Winter Returns

Chapter 126 One Life to Clear the Level (Part 2) (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
Zhang Shutong hung up Qingyi's phone.

A minute ago, the other party told him that they had found Lu Qinglian.

The two met in the middle of the island.

Lu Qinglian didn't let Qingyi follow, and Ruoping's little electric bike wasn't going very fast, so Qingyi simply rode it back to the hospital.

Zhang Shutong calculated the distance in his mind; Lu Qinglian's location was estimated to be more than ten minutes away from the camera.

It is now 11:55.

He was about to ride under the camera.

Zhang Shutong was very clear about his role: to find out where the woman was going beforehand, and then stall until Lu Qinglian arrived, rather than confronting her head-on.

Therefore, he didn't move from the car, turned the headlights up to the maximum, and kept one hand ready to twist the accelerator at any time.

This is a cross-beam vehicle, also known as a farm vehicle, and is one of the most common vehicles on the island. Zhang Shutong knew that its top speed was limited, so he had to prepare in advance.

He now has an entrenching tool tucked into his pocket, which Qingyi brought for him to carry for self-defense.

Zhang Shutong is not optimistic about this.

Now he's thinking about something else.

He finally learned the killer's identity, but what exactly was that thing?
And why did you kill Gu Qiumian?
Perhaps once that person is caught, all the doubts will be resolved.

He quickly processed the information about this woman: she was fast, deaf, had incredible flexibility, could "transform" into other people, and was known to be Old Song's ex-girlfriend, Gu Qiumian's mother, and Lu Qinglian.

What he needs to do is stop them.

But this is easier said than done. How exactly do you stop them? What if the other party doesn't care about you at all?
Is it constant interference?

The trap was useless; he didn't have time to prepare one, and even calling on his best friends wouldn't have helped. This time, there would really be bloodshed.

Or did you hide it in advance?
Zhang Shutong suddenly thought that since he knew the woman was deaf, she wouldn't notice the roar of the motorcycle engine when it accelerated. Perhaps he could take a big detour and crash into her from behind.

He checked the time; he had been waiting for five minutes. It was exactly midnight. "Midnight" was a general term, and the exact time a woman passed through here couldn't be pinpointed to the second.

Zhang Shutong decided to lie in ambush by bicycle in advance. He was currently on a small road with bushes on both sides. Only by riding into the bushes and turning off his headlights could he find the best camouflage under the cover of night.

Just do it.

He turned the motorcycle around. Unlike a bicycle, a motorcycle is naturally very heavy, and the ground, which had melted snow, was now icy. He needed to use his feet to brace himself against the ground and move the motorcycle little by little.

Zhang Shutong turned the car to the north.

The headlights shifted, and from the end of the headlights, he saw the figure of a long-haired woman.

His heart skipped a beat, and he instantly became extremely vigilant.

How can it be?

When did she appear?

Zhang Shutong had been paying close attention to his surroundings, not even missing the swaying of the grass in the wind. Yet, this woman appeared so quietly. He instinctively prepared to twist the accelerator to create distance, but then slowly let go.

The woman did not run.

She showed no sign of urgency and walked at a leisurely pace on the snow. Zhang Shutong was certain that she had seen him, but the woman's head did not even turn in his direction. Could it be that her only goal was to get to the villa and kill Gu Qiumian, and that everything along the way could be ignored?

Zhang Shutong slowly reversed the car, the headlights illuminating the woman's face ashen white. Normally, in such cold weather, a person would produce a puff of white vapor when breathing outdoors, but he checked repeatedly and found none.

really.

No different from the dead.

Zhang Shutong made a mistake. He was thinking about how to stop her, or how to distance himself if she found out, but he didn't expect that the woman would completely ignore him.

The contrast surprised him for a moment.

Could it be that things are much simpler than he thought, and all he has to do is carefully ride his bike and follow nearby until Lu Qinglian arrives?

The two were getting closer and closer.

The other person's pace remained unchanged; with each step she took forward, Zhang Shutong was forced to back up the car.

A slight anxiety welled up in Zhang Shutong's heart because he realized that he had not done anything to stop him at all.

Although the other party does not pose any threat to me at the moment, she is still advancing, while I am retreating dozens of meters away. What is the point of this?

Does this mean we should get even closer?
Zhang Shutong flashed his headlights, trying to elicit a response from the woman, but she remained unmoved.

Lu Qinglian still hadn't arrived.

She might have arrived to save the day in just five minutes.

The problem now is how to pass these five minutes.

He was on a narrow, secluded road, and the only effective light source was the motorcycle headlight.

