Chapter 33: Bus No. 404 (Part 2)

Jiang Shengsheng had slept for quite a long time, and the house was deathly quiet.

Padding downstairs in her slippers, she peeled the note off the refrigerator: "Mom is waiting for her precious girl at Grandma's house."

Rubbing her throbbing temples, Jiang Shengsheng clutched her chest. The palpitations from when she first woke up seemed to linger in her palms. She felt as though she had dreamt of something terrifying, but try as she might, she could not recall what it was.

Slinging on her small bag and pulling on her fluffy coat, she grabbed her keys and pushed open the door. Behind her, the note, once stuck back onto the fridge, swayed in the draft; the clean white paper was devoid of a single drop of ink.

"Bang!"

A flowerpot plummeted from the sky, smashing onto the ground exactly beside her feet. Had she taken one more step forward, it would have crushed her skull.

Her heart shrank violently. Jiang Shengsheng let out a breath, her heart still racing. "Who has so little regard for others..."

As she took a step forward, a wave of dizziness washed over her. In a blur, she seemed to see a pool of deep red blood at her feet, with a familiar figure lying in the throes of death. Before she could squint to see clearly, the dizziness vanished. She rubbed her brow, attributing it to having slept too long and suffering from hallucinations.

The bus stop was right outside her door, a route that had only been established in recent years. The bright moon hanging in the branches was obscured by drifting wisps of cloud. Jiang Shengsheng stood at the station, holding up her phone, puzzled. "Strange, why is the signal so weak?"

*Pat, pat, pat...*

Dull footsteps echoed from the dark road in the distance. Sitting on the bench, Jiang Shengsheng pulled up her fuzzy hood and looked toward the sound, facing the cold wind.

[It's a new NPC! She smells so sweet. If she dies, can I have a bite?]
[Such a cute wifey, I'm drooling.]
[You guys are just taking advantage of the fact that the little NPC can't see us. Unlike me, I'm sliding right into her DMs (dog head holding a rose): Hi, wifey.]

Jiang Shengsheng could not see the live-stream room hovering above her, nor did she know the viewers were calling her "wifey."

"Yo, someone's actually sitting there. I thought this godforsaken place was deserted."

The boy's husky voice, currently in the midst of changing, was carried by the wind into Jiang Shengsheng's ears.

Immediately following was a gentle, slightly helpless rebuke: "Zimu, she might be a player."

The night wind was strong, and the curls framing Jiang Shengsheng’s cheeks whipped into her eyes. She rubbed them and looked up again; several figures became clear in her field of vision. There were six of them—three men and three women.

The two boys who looked strikingly alike caught Jiang Shengsheng’s attention first.

The boy with the wolf-cut hairstyle ran over curiously, leaned in to look at her for a moment, then turned his head and said quite triumphantly, "Meng Ze, she's not a player."

*Huh? She's not what?*

A sudden gust of wind swept by. Jiang Shengsheng didn't quite catch the upward inflection of the wolf-cut boy's words and looked at him in confusion.

Meng Zimu lowered his head. His innocent, puppy-like eyes reflected her fair, adorable face. Her apricot eyes were misted with a thin film of water from the cold wind.

*So misty, so cute.*

Thinking this silently to himself, Meng Zimu suddenly jerked his head away, coughed into his fist, and stopped looking at her.

"An NPC?" The man with the bob haircut blinked, surprised to encounter one so soon.

"And," Meng Ze scanned Meng Zimu—who was still glancing at the girl beside Jiang Shengsheng—with disapproval, "you should call me brother."

Meng Zimu ignored him. He felt as though he had met his true love. This NPC was truly beautiful; her porcelain-white face was flushed a faint red by the cold wind, her damp eyelashes were thick with moisture, and when she blinked at him, her eyes were bright and clear.

"You girls should have plenty to talk about. Go and pump her for information," the short man in the group shoved the pockmarked girl, his tone blunt and rude.

The pockmarked girl, having been pulled into the game for the first time, glanced timidly at Jiang Shengsheng and dared not defy the short man. "...Okay."

The other two women exchanged a look, huffed at the short man in annoyance, and followed the pockmarked girl, one on each side. "Just another bastard who bullies women. We'll go with you."

"What the f*ck did you say! You stinking bitches, who knows how you even made it this far? Don't come begging me to save you later!" The short man jumped in anger, cursing loudly.

Meng Zimu and Meng Ze frowned in unison, their puppy eyes cold. "If you don't want that mouth of yours, I can cut it off for you." The boy, at the peak of his youthful fire, couldn't suppress his disgust for the man. "Sometimes I really don't want to be the same gender as trash like you. Not only is it degrading, but you're truly ill-mannered and unrefined."

Meng Ze, standing beside his brother, didn't stop him, clearly in full agreement.

Noticing the argument erupting as soon as the six arrived, Jiang Shengsheng wrinkled her nose in disgust and whispered in agreement with Meng Zimu, "That's right."

To her surprise, her quiet muttering was caught by the boy himself. Jiang Shengsheng was surprised to feel her hand held, meeting his sparkling puppy eyes.

The boy's joyful tone rang in her ears: "You have great taste." *She agrees with me, which means she agrees with who I am!*

Jiang Shengsheng: "...?"

Meng Ze looked at Meng Zimu in confusion. He knew his twin brother's temperament best; it was rare for him to take the initiative to approach an NPC.

"Sorry, sorry," the puppy-eyed boy realized he was being too excited and hurriedly let go, apologizing with genuine sincerity.

[Where did that stinking dog come from? Get your dirty paws off my wifey!]
[Is that a human? I hope the staff of Bus 404 can do their jobs and tear this shameless mutt to shreds!]
[Boo hoo, wifey's precious hand was touched by a lowly man. I'm kissing it, kissing it, kissing it!]

His palms were warm, unlike her own cold fingers. Jiang Shengsheng waved her hand; she didn't mind.

In a corner she couldn't see, Meng Zimu narrowed his eyes with pleasure, his fingers rubbing together. She was just as soft as she looked, and he was afraid that if he used even a little too much force, he might hurt her.

Meng Zimu’s eyes crinkled into crescents. He wanted to ask Jiang Shengsheng if she was looking for a puppy. He was very easy to keep; as long as she spent time with him, he would be a good dog who only wagged his tail for her.

"Let Zimu handle it; the atmosphere between them is quite good right now, isn't it?" Meng Ze blocked the three female players. The man with the bob haircut smiled, but his harmless appearance made them wary—men with squinting eyes were always quite terrifying.

Meng Zimu received Meng Ze's hint and pouted in boredom. They didn't understand; he was the only one who truly loved the girl. He wanted to hide her away, take her home, and raise her with the utmost care.

But work had to be done.

The clues they managed to pry from Jiang Shengsheng were pitifully few, which didn't surprise the six players. This was the "Bus 404" instance, and they hadn't even seen the shadow of the bus yet—what kind of important clues could they expect?

The premise of this mission:
[It is both the destination and the starting point. What is the time at the terminal?]
It certainly couldn't be a simple twenty-four-hour timestamp... could it?

The cold wind whistled past. Jiang Shengsheng tightened her warm coat, but it still couldn't warm her icy hands. Fortunately, a faint yellow light appeared at the end of the dark road—Bus 404 had finally arrived.