Chapter 105 Mandala 25
Meng Lanshan staggered a few steps in the car and sat back in her seat. She was silent for a moment.
The phone call had been hung up, but the words the female police officer had just said kept swirling in her mind.
"Principal Meng, you are a teacher. It is your responsibility to educate these children."
"Do you think Shao Xiayue wants you to kill these children to avenge her?"
"There were three children in the car who were not the ones you had chosen. They were innocent."
Meng Lanshan's heart was in turmoil. As they entered the mountains, the temperature in the car dropped, and her hands began to feel cold. This was a common problem for her. She had a cold constitution, and her hands were always cold in the fall and winter.
In the past, Shao Xiayue worked as a nanny in their home. Every time she found out, she would give her a hot water bottle.
She smiled and said, "Aunt Shao, you are so kind."
Shao Xiayue would always smile at this moment and say, "Our Lanshan is going to be a teacher. You will become a great adult."
She recalled that when she was in school, whenever her parents and teachers asked her what she wanted to do when she grew up, she would say, "I want to be a teacher."
Her family fell into poverty and many things changed, but this dream remained the same.
She overcame so many difficulties and finally became a teacher, and an excellent teacher at that.
At this moment of farewell between life and death, countless memories of her life came flooding back to her.
With each new semester, the days and holidays, exams, class meetings, sports meets, and arts festivals, she saw off batch after batch of children. The children received their acceptance letters, she received Teacher's Day gifts, and the heartwarming holiday greetings. Recalling them now, they gradually filled her heart.
Thinking of this, Meng Lanshan's eyes softened a little. She sensed her hesitation and saw the children beside her crying and begging her.
"Teacher, please let me go. I know I was wrong."
"Teacher Meng, I want to go home..."
"I won't do it again. I'll turn myself in when I get back."
Meng Lanshan's eyes became moist.
Last night, when she couldn't sleep, she had thought about whether she should let these children go.
How she wished that this was all a nightmare and that she would wake up when she opened her eyes.
The sky is still as blue, the school is still as lively, and the children are friendly and obedient.
Shao Xiayue was still alive, still selling sesame-flavored pancakes on the West Street of the campus. She watched her pass by, smiled, and handed her a pack of hot sesame-flavored pancakes, telling her not to work too hard and to take good care of herself.
She walked into the campus as usual, watching the young students passing by. She reminded them: "Watch out for cars on the road, go home early, and don't run around."
Meng Lanshan started crying again, tears streaming down her cheeks, unable to stop.
Before she cried because of anger, now she cried because of nostalgia.
On the dark mountain road, she knew that the car they were in was approaching the dam, and once they got there, there would be no turning back.
There are a total of 29 lives on the bus, and they will die together.
Is she really going to turn herself into a murderer?
Even if she had to kill the children who had made mistakes, she couldn't take the innocent children with her.
She arbitrarily deprived others of their lives. What was the difference between her behavior and that of those students?
The students have learned a lesson and will never forget this day, and others will also know about it...
Once she had such a thought, Meng Lanshan felt like her heart was being pricked by a needle, and she could no longer harden her heart.
Meng Lanshan wiped the tears from her face. She stood up and asked the students, "You...promise the teacher that you will never do anything that hurts others again?"
The teenagers wiped their tears and said, "We won't dare to do it again."
“We’re not doing it anymore.”
Those emails should have been sent, and this matter will be known to everyone. The police will investigate it strictly, they will be tried, and they will pay the price for their actions.
That's it, let's end it...
The moment she made this decision, Meng Lanshan suddenly felt relieved.
She seemed to have struggled out of that hell, and when she looked back, she saw that it was the cage she had drawn for herself.
All the resentment lingering around Meng Lanshan dissipated, and she turned back into the good teacher who used to be serious but always thinking about her students.
Looking at the children sitting in the car, Meng Lanshan took a deep breath and said, "I hope you will do what you said and never forget this day." She choked up and said, "This is the last lesson your teacher will teach you."
"Thank you, Teacher Meng."
"We won't forget."
Listening to the students' assurances, Meng Lanshan stepped back a few steps and stood next to the driver: "Master Liu, please stop the car."
Liu Minglang sighed, tilted his head and asked, "Have you thought it through?"
Meng Lanshan said, "Think about it. They've already learned their lesson... I think even if they made a mistake, I should give them a chance to mend their ways."
She was also prepared to be taken away by the police and punished. If she did such an act, she would have to bear the corresponding consequences and pay the price.
Listening to their conversation, the children in the car seemed to see a ray of hope and burst into tears of joy.
Yu Tingting happily reported the latest results to Luo Siwei: "Teacher Meng said she wanted to stop the car! You convinced her... Thank you, thank you, you saved us all!"
Even with a terminal illness, Liu Minglang wasn't prepared to face death head-on. He stepped on the brakes. His foot landed, but the feeling was completely wrong. The minibus didn't slow down and continued to move forward.
Liu Minglang's eyes widened in disbelief. He pressed the accelerator again and again, but the car's speed remained unchanged. He finally realized what was happening.
Liu Minglang reached out to pull the handbrake, and with almost no effort, the handbrake was pulled to the bottom. The speed of the minibus remained unchanged. Liu Minglang's forehead was instantly covered with sweat, and the car was completely out of control.
He thought back to everything he had experienced today. When he came this morning, the brakes were still working. Later, he got out of the car, had a meal, and walked around the area. He had just driven this way and this experienced driver hadn't noticed anything wrong.
