Chapter 1 Time Stood Still

  "It's too late! It's too late...... Let me through...... Let me through......"

  On the small road of Jian'an City's morning market, Su Lin rushed along, weaving through the crowded crowd. It was already 7:50 and there were only ten minutes left before class started.

  "If I had known there were so many aunties at the vegetable market, I wouldn't have taken a shortcut..."

  In the crowded crowd, there were all kinds of noisy voices bargaining for vegetables. At this time, Su Lin's heart was extremely depressed, shouting "borrow" while desperately squeezing out of the vegetable market.

  "I'm done for! Yesterday, my homeroom teacher Lin already warned me that if I'm late again this week, she'll call my parents. But today... how did this happen? I overslept again, no way... no way... And it seems like Lin is on duty at the school gate today, if she catches me being late at the gate..."

  This week has been late twice, Su Lin actually didn't want to be either, who let this May weather be so suitable for sleeping, especially Su Lin is more sleepy than a pig.

  "Never mind, there are still ten minutes left. As long as I pass this market and turn a corner, I'll be able to see the gate of Jianan Middle School through a small alley. If I run a bit faster, I should be able to make it before the bell rings. Even if I enter school after the bell has rung, Teacher Lin probably won't say anything to me..."

  Su Lin glanced at the cheap electronic watch on her hand worth over ten dollars and quickly calculated in her mind.

  At last, after a long three minutes, Su Lin finally managed to carve out a bloody path among the aunties.

  "There's still six or seven minutes left, run faster and you'll definitely make it!"

  She took another look at her watch, let out a sigh of relief, and was about to sprint all the way to school when she found a crowd of people gathered at the entrance of the vegetable market, chattering excitedly about something.

  "Why are there so many people surrounding? What happened? Was it a car accident? No, that's not possible... vehicles aren't allowed to drive in front of this market..."

  Out of curiosity, and also due to the common Chinese mentality of watching a commotion, Su Lin squeezed into the crowd of onlookers, poking her head out to take a look inside.

  Under the gaze of onlookers, an old white-haired granny was lying on the ground, clutching her chest and groaning in pain, seemingly having fallen ill. The crowd surrounding her chattered about sending her to the hospital, but despite many voices, no one actually stepped forward to help the old lady.

  "Oh no...... The old lady is ill, hurry up and send her to the hospital...... Why aren't you young and strong guys moving?"

  "I want to go too! But what if we get cheated when we arrive at the hospital?"

  "Think of something quickly...... The old man won't make it......"

  "Why don't you quickly call an ambulance?"

  "Somebody has already called for help and an ambulance is on its way, but even if it arrives, I'm afraid it won't be able to get in through this small alley of the market..."

  …………

  After hearing their words, Su Lin also understood in her heart that these people were afraid of being cheated after sending the old lady to the hospital. Such incidents have been reported on TV recently, so now people are not dare to be kind easily.

  "Grandma..."

  Looking at the old lady struggling painfully on the ground, Su Lin's heart ached and he thought of his own elderly grandmother. He immediately steeled himself and didn't think too much, breaking free from the crowd and rushing forward to pick up the old lady, then running towards the main road in the direction of the vegetable market exit. As long as they left the vegetable market, they could take a taxi to the municipal hospital.

  "Good job, young man."

  "Isn't this young man afraid of being blackmailed?"

  "It's hard work that doesn't pay off..."

  …………

  Su Lin no longer cared about what others said, his only thought now was that he had to save the old lady, no matter how society would react, and whether or not he would be blackmailed afterwards. He couldn't let his conscience be clouded by these things.

  "Old lady, hold on, I'll take you to the hospital right away."

  Having delayed for so long, Su Lin knew that every minute and every second was crucial to the old lady now. His legs were already sprinting, with only one thought in his mind - to get the old lady to the hospital as soon as possible.

  "Faster... faster... just a little bit faster..."

  Su Lin, who was a little over 1.7 meters tall and slightly thin, had already run so far while carrying the old granny that he was panting with exhaustion. However, he still persisted, having heard the sound of an ambulance approaching. As soon as they turned this corner, they would be able to see the road.

  "Thanks, young man..."

  The old grandmother, who was tortured by illness, opened her eyes with difficulty and looked at Su Lin, who was sweating profusely, and thanked her laboriously.

  "Old lady, don't talk anymore, hold on, the ambulance has arrived, it's just at the intersection ahead, you'll be in the hospital soon."

  Sigh...

  With a final burst of energy, Su Lin finally ran out of the alley, and the ambulance was already parked at the entrance of the alley, with medical personnel setting up a stretcher to go in and rescue people.

  "Hurry... doctor... save... grandma..."

