11 A Strange Car Accident

There wasn’t much money left in my pocket, and I couldn’t afford the cost of lingering in the internet café. After spending close to an hour online, I left. My most urgent need now was to find a job and earn some money. Because of the stain of having been in prison, it was hard to find work. Once people learned about my past, they rejected me without hesitation.

I no longer dared hope for a decent job, so I decided to return to the countryside and see if there was anything there I could do to make money. In the past, one could catch wild snakes, bamboo partridges, or stone frogs in the countryside and sell them, but that was no longer allowed. However, after autumn rains, the mountain forests were rich with wild mushrooms. If I could gather some mushrooms and medicinal herbs, perhaps I could sell them in the county town for a bit of cash.

The place I rented was about twenty kilometers from Maple Forest Village. By car, it would take just over half an hour, but on a bicycle, it would take more than two. Two-thirds of the road wound through the mountains, impossible to ride up; I would have to push the bike, which would be slow and exhausting.

But I had plenty of time that night, so I decided to ride my bicycle back, considering it a bit of exercise.

On an autumn night, with a bright moon overhead and a cool breeze blowing, I pedaled along the highway toward the village, a box of instant noodles strapped to the back of my bike under the hazy moonlight. The road from the county town to Maple Forest Village was a provincial road for half the distance—broad and smooth. After that, a turn led to the narrower, village-level road winding into the hills.

That road was steep and narrow, impossible to ride up. I pushed my bicycle for about ten minutes until I reached a small reservoir. Beside the water, a stand of bamboo rustled in the night. My stomach began to ache—I needed to relieve myself—so I laid my bike in the roadside grass.

I crept into the bamboo, and as I squatted down, I suddenly saw the glow of headlights approaching from the mountain road. Two cars, one after the other, were coming down. They looked like a BMW and a Mercedes. I was a little curious; in the past, cars were a rare sight on the road to the village, and now two luxury cars were descending together. It seemed the village had developed quickly in the two years I’d been away, and some families could now afford such cars.

Alas, all I had was this battered bicycle—clearly, I’d fallen behind the times. The thought made me feel even more inferior.

Suddenly, I saw the BMW behind accelerate and slam into the back of the Mercedes in front. With a loud bang, the Mercedes veered off course and plunged headlong into the reservoir. Shocked, I wondered if I had just witnessed an accident.

At first, I thought the BMW would stop and call for help after causing the crash. But instead, the BMW sped away, leaving the Mercedes to sink.

What was going on? Was this just an accident, or was it murder? Murder seemed unlikely—it was more probable that the BMW’s driver was drunk, panicked after the crash, and fled the scene.

The reservoir wasn’t large, maybe a few hundred mu in area, but the water was more than twenty meters deep at its deepest point. Once a car plunged in, if the driver couldn’t get out quickly, they would surely drown.

There was no time to hesitate; saving a life came first. I hastily pulled up my pants and dashed to the water’s edge. The car was floating about four or five meters from shore, headlights still on, bobbing atop the water. But I knew it would sink in minutes once the cabin filled with water.

What should I do? I was a decent swimmer, but jumping in blindly could cost me my life, too. A rope would be best. I quickly untied the rope that had secured my box of instant noodles to the bike, but it was only three or four meters long—not enough.

Suddenly, I noticed the tall bamboo by the reservoir and had an idea. I tied one end of the rope around my waist and climbed up a stalk of bamboo. As I reached the top, the bamboo bent under my weight, bringing me closer to the water. I tied the other end of the rope to the tip of the bamboo; that way, my hands could reach the Mercedes’ door.

By now, half the car was underwater, the headlights still flickering. In another ten seconds or so, the vehicle would be completely submerged.

I tapped on the window and shouted, “Is anyone there? Break the glass and climb out quickly, or it’ll be too late!”

Suddenly, there was a flurry of sharp blows, and the window shattered. A pair of pale, slender hands reached out—a woman’s hands.

I marveled at her strength, breaking the glass with her bare hands, but the opening was too small for her to squeeze through. There was no time to lose. Ignoring the risk of cutting my fingers, I frantically helped her widen the hole. As the glass shattered further, the car began to sink even faster.

In moments, the entire car was underwater. If I didn’t pull her out of the window right then, she would surely go down with the car. I grasped her arms, but pulling her out was not easy; her dress seemed to be caught on something. No matter how hard I pulled, she wouldn’t budge. As the car went down, I was dragged under as well.

At that moment, the resilient bamboo bent like a fishing rod, pulling me several meters beneath the surface. I didn’t dare let go, knowing that if I lost my grip, the woman would be lost with the car. But the car weighed over a ton—even with buoyancy, I couldn’t hold on for long, especially as my breath began to run out.

I could feel her struggling desperately—she didn’t want to die either. The deeper we went, the more hopeless it seemed. I nearly gave up, tempted to release her, but I couldn’t bear to let go, not when someone’s life hung in my hands.

I clenched my teeth and held on. Suddenly, with a tearing sound, I felt the pressure lighten; a pale figure slipped free from the window. Her dress must have torn away, leaving her bare from the waist down. At that moment, though, neither of us cared about embarrassment. I grasped her hand and swam for the shore with all my remaining strength.