Xie Ying occasionally took glances in Lin Shen's direction, her thoughts astray. She had noticed him sitting on the bench near the park earlier and felt a little embarrassed. What would he think of her seeing that she was working a part-time job? Sad? Angry? Disappointed? Or maybe embarrassed? Would he avoid her forever…?.. The thought of this made her anxious.
With her thoughts in disarray, she did her work mechanically. Perhaps he wasn't even looking at her. Maybe he was just looking at the shop. She tried to console herself.
"Hey, you forgot to scan this one. Can't you do your work properly?! I don't want to get fined for your mistake." A customer yelled at her.
Apparently she had forgotten to scan one item and put it in the plastic bag.
"S-sorry sir, I'll be careful. I'm really sorry." She quickly scanned the item then put it back. "A total of 164 yuan."
The customer scanned his card on the scanner before picking up his bag and leaving in a huff.
'Eeeeiiii! That was so embarrassing!' Xie Ying mentally scolded herself. Did he see all that? She peeped in his direction and saw a look of anger on his face. That's strange, he was usually very good at keeping a poker face...nooo! He definitely saw all that! He was angry at her!
Xie Ying felt like digging a hole to crawl in, hiding away her shame. This was the second week of her working part-time at this place. The store owner was nice enough to let her work here, and yet she already messed up on her work. Worst of all was that her crush saw her in the act!
She had to clear up the misunderstanding! But she was also too embarrassed to go up to him, what should she do? Aish, the dilemma...
Suddenly, she saw a fatty walk up to Lin Shen, gave him a pat, then they walked off to somewhere.
'Eh, where are they going?' Xie Ying was really curious but she still had to do her shift. She could only watch as they walked away.
~+++~
Lin Shen clenched his jaws, his hands balled into a fist. He took deep breaths as his eyes trailed the customer who left in a huff. There was a certain murderous look in his eyes.
'That bastard actually yelled at her…!'
He wanted to stand up at this very moment and beat down that asshole.
To rip his tongue out and seal his lips...
To...
'No, stop!' Lin Shen hurriedly stopped himself from thinking further. He knew this feeling. 'A feeling from the past.' This feeling was never good. It sure didn't do his freshman years any good.
'Because she died…'
Lin Shen could still remember those days clearly. Those days when Fatty still attended school, and when 'she' was still vibrant with a brilliant smile...
"Brother Lin!"
"Who?" Lin Shen snapped out of his thoughts to see who would actually greet him.
Standing at 1.75 meters tall, Fatty Qiu wore a plain sweatshirt and pants, his right hand fanning his shirt to generate wind after a seemingly intense exercise.
"What! Brother Lin, did you actually forget about me, Qiu Wei?"
"No, of course not. I was just thinking about the past." Lin Shen shook his head.
Fatty Qiu understood Lin Shen's predicament very well. Every night he would wake up from his sleep, his head all sweaty and his heart pounding. It was because he still had nightmares concerning 'that' day. It kept occurring until the point it became a trauma to him. He would've committed suicide if not for Lin Shen's interference.
That was why every night, instead of sleeping, he would take the chance to go on a walk to clear his mind. Only when he was dead tired from walking would he return home to sleep. Even a nightmare by then wouldn't be able to affect him.
He patted Lin Shen's shoulder. "Come on, walk with me. It can help clear your mind."
"Alright." Lin Shen didn't decline. He stood up from the bench and accompanied Fatty Qiu.
"By the way, why are you working out so late?" He asked Fatty Qiu who walked beside him.
"Well, it helps to clear my mind when I can't sleep. You?"
"Same I guess."
Lin Shen noticed how sweaty Fatty Qiu was even though it was cool at night. 'Things used to be different.'
He poked fun at him. "You're all sweaty from just walking."
"No no no, you don't understand. This great body of mine requires more work than regular bodies." Fatty Qiu retorted with a joke of his own.
"How much work have you done?"
