American homeless people, surviving in the city

Before the accident, Lynch had glanced at the cliff next to the road a few times out of the corner of his eye while driving.

In his memory, although the cliff was not very deep, the angle between the cliff face and the valley floor was almost vertical, and only occasionally could one see a few small trees growing on the barren cliff face.

Just over ten minutes ago, he didn't care about it at all. After all, he couldn't have imagined that just over ten minutes later he would fall to the bottom of the abyss after a mysterious car accident.

Now, facing this steep cliff, he felt nothing but utter despair.

"...There's no way he could climb up there."

Lin Qi muttered to himself. But even as he said this, he walked to the edge of the cliff and tried to reach out his hand towards the cliff face.

The stones were cold and damp, with clumps of soil between them, making them look rather unstable.

Lin Qi found a suitable angle on the cliff and tried to climb up, but before he had climbed very far, he stepped on a loose rock, lost his balance, and fell heavily to the ground.

"Damn! That fucking hurts..."

Lin Qi clutched the back of his head, instinctively uttered a vulgar curse, and staggered to his feet.

The hand covering the back of his head was quickly soaked with a wet, warm liquid, and a faint smell of blood filled the air. Clearly, the fall had left him with another wound of unknown size on the back of his head.

"...As expected, with my mediocre rock climbing skills, it's impossible to climb up such a steep rock face."

"Even professional rock climbers would probably think twice before climbing this wet rock face in the pitch black of night."

Moreover, when Lynch attempted to climb the rock face, the pain throughout his body intensified immediately. His numerous wounds, large and small, protested fiercely, with the long, narrow wound on his left arm bleeding profusely from the strenuous activity.

Lynch decisively gave up on continuing the attempt.

But this also means that he is trapped.

They were trapped in this cold, damp, and pitch-black mountain forest.

......

The familiar anxiety returned, causing Lynch to gasp for breath.

But this time, Lin Qi quickly calmed down completely.

On the one hand, it's because his mental fortitude has indeed been forged into something increasingly resilient through his previous experiences;

On the other hand, ultimately, compared to confronting a cult entrenched in the streets, being trapped in the wilderness and dense forest at night didn't put much pressure on Lynch.

Of course, if this seemingly accidental car accident was also related to a cult, then that would be a different story. However, the connection between the two incidents was not yet clear, and Lin Qi did not think too much about it.

...Since we can't leave from here, we have to find another way out of the valley.

Lin Qi quickly sorted out his thoughts and clarified his main goal for the next step.

He was still somewhat confident that he could leave the valley.

Although the valley was pitch black, it was still the outskirts of Seattle, a major American city, and not a truly desolate wilderness.

If you keep going straight in one direction, as long as you don't get lost in the valley, you should be able to find a populated area soon, or at least find another road.

Therefore, despite experiencing so many unexpected events, Lynch was able to control his emotions and maintain a relatively peaceful state of mind for the time being.

After all, panicking won't help.

However, Lin Qi had a bad feeling.

The difficulties he faces seem to extend beyond just this damp, cold, and gloomy mountain forest.

After gathering his thoughts, Lin Qi looked around.

Before setting off to find a way out of the valley, he wanted to find a well-lit place to treat his injuries.

Since there was only moonlight, the nearby dense forest was frighteningly dark. At least one needed to find a clearing without branches and leaves to make full use of the already dim moonlight.

But after scanning the area, Lin Qi suddenly noticed something flickering erratically in a certain direction not far away.

Judging from the color of the light, it looked like firelight!

Lin Qi's heart sank slightly. He immediately recalled that the black sedan that had been driving in front of him had also been rear-ended by another car and crashed off the cliff.

He immediately realized that the flickering flames over there were probably from the black sedan that had crashed off the cliff and was now burning fiercely!

After a brief internal struggle, his instinct for light drove him to immediately walk toward the flame.

The road wasn't far, but Lin Qi found it somewhat difficult to walk.

The weeds under his feet were all wet, and the cool dew seeped into his shoes, making Lynch's feet icy cold. Since he couldn't see the road at all, he could only raise his hands and literally "grope in the dark" to move forward. Every now and then, bushes and branches would brush against his skin and even scratch the wounds on his body.

These sharp, piercing sounds from the darkness, coupled with the howling, damp, and chilly night wind in the valley, made Lin Qi shiver uncontrollably.

To make matters worse, the cold and pain accelerated the loss of energy, and Lynch felt his stomach growling.

Being in such an environment is unbearable no matter what.

But at least, the flickering flame in the distance remained steadily in Lynch's field of vision, getting closer and closer.

This gave Lynch some comfort; at least, in this boundless darkness, he had a definite anchor point.

Soon, the fallen black car came into Lin Qi's view, and as Lin Qi gradually approached, he was able to see its appearance more clearly.

Two words: miserable.

Whether it was because the SUV that rear-ended it had more power or because there were no trees to cushion the fall, the black sedan crashed much more violently than Lynch's beat-up car.

The car was upside down, clearly having fallen straight down. As a result, the front half of the car was completely flattened, like a piece of tin foil that had been squeezed into a ball.

Not only the front of the car, but also the driver's and passenger's areas were completely deformed. The twisted metal layers overlapped, and it was impossible to see the original shape at all. Only the rear half of the car could still stand crookedly.

Lynch could still see part of the car's driver in the driver's seat—that part of the body was completely unrecognizable, the body and the flattened front of the car almost completely fused together.

This horrifying, completely deformed remains, a fusion of flesh and metal, were now engulfed in raging flames, like a giant torch, guiding Lin Qi in the direction he had come from.

That's why, when Lin Qi approached, a strong smell of gasoline, smoke, and blood hit him, making his stomach churn.

...This is good news, at least for now, I don't feel hungry anymore after smelling this aroma.

Lin Qi thought to himself, trying to find a bittersweet humor in his thoughts.

He came here for two purposes: first, to use the light here to examine his wounds again; and second, to see if he could use the fire here to make a torch so that he could prepare for his journey to find a way out of the valley.

Lin Qi had originally planned to check on the car owner's condition as well. If he was in good condition, they might be able to help each other out and act together; if he wasn't, he might still be able to lend a hand.

But now it seems that the corpse in the driver's seat has almost become one with the car.

The person is in such a state that even if he were Hua Tuo or Bian Que reincarnated, there would be no way to save him. Perhaps a soul-chasing spirit from the underworld could save him.

Lost in thought, Lin Qi lowered his head, preparing to examine his injuries again. Suddenly, the condition of the back half of the black sedan caught his attention.

The back door was open.

Lin Qi was slightly startled. The open car door didn't seem to be caused by the fall alone. Instead, it looked like something was thrown out of the car during the fall and smashed open the door in the process!

Upon realizing this possibility, he quickly began inspecting the car.

He soon discovered that not far from the car wreckage, in the flickering shadows beneath the dense forest,

There really was a figure lying there!