Just as Jiang Yan finally felt he'd figured out the rules, the bus engine cut out again, this time stopping abruptly, giving them no time to react.
The bus seemed to be responding to the shattered window. Feeling threatened, it had halted to eliminate the outsiders as quickly as possible.
"Damn it," Jiang Yan muttered, cursing his own actions. He was now engulfed in darkness, unable to move.
The cold, biting winds swirled around him, this time more intense than before, reminiscent of the deadly darkness the blond youth had triggered.
"So this was caused by breaking the window too?" Jiang Yan was filled with regret—he should never have smashed it.
He'd thought that using the emergency hammer on the window was "reasonable," but apparently, the bus saw it differently. Maybe it wasn't yet the right moment to break the window.
That miscalculation had caused this stop, and he was sure he would be the target this time.
Bracing himself, Jiang Yan focused all his willpower.
In the dark, the cold swept over him, biting deeply into his flesh, and it showed no signs of easing; if anything, it grew worse.
Slowly, his consciousness began to blur.
He couldn't tell when, but the cold had reached an extreme, and now it was turning to pain. It was as if his whole body were being torn apart by vicious hounds.
"So, it really is my turn to die this time," Jiang Yan thought grimly, realizing the bus had targeted him for the kill because he'd broken the window.
The cold and pain became overwhelming, and he could barely think. His mind started slipping, drifting closer and closer to a final sleep.
"I can't fall asleep!"
In his mind, Jiang Yan screamed, knowing that if he lost consciousness now, he'd be lost forever.
But the chill and agony felt like they were piercing his very soul. Sheer willpower wasn't enough to resist, and his awareness faded with each passing second, his inner voice growing faint.
"Am I really going to die here?" he thought with a bitter smile. Only now did he truly understand how fragile humans were—utterly helpless against the bus's curse.
The cold continued to deepen, and his mind felt like it was freezing over completely.
Just then, a sudden burst of flame flared in the darkness.
The heat from the fire repelled the icy chill, its light cutting through the darkness.
In a matter of seconds, the darkness faded away, and the bus engine roared back to life.
The dim, yellowish lights flickered on as Jiang Yan opened his bleary eyes, his body drenched in cold sweat. It was as though he'd just woken from a nightmare.
At the same time, he felt a burning sensation on his chest and immediately knew its source.
He unbuttoned his collar and looked down. Sure enough, the heat was coming from the yellow talisman Qi Xiu had given him before he left.
The talisman, folded into a triangle and worn around his neck, now had a singed corner, and his skin was slightly burned where it had rested.
"That flame… it must've come from the talisman," Jiang Yan realized. The talisman had shielded him from a fatal supernatural attack.
Just as he was processing this, Zhang Tiantian threw herself into his arms, her voice trembling as she whispered, "I thought it would never end. I was so scared, thought we were going to die… But we're alive."
Jiang Yan let out a sigh of relief, gently patting her head in comfort.
The darkness really had lasted longer this time—maybe because the talisman had struggled against the ghostly bus, and in the end, it had won, forcing the darkness to retreat.
Of course, this was only Jiang Yan's theory. He couldn't be sure what had happened.
Looking over his shoulder, he found the man in the black hat staring at him, visibly stunned.
The intensity of this darkness had been equal to the one that had killed the blond youth, and by all logic, someone should have died. But now, all three of them had survived.
The only explanation was that one of them had a means to resist the vengeful spirit's attack.
The man in the black hat quickly connected the dots. He realized Jiang Yan must also have a hidden trick—one even more deeply concealed than his own.
"Not bad, kid. You're full of surprises," he said with a smirk.
"Right back at you," Jiang Yan replied, studying him carefully.
He hadn't fully figured out the black-hatted man's secrets yet. Beyond the strange coat, the man likely had other protective measures as well.
Otherwise, it didn't make sense that he hadn't been targeted in the previous rounds of killing. Logically, the bus should have seen him as the greatest threat and eliminated him first.
"So, what's your plan now? The next stop won't be easy to evade. Since this kill failed, it might lead to unforeseen consequences," the man said, sounding more concerned. He was starting to feel like he was running out of ways to counter the ghostly bus.
If he stayed on board, he'd be killed by the bus eventually, or he'd succumb to the fog outside.
"There won't be a next time. I've figured out the killing rule," Jiang Yan replied confidently.
"Oh? And how do you plan to beat it?" the man asked, intrigued.
"It's simple. Just follow my lead."
With that, Jiang Yan stepped out of his seat, immediately attracting the attention of the tour group passengers at the front.
He ignored them and continued down the aisle, finally stopping in front of one of the ghostly passengers.
The man in the black hat and Zhang Tiantian looked on in astonishment, not understanding what Jiang Yan intended.
Standing in front of the corpse, Jiang Yan could see every grotesque detail—the rotting wounds, the lifeless, bloodshot eyes staring back at him.
Gritting his teeth, Jiang Yan turned and sat directly on the corpse.
The action left his companions utterly speechless.
"Kid, are you insane? This is your plan to survive?" the man in the black hat asked, incredulous. "I get that you're trying to pose as one of the passengers to avoid the bus's killing rule, but don't you think that's a bit too much? There's no way that's going to fool it."
"Why not?" Jiang Yan asked with a slight smile. "You're giving this ghost too much credit. The killing rule is limited by its own nature, which is why it's so rigid. It's like a programmed sequence, bound to execute specific functions. The bus doesn't determine who's an outsider by whether they're dead or alive, but by their location."
"Location?" the man echoed, beginning to understand but still unsure.
"Exactly—location, or more specifically, seating. As long as we sit in one of the tour group seats, the bus won't recognize us as outsiders."
"This is just your theory, though. There's no evidence it'll work. If you're wrong, it's no different from sitting here waiting to die. I'm not interested in gambling on that," the man replied, still skeptical.
"A theory? No, it's a calculated deduction. If there's any way out, this has to be it. And as for proof? Take a look at the corpses, especially the one I'm sitting on. When I got up, they all looked at me as an outsider. But now? They're ignoring me. That means they recognize me as one of their own," Jiang Yan explained.
The man looked at the corpses and confirmed Jiang Yan's point—the bodies were no longer focused on him.
He'd observed that leaving one's seat always attracted the corpses' attention, while sitting in a seat did not.
And now, although Jiang Yan was sitting on top of a corpse, he wasn't drawing any attention. It meant he'd truly claimed the corpse's place.
Maybe this would really work…
Just then, the bus engine died again, the vehicle rapidly decelerating.
There was no time to hesitate. The man and Zhang Tiantian quickly found two other corpses and sat down on them, just as Jiang Yan had.
The moment they settled in, the bus was swallowed by darkness once more…