When Pan Kai was in middle school, he went through a phase where he was obsessed with the motorcycle in the arcade. However, nothing could compare to the thrill of real life. So, when he heard about the exciting pursuit of tracking and locating someone, he immediately rushed over. By the time he arrived, Jiang Mu was already fully geared up, waiting downstairs. She took the helmet from Pan Kai, hopped on the bike, and said, “You ride first, I’ll tell you where to go.”
Pan Kai, full of confidence, responded, “No problem, I’ve got this.”
Seeing his swagger, Jiang Mu’s heart steadied.
However, as soon as they turned onto the street, Jiang Mu immediately regretted it. Having experienced Jin Chao’s speed and driving skills, she now found herself on the back of Pan Kai’s motorcycle, watching electric bikes zoom past them. She said speechlessly, “Is your bike out of gas?”
Pan Kai, a little embarrassed, replied, “I don’t ride often. Give me a moment to adjust.”
Jiang Mu watched the red dot on the map move further away with growing anxiety. Unfortunately, Pan Kai was struggling to keep up. It wasn’t until they had left the city that he dared to pick up the pace. Luckily, by the time they reached the eastern outskirts, the red dot stopped moving.
Jiang Mu zoomed in on the map and showed it to Pan Kai. “What’s this place?”
Pan Kai frowned and said, “There’s nothing there. It’s just a wasteland. Why are we going there?”
As they drew closer to the red dot, Jiang Mu urged, “Slow down. Don’t let them spot us.”
Pan Kai confidently replied, “Don’t worry.”
As the number of people and cars dwindled, they followed the navigation and rode onto a desolate new highway, completely free of traffic. Pan Kai suddenly became excited, like a wild horse that had broken free, riding with an unstoppable rhythm. The cold wind whipped around them, giving him that carefree, cool vibe, and he was completely absorbed in the feeling. It wasn’t until they passed a car with its headlights flashing on the side of the road that he yelled, “Jiang Jiang, look, there’s a GT-R!”
“…”
Amid his shout, Jiang Mu saw the low-key black car under the night sky. The asphalt road seemed newly paved, with no streetlights or plants lining the sides. The car, with its high beams on, stood out awkwardly by the side of the road. Jiang Mu instantly saw Jin Chao leaning against the car door, a cigarette dangling from his lips, the flickering ember cutting through the pitch-black night. His expression was ambiguous as he turned his head to stare in their direction. And then Pan Kai, the idiot, rode right past him.
He rode past him!!!
Jiang Mu was horrified. She immediately shrank behind Pan Kai, using her hand to shield her face, muttering angrily, “I told you to slow down and not let them spot us!”
Pan Kai, still alert, looked around, “Huh? Did we get spotted?”
The sound of two car horns blared from behind. Pan Kai stopped, turned around, and saw the location on his phone was now the same as theirs. He suddenly jolted and exclaimed, “Damn, we’ve been spotted!”
“…” Thank goodness this wasn’t a battlefield, or they’d already be dead.
Jiang Mu, annoyed, said, “Let’s turn around.”
Pan Kai, unable to make a U-turn on his own, awkwardly circled around on the wide, deserted road before heading back towards the GT-R.
It wasn’t until they got closer that Pan Kai recognized Jin Chao, excitedly shouting, “Hey, Seventh Brother, it’s you! What a coincidence!”
At that moment, Jiang Mu just wanted to stretch out her arm and choke him out of pure frustration. Jin Chao frowned, watching them approach without slowing down, and calmly reminded, “Brake.”
Pan Kai suddenly seemed to realize the urgency, slamming on the brakes, but he couldn’t stop in time. Jin Chao raised his right foot and planted it on the front wheel of the motorcycle to give him a push, and the motorcycle collided with the GT-R, stopping only a meter away.
Jiang Mu was thrown forward by inertia and she instinctively pushed her hands on Pan Kai’s back to stabilize herself. Pan Kai, knocked forward by the impact, ended up giving Jin Chao a perfect 90-degree bow in front of the car.
