Busful of Passengers

"Evil Spirit Lane?"

Xiao Ran was sure he hadn't misheard the stop's name, but he couldn't remember seeing it listed on the bus stop sign.

A sense of foreboding crept into his heart.

He tightened his cloak and temporarily separated from the trainee. Then he used the trainee to activate the Black Swan Brooch on his chest, so he could sense danger the moment it appeared.

He also slipped the E-class Cursed Ring onto his finger, ensuring he could activate it at any time.

Only then did he grip his short knife and hide it beneath his wide cloak.

He found a seat a little farther from the driver.

As soon as he sat down, the tank-top man, who had still been sprawled on the floor, seemed to have caught his breath. He raised his head with a bewildered look, then stared at the ticket in front of him, frozen in place. It took him a while to come around. When he looked up and saw Xiao Ran sitting in a seat, his eyes lit up.

"Brother, brother, where are we?"

The man hurried over and sat straight down in the empty seat beside Xiao Ran.

Perhaps he'd been through too much. Once the tank-top man sat down, he couldn't stop talking. First, he told Xiao Ran how he'd inexplicably ended up here, then how he'd heard the voice of the Maze City Trial in his head. After that, he'd blundered into a female ghost and, in his panic, run all the way onto the bus.

"I'd just crawled out of the grass when that woman turned her head. Yeah, turned her head—the head turned around, but her body didn't move..."

As the tank-top man gesticulated wildly, Xiao Ran scrutinized the bus.

The wooden seats were yellowed with age, and old-fashioned posters still hung on the walls.

Though everything was a little worn, Xiao Ran noticed that every inch of the bus had been cleaned thoroughly. Even the metal plates beneath the seats had been polished until they gleamed.

He recalled how the driver had cursed while knocking the monster out of the way earlier. It seemed the driver was especially fond of this bus.

A framed notice hung on the partition behind the driver's seat.

[Passenger Rules]

1: While the bus is moving, please do not stick your head out of the window.

2: Keep the bus clean and tidy.

3: This bus does not encourage giving up your seat to the elderly or young.

4: There is currently no ticket inspector on this bus. Please purchase your ticket of your own accord.

5: There is a rumor about a ghost story: if you see someone board the bus carrying a coffin, leave immediately, whether or not you've reached your stop.

If the coffin is red, relax and write your will. That way, dying will be a little easier.

"A ghost story!"

Xiao Ran's gaze was drawn to the fifth rule. He remembered the warning that he had to pay close attention to local ghost stories. He hadn't expected there to be one on the bus, too.

"Brother, do you... have a phone I can borrow? I need to make a call."

After rambling on for a while, the tank-top man gradually calmed down. "I was just lying down in my car to rest. Who knew I'd suddenly end up in this place? I didn't bring my phone or wallet."

Xiao Ran didn't refuse. He handed over his phone, but when the man took a look, he saw that it had no signal at all. Embarrassed, he gave it back.

"What kind of place is this? What's the Maze City?"

The tank-top man continued probing.

Xiao Ran shook his head. He wasn't the type to go around lecturing people. Besides, the man hadn't yet become an Initiate, so there was no point in saying too much. What's more, Xiao Ran himself only had a vague understanding of the Maze City. All he could say was, "I don't know much yet either, but you'd better follow the prompts."

Seeing how cold Xiao Ran was, the tank-top man didn't know what to say. He sat beside him, uneasily looking around.

Just then, the bus began to slow down.

Xiao Ran sat by the window and looked outside. As far as he could see, the landscape was filled with graves.

Here and there, pinpricks of light gradually appeared in the distance. They were a sickly green, more like the will-o'-the-wisps from folktales.

"Creak... creak..."

The squeal of the brakes grew louder. Xiao Ran saw a white lantern hanging by the roadside. There was no bus stop, but there was a raised platform that looked like one.

"Just as I thought!"

Xiao Ran narrowed his eyes. "I knew it wouldn't be that simple. The stops I saw on the bus stop sign clearly weren't all the stops. Or maybe those stops were meant for Initiates like us, while the ones we couldn't see were the truly dangerous ones."

"It's stopping!"

The tank-top man realized the bus was slowing down. He craned his neck to look outside, and when he saw the broken walls and the will-o'-the-wisps flickering in the distance, his body stiffened. He sat frozen in his seat.

"Ding-dong. Welcome aboard Bus No. 404. We've arrived at Evil Spirit Lane. Passengers getting off, please proceed to the rear door."

As the announcement rang out over the loudspeaker, the bus pulled up to the platform.

"Creeeak... pshh!"

"Bang!"

Both the front and rear doors opened, and wisps of white smoke drifted inside.

"Ugh... what's that smell?"

The tank-top man covered his nose and mouth with his tank top. A foul stench flooded his nostrils, so overpowering that it was hard to describe.

It was like taking half a bucket of rotten crawfish and half a bucket of fish guts and other animal offal from a market, mixing them together, sealing them up, and leaving them to stew in the summer heat for several days. Then, when the lid was opened, the first wave of stench would hit you.

"It stinks!"

The tank-top man waved a hand in front of his face, feeling like he might vomit. After a few dry heaves, he finally managed to get used to it.

"Is nobody getting on?"

After a while, the doors were still open. The tank-top man was beginning to get impatient. The place stank so badly that he didn't want to stay another second.

He glanced at Xiao Ran beside him and saw that he wasn't saying a word. His eyes were fixed on the front door.

"This guy... He's dressed so strangely. He doesn't look normal, either."

The tank-top man pondered to himself.

"Passengers, please hold on and stay seated. The next stop is Bone Spirit Street. Passengers getting off, please proceed to the rear door."

Only after the doors slowly closed did the tank-top man finally relax. He looked at the empty seats around him and immediately thought of moving.

Xiao Ran looked perfectly normal, but the tank-top man felt uncomfortable sitting beside him.

He hadn't noticed it before, but now that things had gone quiet, the smell coming from Xiao Ran made his skin crawl the more he noticed it. It was faint, but he could still pick it out: the smell of a corpse.

Just like his great-uncle on his mother's side, who'd died in his room last winter and hadn't been found for three days.

Thinking of that, the tank-top man said, "I'll go take a look at the back," and started to stand.

But Xiao Ran grabbed his clothes.

"Don't move!"

Xiao Ran's expression turned grave. He scanned the empty bus with a sidelong glance, his face growing more and more serious.

The tank-top man looked at Xiao Ran in confusion. He was about to say something when a drop of water suddenly fell onto his face. He instinctively wiped it away, and a chill spread through his body.

He looked up reflexively and muttered, "Is the roof leaking?"

But when he raised his head, he saw that a woman's face had appeared above him at some point.

Black hair covered her face. Through the disheveled strands, a pair of blood-red eyes stared right at him.

The tank-top man's body went rigid. A chill shot from his heels straight to his scalp, and when he glanced around, his skin crawled.

As the bus pulled away,

the streetlights outside shone through the windows. The bus, which had been completely empty, was now packed with "people."