Chapter Eight: Disaster is Imminent!
"Here’s the deal: you ride in our patrol car, and we’ll take you home!" Tan Ping said suddenly after a moment's thought.
He wanted to test whether sending the van driver home in the patrol car could somehow change the driver’s impending fate.
“Is this a patrol car? Can I really ride in it?” the van driver hesitated upon hearing this.
“Of course!” Tan Ping smiled and nodded.
“Officer, aren’t you afraid I’ll dirty your car? Look, I just finished unloading cargo and I’m covered in dust!” The van driver sheepishly held out his hands, which were smeared black with grime from unloading.
“No worries! This car is meant to serve everyone!” Tan Ping replied gently with a warm smile.
“Then what about my cargo? You’re not going to confiscate it, are you?” The van driver remained uneasy.
“I’ll have someone deliver your cargo for you. Come on, get in my car and lead the way!” Tan Ping pointed toward the patrol vehicle behind them.
“All right then!” The van driver nodded and limped over to the patrol car.
Tan Ping got in, sitting beside the driver. He glanced at the life countdown hovering above the van driver’s head—it remained unchanged.
He then looked at his colleague behind the wheel, whose life countdown also showed no issues.
“So, where exactly is the problem?” Tan Ping wondered, baffled.
Meanwhile, viewers in the livestream chat flooded the screen with comments.
“Officer Tan is truly the light of the traffic police! That’s the right spirit—patrol cars exist to serve the people!”
“Clearly, this van driver broke the law, yet Officer Tan personally escorts him home. So touching!”
“This is what it means when the law is unyielding, but people are compassionate!”
Curious, Tan Ping asked the van driver, “Sir, whose cargo are you carrying?”
“It’s for a family in our village. They’re rebuilding their house, so I’m hauling some building materials for them,” the driver explained with a smile.
“Oh, so it’s for someone from your village?” Tan Ping nodded.
“I usually don’t come into town. The risk is too high; the traffic police are very strict!” the van driver said.
The driver nodded again.
“Then you know they’re strict?” Tan Ping chuckled.
“No choice—they fine too heavily,” the driver admitted awkwardly.
The livestream audience began discussing the matter.
“So, you see, people shouldn’t be too greedy.”
“Right! If he just carried stuff within the village, it’d be hard for traffic police to catch him.”
“It’s not just about the fines; you have to think about safety. Imagine if there’s an accident—fines are nothing compared to that.”
Tan Ping immediately corrected him.
“Exactly! I won’t do it again,” the van driver promised.
“Our village is just ahead. Take a left at that intersection, and you’ll find it,” the van driver pointed out while the patrol car drove on.
“All right! We must see this through to the end!” Tan Ping nodded firmly.
Soon, the patrol car entered the village.
Before long, they arrived at the destination: a household busy rebuilding their home. The villagers working there were startled by the arrival of a patrol car.
The homeowner hurried over. “Comrade, what crime have we committed?”
Tan Ping looked at the man, noticing the life countdown above his head: 0.02.
Startled, he murmured, “Huh? Less than an hour left?”
Then he glanced back at the van driver’s countdown—it was exactly the same.
Clearly, this homeowner was destined to die at the same moment as the van driver.
“Since the van driver was delivering materials for this villager, could the accident happen at this very house?” Tan Ping speculated.
He quickly noticed that not only the van driver but also the workers on site all had the same life countdown: 0.02.
“What’s going on?” Tan Ping’s expression grew more solemn.
This wasn’t just one life at stake—it was a dozen or more.
What kind of disaster could cause so many people to perish simultaneously?
His mind raced.
In past lives, such large-scale disasters were usually natural—earthquakes, floods, landslides...
Thinking this, Tan Ping immediately pulled out his phone and called the meteorological bureau.
“Hello? I’d like to know if there will be any heavy rain in Qinghe Village in the next hour?”
“Huh? No, there won’t be! Thank you!” The homeowner, seeing Tan Ping ignore him and make the call, suddenly grew anxious.
Tan Ping then turned to him. “You’re the one rebuilding your house today, right?”
“Yes! Yes, that’s right!” The homeowner nodded repeatedly.
He added hurriedly, “Comrade, our homestead is legally approved, and…”
Tan Ping nodded and asked, “Have you installed liquefied gas or natural gas? Did you dig a biogas pit?”
“No! I moved here from elsewhere. This land was bought from someone else. We haven’t installed anything yet,” the homeowner replied, trying to appease Tan Ping.
“No installations at all?” Tan Ping frowned deeper.
In the livestream chat, viewers were puzzled.
“What is Officer Tan worried about?”
“No idea!”
“He seems unsettled since arriving in the village. Something’s definitely off.”
“There’s still some time left. I have to figure out the cause of the accident!” Tan Ping paced anxiously.
His mentor, Wang Xingyun, sensed something was wrong and approached quietly.
“Aping, what’s going on?”
“Nothing, Master,” Tan Ping forced a smile.
“If nothing’s wrong, let’s help unload the cargo and head back,” Wang Xingyun suggested.
“We should wait a bit longer—at least an hour before returning,” Tan Ping insisted, determined to find the cause.
“All right,” Wang nodded, though unsure why Tan Ping wanted to stay.
Suddenly, Tan Ping noticed the life countdown above Wang’s head change—what had been a long string of numbers instantly synchronized with the villagers at 0.02.
His heart skipped a beat.
He looked at the other colleagues. Sure enough, their life countdowns also shifted to 0.02.
In other words, if Tan Ping insisted on keeping the team here past 28 minutes, they too would perish alongside the villagers.
Tan Ping was certain now—a great disaster was imminent. An almost all-encompassing catastrophe was about to strike this entire area.