9 Chapter 9 First Kill Demon Clan

The weather in the valley was truly bizarre, for just a moment earlier, it had been raining small hailstones, but soon after, it turned into a sunny day, and the temperature rose as well.

Wang Lan looked at the cliff over which the car had tumbled. It wasn't very high, about a hundred meters or so.

"Jiajia, you stay in the car and wait for me, I'll climb back up the way we came to see if I can stop a car."

"Brother... the cliff is so high..." Song Jia was actually scared of Wang Lan leaving. In such a perilous situation, a child needed an adult nearby to provide a sense of security.

"It's okay, I'm confident about this height. Mr. Qin, could you please look after Jiajia for me?"

"Young man, are you a Star Martial Warrior?" the solid middle-aged man asked with a slight smile.

"Yes, but my strength is quite poor."

"Really? I never expected you to be a Star Martial Warrior, that's great..."

To ordinary people, Star Martial Warriors were like superhumans, with physical qualities and abilities beyond their wildest imaginations. Having a Star Martial Warrior around could provide them with a sense of security.

After leaving Song Jia in the care of the other parents, Wang Lan dashed toward the cliff and began to climb up with his bare hands.

Luckily, this side of the cliff was not very smooth; the unevenness of the rock face made climbing easier for Wang Lan. He used his hands and feet, climbing rapidly with a physical strength far surpassing that of an ordinary person.

Just as he had reached halfway, a breeze blew by and a thicker fog suddenly rose above him. Wang Lan felt his way up the cliff, touching the rocks bit by bit as he climbed.

Looking up at the sky from the bottom of the valley, the sun was shining brightly. But after climbing the cliff, it was still so foggy that he couldn't see his hands in front of him. The climate of this place was too strange; Wang Lan had previously noticed that the hail falling from the sky didn't seem like ordinary hail but more like dry ice.

The hail on the glass would create a dense fog, but because it was raining, the fog disappeared in an instant. However, the fog in front of him now reminded Wang Lan of dry ice.

Normal fog wouldn't behave like the one before him, which seemed light and agile. In foggy weather, the perception of fog is usually still, but the fog here was rolling violently, and waving a hand could even disperse it.

Wang Lan found the uphill path the bus had taken, but due to the fog obscuring his vision, he couldn't make out the direction clearly, and nearly fell off the cliff again by accident.

"Crack—"

A crisp sound rang out as Wang Lan stepped on a broken wooden sign. He picked it up, and it had an English place name written on it in red paint, though Wang Lan could only recognize the word "town."

"An English name? Dammit, did we travel through time?" Wang Lan was shocked. Had the bus accidentally entered a wormhole?

In this world where Different Dimensional Spaces opened frequently, Time and Space Tunnels were not a rare phenomenon. At least each year, someone would inadvertently enter one and mysteriously appear hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away.

If they had inadvertently entered a Time and Space Tunnel, then the lack of signal on everyone's cell phones would be normal. However, even Mr. Qin's military phone had no signal, and it was equipped with global satellite positioning which didn't make sense.

Also, it was still daytime, and the angle of the sun matched the time on the watches, which meant the distance shouldn't be off by much.

Wang Lan found the spot where the sign was planted, below which was an arrow pointing the way. That meant there should be a town nearby, and finding the town might allow them to communicate with the outside world.

Wang Lan followed the direction indicated by the sign, touching the ground almost the entire time to prevent veering off course. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks; what lay before him was the cliff he had just climbed up.

If the sign was to be believed, was the town supposed to be the cliff? Was it a prank, or had something happened? Or was it because the town had already moved away that the sign was destroyed?

Entering the heavy fog for exploration would be extremely unwise; not to mention the dangers, getting lost in it could mean not finding a way out for who knows how long.

After hesitating at the edge for a long time, Wang Lan decided to go back down and meet up with Mr. Qin and the others to discuss and make a decision together.

Descending the cliff was much faster than climbing up. As he neared the bottom, Wang Lan looked up at the cliff. The edge was enveloped in rolling fog, but the sky above was bright with sunshine. Truly, the weather was bizarre.

When he found the bus, the children inside were still sobbing, but only a few injured adults remained, along with Mr. Qin, the only one who could drive the bus.

"Brother..." Song Jia called out excitedly, tears still in her eyes.

"Young man, did you find anything?"

"No, but I did find a wooden sign." Wang Lan handed the sign to Mr. Qin for inspection.

"Cricket Town? Is this overseas?" Mr. Qin was also shocked. Instead of getting to Sky Curtain Lake Resort Area, they had teleported out of the country?

"Mr. Qin, are you familiar with this town?"

"There must be thousands of towns called Cricket Town all over the world, who knows which one this is? Since it's overseas, it's normal not to have a signal. Moreover, I suspect that this valley disrupts magnetic fields, affecting the satellite receivers in our phones. Did you find the town?"

"I didn't. The visibility is too low, and I was afraid of getting lost in the fog, so I decided to come back and discuss with everyone. Where are they?"

"They went ahead to see if they could walk out of the valley, hoping to run into someone. But they've been gone for quite a long time..." At this point, Mr. Qin's face showed worry.

"Is Mr. Qiu leading them?"

