Chapter Forty-Eight: Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Night. Mist. A dense forest.

Jane had no choice but to open the car door and step out again. Unexpectedly, a sudden rush of icy air swept into the cabin, dropping the temperature by more than ten degrees.

"Damn it! Why did it suddenly get so cold outside?" Jane jumped in place a few times, her breath already misting in the frigid air.

"Are you sure there’s no road ahead?" Hua Sheng asked.

"No," Jane scanned the surroundings.

"Did the car pass any forks earlier that we might have taken wrong?" Hua Sheng inquired.

Jane responded, "I was staring intently—there was no fork. Did any of you see one?"

Both Hua Sheng and Mie Ying shook their heads.

Jane said, "There was clearly only one road. So why is it a dead end... or rather, impassable? Could it be that when the car skidded, it actually spun around on the slippery ground, and the front was actually the direction we came from?"

Hua Sheng said, "Though unlikely, it’s not impossible. We were all asleep when the car slipped; maybe no one noticed."

Shivering, Jane hurried back inside, turned the car around, and drove back the way they came.

This time, Hua Sheng kept his eyes wide, fixated on the road ahead, while Jane opened the car’s navigation system and studied the map carefully.

"What does the GPS show?"

"Where are we...? This is strange... Pempont..."

Jane tapped the screen with her finger. Suddenly, the GPS display flickered, flashing strange symbols before going completely white. No matter how much Jane touched or twisted the controls, there was no response.

She tapped the dashboard screen, but it remained unresponsive. She stopped the car, turned off the engine and power, then restarted it—but still no change.

The screen ahead of the vehicle was blank.

Mie Ying leaned forward, saying, "I told you this is a junker... not even the display works."

Hua Sheng paid no mind to her complaint and asked Jane, "What did you say was strange?"

Jane said, "We’ve ended up in the Pempont Forest."

"And what’s wrong with that forest?" Hua Sheng asked.

"Pempont Forest is southwest of Paris, but we’re supposed to be heading southeast toward Nice."

Hua Sheng pondered, "It’s odd, but broadly speaking, we’re still headed south, just a bit out of the way..."

Suddenly, Mie Ying smacked Hua Sheng on the back of the head and said, "There’s no way this is just coincidence. I’m telling you, something’s definitely wrong with this forest!"

Hua Sheng glanced back at Mie Ying and then at Jane. "The screen’s frozen. Can your magic fix it?"

Jane smiled bitterly.

"This... doesn’t seem to be in my area of expertise. What about your fairy arts?"

Hua Sheng shook his head. "I’ve never tried using fairy magic to fix a car. It’s expensive; I don’t dare experiment."

"Step aside!" a voice came from the back seat. "Let me check out this car’s secrets and see if it’s trustworthy! By urgency and decree! Come on, Third Sister! Your Samadhi truth..."

Before Mie Ying could finish saying “fire,” Hua Sheng quickly intervened, "Enough! Miss, don’t make things worse. Let’s keep this vehicle intact! It’s dry and flammable—don’t start a forest fire and harm innocent creatures."

"Hmph!" Mie Ying leaned back defiantly. "Suit yourselves."

The three sat quietly for a moment.

Jane spoke up, "Although the GPS is acting up, the car still runs. As long as we follow the way back, we’ll eventually leave the forest."

Hua Sheng felt it was no big deal. If they really got stuck or the car broke down, Jane would have no one to blame but herself or Mie Ying’s cloud riding skills.

A mere forest—whether Pempont or Daxing’anling—was no match for them.

Feeling reassured, Hua Sheng buckled his seatbelt and confidently drove forward.

After a few minutes retracing their path, there was still no fork in the road. But after driving a while longer, Jane began to feel uneasy.

"This isn’t right... There’s only one road, so why does this feel off? Hua Sheng, have you noticed?"

Hua Sheng stared at the barely visible road ahead, equally puzzled.

"What happened to the gravel pit where the wheel got stuck earlier?"

Jane said, "Exactly. I’ve been watching the road carefully. This time, I’m certain there’s no fork. At this speed, we should have hit that gravel pit five minutes ago."

Hua Sheng was baffled. "It’s impossible for all of us to have misread the road..."

"Hehehe! Looks like a ghost wall," Mie Ying suddenly giggled from the back seat.

The eerie laughter startled Hua Sheng and Jane.

"Hush, Mie Ying! Don’t make strange noises in this creepy forest! Scaring people is dangerous—scaring fairy spirits is even worse!"

Jane frowned. "Right! You were scared out of your wits just now, and now you’re playing pranks?"

"That’s because I’ve figured it out! If it doesn’t work, I’m hiding behind you sisters," Mie Ying said nonchalantly. "But you should have learned some fairy magic. How can you be trapped by such a simple formation?"

Jane immediately asked, "What? You figured out the cause?"

Mie Ying snorted, "It’s obviously a soul-confusing formation. Let me set this hundred-mile radius ablaze with a big fire. That’ll clear the formation!"

Hua Sheng hesitated. "Since we can’t get out anyway, should we let her try lighting a fire?"

"Absolutely not! This forest fire would burn someone else’s land! What if we just lost our way through carelessness?" Jane urged. "Besides, the road isn’t completely blocked; let’s keep going a bit more."

Mie Ying grew impatient.

"Then drive straight ahead! If you can’t get out, I’ll burn this Ferrari too!"

Jane couldn’t help but ask, "I never understood why you keep talking about sisters, and why your hair suddenly turned white before?"

Hua Sheng explained, "Mie Ying has nine sisters living inside her, each with very different personalities. Right now, she’s the seventh sister..."

After hearing this, Jane turned and pointed at Mie Ying, shouting, "Hey! That’s clearly multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia! You Easterners even openly let such mentally ill people walk the streets? Isn’t that dangerous? Why don’t you lock her up in a psychiatric hospital?"

"How rude of you, barbarian woman!"

Mie Ying suddenly flew into a rage, reaching behind to grab Jane’s neck. "You dare say I’m sick? I’ll strangle you to death!"

"She’s having an episode! I… I can’t breathe!" Jane’s eyes nearly rolled back as Mie Ying squeezed tighter.

Hua Sheng quickly intervened, pulling them apart and saying to Mie Ying, "Let go! We still need her to clear my name!"

Then he turned to Jane. "Jane, you don’t understand cultural differences. Mie Ying’s nine souls in one body is not impossible! Haven’t you heard of the mysterious Eastern powers?"

"Mie Ying, your wounds aren’t healed yet. Don’t get angry! Don’t get angry!"

After Hua Sheng’s coaxing, Mie Ying finally released her grip, snorting and pouting silently in the back seat.

Jane quickly moved the driver’s seat forward, distancing herself from the rear.

Just as she refocused on the road, she slammed on the brakes!

The car came to a sudden halt.

"No more road!"

The narrow path ahead ended abruptly, yet again a dead end!