The vehicle stopped beside the bus stop, the front door opened, while the back door remained tightly shut, and no one got off.
The six of them stood in place, momentarily stunned, staring at the empty driver’s seat, unable to utter a word.
“Y-you, ghost bus…” Li Yougen stammered, his voice cracking.
It was Yu Yi who first walked towards the eerie bus, pulling on Xin Meng’s arm as he passed by, “Let’s go! If the door closes and we can’t get on, it’s death.”
Only then did Xin Meng react; he saw a small countdown window above the open door, with only 22 seconds left!
He hurried to catch up with Yu Yi, but just before getting on the bus, he was bumped by someone. Li Yougen, hearing their conversation from behind, disregarded his fear and rushed onto the bus, managing to squeeze in front of Xin Meng, following Yu Yi onto the bus and pushing Xin Meng to the back. Xin Meng rubbed his shoulder where he had been bumped, gritting his teeth, recalling how in the first game he had also been so focused on saving himself that he nearly pushed Xiong Jiabao into the zombie’s claws. Now he was repeating the same behavior, which showed it was his nature. He silently reminded himself to be careful in the future, when suddenly, Li Yougen, who had just boarded the bus, screamed and stumbled back out through the door. He dodged to the side, landing hard on the platform with a thud.
What happened?
“You! Why did you push me! You bastard! You…” Li Yougen cursed as he tried to get back on his feet.
Xin Meng glanced towards the door and saw Yu Yi, who had entered first, slowly walking to the entrance. He looked down coldly at the howling Li Yougen, who immediately fell silent, like a radio that had its power cut off.
Yu Yi merely cast a glance at him before shifting his attention to Xin Meng, extending his hand. Xin Meng smiled, grabbed that large hand, and was pulled onto the bus. Behind him were the obediently waiting Xiong Jiabao and Qi Xiaokui, while even Dong Xiu didn’t dare to push forward, anxiously kicking Li Yougen, who was wasting time!
In the end, apart from Xin Meng and Yu Yi, everyone else boarded just in time, with Li Yougen being the last to rush onto the bus with only one second left. The door closed tightly against his back, even catching his suit jacket. His face flushed as he pushed forward, but the two doors seemed glued together with iron, and no matter how hard he pulled, he couldn’t get his clothes out. Finally, Li Yougen could only curse his bad luck, take off his jacket, and pull again, but it still wouldn’t budge.
The iron-gray suit jacket hung limply, left in the door gap, looking both comical and eerie.
“It seems we’re locked in here until the next stop,” Dong Xiu murmured.
The others fell silent as well, but perhaps due to the many bizarre experiences they had gone through, they quickly regained their composure. Just then, the ground beneath them began to sway slightly; the bus had started moving.
Xin Meng was the first to glance out the window, only to find that the outside had turned into a pitch-black void, with not even the bus stop in sight, let alone any other scenery. Indeed, the setting for this game was inside the bus, so it didn’t matter what the outside looked like.
Reality would soon give him a resounding slap.
However, at that moment, Xin Meng was unaware of the future developments. He turned to survey the interior of the bus. It looked like an older model, with green seats covered in scratches and stains. Other areas weren’t particularly clean, but it wasn’t filthy either; it was just an ordinary bus in operation.
There weren’t many seats inside; the front had single seats, four on each side, and at the back, there was a row of four connected seats, with the leftmost seat next to the back door.
Naturally, there were passengers inside…
Thinking that among these people there might be the “demon,” Xin Meng began to observe each one carefully.
In the first seat on the left sat a young man whose outfit looked very familiar. Xin Meng couldn’t help but glance at Xiong Jiabao again, concluding that this guy had only learned a superficial imitation; the young man was the real member of the Shamate family…
He wore a black and gray wig that was twice the size of his head, with every strand sticking out, making him look like a big-headed baby who had drunk poisoned milk. That wasn’t all; his hair nearly covered his entire face, leaving only a narrow strip visible, revealing eyes heavily lined like a national treasure panda, paired with skin caked in pale foundation and lips painted with dark purple lipstick, adorned with three lip rings hanging densely at the corners of his mouth, making him look scarier than a ghost…
He looked almost identical to the standard Shamate outfit Xin Meng had seen online.
After hurting his eyes, he quickly shifted his gaze. The seat behind the Shamate was empty, and further back sat a woman, around twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with wavy hair and flamboyant makeup, dressed in a red strap dress. The neckline was so low that it almost revealed her chest, and since it was visible, it implied she wasn’t wearing a bra…
As if catching Xin Meng’s gaze, the woman pouted her thick red lips and blew him a kiss, exuding an indescribable flirtatiousness and promiscuity, clearly not a decent woman…
Initially, he felt a bit embarrassed and blushed, but then he realized that anyone who looked at that woman would receive a kiss, so he calmed down.
The seat behind the woman was still empty, leaving only two people on the left side.
The first row on the right was empty, and in the second seat sat a woman in her thirties holding a swaddled baby. Unlike the provocatively dressed woman, she was dressed very modestly, in long sleeves and pants, wrapped in a thick coat, with shoulder-length hair, her head bent down to look at the child in the swaddle, making her face and expression unclear.
