HLM – Chapter 881 Creating a Surprise

Traffic was jammed in a right-turn lane. It was a crowded lane leading to New Zealand Road, a scenic route lined with many pavilions, so the traffic volume was quite high.

The police car drove through with sirens blaring. Atulu mischievously turned on the low-frequency alarm; the surrounding cars either sped up to get away or slowed down to create distance. In short, theirs became the only police car on that stretch of road.

Seeing Atulu’s smug face, Uncle Bing helplessly raised his middle finger and said, “Did you see that Nissan just now? I bet everyone in that car is cursing us.”

Atulu asked, “Then should we charge them for insulting public officials?”

“No, I just want to curse you with them: you damn brat!” Uncle Bing rolled his eyes.

The cause of the traffic jam was a Ford. As the police car approached, Atulu’s voice sounded through the external loudspeaker: “Please accelerate and leave. Thank you for your cooperation.”

But upon hearing that, the Ford pulled over and stopped.

The cars behind it also stopped. Wang Bo didn’t hear the actual cursing, but he certainly saw several middle fingers sticking out of windows.

Seeing that the car not only failed to follow orders but actually stopped, the three officers in the police car were irritated. This was a direct challenge to police authority.

Atulu floored the accelerator and blocked the Ford’s path. The Ford’s door opened, and a man and a woman stepped out with their hands raised, faces full of fear.

Wang Bo froze. They had yellow skin and black eyes—clearly his compatriots, Chinese. He made the judgment not from skin color but from the man’s T-shirt, which was styled after the Chinese national basketball team.

Atulu noticed as well: “Hey, boss, are these your countrymen?”

Wang Bo got out and asked in Chinese, “What happened?”

Hearing him, the woman’s eyes lit up. She shouted, “Officer, please don’t shoot! We didn’t hear your instructions clearly just now!”

Wang Bo was baffled. Shoot? What shoot? He quickly looked back. Both Atulu and Uncle Bing, who had also stepped out, had empty hands.

He first instructed Atulu to move the Ford into a roadside parking bay—Highway No. 8 had plenty of them for sightseeing.

After Atulu got in the Ford and parked it, he climbed out again holding a pretty little girl with braided pigtails from the back seat. The girl was on the verge of tears, biting her finger to keep herself from crying.

Wang Bo then sent Uncle Bing to calm down the drivers behind. He approached the couple and shook their hands. “You don’t need to keep your hands raised. We never said you committed a crime. What’s going on?”

The man gave a bitter smile. “Hello, Mayor Wang. It’s really great to meet a Chinese speaker here. My wife and I came to New Zealand for a self-drive trip during Christmas. Our English isn’t very good. Is there some misunderstanding?”

Wang Bo said, “Welcome to Sunset Town. But why were you driving so slowly? There is a speed limit on this road.”

“We know—120 km/h, right? And some sections are 140 km/h, if I remember correctly?”

Indeed, Highway No. 8 had varying limits: 140 km/h for non-scenic sections and 120 km/h for scenic parts.

But there was also a minimum speed limit—vehicles must maintain above 80 km/h.

Wang Bo explained this. The man was dumbfounded. “We didn’t know that. But weren’t we driving quite fast just now?”

Wang Bo shook his head. “Not even close. You were going 65 km/h.”

Once the Ford cleared the lane, traffic sped up again. Some passing drivers even lowered their windows to shout greetings like “WTF! What are you doing?!”

The couple looked extremely wronged, but Wang Bo couldn’t change the rules. He explained:

New Zealand does not forbid slow driving, but only under certain conditions—if the vehicle itself has performance issues or sudden malfunctions preventing it from reaching the posted speed, then it’s not a violation.

In such cases, if a car behind needs to overtake, the slow driver must yield, even if it means going into the wrong lane. Police won’t cause trouble, and other drivers will even wave in thanks after passing.

But if you’re driving very slowly and refusing to yield, then it becomes illegal.

“What’s the consequence?” the man asked nervously.

“It’s called careless driving,” Wang Bo said helplessly. “The driver may be fined 150 NZD, and in severe cases, lose 20 points from their license.”

“Will we lose points?” the woman asked anxiously.

Wang Bo issued a citation. “No. You’re a special case. The car is fine, but you’re foreign tourists unfamiliar with local rules, so the penalty can be light.”

The fine was only 20 NZD. It wasn’t much, but a violation was a violation—he couldn’t not issue it.

Atulu then brought over a gift box. “This is a Christmas gift for you. Hope it brightens your mood.”

The couple smiled at last. Their daughter curiously rotated the gift box in her arms.

Wang Bo didn’t know what was inside, so after getting in the car he asked. Atulu replied, “It’s a road-rules pamphlet. I found a gift box and ribbon in the car, so I wrapped it. Haha.”

Cheap, but appropriate.

They had the courage to travel abroad with poor English, but going on the road without learning the traffic rules was not ideal. A little reading would certainly help.

Atulu then continued patrolling along the highway with the police car, keeping the low-frequency alarm on. Wherever the police car went, all vehicles sped up to get out of the way.

Naturally, there were no more slow-driving issues.

Seeing Atulu’s delighted prankster grin, Wang Bo rubbed his forehead. Having such a goofy subordinate was disastrous—complaints were inevitable.

They had been warned when installing the low-frequency alarm: This alarm must not be used casually!

At noon, Bartier’s helicopter arrived at the castle. He and his father had already returned home for Christmas, and Wang Bo was borrowing the helicopter.

Wang Bo skipped lunch. After reaching the castle, he received a small box of medicine from Charlie and asked, “This thing only has a sleep effect, right? No side effects? You guarantee it?!”

Charlie nodded. “Don’t worry. Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely guaranteed. It’s an excellent sedative, safer than the sleeping pills sold on the market. But what exactly do you need it for?”

Wang Bo smiled mysteriously. “I’m going to give Eva and Dale a huge surprise.”