I'm Cracking Up—Is He Feeding Candy to Ghosts?

The inside of the bus was even more horrifying than its exterior.

The battered green seats were scattered at odd angles, their covers long since torn to shreds, exposing the yellowed foam beneath.

The air was thick with the rotten smell of mildew and the heavy stench of blood.

Most bizarre of all were the "passengers."

They sat in all manner of positions: office workers in suits and students carrying backpacks.

Every face was indistinct, like shadows blurred by spilled ink.

Their bodies were an unnatural bluish-gray, twitching faintly now and then as though convulsing.

[Mobile Domain: Despair Line activated]

[Warning: Those who die within the domain will automatically transform into Resentful Spirit Passengers. The stronger their resentment, the higher their rank.]

[Rule Analysis: Maintain order. The living are forbidden from getting off before the terminal.]

Without drawing attention to himself, Qin Feng walked toward the fare box. It was an old metal box, its coin slot an eerie blood-red.

"What are you doing?" Seeing this, Lei Yun could not help questioning him in a low voice.

"Paying the fare."

Qin Feng answered as though it were only natural.

"Didn't you see the core rule? 'Maintain order.' They said the fare was one yuan. We can't exactly ride for free, can we?"

"Is this really the time for that?!"

"The more dangerous the situation, the more we need to follow the rules."

With a solemn expression, Qin Feng pulled a coin from his pocket.

"If we get labeled an 'Order Disruptor' for fare evasion, then we'll really be in for it."

Just as he was about to insert the coin, the Resentful Spirit Passenger nearest him—an office worker—suddenly stood up. A claw silently reached for Qin Feng's back!

"Courting death!"

Lei Yun roared, and a thick arc of lightning struck first, crashing fiercely into the resentful spirit.

Sizzle—

The resentful spirit staggered from the blow, but the black mist around it only grew thicker, becoming even more violent.

It let out a soundless shriek. The mental shock made Liu Min groan in pain, her face turning even paler.

"Lightning strengthens their resentment!"

Shen Bingyue's voice came from the front of the bus. She was confronting the driver, who had no head and drove solely with two hands gripping the steering wheel. The horrifying aura emanating from him suppressed her completely, leaving her unable to spare any attention elsewhere.

Ding—

The crisp sound rang out with startling clarity amid the chaos.

Qin Feng had already dropped the coin into the box.

In an instant, it was as though the entire bus had been switched on.

All the blurry figures turned toward them in unison, and suffocating malice rushed straight at them.

Whoosh— The bus began moving slowly, its engine letting out a low rumble.

The abandoned platform outside the windows gradually blurred, swallowed by an eerie red mist.

"We've fully entered the urban legend domain!" Shen Bingyue shouted.

"Lei Yun, Liu Min, hold the middle of the bus! Don't let them get close!"

At that moment, a figure in a student uniform seated in the third row slowly turned its "head."

It had a completely blank face, yet everyone could "hear" its voice echoing in their minds, carrying a chilling innocence. "Classmate... my backpack... my perfect-score test paper... is gone..."

Its body began to swell as black mist coiled around it. It was clearly transforming into D-Class!

"Damn it!"

Lei Yun was about to force himself to fire another blast when a hand pressed down on his shoulder.

"Wait."

Qin Feng stopped him, then turned to the student resentful spirit with a gentle smile.

"Kid, are you looking for this?"

From nowhere, he produced a brand-new test paper, with a large "100" written across it in red ink.

The entire bus fell silent.

All the resentful spirits that had been ready to make a move seemed to have been paused, turning in unison to "look" at the ordinary test paper in Qin Feng's hand.

Lei Yun's mouth fell open wide enough to fit an egg. "You... you fucking... carry test papers around with you?!"

"Quiet. It's an item."

Qin Feng waved a hand, still focused on The Obsessed Student.

"Kid, want it?"

The student resentful spirit hesitantly reached out a pale hand.

The instant its fingers touched the exam paper, something happened that left everyone dumbfounded.

The black aura around it receded like a tide. On its blank face, blurry facial features actually emerged—a boy who looked no older than his teens, his eyes shining with the innocence and persistence he had possessed in life.

