Chapter 45: 330

The hood was taken off.

The wet hair clung to the forehead like a curved black little snake.

K used the rain to wash off the spider webs stuck on his body.

"Any discoveries?"

Tang Luo asked.

He had just arrived when he saw K rush out from one of the houses.

Like an angry bull, he lowered his head, closed his eyes, and didn't look ahead.

Tang Luo then casually pressed him down.

"These two houses are weird, it's a ghost wall." K said angrily, glanced at the houses, "Let's leave quickly."

"Oh?"

Tang Luo said, "Interesting."

Hearing Tang Luo's interest, K immediately said, "Monk, focus on finishing the task! If we provoke something we shouldn't, we won't know how we die."

He managed to run out.

He didn't want the monk in front to go in again.

It wasn't out of concern for Tang Luo's safety.

But because Tang Luo provoked something that implicated him.

Just now K had already come once.

Now he comes again; does he really think the 'presence' inside the house has no temper?

What if it chases out?

While speaking, K reached out and grabbed Tang Luo's arm to stop him from going over, meanwhile stunned a moment.

"Beep beep beep!"

Just then, the car's horn sounded.

"The car is coming!"

K didn't care about anything else, released Tang Luo, and ran toward the station.

Tang Luo looked at the two isolated houses, didn't go in, turned and followed.

Although said the two houses are at the end of the road, the 'end' of sight.

But because it's a winding mountain road, the houses aren't that far from the station.

Otherwise, at this time K might not have even reached the houses.

After running a while, K saw a bus stopped at the original stop.

Facing the direction he came from.

The bus is somewhat old, looks a bit worn, overall orange-red.

Half the windows are dirty.

The other half where the driver sits is clean.

Above the driver's head, a rectangular white plate is stuck, with red characters spelling 'Fengmen Village'.

The other side says 'East Station'.

In the middle is a double-headed arrow.

Above the arrow is the bus number 330.

All in red.

Clearly visible.

"Beep beep beep!"

Seeing K blocking the front, also not getting on looking, the driver pressed the horn again.

K gestured, walked to the bus side, Lin Zi'ang and three others were on the platform, didn't get on.

Seeing K and Tang Luo returning behind him, the held expression relaxed.

"Where to? Get on or not?"

The driver's voice came from the bus.

"Shifu, does this bus go to the terminus?" Aunt Shufen asked.

"Yes, to the terminus Fengmen Village, it's the last bus; if you don't get on, you'll have to go on your own." The driver said.

"On, on, on!"

Aunt Shufen shouted and got on first.

This isn't the modern spacious, bright large bus.

There is only one door near the front for boarding and alighting.

Inside there are no hanging straps or railings, and no seats facing sideways to the direction of travel.

One side has a single row of seats, the other side has two rows.

The ticket collector's position is just behind the door.

On the driver's right side, there is also a seat by the window.

Tang Luo was the last to board.

He had just gotten on when he saw a group of people standing in the narrow aisle.

They also didn't move forward.

The ticket inspector glared at several people with an unfriendly face: "No money and still want to ride?"

Yes, no money.

Everyone has no money.

Last mission, why could we stay at an inn and change clothes?

That's because Master Xuanzang has a way of begging for alms.

Even in the world of the dead, money is needed.

Now taking the bus, of course we also need money.

This is quite embarrassing.

The mighty gods and demons walking the world have actually fallen to the point of not being able to afford a bus.

Is it the distortion of human nature, or the loss of morality?

Or rather, actually human nature is not twisted enough, morality not lost enough.

Being hit by a ghost wall, K, who is already very unhappy, will get angry.

What's wrong with having no money?

This bus, he will definitely ride it today!

Fortunately, at this moment the driver said: "Forget it, forget it, it's the last bus, no village ahead, no shop behind, and it's pouring rain—just sit, just sit."

Saying that, he closed the door.

Avoided the birth of a "seat tyrant".

The ticket inspector glared fiercely at several people, then said nothing more.

"Thank you."

Shufin Auntie didn't care, speaking cheerfully.

"Hold on tight, there are many mountain roads," the driver said.

The bus, not having stalled, moved forward slowly.

One could see dirty black smoke billowing out of the grimy rear window.

It's practically like a tractor.

On the bus, besides Tang Luo's five people, the driver and ticket inspector, there were five other people.

One was an elderly lady with white hair, though her hair was white, she had hardly any wrinkles.

Next to her sat a young man.

Both were very quiet.

The other three were wearing white long robes, like ancient costumes.

They also kept long hair, heads lowered, not lifting them.

They gave a strange feeling.

Hmm... Tang Luo could group with these three to form an ancient-costume squad.

These five people sat toward the front.

Tang Luo and his group naturally sat toward the back.

Shufin Auntie and Mi Ke sat together.

Behind them was the talkative pseudo-milk appraiser Lin Zi'ang.

Behind Lin Zi'ang was Tang Luo.

K sat in the last row, middle, slightly higher than other seats.

One could observe the whole situation inside the carriage.

Upon boarding and seeing those three ancient-costume people, he felt an inexplicable unease.

After being hit by a ghost wall, his heart never relaxed.

As the driver said, there are many mountain roads, and outside it's pouring rain.

The speed remained slow.