Jin Chao lowered his leg and nonchalantly said, “No need to bow, there’s no money.”
Pan Kai quickly straightened up and grinned, saying, “I got it, I got it! Seventh Brother, what do you want to eat? It’s on me!”
Jin Chao ignored him, his gaze turning to Jiang Mu. She suddenly felt even more awkward, unsure how to react. She awkwardly muttered, “What if I told you that Pan Kai and I were just out looking for a barbecue place, would you believe me?”
Jin Chao took out an old phone from his pocket and casually spun it in his palm. Jiang Mu’s eyes darkened as she heard him say, “Aren’t you coming down?”
Jiang Mu obediently got off Pan Kai’s motorcycle, handed him back the helmet, and lowered her head as she walked toward Jin Chao, feeling like a child caught doing something wrong. Jin Chao lifted his chin, signaling to her, “Get into the car.”
Jiang Mu walked to the passenger seat and opened the door. She saw Jin Chao standing outside, speaking to Pan Kai, who nodded repeatedly, then bent down, waved at Jiang Mu, and wobbled off on his small motorcycle.
Jin Chao shook his head at Pan Kai’s unsteady movements before getting into the car. He turned his head, his dark eyes locking onto Jiang Mu with a suffocating sense of pressure. Jiang Mu silently avoided his gaze, hearing him speak, “It only takes half an hour to get here, but I’ve waited over an hour. You really dare to ride on the motorcycle.”
Jiang Mu, feeling guilty, turned her eyes to the window, “You knew it was me?”
“I don’t.”
Jin Chao restarted the car, “So, I could only wait and see who shows up.”
He then shot her a cold, menacing glance, “Feeling capable now?”
With that, he threw the old phone onto her lap. Jiang Mu gritted her teeth, unable to say a word, feeling the sting of humiliation on her face.
The night grew darker, and the car sped down the pitch-black road. Even with the headlights on, the future ahead remained completely obscured. It felt like a never-ending void, with no end in sight, and the darkness continually consuming the path ahead. That was how Jiang Mu felt at that moment, her most authentic feeling towards Jin Chao.
Inside the car, the air felt thick with tension, and Jiang Mu’s chest felt heavy as if a large stone were lodged there, making it difficult to breathe.
The quiet night, the empty street, and the isolation of the environment with only her and Jin Chao in it made Jiang Mu feel suddenly impulsive. She turned her head to him and said, “I heard what San Lai said to you and you’re about to do something reckless. Maybe you think it’s laughable. When I first came to Tonggang, I couldn’t remain calm after hearing that. Maybe you think it’s hard to understand, can’t you understand why I’m so worried about you? Maybe you just treat me as a childhood playmate, or maybe you think I’m just here for a year of school, and after I leave, it’s like we’ve never known each other, right?”
Jiang Mu’s voice trembled slightly, “Of course, you wouldn’t understand. If you understood, you wouldn’t have avoided coming back to see me for all these years. I waited for the summer break the second year, the third year, and the fourth year. You still never came back. Of the letters I sent, you never replied to a single one. Not one. From elementary school to middle school, and then high school, I knew you wouldn’t come back, but I still returned to our old place every so often, writing my contact information on the building’s noticeboard, afraid that if you suddenly came back, you wouldn’t be able to find me.”
She paused, her eyes becoming slightly misty as she continued, “Later, I even thought maybe you had forgotten me. I really hated those tutoring classes and endless homework, but I couldn’t slack off. I was afraid that if you came back one day and saw how badly I was doing in school, you’d be disappointed in me…”
Jin Chao, whose gaze had always been impenetrable, finally showed a subtle shift, a slight crack in his unyielding facade.
Jiang Mu sniffled and said excitedly, “So, I came out today because I wanted to know if you’re safe. Whether you think I’m being presumptuous or meddling in other people’s affairs, that’s all I have to say. You can send me home now. I won’t do anything so foolish again in the future.”
Before she could finish, Jin Chao suddenly spoke, “Buckle your seatbelt.”
