Life Is a Bus

Garbage Street.

Inside the Rental Apartment.

Yao Hui, owner of the long legs in black stockings, watched Song Yizhou thoughtfully.

After a while, she collapsed onto the sofa, sprawled out like a starfish.

"Aaah! He still hasn't added me on WeChat!"

"I'm so mad."

Yao Hui fumed. "Does he really think I'm into him?"

"I just wanted to treat the guy who saved my life to a meal, and this is how he treats me!"

"To treat a..."

Yao Hui stretched out her long legs. "To brush off a beautiful doctor like this—does the uniform do nothing for him?"

Song Yizhou pushed up her glasses. Her expression was cool, and she said nothing.

Yao Hui knew her cousin well. Silence usually meant agreement.

She wriggled over to Song Yizhou and stared at her cousin's striking, cool features. "Seriously? You're not even on my side!"

"Aaah, Fang Xian, just you wait!"

A ripple stirred in Song Yizhou's gentle, placid eyes.

Fang... Xian?

"Cousin, are you saying Fang Xian is the guy who saved you with one swing of an axe?"

Song Yizhou asked.

Yao Hui froze. "Huh? You know him?"

Song Yizhou tapped her phone a few times, then showed Yao Hui Fang Xian's profile picture.

After trying to add Fang Xian so many times, how could Yao Hui fail to recognize it?

"No way!"

"Yi Zhou, how do you have his WeChat?"

"Don't you almost never add guys from outside your school?"

"You broke your own rule!"

Yao Hui sprang upright, her stockinged feet sinking into the sofa.

Song Yizhou thought for a moment. "How do I put it? It just happened naturally."

Yao Hui patted Song Yizhou on the shoulder. "Quick, send him my contact—no, I'm not adding him! Just tell him I want to treat him to dinner because of what happened last time!"

Song Yizhou tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and considered it. "Okay. I'll ask."

Yao Hui pressed her cheek against Song Yizhou's. "Hehe, Huihui loves little Yi Zhou the most. I'll give you a few pairs of stockings from my collection. I've never worn them."

Song Yizhou said, "Please don't. Thank you."

Toot, toot, toot.

Toot, toot, toot.

Beep, beep, beep!

Fang Xian opened his eyes.

The town bus made a sound from an older era, one that seemed out of place in this New Era.

It carried Fang Xian's memories back to childhood.

The Jiangzhou region was full of mountains and forests.

Beyond Xinlin Subdistrict lay Thousand-Mountain Lake, larger than all of Jiangzhou City.

The area had many reservoirs and was a popular destination for weekend trips.

Changzhao Reservoir, however, did not seem to be a popular attraction.

Riding a shared bicycle there would have been too far, and returning it would cost him a hundred yuan in relocation fees. In the end, Fang Xian had taken the bus.

The Friday night sky was gradually darkening.

There were not many people on the town bus.

Only a few passengers sat scattered about.

In the back row sat a boy in a T-shirt, carrying some snacks.

He looked twelve or thirteen, wore a baseball cap, and seemed rather quiet.

Fang Xian wondered what the kid was doing out at night when there would be no return bus at seven or eight.

Oh, he might live near Changzhao Reservoir and be heading home to sleep.

Fang Xian settled on that reasonable answer.

At the moment, Fang Xian sat unabashedly in a priority seat.

Ahead and to his left was an old woman who kept coughing.

Despite the summer heat, she seemed cold.

A brightly patterned scarf wrapped around her head, and she sat slightly hunched over.

Behind him were four young people.

At first glance, they looked like two standard-issue couples, but Fang Xian's sharp eye had already spotted the truth.

Only one pair was actually a couple.

As for the other pair...

Yikes.

Another doormat?

Was this some sort of half-baked blind date?

The short-haired girl kept her distance from the boy beside her.

There was impatience in her eyes, too.

Hmm. College students.

Fang Xian immediately recognized the distinctive, wide-eyed cluelessness in their eyes.

Jiangzhou had plenty of universities. Fang Xian was just thinking of striking up a conversation when a WeChat message arrived.

[Silence Is Zhou: You there?]

Starting with "you there?" means I'm not.

Fang Xian did not usually assign nicknames to his contacts, but he remembered the person with a book as her profile picture.

Song Yizhou... Clearly, she's never hit on a guy before. They must always come to her.

The whole world really does run on looks.

Fang Xian ignored her and searched the Urban Legend Compendium for nearby urban legends instead.

In the distance, the outlines of the islands in Thousand-Mountain Lake had come into view.

"It's beautiful!"

"This is the 'hidden-gem travel route' I saw on Little Sweet Potato!"

The girl from the couple behind Fang Xian sounded excited.

The doormat eagerly chimed in, trying to impress the aloof girl beside him. "Qiqi, once we get to the hotel, we can go fishing at the reservoir!"

"I'm really good at fishing!"

"Lure fishing. You know what that is? Lure fishing!"

The Little Sweet Potato app had all but worn out the phrase "hidden gem."

And you're not just a doormat—you're a fishing nut, too.

Fang Xian ignored the chatter behind him.

Xiao Jiu perched on his shoulder and watched curiously.

She could not understand what she was seeing, but the glowing phone was interesting.

"There are quite a few urban legends around here..."

Fang Xian looked at his phone and murmured to himself.

Points of light dotted the entire reservoir area.

Quite a few were exceptionally bright.

The tasks might as well have been delivered straight to Fang Xian.

[Urban Legend Alert]

[Have you heard of the Human-Faced Fish? It's a highly intelligent kind of fish. Perhaps you could catch one and keep it in a glass tank.]

[Urban Legend Alert]

[Adults in this world can be wicked, but children aren't necessarily any better. Beware of being deceived.]

[Urban Legend Alert]

[When burning a paper figure, don't draw eyes on it. You know it might watch you at any moment.]

[...]

[...]

Stop pushing alerts!

Stop!

You think my data is free?

Fang Xian felt inexplicably nervous.

No. This won't do.

Fang Xian opened WeChat.

I need to chat with a pretty girl and relax.

[Fang Xian: ?]

The "typing..." indicator appeared only briefly.

[Silence Is Zhou: Do you know Dr. Yao from the Campus Hospital?]

[Silence Is Zhou: She's my cousin. She wants to thank you for what happened last time and treat you to a meal this weekend.]

Oh!

Fang Xian understood at once.

No wonder Song Yizhou added me on WeChat.

So the doctor from the Campus Hospital was behind it.

[Fang Xian: I can't this weekend.]

[Fang Xian: Location sent.]

[Fang Xian: I have plans this weekend.]

Yao Hui narrowed her eyes at the reply. "What's he doing at Thousand-Mountain Lake?"

"Someone's having a nice little getaway."

Song Yizhou looked at the location, her fine brows shifting slightly.

Why did it feel like...

Fang Xian was always busy?

He had followed her cousin to catch a stalker, crawled into a Cement Pipe at night to look for a body, and now he was off to Changzhao Reservoir at Thousand-Mountain Lake...

"I'm so bored."

An idea struck Yao Hui, and she perked up. "Yi Zhou, let's go too!"

"We can make it a countryside getaway!"

"It's been ages since we went anywhere!"