Another car accident ahead.

Every time they were about to head to the next city, the girls were always in high spirits.

Today was no exception. They chatted as they walked, planning what to eat and where to go once they arrived in Ya'an in the afternoon.

Soon, the group reached the bustling Sifang Street in the ancient city, found a random restaurant for their final meal in Licheng, and then made their way to the parking lot.

Zhong Qing looked enviously at the four girls gathered around Su Yang's car; she wanted to ride with Su Yang too.

But since the car could only seat five people, she had no choice but to ride in Meng Wenzhou's car.

At that moment, Meng Qianyu stood by the rear door. She first glanced at Pan Ning, who was beside her looking down at her phone, then tilted her head to peer inside the car window at the place where a major event in her life had happened just last night, her heart suddenly racing.

Feigning composure, she pulled the car door open and got in first. However, the others didn't seem to notice the subtle change in her expression and followed her into the car.

......

Licheng was about 700 kilometers from Ya'an. The group decided to drive straight through without stopping anywhere else along the way.

They wouldn't be staying long at the next few destinations either, planning to linger a bit more only after reaching Shengcheng to stock up on all the supplies needed for entering the uninhabited zone.

After everyone was in the cars, the three vehicles slowly pulled out of the parking lot and headed for the highway toll station.

At 11 a.m., the three cars entered the Licheng highway toll station one after another.

Next came the boring highway stretch. After driving normally for an hour, they thought this leg of the journey would be as smooth and unobstructed as the previous ones.

But unconsciously, the traffic on the road began to gradually increase, forcing them to slow down and follow the flow.

The navigation warned of a traffic accident 1.3 kilometers ahead. After crawling along for over half an hour, traffic finally returned to normal.

Shortly after, as the three cars passed through two tunnels, the clear sky instantly turned overcast with dark clouds.

Large, sparse raindrops began to fall from the sky. For safety, everyone slowed down again.

But not long after, the sparse rain quickly turned into a downpour. At the far end of the straight highway, a mass of dark, oppressive clouds enveloped the distant mountains and road. Looking through the windshield, it seemed as if they were driving towards an apocalyptic scene.

Blue-purple lightning flashed intermittently within the clouds in the sky.

Boom~ Boom.

Two loud rumbles came from the distant horizon. Bean-sized raindrops began pelting the windows with a crackling sound, and in an instant, the downpour escalated into a torrential storm.

Su Yang turned the wipers to the highest setting, but the rain was so dense it was like a wall. Outside the windshield, everything was just a blur, making the road completely indiscernible.

"This rain, how did it just come out of nowhere?" Su Yang complained.

"Slow down a bit more," Pan Ning said calmly from the passenger seat.

On the highway, vehicles that had been speeding quickly reduced their speed and turned on their hazard lights. Su Yang followed suit, switching on both the hazard lights and the front and rear fog lights.

"The dark clouds ahead look so oppressive! You can't even see the road!" Meng Qianyu, in the back seat, leaned forward, clutching the passenger seat headrest to peer ahead.

Su Qingci chimed in, "Yeah, it feels really scary~"

"Qianyu, tell them in the group chat to drive slower. The rain's too heavy now."

"Oh, okay~" Meng Qianyu agreed and picked up her phone to send a message.

Pan Ning turned to look at the rain-streaked window. "How long until the next service area?"

"We just passed one. The next one is over forty kilometers away."

"Alright, then there's no choice."

Tang Ziyun, also in the back, watched the pouring rain outside. "Who knows how long this rain will last. If it keeps up, we probably won't make it to Ya'an this afternoon."

"It's fine, we're not in a hurry. If necessary, we can stay in Xicang tonight and continue to Ya'an tomorrow morning."

"Okay, safety first."

......

Swoosh~ Swoosh~ Swoosh.

The heavy rain was like bathwater poured down by the gods from heaven; it could no longer be called rain but was practically a waterfall.

Many cars had slowed to 20-30 mph, crawling along. Some had even pulled over onto the emergency lane and stopped completely.

