Tokyo: I'm really not a killer

Rin Shinomiya and Hideaki Shiraishi dared not breathe in the car. Hideaki Shiraishi's body was still trembling slightly, not only from the pain of his wound, but also from the fear of the current situation.

"Who...who are you?" he finally couldn't help but ask again in a low voice, "Why did you save me?"

Shinomiya Rin glanced at him, recalling Hara Masaki's previous instructions, and said vaguely, "We... also want to find out the truth. We know the police arrested the wrong person."

Hideaki Shiraishi asked anxiously, "Is there any hope for me to get off the bus? Am I going to be a fugitive for life...? What about my mother?"

Shinomiya Rin didn't know how to answer: "We're not sure either... but if you're not the real culprit, then the real culprit is definitely still at large. We need to ensure your safety first before we can talk about anything else."

At that moment, the driver's side door was gently opened, and Yuan Zhensheng returned.

"Safe," he said. "Nothing amiss. Let's go, change vehicles."

The three got out of the car and followed Yuan Zhensheng through a pile of scrap wood and rusted containers to the side of an inconspicuous single-story warehouse. There was an inconspicuous little door there, which Yuan Zhensheng opened with a key.

The warehouse was empty, filled with dust and the smell of rust. An inconspicuous gray bread cart was parked in the corner.

"Get in the car," Yuan Zhensheng commanded curtly. "We can't keep the original car; the police may have already memorized the model and some of its features. This one is clean."

This car cost him two million, and he was heartbroken.

The group quickly climbed into the gray van, and Yuan Zhensheng started the engine, which sounded a bit muffled than the previous sedan.

He drove out of the warehouse through another exit and rejoined the sparse nighttime traffic. This time, he chose a relatively peripheral road and headed west.

"Where are we going now?" Shinomiya Rin asked.

"Leave the core area of ​​Tokyo first," Hara Masaki said. "Go towards Saitama or Kanagawa and find a place to hide temporarily. The police's first wave of searches will definitely focus on Tokyo, especially the 23 wards."

After driving for about half an hour, the car gradually moved away from the bustling areas of the port and Shinagawa districts, entering a relatively remote suburban area. The number of vehicles on the road decreased, and the streetlights became sparse.

Just when they thought they were safe for the time being, flashing police lights suddenly appeared at a bend ahead.

It is a temporary checkpoint.

Two police cars were blocking the middle of the road, leaving only a narrow passage. Several police officers wearing reflective vests were using flashlights to signal passing vehicles to slow down for inspection.

"Oh no!" Shinomiya Rin's heart tightened.

Yuan Zhensheng reacted extremely quickly. He did not slow down, but instead continued to drive forward seemingly naturally. However, when he was only a few dozen meters away from the checkpoint, he suddenly turned the steering wheel sharply, and the bread truck rushed onto a side road without streetlights.

This action immediately attracted the attention of the police.

"That car! There's something wrong with it!" a policeman shouted.

The flashlight beam immediately swept over, and a police car with its siren on gave chase.

"Hold on tight!" Yuan Zhensheng growled, flooring the accelerator, and the bread truck sped off down the narrow, bumpy side road.

This road was clearly not a main road; the surface was in very poor condition, full of potholes and gravel. The van jolted violently, and Shinomiya Rin and Shiraishi Hideaki were thrown about in the back seat, clinging tightly to anything they could grab inside the van.

The police cars behind them were in hot pursuit, their sirens blaring.

To make matters worse, the police seemed to have called for backup, and the sound of their walkie-talkies could be faintly heard through the car window.

Yuan Zhensheng's expression was stern as he focused intently on the steering wheel, searching for an opportunity to escape on the dark and rugged road. He had clearly done his homework on the terrain of this area, knowing some of the side roads and forks in the road.

A Y-shaped intersection appeared ahead. Without hesitation, Yuan Zhensheng chose the narrower path on the right, which looked almost completely overgrown with weeds.

The bread truck suddenly rushed in, its chassis scraping against the protruding dirt and rocks on the ground, making a piercing noise.

The police car behind hesitated for a moment, clearly wary of the road conditions, but quickly followed.

The two cars engaged in a chase on a dark country road.

The branches and leaves of trees and shrubs scraped against the car body, making a crackling sound.

Yuan Zhensheng, relying on his understanding of the vehicle's performance and his calm judgment, managed to pull away from the police car several times at the bends, but the police car was sticking to him tightly and seemed to be getting closer and closer.

"This can't go on..." Shinomiya Rin said, her voice trembling as she looked at the police lights getting closer and closer behind her.

There's no time to hesitate.

After the next bend, Yuan Zhen suddenly turned the steering wheel sharply to the left, and the van groaned under the strain as it plunged onto the dirt road.

The moment the car plunged into the woods, countless branches and leaves lashed against the windshield and windows, almost completely obscuring the view. Yuan Zhensheng could only rely on his senses and the rough map he had seen before to drive forward.

The police cars behind clearly didn't dare to follow in; their sirens blared outside for a while, then seemed to stop.

But they didn't dare to relax. Yuan Zhensheng continued driving through the woods for a while until he was sure there were no headlights following behind, then he slowly slowed down and finally stopped in a relatively open clearing in the woods.

The engine was turned off, and the car was dark and silent, with only the heavy breathing of the three people inside.

"...Did you shake him off?" Hideaki Shiraishi asked, trembling.

"For now," Yuan Zhensheng said. He unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the car door, got out, and cautiously observed his surroundings.

Moonlight filtered through the sparse foliage, barely enough to make out the surroundings. This must be deep in some woodland, far from the road.

Shinomiya Rin also got out of the car, her legs feeling a little weak.

The chase was so exciting, more thrilling than anything she had ever experienced before.

"We need to get out of here as soon as possible." Yuan Zhensheng inspected the car; there were obvious scratches and dents on the left side and rear bumper, and several cracks in the windshield. "Although the police haven't followed us in, they will definitely call for backup to surround this area. Searching will be easier after daybreak."

"What should we do then?" Shinomiya Rin asked. "Can the car still be driven?"

"We can drive, but it'll be too noisy and an easy target," Yuan Zhensheng said. "We have to abandon the car and leave on foot."

"Walking?" Hideaki Shiraishi's face turned pale. "I...I can't run anymore..."

Although his injuries were not fatal, the pain and blood loss left him extremely weak.

Yuan Zhensheng glanced at him, said nothing, turned around and went back to the car, taking out a backpack—emergency supplies he had put in the van beforehand.

"We need to get this sorted out quickly and leave," he said, taking out a more complete first-aid kit, water, and some high-energy food from his backpack. "The police will be searching from the last known location of the car, and the search area will keep expanding. Staying here is just waiting to die."

Rin Shinomiya took the first-aid kit and treated Hideaki Shiraishi's wound again, this time using styptic powder and bandages. She also drank some water and ate a piece of chocolate to replenish her strength.

Yuan Zhensheng quickly tidied his backpack, redistributing the essentials. He glanced at the compass—which was prepared in his backpack—and then looked up to determine his direction through the gaps in the trees.

"Head northwest," he said. "There's a small town a few kilometers away, but it's not along the main road, so the police might not block it off immediately. Once we get to the town, we can figure out how to get a car."

There are no other options right now.

The three of them carried simple luggage and trudged through the woods, leaving the clearing and heading northwest.