Chapter 106 Mandala 26
In the dark night, two cars were driving almost side by side on the pitch-black mountain road.
After hearing Chi Li's words, Meng Lanshan, who was sitting next to him, woke up as if from a dream.
She stood up and organized the students: "All of you sit on the left side of the car, leave the rightmost row empty, and fasten your seat belts!"
Fortunately, the bus was not full and there were some empty seats, so the students quickly changed seats.
At this point, the children united remarkably well. They moved quickly, helping each other to the left side of the bus. Some boys voluntarily swapped seats with the girls, sitting in the inner row on the right side, leaving the outermost seats empty.
"Yu Tingting, sit back a little. I'll hold your phone." Meng Lanshan said as she pushed Yu Tingting back and took the seat behind Liu Minglang. She looked nervously ahead. From this direction, she could see the long mountain road.
A fork in the road appeared not far ahead. Liu Minglang asked hoarsely, "Captain Chi, should we take the upper or lower path..."
They had studied this section of road. The upper route led to the top of the dam, where a minibus could crash through the guardrail and plunge into the water. The lower route, on the other hand, could directly collide with the dam.
Chi Li's voice came: "The one above."
According to their original plan, they were going to take the following approach.
Now Liu Minglang realized that the dam was not yet completed and a violent impact might cause the dam to collapse. At that time, it would not only cause the destruction of cars and the loss of lives, but the water in the dam might also destroy the houses downstream, which would be a real disaster.
The lower one is a dead end, and only by choosing the upper one can there be a glimmer of hope.
After passing this intersection, Liu Minglang looked up. There were very few street lights in the dark forest. This section of mountain road had many turns. Under the night light, it looked like a silver dragon coiled in the forest.
The navigation indicated that the road ended in a straight stretch of several hundred meters, and further ahead was a dead end blocked by an iron guardrail. The priority now was to reduce the speed as quickly as possible.
Seeing that the students were ready, Liu Minglang made up his mind and turned the steering wheel right. The right side window of the minibus hit the cliff with a bang, and the body of the bus shook violently.
Liu Minglang gritted his teeth, gripped the steering wheel tightly with both arms, and controlled the direction of the car.
The car body kept rubbing against the cliffs and tree branches on the side, making all kinds of strange noises. Within a hundred meters, several pieces of car glass were broken, and the car body was shaking violently due to the friction.
While controlling the direction of travel, Liu Minglang kept stepping on the brakes, hoping for a miracle to happen.
Due to friction, the speed of the car did slow down. With his efforts, the speed started to drop little by little from 60 miles per hour.
The grinding sound was so loud it made people want to cover their ears. When the car encountered a large obstacle, it jolted and lurched, like an airplane encountering a violent turbulence. The faces of the young men turned pale.
It is extremely difficult to drive on a mountain road at night at such a speed. If you are not careful, the car will be destroyed and people will die.
Liu Minglang stared intently ahead, sweat pouring down his body. Liu Minglang was terminally ill and in poor health. He'd been relying on painkillers to get through the day. But now, he dared not relax at all. Twenty-nine lives were on his hands.
There was a faint sobbing in the carriage.
"Don't be afraid," Meng Lanshan shouted, comforting the students. "Everyone, lower your heads and curl up. If you have backpacks, you can use them to protect your bodies. Soon... soon we will be safe."
The students hugged each other, and there was another violent jolt.
A female student screamed, but after she screamed, she quickly covered her mouth. At this critical moment, she couldn't distract the driver.
The final few minutes of the journey felt incredibly long to them. The minibus rubbed against the cliff face, sending up sparks. Everyone huddled in fear, gritted their teeth and endured silently. Some even closed their eyes, waiting for their fate to come.
Life and death seem to be just a moment away.
Chi Li controlled the steering wheel, and their car was always escorting on the left side of the car to prevent the minibus from losing control and falling off the cliff.
Luo Siwei sat in the passenger seat, watching the scene in front of him nervously.
She observed the situation and estimated the speed of the bus. The speed of the minibus slowed down visibly, but it could not stop completely before reaching the dam.
Meanwhile, Luo Siwei was also trying to think of a way to stop the minibus. She kept calculating, but one by one, she rejected all the possibilities, as either the conditions were insufficient or the risks were too great.
Unless... thinking of that last method, Luo Siwei felt a chill in his heart.
Chi Li suddenly turned around and said to her, "I need to keep in touch with the car. I may not be able to return your phone to you for the time being."
Luo Siwei had a bad premonition. She turned her head to look at Chi Li. In the dark night, Chi Li's profile was as cold as frost.
Luo Siwei said: "Captain Chi, you want to..."
Chi Li interrupted him: "There is a relatively flat road below. I will reduce the speed immediately and try to slow down. You should seize this opportunity and be ready to jump out of the car."
Luo Si asked in a trembling voice, "Are you planning to crash and cut off the fuel?"
Based on the model of the car, it can be estimated that there is only one way to make an emergency stop in the event of brake failure, and that is to crash and cut off the fuel.
That is the last line of defense designed into the vehicle.
Once a collision occurs, the airbag deploys and the vehicle cuts off the throttle and slowly stops.
So the collision must be severe enough to cut the accelerator, but at the same time not cause the car to be destroyed and people to be killed.
It is safest for vehicles to collide when the relative speed is low. There are no suitable roadblocks around, only the car they are driving.
Chi Li was ready to sacrifice himself, but didn't want to implicate her.
Chi Li didn't answer Luo Siwei directly. He stared ahead, his voice somewhat cold and hard: "Saving people is important. This is an order." Then he softened his tone and said, "There's no need for two people to go. Protect yourself and be safe. I don't want you to get hurt."