"Yes."

"The entire valley is surrounded by dense fog. I'm worried they might risk venturing into it, which would be dangerous if they can't find their way out. Let me go and find them."

"That would be good, I appreciate it, young man."

"Brother... take me with you?" Song Jia quickly grabbed Wang Lan's clothes.

"What if I lose you while bringing you along?"

"It was me who brought you out in the first place, and I'm worried about losing you. I promise I'll hold your hand the whole time."

"Alright!"

Wang Lan couldn't stand Song Jia's pleading eyes. This move was an instant kill against anyone in his family. How could he really say no to his adorable little cousin?

Wang Lan set off along the path previously explored by his parents, thinking the valley shouldn't be too large. But after half an hour of walking, there was still dense forest on both sides and a never-ending gravel beach in front of them.

The scorching sun was burning the earth, and Song Jia's face had turned red and sweaty, constantly sticking out her tongue to lick the corners of her mouth.

"Thirsty?"

"Yeah, I forgot to bring my backpack out."

"I'm out of options too. Shall we look for a water source? It's strange; considering how far they've walked, the parents would probably not want to go any further and would rather have Mr. Qin drive the bus over.

Even with the broken brakes, you can still drive on the spacious beach."

"Brother, there's a bottle of mineral water." Song Jia excitedly ran over and picked up the mineral water. "It's unopened and the date is fresh, we can drink it."

"Wait, why is there a bottle of mineral water here?"

"Maybe one of the parents dropped it by accident?"

"In this hot weather, no parent would be willing to throw away an unopened bottle of mineral water." He looked around but still saw no one.

"Brother, look, that looks like Li Xiuxiu's mom."

Song Jia's eyes were indeed... incredibly sharp. Following her pointing finger, Wang Lan really saw a woman in red. He remembered her as one of the parents.

"Hey—"

Wang Lan took Song Jia's hand and walked towards the woman, who turned around and waved back at them.

"Here..."

"Why did you guys run into the woods? Don't enter the forest in unfamiliar places," Wang Lan asked quizzically as he approached the woman.

"We were tired of walking, so we rested at the edge of the forest. I went in to relieve myself, and when I came out, I couldn't find them. Little brother, have you seen them?"

He shook his head, "I came from the direction of the bus and didn't see anyone. How long have you been separated from them?"

"Just about ten minutes..."

"Ah—" Song Jia suddenly jumped, startled by a bloody ear lying next to her foot. The ear was fresh, with fresh blood on it.

"Could they have had an accident..." Just as the thought arose, an imminent crisis hit him from behind. Without time to think, Wang Lan instinctively reacted, shifting his body to the side and lashing out with a kick behind him.

Li Xiuxiu's mother, who had previously seemed harmless, suddenly pulled out a utility knife and launched a quick attack on Wang Lan. Had his movement technique skill not been at Bronze 1, he would likely have been hit.

"What are you doing?" Song Jia screamed in alarm. But the next moment, her face filled with intense fear.

The skin on the woman's face began to turn a green shade, and her eyes bulged out of their sockets like those of a lobster.

"Ah—" In an instant, Song Jia turned pale with fear, gripping Wang Lan's arm tightly, "Ghost, ghost!"

"It's not a ghost, it's a Demon!" He pulled away from Song Jia's grip, watching the Demon in front of him warily. The most pressing issue now was that Wang Lan had no weapon in hand.

"Strike first!" With that thought, Wang Lan's form rapidly closed in on his opponent. Although he had only awakened as a Star Martial Warrior the day before, the system's initial funds had buffed his basic skills to not fall short of his peers.

Wang Lan also had an advantage no one his age did, Inch Strength Fist.

Inch Strength Fist was a basic martial skill, scorned by most Star Martial Warriors. In their opinion, having Star Martial Skills was enough, and at best, they might learn Basic Combat or Basic Swordsmanship.

But Star Martial Skills required the use of Star Power, whereas a martial skill like Inch Strength Fist, though basic, could produce the effects of Star Martial Skills without using Star Power.

Wang Lan threw a punch at his opponent's head while the utility knife in her hand viciously stabbed at his throat.

If it hadn't been for the training he went through the previous day to overcome his fear of death, that knife could have ended his life. Therefore, Wang Lan was lucky; after overcoming fear, fighting for life or death wasn't much different from training.

Wang Lan had also put effort into training unarmed against weapons.

The key to unarmed versus armed combat is to be quick, precise, and ruthless, catching your opponent off-guard and seizing the weapon. Instantly changing his attack, Wang Lan chopped a hand-blade down on the Demon's knife-wielding wrist, sending his force through the palm, and the knife flew out of her hand.

Without hesitation, Wang Lan pressed the attack again.

"Inch Strength—"

Boom!

His punch struck the Demon's chest with a dull thud!

"Triple Force—"

Fingertips, knuckles, fist — three stages of Inch Strength Fist exploded instantly, and the Demon's red dress burst into shreds like a flight of butterflies.

It was then that the flying utility knife finally fell from the sky.

Wang Lan quickly snatched up the utility knife and before the Demon could recover from his assault, he stabbed it into her throat and with a lateral slash, opened a gruesome wound.