Ghost Bride

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	A Xi 10 12
Alias(es)	Ghost Bride (鬼新娘); the “eldest sister” among Su Bai’s puzzle family 3 12 313
Species/Race	Vengeful ghost; formerly human 10 12
Gender	Female 10 12
Affiliation	Su Bai’s Vengeful Ghost Puzzle 11 22
Occupation/Role	Central figure of the Route 444 Last Bus game; Su Bai’s first puzzle piece and protective family member 11 16 313 618
Status	Active puzzle piece. Slept after the destruction of Ghost Village and remained dormant during the subsequent game, but awakened during the mirror encounter; later returns to Su Bai’s puzzle after accompanying him in another game 22 30 129 619
First Appearance	Identified as the Ghost Bride aboard Route 444 3

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Human → vengeful ghost	10 12	Died after being sold to Ghost Village for a ghost marriage. Lost her memories and reason and became trapped on the road to the village.
First Vengeful Ghost Puzzle piece — previous timeline	11 21	Resonated with Su Bai through their similar betrayals. While weakening in the village’s sacrificial fire, awakened his Vengeful Ghost Puzzle ability and willingly became its first piece.
Recovery of memories and humanity — current timeline	18 19	The Nurse’s crying stirred her memories. Her unleashed power suppressed both White Qipao and the Nurse, but she remained bound.
Fully awakened and freed	20	Su Bai invoked the A Xi already within his puzzle to awaken her counterpart. With his help, the bride broke her remaining shackles and took revenge on Ghost Village.
Changed, dormant puzzle piece	22 30	The freed bride vanished after taking Su Bai’s hand. His puzzle retained exactly one A Xi piece, which underwent an unspecified change and fell asleep; no new rank or power increase was confirmed at that time.
Awakening from dormancy	129	Her hand emerged from the darkness to protect Su Bai from a mirror shadow imitating him. Su Bai recognized her and welcomed her return.
Developed Ghostification and iron-chain confinement	313	Her growth and mutations consistently favored protecting Su Bai: strengthening his ghostified body, restraining enemies with chains, and intercepting attacks. Su Bai could no longer precisely gauge her strength; no formal rank was stated.
Second ability mutation — protective blood	577	Her Red Moon power was described as having undergone a qualitative leap since awakening. Blood spreading from her wedding dress could form defensive curtains, bind attacking branches, and corrode them. The new ability emphasized protection rather than attack.

Background / History

Human Life and Ghost Marriage

A Xi’s brother was a hopeless gambler who drugged her and sold her to Ghost Village, whose inhabitants practiced ghost marriages. She died as a result and became a vengeful ghost, stripped of her memories and reason 10 12.

Visions of her past show her transported in an ox cart, clutching a small, roughly sewn cloth bundle despite wearing an elaborate wedding gown. In the village, she was chained beside a bridal bed. Bells attached to her veil alerted the villagers whenever she moved, prompting them to beat her with clubs and farming tools 19.

After death, both A Xi and the villagers remained caught in a repeating nightmare: the villagers found the bride, imprisoned her, and sacrificed her. Her obsession with continuing to live bound her to that cycle 21.

Su Bai’s Previous Timeline

During Su Bai’s original Route 444 game, he entered the house where the bride was imprisoned. When she attacked him, their shared experience of betrayal caused their fates to resonate, allowing them to read each other’s memories. Recognizing a kindred soul, A Xi spared him and entrusted him with her wish to stay alive 11 21.

A Xi possessed Su Bai and disguised him as the bride. The villagers eventually threw him into the ritual fire, where she weakened while repeatedly urging him to keep living. Rather than return to the nightmare’s beginning, she awakened his Vengeful Ghost Puzzle ability and willingly became his first piece 21.

She accompanied Su Bai for the next ten years in a bond resembling that of an older sister and younger brother. When he returned to the past, this A Xi remained within him, retaining their shared experiences even though an earlier Ghost Bride also existed aboard the bus 10 12 20.

