"This damn car can't be ridden any longer!" Stan opened the car door, got out, and walked towards the roadside. He looked around and realized he was already near the airport. The remaining distance could be covered on foot. Stan noticed that several passengers from the accident vehicles also got out of their cars, while some chose to stay inside. After a while, all the vehicles gradually restarted successfully and continued moving forward. Those without passengers drove towards the nearest highway exit according to their pre-set programs, heading to new target destinations. Some of the disembarked passengers walked to the nearest pickup point, while others, like Stan, stepped into the airport.

Inside the airport, Stan encountered a robot guide. After clarifying his purpose, the robot designated a navigation path on Stan's phone, directing him to the departing passenger lounge. Stan briskly walked towards his destination. The airport hall was vast, with a large round dome supported by a honeycomb-like steel structure. Several intersecting aerial walkways crisscrossed, with people hurrying along them. The entire space was frequently traversed by drones.

On his way to the lounge, Stan noticed a massive display screen beside the aerial walkway, broadcasting news about the traffic chaos he had just experienced: "This unprecedented global traffic chaos caused by autonomous vehicles was quickly resolved." "A global autonomous driving failure? Good thing it was car failures. If it were autonomous planes, it would have been a much bigger problem!" Stan's thoughts were interrupted by a voice, "Xiao Lee!" It was his mother-in-law, who saw him first. Just then, a cruising drone suddenly rushed towards Stan...

Just as Stan was about to be hit by the drone, his mother-in-law threw her folding fan at the drone, knocking it away. The scene startled Stan, leaving him standing there in shock. "Are you OK?" his mother-in-law hurried to Stan's side and asked with clumsy but concerned English. "I'm fine, thank you, Mrs. Mao," Stan replied gratefully. Mrs. Mao, his mother-in-law, was a Taoist from China who knew a lot about Qimen Dunjia and some Chinese kung fu.

Mrs. Mao said in English, "No! No! No! You should call me mother!" In China, spouses call each other's parents mom and dad, and the parents insist on being called that. Stan had never gotten used to this form of address and responded awkwardly, "Okay, mom!" Just then, the surrounding people began to exclaim in surprise as many drones in the air started to fly wildly, as if they were drunk. But AI can't get drunk, can it? Mrs. Mao reacted faster than Stan. She quickly went to her luggage and pulled out an umbrella. The surface of the umbrella was made of oil-soaked paper, and the bamboo ribs were much denser than those of the umbrellas we usually use. Mrs. Mao opened the umbrella, took out a bottle of liquid, and poured it directly onto the umbrella. Then she took out a few packets of instant noodles, crushed them on the ground, and sprinkled the powder onto the umbrella.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Holding the umbrella and her luggage, she returned to Stan's side, grabbed him, and ran out of the airport hall. As they ran, drones kept bumping into them, but they were all blocked by Mrs. Mao's umbrella. Stan and his party ran out of the airport hall in one breath. Outside the hall, there were not as many drones flying around, although a few delivery drones in the distance were also flying erratically. Mrs. Mao threw the umbrella to the ground. Stan picked it up and tried to close it, but found it was stiff and couldn't be folded back. Mrs. Mao explained, "That bottle was 520 glue. 520 glue mixed with instant noodle powder can fix anything! Haven't you seen it on TikTok? An umbrella treated like this can't be folded back, just throw it away!"

Ms. Mao adjusted her breathing to calm her heartbeat after the intense exercise. Only now did Stan have time to carefully observe Ms. Mao. Stan had seen her before at his own wedding with Fang Lu. She had curly hair and wore a green coat with a large floral decoration on the chest, green pants, and leather shoes. She seemed like a typical plump, bossy Chinese auntie who didn't look easy to get along with. However, Fang Lu had mentioned that once a Chinese auntie truly considers you as family, her attitude changes significantly. Today's actions of Ms. Mao proved Fang Lu's words right.

In Stan's eyes, Ms. Mao seemed much gentler today, even reminding him of his own mother, although her recent actions were far from gentle. The sunset in Stan's small town of Riverside was beautiful, and the area around the airport was very open. By this time, the sun had completely set below the horizon, but the light emanating from it was still illuminating the wobbling delivery drones.

Ms. Mao pulled on her red jacket and asked Stan, "Where is your car?" This question pulled Stan back to reality from his post-survival relief. Stan explained to Ms. Mao what had happened on the way to the airport, then pondered for a moment and said, "With all these things happening one after another, I think it's better not to take a self-driving vehicle home today."

"Then just drive yourself!" suggested Ms. Mao.

Stan shrugged, "I don't have a driver's license. Nowadays, it's all self-driving vehicles, so very few people get a driver's license. I can contact the taxi company and request a manually driven car to pick us up. Such services are usually used for transporting valuable goods, with the driver also acting as the cargo custodian."

Ms. Mao waved her hand, "Why spend that money? I have a driver's license. I've been driving for 30 years, I can drive any car, I have an A1 license!!!" Stan thought for a moment, "Getting a car is easy, there's a car rental company nearby since we're at the airport, but your driver's license is from China, right?"

"Uh..." It seemed that Ms. Mao, who could do everything, was stumped. However, Stan finally decided to go to the car rental company first. Firstly, calling for a manually driven taxi was indeed expensive. Secondly, regarding the issue of using a driver's license internationally, he wanted to see if the car rental company could help. After all, now you can take a driving test directly through a simulator. If you already know how to drive, you can pass the test on the simulator and get a license on the spot.