23: Chapter 23 Late Night Bus Route 444? Beautiful Anchor: Taoist Priest, Save Me!

The next day, early morning.

Inside the presidential suite of the Marriott Hotel, sunlight filtered through the curtains and spilled onto the messy bed.

Su Yang sat cross-legged in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, slowly exhaling a breath of turbid Qi.

"Hoo—"

This breath condensed in the air without dispersing, faintly carrying a trace of golden luster. Finally, it turned into an arrow of Qi, shooting onto a vase a few meters away and emitting a crisp ding sound.

"Foundation Establishment Perfection!"

Su Yang opened his eyes, a sharp gleam flashing within them, but then he shook his head with some regret.

"It is a pity, I am still one step away from the Golden Core Stage."

Last night's deep interaction with Ye Yuqing, coupled with the assistance of the yellow immortal's inner core from before, had improved his cultivation significantly. However, wanting to achieve a Breakthrough from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core was a leap in the level of life; relying solely on the accumulation of quantity was not enough. He still needed a bit of Opportunity.

Or rather... he needed more massive points to redeem the [Breakthrough Pill] from the System.

He looked back at the large bed.

Ye Yuqing was curled up in the blanket like a kitten, sleeping soundly.

Having consumed the [Beauty-Fixing Pearl], her skin was as fair and tender as a peeled egg; even in her sleep, a satisfied smile hung on the corners of her mouth.

"What a vixen."

A doting smile appeared on the corners of Su Yang's mouth. He tucked the corner of the blanket for her, then picked up his phone and walked to the living room.

"I need to find some work to do, otherwise, when will I be able to achieve a Breakthrough to the Golden Core Stage?"

He skillfully opened the app forum named "Paranormal Detective Agency."

As soon as he refreshed it, an urgent red-labeled post popped up, directly occupying the top of the trending list.

[Emergency Help! Paranormal incident on the last bus of Route 444 in Jiangzhou City! Three people have already gone missing! Bounty amount: 5 million!]

"Bus 444?"

Su Yang raised an eyebrow and clicked on the post.

The poster seemed to be an insider, describing it vividly:

"For the past week, every midnight at twelve, the bus of Route 444, which had already ceased operations, would inexplicably appear on the old road in the western suburbs."

"Some people saw the bus full of passengers, but those passengers were all pale and had no sign of life."

"What is even more terrifying is that anyone who accidentally boarded this bus would vanish into thin air the next day; no one saw them alive, and no corpse was found!"

"The police have already intervened to investigate, but there are still no clues. Now, people in the western suburbs are in a panic, and no one dares to go out at night."

After reading the post, Su Yang narrowed his eyes slightly.

"A ghost bus? This is a classic trope in horror movies."

"And a five-million bounty... It seems there are quite a few passengers on this bus; they are all walking point bags!"

"Ding! System task triggered!"

Just then, the long-lost System notification sound rang in his mind.

"Task Name: Midnight Racing!"

"Task Description: Board the ghost bus of Route 444 and successfully arrive at the terminal station (Yin and Yang Road Crematorium)."

"Task Reward: One [Golden Core Breakthrough Pill]!"

"Holy crap? Ask and you shall receive?"

Su Yang's eyes lit up instantly.

"Golden Core Breakthrough Pill... With this thing, I can achieve Core Formation tonight and become a terrestrial immortal!"

Su Yang did not hesitate any longer. He quickly put on his clothes, left a note for Ye Yuqing, and hurriedly left the hotel.

...

Night fell, and the city lights began to shine.

In the western suburbs of Jiangzhou City, this was the old urban area; the streetlights were dim, and many places were being demolished, appearing exceptionally desolate.

At this moment, at the legendary haunted bus stop of Route 444.

A young girl wearing a JK uniform and pigtails was holding a selfie stick, shivering in front of her phone camera.

Her name was Zhou Mingyue, and she was an outdoor paranormal streamer on a certain fish live streaming platform.

She was sweet and cute, and her figure possessed a voluptuousness that did not match her baby face. To attract attention and earn traffic, she often went to haunted houses or haunted places to stream.

Tonight, her target was this legendary ghost bus of Route 444.

"F-family, it is now 11:50 at night..."

Zhou Mingyue's voice carried a trace of trembling, her big eyes vigilantly scanning the pitch-black streets around her.

"According to the rumors, that ghost bus will pass by here in ten minutes... To be honest, I am a bit panicked right now..."

The bullet comments instantly flooded the screen:

[Mingyue wifey, don't be afraid! We will protect you!]

[Is this a script? Where are there ghosts in this world?]

[Don't talk nonsense upstairs, this Route 444 is really evil! My great-uncle's neighbor went missing last week!]

[Wifey, run! It's not worth losing your life for that bit of donation!]

Looking at the heated discussion in the bullet comments, Zhou Mingyue felt even more uneasy.

She was originally a materialist, but tonight the atmosphere was truly too eerie.

It was clearly midsummer, but the area around the bus stop was as cold as an ice cellar. Chilling winds kept drilling into her neck, and the scraps of paper on the ground danced in swirls, as if invisible people were kicking them around for fun.

"Da, da, da."

Just then, a clear sound of footsteps suddenly came from the darkness.

"Who?!"

Zhou Mingyue screamed in fright, almost throwing her phone away.

By the dim streetlight, she saw a young man in casual clothes with his hands in his pockets walking slowly out of the darkness.

