Chapter 5: In Life and Death, We Are Bound

Chapter 5: Through Life and Death, We Pledged Our Vow

Route 444 Last Bus, currently carrying 9 passengers.

Su Bai sat in the front row, motionless. After all, the person now aboard Route 444 Last Bus was not the Su Bai from eleven years later. His body belonged to a high school student who hadn’t yet graduated—untested by the Nightmare World and still without the power that had once enabled him to survive it.

But… it wasn’t entirely gone.

For players “chosen” to survive the recurring nightmare games, possessing power was essential.

In the nightmare world, players could most easily acquire two types of power. The first was a “trait,” granted by a mysterious, eerie voice after surviving their initial game—one trait only, and just one.

Traits varied widely. It might be the ability to walk barefoot on stones with little pain, tan more easily under sunlight, master the multiplication table faster, or shell sunflower seeds quicker than others. At first glance, these abilities seemed utterly useless. Yet if nurtured and enhanced over time, they could become a player’s greatest asset in the nightmare world.

This held true for Su Bai as well.

The second type of power came from the red moon. Though its mechanics were unclear, the longer players survived beneath its glow, the more this power gradually accumulated within them. At first, it was like a drop of water—slowly growing, strengthening, and transforming into a warm current circulating through the body. Although this power from the nightmare world and the red moon wasn’t purely beneficial, players’ physical attributes improved as it developed. All they needed to do was remain in the nightmare world and absorb more moonlight.

Normally, after completing a game, players could choose to return to the real world and rest until the next cycle began. But some chose to stay—some hoping to grow stronger quickly, others, like Su Bai once had, because they had nothing left binding them to reality.

What Su Bai now sensed within himself was precisely this red moon power. Though faint—very faint—it was undeniably present.

While this power wasn’t strong enough for Su Bai to act recklessly on the bus, the Su Bai of now differed from when he first entered the nightmare world. Back then—or even in his past life upon entering—the world found him in a peculiar state: teetering between life and death, desperate to survive despite imminent peril. Because of that, he had acted cautiously, even gaining advantages beyond the average player.

Yet it was also due to that strange condition that Su Bai had seemed… less than human from the start.

Now, however, things were different. Unlike when he entered the nightmare world in his previous life, Su Bai now harbored a deep longing to return to the real world. He even wished to end this game swiftly, go back to the hospital, and see his mother—who was still alive!

"Come here… Your wishes can be fulfilled here…"

The moment this desire stirred in Su Bai’s heart, an unfamiliar voice whispered into his ear. It sounded like a child speaking beside him, yet the tone carried no childishness—only an eerie, seductive lure.

As if pulled by an unseen force, Su Bai turned toward the window.

Outside should have been nothing but fog—the mist beneath the red moon swallowing everything beyond the station’s dim streetlights. But this time, something impossible appeared: a shop that shouldn’t exist!

Though the surroundings were shrouded in haze, only that ordinary, slightly small storefront stood clearly in Su Bai’s vision. There was no signboard—just a glass display window and a somewhat worn wooden door, indistinguishable from any other abandoned shop along the street.

But…

"How is this possible?"

Su Bai clearly glimpsed a double-happiness character pasted on the glass display case emerging through the mist! Its edges were curled, the crimson ink faded—the very same "囍" symbol he'd seen on that uncanny shopfront before entering this nightmare realm!

A chill ran down his spine. He was certain—it was the very same shop he had encountered in both the real world and the nightmare world.

But why?

He had seen supernatural entities relentlessly hunt human players, and humans desperately chase after supernatural forces—but never had he seen a shop pursuing someone so persistently. And certainly not himself as the target.

The last bus on Route 444 continued its bumpy journey forward, and the peculiar shop soon faded into the mist. Yet before Su Bai could avert his gaze, another identical shop adorned with the "囍" character emerged ahead!

This time, the shop emitted a faint but distinct yellowish glow within the fog. A child-like figure suddenly appeared inside the glass display window.

Due to distance and mist, Su Bai couldn’t discern the child’s face or clothing—only that the figure stood there, slowly gesturing toward him.

"Come here."

It was that figure beckoning Su Bai inside!

Su Bai’s gaze fixated on the child’s hand, waving slowly at him… Perhaps he should get off at the next stop… and go to the shop…

"I thought I heard someone speaking just now," Wan Shasha’s voice broke through from inside the cabin.

Her voice was not loud, but it was enough to jolt Su Bai back to his senses. He quickly looked away, even closing his eyes for a moment to clear his mind. When he opened them again, the outside world had returned to normal—only mist lingered, with no sign of the shops adorned with the character "囍."

Only Su Bai knew deep down that the shop was no illusion.

"Did you guys hear someone speaking? I think I heard someone say, 'How is this possible?'" Wan Shasha asked. Her seat was closest to Su Bai, so she had caught his muttered words.

