Not only Chen Hai, but also Zhu Yilun—both of them were nearly scared to death!
It was now certain that this couple were definitely ghosts. Just moments ago, they had been relieved that the two spirits had finally gotten off the bus, yet in the blink of an eye, how had they hauntingly boarded again?
Though their hearts were filled with immense terror and they were scared out of their wits, neither dared to show the slightest hint of abnormality on their faces. They had deduced that in this mission, exposing the ghosts' identities outright was absolutely forbidden; otherwise, it might trigger the malevolent spirits to reveal their true forms and kill on the spot.
Just like before, after the couple boarded the bus, they started arguing again after a short while. After a few exchanges, the man immediately slapped the woman, and her cheek swelled up high!
Everything was exactly the same as before, as if replaying the earlier event!
The surrounding passengers remained indifferent, and even if someone occasionally glanced over, it was with extreme coldness before turning their heads toward the window. The entire carriage was filled only with the man's punches, kicks, and curses, along with the woman's agonized screams as she was beaten—a miserable sound that pierced the hearts of the two participants.
Although the beaten woman screamed in agony and was covered in bruises, the man showed no sign of stopping. Instead, he grew even more vicious, as if determined to beat her to death. This, too, mirrored the previous scene exactly. But now that Zhu Yilun was certain the other party was a ghost, he naturally wouldn't foolishly intervene again. Instead, he chose to keep as far away as possible, watching the man's violence with trembling fear.
With the entire bus full of passengers turning a blind eye and standing idly by, the woman's screams went from heart-wrenching to gradually weakening, until finally, she curled up on the ground and stopped moving.
This time, because Zhu Yilun hadn't intervened, the woman was beaten to death by the man.
Even after killing the woman, the man seemed unsatisfied. He kicked her corpse twice more, muttering curses like "bitch" and "serves you right for dying."
At this point, even Zhu Yilun sensed something was off. If beating one's wife was considered a family matter, that was one thing, but now that someone had been beaten to death, it was undeniably a serious criminal case. Yet the passengers still appeared utterly unconcerned. This struck him as strange while also stirring a deep sense of dread.
What kind of people were these passengers...
Seeing the woman beaten to death, Chen Hai's heart leaped into his throat. He feared that at any moment, the woman would rise from the ground, transform into a vengeful spirit, and cruelly kill him.
One minute, two minutes, several minutes passed... The woman's corpse lay motionless on the floor, while the man maintained a completely indifferent expression. When he noticed Chen Hai staring at him, he glared fiercely: "What are you looking at? I've killed her, so what? I'll just pay with my life!"
This shout startled Chen Hai into a shudder. He felt like he was on the verge of collapse, nearly driving the bus into a lamppost.
What did these two ghosts want? If they were going to kill, they might as well do it directly instead of subjecting him to this agonizing torment. Chen Hai truly felt that his frayed nerves couldn't take much more.
Zhu Yilun was in a similar state—pale-faced, lips trembling incessantly. He knew the two spirits were putting on a show, but there was nothing he could do except wait helplessly for events to unfold.
Just as Chen Hai felt he was about to break, a faint glimmer appeared before his eyes. Ahead, another bus stop came into view.
A stop!
That's right, a stop!
Chen Hai suddenly recalled that after the bus had stopped earlier, the two ghosts had immediately gotten off. Could it be that the bus stop was the story's protection for the participants?
Fumbling frantically, he braked the bus. The man silently grabbed the corpse, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and walked toward the door with a blank expression.
They were leaving... they were really leaving...
Chen Hai's heart raced again, but this time not from fear—from ecstasy!
It seemed that as long as the bus reached a stop, the ghostly couple would get off!
Please, just rest in peace and don't get back on, he prayed inwardly as he closed the door. His fragile nerves truly couldn't endure another round of torment.
The bus slowly started moving. Instinctively, Chen Hai glanced to the side again and let out a silent scream.
What...
The sign at this stop still read "Dahuai Road"!
Dahuai Road—hadn't he just passed Dahuai Road? How could there be another Dahuai Road?
Could this bus route have two stops with the same name?
The thought flashed through his mind, but Chen Hai knew it was just self-deception. The real reason was... at some point, he might have already fallen into a terrifying loop!
No... don't scare yourself...
Trembling, Chen Hai restarted the bus and drove slowly forward. Just then, he saw a hunched figure standing under the bus stop sign. That familiar face—who else could it be but Old Lady Qin...
"No... not like this... W-what did I do wrong?"
Chen Hai's mind was in utter chaos. Under the stop sign, Old Lady Qin suddenly grinned, revealing a smile uglier than crying, as if she were saying something to him.
But he couldn't hear anything anymore. His head buzzed with fear. He didn't know how long he drove before the bus stopped at another station. The passengers waiting there were still that same eerie couple.
Chen Hai's gaze shifted from terror to numbness, because he suddenly realized he had fallen into a death loop. Perhaps, from the moment this cycle was triggered, no matter what the participants did, they couldn't prevent one or both of the couple from dying. Then, at the Dahuai Road stop, they would forever relive various scenes of the couple's deaths.
In other words, this was an unsolvable cycle of death!
Now, Chen Hai couldn't even be sure if he and Zhu Yilun were still alive. The only certainty was that this bus, trapped in the death loop, could never reach its final destination.
He had always feared death, deeply and profoundly, but perhaps there was an outcome even more terrifying than death.
It was being trapped in this dreadful cycle, never to escape.
As the bus drove away, Old Lady Qin, standing under the stop sign, watched it disappear into the darkness with her cloudy eyes. A crack of a smile spread across her lips as she gently moved her mouth.
"My son will come back."
"You will all come back."
"I'll wait here, forever and ever..."
The dim yellow light fell on Old Lady Qin's shoulders, also illuminating a bulletin board next to the stop. Inside the display case was a yellowed newspaper. If one looked closely, they could faintly make out a report in the corner.
"Suspected of having an affair with a colleague, a man killed his wife and fled in panic, dying in a car accident on the way. His mother, unable to bear the blow, jumped to her death."
"The No. 13 bus the man fled on never returned to the depot that day. All passengers vanished mysteriously!"
In the darkness, a bus drove along the late-night road. Though it was packed with passengers, if one observed closely, including the driver and conductor, everyone's face was expressionless, staring blankly ahead. The driver's hands on the steering wheel were motionless, yet somehow the bus continued to run smoothly.
At the same time, after a burst of static, the bus's broadcast began playing on its own. The news it aired was identical to the old newspaper in the display case.
So the biggest trap in this story had appeared when Old Lady Qin was burning paper money. If they hadn't stopped then and had just driven straight through, they would have found she was just a spirit. Avoiding any contact with that ghost would have prevented them from falling into the death loop.
Thus, this bus, caught up in the resentment of the dead couple and Old Lady Qin, was drawn into a supernatural space, causing all the passengers to vanish.
In the end, it became a tale told leisurely on the horror radio station.
Perhaps by coincidence, or perhaps through the station's mysterious manipulation, it perfectly matched the opening Chen Mo had written in the new volume of *Horror Radio*.
This was the ghost story of the No. 13 bus.