Xuān Láng was slowly slipping. His grip on the car door was weakening with every second, his substantial weight working against him as gravity and momentum pulled relentlessly. Now his entire body was suspended in the air behind the speeding vehicle, held only by his desperate grip on the door frame, his legs flailing in the wind.
"TÒUMÍNG!" he screamed, his voice breaking with pure terror. "HURRY THE FUCK UP AND SAVE MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Tòumíng weaved through traffic on the motorcycle, other cars honking and swerving to avoid him as he tried to get closer to the sedan.
In the driver's seat, Háo Héng was spiraling into a full panic attack, his thoughts racing uncontrollably. "I'm gonna get arrested! My son is gonna have to post bail! He's never gonna let me hear the end of this! 'Dad, remember when you got arrested for car theft and reckless driving?' EVERY FAMILY DINNER FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!"
Tòumíng spotted something ahead,a car carrier truck transporting vehicles, the kind with metal ramps extending from the back for loading and unloading.
An absolutely insane idea formed in his mind.
He pulled the motorcycle alongside Háo Héng's window and yelled over the wind: "PUNCH IT! HEAD FOR THAT RAMP TRUCK!"
Háo Héng's eyes went wide with horror. "THAT'S ILLEGAL! THAT'S PROPERTY DAMAGE! THAT'S—"
"WE CAN EITHER GET ARRESTED OR WE CAN DIE! YOUR CHOICE!"
"I DON'T LIKE EITHER OF THOSE OPTIONS!"
"TOO BAD! DRIVE!"
Háo Héng screamed—a high-pitched sound of absolute terror—and floored the accelerator. The sedan shot forward, weaving between cars, heading directly for the carrier truck.
Xuān Láng realized what was happening and his screams intensified. "NO NO NO NO NO THIS IS HOW I DIE! THIS IS MY DEATH! TELL MY DAUGHTERS I LOVED THEM!"
The sedan hit the ramp at full speed.
For a moment, physics took over. The car became airborne, launching off the ramp like a stunt from an action movie, soaring through the air with Xuān Láng's considerable mass acting like a tail weight.
They flew over the highway railing.
Xuān Láng was about to slip completely, his fingers losing their grip, his body starting to separate from the car—
They cleared the railing and started descending toward the lake below.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" All three of them screamed in unison.
Tòumíng did the exact same maneuver, hitting the ramp on the motorcycle and launching himself into the air, following the sedan's trajectory.
The Black Hawk vehicles pursuing them slammed on their brakes, tires squealing, barely avoiding hitting the carrier truck themselves.
"SHIT!" one of the drivers yelled, watching their targets disappear over the railing.
They slowed down, pulling over to assess whether pursuit was even possible anymore.
The sedan hit the water with a tremendous SPLASH, the impact throwing everyone around inside. The vehicle immediately started sinking, water pouring in through the broken window.
Xuān Láng, being outside the car and having considerable buoyancy due to his body composition, immediately popped to the surface like a cork. He floated effortlessly, his natural fat percentage acting as a life preserver.
Inside the sinking car, Háo Héng was stuck. His seatbelt had locked during the impact, and now with water flooding in, he was trapped, unable to free himself, panic making his fingers fumble uselessly with the buckle.
Tòumíng hit the water on the motorcycle, the impact knocking the wind out of him. The bike immediately sank, dragging him down with it until he managed to kick free.
He swam—or tried to swim—toward the sinking sedan, his broken leg making the movement agonizing and inefficient.
He reached the car, dove down, pressed his hand against the roof, and activated Stone Crusher.
The roof section—one cubic meter—disintegrated into chunks that fell away, creating an opening.
Tòumíng grabbed Háo Héng and started pulling him up through the opening, the landlord's dead weight making it difficult.
They broke the surface. Háo Héng gasped for air, coughing up lake water.
Then Tòumíng tried to swim toward shore.
And remembered something crucial.
He couldn't swim.
His parents had been too poor to afford swimming lessons. He'd grown up landlocked, never learned the skill, never needed it in the mines or the city streets.
He started sinking immediately, his broken leg unable to kick properly, his panic making him flail ineffectively.
Háo Héng tried to help, tried to keep them both afloat, but Tòumíng's panicked thrashing was dragging them both down. Water closed over their heads.
Tòumíng's vision started tunneling. His lungs burned. Consciousness was slipping—
Then something grabbed him. A massive force pulling upward with incredible strength.
XUĀN LÁNG.
The 366-pound former defensive lineman was swimming like a narwhal, his considerable bulk moving through the water with surprising grace and power. His fat provided buoyancy. His old football training provided technique. He was literally built for this.
He hauled both Tòumíng and Háo Héng to the surface with powerful strokes, keeping all three of them afloat.
They gasped for air, choking and sputtering but alive.
Xuān Láng floated proudly, barely even breathing hard despite just saving two grown men from drowning.
"You're the coolest fat guy I know," Tòumíng said between coughs. "Also the only fat guy I know. But still."
Xuān Láng couldn't tell if that was an insult or a compliment.
Then Tòumíng realized something.
"OH SHIT! MY PHONE!"
He pulled the new phone from his pocket—the 6,500 yuan device he'd bought just hours ago. Water streamed from every port and speaker opening.
He pressed the power button desperately.
The screen flickered. Came on. Worked.
It was super laggy, definitely not gonna work long-term, the water damage clearly affecting the internal components. But it was functional. For now.
He immediately called Ghost Claw.
She answered on the first ring. "Did you get them?"
"Good news!" Tòumíng said, his voice still rough from nearly drowning. "I got Xuān Láng and Háo Héng! We're all alive!"
"Excellent work," Ghost Claw's voice carried genuine approval. "Where are you?"
"That's... the bad news."
"What bad news?"
Tòumíng looked at the lake around them, at the motorcycle somewhere at the bottom, at their completely soaked and exhausted state.
"The bike is actively sinking. We're in Guanlan Lake. North side. Near the abandoned factory. And we can't exactly swim to shore because I CAN'T SWIM and we're being pursued by Black Hawk and—"
"COME ON!" Ghost Claw's frustration was audible even through the damaged phone speaker. "That bike was expensive! Custom build! You had it for FOUR HOURS!"
"I KNOW! I'M SORRY! But we're kind of drowning here so maybe focus on the rescue part?!"
Ghost Claw sighed heavily—a sound that carried through even the crackling, water-damaged connection.
"Fine. I'll get someone to save you. Stay afloat. Don't drown. That would be inconvenient."
Over the phone, Tòumíng could hear Ghost Claw's voice becoming distant as she turned away from her phone to yell at someone else:
"THINK TINK THE TINKERER! Has the speedboat been repaired?!"
Think Tink The Tinkerer's voice came through, muffled but enthusiastic:
"FUCK YESSSSS! I WAS MADE TO OPERATE HEAVY MACHINERY!"
Then the sound of running footsteps, a door slamming, an engine starting—all filtered through the damaged phone before the call cut out completely, the water damage finally killing the device.
Tòumíng looked at the dead phone, then at Xuān Láng and Háo Héng floating beside him.
"Help is coming," he said. "Probably. Maybe. Hopefully before we freeze to death or Black Hawk finds us."
Xuān Láng continued floating serenely, his natural buoyancy making this seem almost relaxing for him.
Háo Héng was clinging to a piece of debris from the car, his teeth chattering. "This is the worst day of my life. And I once accidentally attended my ex-wife's wedding thinking it was a business meeting."
They floated. Waited. Hoped rescue would arrive before their luck ran out.