They... Have Returned!

San Gou had his own bedroom at Aunt's house, but he shamelessly insisted on clinging to Second Brother and sharing a bed.

Jiang Yue didn't mind.

"Second Brother, I didn't tell Aunt about the shuttle bus," San Gou said, as if seeking praise.

"You're a bit clever, I'll give you that."

"Just a bit? Second Brother, you underestimate me. In our Panshi Ridge, looking back five hundred years or forward five hundred years, can you find many people as clever as me?"

"Then tell me, why couldn't you tell her about the shuttle bus?"

San Gou puffed out his chest proudly. "Do I even need to ask? If I had told her, Aunt definitely wouldn't have let me go to the city with you."

"..."

Jiang Yue was instantly speechless. What a powerful reason! He had no words to retort.

Fine, this answer was very San Gou.

If San Gou had said he kept it a secret because he didn't want to cause panic or get into trouble, that wouldn't have seemed like him at all.

"Second Brother, now you have to admit you underestimated me, right?"

"Mm, very good, you're so witty. Then you'd better remember this: if this leaks out, don't ever expect me to take you to the city again."

Since San Gou loved showing off his "wit" so much, Jiang Yue decided to let him keep today's events completely buried while he was in this witty mode.

"Second Brother, you tell me, hypothetically, if we hadn't stopped that shuttle bus today, and they hadn't stopped there, would they have been buried?"

"No," Jiang Yue answered decisively.

"That's right. That shuttle bus was entangled by Unclean Things, it definitely wouldn't have reached Star City."

Jiang Yue sighed softly, neither confirming nor denying.

Jiang Yue hadn't seen if the Unclean Things had such destructive power, and he wasn't sure.

He believed more in the saying of Fate and Luck.

Fate was Heaven's Will, and it also included one's Destiny.

The continuous rain causing landslides on the mountain was Heaven's Will.

The people on the shuttle bus happening to be on it, happening to be there, was personal Destiny.

They were fated to face this calamity, but it wasn't necessarily destined that they would succumb to it.

Most Destinies had a way to be resolved. But that shuttle bus clearly didn't have the luck, didn't trigger the method of resolution.

Those who didn't believe in Destiny could naturally say that if they hadn't stopped midway, if they hadn't delayed for that half-minute and could have driven a few hundred meters further, they certainly wouldn't have encountered this disaster.

Believers in Destiny would argue that perhaps the landslide was brewing to a critical point, and it just needed a fuse to trigger it.

The weight and aura of the shuttle bus and its passengers happened to trigger the critical point of the explosion, which is why they were buried. It wouldn't have mattered if the shuttle bus arrived thirty seconds earlier or half a minute later.

If it had been one or two people on an electric scooter, they might not have been able to trigger it at that moment.

"Then, what about the situation where San Gou and I didn't get on that shuttle bus and escaped a disaster?" Jiang Yue had been pondering this.

San Gou had suffered all day, hadn't slept well last night, and with Jiang Yue not in a chatty mood, he drowsily fell asleep.

Jiang Yue, however, was preoccupied and had no desire to sleep. As Aunt had said, the town would likely have a difficult time in the coming days.

A shuttle bus with dozens of people involved dozens of families.

From time to time, he could hear weeping and wailing sounds, heart-wrenching cries that were especially piercing in the middle of the night.

Jiang Yue empathized with the pain of losing loved ones.

Ten years ago...

When he learned that Mother's archaeological team's vehicle had fallen off a cliff, the pain and despair his family felt in that moment was something Jiang Yue hadn't fully overcome in ten full years.

For ten years, Jiang Yue had encountered Mother countless times in his dreams, dreaming of her youthful and beautiful appearance. He had screamed "Mom" until his throat was hoarse, but he had never received a response.

But this past month, the style of his dreams had changed drastically. Mother in his dreams was no longer young, and she seemed to be hinting at some clues.

Jiang Yue gently pulled out the family photo from under the bed, clutched it to his chest, and murmured in his heart.

"Mom, what exactly do you want to tell me?"

Jiang Yue didn't even dare to close his eyes, afraid that the dream would appear the moment he did.

Mother's desperate and pained expression broke his heart; he couldn't bear it for even a second longer.

But at the same time, he felt a sense of anticipation!

Perhaps... if this dream continued, Mother in the dream could provide more clues?