Return to Active Companionship

After the earlier bride was freed and disappeared into Su Bai’s puzzle, A Xi’s existing piece changed and became dormant. She remained asleep during his subsequent game, requiring him to rely on Black Umbrella instead 22 30.

A Xi later reappeared during an encounter with a mirror that created doubles. Her hand emerged from the darkness and forced a shadow copying Su Bai to abandon his appearance; he recognized her return immediately 129.

By the confrontation with Ghost Madam, A Xi was described as the first family member to have voluntarily become one of Su Bai’s puzzle pieces. Her development continued to center on keeping him alive, and Su Bai could no longer fathom precisely how strong she had become 313.

Appearance

• Build and face: Slender, with a delicate face; moves gracefully after awakening 20 22.
• Wedding attire: Elaborately embroidered crimson wedding robes and an ornate phoenix crown beneath her bridal veil 12 20.
• Veil bells: Silver bells tied to all four corners. Originally tools of restraint rather than decoration, they signaled movement to her captors 12 19.
• Chest wound: A gaping hole that continually bleeds while she sits aboard the bus. It stops bleeding after her revenge 3 22.
• Shackles: Invisible chains bind her wrists and ankles to the bus’s rear row until her awakening 15 20.
• Final appearance in Ghost Village: Removes her veil and smiles with visible relief before reaching for Su Bai 22.
• Manifested claws: Sharp nails gleam with a pale, cold light when she appears beside Su Bai in the Newborn Ward 576.
• Blood-soaked hem: In later manifestations, blood spreads from beneath her scarlet wedding dress. Her long dress trails to the elevator floor, with wet red streaks seeping from its hem 577 617.

Personality

Without her memories and reason, the Ghost Bride behaves like a rule-bound, instinctive vengeful spirit. Even then, she fears returning to Ghost Village and struggles against the restraints that keep her on its road 12 16.

The restored A Xi is capable of empathy, gratitude, and attachment. She spares Su Bai after recognizing their similar suffering, becomes a trusted familial presence in his life, and thanks him after he frees her. Her central wish is to keep living—a wish she also asks him to fulfill 11 12 20 22.

As the puzzle family’s “eldest sister,” A Xi prioritizes Su Bai’s survival. She lends him power with the smallest and most harmless drain she can place on his strength and is prepared to die in his place if necessary. Her later blood mutation likewise develops toward protecting others rather than offensive specialization 313 577.

Abilities & Skills

Supernatural Suppression

• Her presence deters weaker evil spirits from attacking the human passengers aboard Route 444 17.
• When her power runs wild, it immediately suppresses White Qipao and the crying Nurse 19.
• Once freed, she forces Ghost Village’s approaching villagers backward 20.
• Limits: Her restraints prevent her from reliably intervening before awakening. The Driver remains unaffected by her rampage 17 19.

Ghostly Claws and Physical Strength

• Her claws can pierce a human chest; she initially attempts to tear out Su Bai’s heart 11.
• Her struggling is powerful enough that Su Bai fears his hand may be dislocated while holding hers 20.
• Her revenge leaves villagers with wounds from piercing and slashing ghost hands throughout the burning village 21.
• Her developed ghostified claws can kill Ghost Creatures caught in her restraints 313.
• She withstands Ghost Madam’s surprise attack without injury after emerging to protect Su Bai 313.

Possession

• Possesses Su Bai in the previous timeline, dressing him in her bridal appearance to deceive the villagers 21.
• During the sacrifice, Su Bai feels no burning pain while A Xi suffers and weakens within him 21.

Vengeful Ghost Puzzle Resonance

• As a puzzle piece, lends Su Bai her supernatural power in exchange for his strength and his acceptance of her unfulfilled wish 11.
• Full resonance reproduces her chest wound, cold body temperature, wedding robes, and bell-hung veil on him 20.
• Her preserved memories allow Su Bai to use her to awaken the earlier Ghost Bride 20.
• Limits: Full use drains Su Bai heavily. After the village’s destruction, A Xi’s piece falls asleep, leading him to rely on Black Umbrella instead 20 22 30.
• Later development: Her power gradually ghostifies Su Bai’s body, increasing its toughness and strength. Although borrowing her power nearly exhausted him soon after his rebirth, she deliberately minimizes the burden of lending it 313 578.
• Her wedding attire and chilling ghostly aura allow Su Bai to impersonate another Ghost Bride. The accompanying bleeding chest wound does not match that bride’s drowning, so he must conceal the blood 281.

