CH 50

I wanted to ask her about her situation, but as I watched the flames rise and heard her heart-wrenching cries, my vison grew hazy, and I couldn’t seem to take a step forward.

“Is she burning paper money on the road? Could it be that her family members died on this road?” I wondered.

“Or perhaps it was a worker from the Miyun Mansion who died in an accident here?” I speculated.

“She’s crying so bitterly; it must have been a close relative who passed away,” 

My mind was filled with all sorts of random speculations, and as the flames started to die down, the bag of paper money was quickly burned to ashes.

“Excuse me, sir, is this the bus stop for the No. 14 bus?” Suddenly, a voice came from behind me.

I was startled and turned around to see a young girl with a backpack. She looked around 12 or 13 years old, probably not yet in high school.

“Yes, this is the bus stop for the No. 14 bus,” I replied.

“Thank you,” she said sweetly, standing next to me.

I was puzzled and looked across the road. The old woman had already left, leaving only the ashes of the burnt paper money on the street.

“Already gone?” I had no idea when the old woman had left. It felt like only a short while had passed.

“What do you mean, already gone?” The girl next to me swayed her ponytail and glanced at me.

“It’s nothing, just an strange old lady,” I said, brushing off the dust from my clothes as I stood up. From the corner of my eye, I looked at the girl beside me.

She was about 150 cm tall, with a youthful and innocent look. She was dressed very cutely, like a flower about to bloom, eager to show her best side to everyone.

“Hey, what’s your name?” I asked.

“Liu Yiyi,” she replied.

“Why are you here at the station so late at night instead of going home?” I was a bit puzzled. The girl was a beauty with a hint of makeup that made her look innocent and charming. If she ran into bad people, the consequences would be unimaginable.

She didn’t answer directly but instead kicked the gravel on the roadside with her toes and asked, “Why aren’t you going home late at night? Do you have to wait for the bus here?”

“I…” This girl was quick-witted and caught me off guard. “Please go home quickly. Look, there are no lights within a few hundred meters around here.”

“I’m not going back. I’m waiting for the bus.”

“What bus are you waiting for? Can’t you see clearly on the sign that the last bus left at 9:30 pm and it’s already stopped running? Where do you need to go? If it’s really not possible, I can give you money to take a taxi.”

“My mom said I shouldn’t take things from strangers.” The girl had principles, with two ponytails sticking up behind her head, making her look quite amusing.

“Your mom must have also told you not to wander around at night. You should go home quickly and not let her worry,” I said.

The girl lowered her head and after a while spoke up, “My mom isn’t home, and I’m going to find her.”

She was a stubborn girl, and I couldn’t persuade her. All I could do was wait with her.

“Do you think the No.14 bus will come?” She blinked her big eyes and looked pitifully at me after a moment of silence.

“It will come.” Actually, I didn’t want the No.14 bus to appear. I was even willing to stand on the roadside all night instead of taking that frequently delayed last bus.

Around 1 a.m., as I was sitting on the curb, almost falling asleep, two yellow and green lights pierced through the bumpy road in the distance.

“Route 14, here we come!”

The bus was moving very slowly, taking about five minutes from the time we saw its lights to when it finally pulled up to the station.

“Ding dong! We have arrived at Miyun Mansion. Please take your personal belongings and exit through the back door. Thank you for riding with us.”

“The bus has arrived at the station. Pedestrians and vehicles, please be careful. Welcome to the No.14 autonomous ticketing bus. Please board through the front door and insert one yuan. No change will be given on the bus.”

The familiar broadcast came through the speakers, and my drowsiness vanished as I stood up straight.

“No way, it’s one o’clock in the morning and the 14 bus is still operating? And it looks like there are still a lot of passengers on board. Could the rumors be true?” The surroundings of Miyun Mansion were shrouded in thick darkness, with only the headlights of the No.14 bus providing any light.

The front and back doors of the bus were open when I stopped Liu Yiyi, who was holding a one yuan bill, and gestured for her to wait. 

After a short while, an elderly man came down from the back door. Despite it not yet being autumn, he was wearing a thick cotton coat and a scarf around his neck. He looked like he was seriously ill, but he walked quickly, and in the blink of an eye, he crossed the street and stopped beside the pile of burnt paper money.

Just as I was about to take a closer look, Liu Yiyi shook off my hand and got on the bus first. I had no choice but to take out a one yuan coin and board from the front door.

