Interstellar to 80s: A Scientist's Farming Mission

An Ning felt half-baked, with the air conditioning cranked to the max.

Her back was cool while her front was hot. Her left arm was scorching, and her right elbow was chilled by the vent.

Her legs felt like they were turning arthritic from the cold, while the top of her head was practically smoking under the sun.

This bizarre mix of sensations was driving her crazy, and she started muttering to herself.

”If I ever drive back by myself again, I’m a total idiot!”

”I never want to drive again for the rest of my life!”

”Professional drivers really have it rough!”

Even with sunglasses, the brilliant sunlight still strained her eyes.

An Ning kept a perfect distance from the car ahead of her, feeling the fatigue set in.

’I’ll rest at the next service area,’ she thought. ’There should be one just after this next exit.’

”Holy shit!”

The car in front of An Ning suddenly stopped, swerving erratically in the middle of the highway.

An Ning yanked the steering wheel, sending her car drifting toward the exit ramp. The air filled with the screech of tires, the blare of horns from behind, and even the audible cursing of a truck driver.

It all happened in an instant.

An Ning had swerved to avoid the stopped black sedan, drifting onto the exit ramp and crashing into the guardrail. Smoke began to pour from her hood.

The large truck behind her swerved violently to avoid the black sedan, which had not only stopped but was now attempting a U-turn to merge into another lane. The force of the turn swung the truck’s trailer around to the front. The momentum was too great; the truck tipped over, spilling its cargo all over the road.

The vehicles behind the truck descended into chaos. Drivers instinctively slammed on their brakes and swerved. A few with skilled drivers and enough stopping distance managed to get by on the emergency shoulder. Many others, however, couldn’t react in time, leading to a massive pile-up.

A highway pile-up is different from a fender-bender on a normal road.

Every car was moving at high speed, so the force of the impacts was immense.

After a chain reaction involving more than a dozen cars, the traffic finally ground to a halt. The road ahead was completely blocked.

Meanwhile, the black sedan that had caused the massive accident had finished its U-turn. It was already accelerating, apparently planning to escape via the exit ramp.

An Ning was right there on the exit ramp. She almost laughed at the sheer audacity of the black car.

’You think you can just leave? You’ve got to be kidding me!’

She stomped on the gas. VROOM, VROOM. The car’s powerful engine roared to life, allowing her to pull out smoothly. With a sharp turn of the wheel, she positioned her car sideways across the ramp, completely blocking the path.

The black sedan screeched to a halt, and the driver’s window rolled down.

”Are you out of your goddamn mind? Move it! You think you own the road? You can’t just stop wherever you feel like it.”

Oh, for crying out loud.

An Ning was so incensed she felt the sheer audacity of it could straighten a crooked spine.

SLAM!

SLAM!

With two violent slams of their doors, An Ning and the truck driver both got out of their vehicles.

”So you *do* know you don’t own the road! Then what the hell were you doing stopping, making a U-turn, and cutting across lanes on the goddamn highway! You son of a bitch! That was a whole truckload of cargo! I’m telling you, if you don’t pay for this, you’re not going anywhere today!”

”Damn right!” An Ning added. ”And you’re paying for my car, too. I hit my head in the crash, and it’s bleeding! Let me tell you, you’re not going anywhere until the cops get here!”

United by their shared outrage, An Ning and the truck driver flanked the black sedan, yanking on the doors.

”Get out! Get the fuck out of the car, now!!”

The furious truck driver and the equally enraged An Ning only seemed to annoy the woman inside the car.

”What’s all the shouting about? I just didn’t know the way, so what if I made a U-turn? Who do you think you’re scaring with all this yelling? Go on, call the cops! You think I’m afraid of you?”

The woman’s arrogance and her complete refusal to admit fault only escalated the situation.

By now, many drivers from the pile-up had gotten out of their cars. Most had minor scrapes and bruises, but thankfully, there were no serious injuries.

You know how in every traffic jam, you wonder what the hell the person at the front is doing?

Well, now all the drivers involved in the crash knew the source of the problem, and the black sedan was completely surrounded.

Even then, the woman in the car refused to believe she was at fault. ”Didn’t I already tell you?” she kept repeating. ”I didn’t know which way to go! What else was I supposed to do but turn around?!”

”If you had any nerve, you would’ve just hit me! Who told you to swerve? Let me tell you, this whole pile-up is your truck’s fault!”

The woman’s outrageous claims made the crowd around her car lose their patience, and they began to pound on the vehicle.

”Fucking hell. I’ve seen plenty of unreasonable assholes, but I’ve never seen anyone this shameless.”

”Shameless doesn’t even cover it. She’s so thick-skinned a machine gun couldn’t get through!”

No matter what anyone said, the woman refused to open her door. She just kept shouting defiantly, insisting she wasn’t scared even if the police showed up.

”What are you gonna do, with your pathetic little junkers? Do you have any idea how much my car is worth?”

”I don’t know how much your car is worth,” An Ning cut in. ”But mine is worth one-point-seven million. At least. How are you going to pay for that?”

The woman was trying to use money to intimidate them, so An Ning decided to play the same game.

As An Ning spoke, the female driver in the car was stunned for a moment.

”Talk is cheap. You think you can just make up a number to scare me? I’ve seen it all.”

An Ning stood at the driver’s side window and knocked twice.

”Since you’re so worldly, why don’t you open your damn eyes and take a look at my car.”

For the first time, the woman actually looked at the car blocking her. It was a black SUV. The logo was from a luxury brand she recognized, but that wasn’t the most eye-catching part. The most eye-catching part was An Ning’s license plate.

A Beijing license plate, with five zeros.

For a split second, the woman felt a prickle of fear. But then her eyes landed on An Ning, and her contempt returned.

”Who knows if that car is even yours,” the woman sneered. ”Girls your age... you don’t learn anything worthwhile. Always taking those dirty little shortcuts.”

The insinuation was crystal clear.

At that, An Ning wasn’t even angry anymore. All she wanted now was for the police to arrive so she could watch this woman weep with regret.

”Everyone, calm down!” An Ning called out. ”We’re the ones in the right here. If we damage her car, we lose the moral high ground. Why should we give her that satisfaction?”

An Ning’s words pacified the furious drivers.

The crowd didn’t disperse. Instead, they leaned against the black sedan and waited for the police.

An accident this big was immediately noticed by the highway patrol, who were already rushing to the scene.

Twenty minutes later, the first wave of police arrived.

After getting a summary of the facts and reviewing traffic camera footage, the police determined the driver of the black car was 100% at fault.

The woman in the black car, however, wasn’t having it. She pointed a finger at the officer and started shouting, ”Just because you say I’m fully at fault, I am? I don’t accept that! I was just trying to get on another road, what’s so wrong with that? This road was built for driving on, wasn’t it? Who made a rule against U-turns?!”

The officer, gritting his teeth in frustration, took two steps back and stated firmly, ”The laws of this country state it! If you don’t accept it, you can take it to court!”

”Put your finger down. I am warning you once. I am warning you twice. I am warning you a third time!”

”AAAAAH—”

The woman finally shut up.