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It was a silent night, and the bus encountered a mysterious ghostly woman in red. Everyone huddled inside the bus witnessed the long-haired head and red clothing outside the window. Mind you, the government-improved bus was a towering two meters high. How could a normal woman be that tall? There was also a ghostly, sinister smile and a gloomy tone.

In this deserted wilderness, seemingly haunted by floating female ghosts, students who had always denied the existence of ghosts were in chaos. Seeing paranormal phenomena in the dead of night, they were thrown into disarray, scrambling and crawling in fear, nearly passing out.

Unaware, everyone was closely observing their every move.

However, when this group of sixteen and seventeen-year-old kids faced a life-threatening encounter with a female ghost, a certain variety show invited the Australian gambling king, Su Xuan, and the psychic master, Zhao Jie, as special guests, sparking a hot topic in the ongoing assessment.

“The rules of the show, our old viewers should be familiar with. We are a variety show that predicts the outcomes of events to help everyone make better bets.”

The host delivered a warm opening, energizing the atmosphere. “For this, we have specially invited authoritative representatives, Mr. Su Xuan and Ms. Zhao Jie, to use their unique methods to predict the progress of the events for us. Who might be eliminated in the next day, and, by the way, let us know who among these three hundred plus students is most likely to be the lucky one to achieve victory and stand out? Is it the seemingly innocent but actually cunning Class Five boy, Fu Enman, or the beautiful but ruthless Class Four girl, Qin Kaili? Ah, it’s truly something to look forward to.”

Yes, at this point in the assessment events, there are just over three hundred survivors. Due to their extremely accurate predictions, their show’s viewership has been steadily climbing. Despite enraged complaints and reports from the parents of those students, their program has never been taken down, thanks to strong backstage support.

After the host spoke, the camera shifted to the two guests. The Australian gambling king, Su Xuan, was a young man in his twenties, handsome and charming. He had recently inherited his father’s throne and played poker with extraordinary skill, as if it were a captivating art.

However, unlike his father, he possessed a unique talent for fortune-telling using playing cards, adding another dimension to his skills. It could be said that he surpassed the old generation with new achievements.

The special guests are generally aloof, so the regular guests usually exchange greetings and introductions before formally opening the conversation and getting into the main topic.

“Mr. Su Xuan is very handsome.” Watching the young and handsome gambling king, a female celebrity couldn’t help but blush as she praised him with a sweet voice.

“You’re too kind.” The young gambling king nodded in acknowledgment.

“I heard that Mr. Su Xuan is also very accurate in his predictions. Can we ask Mr. Su Xuan to predict the next candidate for elimination? Our program received a letter from a parent of a student named ‘You Hong,’ expressing desperate love for his son and asking the program to help calculate whether his son, You Hong, can luckily survive until the end.”

As this statement was made, the audience below started whispering: “You Hong, isn’t he the rich second generation revealed to be smoking, taking drugs, and even contemplating patricide? Didn’t expect his father, in spite of his irredeemably bad behavior, still holds hope. What a fool.”

“Oh dear, the old man must be heartbroken. And You Hong’s dad, the only thing he sired and got involved in this assessment. How unfortunate is that? He’s probably afraid that if his son dies, there will be no one to inherit the family business in the future.”

“Tsk tsk, I bet he’s here to calculate when his son will die, so he can prepare the coffin and arrangements in advance. Look, wasn’t it the same with that parent who came yesterday? When he heard that his daughter wouldn’t survive till the end, he was so furious, lamenting why he didn’t buy life accident insurance a year earlier. Do you think these parents really love their children that much?”

The gossiping below couldn’t disturb the stage.

Upon hearing the host’s words, the young gambling king lazily smiled, approached the card table, gracefully took a seat, and on the deep blue velvet tablecloth lay a complete set of cards.

The crowd witnessed a dazzling display of shuffling, and after the young gambling king’s mesmerizing card manipulation, he spread out all the cards, creating a beautiful bridge. Then, with slender and fair fingers, he picked out a card and declared, “Unfortunately, the young man won’t make it through tonight.”

A gasp swept through the audience, and everyone involuntarily looked at the big screen. The result was indeed as predicted – tonight, even before dawn, You Hong from Class Seven was killed. The reason was his persistent malintent as he followed a female classmate in the wilderness, intending to harm her, only to be cleanly and decisively killed by her in self-defense.