Luo Siwei choked for a moment: "Captain Chi..."
The reinforcements haven't arrived yet and time is running out.
Luo Siwei's reason told her that this was the only way at the moment, but she couldn't accept it emotionally and she couldn't let go of Chi Li.
Luo Siwei could not imagine that just an hour ago, they were eating face to face and joking in the restaurant, but now they had to face such a life-and-death decision.
In the few seconds she hesitated, the flat road section arrived. Chi Li stepped on the brakes and moved to the back of the minibus. At the same time, he unlocked the car door.
Chi Li said, "I will start counting the seconds. When I count to three, you jump."
Luo Siwei still remembers her responsibilities as a police officer. At this time, she will not put her own feelings first, nor will she persuade Chi Li not to sacrifice himself.
Her mood fluctuated for a moment, then she quietly accepted the arrangement and said, "I understand."
Luo Siwei answered clearly and concisely, but it was not an easy decision to make. She felt heartbroken.
Chi Li did not hesitate, he said: "One..."
Luo Siwei reached out and unbuckled his seat belt.
"two,"
Luo Siwei clasped the car door on one side with his hand.
"three……"
Just when Chi Li was about to count to three, Luo Siwei suddenly turned sideways and gave the person next to him a very light kiss on the cheek.
Then she turned around, protected her head, opened the car door and jumped out without hesitation.
Luo Siwei rolled on the ground a few times to relieve the force of the car's speed. She looked up and saw that Chi Li had fastened the car door. The car accelerated forward again. At the end of the road ahead, the car accelerated, overtook the minibus, and disappeared around the bend.
Luo Siwei's tears flowed down her cheeks. She ran forward with all her might, trying to run faster and faster.
Luo Siwei was afraid, afraid that Chi Li would fail, afraid that the whole car of people would not be saved, and that Chi Li would die on the spot. But she was also hoping, hoping for a miracle to happen and resolve this crisis...
In the car, Chi Li touched his cheek, and the remaining warmth proved that it was not an illusion.
Thinking of Luo Siwei, Chi Li smiled for once. Then the smile disappeared, he withdrew his hand, and looked forward with a determined look.
He said to the other end of the phone, "Liu Minglang, listen carefully. In about a minute, your car will enter a straight road. Please be prepared to hit the back of my car."
"Are you planning to crash into the car to cut off the fuel?" Liu Minglang asked in surprise, "Then wouldn't your car..."
The previous roads were mostly winding and close to cliffs, so only the last straight section was suitable for operation.
The straight road was not long, and the timing and speed of the collision had to be well controlled, otherwise the inertia of the minibus would be enough to drag both cars into the abyss.
Chi Li's voice was rational and calm, with almost no emotion: "I am your last line of defense. If I can't save the students in the car, I will stay with you."
Liu Minglang's eyes became moist, and he understood what Chi Li meant when he said that he would do his best.
He said, "I understand, thank you. Officer Chi...you...are a good person."
After being scratched all the way, the right side of the minibus was scarred and bumpy, but the good news was that the speed was successfully reduced to below 50.
Chi Li was ready, and then he slowed down the car.
Walking on the last stretch of the road, they could already see the unfinished dam in front of them, with electric wires wrapped around it, some exposed steel bars around it, and several red warning lights on.
They understood that this last leg of the journey was their last chance.
Chi Li controlled the driving speed and the distance between the two cars gradually shortened.
Liu Minglang saw the car in front of him and he stepped on the brakes desperately, but at the last moment, the brakes could not be restored.
At the last moment, Liu Minglang made up his mind, gripped the steering wheel tightly, adjusted the direction, and rushed forward.
With a loud bang, the front of the minibus and the rear of the car collided violently.
With a bang, the airbag on the minibus popped out first, and the lights on the car suddenly went out. For a moment, the vehicle was completely out of control, scraping against the steel bars and concrete on the dam and continuing to rush forward.
The intense feeling of weightlessness finally made the students, who had been restraining themselves, unable to bear it any longer and let out a scream of terror.
After a moment of huge shock, Chi Li could feel that the momentum of the car behind him had not stopped and was pushing his car forward.
Chi Li could hardly see what was in front of him. He gritted his teeth with willpower, stepped on the brake pedal to the bottom, and pulled the handbrake tightly.
Under the force of the minibus, the two vehicles may break through the guardrail together and fall into the deep water under the dam.
They were getting closer and closer to the guardrail, ten meters, five meters, three meters, one meter...
Until there was a bang, the front of Chi Li's car collided with the guardrail.
Due to inertia, Chi Li's body rushed forward.
The car window shattered, and the airbag finally deployed. Then, something sharp scratched the airbag, causing it to deflate rapidly.
At the same time, Chi Li felt something piercing his body. It was the steel bars that flew out from the collision with the guardrail and the fragments that flew out from the shattered car windows.
His forehead was scraped and his body was injured.
To make matters worse, the sedan's forward momentum didn't stop there.
The car's rear was lifted off the ground by the combined forces. Under the heavy pressure, the guardrail creaked, then gradually moved forward, teetering on the brink of collapse.
The steel and iron carriages buckled under the strain, let alone human flesh and blood. Chi Li felt as if someone was pushing hard against his back, pressing him against the steering wheel. His ears were ringing, and he couldn't breathe.
There was a sharp pain in his body, and even a tough man like him couldn't help but let out a groan.
The car body was overwhelmed and still moved forward bit by bit. Chi Li felt that his body was pressed to the limit, and his internal organs seemed to be squeezed into a ball of flesh and blood.
The air in the lungs was squeezed out bit by bit.
Chi Li coughed and spat out a mouthful of blood. The broken windshield in front of the car was instantly stained red with blood...
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