The Woman in Red

The voice outside the window kept calling relentlessly, sometimes gentle, sometimes shrill, sometimes thick with resentment.

"I'm your dad... Open the door and let me in..."

"I'm not dead... I'm right behind the bus... Open the door..."

Yang Yong turned a deaf ear to it, biting his lip hard until a faint taste of blood spread through his mouth.

The pain cleared his mind further, and his gaze grew even sharper.

Intimidated by him, the conscious survivors barely dared to breathe. They clamped their hands over their mouths, terrified of making the slightest sound.

The bus drove on for who knew how long before the voice demanding to be let in finally disappeared.

But before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, a child's cries reached them, filled with helplessness and fear.

"Mommy... Mommy, where are you... I want my mommy..."

The crying sounded so real, exactly like a lost child sobbing in the dark.

Inside the bus, a woman of about thirty shuddered violently at the sound, her eyes instantly going vacant.

She stared dazedly out the window, her mouth opening beyond her control, on the verge of answering.

Fortunately, the man beside her reacted quickly and immediately clamped his hand over her mouth.

Only after a long while did the woman's eyes slowly regain their focus.

She looked at her husband, tears suddenly streaming down her face, a tiny figure reflected in her eyes.

It was her daughter, only six years old, who had died horribly at the hands of the Eerie early in the apocalypse.

She bit her lip hard and hugged her husband, stifling her sobs as her shoulders shook violently.

It wasn't over yet.

The little girl's crying had barely stopped when a young woman's voice rang out with a regional accent, her tone full of petulance and pleading.

"Hey, handsome, are you there? You're ignoring me... Won't you talk to me...?"

The voice was soft and sweet, like a lover's whisper.

This time, something went wrong.

Among the people in the bus who had fallen into a semiconscious state under the influence of the eerie voices earlier, one young man seemed to have had his soul ensnared. He rolled over groggily and murmured a question as though talking in his sleep.

"Who are you...?"

His voice was very soft and indistinct, almost blending into the snoring, impossible to notice without listening closely.

Yet the instant his words fell, the lights inside the bus flickered violently!

Bzzzt-

Amid the strange crackle of electricity, the lights abruptly went out, then abruptly came back on.

Yang Yong's pupils contracted, and he whipped his gaze toward the man who had spoken-

A woman in red had appeared inside the bus at some unknown point!

Black blood ran from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Her face was paper-white, yet her lips stretched into an eerie curve.

Her hand, like a withered branch, gripped the young man's throat tightly, lifting him into the air like a helpless chick.

The man's eyes flew open, meeting the ghostly face the woman in red had thrust right before him.

"Ah-a ghost!!!"

A piercing scream tore through the bus.

The woman in red gave a sinister chuckle, her voice sugary sweet yet carrying a bone-piercing chill. "You've been naughty, handsome..."

Crack-

A sharp snap rang out.

She easily twisted the young man's neck until it broke. His body hung limp, yet not a single drop of blood flowed out!

The utterly eerie sight terrified the survivors around him out of their wits. They screamed and backed away, huddling in the corners of the bus, shaking like leaves.

"Mr. Yang! Help! Help!"

The bus was still speeding along, with pitch-black darkness beyond the windows.

Yang Yong's scalp prickled. A chill shot from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head, and he even felt an urge to jump out of the bus and flee.

But he instantly suppressed the thought.

Out in this apocalyptic wilderness, getting off meant certain death!

Staying on the bus offered at least a sliver of hope!

"Fuck!"

He cursed furiously, raised the Little Golden Flood Dragon Scissors in his hand, and slashed them viciously toward the woman in red!

Streaks of gold and yellow shot toward the woman in red with a fierce whistle through the air.

The woman in red's expression changed. She hastily released her grip, the nails on all five fingers extending several inches, stark white and gleaming coldly as she clawed at the streaks of light.

Clang! Clang!

Sharp, ear-piercing metallic clashes rang out in succession.

Yang Yong gritted his teeth, gripping the Iron-Plate Token tightly in his left hand.

An endless stream of blood-red energy surged out of the token and flowed into the Little Golden Flood Dragon Scissors.

He controlled the magical treasure, attacking the woman in red from every angle in a full 360 degrees. The gold and yellow streaks wove an impenetrable net, trapping her within.

The Little Golden Flood Dragon Scissors seemed to have an innate power to counter the Eerie. Every time a streak of light grazed the woman in red's body, it made her let out a piercing scream.

She was driven back again and again, reduced to desperately blocking with her nails, all her earlier composure gone.

The survivors inside the bus watched slack-jawed, their faces filled with shock.

Was this the power of a Sequence Transcendent?

The Red-Clothed Female Ghost's nails could leave five bloody holes deep enough to expose bone with just a light touch against a seat, yet under Yang Yong's attacks, she could only defend passively?

Incredible!

The survivors gazed at Yang Yong's back, their eyes filled with awe and hope.

Those close to the Red-Clothed Female Ghost scrambled and crawled toward the front and rear of the bus, wishing they could get as far from that fiend as possible.

Pummeled into a blazing fury, the Red-Clothed Female Ghost let out a shrill screech, so piercing that it made everyone's eardrums ache.

She clearly wanted to wear Yang Yong down, but she could never have imagined that the Iron-Plate Token in his hand was being bathed in the blood-red moonlight streaming through the front windshield.

That eerie blood-red moonlight was supplying the Iron-Plate Token with an endless flow of energy.

As long as the blood-red moon hung high in the night sky, Yang Yong's attacks would not stop!

The bus continued racing through the night, the roar of its engine, the clashes of the magical treasure, and the female ghost's howls intertwining.

Yang Yong attacked, and the female ghost defended, on and on.

The survivors on the bus stared at the scene in stunned disbelief. A few who feared death had already collapsed to the floor, palms pressed together as they muttered prayers.

The Jade Emperor, Amitabha Buddha, Guanyin, Huang Daxian... They pleaded with almost every god and Buddha whose name they knew.

The corner of Yang Yong's mouth twitched into a mocking smile.

He was right there doing the actual work, yet no one pleaded with him. Instead, they begged those elusive gods and Buddhas in the heavens.

If all those gods and Buddhas really existed, how could this world have fallen into an apocalypse?

In any case, Yang Yong had never believed in gods or Buddhas, only his own fists and his own strength.

How were the three off-road vehicles ahead faring?

He had no time to spare for them.

Right now, all his attention was fixed firmly on the Red-Clothed Female Ghost before him. Even if it cost him his life, he had to keep this vicious ghost suppressed.

If he could hold out until dawn, all the better!

If not... he would shed his tail like a lizard!

He swept his peripheral gaze over the survivors inside the bus, his eyes icy!