Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

“Sister Alice,” Xiao Honglu called out to her.

“Yes, the optical shielding is on, and so is the sound,” Alice nodded in reply. Shanghai and Penglai emerged from the shadow beneath her feet, the unfolding magical barrier distorting the sound waves and light of those around the bus. She flicked her fingers, and the dust billowing from the other side of the road parted outside the barrier, like seawater flowing over rocks.

Without a doubt, if those newcomers had previously harbored some doubts about the others' abilities, or whether the whirlwind in Zhang Heng's hand and the knowledge instilled in their minds by the Main God were merely some kind of magic trick, then witnessing this scene made them truly realize the predicament they faced. They knew their lives were hanging by a thread.

They screamed.

Because right in front of them, the cloud of smoke that rushed towards them mixed with dust and fallen leaves in the air to form a huge skull face, and the face opened its jaws wide, ready to devour the people present!

No abnormal energy fluctuations were detected.

Is it just a natural phenomenon...?

Alice raised her right hand, placed her palm flat under her lips, and gently blew a breath forward. The breath, upon leaving her lips, transformed into a gentle breeze, which gradually grew into a gale. In an instant, it completely destroyed the enormous skull image, reducing it to nothingness.

The screams of the newlyweds were contained within the area around the bus by the barrier. They were all terrified; several women were out in the air, and even the men were trembling and nearly lost their footing. The woman named Zhu Wen, who had her eyes closed, almost collapsed to her knees. She shouted loudly, warning everyone present.

"They're here!" she screamed. "Black death energy is everywhere!"

Her screams were quickly silenced.

Zheng Zha glanced at Xiao Honglu.

“That’s right, I did sense something too.” Xiao Honglu nodded and replied, “I had a bad feeling the moment I stepped out of the car, and when that cloud of mist came, I felt the death aura on our bodies suddenly surge several times over… The last time I saw such a heavy death aura was in the morgue. It seems that we have already been woven into the fate of the main god and are on the Grim Reaper’s kill list, and what just happened was just a greeting.”

"Just saying hello?"

"Just saying hello." Xiao Honglu turned his head to look at the accident scene obscured by thick smoke at the end of his line of sight. He gently pressed a strand of hair that fell beside his temple, and his brows furrowed slightly.

"Sister Zhan Lan, are you able to observe the scene of the car accident? Could you describe the general situation to me?"

"Wait a moment." Zhan Lan closed her eyes, and immediately afterward, a feeling akin to standing naked in front of a mirror, with all secrets laid bare, spread through most of those present. Her mental scanning lines then moved away, projecting onto the distant highway and describing its general features.

"It was a mistake caused by a truck loaded with timber. I saw a large truck overturned in the middle lane. Then there were seven vehicles behind it, some more damaged than others, the most serious being a tanker truck. The explosion was caused by the gasoline igniting. There's no doubt that this highway will be impassable for several months; the ground looks like it was hit by a thermobaric bomb."

"Thermobaric bomb? Hmm..." Zheng Zha thought for a moment, then shook his head, making a rough calculation in his mind.

"A single thermobaric bomb cannot defeat us... Since we have embarked on this Highway 180 and have been brought under the control of Death, it means that, according to Death's judgment, everyone in this vehicle will die in this highway disaster."

"But a mere fuel tanker explosion of thermobaric weapon level wouldn't be a problem for us. A ballistic missile might offer some hope, but these... don't make sense here. So, we have to figure out what happened over there. I suspect we're not in the same time loop as the movie's protagonists. If that's true, then dealing with those protagonists probably won't be enough to reduce the difficulty of our mission. We'll have to revise our strategy."

"We need to figure out what happened."

Zheng Zha twisted his neck and stepped out of the witches' protective barrier.

“I’ll go find Kimberly right now. I think she should be able to tell us a lot of important information.”

Author's Note:

..............................

I'm writing until 2:30 AM, damn it...

Section 5. Welcome, welcome! A warm welcome!

Zheng Zha's operation didn't go very smoothly—no, it wasn't that he couldn't find Kimberly; on the contrary, he easily found the terrified girl and her friends by the roadside. Using the supernatural charm inherent in vampires and the seduction skills Zheng Zha had honed by spending his days in bars before entering the Main God Space, Kimberly, her mind in turmoil, recounted what she had seen and heard during her death premonition in just a few words.

The difficulties lie here.

(Zhan Lan, tell Xiao Honglu and Margot Royd that Kimberly didn't see us die at all. In her perception, the impact of the car accident couldn't reach the area where our bus was.)

While dealing with Kimberly and trying to build a good relationship with the young girl, he also relayed the information he had gathered to the others back home through Zhan Lan's mental link. He was certain that Kimberly was telling the truth, but it was precisely because it was the truth... that things became even more complicated.

Xiao Honglu's opinion was to immediately control them and not let them out of our sight. After all, the plot of Final Destination 2 in the original work is not very long, and if they get out of our sight, they might die within minutes.

(I understand. So what about Margot Lloyd? What was her opinion?)

