CHAPTER 38: IF I DON’T WANT TO PAY YOU BACK, WHAT THEN?

Song Lili entered the men’s restroom, looked around, and found nothing. Therefore, she checked each restroom stall and eventually discovered a foreign object in the water tank of the last stall.

Inside a plastic bag was a small palm-sized, square device similar to a controller.

Song Lili opened the plastic bag and took a closer look; there was a small screen on the device that was displaying a countdown.

Upon seeing this, she already knew what it was.

With her eyebrows knitted together, she remembered reading about it in a book—it was a mini-bomb control device with dozens of telecommunications connection points, meaning it could detonate dozens of mini-bombs simultaneously.

However, there was a limited range between the controller and each mini-bomb.

Therefore, the placement of the controller must have been precisely calculated to ensure all mini-bombs would explode when the countdown ended.

The countdown timer displayed ten minutes, enough time for the criminal to escape to safety.

Luckily, Song Lili had read about such mini-bombs in a book.

When this new type of bomb was first introduced, it was very popular with the military, but it soon became clear that criminals favored it even more.

It was useless to prohibit their production officially as unofficial channels would just take over.

The only thing the military could do was to dismantle and analyze the bombs so they could disarm the mini-bombs as quickly as possible once they were employed by criminals...

Song Lili took a deep breath, her heartbeat quickening as she remembered...

She remembered how to disarm it, the book had detailed explanations.

At that moment, she had already opened the small cover on top of the controller and was observing the internal circuitry, preparing to start when she suddenly stopped...

"Are you sure the person is a criminal? Where does this confidence come from?"

"With heart but no strength, with courage but no strategy. You can handle a gun but can’t keep your composure; who can you protect, who can you save?"

...

Those words that Duan Chen had said to her on the train still echoed in her ears.

The device in her hands potentially controlled mini-bombs.

If she remembered wrongly again, if it was just her presumption, if there was a slight mistake in the disarming process...

If the design of this controller was different from others, if pressing this button wouldn’t stop it but would trigger the explosion...!

Song Lili hesitated, she should hand it over to the military as soon as possible while there was still time, the military could definitely handle it!

Just as she thought this, a man’s voice came from behind,

"Classmate, is that thing fun?"

"..."

Song Lili stiffened, her legs freezing momentarily.

"Let’s negotiate, how about you return it to me?"

Duan Shen’s hand reached in front of her, Song Lili did not turn around, but it was not hard to guess who the person behind her was.

She hadn’t expected this person to double back; she thought she had been careful enough.

"You’ve been following me for so long, and I never noticed. You’re quite clever, classmate, but you were too hasty when coming down from the upstairs."

"..."

"When you’re hasty, it’s easy to slip up."

Duan Shen spoke leisurely, truly unhurried, not at all like a fugitive criminal who had been discovered.

Song Lili knew this was real; the vicious criminal who professed a desire to send the President to hell was the man behind her.

"What if I don’t want to return it to you?"