Xiong Jiabao’s heart skipped a beat as the sound of the bus door closing echoed, and he hurriedly pressed his hand against his chest, feeling as if his heart might leap out.
He trembled as he looked around, as if he were staring at a pack of ferocious beasts.
Perhaps everyone has potential; when pushed to a certain extent, it can be unleashed. The usually oblivious Xiong Jiabao surprisingly made a new discovery—none of the passengers on this bus had changed.
Since they arrived at Platform 3, they had passed six or seven buses, yet the passengers on board had remained the same. Previously, he had only glanced at the meticulous individuals in front of him, not paying much attention, but now that he was alone, the overlooked details finally surfaced in his memory.
Men, women, old, and young, their numbers and appearances had not changed, except for one person, who must have the exact same face as one of the six of them.
The person on this bus was Qi Xiaokui, who had just looked at him, which was why he got on.
Xiong Jiabao’s heart raced, and he had a bad premonition, even regretting his decision to act like a big shot, letting Xin Meng and the others live longer. No, it would have been better for anyone else to try, but he had no way out now and could only think of ways to survive.
He didn’t dare to walk to the back of the bus, instead curling up cautiously at the front. Of course, he encountered the same problem as Xin Meng—the time inside the bus had come to a standstill.
In the dead silence, an outlandish thought suddenly crossed Xiong Jiabao’s mind. He thought, even if he passed this level, he would still have to enter the next game, unable to return to reality. He would eventually die, so why not just hide on this bus? Time had stopped, which meant he could live on indefinitely. Even if it was a bit boring and frustrating, it was still better than dying!
He remained vigilant, carefully observing the NPCs, fearing they might suddenly turn into monsters and eat him (unbeknownst to him that he had guessed the truth). After waiting for a long time and seeing no changes, he finally relaxed, sat down on the floor, and leaned against his backpack.
Time passed second by second. In the comfortable environment, Xiong Jiabao began to feel drowsy. He rubbed his eyes to wake himself up, only to hear his stomach grumbling.
“I’m so hungry,” Xiong Jiabao straightened up, pulling his backpack in front of him, muttering as he unzipped it, “How long has it been? I just realized that since entering this game, I haven’t eaten at all. I didn’t feel it when I was nervous, but now that I’m relaxed, I’m starving! I remember there was a cranberry bread in here…”
The backpack was empty.
Xiong Jiabao stared in disbelief, “What the hell, where’s my stuff?”
He turned the backpack inside out, frantically rummaging through every pocket, but there wasn’t even a thread left!
This was wrong! Xiong Jiabao’s hands trembled a bit. Just a moment ago, when he leaned against the backpack, it had been full; otherwise, how could he lean so steadily?
But the facts were right in front of him; it was as if everything in the backpack had evaporated, leaving no trace behind. Now, when he pressed on the backpack, it crumpled, no longer something he could rely on.
Xiong Jiabao threw the backpack away and quickly shrank into a corner, his body shaking like a leaf.
“There’s… there’s a ghost!” Tears almost came out of Xiong Jiabao’s eyes as he helplessly looked around, trying to find someone to save him or at least give him some advice, but all he could see were the cold, stiff NPCs.
“What am I going to do…” Xiong Jiabao cried, pulling at his colorful hair in a frenzy, nearly on the verge of collapse. “Without food, I’m going to starve! Even if I hide here, I won’t last a week. What… what should I do?!”
Unlike Xin Meng, who faced the situation bravely knowing there was no escape, Xiong Jiabao lacked that courage. He was more cowardly and timid, accustomed to self-deception, or perhaps he just didn’t shed tears until he saw the coffin. He thought, just wait a little longer, maybe there would be a turn of events?
But nothing happened. Until Xiong Jiabao was sweating coldly, his stomach twisted in pain, still no one came to save him. He felt like days had passed; he couldn’t understand why he still felt hungry when time in the bus had stopped!
He tried to find a loophole, but the reality proved that such an advanced game would never leave behind such a ridiculous bug.
Xiong Jiabao pressed his hand against his stomach, pushing himself up with the handrail, his face drenched in cold sweat. He hazily looked around the bus, realizing he really couldn’t hide anymore.
Compared to waiting to starve to death, the option of dying quickly and returning to the platform seemed much more tempting.
“Xiong Jiabao, don’t be afraid, you still have one life left!” Xiong Jiabao encouraged himself, his voice choked with tears. “At least if I die and go back, I can ask them for food. Better to die full than to die hungry! Come on!”
He shouted and charged into the bus, ignoring the irrelevant NPCs, heading straight for the passenger who had the face of Qi Xiaokui.
“Qi Xiaokui” smiled, calmly looking at Xiong Jiabao.
“I’m here!” Xiong Jiabao shouted hoarsely, but he held his empty backpack in front of him as a shield. “Bring it on!”
