“Squeak!!!!!!!!!”
There came a harsh fricative sound.
The Audi behind Su Bai suddenly accelerated and overtook his car from the side. After knocking down several traffic policemen and breaking through the simple barriers, it turned around at the other end of the road and drove away in the opposite lane.
This scene astonished everyone. But they were professional; they immediately came to themselves and started to prepare for interception. But those barriers were not very tough; after all, nominally or actually, they were only inspecting DUI instead of capturing fugitives.
Su Bai suddenly felt as if god was helping him. Even such oddity would actually happen. It seemed that these traffic and criminal police would not have enough time to deal with him.
However, something happened that made Su Bai helpless; he could neither smile nor cry: that female criminal police, who was called Mrs. Liu, just opened his door, sat on the passenger seat and shouted to Su Bai:
“Turn left! Take that lane from the crossing and stop that car!”
To the left of Su Bai’s car, there was a space for turning around with gardens both in the front and at the back. Su Bai’s car was right there, while the Audi on the opposite was already accelerating and other police vehicles would never be in time to start their engines and stop it; besides, judging by his actions and the ruthlessness he had showed before, he would never be stopped by a few shouts or gunshots.
Su Bai took a deep breath. Alright, then.
With no more words, Su Bai turned the steering wheel to the left end, engaged the gear and stepped on the accelerator… all in one go. In fact, Mrs. Liu had no idea that the driver of this very car she was sitting in was just planning to do the same thing if the Audi behind hadn’t been one step ahead; otherwise, it would be Su Bai who was being chased.
The tires were rapidly turning and rubbing against the road. The car turned around and blocked the opposite lane.
But the Audi didn’t slow down at all; it came straight towards them.
Did they just run into a real fugitive?
Had a fisherman encountered a shark during an ordinary fishing trip?
Su Bai was a little surprised. His car was parked crosswise, and Mrs. Liu seemed to be willing to stop that car with this car, while disregarding her personal safety.
But Su Bai couldn’t play her game! If it was just one of those normal days, he might have actually stopped that car; even if the car was knocked over, it would be merely hit from the passenger seat’s side, so he would be hurt only a little— after all, he was much stronger and could bear more harm than before.
However, there was a dead body in his trunk. If these two cars slammed into each other, he would bear the hit passively; if his car was knocked over or broken and the body in the trunk fell out, it would be so much fun. Besides, even if it didn’t fall out in the beginning, the policemen would certainly clean this place up, and his car would be taken temporarily as an evidence after he had stopped that car and the driver was taken down; at least, there would be a thorough examination and photographing. Everything would come to light.
All these ideas flashed across Su Bai’s mind. He suddenly hit his brake and left a space between his car and the roadside.
And the other driver seemed to have understood his idea; he turned the steering wheel and drove through right in front of Su Bai’s car.
Seeing the suspect driving away right in front of her eyes, Mrs. Liu was so angry that she clapped on the window and yelled to Su Bai:
“Son of a b… Why did you let him go?”
“I was concerned about your safety,” Su Bai explained.
“I would rather die than let that car escape! It hit multiple colleagues of mine! You!”
It was clear that this female cop was not just talking big; she was indeed ignoring her own safety for a bigger picture. At this moment, Su Bai suddenly thought of Chu Zhao. It would be great if Chu Zhao could share the same noble ideas as this lady here. Of course, Su Bai also knew well that it would never be possible.
“Go after it! Go!”
Mrs. Liu shouted again.
Su Bai nodded, immediately turned the steering wheel and drove after it.
The car was running in the opposite lane and so did Su Bai’s car; there wasn’t many cars on the street now, so the car was able to drive in reverse, but it couldn’t speed up.
Su Bai was driving after it, and soon, he caught up. There were also police cars catching up from the other side of the road.
Mrs. Liu was holding an inter phone and giving orders one after another. They were planning to stop the car at the next turn.
Just after Mrs. Liu finished her orders, Su Bai said, “Too late, they’re jumping off the road.”
Sure enough, the Audi drove off the road, rushed down the steep slope and went down all the way. Not far from this road, there were country paths; the driver was apparently very familiar with the locality so he dared to drive like that.
“Go after it! Drive down!”
Mrs. Liu shouted to Su Bai.
Su Bai frowned. He was afraid that if he drove down like that, the trunk would open because of the bumpiness, and the luggage case with the body would fall off as well. The Audi’s trunk had already opened due to its bumpy drive.
Su Bai immediately hit the brake.
The tires rubbed fiercely against the ground and made a harsh squeak. Mrs. Liu was caught off guard, and her head bumped into the car.
“You!”
“It’s rented.” Su Bai threw up his hands.
Mrs. Liu was so angry that her chest heaved as she breathed. At last, she opened the door and got off. A police car stopped at once, and Mrs. Liu got in immediately; then that car rushed down the slope and chased bumpily.
Su Bai lit up a cigarette. Afterward, several other police cars went after it as well. One of them was unlucky; it got jumpy, rushed into a ditch and was caught in the mud. Su Bai, sitting in his car, couldn’t help smiling.
Looking around, all the cops were busy; some were after the car, others were helping the casualties, and no one seemed to have noticed Su Bai. So he started the car again, turned around and drove away. He couldn’t keep going forward, so he had to take a detour.
Thus, it took him another half an hour. Luckily, before sunset, Su Bai got to the abandoned factory.
This place was usually used as a game spot by those cosplayers of CS[1]. Su Bai and been here for fun with Chu Zhao, therefore he remembered this place; of course, the most important thing was that he could remember that there was gas in this place.
The gas was actually used for making bonfires in order to set up an atmosphere of real battlefields and was always hidden here. Those cosplayers were mostly zealots or rich guys. Even one single piece of their equipment would cost more than several thousand; they would not care about such money.
Parking the car in a secret place in the factory, Su Bai got off, opened the trunk and went to a pit behind the factory with that luggage case. The case was pushed down; then Su Bai took out the gas hidden in those iron barrels, took off the plugs and poured down all the gas he had. Next, Su Bai picked up a tiny wood stick from the ground, lit it up with his lighter and threw it down. The gas burst into flames as soon as it caught the sparks.
Su Bai squatted down beside the pit with one hand touching his beard.
“So much trouble for one meal on blood… Tiring… Better buy blood from now on.”
Although it had become more and more difficult to buy blood through normal channels and the administration had become more and more rigid, money would still make everything possible.
The fire began to die out. Su Bai clapped his hand, stood up and prepared to leave.
However, just at this moment, there came the sounds of cars. An Audi, covered with scratches all over, ran through the gate of the abandoned factory.
Su Bai felt he could neither smile nor cry.
He seemed to be so unnaturally related to this Audi.
———————————————
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Cosplayers of CS: CS is the officially abbreviation for Counter-Strike, a series of multiplayer first-person shooter video games, in which teams of terrorists and counter-terrorists battle to, respectively, perpetrate an act of terror (bombing, hostage-taking) and prevent it (bomb defusal, hostage rescue). Some players are so into this game that they begin cosplaying. Cosplay of Counter-Strike is actually one form of war-game which is popular all over the world.