45: Chapter 45 The Old Bus Terminal: Don't Get on the Wrong Bus

By the time the bus stopped, it was already fully bright outside.

The doors opened.

Outside was not an ordinary bus stop.

It was a semi-abandoned Old Bus Station.

The metal roof was covered in rust, the signpost was crooked, and rain from last night still pooled on the ground.

In the distance, several scrapped buses were parked in the shadows, their windows covered in dust, making it impossible to tell if anyone was inside.

Even though there were clearly no passengers on the platform, a broadcast could be heard.

[Next bus, heading to Jiangcheng Third People's Hospital.]

[Next bus, heading to Jiangcheng Funeral Home.]

[Next bus, heading to Jiangcheng First Combat Academy.]

The three station names played on a loop.

The tone was steady.

Yet it sent a chill down one's spine.

Chen Ye got off the bus with his shield on his back; the first thing he saw was a brand-new black school bus parked at the rightmost platform.

The emblem of Jiangcheng First Combat Academy was printed on the side of the bus.

The bus doors were open.

The interior was brightly lit.

The driver, wearing the academy uniform, was sitting quietly in the driver's seat.

"The academy school bus?"

Chen Ye was stunned for a moment.

"Isn't this the one here to pick us up?"

Lin Jin did not move.

Because the acceptance letter was burning hot inside his backpack.

A pale golden route extended from the bus doorway; it did not point toward the school bus, but instead cut through the center of the station, leading toward the old waiting hall on the other side.

[Official Route Stage 2: Walk through the Old Bus Station]

[Hint: Do not board vehicles not designated by the academy]

[Warning: Unauthorized pickup vehicle detected in the current area]

Lin Jin looked toward the black school bus.

He activated his Hand of Rules.

[Target: Academy School Bus]

[Status: Camouflage]

[Appearance Source: Jiangcheng First Combat Academy]

[True Route: Unknown]

[Danger Level: C]

"No."

Lin Jin said.

Chen Ye immediately stepped back half a pace.

"I knew it!"

"The more official it looks, the less reliable it is."

Shen Tingxue swept her gaze across the station.

"The route wants us to walk through."

"Then anything that actively comes to pick us up is a distraction."

No sooner had she finished speaking.

A gentle voice drifted from the doors of the black school bus.

"Student Lin Jin."

"Student Shen Tingxue."

"Student Chen Ye."

"Please get on the bus."

Chen Ye's face turned green.

"It even knows our names."

The driver inside the bus slowly turned his head.

It was the face of a very ordinary middle-aged man.

Yet his mouth did not move.

The voice continued to emanate from the bus's internal speakers.

"The rules of the Old Bus Station are chaotic."

"Walking through is dangerous."

"The academy has temporarily adjusted the pickup method."

"Please board the bus immediately."

Lin Jin looked down at his acceptance letter.

The text on it had not changed.

The official route still pointed toward the old waiting hall.

He immediately averted his gaze.

"Let's go."

The three of them bypassed the school bus and moved forward along the golden route.

Behind them, the broadcast from the black school bus suddenly turned cold.

[Failed to board as requested for pickup.]

[Freshman Lin Jin, recorded one instance of insubordination.]

Chen Ye flared up upon hearing this.

"Record my ass!"

Lin Jin raised his hand to stop him.

"Don't respond."

"It is trying to establish a management relationship right now."

Chen Ye immediately gritted his teeth.

Insubordination.

These words looked ordinary, but once you responded, it was equivalent to acknowledging that the other party had administrative authority.

The rules in the Old Bus Station were just as disgusting as those in the Abandoned Hospital.

It was just wearing the skin of the academy.

In the center of the station was a row of old ticket windows.

It was pitch black behind the windows.

But when the three approached, one of the windows suddenly lit up.

A ticket clerk was sitting inside.

She was wearing a blue uniform, a stiff smile plastered on her face.

"Where to?"

Just as Chen Ye was about to say "The academy," Lin Jin pressed down on his shoulder.

The ticket clerk's smile did not change.

"Where to?"

Shen Tingxue whispered:

"We can't answer."