The sky quickly darkened, almost entering night.

"Master, roughly how long until the terminus?" Shufin Auntie asked.

"Quite far, about an hour or so," the driver said.

The carriage grew quiet again.

After a moment, a faint purring sound could be heard.

It came from the side of those three low-headed ancient-costume men.

These people had already fallen asleep.

No wonder they kept their heads down.

"Hiss—"

The science/engineering guy in front of Tang Luo suddenly sucked in a breath, looked forward then backward.

After hesitating two seconds, he lowered his voice and said to Tang Luo: "Monk, have you ever heard of the Tianjing 330 bus incident?"

"What?"

Tang Luo shook his head.

K behind him looked at Lin Zi'ang, obviously having heard his words.

Mi Ke and Shufin Auntie in front also turned their heads.

Tianjing 330 bus incident?

"It's... it's..."

Lin Zi'ang lowered his voice and gave a simple description of the whole incident.

Simply put, it's an unsolved case from a real event.

Compared to Kaitangshou Jieke, this incident is more like some kind of supernatural event.

In 1995, a major supernatural incident occurred at the bus stop in Tianjing; the 330 bus mysteriously disappeared, and the next day a series of shocking strange phenomena were discovered on the bus.

Simply put, it's just a missing bus.

Finally, it was found near a reservoir over 100 kilometers away, and three severely decomposed corpses were discovered inside the bus.

The incident has many doubtful points, constituting the elements of a supernatural event:

One, the discovered bus could not possibly have traveled another 100-plus kilometers after running for a day, and its fuel tank contained not gasoline but fresh blood.

Two, the discovered corpses were already severely decomposed in less than two days, which is impossible even in summer, yet autopsy confirmed it was not man-made.

Three, checking all the monitors at the entrances and exits to Miyun that day revealed nothing.

Four, before the bus went missing, a passenger came forward to report, saying they saw a ghost on the bus.

The so-called ghost was three long-haired people dressed in ancient clothing!

At the time it was said they were extras filming nearby who had gotten drunk and taken the bus home.

But one elderly woman discovered these people had no legs, and she pulled a nearby young man off the bus with her.

It was later heard that the truth of the case was actually an ordinary case of rumor spreading.

Of course, exactly what the situation really was remains unclear.

Lin Zian also wasn't very clear about it.

He had merely happened to hear this supernatural story, and the more he looked at the situation inside the carriage, the more it resembled the version he had heard.

Added to that were heavy rain, a winding road, clearly heading toward some mountain village.

Feeling creeped out, he just blurted it out.

"Damn it!"

K muttered a curse under his breath; the signs of the survival mission were already very obvious.

Such a mission doesn't require spending too much brainpower to think and analyze.

Yet it is also a rather dangerous mission.

Struggling to survive leaves one breathless.

A little carelessness will lead to death.

"Get off the bus, or just abandon the mission? Anyway, I've only failed once, I still have a chance." K thought to himself.

But looking at the retreating forest outside the window, he again dared not gamble.

Before reaching the terminal, he encountered a ghost wall beside a roadside house.

He finally rushed out unharmed after a fright.

If he got off, he'd be stuck on this scarcely traveled mountain road, not going to the terminal—who knows what other dangers might await?

It's not that choosing to abandon the mission means he can find a corner and safely get by.

In the mission world, there exist dangers beyond the mission itself.

Sometimes, they are even more dangerous than the mission.

"No, no."

A dim light flashed in K's eyes: "If I bet wrong and get off alone, it would be too dangerous. Better to stay with these people; that monk looks formidable, and the others can serve as cannon fodder."

Since they would all face danger anyway, it's naturally better to have companions.

Moreover, the mission at least has a clear objective.

"How about we get off?"

After hearing Lin Zian's words, Mi Ke said softly.

"If we don't do the mission, will we die?" Lin Zian asked.

"Maybe we will die." Tang Luo said, "But not the first time."

He briefly introduced the punishment mechanism of the Gods and Demons game.

Just then, the bus jolted violently.

It almost lifted everyone's buttocks off their seats.

"It'll be bumpier ahead, maybe ten or so minutes; I don't know why this stretch of road is like this—it's been under repair for years and still isn't fixed." The driver said.

Over the next few minutes, the bus swayed and jolted, rocking back and forth.

It made Lin Zian and Mi Ke's faces alternate between green and white, nearly making them vomit.

Auntie Shufen, however, remained composed.

In her own words, she used to drive a tractor over mountain roads—that was real shaking.

"No!"

K's complexion turned very grim.

But it had nothing to do with the shaking bus.

He still had that level of physical fitness.

Although he hadn't completed six missions to gain all-around improvement,

but having become a wanderer of gods and demons, everyone knows one must painstakingly train oneself.

"Are those three people still sleeping?"

K stared at the three ancient-clothed passengers before him.

Amid such shaking, with up-and-down motion, these three people kept swaying side to side, yet they still kept their heads lowered, snoring loudly?

A faint snoring mixed with the bus's shaking sounds, reaching K's ears.

"These three people are problematic!"

K couldn't help but shout out.

Everyone suddenly leaned forward.

After K shouted loudly, the car braked and stopped.

The ticket collector turned their head, looking at K with a strange gaze.