Chapter 91
Xing Nuo, wearing his little duck helmet, the leaves on top bobbing in the wind, sat up straight, his head peeking over the handlebars, and saw the group ahead slowing down.
Their faces were hardened by time, their expressions grim.
Two of them, wearing large black jackets, were players challenging this B-rank dungeon.
Compared to the former punks, now middle-aged, they had used props to slow down their aging, but they couldn’t completely stop the accelerated time flow in this city.
They had aged several years in just half a day.
They had heard about this city’s strange properties, but they hadn’t expected the time dilation to be this severe.
To avoid aging too quickly, they had been running non-stop since entering the dungeon.
Seeing a teenager in a school uniform riding an electric scooter, a small child with a bobbing leaf on his helmet sitting in front, they slowed down.
The players exchanged glances, their eyes filled with surprise.
The teenager and the child…they haven’t aged at all?
The former punk leader, trapped in this city for what felt like an eternity, his mind twisted and warped by the endless search for an escape, saw Shen Baizhou and his little brother and lunged at them.
“It’s your fault! This is all a dream, right?!”
“You must know something! Why haven’t you changed at all?!”
Xing Nuo, seeing the crazed men, startled, patted his brother’s leg.
“Big Brother, wun! These people cwazy!”
Shen Baizhou, his hands steady on the handlebars, his eyes fixed on the road ahead, hummed in agreement.
As the men lunged at them, he effortlessly kicked them aside.
The scooter continued its smooth journey, and Shen Baizhou even beeped the horn cheerfully.
The bright, cheerful sound echoed through the city, a stark contrast to the usual silence.
The men, sprawled on the ground, their faces aging rapidly, even in those few seconds of stillness, cried out in despair.
“I’m dying!”
“What is this cursed place?! I never want to come back here again!”
“Help me!”
Their faces a mixture of fear and regret, they watched as Shen Baizhou, whom they had once mocked, rode away.
The two players, more perceptive, their memories also affected but still aware they were in a dungeon, exchanged glances and quickly caught up to Shen Baizhou on his little yellow scooter.
The former punks and the other people who had somehow ended up in the city, their minds broken, could only follow, their cries echoing through the streets.
One man, seemingly having given up hope, lay down on the ground, his eyes vacant.
Within minutes, his skin wrinkled and dried.
Xing Nuo, back at the scene of the car accident, sensing something was wrong, looked up at his brother.
“Big Brother, they strange. This place strange too. No police uncles come?”
Xing Nuo often saw traffic police directing traffic when he went to kindergarten.
Why weren’t there any police here, with so many wrecked cars?
Shen Baizhou shielded Xing Nuo’s eyes with his hand, not letting him look.
“Don’t look. Big Brother will take you home soon.”
Xing Nuo, his vision blocked, continued to ponder, his little mind working.
“Big Brother, is it because…police uncles westing?”
Xing Nuo’s world didn’t include concepts like time travel or alternate dimensions. He just thought they were in a strange place with a car accident and no police.
Shen Baizhou didn’t answer, quickly riding past the intersection.
He suddenly grinned, the wind in his hair.
“This city is interesting!”
The way time flowed here was fascinating.
He wondered what Xing Nuo would be like when he grew up.
Adults were already fully formed, only aging with time.
But what about Xing Nuo?
If he wasn’t here, would Xing Nuo have aged ten years like those men?
Shen Baizhou couldn’t imagine a grown-up Xing Nuo. He should stay small like this, small enough for Shen Baizhou to lift him high in the air.
Thinking this, he suddenly stopped the scooter.
Xing Nuo, feeling the wind stop, looked up at his brother, his eyes puzzled.
“No go?”
Weren’t they going home for lunch?
Shen Baizhou looked down at Xing Nuo’s pale face and pinched his cheek gently.
His soft cheek squished easily, like a cotton ball.
Xing Nuo, still puzzled, imitated his brother, pressing the scooter’s horn.
“Beep, beep,” he said, making the sound with his mouth.
Shen Baizhou chuckled, looking at the seemingly endless road ahead.
“I wish Xing Nuo would never grow up.”
He suddenly realized that this dungeon wasn’t targeting Xing Nuo, but him.
He didn’t want Xing Nuo to grow up.
He liked him small like this, carrying his little backpack to kindergarten every day, small enough for Shen Baizhou to pick him up after school and take him to the playground.
If he grew up, would his little brother still be this close to him?
Having seen those men age and become grotesque, Shen Baizhou wanted to stop time.
