Needless to say, the motley crowd gathered here now were all listeners of the horror radio station. Though each initially wore expressions of shock, after a moment, upon receiving the task prompts, they gradually came to understand. This was a triggered mission. And they were the participants selected for such a mission.
Anger, fear, helplessness, doubt—various emotions flickered across different faces as they sized up others while weighing their own worth. Two young men with student-like appearances, one named Zhao Yang and the other Yu Feng, were both college students but didn't know each other. However, their experiences of being drawn into the horror radio station were somewhat similar: while staying up late playing horror games for thrills, eerie prompts suddenly emerged from their computers. After going through a "dormitory haunting," they completed their novice scripts and became radio newcomers. To date, they had only experienced a single novice mission.
The burly man standing one meter nine tall was named Wu Li, and his personality matched his name—always thoroughly "unreasonable." He also harbored a hidden identity: a fugitive murderer on the run with blood on his hands. While fleeing police pursuit and recklessly breaking into a residence, he decided to go all the way and planned to kill the entire family to silence them. But just as he raised his knife to strike the male homeowner, the TV behind the man turned on by itself, automatically playing strange images—scenes of the very residence where he had committed his first murder. Then, Wu Li suddenly found his surroundings transforming into that same first murder scene, with a bizarre scraping sound overhead, as if something heavy was being dragged slowly across the floor.
Indeed, Wu Li's first novice script recreated the scene of his killing. Relying on a fierce, ruthless spirit, he barely completed the mission at the last critical moment, becoming a listener of the horror radio station and successfully passing one formal story.
Next was the man in a shirt and glasses, refined and scholarly. His name was Zhang Yaqi, a middle school history teacher who was drawn into the radio station after witnessing the ghost of a female student who had jumped to her death. Beside him stood a short-haired girl of eighteen or nineteen, named Zhou Junzhu, a high school student and horror fiction enthusiast. However, loving supernatural novels didn't mean she wanted to personally experience tasks involving ghosts. At that moment, Zhou Junzhu's face was filled with fear, and she instinctively edged closer to Zhang Yaqi, who seemed more approachable. Both were newcomers who had only completed their initial scripts.
The last three to appear included a taxi driver named Chen Hai, a man named Zhu Yilun whose finely crafted suit marked him as a so-called "middle-class elite," and finally, a woman in pajamas with a languid expression, as if just startled from sleep. She rubbed her eyes and looked around with some surprise.
Though the woman seemed a bit confused, her natural allure, paired with hazy eyes and a lazy demeanor, instantly made Wu Li and the others' eyes gleam, conjuring two words in their minds: "Seductress." This kind of woman clearly wasn't good news. The first sight of her stirred a heat in Wu Li, but he still had his wits—this was a supernatural world in a story. No matter how much his urges flared, he wouldn't risk his life recklessly.
Just wait, there'll be a chance for me to get her... Wu Li thought darkly to himself. At that moment, the woman finally opened her dazed eyes, seeming to groggily survey her surroundings while muttering to herself in a voice only she could hear.
"Strange... this isn't the right scene... Is the priority of triggered tasks ahead of mandatory ones?" "Whatever... ah, so sleepy..."
If Lin Tianheng were among this triggered mission, he would immediately recognize this languid, sexy seductress as the woman named Jiao Jiao he had met at the wealthy family's doorstep! Her real name was Qu Jiao Jiao, and she was a quasi-veteran who had passed two formal stories.
Besides these eight, there were Li Yan and Chen Mo. Some clearly knew Li Yan, and upon hearing he was part of this triggered mission, their expressions relaxed slightly. Others, however, eyed Chen Mo with curiosity.
"It seems everyone here is a participant in this triggered mission," Li Yan said.
As he spoke, the others, who had been whispering or glancing around, turned their attention to him. As a veteran who had passed four formal stories, his experience and judgment were highly valued.
"I'm sure you've all received the task prompts. This triggered mission requires us to act as drivers and crew, operating five night bus routes for the Western Bus Company. Once we drive the buses to the terminal, the task is complete."
"If we split ten people evenly, each bus route needs two participants to cooperate. A normal bus route takes only an hour or two to run, so this task isn't long in terms of time. But the difficulty of tasks in horror stories can't be measured by duration alone."
For instance, the mission at the amusement park lasted only three hours, yet Chen Mo considered it the hardest task he'd ever faced. That time, perhaps Li Yan's presence as a veteran was a factor, and now Li Yan was in this mission again...
"Additionally, the task prompt clearly states an extra requirement: by the time we reach the terminal, the number of ghosts on the bus must not exceed the number of people. That means among the passengers, there will definitely be 'strange guests'—ghosts. So, breaking this task down, there are two main challenges. First, distinguishing whether boarding passengers are human or ghost. Second, figuring out how to make confirmed ghosts get off the bus."
"That makes sense, Brother Li. Hearing you say that, I feel like I've found some direction," someone said.
"Not at all, I'm just an ordinary person," Li Yan shook his head. "I don't consider myself very smart, just lucky. So if anyone else has ideas, feel free to add."
"By the way... it says we're to act as drivers and crew for the Western Bus Company, but there's no one here. How do we know which route to operate?" the high school girl Zhou Junzhu spoke up timidly.
"Speaking of which, there should be a schedule or something around here," Li Yan said.
No sooner had he spoken than everyone's eyes turned to an open room nearby that looked like a duty station, standing out starkly among a row of locked doors along the corridor.