TDU Chapter 92: Crack

Chapter 92 Crack

Qi Xia stepped out of the lottery center with a check in hand, making his way directly to the taxi.

“Wow, that was quick, young man!” the driver remarked, standing outside the car with a cigarette in hand. His sea-blue vehicle stood out starkly against the local mint-green taxis.

Qi Xia offered no response, simply pulling open the car door and settling into the back seat.

“So, are we heading back now?” the driver inquired.

“Yes,” Qi Xia nodded. However, this time, for safety, he opted to sit in the rear of the vehicle.

“Got it,” the driver said, tossing the cigarette butt to the ground and extinguishing it with his shoe before sliding into the driver's seat. “Speaking of which, aren’t you planning to explore Jinan a bit? I have an old buddy here, and if you’re not in a hurry…”

“I am in a hurry,” Qi Xia replied. “Just drive.”

“Oh…” The driver nodded awkwardly.

Qi Xia recalled the last time he was in Jinan, when he had wasted half a day at the bank, ultimately returning home with a large bag of cash. His intention had been to surprise Yu Nian'An, but this time, he had to forgo all the formalities. He needed to get home as quickly as possible to take Yu Nian'An to a safe, open area.

With this thought in mind, Qi Xia took out his phone to call Yu Nian'An, intending to ask her to pack a few pieces of clothing in preparation for the coming days.

He opened his contacts and found the first entry, marked as {A}, and directly dialed the number. This label was intentionally assigned by Qi Xia to ensure that Yu Nian'An's contact remained at the top of his phone list.

After waiting for over ten seconds, no one answered on the other end of the line. ‘What’s going on…’ Qi Xia wondered, puzzled. In his memory, Yu Nian'An was never one to stray far from her phone, so why wasn’t she answering now?

He hung up and tried calling several more times, but no one picked up, which only heightened his anxiety. 

Glancing at the time on his phone, he noted that it was already four in the afternoon. 

“Driver, if we can get back to Qingdao before seven-thirty, I’ll give you an extra five hundred yuan for the fare,” Qi Xia said, looking up at the driver.

“Really?” The driver glanced at Qi Xia through the rearview mirror before checking the time.

Three and a half hours for a distance of three hundred and fifty kilometers. Although it was a bit of a stretch, for an experienced driver, it was not impossible. As long as he maintained a speed of one hundred and twenty miles per hour on the expressway, he could likely arrive just in time before seven-thirty.

Opportunities to earn two thousand five hundred yuan in a single day were indeed rare, and the driver seemed somewhat incredulous.

“I’m not joking,” Qi Xia nodded. “Just drive safely.”

The driver had a vague inkling of what was unfolding. Who, under normal circumstances, would opt for a taxi to travel to another city? While taxi fares were steep, the advantage lay in the fact that payment didn’t necessitate a real-name system[1], unlike trains and high-speed rail.

In other words, this man was trying to discreetly reach Jinan without drawing attention, which suggested that he had genuinely won the lottery. Only winnings over one million yuan required collection at the provincial lottery center, and it was possible that the actual prize was even higher than one million.

At this thought, the driver shook his head in resignation.

He had heard that the odds of winning the lottery were lower than being struck by lightning. It was indeed disheartening to see someone so young enjoying such good fortune while he himself was already middle-aged and still doing manual labor.

Sitting in the backseat, the corners of Qi Xia's mouth curled slightly as he caught a glimpse of the driver's intricate expression in the rearview mirror. Indeed, for an ordinary person, having someone who had just won the lottery right behind them would undoubtedly ignite a whirlwind of thoughts.

‘It's a pity you're just a man with a thief's heart but no thief's courage,’ Qi Xia mused silently.

This particular taxi driver was one Qi Xia had carefully chosen from among many. While waiting for passengers outside a hotel, he had noticed this burly driver being berated by a leaner colleague for cutting in line, pleading for forgiveness with an almost comical earnestness. 

In that moment, Qi Xia saw through him.

It was evident that everyone was eager to earn money, and none were inherently superior to the others, yet here he was, so timid. Such a person could never resort to {killing and robbing}.

The driver’s expression shifted between various emotions for quite some time before he finally sighed, resigning himself to focus on the road ahead. 

Qi Xia reclined in his seat again, dialing Yu Nian'An’s number, but still, to no avail.

In the silence of the car, memories of what had transpired at {End Point} flooded back to him. Everything had felt too real, far from a mere dream. He reached up to touch his left shoulder, where there were no signs of injury; yet, he clearly remembered everything that had happened. He recalled the deaths of Han Yimo, Qiao Jiajin, Tian Tian, Officer Li, Zhang Shan, and Ole Lu, all occurring right there. He, too, had perished, yet here he was, back in his previous life.

In that case, could those individuals also have returned to their own lives...?

The entire situation must surely be some bizarre prank.

As darkness fell, the lights along the expressway guardrails slowly illuminated the road. Though he had only spent three days in that wretched place, Qi Xia felt as if it had been ages since he last saw lights at night. The swiftly passing night lights, blurring past him, offered an inexplicable sense of comfort.

It seemed the driver was indeed eager to earn that five hundred yuan; once they hit the expressway, he maintained the maximum speed limit without hesitation. He, like everyone else in the world, is constantly striving to make ends meet for his three daily meals.

Qi Xia resolved that even if he did not make it back in time, he would still give the driver the five hundred yuan.

The taxi driver attempted to strike up a conversation with Qi Xia several times, but gradually realized that the young man was not particularly talkative. As a result, he resorted to turning on the radio, hoping to ease the awkward atmosphere.

“You are now listening to 89.7 Traffic Broadcast.”

A deep, resonant voice slowly emanated; it seemed to be a channel favored by taxi drivers. “It is now exactly nineteen o'clock in Beijing. Let’s take a look at the comments from netizens on the online platform.” After the broadcaster made this statement, there was a noticeable pause, lasting almost ten seconds, during which he seemed at a loss for words—an undeniable on-air blunder.

“Haha!” The driver said with a hint of schadenfreude. “Young man, would you take a look at that! Are today’s anchors all just people who bought their positions?”

Qi Xia frowned slightly, sensing that the situation was more complicated than it appeared.

The psychological resilience of live broadcast broadcasters were typically quite strong; even when the comments on online platforms are largely irrelevant, they are skilled at quickly identifying and relaying key information. Yet, it was puzzling that the broadcaster had remained silent for more than ten seconds.

“It seems we have some strange comments coming in from the online platform, ha…” the broadcaster said, his tone noticeably odd. “The platform has received dozens of messages reporting a mysterious crack that has appeared above the entrance of the {Qingyin Expressway} near Qingdao. We will swiftly reach out to the traffic police to verify whether this crack originates from a signpost or another structure. Please exercise caution and steer clear if you’re passing through.”