The phone's flash was too weak; by the time it illuminated the other person's face, it was too late to react.

If he points the car directly at the woman, he won't even have time to create distance if he makes a slight mistake.

If he turns the car around to face the woman, the darkness behind him will engulf her figure, and he will lose sight of her.

The cold wind even drowned out the woman's footsteps; Zhang Shutong had never expected to encounter such a problem—

If you face her directly, you'll have nowhere to escape; if you turn your back to her, you'll be completely invisible.

Zhang Shutong could see the woman getting closer step by step, but she still acted as if she couldn't see him.

If she catches up, I'll ride my bike and shake her off.

If she turns and runs away, I will follow her on my bike.

But what is the point of this stalemate?
Zhang Shutong even had the illusion that it didn't matter whether he came here tonight or not, as long as he notified Lu Qinglian in advance that the murderer would be under the camera.

But the timing was just a tiny bit off.

He gritted his teeth and made up his mind. He turned the car around again, then turned back and stared intently at the other person through his helmet.

The distance between the two had decreased from more than ten meters to five meters.

The woman turned her head away.

The next moment, a fleeting afterimage flashed before his eyes. In the instant he lost sight of the motorcycle, Zhang Shutong quickly twisted the throttle, and the motorcycle roared to life. The wheels kicked up a cloud of snow, and the front of the motorcycle even lifted up. However, he felt that the motorcycle was not moving forward, but was emitting a series of mournful sounds. The tires were slipping on the ice and snow, and the rear end seemed to be held tightly by something.

It's that woman!
She had been waiting for this opportunity!

The other person is holding onto the motorcycle's tail box with one hand!

Zhang Shutong struggled to turn to the side, maintaining the throttle with one hand while pulling a shovel from his pocket with the other. He slashed at the woman's hand with all his might. In his haste, he saw the woman's face. It was indeed Gu Qiumian's mother's face, but it was bloodless. Her eyes, which resembled the girl's, were wide open but devoid of any spirit.

The shovel struck, but it had no effect whatsoever. Instead, Zhang Shutong's hand went numb from the impact. He struggled to maintain the motorcycle's balance. The motorcycle's tail box had a quick-release design. Zhang Shutong dropped the shovel, touched the switch with his fingers, and then the motorcycle suddenly loosened, causing him and the motorcycle to lurch forward. Zhang Shutong quickly grabbed the handlebars, barely managing to avoid falling off.

He twisted the accelerator again, but the woman didn't give up and quickly caught up.

He steered the car onto a side road, a route he had planned beforehand. If she kept up, Zhang Shutong was prepared to take her in circles. However, the woman was faster than he had anticipated. Zhang Shutong turned around and saw her running rapidly beside him, almost side by side.

What on earth is this thing?!

The next moment, the woman made her move, throwing a punch at him. The motorcycle's rearview mirror blocked it for him, but the steel bent, the glass shattered, and the motorcycle lurched to one side. The fist then struck his arm unimpeded, and half of his body went numb. Fortunately, he didn't fall. It was as if the other woman had triggered a program, suddenly changing from rushing to killing him.

Several hours later, Zhang Shutong finally learned how the hole in the window of that Ford Focus came about.

He could even imagine that as soon as Lao Song started the car, before he even had a chance to shift gears, the woman grabbed the rearview mirror, punched the car window, and then the man suddenly accelerated, crashing the car and the woman into a tree trunk!
So running like this wasn't going to work. Zhang Shutong gripped the brakes, using both feet to drag a deep trail in the snow. Snow and mud splashed everywhere, finally offsetting the car's momentum. The woman reacted a beat slower than him and had already run in front of the car. Then Zhang Shutong released the brakes, accelerated again, and crashed straight into her!

Even without being fully accelerated, the kinetic energy released by hundreds of kilograms of steel is astonishing. The other party was not made of iron after all. After a muffled thud, his arm was directly shaken off, the woman fell to the ground, the car fell to the ground, and Zhang Shutong was also thrown to the ground.

He fell so hard his vision went black, but he forced himself to stand up. The motorcycle wheels were still spinning in the air. In a hurry, Zhang Shutong took out his phone, turned on the flashlight, and shone it forward.

But there was nothing in front of him.

My hair stood on end!

Zhang Shutong turned around quickly, but an immense force slammed into his shoulder, sending him flying. He rolled several times in the snow, half of his body burning with pain. He struggled to get up, but his efforts to push himself up in the snow were in vain.

Another kick sent Zhang Shutong sprawling backward, this time to his chest. He had been kicked there just yesterday, and now he felt suffocated, his breath momentarily halting.

