It was night.
The roadside trees swayed in the night wind, their leaves rustling as they brushed against each other.
The moon was almost entirely obscured by dark clouds, casting only a faint glow upon the ground.
On the wide road.
A bus, capable of carrying twenty to thirty people, was slowly driving along.
Through the windows, indistinct figures could be seen.
Not far ahead of the bus, a figure was walking along the roadside.
It walked with haste, as if in a hurry.
*Screech*
The bus stopped beside it.
The figure halted and boarded through the front door.
It found a seat in the second row.
*Haa*
Beside it, a young man with a backpack rubbed his eyes.
He let out a long yawn, seemingly just waking from a deep sleep.
"This sleep was really comfortable," Chen Sen sighed. Before, the buses back to school were either too crowded or too noisy. This was the first time he had slept so well.
As he was thinking, he suddenly noticed that the brightness in front of him seemed a little off. The bus was lit, but outside the window... it was completely dark! He had no idea where he was!
"Holy crap, what time is it? Have I been asleep this long?!"
Chen Sen jolted up from his seat, grabbed his bag, and hurried towards the rear door of the bus. As he walked, he asked the driver in front, "Master, where are we now?! I got off at the entrance of Tiannan University, did we pass it?"
Reaching the rear door and grabbing the handrail, he quickly pulled out his phone. "Oh no, oh no, I hope it's not past the dorm check-in time!"
As he fumbled, Chen Sen's movements gradually slowed. Perhaps it was because other passengers were looking at him out of the corner of his eye. Or perhaps it was because the bus was too quiet. The eerie silence made him unconsciously soften his actions.
He slowly pulled out his phone, but noticed that the other passengers' gazes hadn't shifted. Instead, they followed the movement of his hand as he unzipped his backpack. Under the dim interior lights, everyone's face was deathly pale. Even their expressions seemed to be cast from the same mold.
Chen Sen shivered unexpectedly, feeling that something was... off. "By the way, why are there so many passengers on this bus? I didn't hear about this kind of bus running at night. Is it some kind of side hustle?"
"The next stop is Wanyue Station. You haven't reached your stop yet."
Just then, a low voice came from the driver's seat in front.
"Huh? Oh, oh, oh..." Chen Sen was momentarily stunned before realizing the driver was answering his earlier questions. "Wanyue Station? Where is that? Where have I slept to?"
Chen Sen pressed the side of his phone, and the screen slowly lit up.
"18:00"
Six o'clock? Was his phone's time messed up? Chen Sen frowned. It was summer now. Even at seven or eight in the evening, it wouldn't be this dark. However, he had more important things to deal with now. He temporarily put this matter aside and found his roommate's phone number, dialing it.
[Call Failed]
[Call Failed]
"No signal?" He looked at the signal bars in the top right corner of his phone. There wasn't a single bar. "Could we have driven into some deep mountains? Why is there no signal?"
He couldn't help but look out the window. Outside was still pitch black. Houses and trees alike were enveloped in darkness. The branches swaying in the night wind seemed like grasping claws of evil spirits lunging towards him. The howling wind also sounded sinister.
Just as Chen Sen was about to look away, a *thump* came from the roof of the bus. He instinctively looked up, then remembered it might just be a falling branch. It wasn't that he was being overly cautious; it was just that the bus, both inside and out, was too quiet.
*Tap!*
This time, the sound came from the glass window.
*Tap!*
Chen Sen picked up his phone again, using it to distract himself. At this moment, only his phone could offer him a sliver of peace. The phone screen lit up, then quickly turned off. It lit up, then went dark again. Chen Sen's hands began to tremble slightly.
On the slowly dimming screen, the reflection of the glass window was cast. On the window to his right and behind him, a pale face with black holes for eyes, nose, and mouth was pressed against it, silently watching him.
"!!!"
The moment he confirmed it, Chen Sen's breath hitched.
*Bang!*
He threw the backpack in his hands.
*Rustle*
In the next instant, all the passengers on the bus stood up. They stared at him fixedly and walked towards him, step by step. Chen Sen instinctively took a step back, his heart pounding. These passengers, perhaps, were the truly bizarre ones!
"What do you want?! Don't come any closer!"
Before he could get any more words out, these passengers advanced in unison, reaching out their hands... and embracing him. One, two, three... they wrapped around him layer by layer, like cabbage. The light grew dimmer and dimmer...
The driver's voice came from the driver's seat: "I suspect some air leaked out when the door was opened earlier. Be careful."
"Careful about what?" Before Chen Sen could figure it out, he felt himself being pulled backward. The entire "cabbage" that enveloped him also tilted backward. The bus accelerated.
*Thump!*
*Thump-thump!*
Strange noises kept coming from the roof of the bus.
On the highway.
Black figures emerged from the darkness, chasing after the bus ahead. Some crawled on all fours like spiders. Others, when they got close enough, would leap up and land on the roof. Suddenly, the sluggish bus began to accelerate. While speeding, it swerved in S-curves on the road. Countless ghosts were thrown off, hitting the ground before quickly pursuing again. Even in front of the bus, many black figures appeared.
*Thump!*
A ghost clung to the windshield of the bus. A face with black holes for features pressed close, seemingly trying to get a clear look at what was inside.
"Holy crap! Holy crap! This is giving me goosebumps! What is that thing? And it's so fast! Streamer, don't scare me this late at night! Help, why am I watching this underworld stuff at this underworld time?!"
In the live stream.
The viewers, watching the ghosts chasing each other on the highway, and the vehicle that was almost entirely covered by them, its original form unrecognizable, felt their scalps tingle. Goosebumps erupted in a chaotic rush, without any sense of order.
"Where's my blanket? Let me in quickly!"
"I'm numb, numb, numb ┌(。Д。)┐"