Chapter 3

With everyone's concerted efforts, one by one, the bodies were carried out from the broken bus, and the injured were placed to one side.

Including the driver, there were a total of seventeen people on the bus.

Four of them did not survive the accident, and another three died in the mouth of the wolf-headed creature. The remaining people were also severely injured.

Those who could truly move were only five.

Among them was Zhou Jia.

Fortunately, there was a doctor on the bus who had brought some first aid supplies, and he managed to stabilize the injuries of the others.

"Huff..."

Zhou Jia placed the already cold body of the old woman against a tree, looked at the terrified expression on her face, and sighed helplessly.

The old woman was likely a local resident, carrying some vegetables, meat, and a brand new frying pan, seemingly having just bought groceries and planning to return home.

The frying pan had been a great help to him just now.

"Zhou Jia!"

Dr. Qin, who had finished tending to the injured, straightened up, wiped the sweat from his face, and said:

"The medicine I have can only provide emergency treatment; it won't do much in the long run. We need to get an ambulance from the hospital as soon as possible, or else..."

Shaking his head, he continued:

"There's no signal here; we need to go out of the mountains to find help."

"Yes, yes!"

The woman who spoke was named Tao Hong, who had been scolded by her aunt not long ago.

As for her aunt, her legs were entangled and deformed by tree branches during the accident, and she was lying to one side, gasping for breath in pain.

Seeing her aunt suffering from broken legs, she had been crying all along.

"Who will go to find help?" Zhou Jia asked.

With so many injured people and the uncertainty of whether there were more of those creatures nearby, it was essential to leave some people behind to take care of them.

"I will stay with Dr. Qin," a young man with a buzz cut said, patting his right leg.

"Given my condition, I can't go out anyway."

The young man had an injury on his leg, but otherwise, he was fine, and he could move around normally as long as he didn't engage in strenuous activities.

"Alright," Dr. Qin nodded.

"The most important thing now is to call for help. Don't worry; we have steel pipes. Even if those creatures come back, we won't be afraid."

The steel pipes he mentioned were taken from the bus, about three fingers thick, with spikes at the front, and they would certainly be powerful when thrust out.

Although the wolf-headed creature looked terrifying, it was ultimately made of flesh and blood. Two people with weapons could handle it.

As long as they didn't panic, there would be no problem.

"Alright!" Zhou Jia nodded.

"We'll go now."

Without delay, he, Tao Hong, and a car mechanic named Su Qiang gathered their things and set out to find help.

Su Qiang held a steel pipe, while Zhou Jia gripped the frying pan.

There weren't enough steel pipes, and he was already used to his "weapon," so he didn't bother to change it.

Tao Hong was responsible for carrying the signal receiver found on the bus, checking for a signal at all times.

The forest was dense with vines and thorns, and the terrain was uneven, far from the smooth paths seen in movies.

"Zhou Jia," Su Qiang said, sweeping away the vines in front of him with a stick.

"Are you from around here?"

His accent was more like that of southern Fujian, and his Mandarin was not standard. Zhou Jia thought for a moment before nodding:

"My home is in Zhouzhai, just beyond this mountain."

"Oh!" Su Qiang looked up, the dense branches blocking the sky, with only a few rays of sunlight filtering through.

"Is the forest around here large?"

"Not really," Zhou Jia shook his head.

"There aren't many mountains here, and the forest is only a few miles wide."

The locals didn't even call it a forest; they referred to it as a small grove.

That's why he and Dr. Qin didn't think it would be a problem to go out and find help; it was just a matter of time.

"Is that so?" Su Qiang frowned.

"Why do I feel like this forest is huge? We've been walking for so long and haven't seen a road yet."

"It won't be," Zhou Jia smiled, pointing ahead.

"There's a high slope over there. I'll go and check. I should be able to see the road at the foot of the mountain and check for a signal."

With that, he took a big step and ran toward the high slope.

During the accident, he had been injured, but now, for some reason, his injuries were completely gone, and he felt full of energy.

His skin had become taut, like a layer of tough cowhide.

Zhou Jia suspected that these changes were related to the aura emitted by the wolf-headed creature, but he didn't think anyone would believe him if he said so.

So he kept it to himself.

Climbing up the high slope, he caught his breath, and then looked into the distance.

The next moment, he froze, not moving for a long time.

"What's wrong?"

Su Qiang's puzzled voice came from behind, and then he and Tao Hong helped each other up the slope, looking in the same direction.

The scene was suddenly silent.

The three of them stood there, with only the mountain wind howling.

What they saw was a vast expanse of mountains and dense forests, with mist rising at the horizon. The countless leaves of the trees swayed like waves under the mountain wind, making it hard to see the edge.

There was no mountain road, no cars speeding by, and no city in the distance as it should have been.

The most shocking thing was the sky.

Three celestial bodies of different sizes hung in the sky, a red, a dark, and a white sun, casting a glow that should belong to the evening.

Because the largest one looked very much like the sun, and the forest was too dense, they had overlooked the abnormality in the sky.

At this moment, Zhou Jia and the others felt as if their heads were about to explode, at a loss for what to do. The scene before them was too bizarre, even terrifying.

"Where's the road?"

"How... can there be three suns?"

"What is this..."

"What place is this!"

The three of them looked terrified, their hearts chilled.

Suddenly, the entire world had changed, and everything before them was completely different from what they remembered, unfamiliar and frightening.

Could it be that...

A car accident had brought them to another world?

"Stop!"

"Don't let it escape!"

"Monkey, block it!"

At this moment, a series of shouts came from the dense forest ahead, and the familiar Mandarin made Zhou Jia suddenly come to his senses.

Someone?

"I'll go and check!"

He shouted to the two of them and leaped down.

The surge of emotion made him forget to conserve his energy, and he soon saw a group of people shouting and running toward them.

The first to come into view was another wolf-headed creature.

However, unlike the one they had encountered on the bus, this one was covered in blood and wounds, showing no signs of aggression.

"Ahh!"

Seeing Zhou Jia blocking its path, the wolf-headed creature roared and lunged at him with its front claws.

"Monster!"

Zhou Jia's eyes narrowed. The recent encounter had made him both afraid and hateful of this creature. Without hesitation, he swung the frying pan in his hand.

Without holding back, he didn't notice that he was swinging it much faster than before.

The force was also much stronger.

The heavy frying pan sliced through the air, creating a whistling sound.

"Thud!"

With a dull thud, the wolf-headed creature's head drooped, and its already injured neck deformed and twisted under the impact.

"Ow..."

It let out a mournful cry and fell to the ground.

A mysterious aura appeared again, entering Zhou Jia's body.

After the aura entered his body, it instantly spread throughout his limbs, giving him a feeling as if he had taken a powerful tonic.

"Hmm..."

Without needing to test it, Zhou Jia knew that his strength had increased, and his skin had become even tougher.

"You..."

The few people chasing behind were stunned, and the two closest to him looked frustrated.

"Damn, just a little more."

"Don't just stand there; there's another small one over there. Don't let it escape." A loud voice from behind made the group stop.

Zhou Jia looked over and saw a small wolf-headed creature, about one meter tall, darting around in the crowd.

This small creature was already injured and was in a precarious situation under the group's assault.

"Die!"

Someone shouted and kicked it hard, the sound of bones breaking clearly audible.

Seeing someone about to finish off the small creature, a white figure suddenly rushed out from the side, spreading its arms in front of the small monster:

"Stop!"