Chapter 62: The Great Escape and the Hot Spring’s Promise

“Hoo… hoo…”

Ahead, the exit of the residential area! Straightforward!

Two streaks of light, resembling meteors, dashed across the road, hands clasped together as if a single entity. Their speed rivaled that of cars driving within the complex.

Mia, the red-haired girl, was especially remarkable. Sparks flew from beneath her feet as she dragged Xiao Xi along, accelerating their sprint.

‘She truly lives up to her title as the Flame Witch,’ Xiao Xi mused. He blinked, noticing the sparks were indeed real.

‘What level of friction could possibly achieve this?’ Xiao Xi found it momentarily impossible to comprehend. Before he could fully process it, however, a car suddenly appeared, heading directly towards them.

Perhaps the driver, normally entering the residential area, never expected to encounter two sprinting ‘rabbits.’ He instinctively swerved the steering wheel.

But… those two were simply too fast!

In a split second, Mia executed a sudden drift, bending low and tilting her body. With a stylish, smooth spin of her foot, she used the centrifugal force to pivot herself and Xiao Xi past the side of the car.

“Hoo…”

The driver slammed on the brakes, finally bringing the car to a halt. The two girls had already vanished without a trace.

He gasped for breath, still shaking his head in a daze, marveling at the girls’ incredible speed and drifting ability. ‘That… that move,’ he thought, ‘is that even humanly possible?’

Silently, the driver pulled a small box from his pocket, took out a blood pressure pill, and quickly swallowed it. “Hoo… hoo…”

He wiped the cold sweat from his face. It was… truly terrifying. ‘What kind of confidence did that leading girl possess to dare to drift in front of a car?’ he wondered.

If they had collided, the consequences would have been unimaginable. He had been scared to death. ‘My heart… it really can’t take it…’

“Beep beep—beep—beep—”

‘Damn, no!’

The driver gritted his teeth and leaned out, glancing behind his car at the residential area’s entrance. The driver of another car was impatiently blaring their horn.

The driver grew irritated. ‘Did this idiot not see what just happened?’ He truly couldn’t tolerate such disrespect.

Rolling up his sleeves, the road-rage-prone driver, who had just narrowly avoided a heart attack, was about to confront the other driver then and there. “What are you honking for?!”

“Are your legs broken? Drive! Why are you blocking the road?!”

“Didn’t you see two girls drift past my car just now? It scared me so much I almost had a seizure! I’m leaving, just stop honking!”

“Two girls? Drifting? That’s hilarious. If you can find anyone who can drift in front of a car, I’ll take your surname!”

“What, you don’t believe me?”

“What are you looking at?”

“What’s it to you?!”

****

Xiao Xi crouched on the ground, panting heavily. They had run… far too fast.

He glanced back. It seemed Sister Yuan hadn’t caught up. So why had he run so quickly earlier?

‘Oh no… why are two men fighting?’

Speaking of which, their residential area seemed to have quite a few tough characters, befitting a ‘high-end’ complex. There were refined gentlemen in suits and others with large gold chains who enjoyed strolling about.

They seemed unrelated, yet they shared a common trait: they were all very wealthy.

Xiao Xi watched the fight for a while. It seemed the man with the gold chain was a bit more formidable. ‘Hmm… impressive, impressive…’

‘Oh, a left hook! He’s fighting back now!’

“Xiao Xi, stop watching, get in the car!”

Mia suddenly grabbed Xiao Xi’s arm. Before he could even turn around, Mia pulled him into a taxi, and he landed with a thud on the seat.

Mia awkwardly slammed the door shut, and the taxi immediately started moving.

‘Ugh…’

‘No, this isn’t right… I feel like this is human trafficking,’ he thought. ‘Suddenly dragging me into a car—this is kidnapping, isn’t it?’

“Waaah… waaah…”

Xiao Xi lay trembling in the car, while Mia, beside him, stared at him with interest. Xiao Xi felt a pang of nervousness. ‘What should I do?’

‘Could I negotiate with Mia, the human trafficker, to let me out?’ he pondered. ‘Though I really want to escape Sister Yuan’s clutches, I don’t want to be snatched away by another, even stranger girl!’

‘How about we just go our separate ways? I… I’ll go to the internet café today and finish the main quest, okay? By the way, where exactly are we going?’

‘Hiss—on second thought, if I follow Mia to some strange, peculiar place, it might be better to stay home and be played with by Sister Yuan. At least at home, I’m familiar with the environment. Mia-chan wouldn’t take me to some secluded grove in the wild, would she…’

‘No… this won’t do,’ Xiao Xi thought, his mind racing. ‘I… I still need to get out of this car!’

Xiao Xi said, “I… I suddenly remembered I didn’t bring my phone. How about we get out and go back to get it?”

Hmph… what Xiao Xi was actually thinking was that once he was home, Mia wouldn’t be able to drag him out from Sister Yuan’s side again. She might even get caught herself! Now, it was up to Mia, the ‘idiot,’ to figure this out.

But it was clear Mia wasn’t foolish. She smiled, then shook her head, stating, “No way. We finally managed to sneak out. How could I possibly let you go back?”

‘That’s true…’

‘Going back after finally escaping would be idiotic…’

Seeing Xiao Xi’s disappointed and reluctant expression, Mia scratched her head and began to explain further.

“But you don’t need to be too nervous. I merely discovered a newly opened hot spring and wanted to take you to try it. It’s a bit far, so we took a taxi to get there~”

A hot… hot spring?

Stars twinkled in Xiao Xi’s eyes. A hot spring! He had seen scenes of people soaking in hot springs in so many TV dramas, but he had never experienced it himself. If there really was a hot spring… “Hoo-hoo~”

That would be absolutely wonderful!

‘What should I do? I’m already getting excited~ Will soaking in a hot spring really be that comfortable? Do I need to shower before going into the hot spring? A hot spring… will it be a little awkward with so many people? And…’

And so many other questions…

Xiao Xi was so happy he was practically bouncing. Mia, beside him, somewhat helplessly restrained him, trying to calm him down. “Don’t get so excited. It’s a newly opened hot spring, so I don’t know how the service is yet. It’s better not to have too high expectations; you might be disappointed~”

“It doesn’t matter! This, this, this… in any case, Mia-chan, you’ve finally come up with a decent plan! Isn’t this better than being played with by Sister Yuan at home?”

Xiao Xi eagerly awaited, wondering when the taxi would finally arrive.

****

Then, Xiao Xi understood a crucial lesson:

When taking a long-distance trip, never forget your phone!

It was sheer torture!

Xiao Xi sat in the car, phoneless, gazing out the window at nothing but concrete roads. This hot spring truly seemed far away; the car had already reached the city outskirts.

Concrete roads and large trees by the roadside—the monotonous scenery filled Xiao Xi with despair. The key was having no phone to play with! ‘Couldn’t the driver uncle at least turn on the radio?’

“Ah—”

‘My main quest! My main quest!’

‘Never mind… for the sake of the hot spring, I’ll endure it!’ He sniffled. ‘Waaah…’

When he finally stepped out of the car, Xiao Xi had tears in his eyes… ‘No… no matter what, I… I finally arrived!’

“This is great!”

‘Damn it!’

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