CH 53

I suspected that the dream I had just experienced was somehow related to these two talismans. However, since I didn’t know how to use the talisman paper, I didn’t know how it was activated without any seals or incantations.

When I expressed my doubts, Half-immortal explained that the Mother and Child talismans do not require any special incantations. As long as you care deeply about something or someone, and even if your soul is connected to it, the talisman paper will naturally take effect, and you will dream about it.

Ever since I obtained the talisman paper, I have been thinking about the No.14 bus route. As the saying goes, “What you think about during the day will come to you in your dreams at night.” I accidentally triggered the child talisman’s soul pull, and then, under the guidance of the mother talisman, I experienced the dream I just had.

“Host, you’re truly lucky. If it weren’t for the Mother and Child talisman leading you into the dream early, everything you experienced in the dream could have become a reality,” Half-immortal said.

“Yes,” I thought back on it and felt a chill. “No wonder I always felt that time was passing too quickly or too slowly, and I couldn’t even count my heartbeats. It turns out it was all just a nightmare.”

On the other side of the road, the old lady was still crying loudly. I walked over, recalling the scene from my dream.

“Grandma, please accept my condolences. The dead cannot be brought back to life,” I said.

The grieving old lady looked up at me and said, “Go away! Don’t block the light. My old man’s eyesight is poor. He won’t know where to get off.”

“Get off? Could you please be a bit more specific?” I asked.

“Go away!” she yelled, scattering a handful of paper money. Her cries echoed far into the darkness of the night.

I silently stepped aside and could hear from the old lady’s wailing that she was burning paper money for her husband. They had been a loving couple for over fifty years, weathering all kinds of storms together. Their bond was something that I couldn’t even begin to imagine.

No matter how fierce the flames burned, they always went out eventually. When the paper money turned to ashes, the old lady wiped away her tears and hobbled off into the distant village with her hunched back.

Once she was far away, I crouched down beside the iron basin and sifted through the thick ashes. 

Sure enough, just as in my dream, I found a glass photo frame beneath the remnants of the burnt paper money. Inside was a black and white picture of a stern-looking old man.

The photo was taken in winter, and he was dressed in a padded jacket with a scarf wrapped around his neck. 

I carefully put the photo back into the frame and bowed three times to show my respect. This was a couple who had walked hand-in-hand through the journey of life, from youth to old age.

Returning to the bus stop for the No. 14 bus, I checked my watch again. It was exactly midnight.

“Excuse me, sir, is this the bus stop for the No. 14 bus?”  I heard a voice behind me suddenly say.

Without immediately turning around, I recognized the familiar tone of the voice.

“You’re right; this is the bus stop for the No. 14 bus,” I replied.

“Oh, thank you,” she said sweetly, standing next to me with a curious look, as if wondering about this strange uncle. Her big eyes kept unconsciously glancing at me.

Everything was just like in my dream, except in my dream, I ended up dying at Chrysanthemum Garden. The middle aged woman and the strange young couple were all wandering ghosts.

“Why are you here at the bus stop so late at night instead of going home?” I asked her for the second time, and her response was exactly the same as in my dream.

She didn’t answer directly. Instead, she kicked at the gravel on the roadside and asked back, “Why aren’t you going home late at night? Do you have to wait for the bus here?”

I lit a cigarette and looked around, “Actually, a mother asked me to come here to pick up her daughter. But I haven’t seen what her daughter looks like, so I can only wait here.”

“Is it my mom?” Yiyi seemed to have slipped up. She opened her backpack and took out a photo, handing it to me. “Is this the person?”

The photo showed a mother in a light yellow dress sitting on a bench in the park. Beside her, a young Yiyi was crying sadly while holding a melting ice cream.

“You’re right, that’s her,” I handed the photo back to the girl and acted surprised, “You must be Yiyi, right? The girl your mother asked me to pick up is named Liu Yiyi.”

“Yes, that’s me!” The girl looked very excited.

I didn’t know why Yiyi was so happy. Although I felt a twinge of guilt at deceiving her, I knew it was the only way to protect her.

