Since sometime last night, when she should theoretically have been hugging a pillow and sleeping in her dorm, Fang Yishu suddenly found herself fully dressed and reclining in a seat.
Nearly thirty other people on the bus had also "woken up" on a double-decker coach.
It was strange. Outside the bus, it was clearly a gray, dim daytime, yet the watch on her left wrist had inexplicably stopped completely, and its digital display showed that it was not yet one in the morning.
Fang Yishu's heart clenched at once. Sensing that something was wrong, she did not speak up, merely looking around cautiously.
She noticed that the bus was parked beside what appeared to be an abandoned old-fashioned bus stop. A rather gaunt old gentleman was sitting in the passenger seat, while the driver's seat was conspicuously empty.
Only after a group of people who clearly came from different countries and social classes—and could not understand one another's languages—had woken up and begun shouting at each other, nearly coming to blows, did the old man finally speak.
The old man, who had a cane propped beside him and called himself a "Guide," said little. He merely gave them a brief explanation of their "current situation."
Very few people were truly fools.
Faced with the vast amount of information that had suddenly appeared in their minds, as well as the illusory screen of light that seemed like a "hallucination" before them, most people, despite their doubts, quickly chose to place at least some trust in it.
Of course, the "translation" effect that allowed the "passengers" on the bus to communicate with and insult one another, rather than remain stuck at "Can't you understand plain English?!" was also undeniable proof.
The key point was that after everyone got off the bus, the unmanned coach started up on its own and drove straight into the thick fog near the station under everyone's watchful eyes...
The "passengers" were all dumbfounded.
According to the information on the screen of light, these temporary bus passengers, clearly from different countries and regions, shared the same main mission: "Board the correct vehicle within twelve hours."
The task description was so concise that it left everyone utterly baffled.
And when everyone had no choice but to remain at this bizarre bus station, where they could not go far before encountering thick fog blocking the way...
Every so often, all kinds of strange and bizarre vehicles would inexplicably emerge from the fog and pass in front of this relatively small station.
An old-fashioned diesel bus.
An ordinary long-distance coach with a driver who had no eyes.
A modern bus with half a headlight smashed, large patches of blood visible on its windows.
A fire Skeleton riding a literally ghost-fire motorcycle.
An elongated Lincoln sedan whose body was severely rusted, looking like a wreck that had been decommissioned after an accident many years ago, yet still capable of driving.
A medium-sized van that trundled past the roadside at roughly the walking speed of an ordinary person...
Fang Yishu had even witnessed a carriage whose front was clearly harnessed to four black "horses" with spiral horns, its entire body styled in the dark golden elegance of old England, with wheels of different heights!
It moved smoothly beneath the hands of a driver who was extraordinarily tall—so tall that he exceeded the height of the carriage itself—while the equally enormous hat on his head nearly hid his entire face. The carriage galloped past without stopping!
The countless situations that were impossible to describe clearly made everyone feel as though they were trapped in a nightmare.
Standing at the station, Fang Yishu saw that some vehicles would stop on their own and wait for several dozen seconds or a few minutes. Some ignored everyone's shouts and sped away, while others occasionally heard the calls, slowed down, and stopped briefly.
By comparison, the "boarding the correct vehicle" mentioned in the so-called "main mission" seemed extremely difficult to figure out.
What counted as the "correct vehicle"?
Standing not far from the old "Guide," Fang Yishu vaguely heard him muttering, "Why does the Newcomer Trial main mission only have one objective?" and "So there aren't even any hints?"
The old man seemed especially troubled as well.
In just one or two hours, perhaps because he thought the opportunity was too good to miss, one of the "passengers" took the risk of boarding an off-road vehicle that looked perfectly normal. There seemed to be no problems with it at all, and even the driver appeared to be an ordinary person without any obvious flaws.
It was worth mentioning that once the situation became clear, six people scrambled into the seven-seater at once! The driver then very law-abidingly announced that the vehicle was full and could not take anyone else.
