Chapter 8: CH 8

It was obvious that the bus ride was bumpy, but Su Qingxing seemed to have fallen into the world of a dream.

All around him were cold, dark stone walls, with heavy stone locks clasping his feet and hands, from which he might never be able to escape in his lifetime.

Through the only stone window, all he could see was the gloomy sky and nothing else.

“Ah!” A small figure approached. The ragged, grey-haired boy stumbled carelessly and nearly dropped the food he was carrying to the floor.

“Are you all right?” He tried to reach out his hand, but the heavy stone locks made him drop it helplessly, his long silver hair trailing to the ground intertwined with the rough, unsightly stone shackles.

“It’s all right, Master Qingxing!” The boy’s beautiful eyes had been burned into his mind.

“Master Qingxing, I’ve been working here as a helper since I was a child and I’ve never been anywhere.” The boy sat in front of him and asked with a curious look on his face, “Are there any pretty and beautiful places in the Underworld?”

“It’s the same in every part of the underworld.”

“And is there any place in particular that Master Qingxing would like to visit?”

“Me?” He froze a little, “If it were me, I would want to return to the entrance to the Underworld and be an ordinary guide like my forefathers, that might be a happy thing too.”

“Then after that, I will accompany master Qingxing to the entrance of the Underworld!” The boy’s eyes burned brighter, more beautiful than before, as if they had suddenly found some hope and a purpose.

“Don’t be silly.” The stone shackles dragged across the cold ground as he reached out to stroke the boy’s grimy cheek, “One of us is sealed here like a rare animal, and the other is just a little guy who can’t even walk steadily……”

“I will! I definitely will!” The boy’s eyes just looked at him, “I’ll definitely take Master Qingxing out of this place!”

He stared blankly into those obsidian eyes.

Dark as they were, and yet they still shone with a light he had never seen before.

“Good.” Eventually, he smiled and nodded gently.

After that, Su Qingxing never saw the boy with the beautiful eyes again……

Never again.

Never……. again……

“Mute! Mute! Wake up!”

Liu Hai’s harsh voice jolted Su Qingxing out of his rare dream and back to the “reality” at hand.

In front of him was the seemingly peaceful bus carriage. The lights were on, there was nothing unusual except for the bumps that came again and again.

The bus was still moving.

Before the bus arrived at the station for the fifth time, as long as Liu Hai and the others did not leave the last four rows of the bus compartment, they would be safe.

Perhaps because he knew this, Liu Hai was now in the mood to sit there and talk eloquently.

But ……

It was strange, why would he suddenly dream about something that had happened such a long time ago?

Su Qingxing was still sitting in the last row, and beside him sat elder Chen, everything was as if he had just entered this world.

Except that now Su Qingxing had a little white dog, Si Si, curled up in his embrace with his eyes closed, and the people sitting in front of him had become Liu Hai and Xu Yun, while Chen Fangfang was sitting alone in the third row from the bottom, far, far away from them.

“Mute, if you sleep now, you’ll miss the best part of the story.” Liu Hai looked at Su Qingxing with a smug smile before he turned back his head towards Xu Yun and said, “Yunyun, do you want to hear my previous experiences? It’s about those two horror worlds that I once experienced.”

Liu Hai had purposely woken up Su Qingxing just to make sure that all the people became his audience.

Doing so was not just to kill time.

In fact, it was also to muster up some courage.

“I started out as an ordinary company employee. I was over thirty but I had accomplished nothing, and I didn’t even have a girlfriend.” Liu Hai smiled self-deprecatingly, “But one second I was in the company’s printing room, and the next I had crossed over to an ancient town that was haunted by zombies ……”

“A group of seniors taught us many ways to survive in the horror world, and even took us to the legendary Zombie Daoist1 master and let him teach us how not to be afraid of ghosts and zombies and how to find life in desperate times.”

“Later on, together with the Zombie Daoist, we collected all the zombies in the town, and the whole thing was so easy that it felt like a playground theme activity, and we learned a lot of interesting things.” Liu Hai said, adding regretfully, “It’s just a pity that the Zombie Daoist said I didn’t have the talent, so I didn’t get to learn those cool charms and spells.”

