Chapter 94 The bus that deviates from its route
"Will he take it with him? The artifact leaf stick needs the owner to carry it with him to achieve the best effect. Maybe it would be better to write a few more sentences." Pea said on the way back to City B.
"No need." Rong Yuan said. Even if he didn't write any extra words, he knew what Jin Yang would do.
Think about the two people he had used as experimental subjects before. The first one was a person with negative merits over a hundred. He was originally going to be hit by a flowerpot falling from the upstairs, but his shoelaces suddenly broke, and when he lowered his head, the flowerpot fell right in front of him; the second one was an old man with positive merits. He bought a lot of things in the supermarket, so he took his shopping receipts to participate in the lottery held by the supermarket, and then won the second prize worth nearly a hundred yuan. Although it was not much, the old man was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling.
Rong Yuan didn't know whether it was the leaf stick that brought them good luck, but at least it proved that the leaf stick was harmless to ordinary people, and there were no sequelae after taking it away, so he handed it over to Jin Yang with confidence. As for the two lucky people, they had no idea about the process from the time the leaf stick was touched to the time it was taken back, and they just thought it was good luck today.
When he returned to the dormitory, it was already slightly bright. Rong Yuan looked at the sky outside, hesitated for a moment, and called the teacher to ask for leave. Because of Jin Yang's matter, he held back and did not deal with the memory problem for the time being, but it did not mean that he did not feel urgent in his heart. Since the day he woke up a few months ago, the lost memory has been weighing heavily on his heart, making him confused and anxious. Sometimes he forced himself to appear nonchalant as if he didn't care, but in fact he just didn't want this feeling to affect his judgment and development. But now, he didn't want to wait any longer, even if it was a minute earlier, he wanted to know what happened at that time.
Rong Yuan discovered from the notes that past contractors also experienced temporary amnesia after signing the contract, and some even became blind, deaf, and disabled. In fact, this was because the contractor exchanged his untrained flesh for goods that far exceeded what his body could bear. In an instant, a huge amount of energy was released through the body. Despite the protection of the "Book of Merits", it still caused damage to a part of the contractor's body, causing various sequelae. Rong Yuan's amnesia was caused by damage to a part of his brain cells. Once he was cured, his memory would be restored.
The best healing item is the [Fountain of Life].
Rong Yuan shook the transparent liquid in the glass bottle and couldn't help but frowned - seeing this thing reminded him of the shock, anger and fear he felt when the man in the suit died.
He suppressed this unnecessary emotion and drank the liquid in the bottle in one gulp. The Fountain of Life did not feel like liquid in his mouth. It disappeared like an invisible and intangible thing. Rong Yuan seemed to smell the fragrance of grass and trees, and feel the coolness of the breeze with drizzle. A warm current flowed through his limbs and bones, and his whole body was slightly warm. He felt very comfortable and soothed. At the same time, scenes from the past began to flash in his mind...
September 11
07:00
He woke up on time at seven o'clock. He lay on the bed, looking at the monotonous ceiling without any decoration above his head. He remembered that today was Saturday, so he did not get up immediately. After lying down for another five minutes, he was no longer sleepy. Rong Yuan lifted the quilt and sat up, rubbed his messy hair, made the bed, and went to the bathroom to wash up.
07:20
In the refrigerator were the buns bought yesterday, piled up softly on a plate, looking unappetizing. Rong Yuan stared at the buns silently for a while, stuffed them into the microwave, and set the timer. Then he took out a box of milk. He was going to heat it up, but thinking about his past black history of overflowing the pot nine times out of ten, he gave up the plan and poured it directly into the cup - although it was a little cold, his stomach was not so fragile that he would get angry over such a small matter.
07:35
After breakfast and clearing the table, there was nothing else to do, so he took out the homework assigned yesterday and started to work on it one by one.
10:40
It took him about three hours to finish all his homework. The pile of books piled high on the table gave him a sense of accomplishment. He looked at the time and it was time for lunch. He took his wallet and library card, stuffed the books he borrowed last week into his schoolbag, went to a restaurant outside the community to have lunch, and then took the bus to the library.
There weren't many people on the bus, which made Rong Yuan somewhat satisfied. Most people in City A live a fast-paced and stressful life. In a small environment like a bus, people's tempers seem to be magnified. They often quarrel over trivial matters such as bumping into someone or stepping on someone. As for whether to give up seats, which is a common situation every day, there are countless conflicts. When an old man gets on, it seems that everyone is on edge. Some pretend to sleep, some look at the scenery outside the window and never look back, some lower their heads to play with their phones and listen to music, some look around hesitantly and wait to see if anyone will give up their seats, and some silently hope that the old man will not come to them. If no one takes the initiative to give up their seats in advance, there will most likely be someone who secretly shouts "bad luck" and stands up with a dark face where the old man stops.
Giving up seats to the elderly on buses in City A has become a universal moral concept, unless the person sitting there is old, weak, sick, disabled or pregnant. Of course, there are many people who voluntarily give up their seats with the intention of respecting the elderly and loving the young, but there are also some people who are forced to give up their seats reluctantly by public opinion, the eyes of the public, and moral guilt. Under this situation, some elderly people regard giving up seats as an obligation rather than a virtue. They not only actively ask others to give up their seats, but sometimes also scold, insult, and beat others.
Rong Yuan didn't like this kind of moral blackmail-style seat giving up, so if there were not many empty seats on the bus, he would rather stand than sit down. At this time, there were only a few people on the bus , Rong Yuan found a seat in the middle of the back row and sat down, turning his head to look at the scenery outside the window.
