Seeking Help from Kind-Hearted Citizens

Upon hearing these words from Su Yang, Watanabe turned his head with a startled expression and replied, "But Su-san, do you have an international driver's license?"

"No, I don’t. But special times call for special measures. The situation is urgent right now. We have to get to the city and find shelter immediately, otherwise, once the typhoon makes landfall completely, we’ll be in serious danger out here on the highway."

Without waiting for Watanabe to respond, Su Yang pulled out his phone and dialed Meng Wenzhou.

After two rings, the call connected: "Hey, Old Meng."

"Old Su, the tour guide sister said the typhoon’s now very close to Jinggang County. The rain’s too heavy—what’s our plan?"

"Tell Arisa to navigate to Dayue City. There’s no way we’re making it back to Dongjin tonight. We’ll go to Dayue to ride out the typhoon first."

"But we can barely see the road right now."

"No choice. We have to move. Staying here isn’t an option. Can you drive a right-hand drive car?" Su Yang asked.

Meng Wenzhou nodded. "Yeah, I can."

"Then switch with Arisa. I’m worried she won’t be able to keep up with me later. You drive, and follow me."

Meng Wenzhou swallowed hard. "Got it!"

"Alright, that’s it. Switch now. I’ll hang up."

The call ended. Su Yang looked at Watanabe and said, "Don’t just sit there. Get over here. I’ll drive."

"Oh, okay. I’ll get out."

Watanabe tried to open the door to step out, but as soon as she did, a gust of wind mixed with rain poured violently into the car.

She quickly pulled the door shut. "The wind’s too strong right now."

"No need to get out. Just switch directly." Su Yang said as he unbuckled his seatbelt, slid his seat back a bit, and let Watanabe climb over first.

But as she climbed over, the space inside the car was cramped. In her rush, she accidentally plopped down right onto Su Yang, just as he was about to get up.

"Hmph..."

"Holy shit." Her weight pushed him back down into his seat.

"Sumimasen, sumimasen! I’m so sorry, Su-san. I didn’t mean to." Watanabe’s face immediately flushed red as she grabbed the door handle and straightened up.

Su Yang, not having time to worry about it, replied casually, "It’s fine, no problem."

Still speaking, he moved over to the right-side driver’s seat.

Once settled, they quickly fastened their seatbelts. Su Yang turned to look at the grim-faced girls in the back. "Everyone, buckle up. We’re leaving."

"Su Yang, are you sure we can make it to the city in this?" Zhuang Mengli asked, more serious than usual.

"Trust me. Everyone, hold on tight."

Su Yang gave the group of beauties a reassuring look, then gripped the steering wheel, shifted the car into D mode, and slowly pulled out.

As he drove, he kept an eye on the blurry rearview mirror.

Even though the mirror’s defogger was on, it was useless. The rearview was pitch black.

But that also meant no cars were coming from behind. If there were any, their headlights would have reflected some light no matter how hard the rain was.

After confirming the rear was safe, Su Yang pressed the accelerator, moved forward until he was beside the commercial vehicle ahead, and honked.

Beep beep beep beep!!

Inside the other car parked on the emergency lane, Meng Wenzhou had already taken the driver’s seat. Hearing the horn, he turned his head and honked back in acknowledgment.

Even though the road was hard to see, he could still barely make out the flashing hazard lights from Su Yang’s car once it had pulled ahead.

Seeing the lights, he turned the wheel and followed.

At that moment, apart from Liu Bo and the driver Meng Wenzhou, none of the others dared to breathe too loudly.

No one had ever encountered such strong winds before, and the typhoon wasn't even at full strength yet. Once it fully made landfall, their two vehicles might even get flipped over.

So they had to get off the expressway immediately and find a city to take shelter in.

Su Yang could have driven faster, but he wanted Meng Wenzhou to keep up with his taillights, so he deliberately held back his speed.

As long as they kept moving, it was better than staying put.

Following the navigation, the two cars crawled along at thirty to forty kilometers per hour, taking a full half hour to finally reach the highway exit.

Once off the highway, they could faintly make out scattered lights in some distant, indistinct direction. The rain hadn't let up, but at least there was a glimmer of hope now.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a fierce gust of wind slammed sideways into both vehicles, lifting one side of the car slightly off the ground before dropping it back down.

