Under a streetlamp late at night, a frail boy in a worn school uniform stood by the roadside. He seemed to have just been caught in a downpour; his clothes were soaked through, and muddy water stained his trouser cuffs. He looked weak, his refined face pale and his stance unsteady, like a ghost reluctant to leave the world of the living.
Ignoring the strange looks from passersby, Su Bai kept glancing back, searching for the strange shop with the "double happiness" character on its door. But he could no longer find any trace of it.
The light turned from red to green, and Su Bai continued toward the hospital.
Despite his bedraggled appearance, Su Bai had actually recovered much of his strength and mental energy. He could even feel a peculiar power circulating warmly through his body, weak but persistent. It was a power the Su Bai of eleven years ago could never have possessed, something more akin to the unusual things he had acquired in the Nightmare World.
Considering the eerie shop with its faded "double happiness" character and the streets that had been unnaturally deserted moments earlier, Su Bai could not shake the feeling that something had followed him from the Nightmare World into the Real World.
Honghuai City First People's Hospital.
Although the hospital's emergency department was open at this hour before dawn, it certainly was not a time for visiting patients. Su Bai could not worry about that. Following the hazy route in his memory, he found the white inpatient building.
After entering the inpatient building, Su Bai found the leave pass for accompanying family members in his soaked uniform pocket. The staff did not seem surprised by his arrival, though. They were more concerned about his miserable, drenched state than the pass in his hand.
"Su Bai, didn't you say you were going back... home to sort out your mother's things?" A middle-aged nurse rose from behind the nurses' station and frowned at his bedraggled appearance. "How did you get this wet? Go on, hurry upstairs and take a shower!"
Su Bai nodded politely to the nurse, whose name he could no longer remember, and continued toward the elevators without stopping.
"Nurse Chen, was that the Su Bai from the twelfth floor? He's really good-looking, but why..."
"Ah, he's handsome, all right, but he really is a poor thing."
Su Bai could hear the young nurse and Nurse Chen whispering behind him at the nurses' station, but he paid them no mind. After all, even his former self had thought he was the most unfortunate person in the world.
But if all of this was real, then his mother must still be lying in her room on the twelfth floor. Even if she had not regained consciousness, she was still alive. Her heart was still beating.
"Ding-" The elevator came up from the first basement level.
When Su Bai entered the mirrored elevator, a man dressed like a security guard was already standing in a corner. The man had his head tilted strangely, seemingly staring at his own reflection in the elevator mirror.
Su Bai should have sensed something wrong with the elevator immediately. But perhaps he had yet to grow accustomed to this body from eleven years ago, or perhaps the closer he came to home, the more anxious he felt. He simply stared at the changing floor numbers, his heart pounding faster than it ever had on the brink of death, with no attention to spare for anything else.
It was at that moment that the "security guard" in the corner reached out. His scrawny arm extended forward, but the man in the security uniform was not reaching for Su Bai in front of him. His target was Su Bai's reflection in the mirror.
In the reflection, the face of the man in the Security Guard uniform was actually a ragged mass of black mist. As "his" skeletal arm approached the mirror, his hand closed around empty air, as though gripping the neck of the Su Bai inside it.
It seemed that all "he" had to do was tighten his grip to snap that pale, fragile neck in the mirror.
All he needed was an opening...
"Bzzzt-" Something must have gone wrong with the wiring, because the elevator lights suddenly dimmed.
Just as darkness was about to swallow the light, the arm of the "security guard" in the mirror turned entirely into black mist and coiled toward Su Bai's reflected neck. "His" body trembled, as though excited by the imminent success of his hunt.
But the moment the black mist touched Su Bai in the mirror, the boy's reflection was replaced by a figure in a red wedding gown. An exquisite bridal veil, inexplicably adorned with silver bells, covered the red-clad bride's face. Before the light was completely swallowed, a massive bloody hole could be seen piercing the chest of the bride who had replaced Su Bai's reflection, with blood still flowing from it.
The bride in red inside the mirror did not look human. She was a Strange Creature!
The moment the black mist formed by the "security guard" drew near, the ghost bride who had replaced Su Bai's reflection reached out with pale claws and tore the mist apart with her sharp red nails.
All of this eerie activity took place in an instant. In scarcely the blink of an eye, the elevator lights returned to normal. Slow to react but still sensing something, Su Bai quickly turned to look. Yet he was alone in the elevator, and the mirror reflected only him.
But I clearly remember a security guard being here when I stepped inside.