After a few stops, people got on and off the bus, and most seats were occupied by one or two people. Rong Yuan heard a deliberately low voice next to him saying, "Excuse me, I'm a little carsick, can I sit inside?"
Rong Yuan took a look and saw a young girl standing next to him. She was wearing military green casual clothes. The loose clothes made her look particularly petite. Under the baggy black hat was a small face the size of a palm. Her complexion was pale, but she was very pretty. Even though she was wearing ill-fitting and not very good-looking clothes, she still had a beauty that could shame flowers and the moon.
Rong Yuan was basically indifferent to beauty or ugliness, but it was hard to refuse a girl's request. He stood up and let her sit inside, while he sat on the outer seat.
The girl seemed to be in great pain. She shrank down, her hands covering her stomach, and her head lowered slightly so that only the top of her head could be seen.
Rong Yuan began to worry - what if she got carsick and vomited? Should he sit somewhere else? Or would it be better to just stand up now?
He looked at the other empty seats: either there were naughty kids in front and behind, or the next seat was a big and strong middle-aged man/mother, or a sick young man who was always sniffing. In comparison, sitting next to a clean and young girl was like a VIP.
The bus slowed down and stopped at the next stop. A dozen young people came up, seemingly students from a nearby university. After a group of people quickly occupied all the empty seats, a few people stood next to Rong Yuan and chatted and laughed.
The girl beside him shrank back again, her breathing becoming heavier. Rong Yuan suddenly felt something was wrong - her reaction didn't seem like motion sickness.
The car stopped, and there were only four stops left to the library. When the door opened again, several men came up. They were tall, muscular, and strong. As soon as they got on the car, they looked around, and after looking for a while, they started to walk inside.
Rong Yuan glanced at the new passengers on the bus and then looked away. When his eyes moved to the window, he suddenly felt something strange in his heart. He turned back and looked at the men carefully.
They were dressed casually, but their eyes were sharp. When they walked, they kept track of each other, as if they were on guard against something. Their faces did not have the numbness, fatigue or anxiety of ordinary passengers, but they were like eagles staring at their prey, never relaxing for a moment. The weather was very hot, but they all wore coats, which were bulging under their clothes, as if they were carrying something hard.
Rong Yuan's heart skipped a beat.
His gaze met that of one of the men, who looked at his face carefully, then turned away indifferently and continued to observe the other passengers, as if he was looking at a dead body.
Rong Yuan made a prompt decision, stood up and walked towards the door, ready to get off at the next stop. A middle-aged man leaned against the railing near the door, and glanced at him and ignored him.
Rong Yuan's heart was pounding and sweat was breaking out on his palms.
Outside the bus window, the bus stop passed by in a flash. The people waiting at the platform looked at the bus without stopping in amazement and said something loudly. Several passengers who were also about to get off the bus shouted immediately: "Master, it's over! We want to get off!"
"Driver, please stop the car!"
The bus's speed increased instead of decreasing. There was a traffic light ahead with a lot of cars stuck in the road. The bus turned and took a road off the normal route. The passengers on the bus started to protest and question loudly, but the driver didn't give any explanation.
Rong Yuan glanced forward and saw a man standing next to the driver's seat with a somewhat sarcastic look on his face. In the rearview mirror, the driver was holding the steering wheel with a pale face, and his forehead was covered with beads of sweat as big as soybeans.
It was obvious that he was threatened by the man and the entire bus was hijacked.
——What do these people want to do? Seek money? Kidnap hostages to make a deal with the city government? Launch a terrorist attack?
No matter what these people wanted to do, Rong Yuan was not going to sit there and wait for death. When other passengers were pushing forward to argue with the driver, he pushed through the crowd and squeezed back to his original seat at the back - the reason why he usually chose this seat when he was riding in a car was because the safety hammer was right next to it.
"Bang!"
Just as Rong Yuan took down the hammer, a gunshot rang out, and everyone in the car was stunned. They looked up at the small round hole on the roof, and after a moment of shock, they realized that it was real, and screamed at the top of their lungs.
The man at the front of the car fired another shot, which made the passengers even more panicked. The people of Sugar Country lived in peace, unlike the people of Nut Country, Banana Country and other countries who were well-trained. When they heard the gunshot, they would immediately lie down or keep quiet. They tried desperately to run away from the shooter, crying and shouting in a mess. The gunman had no choice but to wave his hand, and the other strong men kicked and beat the people around them. Some of them were beaten to a bloody mess, and finally they all calmed down.
The gunman said, "We are just looking for one person and don't want to make an example of him. Please be quiet and cooperate with us, okay? I promise that no matter whether we can find this person or not, we will get off the car after the matter is over and let you continue your original journey. How about that?"
He was gentle, but everyone was almost scared to tears, and nodded hurriedly. One child actually cried quietly, and he touched the child's head and said, "Don't be afraid, men shouldn't cry casually."
When Rong Yuan heard that they were looking for someone, he immediately looked suspiciously at the girl beside him who had her head down and whose face could not be seen clearly. Suddenly, a cold hand grabbed his wrist.
"Don't be fooled! Just because they didn't hide their true faces, it means they won't let anyone in this car go!"
The girl raised her head and whispered with some difficulty breathing. Rong Yuan's other hand, which was covering her stomach, was already stained with blood.
"You are the person they are looking for." Rong Yuan whispered affirmatively.
