404: The Car

The Car

The car slowed down, but it didn't stop completely. I clenched my teeth, hugged the old man, and jumped out.2

The grass outside carpeted my landing. However, it did nothing to halt the force from acceleration. I felt like my internal organs had been moved. Furthermore, I had to cushion the impact for the old man. Even though he was thin and aged, he was still a person.

I coughed heavily. There was a sickly sweet smell in my mouth. I struggled to get up. When I did, I rushed to help the old man. "Old Master Jing, are you injured?"

The old man moved his body. He took a deep breath and said with difficulty, "Girl, thank you!"

If you want to thank me, you shouldn't have given birth to so many sons! That's the source of our problem. I checked his limbs. From the corner of my eyes, I saw three identical cars speeding away.

Brother Gao Da, you must come back alive!

I looked around. Sure enough, there was a forest down the direction where Gao Da said there would be. I helped the old man up, and we ran there as fast as we could, which was not very fast. The old man wasn't exactly speedy.

As we moved, I thought of a question. I told Gao Da to change to this route in an emergency, so how did he manage to prepare a car beforehand? I understood when I saw the car.

There was a small wooden house in the forest. It should be a forest ranger shed. The car was no better than being abandoned. The backseats of the car had been removed, and the back was piled up with sundries.

I pushed open the wooden shed's door. I helped the old man in so he could rest. I looked around and was surprised to find clean water and food. None of them was expired. It looked like people restock this place often. Could this be an emergency safe house for the Ardent Flame Alliance?

But in today's day and age, why would they keep a wooden shed as a safe house? In any case, these were questions for another time.

I handed some water and food to the old man and went out to check on the 'abandoned' car. I examined the engine and sighed in relief because it looked fine to me.

The old man walked over with a bottle of water. "Is this car still driveable?"

I buried my head under the hood. "Yes!"

I was thankful to Jing Tian and my little uncle for forcing me to learn about simple car repairs. They had me study that before I could get behind the wheels. I was wailing when they told me I had to attend a mechanic's class. They ignored my protests. They forced me to attend the class, so while I might not be a good driver, I was a passable mechanic.

When I wanted to quit, they said, "If you don't know how to fix a car, how can you drive one?" That was one of the most ridiculous theories I had ever heard. There were so many drivers on the road, and how many of them knew how to repair a car? I didn't think there was even 1 percent.

However, this skill had saved my life today.

The 'abandoned' car was a lifesaver, especially considering the sky was darkening.

I threw out the sundries one by one. There was no backseat, only the driver's seat, and passenger seat. It was very post-modern. Perhaps it might come into fashion one day.

I tried to start the engine. The car coughed and sputtered a few times before I got the engine to run.

I let out a long sigh of relief and sat down on the ground.

The old man handed me a bottle of water and said, "I didn't expect you to be so good with all these."

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