This bus was a vintage “Minsheng” model, so old and worn-out that it seemed impossible to deteriorate further. It relied on a manual lever to start, and the wipers were out of order. The interior was even more ramshackle, with an odd scent lingering in the air.

Despite the absence of visible litter on the floor, the paint was flaking off, and the wooden seats were all in a state of disrepair. Sitting on them was a thoroughly uncomfortable experience, akin to sitting on the lid of a coffin.

“The bus is now departing. Please remain seated and hold on tight. Thank you for riding the No. 14 autonomous ticketing bus. If you are boarding, please have exact change ready, as the fare is one yuan. Passengers getting on should proceed to the back door. The next stop is Station Grace Village.” 

Instead of sitting down immediately, I took the opportunity to survey every passenger on the bus while searching for a seat. 

The driver was a young man who looked even younger than me. He wore the uniform of the bus company, and his eyes were fixed on the steering wheel. Sweat soaked his forehead.

“Is it that hot? Or is he sweating from being scared?”

His work ID was flipped over, with the photo side facing inward, and no information could be seen.

I moved slowly, but the driver didn’t urge me on. He had an overly good temper and showed no signs of the impatience of someone his age.

Sitting right behind the driver’s seat was Liu Yiyi, who took off her backpack and made a face at me.

A middle-aged woman in ordinary dress sat a few seats away. She looked like she had just finished dancing in a square and was heading home.

“At one in the morning, someone her age should be asleep. Where could she be going on the No. 14 bus?”

Sitting diagonally behind the middle-aged woman sat a couple who looked like they were pretending to be in love. They were in their early twenties, and the woman was unwilling to leave the man’s embrace, while he kept frowning, seeming a bit disgusted.

Across the aisle from the couple was a patient, or more accurately, a strange person in a patient’s gown with bandages wrapped around his head.

This person was around forty years old with an extremely pale complexion. He kept muttering to himself, and his leg, which was leaning against the inside of the seat, was shaking involuntarily. 

“I don’t think he looks like a normal person, but why do I feel like he’s the most normal person on this bus?” The two meanings of “normal” are naturally different, so I continued to look further back. 

Sitting in the second-to-last row of the bus was a girl about the same age as Liu Yiyi. She looked like she had just been crying, with swollen red eyes and a backpack in her arms. 

“There are two girls?” I remembered the phone call I received when the underworld show announced their task. A woman had said, “Promise me, don’t let my daughter get on that bus! Promise me!” 

“Which one is your daughter?” The underworld show mission was indeed not simple, it couldn’t be easily deciphered. I had very few clues at hand, so I could only go with the flow. 

Sitting in the last row of the bus, near the window, was a woman wearing heavy makeup with a big, wavy hairdo. Her dress and appearance made her look like a hostess in a karaoke bar.

Next to her, there was a woman wearing a red coat with her hair completely covering her face, half leaning on her. What’s even more peculiar was that the woman with heavy makeup seemed completely oblivious to the woman in red and was instead focused on playing with her phone. 

“What kind of duo is this?” I withdrew my gaze and sat in the empty seat behind Liu Yiyi. 

“Uncle, where are you getting off?” There wasn’t a single person on the bus who spoke, making it eerily quiet, so I could hear Liu Yiyi’s voice very clearly. 

“Don’t speak, don’t move around, and quickly get off when we arrive, got it?” I replied quietly, but in my heart, I was wondering, “Can’t this silly girl see that none of the people on this bus are normal?” 

After the driver saw me take a seat, he was about to start driving when someone suddenly grabbed the half-closed door. “Finally caught up, hurry up!” Three workers with safety helmets boarded the bus. Their clothes were covered in paint stains, and their shoes had mud on them. They paid their fare and then, shoulder-to-shoulder, looked for empty seats to sit in. 

“Wait, how could there still be workers getting on the bus at this late hour when the Miyun Mansion construction has been halted for years?” They reeked of alcohol and had flushed faces, suggesting they had been drinking heavily.

“Do ghosts drink alcohol?” I shook my head, thinking they were probably local workers hired to repair nearby houses.

Once the three men were settled on the bus and the doors closed, the No. 14 bus slowly started moving. This marked the beginning of my third thrilling live broadcast.

“The car started, the road was clear, and we headed north. I didn’t follow any of Blind Liu’s three pieces of advice…” I looked out the window with a wry smile as the wind scattered the ashes of burnt paper money along the roadside. The old man with a scarf around his head was nowhere to be seen. I could only vaguely see a black-and-white photo frame in a basin, and the elderly man in the picture with a scarf around his head, seemed to be smiling at me.