654 The Third
The night breeze blew through the gap in the windows. Han Fei got onto the bus like a burglar. However, after he sensed the atmosphere in the car, he looked through his pocket to look for a dollar. He thought everyone should follow the law. Even for a hearse, he had to pay the fare.
“I don’t think I have any money. Sorry for disturbing you.” The boy was drawing closer. Han Fei couldn’t leave from the front door, so he rushed to the back door. He was about to run when an auntie who sat beside the door suddenly stopped up, “Since you’re already on the bus, why don’t you come with us? It’s not safe considering how dark it is outside.”
The auntie was casually-dressed. She had a red scarf that covered most of her face. She took out paper money from her pocket and stuffed it into the bus fare-collection box. Then, she laughed.
“Paper money?”
Han Fei didn’t dare to stay, but the backdoor slammed shut. Resentment pooled at the front door. The boy’s body was stuck at the door!
The rampaging boy didn’t dare to get on the bus. The curse over his body leaked out black blood. He was fighting some invisible entity inside the bus. “The boy didn’t dare to get on the bus, but I had voluntarily run in here?”
Han Fei didn’t know he should be happy or sad. He glanced at the auntie who helped him. The auntie had her head lowered. Her eyes under the scarf studied Han Fei. ‘She is not looking at me like a human, but clothes on sale at the mall.’
The boy blocked the front door, and the backdoor was closed. If Han Fei wanted to leave, he had to jump out the window. His initial plan was to delay the boy, but it seemed like he had inadvertently entrapped himself too.
The bus’ PA system was broadcasted. This felt so familiar yet unfamiliar. Han Fei seemed to have taken similar vehicles before. After the bus started to move, both the boy and Han Fei reacted.
The boy screamed shrilly. A bloody hole appeared on the boy’s face. A shrunken face was hidden under the brunt skin. The black mist around him swirled. It broke through some kind of barrier and wafted into the bus.
Han Fei saw this and rushed towards the closest window. He opened the window. When he attempted to jump out, his body couldn’t move. He turned back to look. The passengers nearest to him had all grabbed him. They looked at him from a strange angle. There was greed in their eyes. ‘The whole bus of passengers wants me to die in their places?’
A living person appeared on the bus. If they could drag the living person to sit on the seat meant for the dead, one of the dead had a chance to escape.
“Let go!” Han Fei was desperate to grab his knife. The passenger started to smile when they saw resistance from Han Fei. The pale lips moved as the passengers mumbled something. They all turned to Han Fei. The scene was terrifying. Some of the passengers had their heads turned 180 degrees. Everyone’s faces had scary smiles, like they were welcoming Han Fei.
The bus slowly left the station. The boy who had gotten onto the bus glared at Han Fei. His body was covered in black mist, and the bloody hole on his face expanded. With a scream, the boy charged to the back. His hatred was all targeted at Han Fei.
Han Fei was still pinned into place by the passengers, so he couldn’t run. Just as Han Fei thought he was about to die, the passengers grabbed the boy too. This made Han Fei sigh in relief.
However, before Han Fei could take a breath, the boy roughly shoved the arms back. The thick black mist attacked the passenger. The auntie who helped Han Fei was the closest. She was the first to get hit. The scarf that had wrapped around half her head fell, revealing her rotten face. She picked up her scarf in a panic. After that, she opened her mouth to bite at the boy’s smooth back.
The other passengers made their move as well. The dead souls pounced on the boy. They wanted to disperse the black mist around the boy. Seeing how brave the passengers were, Han Fei stopped resisting. At least on the surface, he was very obedient. He even patted the brother sitting beside him, telling him not to use too much force.
This whole scene was strange. A young burglar was chased by a demonic ruffian onto the bus. The burglar had no choice but to jump from the window. He was stopped by the kind-hearted passengers, and the passengers helped him deal with the ruffian. ‘The passengers need me to take their place. I am their lifeline, so they won’t let me die.’
With that in mind, Han Fei stopped resisting. He sat between a big brother and a student. Three people squeezed into the two-seater. Han Fei was very relaxed. Since Han Fei stopped fighting them, the hands that grabbed him slowly released. The passengers turned their attention to the boy. They had to deal with the outsider before they could share the reward.
‘Fight! Fight!’
The conflict between the boy and the passengers exploded. This was the first time Han Fei saw the battle between ghosts. They would use everything they had to harm the other. It was madness.
In the blink of an eye, the auntie who paid for Han Fei had half her body consumed by black mist, but she didn’t let the boy have it easy either. Her remaining hand poked into the boy’s eye sockets. Her fingers pierced through the bloody holes on his face.
The injured boy became more out of control. The black mist oozed out of his broken limbs like a swarm. They started to attack all the passengers. Thanks to the boy, Han Fei’s interest became aligned with the passengers. They all wanted to survive the attack of the boy.
The passengers lifted their heads. Affected by the black mist, they showcased their death visages. ‘This bus is used to transport the soul of the dead. They look freshly dead.’
The passengers threw themselves at the boy as if they wanted to use their soul to correct the boy’s mistake. The battle was so much crueler than Han Fei expected. With a single touch, souls were destroyed. The number of passengers dwindled. The more the boy killed, the thicker the black mist around him. If they didn’t deal with him quickly, he would be harder to deal with once he absorbed all the black mist.
Something slammed into the window beside Han Fei. He turned and saw Lee Guo Er chasing after the bus in the taxi. The two hearses drove side by side. This was something that only happened in movies.
“Why are you sitting down?” Xiao Jia rolled down the window and shouted at Han Fei. “What should we do now? The car is moving, so we can’t fix the items to their corresponding location!”
Han Fei had his own problem. The passengers inside the bus were no match for the boy. He needed to find a chance to jump out of the window. The black mist around the boy was still spreading. The black curse on his body bulged like veins. He crushed the passengers around him.
The bus windows started to crack, and the bus rapidly aged. The rails became rusted, and the paint on the seat peeled. This was the bus’ real appearance.
“This is not good. He is coming!” The big brother beside Han Fei was already consumed by the black mist. Han Fei was next. “The whole bus is not his match?”
The bus started to swerve. The driver’s neck was snapped. His only two arms were controlling the steering wheel. As the bus was about to ram into the building on the side, a man at the last row cackled.
As first, the laughter was weak. It even sounded like crying. However, the laughter grew louder, becoming more sick and crazy. If a voice had a shape, the laughter would be a snake with many heads.
When the passengers heard the laughter, they all calmed down. When Han Fei heard this laughter, his heart pounded. Something in his mind was moved. ‘How come it feels like this is my laughter?’
Han Fei glanced to the last row. A young man in the theme park uniform removed his hat. He looked absolutely nothing like Han Fei. The muscles on his face were pulled to reveal a fixed smile.
‘There’s someone from the theme park on the bus? But how come his smile is so familiar to me?’ This is the first time Han Fei met someone from the theme park outside the theme park. This man acted completely different from how the workers acted in the day. He was like a puppet who only knew how to laugh.
‘This is a strange feeling. Other than me and F, there’s someone I’m very familiar with who wants to clear the game.’