Miss Alice said nothing.

(Is that so...? Tsk, should I do it now, or...?)

[Keep the main characters calm for now; Saito will be here soon to hypnotize them. Of course, you can also use your elegant vampire charm to handle this; I promise I won't mention it to Lori later.]

(Please spare me this...)

Zheng Zha's eye twitched. He could almost predict Luo Li's expression after she found out he had used 'charm'—she wouldn't argue or make a fuss, but would only look at him with those pitiful, animal-like eyes, cautiously tugging at his clothes, and then ask him in an almost tearful voice—'You big bad guy, don't you want me anymore?'

Then he would die from a heart attack.

(Okay, I'll stall them as much as I can so Saito can get here quickly.) His telepathic message was filled with helplessness.

"Alright, alright, he's already over there. Don't worry, it'll only be a minute or two at most." Zhan Lan's voice on the communicator carried an indescribable cheerfulness. The camera then shifted to her; she ended the call, a light smile playing on her lips.

"Sister Zhan Lan? Is there something to be happy about?" Xiao Honglu glanced at her and asked.

"Nothing, I'm just very happy." Zhan Lan looked at Xiao Honglu with a grin. Whether it was her imagination or not, she seemed to smile more and more after exchanging for the Spirit Clan bloodline—her slightly pointed ears twitched slightly, and a glimmer of light flickered in her eyes.

“There was no trace of us in Kimberly’s death omen. What do you think about that?” she asked.

“This is not a good sign.” Xiao Honglu gently pulled a strand of hair that had fallen across his forehead. “A car accident of this magnitude would be almost harmless to us. Death probably wouldn’t use such underhanded methods to deal with us. So I suspect that we have another cause of death in the original trajectory of this world. Or rather, the very existence of us here is Death’s reason to kill us.”

"What do you mean?"

"Hmm... Assuming my previous deduction is true, Death kills the protagonists because they violate its order. It would go to such lengths to kill just a few ordinary people who didn't die in the normal time and place. So, our existence means that we are reincarnations who disrupt the order... Its tolerance for us should be zero."

“In the horror films we’ve worked on before, the God of War had arranged identities for us. We were traceable there, and we could be identified as part of that world. But this time, I suspect the God of War didn’t arrange any extra identities for us. We were just thrown in by the God of War. To Death, our existence is a sin.”

"Uh... what's the use of knowing this?" Zhan Lan asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Of course it's useful. If we're within the order of death, then it has to hunt us down according to a certain order. Who goes first and who goes last is predetermined, so those who are rescued first and escape the order of death can gain a short period of safety, thus helping those who follow to the greatest extent possible to overcome difficulties. However, if we're not within that order..."

Xiao Honglu shrugged, his face showing some helplessness.

"Then Death will relentlessly and without restraint hunt down each and every one of us. This will be an extremely dire situation, where we must force our way through twelve days with virtually no shortcuts. In other words, this will be a reckless endeavor, and the effectiveness of any strategy will be greatly diminished. The protagonists of the story will also be unable to serve as our allies or protectors, and all previously envisioned strategies will have to be re-formulated."

He looked at Alice, his eyes filled with a hint of conflict.

"Sister Alice, did you foresee all of this, which is why you didn't come up with any strategy?"

Alice raised an eyebrow.

She picked up a high-tech smart terminal that looked like a tablet computer; the window that expanded on the screen displayed rows of 'No such person found'.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think that far ahead. But after the main god's shield was removed, I used the wireless network to check some information. Unfortunately, we are completely unregistered in this world, without any identity." She kicked the bus next to her.

"I checked the license plate number and found out that this car was stolen. The guy who stole it was a bank robber who drove it onto the highway and abandoned it while evading SWAT. He should have already escaped the city. And what's worse, the police seem to have tracked the car's route. They'll be here soon with heavy firepower."

Xiao Honglu slowly turned his head, his third eye twitching slightly. He looked at Zhan Lan and asked earnestly, "Sister Zhan Lan, can you scan to see if there are any police cars approaching this area?"

Zhan Lan closed her eyes, and a few seconds later, her somewhat conflicted pretty face gave him a terrible answer.

“Indeed, special police are on their way here, and they are well-equipped with heavy firepower. Furthermore, Highway 180 is blocked due to a car accident. If you want to leave, you have to go back to the city via the side lane or abandon your vehicle and go directly into the hilly areas on both sides of Highway 180… The terrain there is very complex.”

"...Sister Alice, is it possible for the other party to see through the disguise of your protective barrier?"

“Logically, it shouldn’t be possible,” Alice replied. “But I think we might run into some unexpected trouble, which would expose us directly to the military and police. Do you want to take the gamble?”

“…There’s no need for that.” Xiao Honglu rubbed his temples hard, looking distressed. “Sister Zhan Lan, please inform Captain Zheng Zha. We…are heading into the city.”

Section Six: Guest, have a pot of wine before you go.

About ten minutes ago, fifteen... or seventeen people stopped here.

