At this moment, Yu Feng was also extremely tense. Only two stops remained until the final destination—less than twenty minutes. If this little girl still refused to get off the bus, then the final killing trigger of the mission would be activated.
Just as he was feeling frantic, racking his brain for a solution, he saw Li Yan pull the bus over, leave the driver’s seat, and walk over. The second-to-last stop had arrived, meaning only one stop remained until the end.
Li Yan approached the little girl, gently taking her small hand with a kind expression. “Little sister, what’s your name?”
The little girl glanced at him, shook her head, and said nothing.
Watching this, Yu Feng’s heart nearly leaped into his throat. Once again, he felt the gap between himself and a veteran like Li Yan. Knowing full well that what stood before him was a ghost, Li Yan still risked his life to calmly converse with it. That courage and composure—at least for now—Yu Feng knew he couldn’t match.
But in truth, Li Yan’s heart was also filled with fear. Yet, many times, if you couldn’t suppress that fear and calmly analyze and handle complex situations, the result would likely be death.
There was another point: stories never set up inescapable deaths. Every event always had a solution. It was this unwavering belief that had carried him through countless dangers to this point.
What he faced now was just another gamble, like so many before. Since this little girl had sat here motionless for so long, his instincts told him she likely held a clue to the story.
Seeing her shake her head, Li Yan thought for a moment and changed his question. “Then, do you know where you live?”
The little girl shook her head again. Just as Li Yan thought he’d get nothing, she suddenly pointed to her mouth and opened it.
Li Yan looked curiously, then froze, a chill running through his scalp. Inside the girl’s mouth was packed with black ash. He immediately understood—this ash was what kept her from speaking.
So this ghost couldn’t talk!
The blackened photo, the ghost girl’s mouth full of ash—these were definitely clues the story gave to the participants. But what were they supposed to hint at? Could it be that something had happened on this bus?
“Li Yan…” Just then, Yu Feng’s face changed as he suddenly remembered something he might have missed.
He clearly recalled a male passenger who had been leaning against the window reading a newspaper, flipping back and forth but always on the same page. At the time, he’d only found it odd, but now—could it be another overlooked clue?
After hearing Yu Feng’s account, Li Yan was almost certain they had missed some important hints, perhaps the key to what had happened on this bus. But blaming Yu Feng was pointless. What they needed now wasn’t mutual recrimination, but a way to make up for it!
“Wait, let me sort this out.”
It was certain the little girl was a ghost—the last and only one on the bus. Yet she hadn’t acted or attacked the participants. Was it because the killing trigger hadn’t been activated, or was she simply a ghost existing solely as a clue? Could it be that the story’s killing intent wasn’t here at all?
Besides that, Li Yan hadn’t forgotten what happened outside the window earlier. The man in the peaked cap, the plastic bucket in his hand, the child’s laughter, firecrackers…
Time ticked by, and in Li Yan’s mind, a blurry image floated, but he couldn’t see its full form.
The departure time had come again. Each stop couldn’t exceed one minute—that was the bus driver’s rule and a game rule the participants absolutely couldn’t break.
With some reluctance, Li Yan stood up to head back to the driver’s seat, or else he’d violate the rules. But just then, a strange smell suddenly hit his nostrils.
“Yu Feng!” He shouted abruptly. “Do you smell that? What is it?”
“I smell it… I smell it too.” Yu Feng’s voice trembled, his tension and fear at their peak. “Look for it—there must be clues on the bus we haven’t found yet!”
The minute was up. Li Yan had to return to his seat and continue driving the bus, but his mind suddenly cleared. He remembered now—that strange smell… It was gasoline!
A smell he hadn’t noticed before had suddenly appeared. As the destination neared, more story clues were being revealed piece by piece. With each new clue, the killing intent drew closer!
The man in the peaked cap, the plastic bucket, the child’s laughter, firecrackers, the blackened photo, and finally, the ash in the little girl’s mouth… The ash blocking her mouth—that was the most important clue!
It meant this bus had once caught fire! The little girl who died in the fire had inhaled a large amount of burning material, filling her mouth with ash!
There were no other ghosts on the bus, meaning only the little girl had died in the fire. The newspaper the middle-aged man had been reading, which Yu Feng hadn’t seen clearly, was likely a report on this incident. But why had only this little girl died?
In Li Yan’s mind, a scene gradually formed. Perhaps when the accident happened, everyone panicked. The driver jumped out, passengers broke windows, and in the chaos, no one noticed a little girl knocked to the ground by the crowd. Maybe she was injured, maybe trampled. In the end, only this girl named Miao Miao failed to escape, dying alone in the fire—the sole victim of the accident!
But there was still one question. Why had a perfectly normal bus suddenly burst into flames during its route? Based on the clues, Li Yan could roughly deduce the cause.
The truth was: this was arson! The plastic bucket in the peaked cap man’s hand was filled with gasoline. The distant firecracker sounds hinted at an explosion. The blackened, burned photo and the ash in the little girl’s mouth pointed to her cause of death.
The whole story suddenly became clear.
“I found it!” Just then, from the back of the bus, Yu Feng’s voice rang out, trembling with excitement. “Li Yan, I found it…”
With that, Yu Feng reached out and forcefully lifted one of the seats.
--- PS: Every book is the author’s hard work, but countless pirates are utterly shameless. Not only do they steal my novel, but they also use the author’s name to promote their own pirate sites—infuriating and helpless. Let me clarify: the official version of *Strange Tales Radio* is on Qidian. I hope readers who love this book will move to the official site, where updates are fastest and the reading experience is best. There are reader interactions and a soft, cute author waiting for you~
Your subscriptions are the support that keeps me writing. Two cents a day isn’t much, but if everyone reads pirated versions, I get no income, and this book might have to end prematurely… I beg you all, please support the official version and give this book a chance to continue long-term.