Chapter 13: The Next Stop's Player
Page 1/3
The rainy night was cold. Even though the bus windows were shut, the chill wind still slipped in through the gaps.
The bus seemed to have passed by a garbage dump; the stench drifted in through the window cracks, causing Huan Xiao to furrow her brow involuntarily.
Raindrops tapped against her ears, the gentle patter of the rain lulling her toward drowsiness...
After an unknown span of time, a sudden tightening gripped Huan Xiao’s heart, and she snapped her eyes open.
Before her was an enlarged, ghastly face.
It was only a centimeter from her own!
Had she not awakened just in time, she would have been devoured to bones and flesh long ago.
...It was the Bride Ghost!
In the darkness, Huan Xiao could see its eyes had been gouged out, leaving red-black hollow sockets. Being stared at like that made her uneasy.
The Bride Ghost silently watched her. After a long moment, Huan Xiao realized that the foul smell she had mistaken for garbage was actually the metallic scent of blood emanating from the ghost.
Under that gaze, she felt like a slab of meat on a chopping block, coveted and exposed.
“Stay away from me,” Huan Xiao suddenly snapped, pushing the Bride Ghost away with a burst of ghostly energy.
“Clang!”
The Bride Ghost was flung back, only coming to a halt after colliding with the bus body, shattering the quiet atmosphere.
“...You’re... not... human?”
Despite being struck, the Bride Ghost floated back slowly, emotionless like a stiff wooden figure.
Though ghosts had physical forms, physical attacks were useless against them. Even though Huan Xiao had pushed it with ghost energy, it caused little harm.
“Of course I’m not,” Huan Xiao replied with a sideways glance, realizing it doubted her identity. Her heart tightened.
So this ghost was suspicious of her.
“Strange... not human...” the Bride Ghost mumbled, drifting to about a meter away before returning to the back seat.
It clearly remembered Huan Xiao’s words. Since its ghost energy was weaker than hers, it obediently sat still in the back.
Seeing the situation temporarily resolved, Huan Xiao relaxed but understood that despite her seemingly cheating ghost energy, she was still vulnerable in this world.
Like big fish eating small fish, small fish eating shrimp—ghosts stronger than her might attack simply because she was weak.
Page 2/3
This time she encountered a weaker one, but what if next time it’s stronger?
Determined, Huan Xiao resolved to earn more ghost energy!
“Ding dong! Pure Water Lake Station has arrived. Passengers boarding, please hurry.”
The bus stopped.
Huan Xiao stood and looked outside, spotting six people at the station. They appeared fearful and cautious; one bore artificially generated ghost energy.
All held phones, indicating they were players like her.
But now was not the time for observation. She had to get off and buy food—she was on the verge of fainting from hunger.
The six players outside the station eyed the eerie and terrifying Route 404 bus with dread, unwilling to be the first to board. Unexpectedly, a person stepped off the bus—a perfectly normal-looking individual.
Noticing Huan Xiao, one of the players immediately ran over, grabbing her hand to stop her from leaving.
Startled, Huan Xiao said, “Wait, I’m just buying something. I’m getting back on. We can talk later!”
The one holding her was a young man, about twenty years old. Bold, indeed, to grab a stranger in the middle of the game.
He was momentarily speechless at her words. Seeing this, Huan Xiao quickly shook off his hand, holding up money and loudly calling to the pancake stall.
“Sister, I want two pancakes.”
“All right, miss, please wait a moment.”
The middle-aged woman at the stall had initially recoiled at the sight of the impossible Route 404 bus, but seeing Huan Xiao—a lively and normal child—made her suspect it might be a prank by some school.
After all, although ghost stories were common in their city at night, she had never actually seen one.
The pancakes were ready quickly. Huan Xiao grabbed them along with the change and hurried back onto the Route 404 bus.
If she missed the time, she would be stranded in this strange world, unable to return. After all, the Route 404 bus was a ghost bus—appearing without a trace, disappearing without a trace. She might never find it again.
“Hey, why are you in such a rush?”
The young man frowned, following her onto the bus and calling out.
Only after stepping inside did Huan Xiao relax. In her haste, she hadn’t even opened her umbrella and was drenched.
Fortunately, her pancakes were safe; she could just change clothes when she got back.
“The bus only stops for three minutes. Why else would I be in a hurry?” Huan Xiao glared at him, blaming him for almost ruining her plan.
Returning to her seat, she found someone else had taken it. Without complaint, she sat in another empty seat.
Page 3/3
Once seated, she noticed the atmosphere had stiffened; the six new players seemed to have fallen silent.
The doors slowly closed, and the bus moved forward again through the rain...
The young man who had boarded with her shrank into a corner like an ostrich, wishing he could bury his head in the ground.
Seeing he no longer intended to bother her, Huan Xiao happily took a bite of her pancake.
Without looking, she could feel the Bride Ghost’s puzzled gaze from behind—wondering why a ghost would be interested in human food. Human food was tasteless and lacked ghost energy; wasn’t it torture for a ghost?
But recalling that some ghosts in the spirit world had strange eating habits, it cast Huan Xiao a sympathetic glance.
Poor thing, a ghost reduced to eating human food.
After quickly finishing one pancake, Huan Xiao felt revived.
Wailing softly, she hadn’t expected the pancakes in this world to be so delicious. She would buy them again next time.
“Clang!”
The bus suddenly jolted violently as if it had hit something.
“W-what happened?” a young woman among the players asked aloud.
She noticed a companion near the front with a fearful yet shocked expression.
“...Someone... just got hit.”
“What?!”
The woman gasped, then remembered the ghost at the back and quickly covered her mouth.
Relieved to see the Bride Ghost hadn’t acted amidst the commotion, she relaxed slightly.
“A white figure suddenly appeared in front of the bus. I didn’t get a good look before it slammed into the windshield...”
“The one hit was a girl in a white dress. She... she seemed to smile at me through the glass... Her face was covered in blood. I—I’m not the driver. Is she going to take revenge on me?”
The man at the front was middle-aged, slightly overweight with a bald patch atop his head.
He seemed experienced enough, but had not been through many game rounds.