"Zhao Yang, what's wrong with you?"
Zhao Yang snapped back to reality and saw Wu Li behind him, staring at him with a puzzled look as he stood there drenched in sweat.
He looked down at his body—his hands and feet were perfectly intact. Glancing at the rearview mirror, the bus cabin appeared calm and normal. Where was the female ghost? Where was the car accident?
What... what was going on?
And that bloody, gruesome scene he had just witnessed—what was that?
A hallucination?
Zhao Yang felt a dizzying spin. Though he hadn't actually seen a single ghost along the way, his mind had been tormented to the brink of collapse.
He stared blankly at Wu Li behind him, unable even to tell if the man was alive or a ghost...
"Wu Li, you... you're not dead?"
"Dead? What the hell are you talking about?" Wu Li frowned, a hint of menace flashing across his face. Zhao Yang dared not say more, but his heart was filled with suspicion.
What was that just now? Was it an illusion created by a ghost?
Or perhaps...
Some kind of omen?
The thought sent a jolt of fear through Zhao Yang. Just then, he saw it again—
On the side mirror, white mist surged once more, and within it, the ghostly, eerie face of that female student appeared!
"Ahhhhhhh—!"
Seeing the female ghost again, Zhao Yang couldn't hold back and let out a loud scream. Wu Li behind him widened his eyes and spun around abruptly.
This time, even Wu Li saw the ghostly figure on the mirror!
But behind the two of them, there was no trace of the female ghost. Zhao Yang sensed something was wrong. When he looked back at the mirror, the female ghost had reappeared—and this time, she was right behind him!
This was exactly like what he had seen in the hallucination!
So this was...
Before Zhao Yang could react, a piercing screech of brakes rang in his ears, followed by the same massive shadow—a large truck bursting out of the fog, hurtling straight toward them!
Strangely, the truck emerging from the darkness had no headlights on, like a ghost vehicle, but the immense impact of the collision was all too real.
Boom—!
Everything unfolded exactly as it had in the hallucination he had just seen, a complete repeat!
The truck from the darkness slammed violently into the bus. Amid the deafening crash, a tremendous force sent the bus flipping into the air...
As the world spun around him, Zhao Yang noticed the passengers on the bus—their faces remained expressionless, as if they weren't living people at all, but soulless puppets?
Opening his eyes again, Zhao Yang looked at himself in confusion, then at his surroundings.
He... had survived once more?
Around him was still the wreckage of the bus, strewn with blood and bodies. Wu Li lay in the same death pose as before, throat pierced, head tilted back, staring unblinkingly at the ceiling. Not far away was the skylight he had failed to climb out of earlier.
Luckily, this time, when the crash actually happened, his right leg wasn't injured, making movement much easier. Relieved, Zhao Yang immediately crawled toward the skylight and grabbed its edge with one hand.
He didn't dare look back, afraid that if he did, he'd see countless ghostly figures filling the cabin.
But just then, a familiar sensation crept over him—something grabbed his ankle, and a powerful force yanked him back inside!
A ghost!
By now, there were no living people left in the bus, so this force had to be from a ghost!
The pull dragging him back was incredibly strong. Just as Zhao Yang was about to lose his grip, a small, pale hand suddenly reached in through the skylight and grabbed his.
The moment that arm took hold of him, Zhao Yang felt the force pulling him back vanish eerily. Overjoyed, he blurted out, "Thank you."
But before the words had fully left his mouth, he sensed something was off.
The overturned bus had no living people left—so who was outside?
The thought made Zhao Yang's face twist in terror. Just then, a pale, ghostly female face appeared at the skylight, staring at him without expression.
"The last one."
That ghostly face was the last thing Zhao Yang ever saw. On the nearly shattered bus wreckage, a piece of paper, like a newspaper, was blown by the wind and stuck to the broken windshield. A bold black headline fell directly into Wu Li's unseeing eyes.
"Female Student Stops Pickpocket, Gets Thrown Off Bus, Ultimately Killed"
The girl's name was Zhao Heyue. That day, she had gone out to play with some classmates and came back late, so she took the night shift of this No. 14 bus. But unexpectedly, she witnessed something horrifying midway.
A man sitting next to her was slipping his hand into the pocket of a young, short man in front of him, stealing his money!
In other words, this man was a pickpocket!
Though Zhao Heyue wanted to warn the victim, her soft coughs and deliberate nudges failed to get the young man's attention. In desperation, perhaps out of student naivety, she stood up and directly accused the pickpocket.
It must be said that Zhao Heyue, though a girl, was quite brave. But the pickpocket, taking advantage of her being female, showed no shame. Instead, he stood up aggressively, pointed at the young man in front, and shouted, "Who stole your money?"
The young man, perhaps timid by nature, turned pale with fear at the pickpocket's fierce demeanor and couldn't speak.
The pickpocket then pointed at the surrounding passengers. "What about you? Did you all see me steal?"
The passengers, a bit scared, remained silent.
The pickpocket thought he could intimidate Zhao Heyue, but the girl was stubborn. She insisted the driver change course and head to the police station.
Perhaps out of fear of the pickpocket gang or a desire to avoid trouble, the entire bus opposed her suggestion. Even the victim, the young man, silently stepped back.
Seeing him retreat, the pickpocket slapped the girl hard across the face and yelled at the driver to stop immediately.
The driver glanced at him, perhaps afraid of causing trouble, and silently pulled over. The pickpocket grabbed the girl's arm, forcibly dragged her off the bus, and pulled her into a dark alley by the roadside.
At that moment, there were several men on the bus, but not one spoke up for the girl. Even the driver silently closed the door.
"That girl, she was so foolish," another passenger whispered after the bus had driven off for a while. He, too, had seen the pickpocket in action but chose to stay silent.
"Thieves these days are so vicious. Not only do they steal, but they also hit people."
It was only after some time that the passengers began to murmur among themselves. Meanwhile, someone nervously glanced back.
From the dark alley came the girl's screams. Soon, even the screams stopped.
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PS, um... I've set up a "Strange Talk Radio" subreddit. Feel free to drop by, discuss the plot, share opinions or suggestions, and even rants are welcome~ I'll be waiting for you, hehe~