"It sounds like it came from the special passenger in the front row." Wan Shasha quickly identified him, since aside from her and Zhang Yibu, only the elderly woman with white hair and Su Bai occupied the front section.

"Special… special passengers can talk too?" Zhang Yibu’s voice trembled slightly, far more timid than Wan Shasha’s.

"Are you sure?" Qin Ge, seated further back, spoke with greater caution. "If we can find other passengers besides the driver who are able to communicate, maybe we can figure out how to beat the game faster."

Su Bai: "…"

"I… I think I recognize that school uniform," Zhang Yibu suddenly said. The boy in pajamas had stayed quiet until now. "It looks like… the uniform of Honghuai No. 1 Middle School."

"Honghuai No. 1 Middle School?" Qin Ge repeated from the back. "So that means, before appearing on Route 444 Last Bus, all of you were also in Honghuai City?"

Qin Ge emphasized the word "also."

"Yes," Wan Shasha nodded, then tapped the window and asked Zhang Yibu, "I remember Honghuai No. 1 is a top-tier school. Are you a student there?"

Zhang Yibu shook his head quickly. "I’m from No. 9 Middle School. If it were our uniform, I’d know right away. There aren’t any students from Honghuai No. 1 near my home, but my mom’s friend’s son goes there. She always compares me to him, and I’ve seen him a few times…"

His voice trailed off.

Su Bai naturally overheard the trio’s conversation behind him. Though they whispered, privacy was nonexistent in the cramped bus cabin.

Truthfully, Su Bai hadn’t taken his role as a “special passenger” seriously. What he had experienced was far more complex than what the other three newcomers were going through. Earlier, when he rushed through the rain to the hospital, his mind had been consumed solely by the desire to see his mother one last time. Now trapped on the bus, though equally eager to survive the game, he finally had moments to sort through the chaos in his thoughts.

He allowed himself a period of quiet reflection—calmly recalling details from his previous completion of Route 444 Last Bus, calmly remembering events before his rebirth—if it could even be called rebirth, calmly assessing the advantages he now held over ordinary newcomers, and calmly pondering why the smiling driver had stared at him so strangely earlier…

Unfortunately, despite having been quite renowned in the nightmare world before his rebirth—even earning nicknames he disliked but were widely known due to his strength—Su Bai’s memory was otherwise unremarkable. Details of his first encounter with Route 444 Last Bus eleven years ago had long blurred, and memories from before his rebirth were veiled in layers of fog, making even vague recollections impossible.

So rather than saying Su Bai was deliberately pretending to be a special passenger in the front row, it was more accurate to say he was lost in thought and simply hadn’t initiated contact.

Now, hearing the trio discuss how to approach him—the so-called “special passenger”—and extract information about this world, Su Bai considered that engaging with them might not be a bad idea. After all, telling the truth would be simpler than maintaining the pretense.

But just as Su Bai prepared to turn around and speak, another voice whispered in his ear—

"In life and death, we are bound together…"

Following the voice, Su Bai glanced out the window again. Indeed, the shop bearing the faded "Double Happiness" character still lingered in the mist. Though the bus continued moving steadily forward, each time Su Bai turned his head, that shop's silhouette reappeared beyond the glass.

The child-like figure still stood within the dimly lit display window, slowly gesturing toward him—as if urging him to leave Route 444 Last Bus and enter the shop.

Unlike before, the faded and curled "double happiness" character on the window transformed in an instant. Now it was neatly pressed against the glass, its hue a vivid, glaring crimson! This red was unnatural—by all reason, in the fog-laden night, even with indoor lighting, outsiders shouldn't have been able to discern the color so clearly. Yet Su Bai perceived that radiant "double happiness" with perfect clarity.

"With you, I make my vow."

If the voice had merely repeated its earlier call, perhaps Su Bai wouldn’t have been drawn again. But now, the whisper in his ear said—

"In life and death, we are bound together, with you, I make my vow…"

Wasn’t this the vow inscribed on that eerie marriage contract?

Setting aside the large, completely blurred memories from before his rebirth, Su Bai remembered experiencing a nightmarishly difficult game just before his memory became hazy. In that game, he was even on the brink of death. To escape a terrifying scenario, he ultimately used a mysterious item he never thought he'd use—a marriage contract from an eerie entity.

To survive, Su Bai signed his name on that marriage contract.

"In life or death, bound together, I make this vow to you." These were the blood-red vows engraved on that eerie marriage contract.

Pale-faced, Su Bai stared at the mysterious shop outside the window. This was a contract he had signed with his own hands, and now... they'd come to collect.

And he didn’t even know whether the horrifying supernatural entity he had signed the marriage contract with was male or female, or even humanoid.