114: Chapter 114 Jiangbei Lantern Guard Area

The first Lamp-Keeping Zone was set up in the Jiangbei East District community activity room.

The room wasn't large; it was usually used for seniors to do aerobics and for children to do their homework, and last year's anti-fraud posters were still stuck on the wall.

Zheng Xiang led the street office staff to move the tables and chairs to the wall, laid down moisture-proof mats on the floor, and placed hot water, disposable paper cups, and several unopened boxes of biscuits at the entrance.

It didn't look like a defense against anomalies.

It looked more like someone had temporarily borrowed a venue to hold a funeral.

But after the Guardian Lamp in the center of the activity room lit up, the sound of the bus stop announcements outside really seemed to fade into the distance.

It wasn't that it couldn't be heard.

It was just as if it were separated by a thick layer of glass, unable to penetrate people's ears.

Zheng Xiang crouched on the floor, using tape to secure the electrical wires.

An old man stood at the entrance, clutching his bus ticket tightly, refusing to come in.

"My son said he would be back today," the old man said.

"Uncle, sit for a while first." Zheng Xiang didn't try to snatch the ticket.

"Don't call me Uncle."

"Then what should I call you?"

"Call me Old Qin."

"Alright, Old Qin." Zheng Xiang shoved a bowl of porridge into his hands. "Your son will need to eat when he gets back, right? You should eat a few bites first, don't go hungry."

Old Qin didn't take it.

Zheng Xiang placed the porridge on a chair nearby and turned to continue with other tasks.

Ten minutes passed; Old Qin still hadn't entered, but he hadn't left either.

He sat on the threshold, his back to the Guardian Lamp, holding the bowl of porridge without taking a single sip.

Lin Zhao kept watch outside the activity room with Chen Jue.

Chen Jue stared at the grey-white road across the street, his face tense.

That road originally led to the vegetable market, but tonight, a faint yellow line extended under the streetlights, looking as if someone had used chalk to draw a platform edge that shouldn't exist.

"What are you looking at?" Lin Zhao asked.

"Seeing if people will walk over there on their own."

"They will."

Chen Jue turned his head and glared at him.

Lin Zhao's expression was indifferent. "That's why you're standing here."

Chen Jue was rendered speechless.

What he feared most during this period was others treating him like a burden that needed supervision.

But after Lin Zhao finished speaking, he handed him a bottle of water.

"Don't push yourself. If you collapse first, who will stop the people?"

On the other side, the Guardian Lamp in the temporary ward of the Jiangbei People's Hospital also lit up.

Xu Minglan and Li Xi divided the affected individuals into three groups: those who heard the station broadcast sat by the windows, those who received black tickets sat on the inside, and those already experiencing time displacement were observed separately.

No one was tied to the bed, and no one was forced to keep quiet.

A young girl cried as she asked Li Xi, "Is my mom really fake?"

Li Xi didn't say yes, nor did she say no.

"Your mom used to hate you staying up late, right?"

The girl froze, tears still hanging on her face.

"Yeah."

"Then put your phone down and get some sleep," Li Xi said. "If she really does come back, she'll have to scold you for not sleeping first."

The girl bit her lip and finally tucked the black ticket under her pillow.

At 10:30 at night, the Tyrannosaurus King arrived at the perimeter of the community driving a tow truck.

On the front of his truck, a string of overly exaggerated white characters was sprayed: 'Super Invincible Number One Most Powerful Tyrannosaurus Warrior King.'

When Zheng Xiang saw that line of text, he was stunned for a long time.

"Who is this?"

A burly man wearing a work vest jumped out of the driver's cab, his hair plastered to his forehead by the rain.

He wiped his face, first looking at the two abandoned buses led there by the corrupted navigation, then looking at the entrance of the activity room.

"Just call me Tyrannosaurus King in the group chat," he said. "If you finish reading the full name, the road will be blocked."

Zhao Ye had just returned from Liu Bridge via the Post Road and, hearing this, couldn't help but take an extra look at him.

