Chapter 2: The First Game: Route 444 Last Bus

Chapter 2: The First Game: Route 444 Last Bus

Under the dim streetlights late at night, a frail boy in a worn-out school uniform stood by the roadside. He seemed to have just been caught in a heavy downpour—not only was he drenched from head to toe, but the cuffs of his trousers were also stained with mud. He looked weak, his handsome but pale features gaunt, and his stance unsteady, standing there like a wisp of a spirit clinging to the mortal world.

Ignoring the strange glances from passersby, Su Bai turned around from time to time, searching for the peculiar shop with the faded "double happiness" character he had seen earlier, but found nothing.

As the traffic light turned from red to green, Su Bai continued walking toward the hospital.

Contrary to his disheveled appearance, Su Bai’s physical strength and mental state had actually recovered considerably. He could even feel a unique force carrying warmth circulating within his body—weak but persistent, a power that the Su Bai from eleven years ago could never have possessed. Instead, it felt more like something he had gained from the nightmare world.

Considering the eerie shop with the faded "double happiness" character and the eerily deserted streets from earlier, Su Bai couldn’t shake the feeling that something had followed him from the nightmare world into reality.

...

Honghuai First People’s Hospital.

Although the hospital had an emergency department operating at this late hour, it was certainly not the time for visiting patients. Su Bai, however, paid no mind to this. Following the vague memories of the route, he found the white building of the inpatient ward.

Entering the inpatient building, Su Bai fished out a damp visitor pass for family caregivers from his soaked school uniform pocket. Surprisingly, the staff at the inpatient ward didn't seem surprised by his arrival. Instead of scrutinizing the pass, they seemed more concerned about his drenched and bedraggled state.

"Xiao Su, didn’t you say you were going back home to sort out your mother’s belongings?" A middle-aged nurse stood up from behind the counter, frowning at Su Bai’s bedraggled state. "How did you get so soaked? Hurry, go upstairs and take a shower!"

Facing the nurse whose name he could no longer recall, Su Bai nodded politely and kept walking toward the elevators without stopping.

"Sister Chen, was that Xiao Su from the twelfth floor? He’s really good-looking, but why..."

"Ah, handsome he may be, but his situation is truly pitiful."

Su Bai could hear the whispers between the young nurse and Nurse Chen at the counter but paid them no mind. After all, even the Su Bai of the past had considered himself the most wretched person in the world.

But if all of this was real, then his mother must still be lying in the hospital room on the twelfth floor. Even if she hadn’t regained consciousness, she was still alive, her heart still pounding.

"Ding—" The elevator ascended from the basement level.

When Su Bai stepped into the elevator with mirrors, a man dressed like a security guard was already standing in the corner. The man was oddly tilting his head, as if staring intently at his own reflection in the elevator mirror.

Su Bai should have immediately sensed something amiss in the elevator, but perhaps because he wasn’t yet accustomed to his eleven-years-younger body, or perhaps because of the anxiety of being so close to his goal, he simply stared at the flickering floor numbers, his heart pounding faster than when he was on the brink of death, too preoccupied to notice anything else.

It was at that moment the security guard in the corner stretched out his hand. A thin, bony arm reached forward, but the man in the security uniform wasn’t targeting Su Bai himself—instead, he was aiming at Su Bai’s reflection in the elevator mirror.

In the mirror’s reflection, the face of the man in the security uniform was a rough, swirling black mist. His withered arm approached the mirror, making a grasping motion as if seizing the neck of the Su Bai in the reflection.

It seemed that with just a little force, he could snap that pale, fragile neck in the mirror.

Waiting only for the right moment...

"Zzt—" Perhaps due to a faulty wire, the elevator lights suddenly dimmed significantly.

Just as darkness was about to swallow the light, the arm of the security guard in the mirror completely transformed into black mist, coiling around the neck of Su Bai’s reflection. His form trembled, as if excited by the imminent success of his hunt.

But the moment the black mist touched the reflection of Su Bai, the image of the young boy in the mirror was instantly replaced by a figure clad in red bridal attire. A delicate bridal veil, inexplicably adorned with silver bells, covered the face of the red-clad bride in the mirror. Before the light was fully swallowed, one could still see a massive, bloodied hole piercing through the chest of the bride who had replaced Su Bai’s reflection, with blood continuously flowing out.

The red-clad bride in the mirror didn’t seem human at all—she was a pure supernatural entity!

As the black mist, transformed from the security guard, drew near, the ghost bride that had taken Su Bai’s place stretched out a pale, claw-like hand, shredding the black mist in the mirror with her sharp red nails.

All of this eeriness happened in an instant, almost in the blink of an eye. By the time the elevator lights fully restored, Su Bai, though slow to react, sensed something amiss and quickly turned to look. But the elevator was empty aside from him, and the mirror reflected only his own image.

