Chapter 128: The Bizarre Car Accident

This is truly bizarre.

The two men stood before the front bumper, staring at each other with wide eyes, both unable to utter a single word. After a long moment, the driver, Old Wu, finally snapped out of it. He lit a cigarette, took a few deep, harsh drags, and said in a muffled voice, "Let's go! Get in the car!"

Cui Yue nodded and hurriedly pulled his collar up. With grim expressions, they climbed back into the vehicle one after the other. As he boarded, Cui Yue stole a glance at the thin, tall man in the back row, his heart filled with unease. The man remained in his original posture, motionless, as if he were completely unaware of what had just transpired, his hollow eyes staring blankly at some unknown point.

"I must not have checked the almanac before leaving today; why do I keep running into such unholy things?" Old Wu muttered to himself while patting his coat pockets, hoping to find a drink to steady his nerves. After searching for a while and finding nothing, he remembered that he had offered his liquor to the mountain god at Miaoyeling. With no drink to keep him company, he gave up.

The car crawled slowly along the road. After the previous eerie encounter, Old Wu was extra vigilant, his eyes wide open, terrified that something else might happen. Cui Yue was even more tense, holding his breath and focusing all his energy, wishing he could sprout wings to fly over this mountain ridge.

They remained silent throughout the journey, the cabin filled only with their stifled breathing. Suddenly, a black shadow appeared out of thin air in the middle of the road. The speeding car had no room to maneuver and slammed into it once more.

"Screech..."

The harsh sound of brakes rang out again. This time, Cui Yue saw it clearly—there was no doubt about it! It was the figure of a woman, her hair disheveled and hanging loose!

Old Wu’s heart nearly stopped from terror, and he instinctively slammed the brake pedal to the floor. Both men were deathly pale. Cui Yue knew that Old Wu had seen it clearly this time as well; it was undeniably the silhouette of a woman.

"Wh-what do we do?" Old Wu stuttered.

Cui Yue, trying to bolster his courage, said, "Come on, let's go check!" With that, he turned, grabbed his flashlight, opened the door, and stepped out.

But the bizarre occurrence repeated itself. The area in front of the car was completely empty; not even a single strand of hair could be found.

***

Back in the car, they sat in silence for a long while before Old Wu slowly started the engine again. "It seems we’ve run into something unclean tonight—it’s latched onto us!"

Cui Yue nodded, his hand instinctively moving toward the small peach-wood sword inside his jacket. "What should we do then?"

"Don't be afraid. We’ll just keep going. There are talismans on the car; it can't get in. As long as we hold on a little longer, we’ll be at Houchuan Town."

Given the circumstances, that was all they could do. Cui Yue thought of the strange man in the back and turned to look. The thin, tall man was sitting with his arms crossed against the back of the seat, his eyes slightly closed, acting as if nothing had happened at all!

Cui Yue felt an urge to rush over, grab the man, and see what kind of trick he was pulling and what exactly he was up to.

This place was not safe to linger!

This time, Old Wu was driven by desperation. He floored the gas pedal, and the car shot forward like a gust of wind. *I don’t care what kind of thing you are, I’m charging right through!*

The minibus roared as it surged forward, its tailpipe spewing a cloud of black smoke. It felt like a dying beast—all sound and fury, but lacking true strength. The dark night was so heavy it seemed impossible to penetrate; the dim headlights could barely cut through the mist ahead. They were drifting through a desolate void, neither in the world of the living nor the afterlife.

The prolonged mental strain was torture for Old Wu. His undershirt was already soaked through, his hands gripped the steering wheel with white-knuckled intensity, and as his eyelids began to droop...

*CRACK!* A deafening sound!

A shadow slammed directly onto the windshield!

Old Wu was startled. Even though he had braced himself, the suddenness still gave him a jolt. However, relying on his expert driving skills, he kept a firm grip on the wheel and actually pressed down harder on the accelerator!

"Wooo—wooo..."

The car didn't hesitate, surging forward at full power.

"Damn you! I'll fight you to the end!" Old Wu roared through gritted teeth, pouring all his strength into the vehicle as they charged ahead.

Cui Yue gripped the back of the seat in front of him, staring intently at the windshield, cursing under his breath. *Where did this wilderness ghost come from? Has it lost its mind, repeatedly throwing itself at a moving car? This is pure masochism.*

Old Wu panted heavily, spitting out a mouthful of air as if to vent the foul energy in his chest. "Come on then! You want to latch onto me? If I don't smash you into pieces, I’ll write my name backward!"

Cui Yue nodded silently. They say the most dangerous people talk the least, but Brother Wu was truly unleashing his inner fire.

*Squeak, squeak.* A jarring, teeth-grinding noise erupted.

The windshield wipers suddenly started moving on their own, swaying left and right with frantic, insane energy.

Old Wu quickly turned his head, thinking he had accidentally hit the switch.

A twisted face was pressed against the glass, upside down.

Disheveled, long hair hung down from the roof of the car like a black curtain draped over the windshield. On the distorted face, the flesh was turned inside out. One eye was completely white, devoid of any pupil, while the other was missing entirely, leaving behind a bloody, hollow socket.

Most terrifying of all was the mouth: a long, scarlet tongue hung out, pressed against the glass, writhing wantonly.

The female ghost was crawling upside down on the roof, her white eye staring through the glass at the men inside, a sinister, twisted smile playing on her lips.

*SLAP!*

Suddenly, a mangled hand slammed against the glass!

"AH!"

Cui Yue and Old Wu both screamed!

Old Wu could no longer maintain his composure. He jerked the steering wheel, and the car veered sharply, swaying like a drunkard and tracing a massive "S" shape across the road.

*BANG!* It crashed into the cliffside by the road.

"Ouch!"

Cui Yue was thrown under the seat, his ribs slamming into a protruding metal bar, causing a sharp, searing pain. He struggled to crawl up, only to see Old Wu slumped over the steering wheel, covered in blood, his condition unknown.

The female ghost on the glass was gone. The windshield was shattered into a spiderweb of cracks, with fragments scattered all over the floor.

"Old Wu! Old Wu! Are you alright?" Cui Yue groaned through the pain.

Old Wu, his face a mask of blood, struggled to lift his head and spat out a mouthful of sanguine foam. "I... I'm not dead yet."

Cui Yue managed to pull himself up by holding onto the seat. The violent collision made everything blurry; the world was spinning. He shook his head vigorously, trying to see more clearly. The cabin was dim, and as the surroundings slowly came back into focus, the double vision faded.

It was then that Cui Yue noticed the thin, tall man from the back seat was gone. The large red suitcase still sat under the empty seat, but the man had vanished into thin air.

Where did he go?

Cui Yue had felt all along that something was wrong with that thin man. Now, it was clear that something had gone terribly wrong!