  Carefully placing Grandma in the ambulance, Su Lin was already panting and couldn't say a complete sentence.

  "Good thing you delivered it on time, kid! Don't worry about it anymore... we'll take care of the rest..."

  The doctor who came with the ambulance gave a simple check to the old lady and didn't say much to Su Lin, then immediately got into the ambulance and rushed to the hospital while giving emergency treatment on the way.

  Watching the ambulance speed away, Su Lin finally let out a breath of relief. Looking at the watch on her hand, she immediately remembered that she still had to rush to school, and it was already 7:57, with only three minutes left before the bell rang.

  "It's all over! No more time..."

  Anxiously, Su Lin shouted, but he didn't know that at this moment, in the infinite void of time and space, a god who governed time happened to see Su Lin's rescue scene. Hearing Su Lin's murmur, this god of time waved his time scepter, and instantly, a green airflow traversed countless time and space, drilling into Su Lin's body with a hiss.

  "Since you have no time, I'll give you some."

  As that green airflow drilled into Su Lin's body, Su Lin's whole body shook and almost stumbled to the ground.

  "What's going on? Why did it suddenly feel so cold..."

  After a pause, the cold feeling disappeared again. Su Lin rushed towards school once more. Although saving the old lady had delayed him for a bit, fortunately the direction was consistent, and from here to Jianan No. 1 Middle School was just over a thousand meters away.

  Run run run......

  Still 500 meters, still 300 meters...

  There's still one minute left, hurry up and you should make it in time.

  Su Lin had already seen from afar the class teacher, Lin Qingxue, patrolling at the school gate. Lin Qingxue seemed to have also seen Su Lin running wildly with his backpack on, but just then, the bell rang ding-ding-ding.

  "Oh! No..."

  Ding Dong!

  The school bell rang suddenly, but for Su Lin, it was like a funeral bell.

  "Just a little bit more... just a tiny bit more... If only time could stop for a moment, I would be able to run into the school..."

  Although he was late because of saving the old lady, Su Lin didn't regret it at all. He just hoped that time could be a little bit longer or paused for a moment, so he could avoid being caught by Lin Qingxue for being late.

  Who knew, Su Lin just thought of this, and the entire world suddenly came to a standstill. Unbelievable, Su Lin looked at everything in front of her, originally seeing herself about to come and speak with Teacher Lin, the willow trees on both sides of the school swaying gently in the breeze.

  Everything has come to a standstill.

  No! Su Lin found that everything had come to a standstill, but she was still able to move. Just now Su Lin was in a state of rapid running, and now it was a strange feeling, everything around her was motionless, but Su Lin was still running non-stop towards the school campus.

  Ran to the front of Lin teacher, looking at Lin teacher's black small suit, white slightly transparent white shirt, black small leather skirt wrapped around black silk stockings thin legs, motionless. Su Lin was surprised, she had run to the front of the teacher, but she was oblivious, even Lin Qingxue's long hair that fluttered in the wind was frozen in mid-air.

  "What's going on? How... how is everything frozen?"

  Su Lin's heart was shocked, but he still ran to the school in one breath, taking tens of seconds. However, when Su Lin looked at his electronic watch, he found that it didn't move at all, as if it were broken, with the time stuck at 8:01 and the hands not moving.

  Looking around again, Su Lin was certain that time had really stopped. Everything around her, except for herself, was motionless.

  Dead silence! The silence is so eerie that there isn't a single sound, it's dead quiet.

  It's too scary, this feeling, a complete stillness, without any sign of life.

  Scared!

  Su Lin was really scared, if he let him continue to live in this static time and space, it was simply unimaginable.

  "Go on! Move a bit! This broken watch, go on..."

  Surrounded by endless fear, Su Lin roared at his watch, and with this thought, everything around him suddenly came back to life.

  Time stood still, and then returned to normal.

  The wind continued to blow, and the willow leaves were rustled. The sound of morning reading in the campus rose again, while Su Lin heard a surprised cry from Teacher Lin Qingxue at the school gate.

  "Huh? That's strange, I could've sworn I just saw that scoundrel Su Lin rushing over by the school gate, and I specifically told him off yesterday. And yet he's late again today! But what's even stranger is how he vanished into thin air? Did I just hallucinate?"

  Upon hearing Lin Qingxue's surprise, Su Lin, who was standing behind Lin Qingxue inside the school gate, knew that time had resumed again. Not daring to continue staying at the school gate, he took advantage of not being discovered by Lin Qingxue and hastily snuck into the classroom of Class 2, Grade 3.

  However, Su Lin was about to slip away when Lin Qingxue suddenly turned around and spotted him. She shouted at him in a loud voice: "Su Lin, stop right there!"