Chapter 1169: Cloudy Mountainside

As pedestrians passed by the station entrance, amidst numerous strange gazes, drops of sweat slid down the temples of this group of boys in suits…

“What do you mean??” Another boy rushed up, grabbed the phone, and dialed a few more times, refusing to believe it, but it was still an empty number.

“I… I don’t know… WeChat has also been blocked…”

“Did we get scammed??”

“That was over three hundred yuan!! Brother Pao took out a loan for…”

“Da Tou! Didn’t you say that was your buddy?!!!”

Several of them gathered together with angry red faces, questioning the boy responsible for the wedding car.

Da Tou held the phone, his whole body trembling like a child who had made a mistake, and he looked like he was about to cry in the next second.

“Pao… Brother Pao… I didn’t mean to… I just wanted to save you some money…”

The boy with the large red flower on his chest stood silently at the bustling station entrance. Under the eaves of a strange city, his figure was cramped and small, and confusion swallowed his eyes like the sea.

Suddenly, he seemed to think of something, and his fists clenched tightly.

“It’s okay, Da Tou.” Brother Pao looked at the distant town, his tone incredibly calm. “Forget the car… even if I have to walk, I’m going to walk there to pick up Xiao Yu.”

The boys surrounding him were stunned, standing stiffly in place in silence, and an indescribable sense of oppression spread in everyone’s hearts.

“Who said there’s no car?”

Sun Bumian’s voice came from behind.

Everyone turned their heads to look, only to see Sun Bumian holding the lion dance head, a faint smile playing on the corners of his mouth.

"A groom picking up his bride—how can you do that without a car? The others don't really matter, but the bride needs somewhere to sit."

"But we..."

"Wait for me."

Sun Bumian glanced at his phone, walked straight to the exit of the station next door, and without a word, pulled open the door of a black Audi.

The driver, who was waiting in the driver's seat, was startled, but upon seeing the figure outside the door, he froze.

"Mr... Mr. Sun? Why are you here? What about the person holding the sign to pick you up at the exit?"

"Get out."

"…Huh?"

"Get out." Sun Bumian tilted his chin. "I'll drive there myself."

"But Mr. Sun, Bureau Chief Sun requested that..."

"Fine, then I'm going back to the United States." Sun Bumian turned around and started walking toward the station.

"No, no, no, no, no..."

The driver was kicked out of the car, completely bewildered. Sun Bumian sat in the driver's seat, stepped on the gas, and drove the car to the entrance of Gate 2...

Under the shocked gazes of the boys and Chen Ling’s peculiar look, Sun Bumian coolly pushed up the small round sunglasses on the bridge of his nose:

"Everyone, get in."

Chen Ling sat in the passenger seat naturally. The other boys exchanged glances and immediately piled into the back seat. The back seat, which was only meant for three, was forced to hold five people, looking like a tin of sardines, nearly spilling out of the windows.

Sun Bumian skillfully stepped on the gas and drove toward the silhouette of the distant mountains...

"Holy crap, Brother Pao!! An Audi!!"

"This is my first time riding in such a nice car... Brother Pao, have you ever ridden in an Audi before?"

"I... of course I have." Brother Pao stiffened his neck. "It’s still pretty comfortable to ride in..."

"Even if it's not a Panamera, an Audi is still pretty great!"

"Yeah, yeah!!"

"Brother, from now on you're my big brother. I'll definitely pay you back for what I owe you this time!" Brother Pao looked at the figure in the Tang suit driving the car, his face flushed.

"Just a small favor, just a small favor."

Sun Bumian waved his hand.

Brother Pao hesitated for a moment, then spoke respectfully to Chen Ling, who had been quiet in the passenger seat:

"From now on, you're my big brother too!"

Chen Ling: ?

Chen Ling’s mouth twitched. He figured this kid must think he was part of the performance too, especially since his attire matched Sun Bumian’s style... However, Chen Ling couldn't be bothered to argue with these kids, so he just kept a straight face and stayed silent.

"Can any of you drive?" Sun Bumian suddenly asked.

"I... I have a driver's license." Datou raised his hand cautiously.

"You guys are going to Wushan Town, right? Once we get outside the town, I have to perform the lion dance to clear the way. You'll drive then, the groom will sit in the back, and if there isn't enough room for the others, they can just walk."

The five of them were squeezed in the back, looking visibly excited. Although they had been scammed out of a few hundred yuan, the "big brother" they got in exchange for a small piece of gold was much more reliable than anyone else!

"No problem!"

……

"Bureau Chief, you've finally arrived."

As the car door opened, a group of figures in black uniforms stood on the road, and Sun Zhongliang slowly stepped out of the car.

The driver held a black umbrella and walked to his side. The wide canopy blocked the overcast sky and the occasional drizzle. Sun Zhongliang’s weary gaze looked ahead...

An old-fashioned hotel halfway up the mountain stood lonely beneath the dark clouds.

"How is the renovation coming along?" Sun Zhongliang asked in a deep voice.

"This hotel was built in 1956, nearly seventy years ago. It was abandoned for too long, and with the time being so tight, we couldn't fully repair it in three days. We could only focus on the facade and the conference hall..." a staff member replied helplessly.

"Considering the rooms aren't habitable, we've booked accommodation for the guests at a hotel in the town for tonight."

Sun Zhongliang nodded slightly: "Is the check-in and everything else ready?"

"It's ready. Most of the guests have arrived, but..."

The staff member paused for a moment, his expression a bit strange. "News just came from the station that Mr. Sun didn't want the private car, kicked the driver out, and drove here himself..."

“……”

Sun Zhongliang waved his hand speechlessly. "Let him be. Satisfy any request he has, as long as he doesn't go back to the United States."

Mentioning the United States, Sun Zhongliang seemed to remember something. "By the way, any news from our people planted in the U.S.?"

"News came in this morning that American laboratories suddenly detected a signal that doesn't belong to any frequency on Earth... It's suspected to be an entrance to another parallel world, and it might be related to the satellite failures over the past few days. Now, the top researchers in the U.S. are rushing there one after another; no one knows what they're studying."

Sun Zhongliang was thoughtful. Just as he was about to say something else, a phone rang.

Sun Zhongliang glanced at the mysterious number on the screen, his expression turning extremely serious, his fingertips gripping the phone tightly.

"It's a call from above. I'll go take it."

After saying this, he walked through the crowd toward a secluded area.

No one knew what Sun Zhongliang said to the person on the other end of the line.

The crowd only saw him from afar, standing alone in the rain with an umbrella, overlooking Wushan Town below the mountain. Even after hanging up, he didn't return immediately, but stood there like a statue, motionless... lost in thought.