Chapter 235

Chapter 235

The Duke was convinced that the person in front of him was insane. Who would fall in love with something eerie?

However, free pine nuts were not to be wasted. She still accepted the oily roasted pine nuts and cracked one open with her thumb and index finger, revealing the nut inside.

A translucent pine nut went into her mouth, and the young man beside her couldn’t stop her even if he wanted to.

"Don't worry." She wasn’t concerned about the possibility of poison; it didn’t matter anyway since she didn’t particularly want to live.

"Hmm?" Surprisingly, the taste was quite good. It didn’t seem old, lacking any musty flavor.

"Ding dong, we have arrived at Xinhe Square Station. Passengers, please board from the front door. Rear passengers, please take your seats."

The sightseeing bus stopped at a station, but the doors didn’t open. An elderly figure appeared inside, hunched over, with eyes that seemed to stare intently at all the passengers. It took two steps and stopped in front of a young woman.

Ji Xinghai stuffed the remaining pine nuts into his pocket and patted Qin Yu’s shoulder. "Let's switch seats."

It was inconvenient to act near the window.

"Young people these days really don’t understand respect for the elderly. I’m standing here like an invisible old man, truly lacking manners." The eerie old man indeed spoke those classic lines, its outdated and selfish hypocrisy spreading like venom. The young woman looked bewildered and angry; she was sitting in a regular window seat.

Many people occupied the seats reserved for the elderly, weak, sick, and pregnant, but they were usually tall men or intimidating women. However, this one, a young woman just entering society, was the easiest target.

The Duke glanced over but didn’t pay much attention; these were minor incidents.

At that moment, a shadow blocked her view.

"Hmm?"

The eerie old man had escalated: "Get up quickly, I need some fresh air..."

*Snap!*

Before the old man could finish, a black umbrella suddenly opened above this corner, startling the nearby eerie passengers.

"Oh, sorry, the umbrella malfunctioned." The young man who had suddenly appeared calmly closed the umbrella, and the old man vanished.

Passengers opposite pointed out the window in surprise. The old man was hanging outside, snarling at the people inside, but within moments, the wind blew him away—first his feet, then his body, and finally his head, disappearing completely.

The eerie old man had vanished entirely, possibly transforming into eerie coins in the white mist, or perhaps not even forming any coins at all.

The young woman remained seated, trembling.

The blue sightseeing bus was a domain, and the windows were its boundaries. This human had actually pulled the window open by hand, tearing a crack in the domain.

Even more terrifyingly, the old man disappeared outside the domain, dissipating energy, never to ‘repeat’ again.

This was a complete death.

The human who boarded acted so ruthlessly that the eerie beings witnessing everything remained eerily silent, no one daring to speak.

"The old man said the bus was stuffy and he wanted some fresh air. A good deed for the day, nothing to praise me for." The young man nodded at everyone around him and returned to his seat, holding the umbrella handle.

Eerie passengers: You’re strong; whatever you say is right.

The Duke and Qin Yu in the back row looked at him strangely: Was this person maintaining the domain environment?

While there were rare cases of humans cooperating with eerie beings, in general, the two were irreconcilable. When they met, one would die. But Ji Xinghai clearly wasn’t following that path.

"Today is the last day of service for this sightseeing bus. Isn’t it better to let it end on a high note?" Ji Xinghai smiled.

He only explained because of his past connection with the Duke; otherwise, he wouldn’t bother—though it was a Duke from another world.

The blue sightseeing bus was a domain with rules, but exploiting loopholes to eliminate all passengers and forcibly subdue the bus was possible. He just didn’t want to.

They weren’t making unreasonable demands; they just wanted to give their sightseeing bus career a proper ending. What was wrong with being dedicated to one’s job?

So he decided to stop this disruption of public order and didn’t kill the eerie being on the bus, nor did he break the rules.

The old man himself said he wanted fresh air, so wasn’t he given it?

Of course, another reason was that the eerie old man was insignificant. He wouldn’t even bend down to pick him up if he fell on the ground, so there was no value in personally dealing with him.

The Duke narrowed her eyes slightly.

The blue sightseeing bus was well-known locally, but as long as one didn’t trigger it, it wasn’t too dangerous. However, eerie beings were directly linked to the fog, and protecting the few remaining human territories was the responsibility of extraordinary individuals. That’s why she came.

She initially planned to confront the bus itself during the final chaotic moment, but the two people ahead had different ideas.

This person didn’t seem like someone who would try to reform eerie beings through kindness.

So, were they trying to subdue the blue sightseeing bus?

Eerie beings often deceived hearts, especially the higher-level ones, who often appeared as the most attractive humans imaginable. Sometimes, they even pretended to have emotions to make fools think they were special, leading them to betray their own kind.

But this was a sightseeing bus; they wouldn’t want a vehicle, would they?

The Duke’s lips twitched, finding this idea absurd, yet she had a strange premonition.

Soon, another stop arrived, and two casual passengers boarded, one smoking.

The driver coughed and picked up the microphone to warn them about no smoking, but the black umbrella malfunctioned again.

In the surveillance footage, the young man turned and smiled, then opened the umbrella, tearing a seam in the rear door, revealing glimpses of the outside world.

"This is a non-smoking area. If you want to smoke, you can go somewhere else. I can give you a ride."

They heard the human's cheerful voice, still asking and answering himself: "Want to? Sure. This friend isn't at ease and wants to go together? That's fine."

And then there was nothing more.

