Chapter 1: The Time, Suspended!
“Not enough time! Not enough time…, Give way…, Give way….”
On the alley of Jian’an City market, Su Lin dashed about wildly. Shuttling back and forth in the middle of the crowd that could drown a person. The time was already 7:50 AM, and he had to attend a class in 10 minutes.
“Ah! Why are there so many aunts blocking the way this early in the morning? Even trying to take a shortcut is so hard, ah!”
Majority of the crowd were women who were shopping and haggling over the prices of groceries. At this time, Su Lin’s heart was depressed and shouting. He tried his best to squeeze out of the market.
“I am finished! It was only yesterday that teacher Lin warned me. Ah! She had said if I were late this week, then she will report to my parents; yet, I overslept the very next day… Ah! Not good…, Not good..,. Today seems to be Teacher Lin’s duty at the school entrance. If she caught me being late at the school entrance, then…”
This week, Su Lin had been late to class twice. He didn’t want to but…, Who asked the weather in May to be so good, so suitable to doze off. Especially him, Su Lin, who has a habit of sleeping like a pig.
“No matter, there are still ten minutes. If I can pass through this market, and turn left, I will be able to rush through an alley and reach Jian’an First High on time. If I run faster; I should arrive right on time before the school bell rings. At that time, even if she caught me, Teacher Lin won’t be able to say anything…”
Looking at the cheap watch worth a dozen or so Yuan on his hand, Su Lin calculated in his heart.
Finally, after a long three minutes of struggle, Su Lin carved a ‘bloody road’ among the myriad aunts.
“There are still six or seven minutes. As long as I run faster, I will unquestionably reach there in time!” As he looked at his watch again, Su Lin breathed a sigh of relief. Just when he was preparing to rush all the way to school, he found a crowd of people gathered at the door of this vegetable market looking at something.
“Why are there so many people gathered here? Was there a car accident? Not right…, This market doesn’t allow any motor vehicles to enter…”
Out of curiosity that plagued almost every human, it was common for people to gather around and watch something that caused excitement. Thinking it won’t waste too much time, Su Lin also rushed into the crowd and looked at what happened.
As he looked towards the direction everyone was looking, he saw a white-haired old grandma lying on the ground. Covering her chest, she appeared to be suffering from a relapse. But the people surrounding her didn’t seem to have any thoughts of helping deliver the grandma to the hospital. Instead, all of them were discussing among themselves,
“Oh… the old woman is suffering from a relapse. How could you young and vigorous people not move and send her to the hospital?”
“I want to help too! But what if I send her to the hospital but get caught for no reason?”
“Quickly think something… the old woman might not be able to hold on for long…”
“Right! Call an ambulance!”
“These people have been calling for an ambulance for a while now. The ambulance is on its way. But then what? I am afraid, even if the ambulance arrived on time, the small roads of this market won’t allow it to enter…”
……….
Listening to their words, Su Lin understood why these people were afraid of sending the old grandma to the hospital. They were afraid of being deceived. What if they brought the old grandma to the hospital, yet she blackmailed them with the fact that they were responsible for her current predicament? Such incidents were being reported on TV every day. So, nowadays, people didn’t dare to act as Samaritans.
“Old grandma…”
Looking at the painful expression of the old grandma, and her struggles on the ground, Su Lin’s heart ached. He remembered his grandma, and immediately resolved his heart, without waiting for anything else, he broke out of the crowd and rushed towards the old grandma on the ground. Hugging the old grandma, he rushed out of the market and went towards the main road. As long as he reached the main road, he could take a taxi and bring the old grandma to the Municipal Hospital.
“Great! Young man, not bad!”
“Is this young man not afraid of being deceived?”
“It’s a great youth doing a thankless job, yeah…”
…….
Su Lin didn’t have the time to care about what the people were saying. At that moment, the only thought he had was to save the grandma no matter what. As for what the society said, and whether the grandma will blackmail him, that was something to be decided later. He couldn’t ignore his conscience because of these thoughts.
“Grandma, please endure for a bit more. I will bring you to the hospital immediately.”
Su Lin knew the grandma had already been suffering for some time, and now, every second crucial and could decide the fate of the old woman. His dashed with all his might and the only thought he had in his heart was to bring the grandma to the hospital as soon as possible.
“Hurry…, Hurry…, Faster… I need to be faster…”
Su Lin was 1.7 something meters tall, and also thin. Running while holding the granny, he was already panting heavily, yet he still insisted. Su Lin could already hear the sound of an ambulance. As long as he passed another corner, he will reach the main road.
“Young man… Thank you…”
The old grandma, who was being tortured by the illness, opened her eyes with great difficulty and looked towards Su Lin who was sweating heavily and thanked him.
“Old grandma, don’t speak. Just hold on, the ambulance has already arrived. It is just beyond that intersection before us. You will immediately reach the hospital and be all right!”
