Western City Bus Company was a long-established bus company. Over decades of operation, it inevitably encountered accidents of all sizes. With more accidents came restless spirits. These "strange passengers" mingled among ordinary riders, and over time, rumors of haunted buses spread, severely impacting the company's operations.
To solve this problem, perhaps on the advice of a wise person, the old bus company came up with a plan: on bus routes where accidents had occurred, they would occasionally arrange special night shifts specifically to attract such passengers. In other words, they would haul these ghosts away, preventing them from disrupting normal daytime operations.
And Wang Jianguo's job was exactly that.
A job dedicated to hauling ghosts!
That's why the bus company offered a rookie driver like him a monthly salary of five thousand yuan. The reasoning was simple: for a trainee driver, it was an attractive job, but the pay wasn't so high as to raise suspicion.
If he had known the truth beforehand, even if the salary were ten times higher, Wang Jianguo would never have dared to covet it. After all, this was a job dealing with ghosts every day. Over time, who knew what the consequences might be?
In fact, perhaps even the "wise person" who advised the bus company hadn't anticipated that just two weeks later, this special Route 404 bus would meet with trouble. Not only did the driver go missing, but when the bus reappeared seven days later, it was covered in dents and bloodstains. Though the company knew exactly what had happened, they pretended to be clueless and called the police!
All of this was picked up by a radio station, turned into a horror story, and for the participants, it became a life-or-death mission! Since all the vehicles were accident buses from Western City Bus Company, their accident records were stored in a drawer in the duty room. Yet, despite this obvious clue for survival, no one noticed it.
Above was the truth behind this triggered mission!
Wang Jianguo was undoubtedly dead. From the moment he agreed to drive the Route 404 night bus, his fate was sealed—death was inevitable, an unchangeable fact.
As for the other participants, a fleeting image crossed Chen Mo's mind: that stunning woman walking toward him from behind. Though she wore a smile, it sent a chill down his spine.
That woman was smiling, but perhaps because of the ghost seed inside him, Chen Mo could sense a strong malice and murderous intent coming from behind!
Qu Jiaojiao, in that moment, had genuinely harbored murderous thoughts, wanting to kill him!
What good would killing him do? It would only add a faint hope of survival. But to gain even a slightly higher chance than others, she could strike without hesitation. The ruthlessness hidden beneath that beautiful face was truly chilling.
"I didn't expect someone like that in the seventh program group," Chen Mo muttered, shaking his head, and sighed inwardly. He took one last look at that seemingly harmless woman.
Until both figures vanished completely into the supernatural world.
---
Qu Jiaojiao opened her eyes again, finding herself still lying in her lavishly decorated bedroom. In the dead of night, she could almost feel the presence of that certain someone, sleeping like a log, even seeing the drool at the corner of his mouth.
A flicker of disgust crossed her face as she muttered a soft curse, then grabbed her phone and headed to the villa's balcony to get some fresh air—and, more importantly, to put some distance between herself and the bedroom.
Her phone emitted a special notification sound. Unable to hide the joy in her eyes, she quickly opened an app with a strange icon.
After tapping it, the system prompted: You have obtained an item...
It seemed, as the rumors said, that a high-rated completion of a triggered mission did grant a chance to draw a reward. Besides plot points, the key was an opportunity to acquire a powerful item.
Though she was a veteran who had successfully completed three horror stories, Qu Jiaojiao didn't have many plot points to spare. This reward draw was a pleasant surprise.
Hmph, this item was practically tailor-made for me. Wondering if it was really that useful, Qu Jiaojiao's eyes shifted as a plan formed in her mind.
Perfect timing—there was a tricky matter she could test it on.
The night passed without incident. The next evening, as the city lights began to glow.
Qu Jiaojiao yawned while applying makeup, but no amount of foundation could cover the mark on her neck.
"To hell with it, I'm not working today." She tossed aside her foundation and said to her busy friend, "I'll go ask Brother Hao for leave myself."
Clicking her heels, she stopped outside an office in a wealthy household, knocked, and cleared her throat. "Brother Hao, can Jiaojiao come in?"
The door opened, and a man fiddling with a large gold ring looked up at her, smirking ambiguously. "What wind blew you here today? So, have you made up your mind?"
"What are you saying! Being noticed by Brother Hao is Jiaojiao's blessing. I'll be counting on your care from now on." Qu Jiaojiao smiled sweetly, her beauty undeniable, making the man unconsciously swallow. In a place like this wealthy household, beautiful women were a dime a dozen, but none of them could hold a candle to Qu Jiaojiao!
She was the undisputed star of the establishment. Many influential figures would sneak in for a taste, drawn to her delicate beauty tinged with a hint of willfulness—teasing, tantalizing, always out of reach. The richer and more powerful the man, the more they loved this game.
In nicer terms, you could call it charm.
Among Qu Jiaojiao's many suitors, Feng Hao was hardly the most outstanding. But as the general manager of this wealthy household, he always tried to get the first pick, constantly harassing her.
Before, Qu Jiaojiao had kept him at arm's length, elusive and unpredictable. But today, for some reason, she had come to him on her own.
Though he kept a straight face, Feng Hao's mind was already racing... He didn't notice the icy coldness deep in Qu Jiaojiao's eyes behind her sweet smile, nor the way her bright red nails dug into her palm out of sight.
"Brother Hao, remember that Mayor Wang?"
"The one in the mental hospital? Why bring him up? Bad luck. Let's focus on..." The man wondered why Jiaojiao was mentioning a former suitor. Mayor Wang had been one of her past sugar daddies. For some reason, a year ago, his entire family was killed, and he ended up in a mental hospital. Some said it was revenge, others that he'd stumbled onto a big shot's secret and was silenced. Of course, it remained an unsolved mystery to this day.
After her "training" with the radio program, Jiaojiao had done some investigating of her own, seemingly unconvinced by the media's conclusions...
"Brother Hao, to be honest, Mayor Wang's villa was transferred to me long ago. But a house that big... Jiaojiao is a little scared living there alone at night..."
PS, still writing at the hotel. Typing on my phone is a bit rushed; I'll polish it later.