He coughed violently, knowing that if he stopped, it would all be over. Despite the darkness, he had noticed the reeds beside him. During the chase, the two had already moved away from the camera area. Now he had fallen to the edge of the road, with the lake shore below. Zhang Shutong gave up on getting up and rolled down the dirt road.

His body was tumbling, and the world was tumbling too. His motorcycle helmet protected his head from the impact. He rolled all the way to the shore, only to find the woman standing still, seemingly searching for something.

"That's it!" Zhang Shutong suddenly realized. The other person had no hearing at all. If they did, they would have followed the sound of her rolling around. But they didn't. Therefore, all the other person could see was a dark patch of reeds with their roots intertwined and messy.

The darkness of night became my disguise!

He didn't even have time to catch his breath before he quickly stood up, staggered, bent down, and ran away into the distance.

The woman above was still searching. She seemed to be slowly walking into the reeds, but this wasn't a game of hide-and-seek anymore. Zhang Shutong glanced at the moonlight above, knowing that if he kept hiding, he would be discovered sooner or later. He cursed inwardly. Perhaps Lu Qinglian was already under the camera, but he was too far away from it. Perhaps she could find him by following the tire tracks, but he had already walked that road on his way here, and he wasn't sure if Lu Qinglian could recognize where he was going. Besides, even if she did, it would take her a while to get there.

What he needs to do now is not to keep waiting, but to run.

Of course, he wasn't running away; he was betting that he could get far enough away to reach the motorcycle.

But then another gust of wind came from behind. He gritted his teeth and quickly lay down, barely dodging the attack. The woman lost her target again. Zhang Shutong hid in the reeds, breathing heavily.

He pressed his chest and felt a hard lump. Zhang Shutong frowned and reached into the inside pocket of his jacket. A deeply dented metal card appeared in his hand. He was stunned for a moment. It turned out to be Gu Qiumian's membership card.

The metal card gleamed silver in the moonlight. A new idea struck him instantly. Zhang Shutong looked at the lake again; a blurry moon was reflected in the water near the shore. He held his breath, adjusted his angle, and then flicked the card away—

The metal card spun and sliced ​​across the water's surface, reflecting the cool moonlight.

After doing all this, he flipped over and hid himself in the reeds. Then there was another rushing sound, but it was towards the card. The woman stepped into the lake, and Zhang Shutong breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he had made the right bet. But he did not relax. Instead, he desperately got up and ran towards the road.

Motorcycle, motorcycle, motorcycle!
That was the only thought left in his mind.

Zhang Shutong finally reached the motorcycle. The wind behind him was even stronger. He knew that the woman was chasing after him again. Zhang Shutong lifted the motorcycle up and straddled it. He twisted the throttle, and the woman's figure appeared in the next instant.

Ultimately, they managed to gain a time advantage.

Two figures sped past in the snowy night. The motorcycle sped straight ahead, followed closely by the woman. She stomped quickly on the snow, the sound of the snow collapsing like a deadly beat. The rearview mirror was shattered, so he couldn't see the woman's figure. He could only judge by the sound behind his ear. Zhang Shutong simply lifted the visor of his helmet. The wind howled into his ears, but he could hear the woman's footsteps clearly.

The footsteps are getting closer again!

What kind of monster is this?!
Stopping this monster was much more difficult than he had imagined, but Zhang Shutong had already tried his best. He knew that Lu Qinglian might be checking their whereabouts under the camera. If he could turn the car around and meet up with her, that would be perfect, but he couldn't!

He wanted to slam on the gas pedal, but he could only barely keep his distance from the woman. Even so, he still had to be on guard against being caught up by her, let alone have time to turn around.

All he can do now is run forward as fast as he can!
And ahead!
That's the entrance to the mountain road!

Zhang Shutong knew what awaited him. If he rode up that mountain road, the woman would follow him. In less than ten minutes, they would arrive at the villa's entrance. Then, the villa's bodyguards would run out to check, and a chaotic fight would ensue. The outcome would be exactly the same as before; nothing would change.

He felt all the blood in his body rushing to his head, and a bold idea suddenly popped into his head.

He had just been hoping he could turn the car around and lead the other woman away, but even if he succeeded, the woman would still catch up with him; it was just a matter of delaying her a little longer.
He knew he wouldn't always be so lucky, wouldn't always have a reed bed to hide in, and wouldn't always have a card to help him escape. He was prepared for this when he rode his bike here. If he just ran away, it would be nothing more than a slow death.

