Chapter 12: Entering the Game Again?

Under the erosion of Huan Xiao’s ghostly aura, the ghost hand was absorbed into her own, and the hand itself instantly crumbled into a pile of ash, dissipating into the air.

Huan Xiao felt her own ghostly aura grow significantly denser.

"Not bad. From now on, I am also a ghost that can eat."

In high spirits, Huan Xiao casually tapped into another game app she had, titled "Strange." She never expected that, in the next second, a sudden transformation would occur.

In the blink of an eye, she found herself on a dilapidated bus. Outside the windows, rain was pouring down in torrents, and nothing could be seen clearly in the dark night.

"What’s going on? Where is this?"

Huan Xiao looked around, only to discover that she was the only one on the bus; the driver’s seat was empty.

"Ding-ding!"

At that moment, her phone emitted a familiar notification sound. Huan Xiao took it out and saw a few words displayed on the screen:

*Board the 404 bus and reach the terminal station. The terminal is the road back home.*

"What is this? Didn't I just get out? Are you telling me that just because my fingers were itching and I tapped into the game, it teleported me back in?"

Huan Xiao felt like breaking down. Could they not let a person sleep? She had spent the entire day at the amusement park, and now she had been teleported into a game without even having a chance to eat... She was so hungry.

Her stomach growled. The rainy scenery outside was receding; Huan Xiao did not know if this world was always this bizarre, with buses driving themselves without a driver.

She looked toward the front of the bus. This was indeed the 404 bus. There were no other passengers—neither human nor ghost.

Huan Xiao searched the bus and finally found the list of stops for the 404 at the driver's station. Every time the 404 bus arrived at a stop, it would wait for three minutes; if you missed the time, you had to wait for the next bus. However, the 404 was special; the stops it passed changed every time, so the sign warned passengers not to disembark easily, and even if they did, they must get back on before the doors closed.

Currently, there were eleven stops listed. The terminal station was the Underworld Stop.

"Ding! We have arrived at the Taiyuan Mass Grave. Passengers boarding, please hurry."

"Ding-dong!"

A hoarse, unpleasant voice echoed from the bus speakers, accompanied by the opening of the bus doors.

"Waaaah..."

The sound of an infant crying was heard, accompanied by the sound of gentle patting.

"Hush now, baby, don't cry. We're going home."

Huan Xiao sat in her seat and saw a young woman cradling an infant board the bus. Her expression was gentle; she didn't look like a ghost.

The young woman held an umbrella and complained about how heavy the rain was. Huan Xiao looked at her closely and realized she didn't have any ghostly aura either.

Could it be that she wasn't a ghost? Huan Xiao had assumed that a stop with such a name would definitely bring in a few ghosts disguised as humans.

"Huh? Where is the driver? There isn't even a coin box here, and the lights aren't even on... How have I never seen this bus before?"

The woman stood by the driver's seat, holding her baby and looking around curiously. When she saw Huan Xiao, she walked over.

"Miss, does this bus pass by South Wind Garden? My home is over there."

"This bus goes there. Here is its route map."

Huan Xiao kindly showed her the bus route.

"Thank you..."

However, the moment the woman saw the bus route, her face turned deathly pale with fright. She completely ignored Huan Xiao and hurried back toward the entrance with her baby, hoping to flee. But before she could get off, she collided with the next passenger boarding the bus.

A long-haired humanoid figure walked on, covered in blood and wearing a bright red wedding dress.

Looking at the ghostly aura swirling around it and its sinister, terrifying appearance, Huan Xiao knew immediately that this was a real ghost.

The young woman retreated repeatedly, clutching her baby, and cried out:

"No, no! I shouldn't have boarded... I want to get off!"

She turned to run toward the exit door, but unexpectedly, she ran into the Red-Wedding-Dress Ghost again. The ghost could teleport!

The Red-Wedding-Dress Ghost clearly had no intention of letting the young woman go.

"...Human?"

At first, it seemed uncertain, but upon seeing the woman's terrified expression, it bared its scarlet mouth.

"Human!"

"No, no, I'm not human! Please, let me go... She, she is the human! Go after her instead!"

The young woman trembled as she held her baby, and catching a glimpse of Huan Xiao, who had suddenly stood up, she pointed at her without a second thought.

Huan Xiao had intended to save the young woman—not out of kindness, but because she was ignorant of many things here and needed a local who could answer her questions... and she wanted to borrow some money to buy food.

She never expected that just as she stood up to help, she would be betrayed.

The Red-Wedding-Dress Ghost glanced at Huan Xiao and, seemingly uninterested in her, bit off the woman's head in one strike.

In an instant, blood splattered everywhere, and only the infant’s crying remained in the bus.

Seeing this, Huan Xiao walked over and quickly said:

"Wait, I’ll trade you this."

She took out the Face-Flower she had obtained at the amusement park and offered it to the wedding-dress ghost.

The ghost looked at the Face-Flower, its eyes flickering with hesitation. It looked at the crying baby on the floor, then shook its head firmly.

"No... trade."

"I'm not trading for him. I'm trading for this."

Huan Xiao picked up the young woman's shoulder bag and displayed it to the ghost.

"...Fine."

The ghost didn't understand why anyone would trade a Face-Flower for a human bag, but it was a profit. Thus, Huan Xiao lost the Face-Flower and gained the shoulder bag.

The bus waited for three minutes, then closed its doors and continued on its way. The ghost, having swallowed its food and the Face-Flower, sat in the last row of the 404 bus.

There were no lights on the bus. Using the light from outside, Huan Xiao opened the bag to see if there was any currency for this world.

Bank cards, ID cards, lipstick, baby supplies, a small mirror, an eyeshadow palette, tissues...

In a side pocket, Huan Xiao found a wallet.

[Store wallet?]

A prompt popped up on her phone. Seeing this, Huan Xiao clicked "Yes." She hadn't expected this game to be so intelligent; it actually knew she needed the currency of this world.

After storing the wallet, Huan Xiao took out the loose change and small bills from the bag, put them into her pocket, and opened the window to throw the bag out.

Cold rain lashed against Huan Xiao’s face, and a chilly wind blew into the bus. She quickly closed the window.

...The money in this world was indeed different from her own, but the script was the same, as if it were a parallel world.

After securing the money, Huan Xiao looked at the dim, silent bus, then at the Red-Wedding-Dress Ghost, who hadn't moved since sitting down, and closed her eyes to rest.

She had entered the game with her physical body. Huan Xiao didn't dare eat the food from the amusement park, fearing it might be harmful to humans, so she had gone hungry for the entire day. She was supposed to go home and eat immediately, but by simply tapping the game, she had been teleported in. By now, Huan Xiao’s spirit was utterly exhausted.