Iron-Chain Confinement

• Her developed power manifests through iron chains used to bind enemies. Su Bai also uses a thick chain to block Ghost Madam’s claws while borrowing her power 307 313.
• Su Bai extends the chains around Ghost Madam’s neck and retracts them after she disappears 313.
• Blood condensed from A Xi’s power can coat the chains, causing Ghost Madam intense pain 313.
• Limits: These abilities are poorly suited to a foe whose true body remains hidden while illusions act in its place. Su Bai concludes that Ghost Madam’s apparent escape from the chains is likely an illusion rather than proof that she can overpower A Xi’s restraint 313.

Independent Manifestation and Protection

• Her hand emerges from darkness to interrupt the mirror shadow’s imitation of Su Bai 129.
• She can emerge from Su Bai’s shadow as a separate figure in matching wedding attire and take an incoming attack for him 313.
• She is prepared to serve as an additional life for Su Bai by dying in his place when he faces certain death; this is described as a willingness rather than a confirmed death-and-revival event 313.
• She manifests alongside other puzzle companions to face threats and can return to her puzzle piece at Su Bai’s direction 576 619.

Protective Blood

• Following her second ability mutation, blood spreads from beneath her wedding dress and moves as though alive 577.
• The blood can rise into a curtain with enough defensive force to stop attacking withered branches despite its liquid appearance 577.
• Sheets of blood wrap around the branches, prevent their escape, and slowly corrode them 577.
• She later carries Shen Guanlan enveloped in blood and throws her from the elevator, after which the blood covering her disperses 618.
• Purpose: The mutation is explicitly characterized as a means of protecting others better, rather than an ability developed primarily for attack 577.

Relationships

• Su Bai — First puzzle host and an older-sister-like companion. Their shared familial betrayals establish their original resonance; he later frees her earlier counterpart 11 12 20. She is his first voluntarily joined puzzle family member and is willing to die to preserve his life. He later openly introduces her to other players as both his family and his ability 313 618.
• Her brother — A gambler who drugs and sells her to Ghost Village 12.
• Ghost Village’s villagers — Captors and tormentors who repeatedly imprison and sacrifice her. She destroys their village after regaining her freedom 19 20 21.
• Route 444 Driver — Transports her through the repeating story. He expresses excitement when she begins recovering her humanity, declaring that he has waited a long time for that day 15 19.
• The crying Nurse — Her sorrow-inducing cries help restore A Xi’s memories, although Su Bai must complete the awakening 18 20.
• Ghost Madam — Opponent during the manor game. Su Bai attacks her with A Xi’s chains and blood, while A Xi personally intercepts her surprise strike. Ghost Madam’s hidden body and illusions complicate the confrontation 313.
• Little Black and the other puzzle companions — Fights alongside Su Bai’s manifested companions. During the Newborn Ward confrontation, Little Black’s lightning and the blue flames attack the branches while A Xi’s blood prevents them from reaching the group 576 577.
• Shen Guanlan — Emerges from the elevator in A Xi’s blood after her attempt to seize Su Bai’s body ends in backlash. Su Bai asks A Xi to handle her body, then sends A Xi back into the puzzle 618 619.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Route 444 Last Bus — Current Timeline

• The journey’s central figure: Su Bai deduces that the route exists to carry the bride to Ghost Village’s wedding feast. The modern bus originally served as a broken-down ox cart 15 16.
• First arrival: A translucent double is extracted from her and leaves the bus. The villagers initially accept it as the bride, allowing the bus to escape with the real Ghost Bride still aboard 16.
• Loss of safety: This encounter exposes her restraints to the other spirits. Realizing she may be unable to stop them, White Qipao begins preparing to attack 17.
• Awakening and revenge: Su Bai uses the Nurse’s crying and his existing A Xi puzzle piece to restore her humanity and free her. She enters Ghost Village, where flames consume the villagers and buildings while leaving a clear path through its center 18 19 20.
• Departure: At the preserved A Xi’s urging, Su Bai takes the freed bride’s hand. She disappears into blood mist without adding a second Ghost Bride piece to his puzzle 22.