“Ah ……” After listening to what Liu Hai said, Su Qingxing suddenly wanted to ask something, but stopped talking because of his current status as a mute.

“So has anyone learned it yet?” Chen Xiongbing, who was sitting beside Su Qingxing, suddenly asked.

And this was also what Su Qingxing wanted to ask.

“Yes.” Liu Hai glanced at Mr. Chen, and then nodded affirmatively, “It’s a pity that his study time was too short, and he died in the second world before he could achieve anything.

“What did you encounter in the second world?” Old Mr. Chen asked curiously, as if he was enjoying a storytelling session in a leisurely teahouse2.

“The end of the world, Resident Evil style.” Liu Hai didn’t seem to want to talk much about the second world, “Chen Fangfang and I survived by relying on the methods taught by the senior ones, while they all died in that world.”

“Isn’t it good now?” Liu Hai naturally wrapped his arms around Xu Yun, “No one would believe that the once groveling little clerk could now sit next to the innocent little diva and wrap his arms around her waist, hahahahahaha!”

“Liu, Liu Hai!” Xu Yun, however, still seemed unaccustomed to being approached by the people around her and couldn’t help but move a little to the side, changing the subject in the process by saying, “The bus has been running for a long time, should we get off at the next stop?”

“Let me think about it ……”

“I’m afraid there’s not much time to think about it.” Chen Xiongbing’s dragon head cane tapped on the floor of the carriage, then pointed towards the window in a certain direction.

A short distance ahead of the bus car, a street light, a station, had appeared for everybody to see.

“Aowu.” Si Si woke up leisurely in Su Qingxing’s arms and poked his head out with Su Qingxing to look at the station outside the window.

The station seemed a little different compared to earlier, the street lights that had given them a sense of security kept flickering on and off, even the vending machine under the street lights kept turning on and off, as if it was malfunctioning.

And on one of the benches at the station sat a young boy in a beige tracksuit.

As the lights flickered on and off, one could see that the little boy…… didn’t have a head.

His broken neck was still bleeding, while the ghastly white head was held in the little boy’s arms, who was combing the hair on the head one by one as if he were petting a small animal.

As the bus lights illuminated the entire station, the headless boy rose from the bench and stood just beyond the bus arriving at the station. The ghastly white head suddenly started grinning, the corners of his mouth splitting all the way to his ears, as if it was waiting for a new friend to get off.

“squeak～～～”

The familiar sound of brakes was heard, followed by the squeaking of the bus door.

The bus had arrived.

Someone had to get off.

But looking at the ghost outside the bus, who was holding his head with an ominous smile, everyone, including Su Qingxing, did not move.

“Get off.”

That androgenous voice once again echoed from the front of the bus.

“The vehicle is at a stop and a passenger must get off!”

“Bah, we’re not getting off! You find yourself a ghost to get off!” Liu Hai spoke challengingly3 towards the direction where the voice came from, “Could it be that you can still force the passengers to get off?!”

“Boom!”

As soon as Liu Hai’s words fell, a muffled thunder suddenly sounded outside the bus, and all the lights inside the carriage instantly went out!

By the flickering light of the street lamp outside the car, Su Qingxing and the others witnessed the paper-dolls stand up from their seats, flipping and folding their bodies, and stare at everyone in the back row with their strangely made up faces.

“Hee hee hee hee hee ……”

“Don’t worry, as long as we sit in the last four rows, we’ll remain safe and sound!” Liu Hai immediately got up from his seat and shouted loudly in an attempt to calm down everybody.

“Ahhhhh!” Chen Fangfang, who was sitting in the third row from the bottom, screamed suddenly.

Right in the fourth-to-the-last row, in the originally empty seats, sat four new paper-dolls that had appeared out of nowhere. The newly arrived paper-dolls were also flipping and folding their bodies along with the other paper-dolls, emitting a horrible laughing sound.

“It looks like the fourth-to-the-last row is no longer safe.” Chen Lao took a deep breath, “If this continues, the third-to-the-last row will also ……”

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“Ahhh-” Chen Fangfang ran back to Liu Hai’s side in panic, too terrified to continue sitting down in the third-to-the-last row.