"Ahh!"

"Holy shit!" Several girls in the backseat let out terrified screams.

"It's fine, we won't flip!" Su Yang lightly pressed the accelerator to speed up a bit.

Behind him, Meng Wenzhou immediately followed suit.

Boom! Crash!

Thunder exploded outside the windows as the wind howled and rain poured down in sheets.

The harsh weather was truly terrifying.

Inside the car, everyone huddled close together. Meng Qianyu and Ren Lingxi, sitting by the doors, gripped their armrests tightly.

Another half hour passed, and the wind grew even fiercer, the rain impossibly heavier.

Over the past hour or so, Severe Typhoon Mubei had quietly intensified into a Super Typhoon, and it had just made landfall from the southeastern part of the island nation in Shizuoka Prefecture. It was now racing northward at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour.

Chiba had been keeping an eye on the weather app. Su Yang asked, "Chiba, can you see where the typhoon is right now?"

"It's already made landfall in Shizuoka and is moving rapidly in our direction! The wind speed at the center is reported at level 15."

"Level 15? Damn it, we're not gonna buy it out here, are we?"

"Brother Su Yang, we'll be fine!" Meng Qianyu said weakly from the backseat.

"Of course we will. We're almost at a residential area. Our best bet is to go knock on some doors and ask some kind-hearted locals for help."

"Not going to a hotel to ride this out?"

"This is just a small town. Japan's different from our country—the prefecture has a higher administrative level than the city, and the navigation shows mostly residential neighborhoods around here. This is an emergency. We don't have time to find a hotel. Let's head for the residential area first. At least some buildings can block some of the wind."

The two cars were now crawling along a narrow, straight road flanked by vast rice paddies already submerged in water.

They were still two to three kilometers away from the residential area, so they had no choice but to grit their teeth and push forward.

The wind howled, making the cars sway with every gust.

"Seriously, this is such bad luck," Su Yang couldn't help but curse.

Sticking nervously to the navigation, they drove on for another twenty-plus minutes before finally reaching a cluster of low, dense residential homes.

The houses looked like rows of small villas.

Su Yang quickly drove into a street lined with houses on both sides, and Meng Wenzhou followed closely behind.

At this moment, the typhoon's movement had slowed slightly, but the wind speed had not weakened.

Because Shanli County and Jinggang County were not far apart, the eye of the typhoon had essentially arrived over the urban area of Shanli County.

And Dayue City, being under the jurisdiction of Shanli County, was only about forty to fifty kilometers away from the central urban area.

So, at this very moment, everyone was almost inside the eye of a super typhoon.

The residential area was pitch black, seemingly hit by a power outage due to the typhoon and torrential rain.

Su Yang parked the car next to a two-story small house.

"Everyone, get out!"

"Get out now?"

"Of course, or else the car might get flipped over by the wind..." As soon as Su Yang finished saying this, a thought struck him, and he quickly added, "Wait, no, no, just hold on a second."

"What are you doing?!" Pan Ning asked anxiously.

"I’m going to ask the residents nearby for help first. If you all get out now and we wander around like a bunch of headless flies, that won’t work—it’s too dangerous. Let me find shelter first, then I’ll come back for you."

"No way, the wind is too strong right now. The car was already shaking the whole way here. If you get out, you’ll easily be blown away!"

"No, I won’t! This wind isn’t strong enough to blow me away. Besides, if we don’t get out, what was the point of driving all the way here?" Su Yang said as he cast a reassuring glance at Pan Ning.

Zhuang Mengli chimed in, "Pan Pan, trust him. He can handle it."

Pan Ning’s lips twitched, but she didn’t say anything more.

"Qianyu, call your brother and tell him to stay in the car for now," Su Yang shouted at Meng Qianyu.

"Oh, okay." Meng Qianyu quickly pulled out her phone to make the call.

As soon as he finished speaking, Su Yang yanked the door open and leaped out of the car in one swift motion.

Bang, he slammed the door shut behind him and, braving the strong winds—now at level eleven or twelve—and the driving rain, ran toward the nearest house by the roadside.