87: Chapter 87 The most important thing in life is, of course, to cling tightly to the masked boss!

In the back row of the bus.

Zhou Yu pried Shen Nian's head off his shoulder and bared his teeth at her.

"Let me tell you, I'm never going out again."

Shen Nian sniffled; her eyes were still red, but she rolled them.

"Last time, you were the one who insisted on going to the East Sea for seafood."

"And this time, wasn't it you who said we should go to Hangzhou for a trip to relax—"

"Was that a trip? That was running for our lives!"

The two of them pointed at each other's noses, their voices kept very low, as if having an incredibly absurd argument.

A little girl holding a teddy bear next to them tilted her head to look at them and interjected in a milky voice,

"Big brother, big sister, stop arguing. Wouldn't it be better to just go home and play games?"

Zhou Yu froze for a second, then burst out laughing.

"Right! Going home to play games, not going anywhere else, not even if I die!"

There was sporadic laughter in the carriage.

The relief of the countdown reaching zero hadn't fully dissipated, and the air was filled with the scent of instant noodles and mineral water.

Shen Nian leaned her head back onto his shoulder.

Safe.

These two words were confirmed repeatedly in her chest, like a drowning person finally touching the shore.

Then, the smile on Zhou Yu's face froze.

He looked out the bus window.

The sky was darkening.

It wasn't clouds blocking the sun; the color temperature itself was changing.

Orange-yellow faded into gray-white, and gray-white was crushed into leaden blue.

It was extremely fast, as if someone had dragged the saturation slider of the entire sky directly to the bottom.

Shen Nian felt his shoulder stiffen and followed his gaze to look up.

Both of them stopped breathing at the same time.

The East Sea.

That night.

The sky before those eight tentacles broke through the water was exactly this color.

Zhou Yu's Adam's apple bobbed.

"No way."

Shen Nian's nails dug into the back of his hand, her voice trembling.

"No way?!"

Both of their voices exploded simultaneously.

Not a shout, but a breathy sound squeezed out from the depths of their lungs by fear, out of tune and shattered in form.

Tears streamed down instantly.

The people in the carriage were alarmed by this sudden breakdown.

"Eh? Weren't they just fine a moment ago?"

The young mother holding her child turned back to look.

"College students are just so emotional."

A shirtless middle-aged man shook his head.

"I told you it was fine—"

He didn't finish his sentence.

Someone else saw outside the window too.

"This sky... why did it suddenly get dark? Is it raining?"

No one answered.

Because the next second, the earth moved.

It wasn't shaking.

It was as if the entire highway had been lifted up from underneath by something, suspended for half a second, and then slammed back down heavily.

The impact force traveled from the roadbed, through the tires, through the chassis, through the seats, and struck everyone directly in the spine.

The driver gripped the steering wheel tightly, and the tires drew sharp black marks on the road surface.

The luggage racks collapsed with a crash, and suitcases slammed onto heads, shoulders, and children.

Screaming. Wailing.

The sound of twisting metal drowned out everything else.

Two LED tubes exploded in the vibration, and sparks splattered onto the seat covers.

The remaining tubes flickered on and off, illuminating the varying degrees of pallor on every face.

"An earthquake! An earthquake is really here!"

Some people wailed, some prayed, and some crouched in the aisle with their hands over their heads.

Then, something even more terrifying happened.

The road surface split from the center line.

A black fissure extended madly from the front of the convoy.

The asphalt folded to both sides like a cracker, and gravel and dirt collapsed from the edge of the fissure, bottomless.

The first three vehicles narrowly crossed the fissure, their tires scraping against the edge of the gravel as they flew over, their chassis scraping out sparks.

The last bus didn't make it across.

The fissure exploded right in front of the bus.

Half a meter, one meter, two meters, three meters.

The driver slammed on the brakes, and the tires locked up.

The bus skidded sideways.

The two wheels on the right side were suspended in mid-air.

The entire bus stopped at the edge of the fissure at an eerie angle, the chassis emitting the screech of metal being torn apart.

The bus continued to tilt to the right.

The interior of the bus went completely insane.

But after three seconds of madness, it went quiet.

Because everyone realized they couldn't move.

If they moved, the center of gravity would shift.

If it shifted, they would fall.

The mother holding her child pressed the child's face tightly into her chest.

The shirtless middle-aged man put his hands together in prayer.

The little girl hugged her teddy bear tight, her big eyes full of confusion.

Zhou Yu pulled Shen Nian into his arms, his back pressed against the seat, his entire frame tensed to the limit.

"I don't want to die..."

Shen Nian's voice was muffled against his chest.

The bus slid another half-meter, the tilt intensifying.

The driver's hands had already let go of the steering wheel.

It was useless.

Everyone closed their eyes.

The bus didn't fall.

The anticipated weightlessness and tumbling did not come.

The bus suddenly leveled out.

An invisible force came from beneath the bus, lifting the entire vehicle steadily, crossing the bottomless fissure, and placing it gently back onto the ground.

All four tires touched the ground at the same time.

The suspension springs bounced once.

It was stable.

Three seconds of dead silence.

Then the carriage exploded.

"We're alive! We made it!"

"Holy f*ck, holy f*ck, holy f*ck—"

"Momentum! It must be momentum! The speed of the car rushed us across!"

Everyone was looking for an explanation. Some were laughing, some crying, some hugging each other, others slumped in their seats panting heavily.

Only the two people in the back row didn't move.

Zhou Yu's pupils were fixed tightly outside the bus window.

In those two seconds when the bus was suspended, he saw it.

Beneath the leaden sky, a figure in a black trench coat was hovering in mid-air.

Half of his face was hidden behind a bronze mask.

His right hand was slightly raised, his palm facing the direction of the bus.

There were no stairs of flame, no white flames soaring to the sky.

He was just hovering there, so quietly, holding his hand up.

Then he withdrew his hand, turned, and disappeared.

The half-jawline revealed at the edge of the mask was young, clean.

Exactly the same as that time in the East Sea.

"It's him."

Zhou Yu's voice shattered.

Shen Nian was lying on his shoulder, trembling all over, but the corners of her mouth were curved, tears hitting his collar, soaking out a dark patch.

"Benefactor... it's you again..."

Nationwide.

The screens went black.

The live television broadcast froze on the last frame—in the aerial footage towards Hangzhou, the skyline suddenly changed from gray-white to leaden black.

Then: [Signal Lost].

The gray loading circle spun and spun.

The bullet comments were still scrolling.

"Why is the signal gone?!"

"It was the same over in Lighthouse Country! First the signal cuts out! Then—"

"Don't say it!!!"

"The last batch of cars... those people..."

1.4 billion people clutched their phones, forgetting to breathe.

A post was pushed to the top of the trending list.

No pictures, no videos.

Only three words.

"Praying for safety."

670,000 likes. And still rising.

Hangzhou core urban area.

Under the viaduct.

The general's fist slammed onto the roof of the armored vehicle.

"Fight to the death—do not retreat!"

The roar from thousands of throats exploding simultaneously made the bridge deck hum.

Five black shadows appeared at the end of the viaduct.

Black mist surged, and limbs with reversed joints crushed the road surface, every step making the bridge tremble.

The turret of the first armored vehicle turned toward the target.

The gunner's finger rested on the fire button.

In his chest pocket, there was a folded letter written this morning.

The first line read—

"Mother, your child is unfilial."