Chapter 19

"Heavens—"

"Get out of the way!!!"

"Watch out!!"

Amid the chaotic screams and shouts, an electric sedan with a sudden tire blowout carved an erratic path across the ground, then without warning crashed straight into a pancake stall by the roadside!

A dull crash rang out, sharp with the screech of metal. But it was not over yet. Whether its brakes had failed too or the driver had panicked too badly, after its front end slammed into the pancake stall, the electric sedan did not stop. Instead, as if accelerating, it shoved the little pancake cart straight into a large tree by the road before barely coming to a halt.

The rustling of shaking leaves and the groan of twisting metal silenced the area for a moment. Then, students and passersby who had come to their senses rushed one after another toward the pancake stall crushed between the tree and the sedan.

When the accident happened, Qi Xiaoyuan had still been making pancakes! He had not had time to run at all, and his entire body was trapped inside the pancake stall!

Filled with anxiety and worry, everyone worked together to shove aside the sedan, whose front end had already been smashed out of shape, then reached with trembling hands to pull apart the even more badly deformed pancake cart.

Qi Xiaoyuan's face was deathly pale as he was wedged between the cart and the tree. There was no expression on his face at all, as though the agony and terror had frightened his soul clean out of him.

Everyone had braced themselves to see the horrifying sight of Qi Xiaoyuan's waist torn open, bleeding, perhaps even with internal organs injured. But when they worked together to pull apart the warped, twisted little cart, they discovered with delighted disbelief that Qi Xiaoyuan, trapped between the deformed cart and the tree trunk, had somehow not been seriously injured!!

There were still frightening red marks on his waist and abdomen from the crushing force, but compared to the image they had imagined of him being snapped in half, it barely counted as an injury.

A huge bump had risen on the back of his head, and there was a patch of red on his back from being slammed into the tree trunk. But that was only the level of an ordinary knock; he did not even need to see a doctor.

So, after several of Qi Xiaoyuan's friends examined him from head to toe, the looks in both his friends' and the passersby's eyes changed.

"Big Qi! Your luck is off the charts!! You came out of such a terrifying accident with barely a thing wrong?!"

"Yeah, the driver smashed his forehead bloody and even broke his foot! That kid hadn't even gotten his license before sneaking out to joyride. When they pulled him out, his foot was stuck on the accelerator. Damn it, he stepped on the gas thinking it was the brake."

"As expected, your fortune is overflowing! Brother, you should go buy a lottery ticket. You'll definitely win the jackpot!"

"Exactly, exactly. Survive a great disaster, and blessings are sure to follow. Brother, your future blessings are huge!"

Several friends crowded around Qi Xiaoyuan, patting his shoulders and back and offering their brotherly comfort.

But only Qi Xiaoyuan himself knew that he had not simply been lucky. He... had merely been "blessed."

When that electric sedan had charged toward him in its erratic path, the impact had knocked him several steps backward. His feet slipped as he stumbled back, and he was about to fall over. If he had truly fallen, that low-chassis sedan and his own pancake cart would probably have ground and scraped him beyond recognition.

But at that moment, he felt something cool and soft behind him catch him, keeping him upright instead of letting him fall.

Yet his scorching-hot pancake griddle had seemed ready to fly up and smash down over his face and head, while the gas cylinder connected beneath it had become unstable too.

But very quickly, he saw the pancake griddle settle down. The small gas cylinder, which could very well have exploded from the impact, was somehow squeezed out when the food cart was crushed and deformed. It rolled twice outside before coming to a stop.

And finally, there was the moment when his whole body slammed into the large tree.

Normally, the counter of the pancake stall would certainly have crushed and torn apart his waist, while the immense impact would have split open his back and the back of his head.

But none of those terrible things happened. When his mind had gone blank and he had thought himself doomed beyond doubt, that cool thing wrapped around his whole body this time, helping him absorb most of the impact.

As he was being enveloped, Qi Xiaoyuan instinctively reached out and pushed against it. Then... what had that felt like?

It was still cool and soft, with a sensation that was somewhat sluggish yet flowing. It was not cotton, nor was it a living creature. It was like... water.

Yes, water.

Like when he had been naughty as a child, holding his breath and quietly sinking beneath the water, surrounded entirely by it.

Only gentler, and carrying a tranquility that soothed the spirit—

"The River God will bless you."

Qi Xiaoyuan inexplicably recalled those words. He recalled that young man carrying a black carp, with his striking beauty and extraordinary bearing. And those calm eyes that seemed to hold blue streams of light when gazed into for too long.

"...The Qinglan River God...?"

"Hm? Big Qi, what are you saying? The police and ambulance are here. Hurry and let the pretty lady doctor check whether you're hurt. You might still have to go to the police station to give a statement."

"Hiss, the police guys are already examining the scene. Big Qi, you really have a life as tough as iron! The police said it was lucky the gas cylinder got squeezed out, or you'd have been blown to nothing by now!"

Prompted by his friends, Qi Xiaoyuan came back to himself and forced out a smile. "I'm fine."

He raised his head and accepted the doctor's examination. After the pretty lady doctor repeatedly checked his injuries and questioned him, he ultimately did not go to the hospital with the ambulance.

Since the person responsible had already gone to the hospital, and there were enough surveillance cameras around the art academy to reconstruct what had happened, Qi Xiaoyuan was free to leave after simply answering a few traffic police officers' questions.

As for compensation, he would probably need to make another trip to the police station tomorrow. But right now, Qi Xiaoyuan thought, he had something more important to do.

After everyone surrounding him had finally left, Qi Xiaoyuan declined his friends' attempt to comfort him over a meal, saying that he wanted to be alone for a while.

At this moment, most people did not connect Qi Xiaoyuan's "good fortune" with the Immortal Pretty Boy who had come here that morning carrying a black carp. But one person wore an unfathomable expression.