The old woman appeared to be in her sixties or seventies, with a full head of white hair, dressed in a floral-patterned jacket. Her face was deeply lined with wrinkles, and she walked unsteadily, trembling with each step.
The old-style bus wasn't driving smoothly, so the old woman moved very slowly.
Yu Feng sat on the conductor's seat by the rear door, watching the old woman sway as she walked. Worried she might fall, he started to reach out a hand to help, but then, as if suddenly remembering something, he awkwardly withdrew it.
"Young man," the old woman said.
However, her cloudy eyes seemed to have already noticed Yu Feng's gesture, and she shuffled toward him step by step.
Li Yan's heart tightened abruptly.
The old woman's murky eyes fixed straight on Yu Feng, holding a photo she'd taken from her handkerchief: "Young man, this is my granddaughter Miaomiao. Have you seen my granddaughter?"
The photo showed an adorable little girl with pigtails, big eyes, and a sweet smile, looking about six or seven years old.
"Sorry, ma'am, I haven't seen her."
Yu Feng shook his head and returned the photo to the old woman.
"Haven't seen her?" The old woman's wrinkled face clearly showed disappointment. She turned and walked toward the other passengers.
"This is my granddaughter Miaomiao. Have you seen her? She hasn't been home for days. She's wearing this floral dress. Have you seen her?"
"This is my granddaughter..."
The old woman, trembling, clutching the photo, approached every passenger on the bus to ask. But everyone shook their heads, saying they hadn't seen the little girl.
After questioning all the passengers, the old woman, photo in hand, wobbled toward the driver's cab.
"This is my granddaughter Miaomiao. Excuse me..."
Li Yan pulled the bus over at a stop and glanced at the photo, catching a glimpse of the sweetly smiling little girl.
But in the next instant, as if his eyes had played a trick on him, the little girl's face in the photo suddenly blurred, and the entire picture rapidly darkened, as if it had been scorched.
His heart clenched. Li Yan blinked, and the scene before him quickly returned to normal. The little girl in the photo was still smiling sweetly.
As if what he'd just seen was merely an illusion.
No.
It wasn't an illusion.
As a veteran who had experienced multiple horror stories, Li Yan knew clearly that the momentary change couldn't possibly be a trick of his eyes, but his face betrayed not a single hint of reaction.
"Sorry, I haven't seen her."
"I see... Sorry to bother you..."
The old woman's wrinkled face showed disappointment. She sighed, tottered toward the rear door, and under Yu Feng's puzzled gaze, slowly stepped off the bus.
"Brother Li, what was that about...?"
Yu Feng opened his mouth to ask what was going on, but Li Yan gently shook his head, glanced at his watch, and then started the bus.
As the vehicle pulled away, the old woman's lonely figure grew farther and farther from the bus, eventually vanishing completely from sight.
What was going on?
Yu Feng's mind was full of confusion.
A woman in a red dress had come and gone, and now an old woman searching for her granddaughter had appeared. Initially, Yu Feng found her highly suspicious and had been on high alert, ready to respond. But to his surprise, she did nothing and quickly got off.
Was this old woman a ghost or not?
If she wasn't a ghost, why would she come looking for her granddaughter in the dead of night? If she was, why did she do nothing?
The more Yu Feng thought about it, the stranger it seemed. He became lost in thought, and before he knew it, when he looked up again, he saw Li Yan's eyes in the rearview mirror darting meaningfully, as if trying to warn him about something.
Yu Feng was startled. He shifted his gaze slightly, and then his expression changed subtly.
Because he suddenly saw, in the far corner of the last row of seats, a little girl had appeared out of nowhere. She wore a floral dress, had pigtails, big eyes, and a sweet smile. She looked about six or seven years old, as if she had stepped straight out of the photo.
When had she gotten on? Why hadn't anyone noticed?
Yu Feng tried to recall, and a creeping sensation crawled up his back. He clearly remembered that since the old woman got off, the bus hadn't stopped at any station.
In other words, since the bus had never stopped, where had this little girl come from?
Yu Feng's heart pounded wildly, and sweat beaded on his forehead. He stole a glance toward the back row, feeling that the little girl in the floral dress was utterly eerie. Though her face wore a sweet smile, it felt incredibly fake, devoid of any real warmth.
This little girl who had suddenly appeared was the granddaughter Miaomiao the old woman had been looking for. And Yu Feng was almost certain—this little girl was definitely a ghost!
Thanks to Li Yan's warning, he had noticed her presence. Yu Feng wiped the cold sweat from his brow, feeling ashamed of his carelessness.
Fortunately, the little girl from the photo didn't seem intent on attacking the participants. She simply turned her head and stared blankly out the window.
A thought suddenly crossed Yu Feng's mind.
If they had said a few kind words to the old woman looking for her granddaughter, if they had delayed her a bit, if she hadn't gotten off so quickly, could they have taken her ghost granddaughter away?
But what was done was done—who could say for sure?
The bus continued forward. After that, no one else boarded, but several passengers inside gradually got off one by one.
As they disembarked, Yu Feng, sitting on the conductor's seat, watched closely. He noticed that many of the passengers secretly glanced toward the little girl in the back row, their faces showing fear and terror.
Were they not getting off voluntarily, but because they were afraid of her?
What kind of entity was this little girl named Miaomiao?
As the bus kept moving, the number of passengers dwindled.
Fewer passengers should have been a good thing for the participants, but because of the little girl's presence, Li Yan couldn't feel any sense of relief.
Finally, as the last middle-aged woman nervously left, the bus interior was left with only the little girl.
At this point, there were only two stops left to the terminal, and the little girl still showed no sign of getting off. But just knowing she was a ghost was enough to spell doom for the participants.
Because one of the mission requirements was that by the time they reached the terminal, the number of ghosts among the passengers couldn't exceed the number of humans. If this ghost granddaughter refused to get off, then in two stops, the deadly trigger of that rule would be activated.
In other words.
Even knowing that a ghost was sitting on the bus, they had to do something. Otherwise, even if they drove to the terminal, they would still be dead.