6: Chapter 6 The Last Seven

From the hole in the bus door, a final figure scrambled out, rolling and crawling before collapsing onto the damp, cold muddy ground.

It was Teacher Huang!

Immediately after, the bus shuddered violently.

The entire frame shook intensely, as if it had been struck hard by something.

The three who had already escaped—two men and one woman—were frightened pale, shaking like leaves.

Hearing the commotion behind him, Huang Guohua tried to get up and flee, but he felt lightheaded and his muscles were twitching all over.

Am I going to die...?

The regret in the depths of his heart almost consumed him.

Why did I agree to this arrangement!

If not for that bit of salary, so many people wouldn't have died if I hadn't come.

I really deserve to die!

Perhaps... dying here like this could be considered a form of release...

Huang Guohua struggled to roll over, but then he heard a set of footsteps stop right in front of him.

"Teacher Huang, hang in there! You're safe now!"

This voice!

It was like a shot of adrenaline to Huang Guohua's heart.

He was all too familiar with this voice.

It was Ding Qing!

It was the student who usually gave him the biggest headaches.

The next moment, Huang Guohua felt himself being lifted, and other voices rang out.

"Brother Qing, let me take care of him!"

Wang Yang ran over.

Ding Qing set the man down, his gaze sweeping across the empty bus.

Inside the vehicle, white mist surged silently near the broken door like an enraged tide, yet strangely, nothing followed.

That ghostly thing seemed truly bound within the bus by some invisible boundary, only able to writhe and linger at the breach.

An indifferent gaze pierced through the thick fog, falling upon the survivors outside.

It can't escape?

This bus seemed to have become a temporary container.

But it probably wouldn't last long.

Ding Qing noticed that as the commotion caused by that ghostly thing grew louder, the bus was being slowly corroded by some kind of power.

"There isn't much time left for everyone..."

Ding Qing clapped his hands, his gaze sweeping over the few survivors.

Old Zhang, the driver, looked dazed, still muttering about who was missing.

Teacher Huang clutched his bleeding forehead, his eyes filled with pain, yet also the relief of having survived a disaster.

The other three students—two boys and a girl—huddled together; the girl, Zhao Xiaoya, was dry-heaving incessantly.

Including himself and Wang Yang, there were seven people in total.

The original group of over twenty was now reduced to this handful of survivors.

"Student... Student Ding Qing..."

Teacher Huang's voice was hoarse and broken.

The look he gave Ding Qing was incredibly complex, filled with the relief of survival, but even more so with unspeakable fear and guilt.

"Th... Thank you... You saved everyone this time..."

"Save your strength."

Ding Qing interrupted him, his voice cold and hard, his gaze as sharp as a knife.

"Before thanking me, you'd better think about why exactly we were invited here!"

His words were like a bucket of ice water poured over everyone's hearts.

Wang Yang jolted: "Brother Qing... you mean?!"

"Paying to invite us, making up the numbers, calling it a Prank Reality Show—I don't think so!"

Ding Qing sneered, the muscles on his bronze face tense, veins still bulging.

"I think the real purpose was to pay for a busload of people to be sent to this godforsaken place to feed that unknown ghostly thing."

"Heh, the Production Team's script is certainly ruthless enough!"

He pointed at the dark shadow trapped inside the bus, which still radiated a lethal threat:

"This thing has probably been on the bus for a long time. It might have been there since we set off."

"Normal people encountering this would definitely stay on the bus and let that ghostly thing... eat everyone bit by bit!"

"And that camera has been running the whole time. What do you think it's filming?"

"Is it filming how we're eaten one by one? Or is it being filmed for others to watch?"

Every word cut to the quick.

Teacher Huang's face instantly turned as pale as paper, his lips trembling.

He seemed to want to argue, but he couldn't find any ground to stand on.

The strangeness along the way, students disappearing one after another in plain sight, being devoured, being forgotten...

And these carefully chosen desolate mountains, the sudden thick fog, and the signal jamming...

Everything pointed toward a hair-raising conspiracy.

"I... I didn't know..."

Teacher Huang's voice grew quiet, filled with a sense of helplessness and lingering fear.

"The school only said the partner was very powerful and that it was a rare practical opportunity..."

He might be innocent, but his excuse at this moment was laughably weak.

"Fuck! They're using us as sacrifices?!" a surviving boy shouted angrily.

"Then... what do we do now?"

Zhao Xiaoya's voice trembled.

Her delicate face had long since lost its previous refinement and beauty.

She gripped the arm of the boy next to her tightly, as if he were her only lifeline.

A moment of clarity flashed in Old Zhang's cloudy eyes, only to be immediately overwhelmed by even greater terror:

"Go... Go down the mountain! We must go down! Staying here is just waiting to die! Let's go down quickly..."

He screamed and shouted like a madman.

"Slap!"

But he quickly quieted down following the sound of the slap.

Even his previous confusion vanished completely.

"If you keep screaming, it won't just be a slap next time. Think carefully!"

Ding Qing tossed out the remark and looked at everyone.

The silent pressure of the shadow inside the bus and the all-consuming fog and whispers outside hung over their heads like two cold guillotines.

Stay and wait for rescue?

Setting aside whether rescue would even come, the mere presence of that thing in the bus was enough to drive one insane.

Ding Qing took a deep breath of the cold, decaying air, suppressing his churning blood and the numbness in his arms.

Even the power of the sixth level of the Iron Cloth Shirt couldn't budge that thing in the slightest; fighting it head-on was a dead end.

The only chance of survival seemed to be...

"Down the mountain."

Ding Qing spoke decisively. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an unquestionable power that instantly drowned out the panicked whispers.

He didn't believe the authorities hadn't noticed the problem here.

Such a large, thick fog couldn't possibly go unnoticed.

Then go down the mountain!

"Staying here means death. No matter how thick the fog or how difficult the path, we have to go."

He looked around at everyone, his gaze lingering on each face for a moment with scrutiny and warning:

"If you want to live, listen to me!"

"Everyone, stay close to me. Keep your heads down and watch the path; do not look into the fog. If anyone holds us back, don't blame me!"

"Also, watch your mouths. Don't go screaming and attracting other things. Understood?!"

His fierce gaze and the silent threat of the shadow in the bus formed a double deterrent.

No one dared to object. Even sobs were forced back, leaving only heavy breathing and racing heartbeats.

"Old Zhang,"

Ding Qing looked at the still half-dazed driver.

"You're familiar with this place. You know the general direction, right? How do we get down the mountain?"

Old Zhang jolted, trying hard to remember. His trembling finger pointed toward a direction in the thick fog:

"It... It should be that way... There's a small path that leads to the highway at the foot of the mountain, but... but this fog... this path..."

"Knowing the direction is enough. You lead the way."

Ding Qing ordered without brook of argument.

At the same time, he yanked Wang Yang to his side.

"Teacher Huang, you bring up the rear. Keep an eye on them. If anyone looks around or screams, slap them across the face!"

"Let's go!"