TECMH Chapter 1.2: The Bus

Chu Feng looked at his phone again, 7:20.

 

The system fairy once again popped up with a red warning, even more vibrant than the one he saw just now.

 

[Danger! Threat level: Fatal!]

 

[Please exit immediately!!!]

 

His entire phone started vibrating.
Lin Lan jumped in fright, “Jesus Christ, this is the first time I’ve seen a warning like this.
Are the accidents Xie Shiyu experiences always this dangerous…”

 

The second the sentence came out of his mouth, Lin Lan immediately shut up.
Xie Shiyu had been in a plane crash with no survivors.
That was even rarer than winning the lottery.

 

“My bad, ge.”

 

“No worries, I’m not that sensitive.” Chu Feng stared calmly at his phone screen, reaching to delete the warning again.

 

“The system has only detected danger, but not what the danger is.”

 

“So after it finds out what the danger is and we get rid of it… The entire bus of Xie ges will live?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“How much longer will that take?” Lin Lan asked, a little nervous.

 

“Give or take, in three minutes.”

 

7:21

 

The bus was driving smoothly toward their next stop.
The scorching hot air was blown into the bus through the open windows.

 

Lin Lan couldn’t stop fidgeting in his seat.
He kept seeing the red warning that popped up on his ges phone, his heart pounding in his chest.

 

He looked to his side and found that Chu Feng was sitting calmly on his seat, his eyes closed for meditation, breathing out slowly.

 

Lin Lan: ……

 

“Oi, did you tap your card when you came in just now?”

 

Suddenly, the bus driver shouted in his direction.

 

“Ah! I’m sorry!” Lin Lan jumped back up as if he was a mouse.
He patted all of his pockets and found that he had no cash.

 

Much less the bus card Chu Feng’s Dream City used.

 

“Ge… The bus driver is Xie ge too right? If I tell him I’m your cousin, will he let me off?”

 

Chu Feng opened his eyes and leaned outward, taking a look at the driver’s back, shrugging, “Probably not.
He wasn’t… in the best mood that day.
Here.”

 

He passed Lin Lan a coin.

 

The Xie Shiyu driving the bus was around 25 years old.
Chu Feng could tell which memory he had come from with just a single glance.
That day, Xie Shiyu had brought him to Seaside City for a holiday.
He wore a coconut flannel and sunglasses as he drove a Lamborghini around.
It was too over the top for Chu Feng, so he begged him to drive a less conspicuous car.

 

“What kind of husband would drive their wives in an inconspicuous car when they’re out to play? It’s a Lamborghini this time, next time I’ll drive a Maybach.”

 

Chu Feng: ……

 

After they finished having fun on the beach, they walked towards the parking lot.
They found that some bastard’s dog had purposely peed on the four wheels of their Lamborghini.

 

Xie Shiyu scolded, “Does no one have morals anymore?!”

 

They might have been able to catch this immoral bastard had they looked at the CCTVs, but there were other places they had to be at.
Xie Shiyu didn’t want to waste any time, so he could only drive the Lamborghini soaked in dog pee around.
Chu Feng was struggling to hold back his laughter next to him the entire time.

 

Clink!

 

The coin made a sound as it fell into the coin box.

 

The bus driver wearing sunglasses said in a chiding tone, “You teenagers need to have some morals.
Remember to tap your card the next time you board a bus.”

 

Hearing such familiar words, Chu Feng smiled nostalgically from his seat.

 

“Yes yes yes!” Lin Lan nodded his head eagerly.
“I swear there won’t be a next time!”

 

7:22

 

Lin Lan went back to his seat.
There was still one more minute.

 

He had never experienced a longer minute than this.
He was still very nervous, mixed with a little fear of the unknown.
Mixed together, his heart was pounding in his ears.

 

“Ge…”

 

Lin Lan tried to distract himself from the fear.
“Come to think of it… Even after we said all of that, it’s as if Xie ge didn’t… hear them.”

 

Chu Feng made a sweep of all the Xie Shiyus.
When Lin Lan was talking to him about “Character Precision,” all of them seemed to not hear a thing.
Whether they were sitting down, or holding the bars, they just swayed to the bus’ movement, kind of like the NPCs in a game.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“They can only reply with things from my memory or the storyline that I set in the game.” Chu Feng lowered his head.

 

Character Precision or things about the game system didn’t belong to the memories that Chu Feng shared with Xie Shiyu, nor did they belong to the story plot he set, so the Xie Shiyus would ignore them.

 

“After all…”

 

He paused.
“They’re not truly alive.”

 

Seeing that the conversation was turning into something heavy, Lin Lan immediately stopped it.

 

“Uh, then… If the accident didn’t happen here, what would happen afterward?”

 

He wanted to hear what love story plot his ge had set for his Dream City.

 

Chu Feng’s white button-up was completely buttoned as he said calmly, “Student-teacher play, bus play, tons and tons of plays, I would assume.”