Jiang Mu, startled, finally realized that she hadn’t noticed when the car had accelerated. She had been thinking about the car when it was on the main road, wondering why it seemed so ordinary, but now the sound of the engine roared to life. In a panic, she grabbed the seatbelt, unsure of what was happening, and before she could fully process it, Jin Chao slammed the gas pedal. The sudden force of acceleration pushed Jiang Mu back in her seat, and her heart instantly raced with rapid pounding.
She buckled her seatbelt and saw Jin Chao’s eyebrows furrow tightly, his eyes focused ahead, while the sound of an engine growling from behind them reached her ears. Jiang Mu turned around and saw two cars closely tailing them. Jin Chao suddenly swerved, making a sharp turn up a barren slope onto another road. Jiang Mu, frightened, asked, “What’s going on?”
Jin Chao’s face remained tense, his eyes still locked on the road ahead. He simply instructed her, “Hold on tight.”
With that, without warning, he sharply turned the steering wheel. The car veered off the straight road and into an abandoned construction site. One of the cars behind them failed to react in time and crashed into the one in front, while the other car also followed them into the site.
Jin Chao’s eyes flashed with a hint of ruthless determination as he drove the car through the uneven terrain of the construction site, with Jiang Mu gripping the car handles tightly, her gaze never leaving the car behind them. She was too nervous to even blink.
They sped like this for about ten minutes. Just as they were approaching a residential area with some late-night food stalls, Jin Chao suddenly swerved the car, turning sharply and barely scraping past a large tree. Jiang Mu’s heart nearly jumped out of her throat at that moment.
Jin Chao pulled his phone out of his pocket and tossed it to Jiang Mu, saying, “Do you know what a navigator is?”
“I know… or maybe I don’t.”
“Congratulations. From now on, you’re my navigator. The unlock code is our birthdays. Find the digital app, open the pinned group’s location information, and tell me where to go.”
At that moment, two more cars appeared at the same intersection. One of them intentionally blocked Jin Chao’s path, paving the way for the other car. Jin Chao began swerving left and right. The car in front also followed suit, and even though Jiang Mu was strapped in with a seatbelt, her body was being thrown around, her internal organs jolting with every turn. She couldn’t keep a steady grip on the phone and saw the car ahead roll down its window and give Jin Chao the middle finger. More cars were tailing them, and what made matters worse, the car in front kept tapping its brakes, trying to force Jin Chao to stop. Several times, they nearly crashed, sending Jiang Mu into a cold sweat. Her hands shook uncontrollably, and she entered the wrong password twice. She had no idea what was going on, her mind was completely confused.
Jin Chao reached out and tightly gripped her hand, “Don’t be afraid. Just do as I say. Can you do it?”
Jiang Mu felt the strength in his large hand, which steadied her panicked nerves slightly. He gave her hand a firm squeeze before quickly pulling it back. Jiang Mu tried her best to steady the phone and entered the familiar numbers. The phone unlocked, and she opened the digital app. Sure enough, an unread message popped up with the location information, the group consisting of about twenty people, all muted except for the location. Jiang Mu quickly tapped it open, and the destination was about ten kilometers away.
She anxiously told Jin Chao, “There’s no specific name. The map just shows an empty lot.”
“It’s okay. Just tell me the direction.”
“Head southwest.”
As soon as Jiang Mu finished speaking, Jin Chao made a sharp turn. Her phone nearly slipped from her hands, but she gripped it tightly, her eyes fixed on the screen, saying, “The destination is now in the three o’clock direction. Wait.”
Jiang Mu zoomed in on the map quickly, scanning the area, “There’s a road 400 meters ahead. Right turn.”
As soon as she spoke, Jin Chao turned onto the road she indicated. The car behind them continued to chase closely. Jin Chao glanced at Jiang Mu and asked, “How many kilometers? The angle of the turn?”
“15 kilometers, northeast, 40-degree bend, right turn after 700 meters.”
“Geography is not learned in vain.”
“8 kilometers, southwest, 45-degree turn, 500 meters left turn, followed by a 50-degree right turn.”
