"Mr. Driver, the bus seems to be speeding up."
Su Bai looked out the window. Though there was nothing but fog, he could faintly make out the silhouettes of buildings through it. Judging by those shadows and the bus's increasingly violent jolting, he was certain that the Route 444 Last Bus had already reached a speed no ordinary land vehicle could match.
"The closer we get to the final stop, the faster we go." Since Su Bai was the one asking, the driver answered promptly.
"Why?"
"Passengers, I've already answered a lot of questions today." The driver was speeding along, yet his head snaked around the partition behind his seat. He looked at them with a troubled expression. "Distracting the driver while he's driving can cause serious trouble."
"And..." The driver's neck stretched farther, bringing his head closer to Su Bai. "Don't make things difficult for the driver. A driver is just a driver."
With that, his long neck immediately retracted.
"But you seem to know a lot." Su Bai was actually more interested in the driver than in this game. Neither the White Qipao Paper Figure nor the other passengers had treated him any differently. Only the driver had likely sensed the presence of his eerie betrothed the moment he first saw Su Bai.
"Because I have the virtue of never talking out of turn, I've driven for some important people." With a creak, the driver shifted gears again, and the bus seemed to pick up even more speed. "But I still prefer coming back to drive this route."
"Coming back. In other words, you personally experienced the story. In this story set on the road, there's at least one important role: the driver." Su Bai analyzed it with ease. "But you aren't the protagonist, because the protagonist remains trapped in the story until it ends, unable to escape. Since you can leave and go elsewhere, you may have experienced it firsthand, but you definitely aren't the protagonist."
"..." Silence fell over the driver's seat.
"For a story set on the road, the first stop might not be where the story begins, but the final stop must be connected to its ending." Su Bai sounded certain. Rather than guessing, he seemed to be stating facts. "Since the final stop is Ghost Village, the main plot must be about you, Driver, taking a special passenger there."
"And just now, when you were talking to our friend, you went through the backgrounds of the other passengers. Most of the people on this bus, including us, are merely passing through."
"The only passenger you haven't mentioned should be the one sitting in the very back, right?" Su Bai smiled as he delivered his conclusion. "Whether in the past or the present, the main plot is about you, Driver, taking that bride to Ghost Village."
There was still no response from the driver's seat, but Su Bai continued. At the very least, there were three newcomers on the bus who needed to learn how to piece together a game's backstory.
"Why would so many people board at Ghost Village?" Su Bai toyed with the blood-red beads around his wrist. "Is something big happening there? An event? A festival? Or... a wedding feast?"
Screeech-
The speeding bus suddenly slammed on its brakes, throwing all its passengers forward. Yet the White Qipao Paper Figure beside Qin Ge, despite having nothing left but a thin sheet of paper and a white qipao, seemed firmly stuck to the seat and did not budge.
"Lovers’ Lake." Perhaps because he was in a bad mood, the Driver's announcement was much shorter than before.
Almost the instant the doors opened, two soaking-wet figures hurried aboard, one after the other.
Before Su Bai could even get a clear look at them, he heard water dripping steadily onto the bus floor.
"Oh, come on! Why is every passenger today more of a headache than the last?" The driver's head stretched out again, his expression helpless. He waved at the two new passengers. "You two, don't go any farther in. Sit in the first row and stay there!"
"Sorry, sorry!" Both passengers hastily apologized. Their voices sounded young.
This was the first time Su Bai and the others had heard actual "special passengers" speak. The White Qipao Paper Figure's eerie laughter earlier didn't count.
Looking more closely, Su Bai discovered that the special passengers were a man and a woman. They were drenched from head to toe and draped in unidentified aquatic plants, but both seemed quite young.
Once aboard, the man proved to be something of a chatterbox. Spotting Wan Shasha, who was closest to him, he eagerly said, "I bet you're wondering why we're soaked, right?"
Who asked you?!
Wan Shasha looked wary and uncomfortable. As he approached, she couldn't help covering her nose, as though she had caught a strange smell. Then, perhaps worried that her gesture was rude, she immediately lowered her hand.
"We're going to the next stop, Ghost Village, for a wedding feast." The man blurted out something that stunned the trio.
What? There really was a wedding feast at Ghost Village, the final stop? Did the Route 444 Last Bus really exist to take that Ghost Bride there?
Wan Shasha and the others couldn't help turning to look at the back row again.
"It's all this idiot's fault!" The woman beside him reached up and grabbed his ear. "You just had to get off and see Lovers’ Lake because it was so beautiful! Well, look what happened—we fell straight into it! Everyone said couples who visit Lovers’ Lake die, but you wouldn't believe them. Now we're both dead. Believe it now?"
"So we're dead. Great, now we can go feast at Ghost Village!"
"You idiot!"
"..."
It was a lively lovers' quarrel, but after hearing their conversation, the trio didn't dare utter a word.
