The city of Zhi was mountainous, and naturally, there were many mountain roads. The last bus moved slowly along the winding paths. Long Feicheng leaned against an older woman, feeling drowsy. The woman, seeing Long Feicheng’s delicate skin and youthful face, couldn't hide her smile.
Yan Shouyi and Lin Zhitong saw this and smiled without saying a word, not wanting to wake Long Feicheng.
By the time they reached the town, it was already past nine in the evening.
The small town had no nightlife. After eight o'clock, there were hardly any people on the streets. Moreover, in recent years, young people had been moving to the cities, leaving only the elderly and children in the townships.
So, after getting off the bus, the three stood at the dimly lit, deserted, and humble bus station, shivering in the cold wind.
“Hiss… In the south, it’s either summer or winter. Last month we were sweating buckets, and today the temperature suddenly dropped!”
Long Feicheng shivered uncontrollably, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
The next second, he pulled out three warm sweet potatoes from his pocket with a look of confusion.
“What’s going on?” Long Feicheng asked, bewildered. “Am I haunted or blessed?”
Yan Shouyi smiled, took two sweet potatoes, and gave one to Lin Zhitong. Of course, he didn’t tell Long Feicheng that these three sweet potatoes were given to him by the older woman on the bus.
Let this kindness from the older woman remain forever in their hearts!
Lin Zhitong held the warm sweet potato, blowing on it as she asked, “Are we staying overnight in town, or are we trying to find a way to Chenjia Village?”
Yan Shouyi thought for a moment and said,
“When I left Chenjia Village, it seemed like a bus route had been established there. But at this hour, I doubt there are any more buses. It’s better to stay overnight in town.”
The town was not large, with only two streets, stretching about five kilometers along the relatively flat terrain of the mountains.
The town was usually quite deserted, only coming alive during market days.
In town, Yan Shouyi had a childhood friend named Jiang Shuang. They attended the same primary school in town. After primary school, Yan Shouyi left with his grandfather to travel. Jiang Shuang, after finishing middle school, stayed in town to help his father manage a small supermarket and a small inn.
A few months ago, when Yan Shouyi left Chenjia Village, he had seen Jiang Shuang. It seemed Jiang Shuang’s family was already arranging his marriage, but Jiang Shuang himself didn’t want to get married and have children too early.
Who would have thought that in just a few months, Yan Shouyi would get married first and return to his hometown with his wife.
As the three walked along the road, Yan Shouyi chatted with Lin Zhitong and Long Feicheng about his childhood friend.
As they were walking, a light flashed at the end of the road, and the three couldn’t help but stop.
They saw a dusty, old minibus slowly approaching them.
Long Feicheng had the sharpest eyes and immediately spotted the large red characters “Going to Chenjia Village” pasted on the front windshield of the minibus.
“Brother Yan, that’s the bus to Chenjia Village!” Long Feicheng exclaimed.
“It’s so late, and judging by its direction, it seems to be coming from Chenjia Village,” Yan Shouyi replied.
Lin Zhitong said regretfully, “It seems we have to stay at your friend’s inn tonight.”
However, as the minibus drew closer, Yan Shouyi and Lin Zhitong simultaneously showed expressions of surprise.
They exchanged glances, both seeing something unusual in each other’s eyes.
Only Long Feicheng remained oblivious, cheerfully waving to the driver of the minibus, “Driver, what time do you depart tomorrow! We…”
Before he could finish speaking, Yan Shouyi covered Long Feicheng’s mouth.
He whispered to Long Feicheng,
“Little Long, take a good look, the people in this bus are not alive.”
Long Feicheng couldn’t help but shiver.
Looking closely at the bus, Long Feicheng then realized that the driver’s face was incredibly pale, and his eyes were almost bulging out of their sockets.
The passengers were even more disheveled, their faces devoid of color, their eyes vacant and lifeless.
This was clearly a ghost bus!
But it was too late to stop Long Feicheng now. The driver had already noticed him, and the passengers stiffly turned their necks, staring at Long Feicheng en masse through the window.
Long Feicheng was greatly frightened and quickly hid behind Yan Shouyi.
Yan Shouyi and Lin Zhitong, being accustomed to dealing with ghosts, were not afraid but found it strange.
In some remote areas, for undertakers to collect souls, they had to make a special trip, which was quite troublesome.
Therefore, using ghost buses to transport souls was understandable.
However, in the past, ghost buses were filled with elderly people who died of old age or illness. The occasional young person or two was already a rarity.
But in this ghost bus, there were mostly young people, and primarily young males.
These souls were disheveled, some with gruesome deaths, looking like they had all died unnatural deaths.
Had something happened in Chenjia Village, a geological disaster perhaps, that caused the deaths of many young people?!
As Yan Shouyi was contemplating, the bus driver spoke,
“There are still empty seats. Do you want to get on?”
Long Feicheng shook his head vigorously.
This was a bus for the dead; why would a living person get on it?
This was clearly looking for trouble!
Yan Shouyi also waved his hand at the driver, indicating he did not intend to board.
Unexpectedly, a passenger sitting in the back half-emerged from the vehicle, enticing them, “Come on up, we’ll take you to the big city to make money!”
The bus driver wasn’t in a hurry. He sat in the bus, lit a cigarette, and let the passenger converse with Yan Shouyi and the others.
Yan Shouyi sneered, ignoring him. How could he not know that this ghost was trying to trick them into getting on the bus, to be used as substitutes to escape the pursuit of the undertakers?
Seeing that Yan Shouyi and the others were not falling for it, the passenger became somewhat angry. He revealed a fierce expression and said menacingly to the three,
“Don’t be ungrateful. If you don’t get on, be careful we don’t come down and drag you up!”
Long Feicheng was indeed intimidated by the ferocious appearance.
But Lin Zhitong said with a relaxed expression, “Fine, we’ll just stand here. If you have the ability, come down.”
This ghost bus was specifically for transporting souls, no different from a prison carriage. It was easy to get on, but difficult to get off.
That ghostly passenger couldn’t get off at all, so he could only try to entice Long Feicheng with words. Now that Lin Zhitong had exposed the truth, he became even more enraged, but also helpless.
“Brother Yan, can’t they get off?” Long Feicheng also realized the problem.
Yan Shouyi nodded. “It’s not that easy to get off a ghost bus. If they could get off, why would they need to find substitutes? They could just run away! The undertakers want heads. As long as the people are gathered, they won’t care anymore. Whether the people who come are the right ones, that’s not their concern.”
Long Feicheng said with a strange expression, “Hearing you say that, the management of the underworld seems very chaotic.”
“It’s not necessarily chaotic. Think about it, so many people die every day, but there are only a few who are capable of being undertakers. Who could manage it all?” Yan Shouyi explained. “So, omissions or wrong arrests are very normal. Otherwise, this world would be clean, and people like us wouldn’t need to step in.”
The bus driver finished his cigarette and had also overheard Yan Shouyi’s conversation, likely guessing that the three of them were not ordinary people.
So, he nodded to Yan Shouyi in acknowledgement, then turned around and shouted. The passengers in the bus immediately fell silent.
The driver then stepped on the accelerator again, driving the vehicle into the distant darkness.