Xing Nuo, sensing his brother’s sadness, wiggled the little green leaf on his helmet, his eyes curving into a smile.
“Big Brother, look! Little green leaf dancing…Wind Sister smiling at you~”
Shen Baizhou touched the leaf and smiled, humming in agreement.
The group of running people caught up to them, their pace slowing, their faces etched with exhaustion.
The two players reached Shen Baizhou first.
“Do you know how to get out of here?”
Shen Baizhou, hearing their serious tone, didn’t answer. He touched the leaf on Xing Nuo’s helmet and turned the handlebars.
“Xing Nuo, want to go home for lunch?” he asked.
Xing Nuo nodded eagerly, his eyes sparkling, holding up the willow branch he had picked up earlier.
“Go home…eat lunch…listen Daddy’s stowy…play with Big Brother!”
Xing Nuo’s days were always busy, filled with activities with his dad and brother, and watching cartoons.
“Time so slow…if Zaizai gwow up…can be with Daddy and Big Brother…always.”
Then he wouldn’t have to go to kindergarten and could play with them every day.
Shen Baizhou’s heart swelled with warmth, hearing this.
“Okay! When you’re a little older, Big Brother will take you to where I used to live!”
He rode on, the wind ruffling his silver and black hair.
“My lair is very big, filled with all sorts of treasures.”
Shen Baizhou loved shiny, sparkly things and had an entire cave filled with them, forbidding any other sea monster from approaching.
Perhaps that’s why he liked Xing Nuo so much.
Xing Nuo’s eyes, clear and bright, were more beautiful than any of his treasures.
Xing Nuo gasped, unable to imagine what his brother’s lair looked like.
His face filled with anticipation, watching the sunlight dappling the road ahead, he asked excitedly:
“Tweasures like…widdle knight’s cwown? Big gems? We use widdle sword…fight monsters?”
Shen Baizhou chuckled, his monolid lifting, his eyes sparkling with amusement.
“Let’s go! You probably won’t remember anyway.”
Xing Nuo nodded firmly.
“I will wemember.”
Shen Baizhou, not taking him seriously, stopped the scooter at the foot of the clock tower.
The old clock tower was the tallest building in the city, its large, brass pendulum swinging with a loud gong every hour.
The players and the former punks also stopped there, and just as they were about to speak, the clock struck the hour.
The loud clang made everyone cover their ears. Shen Baizhou shielded Xing Nuo’s eyes and sped past the clock tower on his scooter.
A player yelled:
“That’s the clock tower! You’ll die if you crash into it!”
Shen Baizhou, as if not hearing him, his hand covering Xing Nuo’s eyes, accelerated, the little yellow scooter reaching its top speed of 45 mph.
As the players and the others watched, their expressions a mixture of shock and confusion, Shen Baizhou crashed the scooter into the clock tower.
The clock tower, like a paper mache prop, crumbled and collapsed.
Like a burst bubble, it fell without a sound, without even raising any dust.
And the little yellow scooter, unscathed.
Even the little green leaf on Xing Nuo’s helmet was still bobbing cheerfully.
“Holy crap?!!!”
“The clock tower collapsed?!”
Several voices exclaimed, their minds reeling.
“Is the scooter that powerful?!”
What about their cool motorcycles then?!
As the dumbfounded former punks watched, Shen Baizhou, carrying his little brother, rode back to the peaceful riverside path.
Xing Nuo hadn’t seen the collapsing clock tower. When Shen Baizhou removed his hand, the familiar scenery was back.
Yellow leaves, swept by the autumn breeze, fell to the ground, crushed by the scooter’s wheels.
Xing Nuo, hearing the crunching sound, looked around, puzzled, and scratched his cheek.
“Big Brother, what tower fall down? Where cars?”
Shen Baizhou, straightening Xing Nuo’s head, told him to sit still.
“We’ll pass by the stationery store on our way home. I’ll buy you a new eraser. Did you give your bunny eraser away?”
Xing Nuo nodded.
“Yiyi likes bunny. I gave to her.”
Shen Baizhou hummed and rode towards the stationery store.
The players and the former punks, having witnessed the surreal event of a scooter demolishing a clock tower, felt dizzy and disoriented.
When they came to, the former punks found themselves back at the intersection.
They looked at each other, confused, feeling like something had happened, but unable to remember.
Finally, as a traffic police officer approached them, one of them mumbled:
“Maybe we should sell our motorcycles and get electric scooters.”
They seemed much more powerful.