Mirror Encounter — Return from Dormancy

• Protection from a double: When the washroom mirror’s black shadow transforms into Su Bai, A Xi’s hand emerges from the darkness and forces it back into its shadow form 129.
• Recognition: Su Bai recognizes the hand and silently welcomes the awakening Ghost Bride back 129.

Master Wang’s Manor — Borrowed Bridal Identity

• Disguise: Compelled to replace the Eastern Courtyard Bride in a beginner game, Su Bai borrows A Xi’s wedding attire and ghostly aura to conceal his human identity from the newcomers 279 281.
• Defense of the newcomers: While using her power, Su Bai blocks Ghost Madam’s attacks with a heavy chain and protects the players gathered in the Eastern Courtyard 307.
• Battle after the game: After revealing his identity and failing his own assigned mission, Su Bai attacks Ghost Madam using A Xi’s chains, claws, and condensed blood. A Xi emerges from his shadow to intercept a strike at the back of his neck 311 313.
• Illusion problem: Ghost Madam repeatedly vanishes, leading Su Bai to suspect that her true body is concealed elsewhere and that her apparent teleportation consists of successive illusions 313.
• Departure: A Xi keeps watch nearby and accompanies Su Bai and Little Fire toward the Front House after they leave the underground chamber 316.

Protection of Su Heng

• Elevator confrontation: The Ghost Bride appears beside Qi Yan in an elevator and cuts his neck. The surviving members of his group flee into a corridor, where a dark-eyed boy presents Contracts and tells them that no one is allowed to hurt Su Heng 471.
• Blocked retreat: She remains behind the group in the elevator while the boy, the Black Mist Wolf, and surrounding shadows leave them no safe alternative to signing 471.

Newborn Ward — Protective Mutation

• Manifested support: A Xi appears beside Su Bai and the Giant Hound to confront a monster formed from withered branches 576.
• Blood barrier: After Little Black’s lightning combines with blue flames, the scorched branches attempt to attack. A Xi’s blood rises to block them, then binds and corrodes them 577.
• Revealed advancement: The confrontation establishes that her Red Moon power has undergone a qualitative leap and that her second ability mutation is directed toward protecting others 577.

Shen Guanlan’s Seizing Attempt

• Return by elevator: A Xi appears in the elevator with blood spilling from her wedding dress, frightening the waiting players. She throws out Shen Guanlan, wrapped in blood and near death, before Su Bai follows unharmed 617 618.
• Public acknowledgment: Su Bai identifies A Xi as his family and his ability. Shen Guanlan admits that attempting to seize his body caused backlash 618.
• Return to the puzzle: Su Bai directs A Xi back into her puzzle piece and leaves Shen Guanlan’s lifeless body beside the elevator. The other players recognize that the Ghost Bride obeys him and that they have underestimated his strength 619.

Notable Quotes

“Stay alive!” 11

“Thank you.”

“And... stay alive.” 22

Trivia

• Su Bai distinguishes A Xi, the bride with restored memories and humanity, from the unawakened Ghost Bride, who kills according to the nightmare’s rules 12.
• She is distinct from the nameless eldritch entity to whom Su Bai is betrothed through the Marriage Contract 6 10.
• A Xi is also distinct from the three drowned brides in Master Wang’s manor. Su Bai borrows her power while impersonating the Eastern Courtyard Bride; A Xi herself later manifests separately to protect him 279 281 313.
• Her original chains and bells were instruments of imprisonment, while her developed chain and blood abilities become means of restraining threats and protecting Su Bai 19 313 577.
• Despite lacking the unusual true forms or specialized powers of some other puzzle members, her reliability, restrained power cost, and commitment to Su Bai’s survival distinguish her as the family’s “eldest sister” 313.

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