Chapter 12

Chapter 12

“Changdong, you don’t know the history of this road.”

Seeing my skepticism, Xue Wenping hurried to explain. “Before this road was connected, accidents happened all the time on the sections at either end. There was a mountain in the middle, and they tried to start construction several times, but it always stalled halfway. I heard they just couldn’t break through that mountain.

“Later, the construction team found some master from who-knows-where. He installed two dragon heads at the tunnel entrances, and they finally managed to punch through.

“Driving it during the day is fine, but if you enter that tunnel at night, there are always people who never come back out.

“Xiao Ma and Xie Peng from the Tang Dong Company, and Da Hua, who hauled building materials-they all met their end at that tunnel.”

Accidents in tunnels are common, especially in long ones.

Exhausted drivers can drift into a daze while driving, losing track of how long they’ve been inside. Once panic sets in, it’s easy for things to go wrong.

“It’s been five days since they set out. By all rights, they should have arrived yesterday.”

Xue Wenping wiped the sweat from his brow. “I called my son yesterday to ask where he was, and he said he was passing through the Shuanglong Tunnel.

“I felt something was off then. How could they only be halfway? But then I thought maybe they were just driving slow, so I didn’t press him.

“But when night fell…”

Xue Wenping swallowed hard, his voice beginning to tremble.

“I called him again to ask his location. He said the exact same thing: he was passing through the Shuanglong Tunnel.”

That night, Xue Wenping contacted others at the Tang Dong Company and learned that Tang Dong himself had called a day earlier saying they were about to enter the Shuanglong Tunnel.

No matter how slow a vehicle moves, it’s impossible to spend two whole days inside a single tunnel.

Xue Wenping had panicked. He reported it to the police and then came looking for me.

“The police are checking the surveillance footage, but I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

Xue Wenping wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

“Some things can’t be explained. I have to cover both the living and the dead paths.

“Changdong, I’m begging you. He’s my only son.”

I agreed to help him. Xue Wenping was a man of considerable means.

By that afternoon, he had already tracked down and driven back my old Jiefang heavy truck-the one I had sold to pay off my debts.

This was my old partner of seven or eight years; it was the truck I felt most comfortable driving.

Li Ding from the Tang Dong Company was going to come with me. To save time, we planned to drive in shifts, stopping for nothing.

Xue Wenping had suggested we take a car instead, arguing it would be faster and more stable.

But I refused. Since this was a Chong Sha, we had to take a heavy truck.

My master had taught me that a Chong Sha in a heavy truck is different from one in a car.

The vantage point is higher in a heavy truck, and the things you see on the road are different.