"...a few minutes of walking."
There was a moment of silence, before the two burst into fits of laughter. Fatty Qiu's laughter was loud and boisterous, while Lin Shen's was a quiet one, although his face broke into a smile.
"Ha ha, Brother Lin, I think that cleared our mind. Why don't w–"
Vrooom!
"Watch out!
Lin Shen hurriedly pulled Fatty Qiu away from the speeding car, his cultivation training showing its effects.
"Sh*t!" Fatty Qiu cursed out loud. He was frightened by the car. If he was hit, even if he didn't die, he would be left with a bunch of broken bones and an imaginable pain. He would also have to go to the hospital, which would cost money.
Lin Shen looked towards the car driving off. They had unknowingly walked near the road, away from the park. However, this road hardly had any cars go by. Such bad luck...
"You alright Fatty?"
"Thanks to you I'm fine." Fatty Qiu patted his chest to calm down. "Sh*t...what kind of crazy person is behind the wheel?! They almost hit! I hope you go and crash, you assh*le!"
Beep! Beep! Beep!
In the distance, a car alarm went off as the sound of collision could be heard.
"B-Brother Lin, do you think that was the crazy driver and his car?" Fatty Qiu almost cried. He was just cursing that car and then it had to go and do it? Did it want him to go to jail!
"Come on, let's go and check." Lin Shen took off towards the direction of the car. No matter what, even if the car almost hit them, the fact was that it didn't. If he didn't do anything and let the driver die in a possible accident, it would weigh heavily on his conscience. Another reason was that there weren't many people around this area. Who knew when the driver would get help? By that time it might be too late.
"Ah! Why are you going toward the car! What if you're the only one there and you get sued?" Despite his words, Fatty Qiu was still loyal and followed after Lin Shen. Although, it seemed Lin Shen was quite fast…
Lin Shen had already arrived by the time Fatty Qiu started running. He saw a black car crushed under a tree, it's front ruined to an unimaginable degree and it's hood smashed. The situation seemed to be relatively stable at the moment since there were no fires, but he could see the engine emitting fumes of smoke.
'Not good!'
Lin Shen could see that the driver didn't seem to be moving even though it was quite dark. This was all because of the Qi running around his body. It had improved the quality of all his cells to this degree, where he had great reflexes and could see very well through the dark.
"Brother Lin, what's the situation?" Fatty Qiu arrived soon while panting, his breath in disorder.
"Fatty, call the ambulance quick!" After saying this, Lin Shen rushed towards the car. There was still enough time.
"Brother Lin that's dangerous!"
Lin Shen didn't pay him any heed. He inspected the driver and saw that it was a girl who was unconscious. He easily pulled out the car door since it was damaged, but he realized the driver still had her seatbelt on.
He attempted to take it off but it wouldn't budge. Since that was the case, he tried to rip the seatbelt off. Obviously that didn't work either. It seemed his current Foundation Establishment wasn't enough. Lin Shen was starting to become anxious since the engine was about to catch fire any minute now.
'I almost forgot!'
He held the seat belt and tried to circulate his Life Flame Qi, thinking about destruction. Qi from his dantian started moving slowly towards his left hand, the moment it did, the seatbelt immediately caught on fire. The interesting part was that it didn't burn him.
Lin Shen held onto the seat belt since the flame was burning slowly, regretting not working hard enough. 'Come on…!'
Finally the fire burned a hole in the seat belt, which gave plenty of opportunities for him. He hurried and pulled apart the seat belt from the hole, which was much easier. Then he held the driver in his arms and quickly ran away from the car.
Boom!
Not even a minute went by and it already exploded.
Lin Shen sighed with relief, his heart was anxious in that situation. Any minute later and he would've been caught in the explosion. He didn't know if he would die from it, but it was better to not risk it.
Putting the girl down onto the ground, he tried to look for any injuries.
'Huh?'
:-:....................I fell asleep while writing.......