The prediction was eerily accurate! Except for an elderly father shedding tears in front of the TV, all the guests and audience in the venue became excited, eagerly asking for predictions on the ultimate winner. They didn’t care who had just died; they were still thrilled, their faces turning red with excitement. This was the audience, more cruel and ironic than the assessment, that the cameras failed to capture.

Faced with the crowd’s eager inquiries, the young gambling king continued to pick a card. When he saw the information on the card, a hint of surprise flashed across his face. He then turned the card face down and smiled at the camera, saying, “Done.”

The hearts of the guests and the audience present instantly hung in suspense. “Done?” What does that mean? Who is it? Tell us quickly!

Seemingly aware of everyone’s curiosity, the gambling king leisurely said, “The chosen person is quite unexpected.”

Oh, firstly, he’s quite unexpected. That means it’s very likely not one of the popular candidates everyone is rooting for, such as Fu Enman or Qin Kaili, those hot favorites that may not necessarily have the last laugh or survive until the end. The viewers in front of the TV hurriedly took notes, furrowing their brows in contemplation. Who could it be?

Seeing the audience deep in thought, the gambling king continued, “He also has a kind heart.” It wasn’t clear whether it was a genuine compliment or a statement of fact.

Before others could react, the gambling king, once again, drew a card from the carefully constructed poker pyramid. He added, “He’s also very mysterious, with a surprising identity. Without shedding any blood, he can save the remaining people.” Surprisingly, this person’s popularity was not low, wielding a spade sword, symbolizing justice and implying that this individual is a guardian deity.

He could even see the future destiny of others, related to the sky yet intricately connected to the earth’s surface. What could this mean? The gambling king, with great interest, pondered about a sixteen-year-old youth who could be drawn to the unfolding wings of an eagle, curious about how this individual would soar into the sky and continue to protect the earth in the role of a guardian.

His thoughts ventured far, but the viewers in front of the TV were about to explode.

Deceiving ghostly spirits? Are there kind-hearted people in this assessment? Is there someone who doesn’t stain their hands with blood and still protects others? Have you not woken up yet? Just a moment ago, you claimed your predictions were accurate, and now you’re randomly spouting nonsense! People who were diligently taking notes, afraid of missing even the slightest information, now angrily put down their pens and started cursing vehemently.

The scene immediately descended into chaos. Faced with the questioning, the young gambling king shrugged, wearing an expression that seemed to say, “Believe it or not.” The host couldn’t control the situation, and even though the program hadn’t reached the second stage, he had no choice but to bring out the second special guest, the psychic master Zhao Jie, to salvage the situation.

Zhao Jie was an elegant woman draped in a black robe, well-known in the industry. She used a crystal ball for divination. Under the watchful eyes of the audience, her hands came together on the crystal ball, and her blue eyes stared fixedly, as if through that crystal, she could glimpse extraordinary paths of destiny.

“This female psychic should be more reliable,” the crowd thought.

After several minutes of the ritual, the female mage calmly withdrew her hands. She exchanged a few seconds of eye contact with Su Xuan before addressing the crowd, “My divination result is the same as Mr. Su’s. In the end, a person with a kind heart will claim victory. He is strong, and standing out is inevitable.”

However, what she saw might be different from what the gambling king perceived. The gambling king seemed more inclined to know the mysterious future of a person, while she preferred predicting a person’s past and present. In that young man, she, like a dream, saw images of him controlling the economic lifeline, becoming a renowned actor of the century, donning imperial robes and ruling the world, as well as standing beside the one ruling the world. Various images from past lives flashed before her eyes.

In other words, regardless of how many lifetimes he went through or what kind of life he led, the young man was still a remarkable figure among the crowd. If such a person were to win the final victory, there was nothing particularly surprising about it.

She lowered her head slightly and exchanged a smiling glance with the gambling king, as if everything was understood without words.

As the popularity of the young man was still at the bottom, not within the top hundred, most of the audience had no idea what these two were smiling about. They thought the so-called masters invited by the program were acting silly, only smiling mysteriously and pretending to be profound.

They sneered at them, and there was a distinct lack of fondness.

It wasn’t until Yin Minglu gradually rose to prominence, observing the actions and demeanor of this junior with a fatherly style, coupled with the powerful psychic abilities that were low-key and mysterious enough to influence netizens, that everyone belatedly connected the dots. They recalled the earlier predictions, and the online world went wild.

So, the program brought these two individuals back to continue predicting the upcoming events.