However, one particularly outrageous white sedan suddenly and without any warning came to a hard stop not far ahead of Su Yang.

Seeing this, the hearts of the three in the back seat leaped into their throats. Before they could even open their mouths to warn him,

Su Yang slammed on the horn, then glanced in the rearview mirror and swiftly swerved the car into the left lane.

"Damn it! What the hell are you doing?!!" Su Yang yelled angrily the moment he changed lanes.

But as soon as his words fell, a loud BANG sounded.

A black SUV following behind him couldn't brake in time and slammed into the rear of the white sedan, shoving it forward.

"Ahh!"

The three in the back instinctively cried out.

"A crash!"

"Damn, what kind of idiot is that! Just stopping suddenly like that while driving."

Pan Ning shook her head at the sight. "That's just asking for trouble."

"Exactly. There might be more cars piling up. Qianyu, quickly tell Lao Meng and Fatty in the WeChat group to move their cars to the left or right lanes, not the middle lane. There's been an accident."

"Okay!" Meng Qianyu agreed and hurriedly pulled out her phone to start a group voice call.

After two rings, the call connected, and the voices of Zhang Ziming and Liu Bo came through.

"What's up, Qianyu?"

"There's been an accident in the middle lane ahead of us. Brother Su Yang says you should drive in the left or right lanes."

"Ah? An accident? Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine~"

"That's good. Okay, got it~"

"Mhm, that's all. Drive safely."

"Okay~"

After hanging up, Su Yang continued driving forward. The rain showed no sign of letting up; if anything, it seemed to be getting heavier.

The road was already shrouded in rain and mist, visibility extremely low.

Everyone in the car except Su Yang and Pan Ning was on edge the whole way, afraid that another bizarre car might appear ahead without warning.

They continued driving slowly like this for over ten minutes before the torrential rain finally eased into a normal moderate rain, and visibility recovered slightly.

Su Yang didn't occupy the fast lane. He changed back to the middle lane and accelerated a bit. Shortly after resuming normal speed, a red car, trailing a plume of water mist, sped up rapidly from the left rear.

Su Yang was driving at 90 km/h, while the other car's speed was estimated at around 130 km/h.

He thought the car would overtake normally, but who knew, just as it was about to pass Su Yang, it suddenly swerved violently. Whether its front or rear wheels lost traction, the entire vehicle instantly spun out of control.

Seeing this, Su Yang's whole body tensed up. He immediately floored the accelerator. The three in the back, caught off guard, were thrown back against their seatbacks.

Whoosh!

Just as they surged forward, the out-of-control red car to their left spun and slid from behind the Cullinan's tail across two lanes to the right, crashing with a BANG into the guardrail on the emergency lane. It then bounced back a stretch, coming to a stop sideways across the right lane and the middle lane.

Looking in the rearview mirror at the red car with its entire front end smashed in and still emitting white smoke,

Su Yang was utterly speechless. This was the closest he had come to being in an accident during all his recent driving.

Fortunately, my reaction was quick enough just now, and the Cullinan's acceleration was powerful enough to help us dodge a disaster. Otherwise, if we had been hit, the car might have flipped.

He stared into the rearview mirror: "What's going on today? Keep running into idiots!"

"Ah! That scared me to death!!" Meng Qianyu exclaimed, nervously patting her rapidly rising and falling chest.

The other two beside her also shared the feeling of having narrowly escaped a catastrophe.

Pan Ning frowned slightly. "How could we encounter two such accidents in a row?"

"Who knows? Damn it, maybe today just isn't a good day to go out?"

If it weren't for the rain and the fact they were on the highway, Su Yang would have really wanted to get out and give the guy from just now a piece of his mind.

"Are you three okay? Did you get hit anywhere?"

"No, no, we're fine."

"That's good. By the way, why aren't your seatbelts on? Buckle up, quickly."

"Oh, right, okay." The three of them hurriedly pulled their seatbelts on and fastened them.

"By the way, Qianyu, remind Lao Meng and the others again to stay in the left lane. There's another accident up ahead."