Looking up, there was a gray, cloudless evening sky. Looking down, a black road illuminated orange by streetlights.
In the middle of the highway, a teenage boy sat in a wheelchair, silently staring at the road winding up and down the mountain. The night wind brushed past him, yet it couldn't carry away the heat burning through his body.
[ Life Countdown ]
[ 42 minutes ]
With only forty-two minutes of life remaining, Lu Yang didn't cry, didn't spend his time opening some final wish list.
Instead—
He chose to do something stupid.
Race a wheelchair downhill.
'Ah.'
'Life~'
Life really was interesting.
Lu Yang took a deep breath, pushed the hand rims, and the wheelchair slowly began rolling toward the downhill slope.
The moment he entered the descent, he immediately loosened his grip and placed both hands on the brakes.
The slope of Longjing Mountain's highway was more than enough to easily reach 30 km/h—
Even in a wheelchair.
What he needed to worry about wasn't whether he could reach that speed.
It was whether he could stop once he did.
The pitch-black wheelchair streaked beneath the streetlights, accelerating faster and faster.
At the same time—
An elderly couple was taking an evening walk uphill.
"Old man, I'm a bit tired. I'm not coming with you next time," the white-haired old woman panted, complaining as she walked.
"Haha, at our age we need to move more," the old man chuckled, his tone tinged with nostalgia.
"Otherwise your body will decline even faster. You don't want to end up needing a wheelchair just to go outside in a few years, right? By then, you wouldn't even be able to climb this mountain if you wanted to."
He spoke with feeling.
One of his chess buddies had already reached that stage—needing a wheelchair just to get around. It was terribly inconvenient.
It made him cherish the time he could still walk alongside his lifelong partner. Only when such ordinary things were taken away did people realize how precious they were.
"Alright, alright, let's go," the old woman waved her hand, tightly holding his.
How could she not understand what he meant?
Just as they continued upward, the old man heard the sound of wheels spinning ahead—fast. Urgent.
Sounds like a bicycle speeding downhill.
"Come on, dear, move to the side a bit," the old man said, pulling her toward the roadside. "Young people ride fast and recklessly."
"Hey, old man… doesn't that look a bit strange?" The old woman squinted at the rapidly approaching silhouette.
The old man looked as well. At first he couldn't see clearly—just a black shadow rushing downhill at terrifying speed.
But for some reason…
It didn't quite look like a bicycle.
As it drew closer, the old man finally saw it clearly. His mouth fell open, his mustache trembling.
"Th-that… that's a wheelchair?!"
Lu Yang, seated in the wheelchair, had already spotted the elderly couple by the roadside. After a brief glance, he withdrew his gaze and focused on the curve ahead.
There was no way he could take that turn.
At this speed, the wheelchair simply didn't have the ability to corner.
He couldn't brake either.
Brake even a little and he wouldn't reach 30 km/h. Brake hard, and he'd be launched straight out of the chair.
To hell with braking.
He was going straight to the end.
Straight line. Full send. Hit 30 km/h.
Lu Yang swallowed, released the brakes, leaned forward, and wrapped both arms around his head.
It reduced wind resistance—
And protected his skull.
He had no intention of turning.
He aimed straight for the tea trees lining the roadside.
Under the stunned gaze of the elderly couple, the wheelchair blasted past them at shocking speed. The old man caught sight of the young man curled over in the chair and couldn't help but curse aloud.
"Holy—what the hell is wrong with that kid?!"
The wheelchair shot off the road and crashed straight into the tea grove.
Lu Yang felt his body shake violently, the world spinning as if heaven and earth had flipped upside down.
After a long moment, everything finally went quiet.
He opened his eyes.
He was lying in the tea bushes. The air was filled with the fragrance of tea leaves. Above him, the night sky had become crowded with stars.
A voice echoed by his ear.
[ Life mission completed ]
[ Reward received: +240 hours of life ]
The number beneath the countdown surged upward.
It finally stopped at—
[ 240 hours, 25 minutes ]
I can… keep living.
A wave of overwhelming relief flooded Lu Yang's chest.
He had never imagined that one day, simply continuing to live would feel this exhilarating.
...
"Old man… that kid didn't die, did he?" The old woman stared anxiously at the tea trees knocked by the wheelchair.
"How could he be fine?! He went down like that!" The old man rushed into the tea grove in panic. After nearly ten meters, he finally found the overturned wheelchair.
It was surprisingly sturdy—not completely shattered. One wheel was still spinning.
Taking a few more steps, he finally saw the young man.
What unsettled him was—
The kid was smiling.
How can these young people be like this nowadays?
He didn't understand.
But he was deeply shaken.
"Kid… are you okay?" The old man helped Lu Yang up.
Lu Yang rubbed his left leg and let out a deep sigh.
"Not a big problem," he said calmly. "Just looks like my left leg might be broken."
The old man's lips trembled for a long while before he finally blurted out the same line again—
"Holy hell! What is wrong with you kids?!"
...
Early the next morning.
Lu Qiangqian, backpack on her shoulders, glared at Lu Yang sitting in the wheelchair and pointed at his legs.
"Why are both your legs wrapped in bandages now?! What did you go do again, Lu Yang?!"
Lu Yang shrugged and grinned.
"I saved my life."
"You just don't want to go to school! And you don't want to restock the shop either! You—You—You're such a disappointment!"
After shouting a few times, Lu Qiangqian stormed out of the convenience store without looking back, her twin ponytails flying with anger.
Watching his sister's retreating figure, Lu Yang rubbed his face helplessly.
There was really no way to explain this.
Last night, he had completed the mission and saved his life. After crashing down the mountainside, that kind old man had called a car and sent him to the hospital.
The result?
His only good leg—
Was broken too.
At this moment, he didn't want money.
He didn't want beautiful women.
He just wanted his legs.
How could the heroic legs of a man destined for greatness end like this?!
Sigh.
Fate was cruel. Life was turbulent.
What hurt even more was hearing from his sister that he was still a hopeless academic underachiever.
How was he still trash at studying even in this parallel universe?
It's called 'parallel', not 'merge into the same damn lane', alright?!
After calming himself down, Lu Yang opened his life countdown interface again.
After last night—
The countdown had gained a few new changes.