Realizing something was wrong with his surroundings, Su Bai's expression grew more serious. Even a minor supernatural presence that would have been insignificant in the Nightmare World was something very, very, very wrong when it appeared in the Real World.
Did my arrival set off a butterfly effect, or have I never truly understood this world?
"Ding-"
With the chime, the elevator doors opened on the twelfth floor, revealing a quiet corridor lined with patient rooms. Just a few more steps, and Su Bai would see his mother again.
But just as Su Bai stepped out of the elevator, a sneering voice, so familiar it made him grit his teeth, rang out beside his ear-
"Lucky human, congratulations on receiving a ticket to the Nightmare World. You are about to become an unfortunate survivor beneath the Red Moon."
"But before you officially qualify as a resident of the Nightmare World, a simple little game awaits you."
"The game will begin shortly."
"Ten... nine... eight... seven..."
No! No! None of this makes sense!
The instant the familiar countdown sounded in his mind, Su Bai's thoughts began racing. Based on the current date, he should not have received an invitation to the Nightmare World until a year after his mother's death! Even if his invitation had come early, why did this damned invitation to the game have to appear at this exact moment?
I was so close to seeing her!
Su Bai hurried out of the elevator, watching the familiar yet unfamiliar hospital room draw nearer. He knew that just a few more steps... just a few more steps would let him see his mother again. But the countdown in his ears was almost over. After struggling in the Nightmare World for ten years, Su Bai knew this countdown all too well. No matter how "polite" or "friendly" that voice sounded, no one had ever been able to defy its commands.
"Zero."
Su Bai was still stepping forward, but the corridor before him seemed to stretch endlessly. No matter how he walked, he could not advance even half a step. The brightly lit hospital corridor was swallowed by darkness in an instant, sinking into the boundless black along with him.
"The game begins."
"Lucky human, dear temporary resident of the Nightmare World, please enjoy the first game the Nightmare World has prepared for you-Route 444 Last Bus."
"This is a perfectly Regular bus. Like any other regular bus, it stops at one stop after another."
"This is a perfectly Regular last bus. Like any other regular last bus, it carries all sorts of passengers. Some are temporary residents enjoying the game just like you, while others are special passengers arranged for you by the Nightmare World. And you... hmm? Well, here are a few very simple rules to help you enjoy this game and survive to become an official resident of the Nightmare World-
"First, there is one and only one Route 444 Last Bus in this game. No other transportation you can board will appear. If there are fewer than ten passengers aboard, the interior of the Route 444 Last Bus is a relatively safe environment.
"Second, when the number of passengers aboard the Route 444 Last Bus reaches or exceeds ten, this game will forcibly end. All passengers remaining aboard the Route 444 Last Bus will meet a bad ending and remain forever within its confines as special passengers, unable to leave."
"Lucky human, you need only survive twelve hours in this game to clear it, gain official residency in the Nightmare World, and receive the reward of being able to return to the Real World. As a privilege granted to the temporary residents in this game, the game will officially begin twenty minutes after you board the Route 444 Last Bus. Perhaps you can use these twenty minutes we have gifted you to find trustworthy companions."
"Special notice: the White Faction is currently at a disadvantage."
"Enjoy the game."
Su Bai opened his eyes and found himself sitting on a swaying, decrepit bus. The metal panels inside were rusted in places, and an equally rusty, battered fare box stood beside the driver's seat. It looked like something straight out of the previous century.
At this point, what surprised Su Bai most was no longer that he had entered the Nightmare World a year early. It was that, despite arriving a year early, his first game was still Route 444 Last Bus-a scenario that was virtually impossible for new players to beat!
In Su Bai's memory, he was the only new player to have left Route 444 Last Bus alive. No one had cleared it before him, and no one had cleared it and escaped afterward, either.
The Strange Creatures in the Nightmare World were far more powerful and terrifying than ordinary humans. Never mind new players who had only just entered—even Su Bai, who had struggled there for ten years, could only take one step after another down an inhuman path if he wanted to fight the stronger Strange Creatures.
For instance, learning to use the power of Strange Creatures. Or, before an utterly terrifying evil ghost and a traitorous teammate joined forces to kill him, recklessly staking everything on dripping blood onto a supernatural marriage contract item and pressing his handprint onto it.
Su Bai looked around and could not help wondering-
I never even met the other party to that marriage contract. I don't even know whether they have eight hands or seven feet, and I somehow ended up back eleven years in the past. Does that make the marriage contract invalid, or... did I run away from my wedding?
Before you continue