Chapter 1041: Rescuing Lin Sanjiu... Should We Give Up?
Full t.i.tle: The Difficult and Dangerous Road to Rescuing Lin Sanjiu... Should We Give Up?
Being someone who wasn"t skilled at driving to begin with, Bohemia already had her hands full trying to maneuver on the dimly lit road. Now, with a furry creature between her feet, searching and wriggling around the area beneath the seats— it was a recipe for disaster. Soon enough, within a couple of minutes, the truck, as if determined to meet its demise, plowed straight into a road barrier ahead, prompting a cry of alarm from Bohemia.
Thanks to their quick reactions, Bohemia and Dr. Hu swiftly leaped out in opposite directions. Just as the front of the truck collided with the barrier, Bohemia kicked open the door, while Dr. Hu shattered the window, and they both rolled a considerable distance on the ground. They had just regained their footing when they heard the resounding crash behind them. The front of the truck was deeply lodged in the barrier, its deformed shape accompanying the lingering echoes of the impact.
"Why were you darting around by the gas pedal—"
Seeing their transportation vehicle destroyed, Bohemia was about to voice her complaint when she locked eyes with a pair of cat eyes in the night. It suddenly occurred to her that she had been talking to the cat doctor. "Ah, I"m really sorry! Please don"t mind me. I thought you were Lin Sanjiu just now."
Meowie Hu wasn"t pleased, but he maintained his composure. "Please be more careful next time. Do you think I enjoy staying under people"s feet? I was also checking for any danger inside the vehicle."
"Yes, you"re absolutely right. I was out of line. Did you find anything just now?"
The little cat didn"t answer immediately. It took the time to groom itself, licking down the raised fur on its back, before asking, "How do I look now?"
"Dignified and outstanding! Unforgettable at first sight!"
"Ah, so you"re that type."
As Dr. Hu groomed its fur, it observed the truck in the distance emitting black smoke and replied, "Don"t worry, I checked everything just now, and everything seems normal. The previous driver likely died due to other reasons. I"ve heard of cases in which drivers died from sudden cardiac arrest caused by fright during a series of accidents... Unfortunately, we can"t perform an autopsy on him. Well, I startled myself for no reason, and it"s a shame about this truck. Without it, we"ll have to rely on our four legs to enter the city."
"For such a long journey, I can"t let you go alone! If you don"t mind, please sit on my—" Bohemia had one more word, "shoulder," left unsaid when she suddenly sensed something move from the corner of her eye. She immediately turned her head.
In the dim night, the truck, which had been twisted and lodged into the guardrail, had one side of its doors slowly creaking open. After the steel frame of the car had been bent out of shape, the door made a faint "creak, creak" noise as it opened.
Both their eyes fixated on the slowly widening door. It was the door on the driver"s side, and they weren"t sure when it had been closed. In this still night, devoid of any breeze, it appeared as if someone or something had pushed it open gradually, revealing the driver"s seat, which seemed like a dark, bottomless abyss.
There was no sight of a hand pus.h.i.+ng the door, nor did any feet step out of the car.
But the door continued to open at a steady pace, widening further, as if a ma.s.sive ent.i.ty was about to emerge.
Meowie Hu was startled once again, letting out a low, almost inaudible cat-like sound. "Is it the wind...?"
If it weren"t for the respected cat doctor, Bohemia would have already ridiculed this hopeful notion. Instead, she kept her voice low and polite. "How could the wind be pus.h.i.+ng the door from the inside? Besides, the door is quite heavy."
The cat"s tail immediately fluffed up several times. "What is it then? Never mind, let"s just get out of here quickly!"
Well, at least even in a state of panic, it remembered to keep its voice extremely low, almost like a low rumble in its throat.
Bohemia half-crouched, her gaze locked on the truck ahead. Since she didn"t dare to turn her back, she had to back away step by step on the road, with Dr. Hu following her lead. The road they came from was no longer an option, and the road ahead was blocked by the truck. Fortunately, she remembered pa.s.sing a side road not far from here.
Under the unblinking gazes of Bohemia and Meowie Hu, the truck"s door finally stopped opening when it reached its maximum range.
From the open driver"s seat, one could vaguely discern the edge of a seat, half of an instrument panel, and half of a steering wheel... All obscured in the dark, with only a faint glimmer of light seeping through the winds.h.i.+eld, revealing a range of shadows but nothing else unusual.
There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary.
"It... it seems like no one"s inside," Dr. Hu with better night vision, murmured, its voice trembling. "There"s also nothing else moving—eh?"
Bohemia was startled, and her gaze instinctively s.h.i.+fted from the driver"s cabin to Dr. Hu, then quickly back to the truck. When her eyes fell on the truck again, she couldn"t help but exclaim, "Eh?"
"You... you also noticed?" Meowie Hu asked with a trembling voice.
Bohemia doubted her own eyes.
Dr. Hu was right— there was indeed nothing inside the driver"s seat, no one, no meat sprouts, and no duoluozhong. The only strange thing was that, when she looked at the driver"s seat again, she felt... she felt like the driver"s seat was "sliding out."
Just a moment ago, she could only see a seat edge about the width of a finger, but now she could see half a palm"s width of the driver"s seat. The steering wheel emerged more than halfway, almost forming a complete circle. The winds.h.i.+eld ignored the frame"s constraints and silently moved out, with almost half of it overlapping with the door"s gla.s.s. The rearview mirror, dashboard... all followed and slid out of the door, becoming more and more visible.
"It"s the entire interior of the truck!" Bohemia exclaimed in horror. She bent down and scooped up Dr. Hu, then turned and ran as fast as her legs could carry her. "The entire interior of that truck... it"s coming out of the door!"
It was like a model glued to a steel frame—no, that a.n.a.logy wasn"t accurate enough. Perhaps it would be better to say that the steel frame contained a three-dimensional hologram, where the seats and pedals were all part of the projection. And now, that three-dimensional hologram had come to life, opening the door and stepping out.
Dr. Hu clung to Bohemia"s shoulder, with only its head visible, staring intently behind them.
As soon as the three-dimensional hologram touched the ground, it began to melt and deform slightly, just like the asphalt on a scorching summer day. What was once a well-structured interior of the truck was quickly becoming a murky ma.s.s of dirty colors, and shapeless and tangled lines, making it impossible to distinguish even the steering wheel from the pedals.
Once it detached from the truck, the ma.s.s stood up like a person and turned towards Bohemia"s back.
"It seems like it wants to chase after us!" the little cat lamented.
Bohemia looked back and almost tripped over her own feet, increasing her speed even more.
"What the h.e.l.l is that thing? How can there be such unreasonable things in this world? I don"t want to rescue Lin Sanjiu anymore. She should be the one coming to rescue me! Ahhh!"
With her voice stretching as she sprinted, Bohemia and Dr. Hu dove into a mountain tunnel.