“Someone has to go down.” Liu Hai turned to look at Su Qingxing and Chen Lao who were sitting in the last row, “You’ve all been tagging along like a burden for so long, it’s time for you to show your usefulness!”

Liu Hai’s gaze went back and forth between Su Qingxing and Chen Xiongbing a few times before finally landing on Chen Xiongbing.

“You ……”

Liu Hai extended his finger to Old Mr. Chen, but before he could finish his sentence, Su Qingxing had already stood up from his seat.

“Ah!” Su Qingxing pointed at himself, even though he didn’t say anything, his meaning was already clear.

“Child ……” Old Mr. Chen subconsciously grabbed Su Qingxing’s arm.

However, Su Qingxing just smiled and shook his head at Old Mr. Chen, and proceeded to withdraw his arm and make his way along the walkway of the carriage.

“You volunteered for this. Even if you die and go to hell, don’t say that I, Liu Hai, turned my back on you.” Seeing Su Qingxing step forward, Liu Hai seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and fell straight back into his seat.

“Hey, it’s good for my old bones to go down as well.” After pondering for a moment, Old Mr. Chen also got up on his crutches and prepared to leave together with Su Qingxing.

“You can’t.” Liu Hai, however, stretched out his hand to stop Old Mr. Chen, “Get off one at a time so that we have more time to think about the way out, it will be your turn when the bus stops next time, there is no need to rush.”

After Su Qingxing got down, Liu Hai kept an eye on him as well as all the paper-dolls at the front of the carriage.

As Su Qingxing was moving forward, all the paper-dolls were like sunflowers facing the sun, constantly folding their bodies and staring intently at Su Qingxing’s position.

Some of them even leaned over the back of their seats and poked their heads out to look at Su Qingxing.

Just behind Su Qingxing, the expression on Liu Hai’s face suddenly changed, as if he had thought of something very important, and got up with very light movements.

“Liu ……”

Xu Yun wanted to say something, just now Liu Hai was clearly against Old Man Chen getting off the bus together, so why was he secretly following behind Su Qingxing on his own?

“Shhh.” Liu Hai pulled out the utility knife from his pocket, gently held the blade out, and made a shushing motion at Xu Yun.

“Qingxing!” But the next second, Chen Xiongbing had already shouted. He leaned forward on his cane, trying to get up, but he stumbled and fell to the ground instead!

By now, Su Qingxing had already reached the door of the bus with Si Si in his arms. He turned around abruptly when he heard the movement behind him.

“Hmm……”

The moment Su Qingxing turned around, the utility knife stabbed into his neck!

Su Qingxing’s eyes widened in disbelief. Even as a guide, it was difficult for him to understand why Liu Hai would suddenly decide to attack himself when he voluntarily got off the bus.

It was too, too capricious!

“AWOO!!!” Si Si bit down on Liu Hai’s arm, and his black eyes instantly turned scarlet. However, the pup’s bite seemed to have no other effect besides causing Liu Hai to feel a little bit of pain.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you go on the road alone.” Su Qingxing’s blood splashed onto Liu Hai’s face, making this man, who already had a black heart, look even more sinister.

“Ahhhhh!”

When Su Qingxing guessed what Liu Hai was trying to do, he cried out, but the pain in his neck made it so that he could no longer make a sound. He could only fall backwards with his arms wrapped around Si Si’s body.

But Liu Hai’s knife had already stabbed into the body of the little white dog Si Si, splattering his blood everywhere!

“Goodbye.” The demon, covered in blood, stared at the weakening Su Qingxing.

Because of inertia, Su Qingxing eventually fell backwards with Si Si’s body in his arms, leaving the bus and collapsing on the concrete floor of the station.

At that moment, blood flowed and the smell of blood filled the air.

Whether it was the paper-dolls in the carriage, the big paper-doll in the driver’s seat or the headless ghost that was waiting at the station, all of them moved as if they were swept away by a storm and frantically rushed towards Su Qingxing who had fallen to the ground bleeding!

“Liu Hai! Good will be rewarded with good, evil will be rewarded with evil. It’s not that you will get away scot free, it’s just that the time has not yet come for you to pay for your actions! Remember it!!!” A cold voice echoed in Liu Hai’s ears, and if he had thought about it carefully, perhaps he would have guessed that it was Su Qingxing’s voice.