The crack in the car door automatically closed, and inside the car, everything returned to a peaceful scene. The anomalies silently lowered their heads.

"Boss, this..." The young man beside the Duke finally came to his senses. Ripping apart the anomaly's domain just to send away the troublemaking anomalies—this extraordinary figure seemed a bit off.

"Hush, looks like it's not our business this time." A rare look of relief appeared on the Duke's face. There were powerful cleaners outside the government department; it seemed humanity wasn't destined to perish yet.

There were also perverts, thieves, and passengers arguing over collisions. Today's special guest Ji Xinghai watched closely, restraining those who needed restraining, mediating where necessary, and making some disappear.

The anomalies were almost in tears. These low-level anomalies within the domain had to follow the rules. Whatever they did before, they had to repeat now.

In the past, even if killed by humans, as long as the blue sightseeing bus remained, they would reappear.

But now the situation was different. Those anomaly passengers died outside, and even if the blue sightseeing bus remained, repeating today's story, those anomalies wouldn't reappear.

However, tragically, even though they clearly knew about the killer on the bus and instinctively didn't want to cause trouble, they couldn't control their actions.

The pervert touching others' thighs was crying while doing so. This time, touching meant death.

With fewer troublemaking anomalies, the remaining ones cautiously lowered their heads, sitting quietly, afraid they'd be next.

If they could speak, they would cry out to the human: Boss, you see, we're useless too; we're not the main reason for the crash!

Ding-dong, the bus stopped again. Suddenly, all the anomalies perked up, countless small eyes desperately blinking at Ji Xinghai in the back row: It's him! It's him! It's him!

Ji Xinghai remained unmoved. Even without the reminder, he knew a key figure might board here because the crash site was nearby, just a few minutes away.

The Duke, watching from behind Ji Xinghai, felt complex emotions.

The final batch of anomalies appeared at the door according to the script. They noticed something odd in the car but didn't care much.

There were four humans present, and where there are humans, there are accidents. As seasoned anomalies, they had participated in many human ambushes but always survived, so they were wary of humans but not overly concerned.

A large family boarded: a couple with four children.

They were definitely a family because the four children resembled the woman, and it was a classic combination of three sisters and one brother. The youngest boy, around five or six, was still being carried and held a toy.

As soon as they boarded, they targeted those seated in the priority seats.

There were still plenty of empty seats, but the anomalies followed a script that said "all seats full, many standing."

The few people in the front seats, also part of the script, started arguing with the new family, tears streaming down their faces as they caught Ji Xinghai's curious gaze. Their tears flowed even harder.

Un... fair...

The driver occasionally checked the rear-view monitor, looking anxious. Meanwhile, through the window, they could see they had entered the highway, leaving the city community.

The sightseeing bus, which had been moving slowly like an old man, sped up, accelerating from thirty to sixty miles per hour.

The seat dispute escalated, and accidentally, the little boy lost his balance and fell. The whole family jumped up.

The woman quickly picked up the child and then, like a madwoman, lunged forward. The two little girls, like obedient guard dogs, screamed and scratched. The only male, holding the little boy, watched indifferently as the woman charged forward.

"I'll hit you!" The little boy, not yet as selfish as the adult, seeing his family hurt, threw the plastic knife he was playing with.

The knife flew over the crowd toward the driver.

A red truck loaded with logs approached from the opposite direction...

In a split second, as the plastic knife was about to hit the driver's head, a hand reached out and firmly caught it.

As a key player in the incident, the plastic knife, now an anomaly, still tried to stab the driver's head despite being caught.

Then it was snapped in half.

Ji Xinghai held the plastic knife in one hand and the steering wheel in the other.

Perhaps all major accidents are preceded by a series of minor incidents. When the knife came flying, the experienced driver, thrown off by what he saw on the monitor, stepped hard on the gas and turned the wheel sharply, heading straight for the truck.

He prepared to steer back.

At that moment, the "panicked" driver suddenly turned and grinned, stepping on the gas and turning the wheel wildly toward the truck.

Ji Xinghai looked at the taunting face; the driver's eyes turned pitch black, with no whites, and a faint smell of gasoline filled the air.

So that's how it is.

No wonder a toy knife wouldn't make an experienced driver lose his composure; there must be an anomaly involved.

According to the deputy mayor, this accident happened during the early stages of the white fog, when anomalies were invading en masse.

The driver was either a missed target or influenced by an anomaly.

Regardless, under the driver's operation, the sightseeing bus met its end on its last day of service.

After this major accident, the beloved blue sightseeing bus, imbued with spirit, transformed into an anomaly driven by resentment.

"No wonder it's hard to stop the crash; you were involved."

As the sightseeing bus headed toward the truck, the passengers screamed in the sudden swerve. Ji Xinghai grabbed the driver, pulling him out of the seat and taking his place.

Just as the driver was about to struggle, a sharp umbrella pierced through his chest, pinning him to the wall.

"Aaah—" The driver screamed, collapsing as black smoke rose from his head. Ji Xinghai didn't stop it, watching it escape through the vent. Then the headlights of the approaching truck flashed brightly, and a blurry figure appeared in the driver's seat.

It had pitch-black eyes with no whites.

Ji Xinghai laughed and pressed the accelerator, shifting gears to speed forward. An invisible energy layer appeared in front of the sightseeing vehicle, like a shield equipped with a ram.

Wants to crash, huh? Fine, come on, let’s see who’s more vulnerable.

"AAAAA—"

"Hold on, everyone!"