“Okay, since you’re Liu Yiyi, come with me later. It’s dangerous at night, and if you want to see your mom, you have to listen to me,” I said.

“Okay,” she said, nodding heavily, looking very cute.

“The No. 14 bus arrives at 1 am. On the bus, there will be a wavy-haired woman playing with her phone, a red-haired woman in a long dress, a middle-aged woman, a little girl about your age, a couple, and a crazy person in a hospital gown. Yiyi, remember, when you get on the bus, don’t move around or talk randomly. Leave everything to me.”

“Okay, I’ll listen to you,” she said.

Yiyi thought I was a friend of her mother’s, and compared to the dream, she had indeed become more obedient.

“Alright, the thrill show of tonight is about to truly begin! I will make sure to see through who is human and who is a ghost!” 

Time flew by, and before we knew it, it was already 1 a.m. in the morning. In the distance, the green and yellow car lights pierced through the darkness as an old, worn-out bus, the No. 14 bus, slowly pulled into the station. 

“Ding-dong, we have arrived at Miyun Mansion…” The bus door opened, and an elderly man wrapped in a scarf stepped off from the back door. He was wearing a thick winter coat and gave me a friendly smile upon seeing me. 

I had seen that face twice before, although only in the black and white photo frame.

I bent down, respectfully cupping my hands towards himr beforegetting on the bus through the front door, bringing Yiyi with me. 

The driver, who was younger than me, nervously gripped the steering wheel, keeping his eyes straight ahead and remaining silent.

After Yiyi sat behind the driver’s seat, I looked around the bus. 

“Middle-aged woman, young couple, patient in hospital gown, little girl, wavy-haired woman… Wait a minute!” My eyelids started twitching as I realized that one person was missing from the bus! “Where did the red-dressed woman who was leaning against the wavy haired woman go?!” 

Recalling the dream sequence, I realized that everyone was ignoring the red-dressed woman, and only I could see her at that time.

After taking my seat, I felt uneasy. Although there seemed to be only nine people in the bus compartment, there were actually ten people sitting there!

The red-dressed woman was sitting in the last row of seats. If the dream sequence was real, she should be leaning against the wavy haired woman right now.

“The vehicle is starting, please hold on tight…”

“Click!” The door was pushed open, and three drunken workers got on the bus. They were exactly the same as in the dream, from their expressions to their tone and pauses in their speech.

“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.” 

As the bus began to shake, I turned my head and saw that the foreman, named Wang Chunfu, was lying on the last row of seats.

Now, it seemed that there were only him and the wavy haired woman in the last row, but only I knew that Wang Chunfu was actually resting his head on the red-dressed woman’s legs. His entire face was covered by her long hair.

“Why did an extra person appear in my dream? The woman in red is definitely not human, but why can’t even ghosts see her?” With countless questions, as time passed, everything that happened in the dream came true one by one.

The woman with wavy hair was harassed, and she sat by the front door of the bus and made a phone call. Then Wang Chunfu persisted until Liu Yiyi stood up.

“Ding dong! We have arrived at Station Grace Village. Please gather your belongings and exit through the back door. Thank you for riding with us,” I lowered my head and remained silent. “This is the second stop.”

As the five funeral attendees took their seats, the temperature in the vehicle dropped to a freezing point, and only the patient in a hospital gown kept muttering deliriously.

The No.14 bus started again, and my palms started to sweat. The next stop is Chrysanthemum Garden, and I absolutely cannot get off with that auntie this time.

I’ve already figured it out. The darkness conceals countless dangers, and the safest place is to stay on the bus.

I glanced at the young couple sitting by the back door. The woman drew circles on the man’s chest in a coquettish manner, while the man’s eyes were gloomy, as if he were up to no good.

“For every life saved, you get one point. Should I intervene?” The man didn’t seem like a good person, but in the dream, he was actually the one killed by the woman.

“For that point, let’s save his life.”

****

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

As time passed, I stood up and walked towards the back door as the bus announcement rang once again. The young couple also got up from their seats and prepared to disembark.

Everything was very similar to the dream’s events.

At least, the beginning of the story was similar…