Sigh…
Putting every bit of his remaining energy, Su Lin finally ran through the intersection. The ambulance had stopped before the entrance of the market, and the medical care personnel were preparing the stretcher to go in and rescue the patient.
“Quick… Doctor… Rescue… Grandma…”
As he placed the grandma on the stretcher with caution, Su Lin gasped for breath and couldn’t say the words completely.
“Young man, fortunately, you brought her here in time. Rest assured! We will handle the rest of the matter…”
The doctor who had arrived in the ambulance checked the old grandma’s condition and said a few words to Su Lin. Immediately after that, he entered the ambulance, and the ambulance drove away to the hospital.
Looking at the ambulance rushing away, Su Lin felt relieved. But then, as soon as he looked towards his watch, he remembered that he had to go to school. It was already 7:57 AM, and there were only three minutes before the school bell rang.
“Finished! There isn’t any more time…”
Su Lin became even more anxious. But he didn’t know; just at this time, in the depths of oblivion, a God who rules time just saw through infinite time and space. As he saw the scene of Su Lin save the old woman, and heard his words of not having enough time, he waved his Time Scepter. Suddenly, a green fog flew across time and space and entered Su Lin’s body without anyone noticing it.
“Since you don’t have time, let this God give it to you.”
As the green fog sneaked into his body, Su Lin trembled and almost fell to the ground.
“What happened? Why did I suddenly feel cold…”
After a moment, the cold feeling disappeared, and Su Lin dashed towards the school again. Although he only spent very little time to save the old grandma, the direction was opposite from his school. From here, there were about a thousand meters to Jian’an First High.
Run, run…
Five hundred meters…
Three hundred meters…
There was only one minute left until the school bell rang, and he needed to rush faster…
Su Lin could see Lin Qingxue, the teacher in charge of his class at the school gate. Lin Qingxue appeared to have her back turned towards him. Grabbing his school bag tightly, Su Lin dashed even wildly than before. But just at that time, the school bell rang. He could hear the ringing from where he was.
“Ah!! No…”
Ding! Ding! Ding!
The bell rang suddenly. Though it was just a bell, Su Lin felt it was like a death knell.
“I almost there, just a little more… If the time could pause for even a second, I can run into the campus…”
Although he was late because he rescued the grandma, Su Lin didn’t regret it one bit. But he still hoped that time could stop, or only pause for a moment so he could avoid being caught by Lin Qingxue.
Just when Su Lin was having that thought, the whole world suddenly stopped. With disbelief, Su Lin looked at everything before him. Before, he could see Lin Qingxue walking towards the school gate and the willow trees blowing in the breeze. But now,
Still, everything became still.
No! Su Lin discovered though everything was motionless, he could still move normally. Just now, Su Lin was running towards the school with all his might, but now, he had a very bizarre feeling.
Running up to the nearby Teacher Lin, he looked towards Teacher Lin’s black western-style clothing, the faintly transparent white-shirt, the black leather skirt wrapped around her ass, and those black silk-stockings covering her legs. Everything was motionless. Su Lin felt strange. He ran up to Teacher Lin and checked her out, yet she ignored him completely. Even her long hair fluttering in the wind were now still. It was as if everything was just a painting.
“What’s happening? What went wrong…, Why is everything motionless?”
Su Lin felt horrified, extremely. He was the only one who could move, and he was rushing to enter the school. Now, dozens of seconds had already passed. As he looked towards his wristwatch, he realized it had also stopped. The watch showed 8:00 AM and that didn’t move any further. The indicator seemed to be frozen.
Looking all around again, Su Lin was sure time had suspended. Except for him, everything was frozen in time.
Static! Not only everything became static, there wasn’t any sound either. Everywhere around him was dead calm.
Too fearful, this feeling, and this deathly silence; it was too fearful. It was as if everything had lost all life and became mere inanimate objects. The whole world was like so.
Scared!
Su Lin was thoroughly scared. He would be insane if he were made to live in this still world alone.
“Go, Ah! Move! You broken watch, move already…”
Under the pressure of absolute fear, Su Lin roared towards the watch. He wanted to restore everything. As he was yelling, his will moved the world, and everything returned to normal.
The frozen time moved again.
The wind kept on blowing, Teacher Lin’s hair swayed, the morning bell rang, and the world was again noisy. But just at that moment, Su Lin heard the surprised words from Teacher Lin Qingxue who was still at the school gate.
“Oh! It’s strange. I just saw that stinky brat, Su Lin, rushing towards the school gate. I had warned him yesterday not to be late, or else, I will punish him. It’s too strange. How come he disappeared? Was it just my illusion?”
Hearing Lin Qingxue’s surprised tone, Su Lin, who stood behind her knew the time was now moving normally. Now that everything was normal, he would surely not dare to stay at the school gate and get caught by Lin Qingxue. Quickly, he crept to the Third Year Classrooms, running towards his class.
However, just as he was creeping towards the class, Lin Qingxue found him as she turned around and shouted towards him, “Su Lin, you stand there for me!”