Now, as the competition progressed to the supernatural incident with the red-clad female ghost, everyone wanted to know how many people on the bus would meet their demise. After all, it was well known that in movies and TV shows, whenever ghosts and curses appeared in the wilderness, the main characters and their teams would almost always face a catastrophic end. Physical means were ineffective against those lost souls and vengeful spirits, and the paranormal phenomena arising from magnetic fields were simply inexplicable.

These students didn’t have any means of self-preservation, no talismans, no peach wood swords, no crosses, and not even garlic. It looked ominous and seemed like a certain death scenario.

Of course, what they wanted to know was how many of them would survive.

While those outside enjoyed the spectacle, the participants inside, busy trying to stay alive, were on the verge of being scared to death. As the blurry figure of the blood-stained woman outside the bus drew nearer, the red handprints on the window were imprinted, creating a particularly chilling and distressing sight.

The group of students was frightened to tears, unable to articulate their fear, scrambling and crawling away in panic.

Especially when the woman outside continued to tap on the bus window, saying, “I’m so hungry, I’m so hungry…” Her eyes fixed on them, as if the students inside the bus were livestock and poultry in a cage, a delicious delicacy she wanted to devour.

Others could run, but Dong Peng was firmly bound to the bus seat, unable to move at all. Watching the ghost’s face so close to him, he was so scared that he rolled his eyes and fainted.

“What do we do, classmate Yin? There really is a female ghost.” Qiao Kai leaned over to Yin Minglu’s side, his face full of desperation.

He didn’t know how to describe his feelings, feeling that at this moment, Minglu’s calm and unflustered face seemed exceptionally handsome, giving him an extraordinary sense of security. It was as if, by Minglu’s side, no ghost or spirit could invade.

Many felt the same way, and almost everyone had hidden behind the young man, including Teacher Luo Yuan, who was wearing pajamas. Despite his slender and frail shoulders, Yin Minglu had become the backbone for everyone.

A girl cried uncontrollably, stuttering as she said, “Classmate Yin, the female ghost is hungry. Shouldn’t we throw Dong Peng out? After the ghost has a good meal, maybe she won’t harm us.”

“Sure, anyway, Dong Peng is a scumbag who killed a teacher and wanted to kill us. It’s not a loss if he dies!” Others chimed in, fear making them almost speak without reservation. In the end, more than half of the people agreed to throw Dong Peng out to ensure the safety of everyone on the bus.

“Have you ever thought, if there’s really a ghost outside, can Dong Peng alone satisfy her desires? Desires keep growing; Dong Peng is just the first. Who will be the second, the third, the fourth? Dong Peng only killed one person, and you’re eager to strip him of the right to live. How is your behavior any different from the female ghost? I’m very disappointed in all of you,” Yin Minglu’s words left everyone in silence.

【Damn, that line is like something out of a holy scripture!】

【At this point, he still refuses to throw his fellow students out. I believe he’s genuinely kind. Next door, it’s a river of slaughter. He’s a walking miracle of radiance.】

【But I think he makes a lot of sense. The more I look at him, the more charismatic he becomes. I think I’m falling for him. P.S. I’m a guy.】

In the clear and transparent eyes of the young man, they felt a sense of shame. Faced with survival, everyone exposed their selfish nature one by one. Each person became an innocent executioner, and no one could be as upright and selfless as classmate Yin. It was normal for the young man to be disappointed in them.

A girl felt ashamed under Yin Minglu’s gaze. In the ups and downs of the past few days, she no longer liked the timid class president of Class Two. Instead, she developed a liking for the gentle and reassuring Yin Minglu. Naturally, she didn’t want her crush to look at her with a disappointed expression.

Blushing, she clenched her fist and said firmly, “Classmate Yin, you’re right. Where there’s one, there’s another. The desires of the female ghost are insatiable. We must not betray our companions.”

“Yeah, what if the female ghost’s power increases after getting a fresh body? Whoever came up with that idea is really messed up. Give yourself a good slap on both ears, don’t dirty Classmate Yin’s hands.”

“If we’re really going to die, let’s die together. In the next life, we can continue to be classmates.” A male classmate also said sentimentally, gazing at the young man with affectionate eyes.

The young man smiled, like the blossoming of warm spring flowers.

“…” Fu Jinxiu kept a straight face. Although he couldn’t bear to see these classmates acting foolish in front of the young man, he thought for a moment and decided that as long as the young man was happy, it was fine.

After exchanging feelings for a while, everyone suddenly remembered what the young man had said at the beginning, “If it’s really a ghost outside, how can Dong Peng satisfy the female ghost’s desires?” This sentence, when reversed, meant that the figure outside the window wasn’t a ghost?

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