The soaking-wet man-or rather, the male drowned ghost-soon noticed Su Bai's half-dry clothes. Curious, he walked farther back and asked, "Did you fall into a river too? Where's your partner? Did she fall in and drow-"
"Shut your mouth!!" The driver suddenly roared in fury. His head shot over on his elongated neck, which wrapped around the male drowned ghost's throat. Alongside the anger in his eyes was a trace of fear. "If you don't know how to talk, then don't fucking talk! Get your ass back to the first row!"
Perhaps they hadn't expected the driver to get so angry. Both drowned ghosts promptly shut their mouths and obediently sat down in the first row, not daring to say another word.
After dealing with the two new passengers, the driver gave Su Bai another long look before retracting his head.
"So there really is a wedding feast at Ghost Village." After a long while, Qin Ge spoke from the back. "But I don't understand. Why would a bus be taking a bride to her wedding?"
"When my late brother visited me in a dream, he told me something," Su Bai said, smoothly making it up on the spot. "The eerie beings in the Nightmare World are different from humans. Humans live a mere hundred years, but the ghosts there may have existed for centuries, or even a terrifying thousand years."
"A city might once have been farmland, and a skyscraper might once have been a thatched hut. As more and more humans entered the Nightmare World, it became increasingly modern. Even Vengeful Ghosts in traditional robes might have changed into suits and short skirts."
As he spoke, Su Bai glanced toward the back row. "The more terrifying an eerie being is, the longer they've existed in the Nightmare World. So buses couldn't possibly have existed when that bride first came into being. Her original means of transport simply changed into a modern vehicle as time passed."
"Mr. Driver, what did this Route 444 Last Bus originally look like? Was it a horse carriage or a bridal sedan chair? Were you a coachman or a sedan-chair bearer?" Su Bai asked bluntly.
"It was nothing that fancy. Back then, it was just a broken-down ox cart." The answer drifted from the driver's seat, sounding faintly resentful.
"Ah!" Wan Shasha suddenly caught on. "No wonder the driver said he used to raise cattle!"
"More to the point, no wonder this bus can't carry more than ten passengers. An ox cart couldn't bear that much weight. Any more and it might collapse." Su Bai's joke was half-serious.
"..."
"Was that joke really so cold?" Su Bai looked around. Everyone seemed frozen by it.
"But what do we do when we reach the final stop?" Zhang Yibu had probably led the most sheltered life of them all, which made him more prone to panic when faced with the horrors of the Nightmare World. "We should get off now!"
The Route 444 Last Bus was still at Lovers’ Lake, with both its front and rear doors open.
"And walk into the fog?" Wan Shasha glanced out the window. This time, a small section of an enormous lake was faintly visible through the mist, with countless ghostly figures seemingly struggling on its pitch-black surface. "As long as I can stay on this bus, I'm never getting off somewhere like that."
"I couldn't leave even if I wanted to," Qin Ge said helplessly. "If you want to get off, go ahead."
Zhang Yibu didn't want to go to Ghost Village, but at the thought of getting off alone at Lovers’ Lake, he shrank back into his seat.
"Don't worry. As long as none of us gets off at Ghost Village, this bus will start its return trip." Su Bai gave Zhang Yibu what he considered a reassuring smile.
"After all, Ghost Village is holding a wedding feast, isn't it? Those two passengers said they'd get off there for the feast. Maybe the other passengers are guests too. And since the bride is still on the bus, the feast probably hasn't started. Where would all those passengers come from?"
Perhaps Su Bai's reassurance had worked. Though the trio remained anxious, they all chose to stay quietly in their seats.
The Route 444 Last Bus currently had nine passengers.
"Next stop, the final stop: Ghost Village." The driver's voice sounded as he closed the doors and started the bus. "Passengers getting off, please prepare in advance."
As the final stop drew nearer, both the bus's speed and the pace of its arrivals and departures grew faster.
It was as though Ghost Village was still calling for its bride.
Though Su Bai wore a carefree smile, he would have preferred this bus never to reach Ghost Village at all. There was no kindness in that place. For both the Ghost Bride, A Xi, and the players on board, it was a death trap.
Ding-ding-
Clang-
As the Route 444 Last Bus set off toward its final stop, sounds the trio had never heard before came from the back.
Everyone followed the sounds toward the last row, only to see the Ghost Bride, who had been sitting there so quietly, begin to move!
But the Ghost Bride wasn't trying to rise from her seat. Instead, she trembled and struggled where she sat, as though invisible chains bound her to the back row. She fought desperately, but couldn't break free.
No, it wasn't "as though"!
Among the sounds the passengers heard, besides the jingling bells on the Ghost Bride's bridal veil, there was indeed the clashing of iron chains.
Those invisible chains seemed to bind the Ghost Bride's hands and feet. She struggled with eerie, contorted movements, but accomplished nothing at all.
After struggling for several minutes, the Ghost Bride grew quiet again. She sat with her head lowered, as though nothing had happened.
"Ah..." A soft sigh came from the driver's seat.
Su Bai's right hand involuntarily clenched into a fist.
Before you continue