Sheriff Maigret jumped out of his patrol car. SWAT teams had already arrived at the intersection of Highway 180 before him—they ignored the massive multi-vehicle collision at the end of the highway; that wasn't their problem. Their only task was to find the guy who had stolen a hundred million dollars from the bank and killed a dozen officers, and his accomplices, and then eliminate them all before they could resist.

He swaggered around, a cigarette dangling from his lips, looking extremely agitated. He casually shoved aside the two policemen blocking his way and walked straight to his Japanese assistant, who had arrived earlier. After quickly glancing at the bus parked by the roadside, he asked...

"State your basis, Inspector Kindaichi?"

"The footprints on the ground aren't that hard to spot; they left so many traces." The Japanese police officer's English wasn't very fluent, but his eye for detail was sharp. Based on a few clues, he quickly uncovered some results.

"There were seven ordinary citizens, four men and three women. They were very flustered and should all be healthy people in their twenties or thirties. In addition, there was one who should have military experience, and he should be male. Judging from the traces he left behind, he should be an Eastern soldier."

"The remaining seven were much calmer; they were very composed and didn't even sit down on the bus. I suspect they might be accomplices of that ruthless bandit... but something's strange is that one of the seven should be a child... or perhaps a dwarf?"

"There are only fifteen people. Where are the other two?" the sheriff continued to ask.

“I’m not entirely sure about these two people, because I can barely find any trace of them. I just feel… there should be two people standing here.” The Japanese police officer pointed to the ground where the child was standing. “This dwarf has been here for quite a while. His footprints are very consistent, so he must have been talking to someone. And judging from the distribution of the other traces, he must have said something to the two people over here.”

“An interesting conjecture…” Sheriff Maigret nodded thoughtfully. “Fifteen to seventeen people…you said there are Asians among them? How are you sure?”

“Just luck.” His deputy shrugged. “I met a college student named Kimberly a while ago. Ten minutes ago, she posted on Facebook that she almost had a car accident, but then a handsome Asian guy struck up a conversation with her. I just tried to contact her, and unfortunately, I think she’s probably already under control. Of course, more importantly…”

He pointed to his head.

"I have divine revelation."

"Apocalypse... put away your pointless thoughts. Tsk, it seems these people have taken hostages..." The sheriff stroked his chin, quickly arriving at a conclusion. "Then they must be doing something that requires hostages. They're very likely heading back to the city."

“You’re right, sir.” His deputy nodded. “That’s what I think too.”

"Then what are you standing there for? Hurry up and contact those idiots in the city, and tell them to keep a close eye on all people with Asian features, especially those who are in large groups together!"

“I have already done so, sir.” The deputy looked at his superior with a calm expression.

..................................................................

Xiao Honglu felt that he had made a mistake. Although his opinion was not opposed, the subsequent developments made him somewhat worried.

Because it went too smoothly.

Saito Hajime easily hypnotized the survivors… five university students and one police officer. Their journey to the city was smooth and undisturbed, without any interference. Normally, this would only prove his strategy was flawless. However… this world was called Final Destination.

In a world where death is imminent, how could someone targeted by death possibly have such a smooth journey?

"But I can't be too nervous"—he gently pinched his fingers.

"Xiao Honglu, have you thought of anything?" Zheng Zha asked. After taking control of Kimberly, they found several other vehicles and drove towards the city. Considering the threat of death, this temporary convoy used a mix of newcomers and veterans. Alice and Patchouli deployed optical shields and used an anti-gravity field to fly overhead and monitor for any possible accidents, while the others protected the newcomers and the main characters of the story, heading towards the city with dissatisfaction.

Zheng Zha and Xiao Honglu happened to be in the same car, with Jin Baili and two newcomers next to them.

“No, it’s nothing.” Xiao Honglu shook his head. “I was just thinking about how Death will kill us. The destructive power of a simple accident is actually limited. I suspect we’ll soon provoke the local army.”

"Two or three days, no matter how we hide, we still have the possibility of coming into contact with the local government forces. Police, army, heavy weapons. Who knows, ballistic missiles might even come directly at us. After all, the more complex the scenario, the easier it is for death to exert its power, and with our current combat capabilities... dealing with a thermobaric bomb-level area attack should be the limit."

“...But we have to stay for twelve days.” Zheng Zha sighed.

"Yes, twelve days. So the Grim Reaper's methods must be gradual. Assuming the last day is a nuclear war, then at least in the first day or two, we will have some buffer time... or rather, a trap to lull us into complacency. And we must prepare during this time. At the same time... be wary of the traps set by the Grim Reaper's minions."

"And the most basic rule is to avoid conflict with the local government and keep a low profile as much as possible."

"Nuclear, nuclear war!?" A newcomer sitting next to the two finally couldn't suppress his fear any longer. He said in a trembling voice, "I've seen the movie Final Destination. It shouldn't... it shouldn't come to that, right!"

"Just the worst-case scenario." Xiao Honglu glanced at him. He remembered that the newcomer's name was Zheng Xue, and that he was a lawyer. But that was all he could recall.