Those who still tried to force their way inside were directly bounced out by an invisible force.
Not long after the vehicle drove into the fog, many passengers who had stayed behind and were regretting their missed opportunity clearly heard a string of bloodcurdling screams drifting from the direction in which the off-roader had disappeared...
The situation was beginning to feel more and more like a horror story.
Compared with those bizarre "drivers," or the various vehicles that drove themselves onto the road in crooked, wavering lines, Fang Yishu noticed an inconspicuous detail—
Whenever a few of the vehicles briefly stopped at the bus station beneath their feet, the number in the middle of her watch, along with the hands around its outer edge, would suddenly start moving.
The speed of the hands varied wildly, sometimes fast and sometimes slow, but there was clearly something wrong with them.
Soon, by observing the vehicles that could rarely trigger the watch's "flow of time," Fang Yishu realized there was a distinction—
Only a very small number of vehicles that simultaneously had "a license plate" and "a driver" could make the watch react.
No, that was not quite right.
More precisely, the vehicles needed to have both a license plate and a driver, while at least part of the license plate number also had to be obscured!
Since she was somewhat short and at a disadvantage in the crowd, she had to stand on tiptoe and observe carefully for a long time before reaching this more refined conclusion.
But this strange speculation was undoubtedly unsettling.
It needed to have a driver and a license plate... but the license plate could not be completely visible?
Finally, a small van appeared with nearly half its front crushed inward. Its license plate was also thoroughly covered by a raised, broken section of metal, whether intentionally or not.
After confirming that, aside from the already-crumpled passenger seat, there were still three or four empty seats inside, she kept her gaze fixed on the driver's seat for a long time.
Only when she saw that the driver was preparing to close the door and leave did she grit her teeth, make up her mind, and sit down.
Yet for some reason, when she saw the terrifying driver—a "bloodied man" whose hair and facial features were almost completely plastered over with blood, making him barely recognizable as human—reluctantly turn around and smile at the girl, Fang Yishu suddenly felt at ease.
Unexpectedly, just as the vehicle ignited and was about to start, the old gentleman known as the "Guide" forcibly dragged another middle-aged man with a limp over, abruptly opened the door, slipped inside, and pulled it shut, completing the entire sequence in one fluid motion.
"A Wuling Hongguang that's been smashed into this state and is still running... It must be a good car."
"Good enough that even my leg is starting to ache like it does before rain."
Fang Yishu remembered the limping middle-aged man giving a thumbs-up and saying something like that.
"Don't be fooled by how flashy and strange all those vehicles that passed earlier looked. I'm afraid few of them could outrun this one! Do you know what it means for the power to be unknown? The stronger the opponent, the stronger it gets!"
"I don't know much about cars, old as I am... But kid, like I said, among the vehicles that passed through here earlier, there weren't many where you could still hear a heartbeat inside..."
The old gentleman, clearly under considerable strain, panted heavily while rubbing his leg. He looked thoroughly exhausted, but his face also showed a hint of agreement.
The bloodied driver, who had not spoken once from beginning to end, merely glanced at the three "passengers," silently pressed down on the accelerator, and let the engine roar like a waking tiger as the vehicle plunged headfirst into the thick fog.
...Accelerate! Accelerate! Accelerate again!
Amid the seemingly endless fog and the violent force pinning her back, which climbed so rapidly that she almost suspected she was sitting in a manned rocket about to launch, Fang Yishu eventually found it difficult even to breathe...
When she woke again, the lights of an emergency room were shining before her. Blurred figures moved chaotically, and she seemed to have a full breathing mask over her mouth. Beside her ears came a voice distorted by heavy interference—
"Get the doctor! Another drowning victim from the vehicle has woken up..."
At the same time, an illusory screen of light quietly remained within her dazed field of vision.
...At that moment, an indifferent voice issued a notification.
—Main mission completed.
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