few could pose a real threat.
"Most likely someone locked the garage on purpose to force us to take the upper road and ambush us," Jing Shu said.
Regardless, she stayed cautious and told her family to lie flat in the car while they drove slowly. At the moment, the biggest threat was firearms. Grenades and bombs were less likely, since they were controlled items, though she could not rule them out.
The family felt Jing Shu was overreacting. Under strict laws, who would bother setting an ambush now? Most households did not even have a kitchen knife. Even if someone had a gun, hitting a moving car in this darkness and heavy rain would be hard.
Even so, the family still followed her orders. Better safe than sorry.
They could not stop the car just because of a suspicion, nor could Jing Shu call Li Yuetian to say, "I suspect someone wants to kill me, please send people to protect me." They could not simply refuse to go home either. The car even made a long detour. Even Jing Shu failed to spot anything unusual.
"Looks like I worried for nothing," she murmured.
They were about to turn the last corner toward home. The surveillance around the house showed everything normal. In that instant, the car exploded with a boom and flipped. Screams filled the vehicle.
Her heart pounded. At the same time, her eyes sharpened. The world seemed to slow.
She saw a grenade-like object tracing a path toward them. She did not hesitate. Inside the Rubik's Cube Space, she lined up four rows of boulders and launched them in an instant. In a crisis like this, her only move was to knock it back whether it was a grenade or not. A grenade could obliterate everything within fifteen meters. Jing Shu would not bet her family's lives.
The moment it exploded, she knew she had judged correctly. It was a grenade. In the previous life, she had never even seen a gun in ten years. In this life, she not only saw them often, she even had the honor of being blown up by a grenade. Wonderful.
In misfortune there was fortune. Thanks to the reflexes honed by training with the Rubik's Cube Space, Jing Shu intercepted the grenade mid-flight. The car's rollover did not trigger a secondary blast.
"Jing Shu, don't rush out. Let Dad go with you. It's dangerous outside," Jing An shouted.
"Go check what happened. I'll stay here," Su Lanzhi called.
"I'm stuck. I can't get out. Pull me," Jing An said, struggling against his seat.
While everyone in the car was still in shock, Jing Shu climbed out first. She sprinted toward the direction the grenade had come from. In the Rubik's Cube Space, she released poison bees to sweep ahead. To guard against a second grenade, Jing Shu stayed ready to fire the last line of boulders.
Unfortunately, she only found a man at the window, hit by the blast's edge. The man was young, his face almost unnaturally handsome, now bleeding from the seven orifices, eyes wide with disbelief.
"So he saw it after all," Jing Shu whispered. He must have noticed the sudden wall of boulders.
The man toppled straight back.
After climbing through the resident's window, Jing Shu saw a bowl-sized, not-yet-healed scar at the man's shoulder blade and other injuries in various stages. He had probably been a dying man already. The blast wave had simply finished him off.
"Even on his last breath, he wanted to drag us to hell with him," she said coldly. She stabbed the corpse dozens of times to vent her fury. With such a twisted mind, this could only be Shangguan Jun.
Xiao Dou flapped down from the car and rubbed against her leg. Xiao Dou seemed to sense Jing Shu's anger and, for once, did not pounce to devour the body.
Jing Shu had kept wondering how Shangguan Jun would come for Wu You'ai. She had not expected a one-man stakeout, the most mind-numbing approach.
"When did he start watching us? He knew we had surveillance, so he stayed back to avoid showing his face. I need to expand the cameras' coverage," Jing Shu thought.
Jing Shu wiped the rain from her face. While her family was still recovering, she quickly recalled the large stones back into the space. The fight had cost more than a dozen boulders. The front rows were reduced to gravel, and the ones behind were cracked. Boulders were consumables. If possible, she needed real anti-explosion gear.
If that grenade had hit the car, the entire family would have died. The thought alone chilled Jing Shu.
She knew it was time for reflection. She had assumed a shred of social order remained even in the apocalypse. With guns and grenades common enough, what threat could not appear? This time it was a grenade. What if next time it was something worse?
In the previous life, Jing Shu had been too poor to attract trouble. In this life, with the Rubik's Cube Space and abundant supplies, she needed matching power to protect them.
First, Jing Shu had to strengthen herself. This incident made her realize her danger-detection ability was lacking.
Right now, she could command bees to attack, but only one way.
She could give orders, but could not receive feedback. She did not even know whether the bees had stung anyone. If she could control the bees to scout and report where people were and the lay of the land, many dangers could be avoided. Like today. There would have been no ambush.
Xiao Dou had drunk the most Spirit Spring, and Jing Shu could faintly sense Xiao Dou's intent. That proved the issue was not the Spirit Spring but the Rubik's Cube Space's level. The first and second forms had shown very different functions. Each upgrade clearly raised the overall tier of abilities.
Jing Shu suddenly felt upgrading the Rubik's Cube Space was urgent. She had a hunch the upgraded space would greatly support her. Perhaps it could integrate with her own strength.
Right now, she had physical power but few ways to apply it. She decided to go back and study it carefully. Before the upgrade, she could try attaching night-vision infrared pinhole cameras to bees for surveillance.
By the time she packed away the stones, Jing An burst out. Seeing Jing Shu unscathed, Jing An finally exhaled. "How is it? What was that explosion?"
"Someone planted explosives. Fortunately, the car flipped just enough that the blast went off course. By the time I got there, the man was already dead. Let's get grandparents out first. We can talk after."
Luckily, her grandparents had been drinking Spirit Spring for more than a year. Their bodies were still strong. Once everyone was pulled free, the family was mostly fine. The car, however, was in bad shape. Who knew if it would ever run again. A vehicle that heavy had flipped. Even with her strength ,she could not push it upright.
"Should we call Captain Li?" Jing An asked.
Jing Shu shook her head. The scene was too strange. Last time, Yang Yang already had doubts. She could not bring the police over again.
Just then, Heng Jin called. He had arrived in Wu City. Perfect timing.