Yet he distinctly remembered a security guard being in the elevator when he entered?

Realizing the strangeness of the situation, Su Bai’s expression turned even graver. Even a minor supernatural occurrence, insignificant in the nightmare world, was an extremely, extremely abnormal event when it manifested in the real world.

Was it his arrival that flapped the butterfly's wings, or had he never truly understood this world to begin with?

"Ding—"

As the bell chimed, the elevator doors opened on the twelfth floor. A quiet corridor and rows of hospital rooms appeared before Su Bai’s eyes. Just a few more steps, and he would see his mother again.

But just as Su Bai stepped out of the elevator, a familiar, sneering voice, one that made his blood boil, echoed in his ears—

"Lucky Human, congratulations on obtaining a ticket to the nightmare world. You are about to become an unfortunate survivor under the red moon."

"However, before officially qualifying as a resident of the nightmare world, a simple little game awaits you."

"The game is about to begin."

"Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven..."

No! This isn’t right! No matter how he thought about it, it couldn’t be!

The moment the familiar countdown echoed in his mind, Su Bai’s mind raced. According to the current timeline, he shouldn’t have received the nightmare world’s invitation until a year after his mother’s death! Even if the invitation had come early, why did this damned game have to appear at this exact moment?

He was so close to seeing her!

Su Bai quickly strode out of the elevator, watching the familiar yet unfamiliar hospital room draw nearer. He knew that just a few more steps... just a few more steps, and he would see his mother again. But the countdown in his ears was about to end. Having struggled in the nightmare world for ten years, Su Bai was all too familiar with such countdowns. No matter how "polite" or "friendly" the voice sounded, no one had ever been able to defy its commands.

"Zero."

Even though Su Bai was still moving forward, the corridor ahead seemed to stretch infinitely, making it impossible for him to advance even half a step. The bright hospital hallway was instantly swallowed by darkness, plunging Su Bai’s figure into an endless void.

"Game begins."

×××

"Lucky Human, dear temporary resident of the nightmare world, please enjoy the first game presented to you by the nightmare world—Route 444 Last Bus."

"This is a very ordinary bus, and like other ordinary buses, it will stop at various stations."

"This is a very ordinary last bus, and like other last buses, it carries all kinds of passengers. Some passengers, like you, are temporary residents here to enjoy the game. Others are special passengers arranged by the nightmare world for your... Hm? Well, there are also a few very simple rules here to help you better enjoy the game and survive to become an official resident of the nightmare world—

First, there is one and only one Route 444 Last Bus in this game. No other means of transportation will appear. If the number of passengers on the bus is less than 10, the interior of the Route 444 Last Bus is a relatively safe environment.

Second, when the number of passengers on the Route 444 Last Bus is greater than or equal to 10, this game will forcibly end. All passengers remaining on the bus will meet a bad ending and remain in the space of the Route 444 Last Bus forever as special passengers, unable to leave."

"Lucky Human, you only need to survive for 12 hours in this game to clear it and obtain the status of an official resident of the nightmare world, along with the reward of returning to the real world. As a privilege granted to temporary residents in this game, the official start will commence 20 minutes after you board the Route 444 Last Bus. Perhaps you can use these 20 minutes to find trustworthy companions."

"Special reminder: The White Side is currently at a disadvantage."

"Wishing you an enjoyable game."

Su Bai opened his eyes to find himself seated on a shaking, dilapidated bus. The metal interior was somewhat rusty, and next to the driver’s seat stood an equally rusty, worn-out coin box—it looked like a relic from the previous century.

At this point, what surprised Su Bai the most wasn’t entering the nightmare world a year early, but the fact that despite entering a year ahead of time, the first game he had to face was still the Route 444 Last Bus—a scenario that was near-insoluble for newcomers!

In Su Bai’s memory, he was the only newcomer player to have ever survived and escaped from the Route 444 Last Bus. No one before him had cleared it, and no one had managed to clear it after him either.

The supernatural beings of the nightmare world were far stronger and more terrifying than ordinary humans. Not to mention newcomers who had just entered the nightmare world, even Su Bai, who had struggled for ten years in that world, could only tread a path toward becoming less human to confront more powerful entities.

For instance, learning to harness the power of supernatural objects, or, before being killed by an extremely terrifying evil spirit and a betraying teammate, desperately pressing a bloodied thumbprint onto a supernatural wedding contract artifact without a second thought.

Su Bai glanced around, unable to help but ponder—

He hadn’t even met the other party to the wedding contract, didn’t know if they had eight arms or seven legs, and now he had inexplicably traveled back eleven years. Did this mean the wedding contract was void, or... was this an elopement?