The man was handsome, with a lazy smile hanging on the corners of his mouth. He did not look like someone who came to explore at all, but rather like... someone who was out for a stroll?

The person who arrived was Su Yang.

"Yo, quite lively here."

Su Yang glanced at Zhou Mingyue, who was holding her phone, his gaze lingering for two seconds on her fair, tender thighs wrapped in a JK skirt, and then he whistled.

"Beauty, not going home to sleep in the middle of the night, but here live streaming to feed mosquitoes?"

"You... are you human or a ghost?!"

Zhou Mingyue retreated two steps vigilantly, holding up her phone as a shield.

"Nonsense, is there a ghost as handsome as me?"

Su Yang rolled his eyes, walked over to the bench at the bus stop, and sat down, casually taking out a cigarette and lighting it.

"I am also here to wait for the bus, Route 444, want to carpool?"

"You... are you also here to explore the paranormal?"

Zhou Mingyue breathed a sigh of relief; as long as he was human, it was fine.

She leaned in to look at Su Yang and found that this young man was indeed quite handsome, and there was an indescribable Aura about him that made people feel very safe.

"Explore the paranormal? I suppose so."

Su Yang puffed out a smoke ring. "However, my main purpose is to go to the terminal station to handle some business."

"Handle business? Go to the crematorium to handle business?"

Zhou Mingyue's eyes widened. Was this guy sick in the head?

What kind of business could one handle at a crematorium in the middle of the night? A barbecue?

Just as the two were talking.

Whoosh—!

A bone-chilling gust of cold wind blew up, stirring up dust in the sky.

At the end of the originally silent street, two pale green headlights suddenly lit up, like two giant ghost eyes, staring fixedly at this side from the darkness.

Rumble—

A dilapidated old-fashioned bus, with a dull roaring sound, slowly drove over.

The body was mottled and full of rust, and there seemed to be dried blood stains on the window glass.

The most eerie thing was that the electronic display screen on the roof of the bus did not show red characters, but white ones—[Route 444: Bound for Hell].

"I-it's here!"

Zhou Mingyue was stiff with fright, her teeth chattering, and the phone camera was shaking violently.

The bullet comments instantly exploded:

[Holy crap! There really is a bus!]

[Why are these headlights green?!]

[Streamer, run! This bus is not right!]

"Screech—"

Accompanied by a hair-raising sound of braking, the bus stopped steadily in front of the bus stop.

"Clang!"

The front door opened.

A thick smell of rotting corpses mixed with the smell of gasoline rushed towards them.

The interior of the bus was pitch black, with only a dim little light lit above the driver's seat.

The driver was wearing a dark blue uniform and a wide-brimmed hat, the brim pressed very low, making it impossible to see his face; one could only see a chin as pale as paper and a pair of hands covered in corpse spots resting on the steering wheel.

"Board... the bus..."

A hoarse voice, as if the vocal cords had been rubbed by sandpaper, came from the driver's mouth.

"I am not boarding! I am not boarding!"

Zhou Mingyue broke down and turned to run.

This was absolutely not some paranormal exploration stream; this was throwing her life away!

However.

Before she could take a step, she found that she could not move.

An invisible force bound her feet, as if two cold hands had grabbed her ankles.

"S-since you are here... c-come up and sit for a while..."

Inside the bus, countless pale eyes suddenly lit up, all looking at Zhou Mingyue outside the bus in unison.

Those "passengers" were all expressionless; some were missing half their heads, some had tongues sticking out very long, and some were stuffing their own intestines back in...

"Ah!!! Help!!!"

Zhou Mingyue screamed with her eyes closed in terror, tears streaming down her face.

Just when she thought she was a goner.

A warm, large hand suddenly rested on her shoulder.

"Stop howling, it is annoying."

Su Yang's lazy voice rang in her ear.

"It is just taking a bus, what is there to be afraid of?"

Su Yang extinguished his cigarette butt, grabbed Zhou Mingyue's wrist, and walked towards the bus door with long strides, as if dragging a frightened little chick.

"Let's go, big brother will take you to experience what is called... an express train to the Underworld!"

"No! I won't go! You will get me killed!" Zhou Mingyue struggled desperately.

"Don't worry, with big brother here, even the King of Hell would not dare to claim you."

Su Yang did not give her a choice and dragged her onto the bus directly.

As soon as they boarded.

Whoosh—!

The bus door closed instantly.

The temperature inside the entire bus plummeted.

All the ghost passengers turned their heads, staring fixedly at these two reckless living people, their eyes flashing with greedy and bloodthirsty light.

Especially that driver.

He slowly turned his head, revealing a face without features, only a mouth!

"Insert coin... two yuan..."

"Or... leave... your life..."

"Insert coin?"

Su Yang stood in front of the coin box, looking at the faceless driver, a cold sneer curling at the corners of his mouth.

"Do you accept Hell money?"

"We accept..."

"That makes it easy."

Su Yang waved his hand.

Clatter!

Yellow paper money filled the entire bus carriage like snowflakes.

"Is this money enough to buy this bus?"

Su Yang stepped on the coin box, a golden light faintly appearing on his body, and an overbearing Aura instantly swept through the entire bus.

"From now on, this bus is requisitioned by me."

"Driver, drive! If you dare to wobble even once, I will twist your head off and kick it like a ball!"