Lin Jin nodded.

Because the Hand of Rules had already issued a warning.

[Destination inquiry detected]

[If answered, a ticket will be generated]

[Ticket route may override the official enrollment route]

The ticket clerk's smile began to deepen.

"Student, how can you hit the road without buying a ticket?"

Lin Jin took out his acceptance letter.

"We are not buying tickets."

"We are passing through according to the enrollment route."

The smile on the ticket clerk's face froze.

A layer of grayish-white mist appeared on the window glass.

"No ticket, no passing the station."

Lin Jin raised his wrench and tapped the old ticket validator next to the window.

[Target: Old Ticket Validator]

[Current Fault: Ticketing rules incorrectly overriding pedestrian passage]

[Repair Plan: Restore station passage determination]

[Success Rate: 84%]

"This is not for boarding a vehicle."

"It is for passing through."

Click.

The wrench fell.

The validator's screen changed from [Please purchase ticket] to [Please verify enrollment route].

He placed the acceptance letter against it.

Beep.

[Verification passed]

The ticket window lights clicked off.

The ticket clerk vanished.

Chen Ye let out a long sigh.

"I've realized something now."

"The scariest thing on the way to school isn't the monsters; it's the paperwork."

Lin Jin put away the acceptance letter.

"The paperwork is the monster."

The three continued walking toward the old waiting hall.

The light in the waiting hall was dim.

An electronic timetable hung on the wall.

The screen was flickering constantly.

[Jiangcheng First Combat Academy East Gate: 07:58 departure]

[Jiangcheng First Combat Hospital: 07:59 departure]

[Rule Maintenance Special Class: Cancelled]

When the last line of text lit up, Chen Ye's expression changed.

"Cancelled?"

Shen Tingxue's eyes grew slightly cold.

"It's fake."

Lin Jin looked at the screen.

A prompt from the Hand of Rules popped up immediately.

[Target: Waiting Hall Electronic Timetable]

[Current Status: Route pollution]

[Pollution Content: Cancelled pickup for the Special Class]

[Source: Unauthorized pickup agent]

Unauthorized pickup agent.

No need to guess.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou.

He was nearby.

As Lin Jin raised his wrench to make corrections, footsteps suddenly came from the end of the waiting hall.

A man wearing an academy long coat walked out of the shadows.

He was around thirty years old.

His temperament was gentle.

He wore silver-rimmed glasses.

He held an admissions handbook in his hand.

It was exactly the voice from outside the door last night.

"Student Lin Jin."

"We finally meet."

Chen Ye immediately raised his shield.

"Teacher Xu Wenzhou?"

The man smiled slightly.

"It is I."

Frost gathered at Shen Tingxue's fingertips.

"You shouldn't be appearing on the official route."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou looked at her.

"Student Shen Tingxue, you are sharper than the records suggest."

"However, I am not here to fight."

"I am here to give you a second choice."

Lin Jin said coldly:

"Couldn't trick us last night, so you're continuing today?"

Teacher Xu Wenzhou was not angry.

"You can understand it that way."

"Or you can understand it as me saving you."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed at the electronic timetable.

[Rule Maintenance Special Class: Cancelled]

That line of text was still flashing.

"I did not forge this."

"Twenty years ago, it was indeed cancelled."

"Qin Shanhe is forcing a restart now only because you brought out the Maintenance Department files from the Abandoned Hospital."

"He needs you."

"But needing you does not equate to protecting you."

Chen Ye sneered.

"And you will protect us?"

Teacher Xu Wenzhou glanced at him.

"At the very least, I won't let you enter the Forbidden Building."

Shen Tingxue said indifferently:

"Are you afraid of the Forbidden Building?"

The smile on Teacher Xu Wenzhou's face faded slightly.

"I am afraid of the things inside waking up."

The air grew slightly cold.

Lin Jin caught the keyword.

"What is inside?"

Teacher Xu Wenzhou was silent for a moment.

"The unfinished test left behind by the last Rule Maintenance Special Class."

"Lin Shoushan went in."

"Shen Qingshuang also went in."

