404 Bus

Three in the morning.

When Manager Fang from the slaughterhouse walked into the warehouse again, carrying two bottles of beer, a cold dish, and two takeout orders of knife-cut noodles, he found Xiao Ran still stitching up the corpses.

"Hey, kid, take a break and get something to eat. I didn't know what you liked, so I ordered you a serving of Youji knife-cut noodles and a bottle of beer."

As he spoke, Manager Fang set the food on the table, then walked over to Xiao Ran. One look at what he was doing, and Manager Fang was immediately captivated by his technique.

The silver needle moved so lightly in Xiao Ran's hands it seemed almost unreal. The needle and thread darted through flesh, and with a gentle tug, the gaping incisions closed back up. They were so seamless that they were practically invisible to the naked eye.

Manager Fang had worked at the slaughterhouse for years. He knew how tough cowhide was, yet in Xiao Ran's hands, it offered no resistance at all.

He turned and looked at the cows hanging from the rack. Every single one had been stitched up flawlessly.

"That is some incredible craftsmanship!"

Xiao Ran had just finished stitching up the last cow. Hearing Manager Fang's words, he turned around with a smile. "Uncle Fang, you're interested in this kind of thing?"

"Interested? I come from a family of butchers. Why would I be interested in such delicate work? But the way you do it..." Manager Fang hesitated, then lowered his voice. "It looks like you're one of the people in the underworld professions."

"Oh?" Xiao Ran was surprised that Manager Fang had picked up on it. "Go on, Uncle Fang."

"Let's eat first. We can talk while we eat, before the noodles get soggy."

"Sure."

Xiao Ran washed his hands in the nearby sink. He and Manager Fang pulled over a couple of small stools, set out the cold dish and noodles, and sat by the warehouse entrance.

A few little insects flitted around beneath the light outside the warehouse. The area around them was wide open, and in the distance, trucks could be seen slowly pulling into the produce market. Bare-chested men were starting to unload bags of fresh vegetables one after another.

They raised their beer bottles and clinked them lightly. Only after taking a sip of the cold beer did Manager Fang speak. "I told you just now that my family were butchers. But before that, we were actually..."

He gestured with his hand across the back of his neck.

"Executioners!"

Xiao Ran looked up at Manager Fang. "So we're not just in the same line of work—you're my predecessor, too."

There was an old saying among the common folk about the trades of the underworld: the executioner's blade, the coroner's eye, the paper effigy maker's craft, and the second-rate craftsman's needle and thread.

Of them, executioners were considered foremost among the underworld professions, and carried the strongest aura of malice.

They said few people who took up that trade ever met a good end.

Xiao Ran called Manager Fang his predecessor because executioners were the starting point of the Four Underworld Professions.

Setting aside the births, deaths, and illnesses of ordinary families, if death were a play, then the opening scene would be the executioner taking someone's life.

Next came the coroner examining the body, the second-rate craftsman stitching it up, the paper effigy maker preparing the funerary goods, and the Bell band taking the stage.

When the music ended and the coffin was sealed, the entire service was complete.

"Exactly. That's why your technique just now felt so familiar. And since you were recommended by Mr. Zhou, I figured there was a good chance your family was in the underworld professions, too."

"Uncle Fang, you're impressive!"

Xiao Ran gave him a thumbs-up, then picked up his knife-cut noodles and wolfed down a couple of mouthfuls.

After all that work, he was hungry, too. As he ate, he asked, "What happened after that? How did your family end up here?"

Uncle Fang shot Xiao Ran a look. "The paper effigy makers never had trouble selling funerary goods. Paper Man Zhou wasn't called that for nothing. Lots of coroners simply switched to forensic medicine and still drew a government salary. Life wasn't easy for second-rate craftsmen, but there was still a market for them. But what could executioners do? Livestream chopping off pig heads?"

Executioners had it the worst. They were supposed to be one of the four great underworld professions, but while the other three families were doing just fine, executioners were the first to vanish into the currents of history.

All they could do was change trades and become butchers.

Some said it was retribution for how much bad karma the executioners' trade brought.

Old Fang thought that was nonsense. It was just the times changing.

The Paper Man Zhou and Bell Player Yang families had both been prominent names in Luo City back then. But in the end, they, too, were crushed like ants beneath the weight of a new era.

The Bell Player Yang family had switched over to running a theater. He'd heard they'd even taken up some kind of intangible cultural heritage preservation.