Could it be that someone had tampered with the brakes while they were at the farm that afternoon? Had the brakes stopped working as they drove further?
Meng Lanshan also noticed something was wrong. She frowned and asked Liu Minglang, "Master, stop the car quickly..."
Liu Minglang trembled and said, "I can't stop. The brakes... the brakes are not working!" He could only bite the bullet and control the vehicle to drive on. As the minibus drove up a mountain road, the vehicle lurched.
The car was filled with the distorted screams of children.
Meng Lanshan was stunned by this sudden change. She staggered and knelt in front of the car. Now that she had calmed down and was no longer blinded by anger, she finally realized what had happened.
She was taken advantage of.
These children are important witnesses to the police, and someone wants to use her to silence them. This is not a journey of revenge and justice. Those people want them to die together.
This was a journey to death. Their fate was sealed from the moment the car started.
As soon as Yu Tingting sent the message, her smile froze on her face.
She heard her classmates' screams and looked out the dark window. The car was still speeding, and the surprise she had just felt turned into sadness.
She sent out the latest news with trembling hands.
"The brakes failed...we can't escape."
Luo Siwei had just received Yu Tingting's first message. Before she could be happy, she looked up and found that something was wrong. The bus showed no intention of slowing down or stopping.
Then she received the latest reply.
Luo Siwei felt a pang of sadness in her heart. Even if Meng Lanshan had changed her mind, could she still not save these children?
Chi Li did not slow down. Their car had already come to the back of the minibus and followed closely. He reported the news to the municipal bureau at the same time.
In the command room, everyone fell silent because of this sudden change.
Looking at the approaching Lanxing Dam, a feeling of powerlessness lingered in the hearts of the police officers.
"Don't just stand there, what else can we do? We have to make this car stop." Director Chen was the first to react. "Chi Li, have you gotten close to that car? Where are the other cars now?"
Guo Zhengyao looked at the electronic map and said, "The criminal police cars are about five minutes away, and the special police car is seven minutes away."
Although they have been trying their best to catch up and have increased the speed to the fastest, there is still a time difference and the police are now unable to reach them.
Everyone was extremely anxious. The most critical issue now was time. Everything was almost too late.
Director Chen said, "Captain Chi, we haven't come up with a better solution yet. Your car is the closest to that car..."
Chi Li said: "I understand. I will do my best to prevent the tragedy from happening."
He said this, but almost everyone at the scene knew that it was almost an impossible task to stop a minibus with a brake failure under such road conditions and ensure the safety of the children on the bus.
In the darkness of the night, Chi Li remained rational and calm.
He hung up the call from the headquarters and said to Luo Siwei beside him, "Call Yu Tingting again."
Luo Siwei quickly pressed the voice button and then held the phone to Chi Li's ear.
The call was quickly connected again, and Chi Li comforted the girl: "Yu Tingting, you did a great job just now. I will try my best to save you. Now, you have to stay calm, and then you take the phone to the driver, press the speakerphone, and let him and Principal Meng answer the call together."
At this time, the students in the car had turned pale and started crying, and Meng Lanshan was sitting beside them in a daze.
When Yu Tingting heard that the person on the other end of the phone had changed, she responded, stood up from her seat, and walked staggeringly to the front row.
Since the driver was not able to answer the phone, she held onto the guardrail and held the phone to the driver's ear with one hand.
Chi Li's calm voice came through the hands-free: "Liu Minglang, I'm Chi Li, deputy chief of the Third Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Donglan Municipal Bureau. The police have blocked the road up the mountain. There will be no other vehicles or obstacles on the road. Take control of the steering wheel and continue driving. We'll find a way to stop the car. I will do my best to help you."
Liu Minglang sighed, tightened his grip on the steering wheel, and his mind calmed down a bit.
He had been extremely hesitant since receiving the assignment. Liu Minglang agreed because the people offered him a price he couldn't refuse: a price that would allow him to repay his medical debts and provide a better life for his family.
Liu Minglang originally thought that these children were all unforgivable criminals, but after listening to what Meng Lanshan said just now, he realized that the children were also bewitched by bad people and they were not hopeless.
Just now, Meng Lanshan himself said that he wanted to give up. Once he lost his initial fearless attitude of facing death, he didn't want to die with so many children.
Chi Li said: "I'm next to your car. You can see our car through the rearview mirror. Police reinforcements are on the way and will arrive soon."
Master Liu looked to the side and saw a small car moving on the outside of them, which calmed him down a bit.
"I see."
Chi Li continued, "First, don't give up trying to step on the brake and the handbrake again to confirm the brake situation. Then tell me the model of this car, the remaining fuel in the tank, and your current exact speed."
What he said was the information that should be obtained for emergency response after the vehicle's brakes fail.
Liu Minglang was an experienced driver after all, and he reacted immediately: "Okay... I confirm..."
He named the car model and looked at the fuel tank. "There's still twenty liters of gas left, and the car is going sixty now."
With this amount of oil, it's too late to wait for the car to stop automatically when the oil runs out.
Although they entered the mountains, this section of the road was basically flat with no obvious uphill slopes, so it was impossible to park the car using the terrain.
Chi Li said, "There's a dam a few kilometers ahead. You must do your best to slow down in these last few minutes. Gather the students on the left side of the car, and use the right side of the car to rub against the guardrail and branches. Try to keep the steering wheel steady and try to slow down..."
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