 

“?” The single Lin Lan had suffered a critical hit.
“…ge, can I still get off?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Chu Feng pressed Lin Lan into his seat, gesturing mysteriously at the bottom of the seat.

 

Beep…

 

7:23

 

Three minutes were up.
The system had successfully detected what the danger was.

 

Lin Lan had become nervous seeing that expression on his face, leaning his ear towards the seat.

 

Beep…

 

Beep…

 

Beep…

 

There was suddenly a beeping sound coming from the bottom of his seat.

 

Under the hot summer weather, Lin Lan had cold sweat dripping down his back.

 

—It was a bomb!

 

Chu Feng’s phone brightened up with more notifications:

 

[Successfully detected danger: Bomb on the bus]

 

[If the bus goes below 50km/h, the bomb will explode.
If the bus goes above 60km/h, the bomb will explode.]

 

[From now on, people are only allowed to board, but no one is allowed to get off.
The second someone gets off, the bomb will explode.]

 

[As you have set Character Precision to 100%, the system is unable to manipulate your Dream City and ensure your safety.]

 

[We shall remind you once again, please take care of your life.
If you decrease the Character Precision by even 1%, the system will be able to ensure your safe—]

 

The rest of the words had been stopped by Chu Feng’s finger.
He couldn’t be bothered to continue reading.
He indifferently turned off the blood-red warnings and turned towards Lin Lan, tossing him the key to his Dream City.

 

“Take it.”

 

Lucid Dream City was an extremely realistic game.
If the player died inside the game, they would also die in reality.

 

“If there’s no chance of living, you’ll automatically be kicked out of my Dream City and return to reality.”

 

There was only one key in the Dream City, so only one person could leave.

 

“What? Then what about you?”

 

“I’ve already lost him once in reality.
I refuse to leave him in the game too.”

 

“Ge…”

 

“Don’t worry, we won’t die.
Didn’t you graduate from the Police Academy? You know how to defuse bombs, right?”

 

“What? Ge! I’m a Civilian Officer dammit!”

 

Another announcement sounded through the speakers, “Next Stop, Second Secondary School East Gate.
Exiting passengers please exit at the back door.”

 

Repeat student Xie Shiyu carried his bag while tyrant Xie Shiyu slung it over his shoulder, walking towards the back door with the rest of the student Xie Shiyus…

 

“No!” Lin Lan called out, “You mustn’t step off the car, Xie ge! You can’t… you have to…”

 

As the bus nears the bus stop, it’ll slow down!

 

Because there weren’t that many cars in Chu Feng’s Dream City, the roads were relatively empty.
The bus’ speed was currently 57…

 

55…

 

53…

 

If it went lower than 50 the bomb will explode!

 

“Xie ge!!” Lin Lan rushed towards the bus driver.
“You can’t go any slower than this!”

 

His mind was in shambles.
He impulsively reached his feet out and pressed onto the gas pedal together with Xie Shiyu’s feet.

 

In an instant, the 53 shot up to a 58!

 

—If it goes over 60, it’ll also explode.

 

“AH! We can’t go too fast either!” Lin Lan had been so frightened that he released the gas pedal.
“You have to listen to me, Xie ge! You need to maintain the bus’ speed at 50-60! Otherwise, everyone in the car will die! We’ll all explode!”

 

Driver Xie Shiyu raised his head, a confused expression on his face.
He only saw Lin Lan rushing here and driving for him, then opening and closing his mouth but not saying a thing.

 

—The bomb was an accident, not something that Chu Feng had set in his plot, so Xie Shiyu could not react to it.

 

In the plot that had been set, he just needed to be a good bus driver, slowing down when reaching the bus stop so that passengers could exit.

 

The speed of the bus once again started decreasing…

 

58…

 

56…

 

Chu Feng stood up and dragged Lin Lan back.

 

54…

 

52…

 

He took a long stride and walked in front of Driver Xie.
All the buttons on his white button-up had been done properly, and not a single bit of skin was revealed.
Yet as he walked, the white shirt revealed his thin waist, making him even more alluring than if he were naked.
Chu Feng leaned forward and brought Xie Shiyu extremely close to his face, a few hints of sweetness mixed into his clear voice as he said, “Won’t you make sure the bus is at 50-60km/h and make sure that no one can get off?”

 

Under the hot summer sun, his skin was jade white, capable of seducing even the purest of hearts.
Chu Feng tilted his head and gave Xie Shiyu an intimate morning kiss.

 

“Please?”

 

……

 

The decreasing speed quickly shot back up, maintaining a steady speed of 55.

 

The Xiao Xies waiting for the bus to stop had no choice but to watch as the bus drove past their stop.

 

On the other hand, the single Lin Lan had his eyes wide open.

 

Lin Lan: ? Is this the power of a married man?!