2: Chapter 2 Baby-like Sleep

The fog outside the window grew increasingly thick.

A vast expanse of white, like heavy cotton wool, tightly enveloped the bus.

At the same time, it completely swallowed the mountain forests and the road.

Outside, only a hazy white vista remained, resembling a kind of desolation.

A ghastly white light filtered through the glass, reflecting onto a series of panicked and uneasy faces.

The teacher in charge's fingers trembled as he repeatedly dialed numbers.

"Old Zhang, why is the signal gone? I can't get through to the police..."

"How about we start driving first..."

The driver, Old Zhang, was sweating profusely from his forehead, repeatedly trying to ignite the engine.

"Teacher Huang, the bus seems to have broken down. It won't start now..."

The engine remained silent.

Teacher Huang, the leader, wiped the blood from his face; even his voice had lost its Aura.

"You're familiar with this area. If all else fails, should we head up the mountain on foot?"

"That might not be a good idea. If we get lost in such thick fog, it'll be trouble..."

Old Zhang, the driver, looked troubled.

Seeing he couldn't convince the other man, the teacher could only keep trying to call the police.

But the signal bars on the screen remained empty.

By then, the others had also discovered their phones had no signal.

Wang Yang glanced down at his device, and his face turned pale with fright.

"Brother Qing, mine has no signal either! It went from full bars to zero. This damn place isn't right!"

Ding Qing took out his phone and glanced at it.

Indeed, the signal icon in the top right corner of the phone had turned into an "x".

"Playing tricks... this must be a Jammer set up by the Production Crew..."

But before he could finish, he was interrupted by a chorus of suppressed exclamations.

"Zhou Yang! Your hand!"

"Ah! My hand... how did my hand become like this..."

Ding Qing only had time to look up.

In that brief instant, the student in that seat had already vanished, leaving behind only another student who was paralyzed with fear.

"Zhou Yang was eaten by a ghost!!!"

Several girls, along with the students in the adjacent seats, began to scream.

Eaten?!

Ding Qing suddenly looked at the camera on the bus ceiling.

It's not a prank?

"Bro... Brother Qing, we... we seem to have really run into something 'unclean'..."

Wang Yang stammered slightly.

Just then, a dark shadow pressed against the window next to Ding Qing without any warning.

The shadow's outline was blurred, yet it possessed a pair of indifferent, hollow eyes that stared straight through the thick fog into the bus.

Wang Yang was scared to the point of Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, and he suddenly jumped up from his seat.

"Brother Qing...!!!"

Before Wang Yang could finish his sentence.

Ding Qing's whole body tensed up in advance, goosebumps instantly covering his neck.

A jolt like electricity shot straight to his forehead, and his scalp felt a wave of numbness and tension.

Sensing danger is like fire catching onto the body!

This was the instinct formed from years of martial arts training warning him.

"Don't look out the window!"

Ding Qing shouted loudly and even kicked Wang Yang to the floor.

The shadow's gaze, with an extremely icy temperature, was slowly scanning the bus cabin.

Suddenly!

It stopped on Zhou Qinghai in the back row.

Zhou Qinghai had been trying to make a call, but at Wang Yang's shout, he instinctively looked out the window and met the shadow's gaze.

With just that one look, it was as if his soul had been pinned down; his eyes widened suddenly, and he stared blankly at the shadow.

His pupils dilated abruptly, the color drained from his face, and his body actually began to turn transparent.

First, his limbs turned into wisps of grayish-white mist, like smoke or silk, as if being inhaled and exhaled by the shadow outside, twisting as they drifted toward the window.

And this scene finally allowed everyone in the bus to see clearly how the others who had disappeared before had vanished without a sound.

"Hiss!"

This sight and its sheer eeriness caused everyone in the bus to gasp in cold air.

"Quick, save him!"

The teacher in charge rushed over, trying to grab Zhou Qinghai.

But he instead dispersed the body; the lower half turned into a cloud of smoke.

"Save me!!!"

Zhou Qinghai seemed to break free for a moment, his eyes filled with immense terror.