“……”

“Squeak.”

The door closed in front of Liu Hai, and the bus was still moving forward slowly even though the paper-doll on the driver’s seat had disappeared.

“Ha ……” Liu Hai’s whole body was splattered with blood, and he turned around with his bloody utility knife in his hands, his posture terrifying. Looking at the others in the back of the bus who hadn’t yet recovered from their shock, he laughed.

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! “

“Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!”

Liu Hai laughed wildly. So loudly, that he could barely stop laughing until he was almost out of his breath. Then he looked at the others with a nervous smile and said, “Aren’t you guys happy? There are no more ghosts on the bus and no paper-dolls! I’ve thrown them all off the bus! Aren’t you happy? Laugh with me! Laugh! Laugh!”

Liu Hai’s almost intimidating tone prompted Chen Fangfang and Xu Yun to force themselves to reveal ugly smiles. At this time, how could they dare to disobey this man?

“You killed him, you killed that child!” Only Old Mr. Chen rose from the ground with his cane, full of anger, “You killed that child!”

“I just made the best of what I had.” Liu Hai’s face was all bloody, but when he looked at Old Man Chen, he was filled with innocence, “And then as soon as he gets off the bus, he’ll be killed by that headless guy, so why not let the mute contribute more for our survival? Hmm?”

“He’s not mute, he’s Su Qingxing!” Old Chen kept banging his cane on the carriage floor in anger, “If he dies, you’ll die too, everyone will die!!!”

“It doesn’t matter, such a name doesn’t need to be remembered either.” Liu Hai hemmed and hawed, “It doesn’t matter now, he’s already dead anyway.”

In the darkness of the night, the rickety bus made its way forward on the bumpy mountain road.

Crows flew over the mountain road, leaving a trail of desolate sounds.

The station under the flickering street lights was left far behind by the bus. The station, which Liu Hai and the others had originally used as a refuge, was now littered with horrific paper figures and headless souls of the dead.

As the bus moved away, several ghostly blue dots of light floated out from among the paper-dolls, and all the paper-dolls, as if ordered, scattered across all directions as fast as they could. They neatly lined up in a circle, obediently lowering their eyes.

Even the headless ghost who had been smiling earlier had pressed the head in his hands back onto his neck, their eyes dripping with obedience. His well behaved appearance seemed much more pleasing to the eye.

In the middle of the clearing lay a bloodied “Su Qingxing”, unharmed by the paper-dolls or the headless ghost. Everything seemed fine except for the excessive blood loss from the wound on his neck.

Su Qingxing was still holding Si Si’s tiny lifeless body in his arms.

“Liu Hai ……”

A translucent figure floated out of “Su Qingxing’s” body, surrounded by a ghostly blue lantern, and slowly floated into mid-air, watching the back of the bus as it faded away.

“You shouldn’t have done anything to Si Si.”

The pale blue eyes were full of determination.

The figure drifted back to Su Qingxing’s side and stretched out his translucent finger to lightly tap on Si Si’s body.

“Aowoo!” A small translucent white dog floated out of Si Si’s body, right into the arms of the translucent figure, just like Su Qingxing and Si Si before.

“Let’s go. Let’s go and take revenge.”

The author has something to say: And that…. Marks the end of this story (hahahahahahaha, of course not!!!)

The imposing Si Si with zero combat power is here!

Footnotes:

1. 僵尸道长 jiāng shī Dào Zhǎng : jiāng shī means zombie (the traditional chinese zombies that are just animated dead bodies, not the western kind) and Dào Zhǎng is a daoist priest. I think he is talking about a daoist priest who died and turned into a zombie, retaining his memories and talents, but I’m not sure.

2. 听书 tīng shū to listen to stories; to listen to performance of 說書|说书 storytelling

茶馆 chá guǎn teahouse; CL:家[jia1]

Pfft he’s like Zhongli in GI. Or, well, Zhongli is like an old man

3. 声音 shēng yīn voice; sound;

传 chuán to pass on; to spread; to transmit; to infect; to transfer; to circulate; to conduct (electricity)

The phrase here literally means transmitting his voice, but I think it’s supposed to come off as a challenge (not to mention that “spread his voice” sounds…. Really weird…)

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