8:00 the next morning.
On a small mountain west of Donghai City, a dark brown coach bus traveled along a winding mountain road.
More than twenty passengers sat inside, yet it was exceptionally quiet.
The passengers were either sleeping or playing on their phones. Only the onboard television at the front of the bus played a film, giving off faint sounds.
It was an utterly ordinary-looking scene.
But if anyone approached the driver's seat, they could see through the reflection in the window that the driver's face kept changing, even becoming somewhat distorted.
The expressions on the driver's face changed rapidly—joyful one moment, furious the next, then dejected, then calm. It looked extremely eerie.
Before long, he shakily pulled a cigarette from his shirt pocket. Without lighting it, he simply put it between his lips.
The cigarette trembled continuously along with the changes in his expression.
Xiao Li, the attendant seated diagonally behind the driver, spoke up to remind him, "Old Zhang, you know the rules. No smoking on the bus."
"I know." Driver Old Zhang replied in a trembling, halting voice, "I-I just... got a craving. Holding it in my mouth to pass the time."
"Old Zhang, something's wrong with you today. Are you sick?" Xiao Li sensed that something was off and stood up, preparing to check on him.
But the moment he straightened up, he clearly saw Old Zhang's face reflected in the window—a face already twisted into one of "venomous resentment"!
"Old Zhang, Old Zhang, you—!" Xiao Li's face drained of color.
But it was already too late. Driver Old Zhang suddenly yanked the steering wheel, turning the coach nearly 120 degrees as it hurtled toward the guardrail on the right side of the road!
The iron guardrail on the right side of the road was