Jiang Mu gradually calmed down, no longer paying attention to the situation outside the car. Her fingers constantly zoomed in and out on the map, her eyebrows tightly scrunched together, not daring to relax for even a moment, “Be careful, around 800 meters there’s… something, not sure what it is. There are three roads nearby that can be taken, the distances are similar, and the road conditions are unclear.”
“Choose one.”
Jiang Mu glanced up at the car behind them. To her horror, the car was still tailing them and getting closer. Her hands and feet went numb, but her mind suddenly cleared. The map in her mind turned into a three-dimensional model, and an idea struck her, “We’ll go around that thing, then when we reach the east side, take a 90-degree turn into the second road bend.”
“Got it.”
Jin Chao floored the accelerator, and Jiang Mu braced herself for the critical moment, hoping they could shake off the car behind them.
Sure enough, ahead of them appeared an abandoned building that wasn’t marked on the map. The road was surrounded by high walls, rarely touched by sunlight, and the ground reflected light. Jiang Mu sat up straighter and shouted, “The road’s icy ahead!”
Jin Chao’s expression remained unchanged, and without hesitation, he drove straight toward it. The car behind them saw Jin Chao wasn’t stopping and followed closely. But at that moment, Jin Chao suddenly made a sharp turn, pulled the handbrake, and accelerated, his movements fluid and experienced. The car slid sharply into the second road bend. Jiang Mu didn’t even have time to process how they made it through, only feeling her insides jolt violently as the car whipped around the bend. She quickly glanced back to check the car behind them, but just then, through the rearview mirror, she saw the car sliding uncontrollably on the ice and crashing into the building.
In an instant, Jiang Mu’s heartbeat stopped, and she gasped, “The car behind crashed! What do we do?”
Jin Chao didn’t stop; he calmly asked, “Distance?”
Jiang Mu kept repeating, “That person crashed the car.”
“Tell me the distance.”
Jiang Mu’s hands were freezing, and she could barely hold her phone still. She shakily pressed the phone closer to her eyes and told him, “After the turn, 800 meters to the destination in the 11 o’clock direction.”
“Now listen to me. When we get to the intersection, follow my rhythm. When I count down to ten, you take the steering wheel.”
Jiang Mu felt as though her soul was about to leave her body. Trembling, she asked, “How do I hold it?”
“Use your hands. Ten… Nine…”
As the car shot out of the intersection, Jiang Mu suddenly realized that about three cars from all directions were heading toward the same place at full speed. She gasped in shock, “Jin Chao, look!”
“Seven… Six…”
Jin Chao didn’t glance to the side, his car suddenly veering sharply onto a stretch of sandy land. Jiang Mu felt the car swing wildly, the tires kicking up a cloud of dust. The entire sand patch was immediately engulfed in a haze, making visibility almost nonexistent. The two oncoming cars slowed down at the same time, but one car was now almost side by side with them.
“Three, two…”
Jin Chao suddenly flung open the driver’s side door and with a sharp command, “One.”
Jiang Mu lunged toward the driver’s seat, gripping the steering wheel. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jin Chao holding onto the car door, his body already leaning outside the car. To the left was a broken brick wall, with a bag hanging from it. At that moment, everything around her seemed to slow down. Crazy, was Jiang Mu’s first thought. The scene felt so unreal, as though she had stepped into some nonsensical movie.
In less than a second, Jin Chao grabbed the bag, and just as he was about to close the door, the tires rolled over an uneven patch of ground. The car jolted sharply, and Jiang Mu struggled to steady the wheel. The car scraped past the brick wall, and Jin Chao snatched the wheel back, tossing the bag to Jiang Mu. He gave her a playful tap on the head, his lips curling into a grin. “Well done, good girl.”
Jiang Mu’s throat was dry, the fear still gripping her, not even slightly diminished. She turned her head to see the car that had been alongside them suddenly stop. The window rolled down, revealing a man with a round buzz cut, who gestured “six” to her, then pulled back, and no longer pursuing them.
