Chapter 29: Not of the Mortal Realm
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It was still during the bus ride, so Cotton Candy and Cat naturally could not act alone.
She did not possess the ability to survive after violating Rule 1. To reach the driver’s cabin safely and speak with the driver, she had to rely on Wutian’s protection.
Cotton Candy and Cat stared at the driver’s back, recalling Rule 7: “There is no driver on the last bus. If you encounter it, do not respond to anything it says.”
Her throat tightened, and her voice trembled. “Brother Wutian, you have to protect me, all right?”
Bai Ming gave a slight nod. “No problem.”
Cotton Candy and Cat drew a deep breath and gathered her courage before turning toward the driver’s seat. Her voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz. “D-Driver… how long until we reach the next stop?”
A series of cracking sounds, like bones shifting out of place, came from the driver’s seat.
The driver of Bus 444 slowly turned its head, revealing a face smooth as a mirror. Where its features should have been, there were only several shallow depressions.
“Approximately half an hour.”
As the conversation continued, the temperature inside the bus plummeted.
Fine beads of moisture condensed on the windows, and the droplets twisted into countless distorted human faces.
Cotton Candy and Cat felt icy fingers slowly crawling up her spine.
Suppressing her fear, she continued questioning the driver. “That long? We’ve already been driving for half an hour since the previous stop. We still have another half hour to go?”
The driver let out a cackling laugh. A slit suddenly split open across its featureless face, revealing a dense mass of black, needle-like teeth.
“Of course. Dawn Hospital Station isn’t in the underworld, so naturally it takes a little longer to reach.”
Cotton Candy and Cat’s legs went weak. Though she was terrified and wanted to end the conversation, Bai Ming kept signaling to remind her to continue.
Thinking of the terrifying strength Bai Ming had displayed, she knew that even Rule 1 could do nothing to him. He was still moving about the bus with ease.
She continued in a trembling voice. “Not in the underworld? Then… is it in the human world?”
The driver’s entire body suddenly twisted one hundred and eighty degrees. Its neck emitted a teeth-grating crack.
It leaned close to Cotton Candy and Cat, its grotesque face nearly touching the tip of her nose.
“How could it possibly be in the human world…”
The stench of decay sprayed across her face.
“We ghosts can’t go to the human world.”
“It’s a rift…”
Countless voices spoke simultaneously from the driver’s mouth.
“The boundary separating the human world from the underworld—the place where life and death meet.”
“And only from there…”
The driver suddenly extended a tongue half a meter long and licked Cotton Candy and Cat’s cheek.
“Can you living humans return.”
Cotton Candy and Cat trembled all over. She could feel something stroking her hair in the darkness.
But as a Level 3 player, her will was far tougher than that of an ordinary person.
Once she had keenly seized upon the crucial information, she asked, “If I get off at the ninth stop, does that mean I won’t be able to return to the human world?”
The driver’s voice transformed into a shrill howl.
“Of course!”
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Its arms suddenly burst apart, transforming into dozens of writhing black tentacles that lunged toward her.
“That’s the underworld! How could anyone possibly return to the human world?”
Cotton Candy and Cat hurriedly activated a control skill, only to discover that the tentacles were unaffected.
They seemed not to be physical entities at all, but curses formed from pure malice.
More terrifying still, she realized that Wutian, who had been protecting her from behind, was gone.
When she looked back, she could not find One Blade Suppresses Mountains and Rivers or Ink Stains Dust either. It was as though they had been separated into another space.
Was she going to die?
Although she had long known that every player would eventually meet death, a miserable life was still better than a good death.
For that reason, she had done everything in her power to survive.
Even if it meant selling her body, even if it meant using seductive methods that outsiders would consider immoral.
She knew that One Blade Suppresses Mountains and Rivers looked down on her, that Ink Stains Dust was not sincere toward her, and that Wutian regarded everyone equally as tools.
But why did she still do it?
Of course, it was to stay alive!
She had neither ability nor talent and could only rely on the methods at which she excelled.
Those who mocked her for being useless had long since died during the earlier missions.
Unlike them, she had gone through four missions and was still alive and well.
One Blade Suppresses Mountains and Rivers, Ink Stains Dust, Wutian—you all deserve to die too!
You made me test the rules for you!
But now she was truly going to die.
She would die alongside all those who had mocked her.
She did not want to die, but it seemed she had no other choice.
“I don’t want to die!”
Cotton Candy and Cat struggled frantically, throwing out every item and skill she possessed, even though none of it had the slightest effect.
She was consumed by hatred. That damned ghost had driven her into such a desperate state!
She simply opened her mouth and bit down hard on an approaching tentacle. Even knowing it would tear her mouth apart, she still had to vent her fury!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The muffled sound of a steel rod striking something rang out abruptly.
It was Wutian. Wutian had come!
“Are you all right?”
Wutian’s voice was cold and indifferent, but to Cotton Candy and Cat, it sounded exceptionally warm. The resentment she had felt moments before vanished at once.
Almost without thinking, she threw herself toward that figure—and did exactly that.
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She deliberately put on a timid, pitiful expression, like a frightened little beast, her eyes filled with touching vulnerability.
Bai Ming sidestepped and nimbly avoided her embrace.
Just as Ink Stains Dust had predicted, the core of this instance lay in the relationship between companions.
Those seemingly ferocious tentacles appeared astonishingly fragile before him.
Of course, they were not truly helpless. They were simply far weaker than ordinary ghosts.
After neutralizing the attack against Cotton Candy and Cat, the driver stopped attacking and instead let out a sinister chuckle at Bai Ming.
“You can see me?”
Bai Ming ignored it and turned to ask Cotton Candy and Cat, “What did you say to the driver just now?”
“I only heard you ask, ‘Not in the underworld? Then is it in the human world?’ After that, I couldn’t hear anything else.”
“But I saw the two of you talking, so I didn’t intervene immediately.”
“I only acted once you were attacked.”
“I didn’t expect the livestream to have a delay.”
“If you couldn’t hold out, I wouldn’t have been able to save you either.”
Cotton Candy and Cat gently brushed aside the strands of hair dampened by sweat.
“Brother Wutian did nothing wrong. It was all thanks to Brother Wutian!”
She briefly repeated the conversation for Bai Ming.
A flicker of surprise crossed Bai Ming’s mind.
The ninth stop was the underworld?
Only Dawn Hospital Station was an exit leading to the human world.
This was extremely valuable information.
Without investigating Rule 7, anyone who rashly got off at the eighth stop or any stop beyond it would not only fail to improve their completion rating but would die on the spot.
Bai Ming recalled the main mission: “At 4:44 a.m., wait at any bus stop, board the bus, and arrive alive at Dawn Hospital Station.”
The mission had never said that reaching the ninth stop—or any stop beyond the ninth—would count as completing it.
Then why had anyone conceived the idea of getting off at a higher-numbered stop?
It seemed the idea had first been proposed by Ink Stains Dust.
Apparently, that had been a mistaken judgment.
If he wanted to improve his rating, he would probably have to find another way.
Wait!
Perhaps it was not necessarily wrong after all.
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