CHAPTER 441: CHAPTER 335: PAST EVENTS (PART 3)

"W-where are you taking me?" she asked, trying to stay calm.

"You can get off wherever you like," the driver said. "If you’ve robbed a bank, I suggest you keep driving. Even if you surrender now, the sentence is the same. If by any chance you get away, that’s a huge win-win. Just remember to give me a cut later..."

"What do you mean I shouldn’t stop? You’re the one driving!" Minamoto Tamako quickly distanced herself from the responsibility.

She had seen it clearly just now, the driver ran three red lights in a row and didn’t signal when turning. He also refused to cooperate with the police request to stop. In just these few minutes, the driver had broken traffic laws and was suspected of obstructing justice.

The driver said nonchalantly, "At most, I’m an accomplice. You’re the mastermind. You’re the one who made me drive, and you even threatened me with a knife. Even if this goes to court, the judge will likely rule that I acted in self-defense."

Hearing this, Minamoto Tamako’s brain buzzed and exploded.

She dreamed of becoming a famous detective and police chief, yet on the third day of running away from home, she turned into a reckless highway criminal, and even... not with a knife, but hijacked a car with keys...

Life is over!!

What to do, what to do, what to do?!!

Minamoto Tamako’s CPU crashed for a few seconds, then quickly rebooted. She came to her senses and promptly refuted, "I’m not a robber! I didn’t rob a bank!"

"You didn’t?" The driver whistled. "Then you’re out of luck, resisting arrest and fleeing. Even if you claim self-defense, it looks pretty bad..."

"I didn’t kill anyone either!"

"Then why are you running?" the driver finally asked the critical question.

Minamoto Tamako didn’t give a specific reason; she just broadly explained that the people chasing her were sent by her mother and that she was currently in a runaway state.

Hearing this, the driver casually advised that running away from home was quite childish, especially since the passenger was just a female junior high school student, and suggested she communicate well with her parents...

Minamoto Tamako’s face turned red with anger, and she loudly retorted, "First of all, I’m not a junior high student; I’m an adult! Secondly, I left home to pursue my dreams, not because I had a petty quarrel with my parents!"

"Haha!" The driver let out a mocking dry laugh.

"What’s so funny?" Minamoto Tamako demanded.

"Though I don’t know what your ambitions are, I’m certain they won’t come true."

Saying this, before Minamoto Tamako could refute, the driver stepped on the gas again, and the car dashed onto the seaside road. The distant sea roared with powerful waves: "Even if you get away this time, in two years, you’ll start to feel tired and realize that to achieve your dreams, you must first submit to reality."

"But if you were willing to submit, you wouldn’t be in my car now."

"Can you understand that feeling? Life won’t beat you or confront you directly; it’ll just wear you down, constantly telling you that the world is like this, and you’re just an ordinary person. Whether it’s about changing the world or not being changed by it, both have to answer the question of what to eat tonight."

"If I’m not mistaken, you probably can’t pay the fare right now, can you?"

"When I was young, I often heard the older generation say, ’You’re too young,’ ’You don’t understand yet,’ ’You’ll understand in the future’... Back then, hearing these words only made me feel they were stuck in the past. Eventually, without knowing how much time had passed, I started saying them too because I understood just how far the distance between reality and dreams is."

"Ninety percent of people never have dreams; at most, they have ’life goals,’ like making money, buying a car, buying a house, getting married. They’ve never experienced that feeling of being willing to suffer for something, so even when I say, ’Hey, buddy, I’ll probably never achieve my dreams in this life,’ they’ll just say, ’Oh, stop bragging; you’ve already succeeded...’ "

With that, the driver suddenly slammed a fist onto the steering wheel.

"Now look, I have nothing left! Life restarted, and I gained superpowers. It should be carefree, doing whatever I want, but I don’t want to do anything!"

Minamoto Tamako didn’t know where all this resentment came from the driver, fearing that he might suddenly say, "What’s the point of living?" and then turn the wheel to crash into the ocean. She quickly comforted him, "What’s so bad about starting over?"

The driver merely treated her words as nonsense and after venting a bit, quickly controlled his emotions and continued focusing on driving.

"Actually, I think whether or not I achieve my dreams isn’t important. Even if I don’t become a famous detective and police chief in this life... I’ll still be happy."

When Minamoto Tamako mentioned becoming a ’famous detective and police chief,’ her voice suddenly lowered. At this moment, she wasn’t quite comfortable telling others that she wanted to be a famous detective and police chief, just like how high school students are often embarrassed to say they want to be a manga artist or are hesitant to show their creations to friends.

The driver didn’t catch what she was mumbling about, but he understood her mindset, which was what’s commonly known as a naive optimist and still made no comments.

Minamoto Tamako thought her words had moved the driver, so she continued her animated diatribe, as if she had found a kindred spirit. Her speech was full of cliché motivational quotes, like ’Persistence is victory,’ ’Efforts will be rewarded,’ ’Enjoy the journey of dreaming’... it was enough to make the driver feel nauseated.

"Why don’t you settle the fare before spouting such nonsense?" The driver wanted to look back, only to be redirected by Minamoto Tamako immediately.

"Look forward! The fare doesn’t matter! Even if it means starting over, it’s fine! As long as you keep looking forward, there’ll come a day when you reach the end!"

Minamoto Tamako was quite pleased with her double entendre motivational speech, but as soon as she finished speaking, there was a sudden clattering sound from the engine cover in front, sputtering as if having a fit, and it started billowing black smoke.