Chapter 513 The Chaotic Book of Answers

Chapter 513: The Book of Answers Descends into Chaos

From the moment Su Bai stepped onto the bus, Feng Yan noticed this new passenger's vibe and behavior were totally different from the others. Despite the oppressive atmosphere still lingering in the vehicle, as if everyone was silently waiting for some unknown change, Su Bai maintained an unflappable calm, like nothing was wrong.

Some surrounding passengers, seeing only one person board and the bus still not full, lowered their heads again, sinking back into gloom. Though the passengers behind Feng Yan were puzzled by the new passenger's smile, their tone still betrayed their disappointment.

After all, only one person had boarded, leaving one empty seat. They still couldn't leave this damn bus.

But Feng Yan couldn't help wondering: why could the newly boarded passenger still wear such a smile after seeing this eerie carriage, the terrifying mummified driver, and the equally strange passengers? Was he really scared out of his wits, as Milly and the others suggested?

No, that wasn't it.

When Feng Yan saw the new passenger walk straight towards them, he threw out that initially reasonable guess.

Feng Yan's questioning and contemplation might also be why he landed this trainee position.

"Don't you think this bus is strange? Do you really think it can go to Wanliu Shopping Mall?" When Feng Yan saw Su Bai swap seats with an old passenger for no clear reason, his bewilderment hit a high point.

Even if influenced by the fog's pull, that effect should have worn off a lot after boarding the No. 666 bus.

Although Su Bai had suggested Feng Yan seek answers from the book, Feng Yan was certain he could only get information on Eerie Entities from it. How could he possibly learn the new passenger's identity from it?

"Strange," Su Bai gave a casual nod after taking his seat. "I originally just intended to go for a walk. I didn't expect the fog to suddenly roll in, nor for this dilapidated bus that looks like it should have been scrapped long ago to appear in the thick mist, with a skeleton whose driver's license has probably expired sitting in the driver's seat. It is indeed quite strange."

"You saw it?!" Feng Yan's face showed astonishment. Even he, a rookie member of the special operations team, couldn't see the driver's seat before boarding. "You saw it and still got on? Could it be that you're..."

Perhaps thinking of something, Feng Yan's eyes widened involuntarily.

"Are you a Special Ability User?!"

Su Bai had never intended to hide or pretend anything from the start. After all, the real world was an area not yet under the observation of those eyes; here, he could be less restrained.

Therefore, Feng Yan easily thought of those "Special Ability Users" they learned about in training—individuals of unknown origins possessing various powerful or even bizarre abilities.

Just as Su Bai was pondering how to respond, he noticed a look of pleasant surprise appear on the young man's face.

It was a look of delight, not astonishment, as if Su Bai's arrival excited him, yet it also seemed within his expectations.

"Do we know each other?" Su Bai asked curiously.

"Did the Special Ability User come here because they received my distress signal?" Feng Yan, who had been trying hard to stay calm and act unbothered before Su Bai's arrival, now wore a look of genuine relief.

"What exactly is going on? What distress signal?" the office worker sitting next to Su Bai cut in.

"After entering the fog, my phone lost all signal," Feng Yan took out the black phone that Zhen Youbing had mocked earlier. "This is a special phone given to us by the authorities. In theory, it should have full signal even in remote mountains. When this phone can't find a signal, it means the holder has entered an unexplainable, creepy environment in this world."

"As a precaution, when the phone signal weakens to a certain degree, our personal phones automatically send the nearest location and a distress signal to the authorities. This way, the Special Ability Users they can dispatch will find us as quickly as possible," Feng Yan explained, then added softly to himself, "A last resort, I guess."

"However, I remember that although Qingliu City has recruited some Special Ability Users, they are still in training," Feng Yan looked at Su Bai again. "You must be the special rescue team sent from Honghuai City, right? I'm a rookie member of Qingliu City's special operations team. Although we might not have met, our training was conducted by Captain Qin Ge from Honghuai City."

"I do know Qin Ge," Su Bai said truthfully. "But are you sure you don't want to check that book for an answer? Is the person who boarded necessarily the Special Ability User you mentioned? Could it be some other Eerie Entity?"

"We've seen plenty on Eerie Entities during training; we can tell the difference. Besides, how could an Eerie Entity know Captain Qin Ge?" Although Feng Yan said this, he instinctively glanced at the open book on his bag. "Huh?"

"What's wrong?"

Although the books in the Mist Shop have many different uses, they can roughly be categorized into several major types, with slightly different covers. So, when boarding earlier, Su Bai recognized that the book in Feng Yan's hands had a "question-and-answer" type ability. Since Feng Yan could use this book, he should be able to get some useful answers from it.

A flash of shock passed through Feng Yan's eyes as he looked at the page. He saw the originally somewhat orderly handwriting, which required deciphering, had instantly become chaotic and disorderly, as if torn apart by some invisible force. The words floated on the page, jumping and dancing erratically, as if gently nudged by countless unseen fingers, spreading across the paper without any pattern.

To the other passengers around, Feng Yan's page still appeared blank. However, Feng Yan could see the text begin to writhe more violently, like a chaotic swirl of paper scraps in the air, then become as erratic as leaves in a storm. Each line seemed filled with anxiety; Feng Yan could even sense the words themselves panicking. The characters twisted in the air, sometimes gathering into a blurry image, sometimes scattering into fragments, spinning and dancing as if struggling to escape.

Finally, amidst this chaos, Feng Yan unexpectedly saw a line of text. The characters initially formed disjointedly, quickly dispersed, merged again, and then scattered once more. The line read—

"One, five, nine, twelve, twenty-four, more... more... that one, dare not..."

Although it was text Feng Yan could clearly see, even after seeing it clearly, he found it hard to understand what it meant.

In Feng Yan's memory, this book only gave the number of surrounding Eerie Entities. But the number "twenty-four" couldn't be normal, could it? And what did "more" mean? Had it malfunctioned? Why did the unit suddenly change from "one" to terms for people?

The rookie member's mind grew increasingly confused.