Behind her sat an old man with sparse white hair, his waxy yellow face covered in many wrinkles and noticeable age spots. He wore a thick Tang suit, hunched over, holding a cane, squinting at people with a very unfriendly gaze, as if ready to jump up and teach you a lesson, jabbing his cane in your face. Xin Meng exchanged a glance with him and quickly turned his gaze away.
Behind the old man sat a middle-aged man around forty, wearing a turtleneck sweater tightly wrapped around his slender neck. His cheeks were very gaunt, and he seemed quite tall, with long legs that couldn’t stretch out, sticking out from the side of the seat. He looked very irritated, mumbling something under his breath, but his voice was too low to be heard from the front.
Further back was the last row of connected seats, where only two people sat: a young couple occupying the two middle seats. The girl wore a fluffy yarn hat with a pom-pom, dressed in a cute lace-trimmed cotton coat, a short skirt, and leggings with long boots, looking youthful and playful. The boy was wrapped in a clearly handmade yarn scarf, and the two were huddled together, whispering, both looking very happy.
The atmosphere inside the bus was quite strange.
Their group of six had boarded noisily, with Li Yougen causing such a commotion at the door, yet only the flirtatious woman and the old man who scanned the area exchanged glances with them; the others didn’t even lift their heads, as if they hadn’t seen them at all.
“What do we do now?” Xin Meng asked quietly.
Dong Xiu shot him a disdainful glance, raising his chin slightly, arrogantly saying, “In this situation, the likelihood of a person being the ‘demon’ is the highest, so we should observe the people first. If we rule them out, then we can look at other items, which will save time.”
“But I don’t see anything wrong with these people.” Li Yougen, who had almost failed to board the bus and lost a jacket, was in a bad mood and spoke harshly, “If you’re so capable, why don’t you take charge of everything!”
Dong Xiu glared at him resentfully but didn’t retort; he wasn’t a fool like Xiong Jiabao, who would want to stick his neck out.
Speaking of Xiong Jiabao…
Dong Xiu’s glasses glinted coldly as he suddenly smiled, “Even if we can’t see anything, we should think of a way to strike up a conversation with them, to see if there’s any useful information. Even if it’s a ghost, it shouldn’t act out before we catch it; otherwise, it would expose its existence directly. So the person asking questions is still safe. Moreover, it’s best to send just one person to ask, while the others observe the situation. If anything seems off, we’ll likely notice. Let’s start with that young man over there. It’s a pity I’m not part of the Shamate family; I don’t know if he’ll talk to me. I’ve heard that people from that family have bad tempers…”
Having been staring at the young man for a while, Xiong Jiabao immediately perked up at these words, replying eagerly, “I am! I’m also from the Shamate family! I’ll go ask!”
Xin Meng shook his head; this guy really didn’t learn from his mistakes. Previously, Dong Xiu had used this tactic to send Xiong Jiabao to touch the stone and turn into a monster, and now he was still so impulsive. Such a thought process was truly something else.
Perhaps those five chances of revival had indeed relaxed Xiong Jiabao to some extent.
Watching Xiong Jiabao walk over, Xin Meng didn’t stop him. Ever since the last game ended, he had come to understand that everyone had their own path to walk. He could save the other person once, but he couldn’t guarantee he could save them every time. Moreover, Xiong Jiabao and he were not of one mind. Although there hadn’t been such an opportunity, the only one he was willing to tirelessly rush to save each time was…
Xin Meng glanced at Yu Yi, just as their eyes met. When those brown eyes stared unblinkingly at someone, it felt as if they could see the most genuine thoughts in a person’s heart. Xin Meng’s heart raced, and he quickly averted his gaze.
Over there, Xiong Jiabao had already reached the Shamate youth. He spread his legs, striking a casual pose, and said to the Shamate youth, “Hey, dude, your hair is really cool. Where did you buy it?”
Hearing someone speak to him, the Shamate youth whipped around, his expression fierce: “Fuck off, you bastard!”
Xiong Jiabao: “…”
The others: “…”
“This is the authentic Shamate family member’s Martian curse,” Xin Meng murmured, “Xiong Jiabao is simply a domestic knockoff…”
Xiong Jiabao tried to reason with the Shamate youth, “Dude, why are you cursing at me? We’re all from the same family, right? Look at my hair!” He tousled his own multicolored hair, “This is all real hair dye, how about that? Cooler than a wig, right?”
The Shamate youth maintained the same expression, continuing to curse: “Fuck off, you bastard!”
Xiong Jiabao: “…”
He was getting a bit angry now, placing his hands on his hips and pointing at the Shamate youth’s nose, “Don’t be ungrateful! We’re from the same family; who are you cursing at?!”
The Shamate youth glared at him, his expression unchanged: “Fuck off, you bastard!”
Xiong Jiabao was taken aback, and Xin Meng quickly went to pull him back, “Wait.”
He carefully observed the Shamate youth’s expression, which remained fixed on Xiong Jiabao, ignoring Xin Meng as if he couldn’t see him. Then Xin Meng tentatively said to him, “Hello.”
The Shamate youth’s black eyes rolled, focusing on Xin Meng, his expression fierce: “Fuck off, you bastard!”
“Ah!” Xiong Jiabao was so startled that he fell back onto the ground!
The others also sensed something was wrong, feeling a chill run down their spines!
The Shamate youth, aside from looking at different people, had the same expression, tone, and even pitch every time he spoke!