"Thank you, big brother..."

Its voice was no longer eerie, but carried the clarity unique to a child.

"Mom said... if I got full marks... she'd buy me candy..."

As soon as it finished speaking, Qin Feng took out the strawberry lollipop he had just unwrapped and placed it in the boy's hand.

"Here. A reward for you."

The student resentful spirit's body began to turn transparent, but a satisfied, liberated smile appeared on its face.

"Candy... really is sweet."

Its figure grew fainter and fainter before finally turning into specks of silver light and dispersing through the bus.

[Defeated E-Class Resentful Spirit: The Obsessed Student]

[Obsession Purification Rate: Perfect]

[Cleansing Points +10]

"The essence of resentful spirits is nothing more than a frozen obsession."

Qin Feng quietly said this to the stunned Lei Yun beside him.

"Destroying it with violence will only deepen that obsession. But if you fulfill it, it will naturally be freed."

When the other Resentful Spirit Passengers saw this, their original malice began to waver. Their bodies no longer radiated aggression, but slowly turned toward Qin Feng with an emotion resembling... longing.

At the front of the bus, Shen Bingyue glanced back under the pressure of the headless driver. A flicker of interest passed through her icy eyes.

This guy... really couldn't be judged by common sense.

"Beep beep—"

The bus horn suddenly sounded, and the mechanical female voice announced again, "Next stop, Orphanage Station. Please prepare to get off."

Beyond the windows, the outline of a dilapidated building flickered in and out of view within the red mist.

Several tiny figures were waiting for the bus on the platform, their silhouettes especially bizarre beneath the red light.

"Damn it, more are getting on!" Lei Yun gritted his teeth, but this time, he instinctively glanced at Qin Feng.

Qin Feng, meanwhile, calmly checked his backpack and even had the leisure to count its contents. "Hmm, exam papers, love letters, old newspapers, wedding rings... I've got quite a full set of props. Should be enough to go around."

The bus doors slowly opened, and several tiny figures began climbing aboard...

"Creak... creak..."

The metallic grinding of the doors opening was especially piercing in the dead silence.

Several small figures dressed in tattered orphanage uniforms climbed onto the bus with a rigid posture that did not belong to the living.

Their joints were like rusty marionettes, every step accompanied by a teeth-grating creak.

Within Qin Feng's system vision, icy-blue streams of data instantly refreshed:

[New Targets Detected: Orphanage Child Resentful Spirit x4]

[Danger Level: D-Class (Group Threat Level Raised to C-)]

[Special Abilities: Psychic Resonance Attack, Group Crying]

[Weakness Analysis: Extreme longing for warmth and care; obsession core is "the pain of abandonment"]

These child resentful spirits were far more terrifying than the previous passengers.

Their clothes were ragged beyond recognition, little more than strips of torn cloth.

Most deadly of all was that their crying was not ordinary sobbing, but despairing wails capable of tearing souls apart directly.

"Waaah... so cold... so hungry..."

"Why... why does no one want us..."

"Mom... where are you... Mom..."

The cries of the four little resentful spirits intertwined and converged, instantly becoming an invisible psychic shockwave that slammed viciously into everyone in the bus.

The temperature inside the bus plummeted. The air seemed to have been sucked dry, and even the metal walls swiftly frosted over.

"A bunch of wandering ghosts, and you dare act so brazenly!" A cold, vicious curve tugged at Lei Yun's lips as he stepped forward, lightning surging around his body!

With a low shout, he thrust his palm forward. Countless electric serpents gathered and compressed in his palm, ultimately transforming into a dazzling bolt of lightning.

"Thunderclap Palm!"

Accompanied by deafening thunder, a massive palm print of lightning shot from his hand and crashed into the resentful spirit group with overwhelming force.

Wherever the lightning struck, the mist formed from countless strands of resentment burst apart, yet it did not harm the little resentful spirits themselves.

"How is that possible?!"

Lei Yun was utterly shocked. Wasn't lightning supposed to be the ultimate weapon against all demons and evil spirits? How had it failed to even break through their resentful aura defense?