So he deliberately extinguished that hope, and simply stopped looking back and listening to the wind behind him. Zhang Shutong pulled down his goggles again, the motorcycle engine roared at full power, and the throttle was fully open.

There was no roar at all; it was just a farm vehicle. All that could be heard was the sputtering of the engine. But he wished he were riding in a race car, because Zhang Shutong remembered there was a big ditch ahead. His breathing tightened involuntarily as he counted down in his mind.

ten.

Zhang Shutong stared intently at the road ahead.

Nine.

A shadow finally appeared at the end of the headlights.

Eight.

The shadows were now fully exposed to the view.

Then came seven, six, five, four... In the blink of an eye, the car sped off, and the crater came into view.

three.

Zhang Shutong released the accelerator.

two.

He suddenly accelerated again.

One.

He leaned back, shifted gears at the same time, and quickly released the throttle. As the front shock absorbers dipped and rebounded, he used the momentum to lift the front of the car.

Motorcycles leap over large pits.

It landed on the ground with a thud, veered slightly, and then charged straight forward again.

Two seconds later, Zhang Shutong heard a muffled thud.

The woman fell into the pit.

But he knew the pit wasn't very deep and wouldn't hold her for long. Sure enough, just like Lu Qinglian had that day, the woman leaped out of the pit. But his plan was to stall her for a few more seconds.

He finally arrived at the entrance to the mountain road.

Zhang Shutong gripped the brakes, the car drifted, and came to a sudden stop at the entrance. He first glanced back at the woman, who was at least ten meters away, but it only took her a few seconds to run up to him.

He then tightened his helmet and looked at the snow piled up on the ridge. In fact, the snow had already started to fall because of his arrival.

Zhang Shutong was unsure whether she was committing suicide.

It should be.

He remained optimistic about what would happen next.

Because there is simply no possibility of riding a bicycle to the villa to ask for help.

The snow piled up on the mountain road was thicker than on the road surface. When the motorcycle climbed the hill, it would lose traction. In less than a minute, the woman would catch up with him and kill him.

His run ended there.

This is very likely his tombstone.

But Zhang Shutong had no way out.

"My mom said we have a great understanding."

Zhang Shutong murmured.

Then he tightly shut his mouth, the muscle memory of the launch still lingering in his body. He replicated the action of leaping over the ferry that afternoon, pinching the brake and pressing the clutch. The small farm vehicle had never been so ravaged before, and it immediately let out a wail of unbearable strain. But because of this, its engine sound was also extremely loud, and it could even echo in this mountain road.

That's enough.

Zhang Shutong saw the loosened snow and the woman who was just one step away.

Everything in sight was shaking, and my feet began to tremble slightly. The world seemed to let out a helpless sigh, which then turned into a deep rumble.

But the monster had no hearing and wouldn't notice, so Zhang Shutong released the brakes and sped into the mountain road, where the motorcycle quickly got stuck in the snow.

The snow began to collapse on a massive scale, surging and swallowing everything on the mountain road.

In the last moment before his consciousness faded, Zhang Shutong was swallowed up by this surging white.

……

The surging white engulfed everything.

The night wind rushed into the entrance of the mountain road, leaving only a mournful sound.

Just a dozen minutes ago, this place was a mess, with roaring machines, speeding women, and trembling ground... but now it is completely silent.

Everything was buried under this white snow.

This is the scene that Lu Qinglian saw when she arrived at the entrance to the mountain.

She watched all this indifferently until a faint sound came from the snow not far away.

A small snake slowly swam to her feet.

The snake flicked its tongue, seemingly pointing in a certain direction in the snow.

Lu Qinglian squatted down and dug out a motionless woman from inside.

The woman was covered in snowflakes and appeared to be frozen stiff.

Lu Qinglian glanced at the woman and then ignored her.

She stepped past the woman, dug through the snow with both hands without even flinching, and soon a helmet was revealed from the snow.

Lu Qinglian looked at Zhang Shutong, her eyes showing no surprise, only a calm, still gaze.

She simply lifted the other person's helmet, extended her fingers, and placed them under the other person's nose.

Breathing has stopped.

"Zhang Shutong," she murmured to herself, "is this your end?"

Lu Qinglian lowered her eyes:
"But if you just die like this, it will be a lot of trouble."

So she let out a soft sigh, a sigh that seemed to be the most helpless she had ever felt in her life.

A flicker of emotion finally appeared in her eyes. Lu Qinglian knelt beside Zhang Shutong, tucking her long hair behind her ear and slowly bending down.

(End of this chapter)