Chapter 797: Chapter 782: If Nothing Works, Just Give It a Knock
"Watch it, on the ground!"
It was already too late. By the time Wen Quanxin noticed something wrong on the road and shouted, Wang Zhongyu had already driven the truck straight into it with nowhere to dodge.
"Fuck!"
"Ahhh!"
With the impact, two bloodcurdling screams tore out from inside the cab.
Wang Zhongyu slowly opened his eyes. The massive impact had left him briefly dizzy. He turned his head to glance at Wen Quanxin beside him; the latter was still unconscious.
"Hey Wen, Wen! You okay?"
After calling softly a few times and getting no response, Wang Zhongyu had no choice but to grab him and shake him hard a few more times, but still got nothing.
He didn’t have time to check Wen Quanxin’s injuries. The sound of Zombies pounding on the doors outside kept hammering the message into him: they had to get out, now. If they waited for this wave of Zombies to complete the encirclement, they’d be screwed even if they grew wings.
"Stay calm!" Wang Zhongyu kept telling himself to stay calm, but in a situation this urgent, asking himself to calm down was easier said than done. Those raving Zombies outside, scrambling to tear the truck apart, were terrifying enough all by themselves.
Wang Zhongyu bent down and picked up the flashlight that had been knocked to the floor by the crash. The first thing he needed to do now was figure out what the hell they’d hit. As the beam moved, he saw water splashing everywhere, spraying through the air like a fountain in a park.
Wang Zhongyu lowered the flashlight further, and finally saw what the truck had slammed into. Turned out it was a fire hydrant on the side of the road.
No wonder it had made such a racket just now. He was damn grateful he’d reinforced and patched up the truck beforehand; otherwise, with the speed they’d been going and ramming a hydrant head‑on like that, it would’ve been a miracle if the truck wasn’t totaled and they weren’t dead.
The thought made Wang Zhongyu’s scalp prickle. A wave of cold fear washed over him.
Even though the truck had held up like a champ this time and hadn’t turned into a metal pancake, that didn’t mean he and Wen could relax.
On the contrary, there was something else that worried Wang Zhongyu even more right now: he was afraid the impact had damaged the engine and the truck wouldn’t start.
If his worry turned out to be true, then...
He glanced at the swarm of Zombies outside the truck and didn’t dare keep that thought going.
Heart pounding with anxiety, Wang Zhongyu twisted the key!
"Ch-ch-ch!" The engine died.
"Ch-ch-ch!" Dead again!
"Come on! Some merciful angel sis or whatever, show me some mercy here. I, Wang Zhongyu, swear I’ll serve you devoutly when I get back. Oh Amitabha Buddha, oh Amitabha Buddha." Wang Zhongyu prayed devoutly. They’d gone through so much to get this far; if they ended up eating shit here, that’d be too damn unfair.
"Nima, where the hell are we?" Wen Quanxin’s sudden voice scared the crap out of Wang Zhongyu, who had been fully focused on coaxing the truck.
"Fuck, you finally woke the hell up!"
"We made it out of town?"
"Out of town my ass. We smashed into a damn fire hydrant. The truck’s fucking dead."
Wen Quanxin was still a bit out of it at first, but the big swollen lump on his forehead from the fresh blow quickly reminded him what had happened. Add to that Wang Zhongyu constantly trying to crank the engine, and he immediately realized how serious this was: "Son of a bitch, no way, do we have to be this unlucky... Right, didn’t I just tell you to avoid that thing? How’d you still manage to hit it?"
Wang Zhongyu was already frazzled and half on fire. Having Wen Quanxin yapping in his ear like this only stoked the flames.
Honestly, what had just happened wasn’t really his fault. As the driver, he was already pushing it, driving under crappy visibility, with snow and slush on the road and no familiarity with the route.
Expecting him to react instantly the moment Wen Quanxin yelled at him to dodge, while he was already wound tight as a drum, was pure wishful thinking.
But either way, at least they were still alive now. They hadn’t died on the spot from the crash.
"Can you shut up for two seconds? Look at the time—this is when you pick to whine? If you think you’re so damn good, you drive!"
"I..."
"You what, come on then!"
Wang Zhongyu’s eyes were sharp as knives. That burning stare actually made Wen Quanxin choke on his words.
It wasn’t that Wen Quanxin was scared of his temper; if anything, he was the type who buckled to soft talk, not hard.
The reason he chose not to argue back was that he was genuinely afraid Wang Zhongyu would throw in the towel and refuse to drive anymore.
Sure, he knew how to drive, but in terms of experience and guts, he was nowhere near Wang Zhongyu, the professional driver.
Wang Zhongyu really was pissed right now. The Zombies outside were like grim reapers hammering on the truck nonstop, the goddamn truck refused to start no matter what he did, and Wen Quanxin kept griping at him for nothing. All of it together had his nerves stretched to the breaking point.
But pissed or not, he hadn’t lost his head. He still knew perfectly well what needed doing and what didn’t. He wasn’t stupid enough to gamble with his own life.
Reality, however, was cruel. No matter what he tried, the truck remained stone still.
"Fuck this, goddamn it, we’re screwed."
Seething, Wang Zhongyu slammed a fist into the steering wheel. His slumped, defeated look was plain as day to Wen Quanxin; things did not look good. "What’s wrong, Xiao Wang, the engine won’t turn over?"
"No shit. What else could it be? The impact must’ve busted the engine."
What it meant to have the engine fail at a time like this went without saying. Wen Quanxin’s heart lurched, then he spun around and started slapping and pounding on the cab in agitation.
Wang Zhongyu watched and shook his head, speechless. "What are you hitting it for, you think smacking it a couple times is gonna make it move?"
"You don’t know shit. The TV at my place won’t turn on, I just smack it twice and it works!" Wen Quanxin ignored his doubts and kept doing his own thing, whacking left and right. After a few dozen seconds, he turned to the dumbfounded Wang Zhongyu and said, "Okay, try starting it now."
Wang Zhongyu didn’t move.
"Oi, you gone stupid? I said try the damn engine."
If that actually worked it’d be some next‑level ghost story, but Wang Zhongyu didn’t have any better ideas right now. All he could do was treat the dead horse like a live one and try. Wen Quanxin stared at his hands, full of hope.
Without comment, Wang Zhongyu twisted the key. Same result, the truck didn’t budge. "See? Now you can give it up. I told you it wouldn’t work, and you still wasted time screwing around, you—"
"Move, goddamn you, move for me!"
Wen Quanxin completely ignored what he was saying. He snapped, lifted his foot, and kicked the cab hard. To his utter surprise, the familiar roar of the engine suddenly came to life.
Wang Zhongyu froze. Wen Quanxin froze too. The two of them turned to look at each other mechanically, then burst out laughing.
"Holy shit, Wen Quanxin, you really are one hell of a freak! Hahaha, we’re saved this time!"(To be continued. If you’re enjoying this story, feel free to head over to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote with recommendations or monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)