The Zhou family had relied on their legacy, along with the connections and reputation they'd built over the years, to take over this produce market through ruthless means.

His family had been on decent terms with the Zhou family, so they'd simply handed the slaughterhouse over to the Fangs to manage.

Old Fang hadn't met anyone from their line of work in a long time. He was already in his early fifties, and in another couple of years, he'd hand the business over to his son. After that, no one in the family would talk about their old roots anymore.

So seeing Xiao Ran had genuinely made him feel a sense of kinship.

The two of them ate noodles and drank beer. Before long, it was already four in the morning.

At that hour, the produce market was getting busier and busier. Many vendors were arriving on tricycles to buy vegetables wholesale, while carcasses of pigs, sheep, and cows were being sent out of the warehouse one after another.

"Manager Fang! Manager Fang! We're starting to move the stock out."

A call came through Old Fang's walkie-talkie.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran tactfully stood up. "Go ahead, Uncle Fang. I'll head back."

"Oh, don't rush off. I'll have someone give you a ride in a bit. There's a truck heading into the city to deliver produce."

"No need. I can ride back. It's not far."

Xiao Ran looked toward where he'd left his rental bike, only to find that someone had ridden it away.

But that wasn't a problem. There were plenty more rental bikes near the bus stop. He could just head out and scan another one.

After saying goodbye to Uncle Fang, Xiao Ran walked down the path toward the exit.

Out of the twelve cows, he'd extracted nine Talismans of Strength and three Talismans of Physique. If he activated them all together, he'd be strong enough to become a powerhouse for a short time.

And if he combined that with the Tempering perk from the [Black Swan Brooch, Trainee]...

When attacked, there was a 30% chance of gaining tempering points. These points could temporarily enhance his physique, strength, agility, or spirit according to his needs.

He could boost his strength by more than ten points for a short time. Who could withstand a punch like that without at least twenty years of training?

At the thought of it, Xiao Ran felt a rush of satisfaction.

At four in the morning, the sky was a hazy gray.

Xiao Ran reached the roadside and looked around, but didn't see any rental bikes.

It made sense. The area was so remote that the bike-share companies probably hadn't placed any bikes there.

Xiao Ran walked a little farther.

As he went, he suddenly looked up. The streetlights ahead began going out one by one.

Something seemed to be rapidly drawing closer beneath the hazy gray sky.

In the blink of an eye, all the lights around Xiao Ran went out, and a thick white fog swiftly rose around him.

The air grew colder, and the sounds around him gradually faded until it seemed as though the whole world had stopped moving.

"The Maze City again!"

That familiar sensation enveloped Xiao Ran once more, making the hairs on his arms stand on end.

How had he ended up in the Maze City again so soon?

Xiao Ran took a deep breath and realized his mood was completely different from last time.

He wasn't frightened by the Maze City's appearance. If anything... he was almost looking forward to it.

He turned to look behind him. The lights were vanishing rapidly, and even the produce market's enormous neon sign had been swallowed by the white fog.

Just then, Xiao Ran noticed a faint light flickering ahead. Its dim yellow glow stood out sharply in the fog.

He immediately headed toward it.

After a short walk, the outline of an abandoned bus stop gradually came into focus beneath the light.

When he reached it and took a closer look, he saw that the bus stop was covered in rust. The writing on the sign beside it had faded until it was almost illegible.

Still, he could make out a few of the stop names.

[Bone Spirit Street], [Fifth Hospital], [Jiaomu Village], [Seventh Middle School], and so on.

After that, Xiao Ran couldn't read anything else. The writing was completely blurred, as if someone had deliberately scribbled over it with watercolor markers.

Suddenly, an intense, uncanny feeling surged through him, leaving all four of his limbs stiff.

His vision began to fill with a scarlet glow, turning everything crimson. One crooked line of blood-red text after another began to appear before him.

[You have been selected as a participant in this Maze City. Please follow the rules below.]

Tip 1: Take Bus No. 404 to the mission location.

Tip 2: On the bus, do not spit or discard items. Keep the bus as clean as possible.

Tip 3: Pay attention to the rules on the bus.

Tip 4: Remember, do not get off early!!!

Tip 5: Take special care: in addition to the rules you can see, beware of the [Urban Legends] in the mission area.

Tip 6: Complete the Main Quest or three Side Quests to leave this Maze City...

It's still the new-book period, so I hope everyone will keep reading. The more people who keep up with the story, the more it helps the author and the novel.