Chapter 65: News

After the lights went out, the entire gas station service area fell into darkness. But it was not complete darkness. The people who stayed in the vehicle could clearly see many busy figures appearing in the gas station service area. Some of them held cleaning rags, some held water hoses, and others held fuel nozzles…

If you walked closer to them, you would find that they were all gas station employees. However, at this moment, all of them were enveloped in a layer of Black Mist. Under the shroud of the Black Mist, their expressions appeared extremely fierce.

Just as Sun Yujiao looked over in that direction, all the ‘people’ in the gas station seemed to sense something. They all turned to look toward the direction of the Minibus on the highway and left their spots, quickly running over.

“Hey! You… ghosts!!”

Sun Yujiao originally wanted to greet the ‘people’ running over, but she soon saw clearly what kind of ‘people’ they were. She screamed in terror and tried hard to shrink her body back into the Minibus.

But she got herself stuck in the door gap. Earlier, she wanted to get down but couldn’t, and now she wanted to get back in but couldn’t either.

The moment all the lights at the gas station went out, Lü Yang noticed something else… the Large Truck that was heading straight toward them suddenly stopped in place. It felt as if time had frozen.

Hearing Sun Yujiao’s screams for help, Lü Yang was about to stand up and reach out to pull her in when an extremely strong feeling of dread came from the direction of the gas station. This dread made his body unable to move for a moment…

A powerful, unknown, inexplicable threat and the feeling of being watched—this was not the first time Lü Yang had felt this.

Several gas station employees surrounded by Black Mist had already rushed onto the highway and reached the Minibus. One of the ‘people’ reached out and grabbed Sun Yujiao’s leg, which was stuck outside the Minibus door. A few others moved around to the front of the Minibus, preparing to climb in through the broken window.

It was then that Lü Yang noticed that the Minibus’s headlights had also gone out along with the lights in the service area earlier!

“Help me!”

After her leg was grabbed by the figure shrouded in Black Mist, Sun Yujiao felt intense pain. In just a moment, one of her legs was completely swallowed by the Black Mist, vanishing without a trace.

Yi Qiuhong in the vehicle rushed over and desperately pulled Sun Yujiao’s body, finally yanking her into the Minibus. The Minibus door closed by itself. However, several gas station employees had already moved to the front of the Minibus, preparing to climb in through the broken window.

More gas station employees rushed over, surrounding the Minibus and pounding on the windows, trying to break in.

“What are these things!?” Lü Yang cursed loudly. He stood up from his seat, took a few steps back, and looked around, trying to find something to use as a temporary weapon to defend against them.

Although he had some thoughts about this Mysterious Domain, these humanoid monsters that appeared from nowhere when the lights went out, with their dark armor, were something he simply couldn’t understand.

“BOOM!!!!”

A loud explosion occurred at the gas station—the direction from which Lü Yang had felt the dread. A huge flame burst into the sky. The brightness of the fire, like a small Nuclear Explosion, instantly illuminated everything around as bright as day. However, Lü Yang, who was inside the Minibus, only heard an extremely shocking sound and felt no blast wave from the explosion.

“Such a big fire!” Yi Qiuhong was completely stunned by what she saw outside the window.

Under the dazzling light, the Black Mist surrounding the gas station employees trying to climb into the Minibus instantly burned away. Their True Bodies also turned into wisps of black smoke and quickly vanished around the Minibus.

“My leg!”

Sun Yujiao burst into tears. A moment later, she looked toward the Large Truck on the opposite side of the highway, which had originally stopped but was now charging toward them again. Sun Yujiao shouted at Lü Yang, “What are you doing? Hurry up and find a way to avoid that Large Truck!”

“We can’t avoid it. The only Path of Survival here is to die in this fading world before the Ashes Urn with our names appears. Only then can we wake up in time in the Real world! Otherwise, it will really be too late. What those who died earlier forgot wasn’t the car crash, nor that they had died—it was actually…”

Just as Lü Yang was speaking to the two women in the vehicle, the Large Truck on the opposite side started moving slowly from its stopped state. After crossing the highway’s median barrier, it suddenly accelerated…

With a dull “thud,” the front of the Large Truck violently collided with the front of the Minibus.

Metal, squeezing, crashing, twisting…

A nightmare.

Lü Yang fell from the half-mountain cliff and hit the ground hard.

A strong smell of gasoline.

A mouthful of salty, bloody foam.

After waking from the nightmare, Lü Yang felt intense pain all over his body, especially around his left elbow. He used his right hand to feel his left elbow, then clenched his teeth, gripped his left forearm, and with a sudden force, popped his dislocated left elbow joint back into place.

Lü Yang let out a cry of pain, but he didn’t dare stop. He immediately stretched out one foot and kicked hard at the deformed, shattered window beside him. The window fell out with a crash.

The smell of gasoline grew stronger.

Lü Yang wanted to climb out but was blocked by his large travel bag placed by the window. He had no choice but to throw the bag out through the kicked-open window first. Just as he was about to climb out, he heard cries for help and moans from inside the vehicle.

It was from Yi Qiuhong and Sun Yujiao.

The smell of gasoline grew stronger.

…

“That concludes our coverage on the Death Livestream related to the Death Killer. Our reporters will continue to follow this matter. If there are any developments, we will inform the public promptly. We also hope all citizens remain vigilant, assist, and cooperate with the police investigation to bring the Death Killer to justice as soon as possible…”

“Now, a news update just received from our reporter…”

“One hour ago, around ten o’clock tonight, a severe car accident occurred near the Xingyue Gas Station service area, twelve kilometers from the Guishe City toll station on the Guicang Expressway…”

“A Large Truck suddenly veered across the median barrier while driving and collided head-on with an oncoming passenger Minibus…”

“The Minibus driver died on the spot. Shortly after, both vehicles caught fire one after the other. According to preliminary police statistics, there were eleven passengers on the Minibus besides the driver. Among them, eight died, one was seriously injured, one sustained minor injuries, and one is missing…”

“An eyewitness called our reporter with a tip, stating that the missing person is a male. He left alone carrying a large travel bag after rescuing two injured individuals. Our reporter is verifying this information…”

“There were two drivers in the Large Truck. The one driving died on the spot, while the other was sleeping and managed to escape from the vehicle in time after the incident…”

“Police preliminary analysis suggests the accident might have been caused by the Large Truck driver eating instant noodles while driving, leading to a lack of concentration. While trying to avoid an overtaking vehicle, he accidentally crossed the Highway’s median barrier and couldn’t brake in time, resulting in this severe crash… Here, our reporter reminds all long-distance drivers: please do not eat instant noodles while driving…”