The smile on “Qi Xiaokui” vanished. She continued to stare at Xiong Jiabao until he was drenched in cold sweat, and then she said ominously, “Why you?”
“Ah?” Xiong Jiabao was taken aback.
The girl’s expression gradually twisted into a grimace. She glared at Xiong Jiabao with a terrifying, hoarse voice, shouting, “Who let you come! Why you?!”
Xiong Jiabao clearly sensed something was wrong. He noticed that the surrounding passengers suddenly turned to look at him, their expressions as ferocious as “Qi Xiaokui’s.” He shouted in grievance, “It was you who let me come! I didn’t want to come!”
“I didn’t let you come!” “Qi Xiaokui” pointed at him, and all the passengers in the bus began to shed their flesh, transforming into skeletons that advanced toward Xiong Jiabao.
Xiong Jiabao was terrified, screaming for help, swinging his backpack at the nearest skeleton, but the skeleton grabbed the strap and yanked it away, nearly pulling Xiong Jiabao along with it. He had no choice but to let go, leaving him without any weapon. He wanted to escape but found skeletons surrounding him. The skeletons ground their teeth, their evil eyes glowing red, and one bit into his side, instantly tearing away a chunk of flesh!
“Ahhh!” The more pain he felt, the more panicked he became, and in the end, he was pinned to the ground, countless skeletons on top of him, tearing his flesh piece by piece…
Xiong Jiabao had no idea what the method to avoid the pain of death was; he could only keep his eyes wide open, feeling the torturous agony of being dismembered until, at some point, everything went black, and he lost consciousness. Yet, a voice echoed in his ears—it was “Qi Xiaokui’s.”
What… what did she say?
When Xiong Jiabao opened his eyes again, he found himself back at the platform, lying on the ground, with others gathered around him, looking down at him silently.
The “1” above his head kept flashing, and everyone was silent.
“Ugh!” Xiong Jiabao suddenly struggled to sit up, cold sweat soaking his clothes, as if he had just had a nightmare. Now that he was awake, he felt a bit disoriented.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Xiong Jiabao’s gaze inadvertently swept over his backpack that had fallen to the side. It looked a bit bulging… He hurriedly pulled it over, opened it, and found that the food and water were intact. The cranberry bread he wanted was quietly sitting on top, waiting for him to take it at any moment.
His hands trembled.
“What went wrong?” Qi Xiaokui frowned, irritably brushing her bangs.
Upon hearing her voice, Xiong Jiabao was startled and instinctively backed away several steps, looking at her in fear.
Xin Meng keenly noticed the problem and stepped forward, urgently asking, “What’s wrong? Why did you back away when she spoke? Did you… did you hear that ‘Qi Xiaokui’ speaking on the bus?”
Recalling everything that had just happened, Xiong Jiabao’s facial muscles twitched. “You… you guessed it! Xin Laodi, what is your brain made of? It’s even more amazing than a computer!” He laughed dryly, nervously showering Xin Meng with compliments, his words jumbled, but he was clearly trying to distract himself, perhaps not even realizing what he was saying.
If it were Dong Xiu, he would have been floating in the air from the praise by now. However, Xin Meng didn’t care about his astonishment and pressed on, “What did she say?”
Xiong Jiabao shivered. It still felt terrifying to think back on it, but for the sake of passing the level, he had to share the information with Xin Meng, who was most likely to unravel the mystery. He steadied himself and said with difficulty, “She asked why it was me and said she didn’t let me come.”
“Why you… didn’t let you come…” Xin Meng repeated these two phrases softly. “So you’re not the right person who should be on the bus?”
It seemed like there wasn’t much useful information…
“Wait!” Xiong Jiabao suddenly remembered something, slapping his thigh. “When I was about to die, I heard her say something!”
“What did she say?” Xin Meng asked hurriedly.
“It was…” Xiong Jiabao thought for a long time, nearly pulling his hair out. “Ah, I can’t remember! You don’t know, all those passengers turned into skeletons and literally ate me! I was in so much pain and fear; how could I pay attention to what she said…”
“You useless piece of trash!” Dong Xiu, who had been silently listening to them, couldn’t help but curse.
“Yeah, didn’t you just die for nothing…” Li Yougen muttered on the side, “Completely worthless!”
Xiong Jiabao was furious: “I risked my life to gather information for you, and you dare call me useless! Anyway, I’ve already died once; you have no right to say anything to me. Now I only have one life left; I don’t care about the rest. Whoever wants to go up, go up; I’m done with this!”
He took out the items from his backpack, opened the packaging of the cranberry bread, and took a big bite, finishing nearly a third of it.
“I’m starving to death; eating is the most important thing now, so don’t bother me!”
However, Xin Meng noticed that his hands and lips were still trembling uncontrollably.
