Chapter 99: Wrong Turn?
On the quiet highway, a mechanical beast's roar suddenly echoed.
As dynamic, high-energy music blasted from the speakers, a yellow Hummer appeared on the road in an extremely eye-catching manner.
Seeing everyone's attention drawn to him, Brian excitedly stuck his head out of the window, pulled down his sunglasses, looked at the young guy in the car next to him, and asked, "Hey, buddy, do you know what's going on up ahead?"
Chris turned his head with an exasperated expression and made eye contact with Stewie. They both found Brian's show-off behavior unbearable.
The day after buying the truck yesterday, Brian had gotten himself a leather jacket and aviator sunglasses, dressing himself up like some kind of cool dog.
He claimed it was to match the beast.
But Chris and Stewie both knew the dog's real purpose was to show off.
Now that he finally had an opportunity, the dog naturally wasn't going to let it pass.
The young man Brian questioned carefully looked Brian over, then said, "Dude, you look awesome!"
Then he continued, "I heard from the semi driver up ahead that there's a chemical spill, and it might take several hours to clear."
"Thanks, man."
Brian tossed a bottle of dragon's blood supplement into the other car, then turned to the disgusted Chris and said, "You heard him—it might take a few hours for traffic to move. Do you want to keep waiting here?"
Brian ignored Chris's disgust. The envious stares of others had already given him enough satisfaction. Chris's annoyance was just a minor detail to him.
Chris turned to Stewie, wanting to know his thoughts, but Stewie, who couldn't sit in the passenger seat due to his size, was currently in a foul mood and wasn't inclined to weigh in.
At this moment, the young man Brian had just spoken to was clearly getting impatient. He turned his car around, preparing to take an alternate route. Before leaving, he called out to Brian, "Hey, man, want to take the detour together?"
However, Chris hadn't made up his mind yet, and Brian wasn't particularly eager to leave, so he said, "Nah, I'll wait a bit longer."
"Alright!" Seeing this, the young man didn't linger and drove off.
Just as the man left, Chris said, "Follow him. I don't have the patience to sit here any longer."
Seeing Chris make the decision, Brian reluctantly started the vehicle and pulled out, following the gap the young man had just created.
He'd wanted to bask in other people's envious stares for a while longer.
The sullen Stewie saw Brian's dejected expression and suddenly laughed, "Nice one, Chris!"
He naturally knew what Brian was thinking, so he thoroughly appreciated Chris's action of cutting Brian's showing-off short.
Hearing this, Brian complained, "Can't you two just let me enjoy myself for a bit? Why do you always have to be such buzzkills?"
Chris scoffed, "Uh-huh, it's fine if you want to show off, but you can't use my property to do it."
Chris had bought the truck. He hadn't even used it to show off or pick up girls yet, but Brian was already parading around in it.
Helpless, Brian sighed, "Alright, alright, you're the one footing the bill. I'll listen to you."
Then Brian floored the accelerator, catching up to the young man from earlier. He honked twice in greeting, then followed at a leisurely pace behind him.
The young man, seeing Brian in his rearview mirror, also honked twice in response and happily cracked open the bottle of dragon's blood supplement Brian had given him.
He'd heard a little about this new functional supplement that was popular in Rhode Island, knowing some of its special effects.
Unfortunately, due to production limitations, this dragon's blood supplement was currently hard to find outside of Rhode Island, let alone all the way out here in West Virginia, which was far from Rhode Island.
After taking a sip of the supplement, the young man immediately felt energized, and even the fatigue from his long drive disappeared.
"Damn, this stuff is legit!"
After that exclamation, the young man took two more sips, then reluctantly screwed the cap back on and set it down.
He still had a long way to go and couldn't drink it all so quickly. He needed to save some for when he really needed a boost.
After driving for some time, led by the young man, Chris and the others arrived at a desolate, wooded area.
Looking at the surroundings, Chris couldn't help but comment, "Man, this kind of creepy place reminds me of when I was hunting ogres. Those things love to hide out in these mountain hollows—even the loners are no exception."
"What! You've hunted ogres?" Brian, who was driving, asked in surprise. What else had Chris done that he didn't know about?!
Stewie looked at the shocked Brian and added with a smirk, "Hehe, he didn't just kill them—he screwed them too! Hahahaha!"
"Oh my God! You're unbelievable!" Brian was speechless. This was truly Chris's usual style.
While the three were chatting, the young man drove his car into a run-down gas station and went to ask the owner for information.
Seeing this scene, Chris commented again, "Seriously, this is looking more and more like the beginning of a horror movie."
Stewie heard this, stood up, and looked toward the decrepit gas station.
"The highway's blocked. Do you know where I can detour?"
The gas station owner looked at the young man, then glanced at the Hummer parked behind his car, and said, "See the red line on that map? That back road can get you around, but it's not a great route. Your sedan probably won't handle it well."
The young man turned to look at the old, faded map on the wall, memorized the route, and said, "Thanks, I'll be careful."
With that, he walked back to the Hummer and apologized, "Sorry, I think I'm getting us lost. I'm going to try the back road the owner mentioned. He said it's not very safe, so maybe you should head back to the highway."
Chris leaned past Brian, grabbed two bottles of dragon's blood supplement, handed them to him, and reassured him, "Dude, you don't need to apologize. We chose to follow you, and we can accept whatever happens, so please keep leading the way."
Looking at the supplements this tall kid was offering, and hearing his trusting words, the young man responded gratefully, then introduced himself, "Chris Flynn. I'm on my way to a job interview."
"Wow, what a coincidence. My name is Chris too—Chris Griffin." Hearing the man's name, Chris was a bit surprised, then introduced the others, "This is Brian, and this is my brother Stewie. We're on a cross-country road trip."
Hearing Chris's name, Chris Flynn was equally surprised. He laughed, "Looks like we're meant to meet. You can call me Flynn to avoid confusion."
"Alright, Mr. Flynn. Then I'll ask you to keep leading the way."
Chris pressed the bottles into Flynn's hand, then Brian mumbled indistinctly from below, "Are you done talking? You're crushing me here."
Hearing Brian's complaint, Chris sat back in his seat. Flynn and Brian nodded in acknowledgment to each other, then Flynn returned to his own car.
After the group resumed their journey, Stewie said meaningfully, "By the look on your face, you've recognized a familiar scenario again?"
Chris turned to look at the dilapidated gas station, then recalled, "This is a lot like the beginning of 'Wrong Turn', but judging from that old man's emotional state, he doesn't seem like a bad guy."
Hearing Chris say this, Stewie's eyes flickered, as if he'd thought of something important.
And watching the two brothers speaking in cryptic references, Brian sighed, "It's supposed to be a trip for three, so why do you guys always leave me out of the loop!"
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