"You okay?!"
"We'll help you!"
By the dim light of the moon, Chu Yian saw two men running toward her. Both were over 1.7 meters tall—fully grown adult males. Given how remote and deserted this area was, their sudden and overly friendly appearance immediately set off alarm bells.
Something was definitely off.
Chu Yian tried to start the trike and get out of there.
But the vehicle wouldn't budge.
The front had become unbelievably heavy. It wouldn't move an inch.
Seeing this, Chu Yian immediately locked all the doors and windows and dialed the emergency line. "I'm fine. I've already called the police—traffic officers will be here any minute."
As soon as she said this, the heavier-set man paused, clearly startled.
But the thinner one wasn't fazed in the slightest. "Girl, you pulling our leg? It's barely been two minutes—you just picked up your phone and you're saying you called the cops already?"
Even if she had called them, there's no way the police would arrive so quickly.
The thin man yanked his companion aside, and the two of them flanked her on either side, blocking any escape route.
Seeing Chu Yian alone, their faces twisted into snarls.
"This is a robbery. Hand over all your cash!"
So it was a stickup.
Chu Yian's mind flashed with self-defense tips from TV shows. But she kept calm and obediently pulled out her wallet.
Money could be earned again—worst case, she could sell another Treasure Chest Grandpa.
But her life? She only had one.
She pulled out all her remaining cash—over 10,000 yuan—and tossed it out the window without hesitation.
"Here, bros, this is everything I have. It's been tough for everyone in this heat. I didn't get a good look at either of you, so please, just let me go home safe."
Over 10k.
The two men picked up the money, their faces lighting up with glee.
Yep. Robbery was definitely the best profession in this game.
While other players were breaking their backs at minimum-wage jobs, these two had made more in one night than others earned in a month.
The one called Old Li was ready to leave with the money, but his thinner partner stopped him.
"Hold on. Keep an eye on this chick. I'm gonna check out the back—see what else she's got in there."
They'd seen this trike before—Foton Five-Star, fully loaded.
The thin man climbed aboard and started rummaging. Bottled water. Vegetables. Melted ice pops. And several barrels of sealed diesel.
"These all your supplies? What's the diesel for?"
He pressed his face against the window, peering inside.
Chu Yian answered calmly, "I'm helping some relatives bring them stuff. The diesel's for fueling vehicles."
But inside, her heart skipped a beat.
She had a bad feeling about this.
"Helping relatives... in this kind of heat?"
Yeah, right.
A glint flashed in the man's eye. He grinned at her through the glass.
"You're stocking up, aren't you? Diesel... You've got a generator at home, don't you? Setting up for off-grid power?"
He was only guessing, but every guess hit the mark.
Chu Yian's face grew more serious. Her fingers inched toward the door handle.
"Tell you what," the man said with a sleazy grin. "We won't take your money. Won't hurt you either. Just take us to your place…"
Yeah right.
Like hell she believed that.
He just wanted to confirm if her home was stocked like he suspected. If it was a solid base with resources, he could just take it over.
Rob the money, steal the shelter.
And if the place wasn't that great—
Well, she was a woman. Sounded young, too.
He could always… make use of her.
The leering smile on his face deepened.
"Don't be nervous, sweetheart. We're good guys…"
The biggest lie of all.
There was no way Chu Yian was taking them back to her place.
She suddenly flung the door open, slamming it into Old Li and knocking him off balance.
She abandoned the car, the cash, and the cargo, and took off running.
"What are you waiting for?! After her!"
The two men chased her, right on her heels.
Chu Yian was brave, yes—but she wasn't delusional. Beating two adult men in a fight? Not happening.
Unless she was cornered with no other option, she'd never try to fight them head-on.
She ran with everything she had, racking her brain for ways to lose them.
And then—
A miracle.
Up ahead was the construction site she'd passed earlier in the day.
Even at night, it was still active, lit up brightly. Tower cranes moved. Cement mixers churned. Workers moved along the scaffolding.
"Help! Somebody help me!"
She sprinted toward the site, screaming at the top of her lungs.
The men were still behind her, chasing fast.
But the workers overhead heard the cries and began climbing down.
One by one, they emerged onto the roadside. Seeing the group forming, the two men panicked—
Their guilty conscience kicking in—and turned tail, running back the way they came.
"What's going on?"
"What happened?"
The workers looked at Chu Yian, drenched in sweat and panic.
"They're robbers!" she cried. "They messed up my trike and took all my money!"
"Let's get them!"
The foreman, righteous to the core, called his crew to action.
"Get after them! See if we can catch those two bastards!"
Four of the workers hopped on their motorbikes and tore off after the fleeing thieves.
The foreman and the others grabbed flashlights and tools to check on Chu Yian's vehicle.
Then they saw it—
The same Foton Five-Star that had stopped by and given them bottled water just yesterday.
"Holy shit! That's the girl who brought us water!"
Recognizing the trike, the foreman's face darkened.
The workers' sense of justice instantly tripled.
He immediately called the others chasing the thieves.
"You find them yet? That's the same girl who gave us water yesterday! Those two bastards even stole her money—go get it back!"
"Thank you—thank you all so much," Chu Yian said, wiping her sweat. She pulled some water and half-melted ice pops from the trike.
"Please, help yourselves."
"No need to be polite. We're just lending a hand."
The foreman crouched to check her trike. "Looks like they scattered nails on the road. Your tire's got three, maybe four punctures."
The air had leaked out completely.
No wonder the thing wouldn't move.
"This much air loss? You won't be driving this anywhere tonight," he added with a shake of his head.
They were construction workers, not mechanics. There wasn't much they could do here.
"We'll need to take it to a repair shop in the morning."
Chu Yian looked up. "Big bro, can I just swap out the tire instead?"
Then she went around to the back of the trike—
And pulled out a spare tire.
Same size, same model.
The foreman was stunned.
A trike carrying its own spare tire?!
This girl was something else.
And since she brought it, well—
How could they not help her now?