"The road is blocked, let's get out and walk."
Su Wu parked the car, strapped a bundle of candles onto his back, hung the Imperial Bell around his neck, and held the burning half of a candle in his hand.
He tilted his head and said to Jiang Yingying, "Stick close to me. If the distance between us gets too far, the lantern rising in the sky will take my life."
His expression was calm.
Clearly, he was speaking of a major matter tied to his own life and death, yet he sounded as if he were talking about a trivial, insignificant matter.
After all, he knew this was a game.
Jiang Yingying did not know; she only felt that this man possessed a cold and powerful aura, as if before him, life and death were simply nothing at all.
She developed a bit of trust in Su Wu, nodded gently, hugged the Emergency Can, and stepped out of the car alongside Su Wu, following closely at his heels step by step.
The Emergency Can did not shit everywhere like other poultry.
Along this entire walk, it hadn't dropped a single turd, which showed that it truly was no ordinary creature.
It was no wonder Jiang Yingying's family allowed her to keep a chicken as a pet.
When raising poultry as pets, the most headache-inducing problem was that they excreted everywhere regardless of the occasion and could not be trained, yet the Emergency Can lacked this fatal flaw.
A gentle breeze rustled a few leaves, casting chaotic shadows illuminated by the streetlamps.
Su Wu and Jiang Yingying walked slowly along the side of the road, seeking footholds amidst the wreckage of vehicles.
Numerous cars had collided together, and black smoke billowed from within the wreckage.
Within the smoke, there was even a scorched, burnt smell as if meat had been over-roasted.
Both of them suppressed their thoughts, avoiding being disturbed in mind by this scent and consequently letting their imaginations run wild.
How could there be so many cars crashed together here?
Observing the steel wreckage before him, Su Wu could even see the corpses of passengers through the black-smoke-wreathed car windows.
Two buses, crashed and squeezed out of shape, formed the main body of this pile of steel wreckage.
Around the two buses, other cars and vans resembled a school of fish gathering and swarming upon smelling blood.
Among the pile of cars, there were even several police cars and ambulances.
The front of one bus faced Su Wu, and the LED electronic route sign on its roof flashed with red light, displaying the number '602'.
Route 602 Bus.
Su Wu furrowed his brow tightly.
Did his colleague Wang Zhiyou often take this bus to and from work?
Wang Zhiyou?!
His heart skipped a beat as he fore-sensed something.
At that moment, Jiang Yingying's faint voice came from behind. One of her hands gently grabbed the corner of Su Wu's clothes, and her tone carried terror: "This place... it seems like that news broadcasted this morning...
Route 602 bus and Route 521 bus collided...
But the news said the place where they collided was Bright Road, this isn't Bright Road..."
Su Wu turned his head and saw Jiang Yingying pointing at the street sign at the intersection.
It read 'Shitang West Road'.
"Let's walk past first." Su Wu nodded, seeing the girl's arm trembling slightly, and reached out to grab her palm.
He pulled Jiang Yingying as they threaded through the vehicle wreckage.
Su Wu walked very quickly, and being pulled by him, Jiang Yingying could only stumble along behind.
The two walked with hurried steps, quickly bypassing that pile of steel wreckage blocking the road. The road ahead of the wreckage was enveloped by a thick gray fog.
Streetlamps lined up in a row along the road, casting only a faint light in the mist.
The red lantern rose at this time, but even its crimson glow failed to shine into the area shrouded by that gray fog.
The situation ahead was very wrong.
Su Wu turned to look behind him; the rear was also enveloped by a hazy gray mist, with the streetlamps stretching straight into the fog, endless for eternity.
Holding Jiang Yingying's hand, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.
The phone that had previously been continuously popping up messages inviting him to join chat groups was now completely motionless, with only the messages from a few minutes ago lingering on the screen, leaving the traces of 'them' having been here.
"The Guis might be coming." Su Wu spoke calmly, reminding Jiang Yingying beside him, "You have to stick close to me."
"Okay, okay..." Jiang Yingying's palms were full of sweat. She similarly realized the eeriness of the current situation and couldn't help gripping Su Wu's hand tighter.
Yet at this moment, Su Wu pulled his hand out from her palm.
Feeling both terrified and aggrieved, Jiang Yingying looked as if she were about to cry again.
Su Wu already knew where the current eeriness stemmed from-it was related to the invitation messages that had previously popped up repeatedly on Su Wu's phone.
They were the Guis in the Boyu Work Group!
Or rather, all the colleagues in the entire work group had turned into Guis.
So this kind of eeriness would manifest in this form? Blocking the road I need to pass?
If I choose to take a detour, what will happen?
If I don't carry a cell phone, can it still track me?
While his thoughts whirled, Su Wu pulled out two candles and renewed their flames. He handed one candle to Jiang Yingying and said, "The rooster might not be useful against the Guis in this fog; hold onto this candle well, it might save you at a critical moment."
Jiang Yingying clutched that candle tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force.
She pressed her lips tightly together, looking into Su Wu's eyes and nodding hard.
As if afraid that Su Wu might suddenly grow impatient with her and abandon her here.
"Don't be afraid, just treat this like a game." Su Wu grinned and laughed.
He silently added a sentence in his heart: "This is a game to begin with."
He turned around and strode forward.
Jiang Yingying pouted, hugging the Emergency Can tightly to her chest with one hand while holding the candle with the other, and hurriedly followed Su Wu forward.
The candlelight flickered, and the thick gray fog all around seemed to dissipate slightly because of this orange flame.
The hazy mist blocked the road ahead, making everything around hazy and indistinct.
It was as if someone were standing within this fog.
Wuu!
A bone-chillingly cold gust of wind swept past, blowing away a portion of the mist and causing the candlelight in both of their hands to tremble violently.
The two candles that had just been lit suddenly burned away one-third of their volume in an instant!
Watching the candle in her hand instantly vanish by one-third of its length, Jiang Yingying's face turned instantly pale as paper!
Her gaze crossed over Su Wu's figure, seeing a 'person' suddenly step out from the hazy fog ahead!
"Mmm!" That person's appearance made her cover her mouth, terrified that she would cry out from fright!
The left side of that person's head was caved in, and some fresh blood gushed out continuously from amidst the hair.
'His' left arm lacked skin wrapping, exposing bloody tendons, yellowish-white fat, and bones.
'He' stood on the ground with one foot treading in a charred sneaker, while the part of the other leg below the knee was completely empty.
Yet 'he' stood steadily despite having only a single foot planted on the ground!
"Su Wu, why didn't you and Tu Shu go to work today?"
That person's blood-red eyes stared fixedly at Su Wu, asking sternly in tone.
As 'he' spoke, 'he' took a step forward with that single foot, walking toward Su Wu step by step.
The surging gray fog rolled forward along with 'he', overwhelming Su Wu and Jiang Yingying!
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