The bus kept driving forward.
The road outside was no longer the old streets in the south of the city.
The streetlights were gone, the shops were gone, and even the sounds of the city had vanished. Beyond the windows lay only darkness. Now and then, deathly pale faces flashed past, pressed against the glass, then quickly disappeared.
Lu Wenchuan stood beside Xu Zhihan, his short blade hanging at his side.
"Are all your supernatural bus rides this lousy?"
As soon as he spoke, several dead souls in the bus shrank even lower.
Xu Zhihan glanced at him. "Who are you talking to?"
"Just making conversation."
"They're afraid of you?"
Lu Wenchuan smiled. "They're afraid of you."
Xu Zhihan couldn't be bothered to answer.
He walked over to the high school boy and pressed a hand between his brows. The boy shuddered, his eyelids twitching, but didn't wake. Black threads stretching up from beneath the bus had tangled around his soul, as though it had been forcibly shoved into the rules governing this bus.
Xu Zhihan frowned.
"It's not just trapping souls."
Lu Wenchuan asked quietly, "What do you mean?"
"It's using living people to make up the fares."
Lu Wenchuan's gaze turned cold.
The announcement system suddenly crackled to life.
"Passengers, please keep your tickets safe."
"Passengers without tickets may not leave the bus."
Xu Zhihan looked up.
The lights inside flickered twice, and a black paper ticket slowly materialized in every passenger's hand. The dead souls kept their heads lowered, afraid to move. The three living passengers had no tickets, but the black threads around them tightened by the moment.
The mouth on the back of the driver's head split open again.
"No ticket, no leaving."
Lu Wenchuan scoffed. "You almost make that sound legitimate."
He raised his blade and swung, sending a streak of lightning fire slashing toward the floor. Several black threads snapped, loosening the restraints on the high school boy a little.
But a moment later, more black threads descended from the ceiling and wrapped around the three living passengers again.
The bus abruptly accelerated.
The dead souls inside began to sob softly.
The driver laughed hoarsely. "It's no use. Once you're on this bus, I make the rules."
Xu Zhihan looked at it and said mildly, "Who gave you those rules?"
The driver stopped laughing.
Lu Wenchuan turned to look at him.
Xu Zhihan had already walked to the front of the bus.
His face was very pale. Standing in the swaying bus, he looked as though he might fall at any moment. Yet with every step he took closer, the black aura around the driver shrank a little more.
The driver tried to move, but couldn't.
Xu Zhihan raised a hand and rested his fingertips on the fare box.
Faint sobs came from inside.
The sobs of many people.
Xu Zhihan asked, "Are the tickets in here?"
The driver began to tremble.
"Don't touch it."
Xu Zhihan lowered his eyes. "You think you can tell me what to do?"
Hearing that, Lu Wenchuan couldn't hold back a laugh.
The mouth on the back of the driver's head suddenly gaped open. A piercing shriek shook the windows. Every dead soul inside clutched its head, and the faces of the three living passengers began to turn blue.
Lu Wenchuan stepped forward. Lightning fire exploded from his short blade, forcibly driving the shriek back.
"You're disturbing the patient."
Xu Zhihan turned his head to look at him.
Lu Wenchuan raised an eyebrow. "Don't you hate noise?"
Xu Zhihan said, "You're noisy too."
Lu Wenchuan said, "Fine, I'll shut up."
Despite his words, the blade in his hand never stopped.
Lightning fire tore along the floor, forcing the black threads to retreat. Lu Wenchuan gripped a handrail with one hand and swung his blade with the other, his movements steady. He usually seemed easygoing, but when he actually fought, he was remarkably decisive.
Xu Zhihan watched him briefly, then looked away.
The man really wasn't weak.
Enraged by the lightning fire, the driver sent the bus lurching sideways. Every seated dead soul raised its head.
Their eyes darkened, and they all turned toward Lu Wenchuan at once, as though being forcibly controlled.
Lu Wenchuan swore under his breath. "Me again?"
Xu Zhihan said, "You smell more appetizing."
Lu Wenchuan slashed through a lunging dead soul, his smile a little cold. "Thanks for the compliment."
"It wasn't a compliment."
"I'll take it as one."
More and more dead souls lunged at him.
They didn't dare touch Xu Zhihan, so they all swarmed Lu Wenchuan instead. Yin energy churned through the bus, and the black threads around the living passengers seized the chance to drag them toward the fare box.
Xu Zhihan pressed a hand onto the fare box.
The sobbing inside abruptly stopped.
A terrified voice emerged from the mouth on the back of the driver's head. "You can't open it!"
Xu Zhihan's tone was mild. "I can."
The fare box's latch snapped with a click.
The lid sprang open.
There was no money inside.
Only black paper tickets.
Every ticket bore a name.
Some names had already turned black, while others were still blood-red. Three new blank tickets were slowly taking shape, corresponding to the three people who were still alive.
Xu Zhihan picked up one of the blank tickets.
The instant the paper touched his fingertips, it began to burn.
The driver suddenly screamed.
"Give it back!"
It sprang up from the driver's seat.
The entire bus went out of control, hurtling deeper into the darkness.
Lu Wenchuan glanced back, his expression shifting slightly. "There's no road ahead."
Xu Zhihan glanced out the window.
The bus was charging toward an abandoned bridge.
Half the bridge had collapsed.
Black mist churned beneath it, countless hands reaching out from within, waiting to drag the entire bus down.
The driver let out a venomous laugh.
"All of you can stay."
Lu Wenchuan tightened his grip on his short blade. Thunderlight blazed along it, dazzlingly bright.
"Xu Zhihan, hold on."
Xu Zhihan looked at him.
"What are you planning?"
Lu Wenchuan's lips curved. "A crash."
Xu Zhihan said, "Isn't your car expensive anymore?"
"This one isn't."
With that, Lu Wenchuan rushed toward the driver's seat, kicked the driver out of the way, and planted his palm on the steering wheel. Lightning fire poured down his arm into the front of the bus, wrenching the out-of-control vehicle off course just before it reached the broken bridge.
The bus lurched violently.
Xu Zhihan grabbed a handrail, a dull ache spreading through his chest.
As he watched Lu Wenchuan's back, something shifted in his eyes.
The man hadn't hesitated for a second before charging forward.
The bus scraped past the edge of the broken bridge, its wheels almost hanging in midair.
The dead souls inside screamed.
Lu Wenchuan gritted his teeth and held the wheel steady. The old wound on his right wrist split open, blood dripping between his fingers.
Xu Zhihan saw it.
His expression turned cold.
"Lu Wenchuan."
"Right here."
"Move."
Before Lu Wenchuan could turn around, Xu Zhihan's voice rang out.
"It's time this bus stopped."