As An Antique Shop Owner, It's Only Reasonable That I Know A Bit Of Magic - Chapter 65

Time seemed to stand still at that moment.

At such close range, Su Fan appeared to have no time to react.

The sharp branch was about to pierce his eye socket in the next second, killing him…

Crack, crack, crack…

The sports car’s body slammed through the pile of broken branches on the ground, producing a series of snapping sounds.

The freshly broken, sharp ends continuously scraped against the smooth paintwork, emitting sharp, grating noises that set one’s nerves on edge.

Finally, after sliding for a period, the out-of-control vehicle came to a stop.

Scarlett’s eyes were still somewhat unable to open fully; debris from the seat padding remained lodged within them.

Yet, she had no time to worry about that now. Rubbing her eyes, she reached out a hand.

“Su! Su! Are you okay?! Can you hear me?!” Scarlett shouted loudly, her hand groping towards the passenger seat, trying to locate Su Fan.

She should have closed the convertible top. If she had, this wouldn’t have happened.

This familiar chain of death… Death had come for them again!

Why?
This time, she hadn’t received any warning. There was no prophetic dream like before, no visions of crucial information.

Had Death changed the rules?
Had it altered the rules just to kill her and Su Fan?

Endless panic rose in Scarlett’s heart, her voice beginning to tremble.

“I’m fine.”

A familiar voice came from beside her.

Hearing his calm tone, Scarlett felt a wave of relief, her eyes actually stinging with unshed tears.

When her vision fully cleared, she finally saw the scene beside her clearly.

Su Fan sat in the passenger seat, unharmed as always, completely unscathed.

Beside him, there was nothing.

Scarlett had initially thought she had somehow coincidentally avoided the broken branches, but the destroyed side mirror proved how absurd that notion had been.

She unbuckled her seatbelt, got up, and stepped out of the car to assess the situation.

The vehicle itself wasn’t majorly damaged; the branches, however sharp, lacked the strength to pierce through the car door.

Even so, the multitude of scratches on the car’s body were still a shocking sight.

But soon, Scarlett noticed something wrong!
Although the scratches were chaotic, most of them started thinner and became progressively thicker upwards…

This meant that those sharp branches had all been thrusting upwards, towards Su Fan!
Realizing this, Scarlett suddenly shuddered violently!

The events of that split second replayed in her mind.

All the sharp branches simultaneously thrust towards Su Fan’s temple and the side of his neck…

With no time to react, the only outcome should have been him being pierced through the neck and brain, dying instantly. But why…

“Seen enough?”

Su Fan turned his head from the passenger seat.

“If we don’t leave now, your mother will come out of the house looking for you.”

Prompted by his words, Scarlett was jolted back to reality.

After such a loud commotion, her mother was bound to come out and check.

If she saw this scene, she would likely ignore Scarlett’s wishes entirely and forcibly drag her to see that so-called Rabbi for an exorcism.

Scarlett immediately returned to the driver’s seat, started the engine again, and sped away down the road they came from.

After the two left, all that remained at the scene were the cursing biker couple and the landscaper searching everywhere for his lost chainsaw.
——

To be safe, Scarlett didn’t head into the city this time, but instead drove to the nearest beach.

The area was flat and open, with no buildings or sharp objects, and even passing traffic was sparse.

After parking haphazardly in an empty spot, Scarlett couldn’t hold back any longer.

“What exactly happened back there? Why didn’t I get any warning at all?”
“Simple. Because this time, you weren’t Death’s primary target.”

“And I’m not a passenger on the plane you prevented from taking off.”

Su Fan’s words left Scarlett momentarily dazed.

Was that it? So that was why.

No wonder she hadn’t detected any omens.

“That guy probably wanted to kill two birds with one stone.”

“I was added to the death list because of you, and since I was with you, he simply let me cut in line, moving me ahead of the other passengers.”

“He just didn’t expect you to have a protective talisman that could save your life.”

Mentioning the talisman, Scarlett recalled the intense heat she had felt earlier. She immediately retrieved the talisman her father had given her from her inner pocket.

The previously normal paper charm was now incredibly fragile; the sea breeze blew over it, reducing it to fine scraps.

Scarlett understood—this meant she had already died once back there!

The talisman had saved her life!
While Scarlett was reeling from this realization, Su Fan gazed out at the ocean gradually sinking into the night, a cold smirk touching his lips.

It was both killing two birds with one stone, and a feint.

Whether or not Scarlett was hit by the flying chainsaw, Su Fan’s attention was highly likely to be diverted.

In that moment of distraction regarding his immediate surroundings, the out-of-control vehicle would veer into the branch pile, piercing his skull.

Unfortunately, his premonition ability granted Su Fan a powerful perception of impending lethal danger.

At the instant the branches were about to touch him, a powerful wind wall deflected all the branches approaching him, like an invisible barrier.

If there was one thing Su Fan hadn’t anticipated, it was that Death had taken less than an afternoon to draft a new death order.

He remembered in the original sequence of events, after the order was disrupted, it took Death nearly several years to re-sort it.

What was this? Special treatment just for me?

[You utilized Premonition to successfully resolve the death trap Death specially arranged for you. Premonition +3!]

[As proficiency increases, you will occasionally see fragmented scenes before your eyes.]

The prompt appeared in Su Fan’s mind.

“Su, where should we go now? Maybe we should go back to the psychiatric hospital I was staying in before?”

Scarlett was feeling apprehensive.

“You might not know, but that room was made entirely of harmless, soft padding, with no sharp objects anywhere, and no dangerous items around that could cause a fire or explosion.”

“I think it’s probably much safer than staying outside.”

Su Fan glanced at Scarlett, somewhat surprised.

The talisman had taken effect earlier, successfully preserving her life.

Yet, Scarlett still wanted to find a place to hide and wait it out.

Excessive caution wouldn’t help them escape Death.

In the first Final Destination, the last surviving man and woman—the man hid in a house for three months without leaving, only to be killed by falling debris when he finally did.

“Avoiding the problem won’t solve it. Now is the best chance to break free from Death.”

“Do you want to stay in that place for the rest of your life?”

“Are you going to give up your acting career and your dreams?”

Hearing the words “acting career,” a struggle appeared on Scarlett’s face, before she seemed to deflate entirely.

“I think I must be crazy, willing to bet my life for something like a so-called dream.”

“Plenty of people risk their lives for their acting careers. Just think of yourself as a stunt double doing high-altitude jumps.”