Chapter 53: Exposure

Three minutes later.

With a roar of the engine, Drift—having transformed into a Bugatti Veyron—pulled up in front of the two women. The car door sprang open and Drift’s voice sounded, “Ladies, please get in.”

“Why did you change your appearance?” Liang Xiaoyu asked curiously.

“Don’t you think I look rather dashing now?” Drift replied with pride.

“It’s certainly amazing,” said Xiaolongnü, already seated and looking around in wonder.

“Where would you like to go?” Drift inquired. “I know my way around out here very well.”

“To the provincial capital,” Liang Xiaoyu suggested. “There’s much more to do there.”

“All right, hold on tight, you two. Off we go!” Drift whooped and sped away.

“This doesn’t look like the road down the mountain,” Liang Xiaoyu suddenly remarked.

“Of course not,” Drift’s voice answered. “I have no desire to be under surveillance like those others.”

He was referring to Bumblebee and the rest, who had gone to the outdoor music festival.

In moments, Drift plunged into the forest, then raced up a slope.

Liang Xiaoyu felt a strange sense of familiarity with the surroundings. When the world suddenly opened up before them, she realized where they were.

A cliff!

The car soared into the air.

Liang Xiaoyu instinctively screamed.

Xiaolongnü’s lips were tightly pressed together, her face betraying a flicker of panic.

Then they heard a series of mechanical clatters.

Their seats remained unchanged, but the dashboard and controls before them transformed dramatically.

The Bugatti Veyron had become a military helicopter.

The thunder of rotors echoed above their heads.

“You can turn into an aircraft too!” Liang Xiaoyu breathed a sigh of relief, marveling.

Xiaolongnü peered curiously out the window.

“So this is what flying feels like,” she murmured.

“When we have time, I’ll take you on a big plane—one that flies right into the clouds,” Liang Xiaoyu said, smiling at Xiaolongnü.

“In the clouds?” Xiaolongnü gazed up at the sky.

Drift’s voice chimed in, “Would you like to see the clouds? I can take you up there!”

“No need. Let’s just head to our destination,” Xiaolongnü replied with a laugh. “Mister Qiao said someday, we’ll be able to soar through the sky on our own, without any help.”

Liang Xiaoyu watched birds flying ahead, longing in her heart.

Will I have that chance too? she wondered, filled with anticipation.

Drift soon found a secluded spot to land and transformed into a battered old van.

As they neared the highway, he reverted to the form of a Bugatti Veyron.

After more than an hour, Drift brought the two of them to the provincial capital.

It was Xiaolongnü’s first time in a metropolis, and her eyes darted everywhere, full of amazement. The towering skyscrapers, bustling crowds, ceaseless streams of cars, and even the roadside stalls all left her astonished.

“Put these on,” Liang Xiaoyu said, handing her a pair of sunglasses.

In an instant, the ethereal Xiaolongnü became the picture of an elegant city lady.

They bought two cups of milk tea from a street vendor, and Liang Xiaoyu handed one to Xiaolongnü. Watching her take a satisfying sip through the straw, Liang Xiaoyu couldn’t help but smile to herself.

“So she’s just an ordinary girl after all,” she thought, feeling suddenly much closer to her.

Meanwhile,

A man in rimless glasses and a white shirt was staring, amazed, at the Bugatti Veyron parked by the curb.

“Am I seeing things?” he muttered.

The car was empty, yet he was sure he’d seen it move just now.

But this car...

He walked over and circled it, taking out his phone to snap several photos from different angles.

Drift was nearly at his wit’s end.

“Who is this nutcase?”

“Is he trying to report me for illegal parking?”

After taking his photos, the man leaned against the car, only to feel a burning heat searing through his pants as if they were about to catch fire.

Is this car made of stone?

How could it get this hot just from the sun?

He grimaced, took a selfie with the car, hesitated, and then decided not to post it on social media.

His dithering made Drift wish he could just run him over.

After quite a while, the man finally moved on.

He muttered to himself, “Same color and model, no license plate… Could it be a rental from Mian Tiao?”

This man was Qiao Mian’s high school classmate, known by the nickname “Miner,” who now drove for the county committee.

He was in town with a leader for some official business and had only stopped to buy a bottle of water, never expecting to run into this familiar sports car.

After what happened last time, he’d searched online and found out there were only a handful of such cars in the whole country.

“The secretary even called me in for questioning, and made me sign a confidentiality agreement afterward…”

Miner pondered.

He was a bit of a show-off, often making a fool of himself, but he wasn’t entirely stupid.

Everything about that incident had seemed suspicious, and he’d been told to report immediately if he ever ran into his old classmate, even given the secretary’s number.

Could Mian Tiao really be working at Fantasy Park? Miner’s heart was a jumble of emotions.

He remembered how his deskmate, whom he’d secretly liked in high school, had once confessed her feelings for Qiao Mian, leaving him frustrated for a long time.

Especially after the college entrance exams, when even on a bad test day, Qiao Mian still scored much higher than he did, the sense of injustice gnawed at him.

Why was this guy, who slept through class and spent his free time in internet cafés, always better at schoolwork than he was?

Why was this country boy even better looking than a city kid like himself?

It wasn’t until he heard that Qiao Mian dropped out of school that he felt a surge of excitement.

But who would have guessed the dropout had found a better path in life?

“So that’s fate, isn’t it? Damn it,” Miner thought gloomily.

He decided that next time they met, he’d suck up to his old classmate with all the flattery he could muster.

But at this moment...

Miner took out his phone and dialed a number.

“Hello, who is this?” came the voice on the other end.

“Secretary Sun, it’s Yang Qiang,” Miner said hurriedly.

“What is it?” Secretary Sun’s voice was cool.

“I’ve just seen Mian Tiao’s—no, Qiao Mian’s—car,” Miner said.

“It’s you,” Secretary Sun’s voice grew more animated. “What car, and where?”

“That unlicensed Bugatti Veyron, right here in the provincial capital…”

“Keep an eye on it. Don’t move,” Secretary Sun ordered. “I’ll be right there.”

“But where are—”

Before Miner could finish, the call cut off with a series of busy tones.

“How rude,” Miner muttered under his breath.

He crossed his arms and watched the Bugatti from a distance.

Drift, too, was watching this man.

Seeing the man’s persistent attention, Drift suddenly felt a bad premonition.

Could he be exposed?

He’d been out and about plenty, but only twice in this particular form.

If he was exposed now, what about last time?

Could it be that Mister Qiao’s identity had already been discovered by humans?

This sword-obsessed Transformer was suddenly wracked with anxiety.

What if Mister Qiao used this as an excuse to dock his pay?

He was still saving up to buy a copy of “The Nine Swords of Dugu.”