Shen Tingxue's gaze suddenly sharpened.

Shen Qingshuang.

The S-rank Ice-type professional from last night's photo, suspected to be a branch member of the Shen family who went missing twenty years ago.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou looked at Shen Tingxue.

"You should have looked into her."

"The Shen family claimed externally that she died in a restricted area accident."

"But the place where she truly went missing was the Forbidden Building of Jiangcheng First Combat Academy."

Shen Tingxue's voice turned cold.

"Evidence."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou pulled a yellowed photograph from the admissions handbook.

The edges of the photo were scorched.

On it was a young woman standing in front of the Forbidden Building.

Her long hair was tied up, and she held an ice-blue spear in her hand.

On the back of the photo was a line of text:

[Shen Qingshuang, Guard Position of the Rule Maintenance Special Class, went missing during the Forbidden Building test.]

Shen Tingxue stared at the photo without reaching out to take it.

She was very calm.

The more it had to do with herself, the less she could afford to touch it recklessly.

Lin Jin didn't let her touch it either.

He scanned it with his Hand of Rules.

[Target: Old Photo]

[Content: Partially true]

[Attached: Contact inducement]

Contact inducement again.

Lin Jin said coldly:

"Take it back."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou smiled and put the photo back into the handbook.

"You are becoming more and more cautious."

Lin Jin walked to the electronic timetable.

"It's not caution."

"It's that your tactics are too old."

He raised his wrench and tapped the side of the screen.

[Repair Target: Electronic Timetable]

[Fault: Official route information tampered with]

[Repair Plan: Restore walking exit guide to the Academy East Gate]

Teacher Xu Wenzhou sighed.

"Are you really going to continue walking?"

"The Forbidden Building test kills people."

Lin Jin brought his wrench down.

"So does the Abandoned Hospital."

Click.

The screen flickered.

[Rule Maintenance Special Class: Cancelled]

That line of text began to distort.

Teacher Xu Wenzhou's voice grew deeper.

"Lin Jin, your father was not a hero."

"The last class was not killed by the dean either."

"They died from a faulty repair."

Lin Jin did not stop his actions.

"Then I should go see even more."

"To see what exactly they repaired incorrectly."

Bang!

The second hit.

The polluted text on the screen shattered.

[Official route restored]

[Please leave from the North Exit of the Old Waiting Hall]

Teacher Xu Wenzhou stood in the shadows, silently watching him.

"You are very similar to Lin Shoushan."

Lin Jin retracted his wrench.

"No need to flatter me."

"I know."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou shook his head.

"This is not flattery."

"This is danger."

After he finished speaking, his body began to slowly retreat, merging into the shadows of the waiting hall.

"We will meet again in the Forbidden Building."

"By then, you will know why Qin Shanhe dared not tell you the truth."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou vanished.

The waiting hall became quiet again.

Only one line of golden prompt remained on the electronic timetable:

[North Exit]

Chen Ye held it in for a long time before finally cursing:

"This guy is so annoying to talk to."

"Every sentence implies he knows something, but he never says it all."

Shen Tingxue looked toward the North Exit.

"He is slowing us down."

Lin Jin checked the time.

7:52.

There was still time before the 9:00 report time.

But every stage of the official route could have problems.

"Let's go."

The three passed through the North Exit.

The sunlight outside suddenly became bright.

A tall Academy East Gate finally appeared at the end of the street.

Above the black iron gate, a few large characters were carved:

[Jiangcheng First Combat Academy]

A row of freshmen stood in front of the gate.

There were also a few teachers checking acceptance letters.

Everything looked normal.

Chen Ye was just about to breathe a sigh of relief.

But Lin Jin stopped in his tracks.

Because his Hand of Rules popped up a new prompt.

[Official Route Stage 3 complete]

[About to enter the academy area]

[Warning: Identity screening exists at the East Gate checkpoint]

[Your profession rating may be re-evaluated]

The next second.

The detection crystal above the Academy East Gate lit up.

A voice rang out across the entrance.

[Freshman Lin Jin, please step forward for testing.]

[Test Item: Profession authenticity.]