At the end of the sandy stretch ahead, a row of cars were parked, their headlights blazing, lighting up the dark night. Jiang Mu snapped her gaze back to Jin Chao. His expression remained unchanged as he eased off the accelerator and said to her, “Stay close to me, and don’t talk nonsense. Get out of the car.”
With that, he slammed the gas pedal, racing the car forward before bringing it to a halt. Jiang Mu followed him out, and all eyes immediately shifted to the bag she was holding. Instinctively, she hugged it tightly to her chest, walking quickly to stay near Jin Chao, keeping a wary eye on the people around them.
Jin Chao took the bag from Jiang Mu and casually tossed it to the man sitting on the Ferrari, wearing a headscarf.
The man reached out to grab the bag and handed it to a young guy beside him, saying, “Didn’t you say you weren’t coming today?”
Jin Chao shrugged nonchalantly, “I didn’t plan to come, but a few of Wan Shengbang’s lackeys saw my car on the street, acting like wild dogs. They forced me onto this path.”
The man with the headscarf muttered, “You guys… Don’t bring personal matters into the alliance.”
Jin Chao, with an indifferent attitude, replied, “I just want to make money. You can talk to him about the rest.”
The man eyed Jiang Mu, his gaze shifting between her and Jin Chao, before saying, “That’s not how we do things here, Youjiu. You know what happens when you bring outsiders into our territory.”
Jiang Mu, nervous, inched a bit further behind Jin Chao, but to her surprise, Jin Chao immediately pulled her into his embrace with a chuckle, “She’s not an outsider, she’s my woman. Recently, she’s been suspicious, thinking I have someone else outside, accusing me of sneaking out at night. If I sneak out again, she’ll threaten to break up with me.”
Laughter erupted from the crowd. Jiang Mu quickly raised her gaze to look at Jin Chao, only to find that his expression had shifted completely. His relaxed features carried a casual, almost flirtatious smile, his eyes exuding charm. As Jiang Mu looked at him, he lowered his gaze and softly said, “Are you still angry when we get back?”
His voice had a coaxing tone, gentle and soft, like someone who was used to dealing with women effortlessly. Being held by him, Jiang Mu’s heart raced faster than before, the blend of truth and playfulness making her feel momentarily dazed.
Someone nearby remarked, “I didn’t expect you, Youjiu, to be so taken with a little girl. One word from her about breaking up, and she’s got you wrapped around her finger.”
Jin Chao lifted his gaze to meet the man’s, his tone carrying a hint of impropriety, “Hurt so much to even think about breaking up.”
Laughter erupted again from the crowd. Jiang Mu’s heartbeat seemed to throb in her ears. Jin Chao subtly squeezed her shoulder, and she quickly looked down, her body still tense. The only thing keeping her from trembling too much was the reassuring pressure of his hand on her shoulder.
The man with the headscarf tossed an envelope toward Jin Chao, “Coax your little girlfriend nicely.”
Jin Chao caught the envelope in mid-air and handed it directly to Jiang Mu. She took it with trembling hands, her chest tight with nervous heat.
A man across from them offered Jin Chao a cigarette. He let go of Jiang Mu and bent down to light it, and the people around them continued to eye Jiang Mu curiously. There were women in leather boots and smoking hot girls around, all looking mature and seductive. In comparison, her innocent appearance made her feel completely out of place. The feeling of social awkwardness hit her instantly.
After lighting his cigarette, Jin Chao tossed the lighter to one of the men nearby, then casually took Jiang Mu’s cold, delicate hand in his, holding it firmly. Jiang Mu felt as though she’d finally found a lifeline. Her body instinctively shifted closer to him, clinging to his side, feeling both apprehensive and safe. Watching him, so effortlessly in control, with his carefree, street-smart attitude, he seemed a world away from the rigid, composed figure she was used to seeing in the car repair shop.
From the time she was little, it had always been Jin Chao guiding her through life. Over the years, his hand had become broader, and stronger. The faint calluses on his palm brushed against the back of her hand, subtly soothing her nerves in this chaotic environment.