The Tyrannosaurus King felt a bit uncomfortable being watched and stubbornly added, "I just tow cars. If the car is broken, I can tow it; if the person is broken... that's for you to handle."

"Can you move those two vehicles in front?" Tang Zhiwei asked over the channel.

"I can." The Tyrannosaurus King looked at the wheels tangled by the yellow lines, his expression grim. "It's just going to take some force."

He got into the car, put it in reverse, hooked up the line, and stepped on the gas.

The steel cable emitted a harsh screech as it tightened, and the two abandoned buses seemed to be grabbed by something from underground; rows of dark shadows in the bus windows lifted their heads simultaneously.

The Tyrannosaurus King's hands gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white.

"Are you scared?" Zheng Xiang asked, standing nearby.

"I am," the Tyrannosaurus King gritted his teeth. "But I've already driven the truck out, I can't just turn back."

The tow truck lurched forward violently.

The first bus was yanked, its front end swerving, and the yellow lines on the ground emitted a sound like fingernails scratching glass.

The intersection finally cracked open, and Zheng Xiang immediately had the street staff take the elderly and children to retreat from the side.

Just then, a driverless bus stopped outside the Lamp-Keeping Zone.

The bus doors opened slowly.

The carriage was filled with people whose faces couldn't be seen clearly.

In the front row sat someone wearing a food delivery uniform, with an old thermal delivery box on their lap.

Liang Cheng raised his head.

He didn't get off the bus, nor did he speak.

He just looked through the bus window at his sister who was crying inside the activity room.

After the Tyrannosaurus King towed the second abandoned bus away, he didn't get out immediately.

He sat in the cab for half a minute to recover before realizing his hands were still shaking.

Zheng Xiang handed him a bottle of water.

"Those characters on the front of your truck, aren't you afraid of being stopped by traffic police?"

The Tyrannosaurus King unscrewed the cap and took a big gulp. "The traffic police said the words were too long to read clearly, and they didn't know if it counted as an advertisement or a mental state, so in the end, they just told me to put reflective strips on it myself."

Zheng Xiang almost laughed out loud.

This moment allowed both of them to relax a little.

But in the next second, the car radio automatically turned on, and a female voice announced the stop.

The Tyrannosaurus King immediately unplugged the radio power, but the sound remained, seeping out from the door seams, the rearview mirror, and even the seatbelt buckle.

"Next stop, Liuxia."

His face turned pale instantly.

"Don't look back into the bus," Lin Zhao shouted from outside.

The Tyrannosaurus King gritted his teeth, locked the door behind him, and simply climbed out of the driver's cab window.

His knee was scraped when he landed; he cursed, then turned to check the steel cable.

"Leave the truck," he said. "People go first."

Inside the activity room, Liang Cheng's sister saw the driverless bus through the glass door.

The delivery person in the bus raised a hand, as if wanting to lift the lid of the thermal box.

She instinctively moved forward, but Zheng Xiang didn't stop her; he just handed the freshly heated porridge to her.

"Smell it first."

Liang Cheng's sister froze.

There was no ginger in the porridge.

Liang Cheng, inside the bus window, looked down at the thermal box, as if he couldn't find that extra pair of chopsticks no matter what.

The activity room door rattled slightly in the wind; Zheng Xiang wedged the door tight, and when he turned back, he found that Old Qin had finished the bowl of porridge.

When Zhao Ye arrived outside the activity room from the Post Road, the first thing he saw were the water trails dragged across the ground and the tow truck blocking the intersection.

He didn't ask who did it, only glancing at the position where the yellow lines had retreated.

"Nice truck," he said.

The Tyrannosaurus King was stunned for a moment, then grinned. "Of course, just changed the brake pads."

Zhao Ye nodded and turned to head to the next waiting point.

The Tyrannosaurus King stood in the rain, watching that spark disappear, and suddenly wiped the exaggerated words on the truck door, as if afraid they might actually embarrass him.

The headlights in the distance lit up again; the Tyrannosaurus King gripped his wrench in his palm, no longer joking.