The other party's reaction left Chen Mo astonished. This woman was indeed strange—just moments ago, she had been trembling slightly in fear, and now she appeared completely indifferent.
He had no idea what was going on in her mind!
In truth, Qu Jiaojiao's thinking was quite simple. Once the bus drove onto the bridge, a terrifying supernatural event was bound to occur. If she could save herself, even by the slimmest margin, she would not hesitate to betray him. This moment of pleasure was merely the final frenzy before the feast of death.
If there was truly no chance at all, she would have to accept her fate and console herself that, at least before dying, she had shared an intimate moment with a man she found pleasing to the eye—leaving no regrets behind.
Yes, that was Qu Jiaojiao's simple way of thinking. To many, this might seem baffling, but in her upbringing, this was the mindset she had absorbed from her surroundings. No one had told her it was wrong, nor had anyone shown her what a proper life should be. Not everyone can emerge unstained from the mud—this was merely her survival instinct!
After rounding a bend, the view suddenly opened up, and faintly, the death bridge ahead came into sight. Before the bridge stood the last stop along the route, the final place where the bus could temporarily halt.
Beyond this point, the No. 404 bus would have no choice but to charge onto that bridge haunted by vengeful spirits, repeating the tragedy of the previous No. 404 bus and plunging off!
Chen Mo knew full well that this bus itself was a ghost vehicle, and none of the passengers were alive. The real accident had already occurred; now, they were merely reliving the moments before their deaths. Since the accident had already happened, how could he possibly stop it?
But the story would never set an unsolvable ending. At the same time, he thought again of Li Yan—how had he completed the task on his own route?
His gaze locked onto the bridge not far away. In the mist-shrouded sky, it seemed as if eight vengeful spirits flickered in and out of view. Of course, Chen Mo knew that what he saw was likely just an illusion caused by the fog, but whether the spirits appeared or not, the deadly intent was undeniably real!
Was there truly no other way?
Having experienced many horror stories, this was undoubtedly the most helpless moment. He knew death lay ahead, yet he had no choice but to charge forward. This terrifying feeling could easily break a weak-willed person.
But Chen Mo did not break. For him, even at the last moment, he refused to give up. The station and the bridge flashed alternately in his vision, and vague thoughts flickered through his mind.
Suddenly, they crystallized into a bolt of lightning piercing the darkness!
Just as Qu Jiaojiao's pale arm was about to wrap around him, a flash of madness crossed Chen Mo's expression. He jerked the steering wheel hard, then... slammed down on the accelerator!
Like a roaring beast, the massive bus did not stop at the station but instead crashed violently into the signpost beside it!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Crash!
Under the immense impact, the bus plowed into the station, knocking over the signpost and a lamppost head-on. After leaving two long skid marks on the ground, it finally came to a shuddering halt.
Ahead, the shattered signpost lay in pieces, and the tilted lamppost flickered on and off with a crackling sound. A large chunk of the bus's front windshield was broken, and the hood was dented. But since Chen Mo had braked in time, the collision, though violent, had not caused severe damage to the bus.
Qu Jiaojiao, disheveled, bit her lip and climbed up from the floor, her face full of anger. She opened her mouth to curse, but then her brows furrowed as if she suddenly realized something. With a soft gasp, her anger turned to shock.
"Could it be..."
Before she could speak, the passengers behind erupted.
"Driver, how are you driving?!"
"Yeah, you're young and reckless—if you don't value your life, we do!"
"What's wrong with you, crashing into the side like that? Driver, you can't be so careless!"
"Exactly, safety is the lifeline!"
"Good thing nothing serious happened. If it had, we'd file a complaint against you!"
"What rotten luck today, running into such a careless driver!"
The passengers grumbled and complained, their faces filled with resentment. Qu Jiaojiao's heart clenched—she knew these weren't real passengers; they were ghosts...!
At that moment, Chen Mo stood up from the driver's seat, his face naturally showing an apologetic expression as he kept saying sorry to the passengers.
"I'm sorry, everyone. The bus had a minor accident, delaying your trip. I apologize."
"But please rest assured, even though something happened, the company will take responsibility. For now, please get off and wait at the station. The company will send another bus shortly to take you all home safely!"
Hearing Chen Mo's apology and explanation, the passengers grumbled some more. But since it was just a minor accident with some damage to the vehicle and no one actually hurt, they complained for a while before getting off the bus one by one.
Qu Jiaojiao also forced a smile as she saw the passengers off, but her eyes sparkled with surprise and joy.
She had fully understood Chen Mo's intention!
This No. 404 bus was destined for an accident. And now... this man was using the causal chain of fate to replace the impending disaster with a minor one!
To put it more plainly, the ultimate deadly trap of this task was to repeat the bridge-plunge accident of the No. 404 bus. Though it seemed unavoidable, it still required two necessary conditions to trigger.
The first condition was obvious: the bus had to drive onto the bridge, and this was unavoidable due to the rules binding the participants.
If a participant was consumed by the fear of death, the second condition could easily be overlooked: the passengers on board had to be the same victims from the previous accident!
The same No. 404 bus, carrying the same passengers, crossing the same bridge—these were the necessary conditions for the bridge-plunge event to recur!
Of course, the bus couldn't stop arbitrarily, take detours, or refuse passengers. But that didn't mean the participant had no other options.
Replacing the impending disaster with a minor accident, breaking the conditions and causality for the bridge-plunge event to repeat—that was the solution Chen Mo had thought of at the last critical moment.
But even in causing an accident, he absolutely could not violate the rule that the bus could only stop at designated stations. So, the last station before the bridge was the final opportunity left for Chen Mo in this task.
Thus, the minor accident meant to replace the major one could only occur within the station.