Before his scream could fade, the shadow's mouth opened, and the mist was pulled as if by an invisible force, whooshing out through the closed glass.

Everyone watched helplessly as Zhou Qinghai's outline dissipated outside the window, leaving only an empty seat. The bus immediately erupted in chaos.

He was eaten!

Everyone, including Ding Qing, felt their scalps tingle with numbness.

If before it was fear, now it was a direct plunge into the abyss.

A living classmate they had known for over two years was eaten just like that!

"It's eating people! A ghost is eating people!"

"I want to go back! The school just tricked us into coming here to feed it!"

"Quiet!!!"

"Everyone move away from the windows! Do not look outside!!!"

Exclamations and cries blended together. Teacher Huang roared as he gave directions, but he couldn't mask the hair-raising chill.

"Drive! Hurry up and drive!"

Someone shouted, and Old Zhang frantically tried to start the vehicle.

But it just wouldn't ignite.

Not even the sound of the engine turning over could be heard; there was only dead silence outside the bus.

Outside the window, the fog was pervasive, as if the bus had been dropped into some kind of white ocean.

A silent, deathly white ocean!

What exactly was that dark shadow?

Ding Qing's gaze was sharp as he silently counted the people remaining on the bus.

Ten people, eleven including himself.

This time, he even included the driver and the teacher in charge.

In just this short while, six more people had actually vanished right under his nose.

The most terrifying thing was that among these six, he had only seen the process of Zhou Qinghai's disappearance; he hadn't noticed the others at all.

Beneath the seat, Wang Yang's body trembled as he reached for Ding Qing's ankle.

His face was deathly pale from fear, and his lips had turned an unnatural shade of blue.

Startled by the sudden grab, Ding Qing's whole body jolted, and several blue-black veins instantly bulged on his cheeks.

"Bro... Brother Qing, based on what happens in books, I'm afraid we're going to die..."

Wang Yang's voice rang out.

"You!"

Ding Qing's expression turned cold.

"I told you to read fewer novels..."

At that moment, the sound of an argument came from the front of the bus.

"Zhang Han, what are you doing?!"

He irritably kicked away Wang Yang's hand and looked toward the front.

"Open the door! I'm getting off today. Whoever stops me, I'll take them down!"

"Zhang Han, calm down. It's too dangerous to get off now..."

"Dangerous my ass! If we don't get off, are we supposed to wait here to be eaten one by one?"

Zhang Han's face was flushed red, and he was holding the hand of a long-haired girl.

It seemed there was a disagreement.

Zhang Han himself was the ace of the Basketball Club, and his build was only slightly smaller than Ding Qing's.

Now that he was enraged, he looked like his hair was standing on end with fury.

The driver Old Zhang and Teacher Huang, the leader, blocked the door; in terms of Aura, the two of them were actually being slightly overwhelmed.

"Don't be impulsive. There's danger outside. Getting off now is too dangerous."

"Teacher Huang, move aside. If anything happens to me here today, you all will be held responsible. Move, and I promise not to hold it against you."

Zhang Han's tone was blunt, showing no respect for the teacher in charge.

This scene set a bad precedent.

After several incidents, the number of people on the bus had dwindled to eleven.

Everyone was already on edge, and with Zhang Han making such a scene, no one could remain still.

"That's right, Teacher. If we stay on the bus and that shadow comes again, won't we all die here?"

"Getting off is dangerous, but is it any safer inside the bus?"

Teacher Huang, the leader, sighed helplessly; he figured he was truly finished this time.

"Everyone, please listen to me. Although the bus might not be safe, getting off is definitely unsafe..."

Ding Qing pushed through the crowd and came up to Zhang Han.

"What are you doing...?"

Zhang Han was a bit dazed.

Ding Qing directly sank his waist and opened his hips, delivering a powerful slap across his face.

Thud!

The 185cm, 180-jin Zhang Han fell over and went straight to sleep.

Ding Qing turned around with a cold face, his gaze sweeping over the silent crowd.

"Is everyone so impatient to die that you're rushing to get off and get yourselves killed?!"