Even after ten years, deep down, Jiang Yue still held a sliver of hope.

Back then, the trajectory of the archaeological team's vehicle plunging off the cliff, the skid marks, and the damaged flowers and shrubs by the roadside all conclusively proved that it was a traffic accident.

What was baffling was that the wreckage of the vehicle could never be found at the bottom of the cliff where the incident occurred.

It was as if the archaeological team, along with the vehicle, had simply vanished into thin air after that fall.

The cliff was deep and perpetually shrouded in fog, but the relevant authorities had sent people down multiple times to investigate using various means, employing advanced technology for the search.

Found nothing.

Ultimately, the case was closed as a traffic accident, and from then on, Mother's life and death became a mystery.

After a long while, Jiang Yue's emotions settled slightly. He took a deep breath, put the photo back under his pillow, and prepared to sleep.

Thump!

Suddenly, San Gou kicked the bed board hard with both feet and sat bolt upright as if he had come back from the dead.

"They're back, they're all back!" he said, his voice urgent.

Then he flailed his hands in the air, his expression terrified, as he scrambled to the corner of the bed.

"San Gou, what are you going crazy about?" Jiang Yue thought San Gou was still half-asleep and slapped him.

And it actually worked.

San Gou's whole body twitched, and he finally woke up completely.

"Second Brother, they're back, they're all back!" San Gou deliberately lowered his voice, but the tremor in his tone revealed his extreme fear.

This was unlike anything he had ever seen from San Gou before.

Even when Tangtou was being questioned at the Mass Grave on Mount Dajin, San Gou hadn't been this scared.

"Who's back?"

"The people on the bus, all forty-four of them, including the driver. Look, look..." San Gou pointed outside the window.

"The driver's left cheek and arm are gone; and that person, I know him, it's Qiu Laogen from the grain and oil shop next door. He's even worse off, only half of him is left... That's Boss Feng from the barbershop by the bridge, he's crawling on the ground, his intestines are spilling out, and he's covered in blood..."

Jiang Yue felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, his body and mind chilled to the bone. He grabbed San Gou's mouth to shut him up.

Stop talking, San Gou, just shut up!

Sizzle, sizzle...

The night light flickered on and off.

Crack, crack, crack...

Outside the window, whether it was the wind or some other unknown force, it seemed to be trying with all its might to push the window open.

Rustle, rustle...

On the street, it was unclear if it was the sound of raindrops, or the wind rolling dead leaves and branches, or perhaps something dragging slowly across the ground.

Conversely, the barking of dogs, which had been fierce and incessant all night, suddenly stopped as if all the dogs in town had their throats choked and their mouths sealed.

The temperature in the air seemed to drop by more than ten degrees instantly.

A chilling cold swept in from the windows, from under the bed, from every corner of the void, making it almost unbearable, his teeth chattering.

Crying continued throughout the night, from midnight until dawn, becoming increasingly desolate.

Early the next morning, the brothers hastily ate a few bites of breakfast and proposed to return to Star City.

Aunt wanted to keep them, but given the current situation in town, she wouldn't want to stay herself if her business didn't require it.

Coincidentally, Aunt learned that a delivery driver from Star City, who had been stranded in town overnight, planned to detour back to Star City that day. She arranged for them to get a ride by paying an extra 100 yuan for gas.

"San Gou, when we get to the city, you listen to your Eldest Sister and Second Brother. Otherwise, Auntie will slap you hard." Aunt raised her hand, looking like a fierce demon.

"I don't like listening to other people, but I'll definitely listen to Second Brother." San Gou was in a good mood and didn't argue with Aunt.

Aunt nimbly took out a hundred yuan bill and threw it through the car window to the delivery driver: "Boss Zhou, drive carefully on the road. I'm giving you the money upfront, don't ask my nephew for a second payment. And don't you dare bully my nephew."

"I wouldn't dare bully anyone who belongs to Sister Jiang! Besides, I'm afraid if I come next time, you'll take the wheels off my truck!"

"Hmph, it's good that you know! Actually, this is for your own good. My two little beasts here are not to be trifled with by ordinary people. Who knows who will end up losing out."

The vehicle was a double-cab pickup truck. The brothers sat in the back seat, which was quite spacious.

Delivery driver Boss Zhou, eager to return to the city after being delayed overnight, started the engine with a call and slowly set off.