Chapter 44: Chapter 44: The Bone Flute
Jiang Yang:
"You’re not wrong. As long as the number of human passengers on the bus is always greater than or equal to the number of ghosts, then in every vote, only a ghost will be voted off.
"So, the Supernatural Bus is only considered a three-time mission.
"But don’t think it’s that simple.
"The places the Supernatural Bus on Route 444 travels through are beyond your imagination. The ’passengers’ that get on have all sorts of bizarre abilities and killing patterns. Some are even powerful enough to rival the Supernatural Bus itself.
"It’s never been said that only one ghost can get on at each stop. If, after you have seven people, five ghosts suddenly get on at a single stop, the human vote will no longer be the majority."
Ling Feifei raised her hand:
"Um, can I say something?
"On my first mission, I got a Supernatural Artifact called the ’Bone Flute.’ When I wear it, I can sense all kinds of changes in a ghost’s emotions—their killing intent, pain, emptiness, and sorrow. It made me realize that ghosts aren’t just simple killing machines; they have feelings and hatreds too.
"Sometimes, humans and ghosts don’t have to be in conflict. Just like in our last two missions, we used the ability of this Supernatural Artifact to guide the ghosts step-by-step, and we completed the missions without any disputes.
"Of course, everyone has a different idea of how to find a path to survival. Maybe we don’t have to vote them off directly. We could use a gentler method to pacify and guide the extra ghosts to get off the bus voluntarily.
"If we confront the ghosts directly, it might just lead to more deaths among the apartment residents.
"This is how we, as a couple, complete the green-text missions."
Zhou Yan, at her side, gave a thumbs-up:
"Babe, you’re amazing."
Xia Ta, who had been silent all this time, retorted:
"So, how exactly do you plan to ’guide’ the ghosts to get off voluntarily?
"Of course, no one wants to fight ghosts. No one wants to die.
"But in most cases, ghosts will genuinely kill you. If you want to live, you have to find their weaknesses and figure out their killing patterns. It’s not a matter of what you want or don’t want."
Ling Feifei caressed the Bone Flute in her hand and insisted:
"Right now, I haven’t figured it out yet.
"But once we’re on the bus, I’ll interpret the emotions the ghosts are giving off and what they want. Just like the last two missions.
"The Bone Flute will give me the answer."
Xia Ta cut her off coldly:
"In your last two missions, your teammates were wiped out."
Ling Feifei:
"But we survived. That proves our way of thinking is correct.
"If you’re willing to follow our lead, we guarantee everyone will survive.
"Believe me, I don’t want to get anyone killed."
Xia Ta:
"No one here has completed fewer than two missions.
"There are plenty of people here who’ve completed more missions than you. Why are you so insistent that your way is the right one?"
Ling Feifei stroked the Bone Flute in her hand, looking aggrieved.
But she fell silent, reluctantly accepting what Xia Ta had said.
’The administrator’s authority still held some sway, it seems.’
Listening to Ling Feifei speak, the expressions on Su Jiu, Jiang Yang, and the others grew strained. He felt that this couple’s way of thinking was truly out there.
’Could there be something wrong with that Bone Flute of hers?’
Gao Tian opened his phone and started a conversation with Xia Ta on WeChat.
[Gao Tian]:
What’s the deal with these two?
Are they being controlled by their own Supernatural Artifact, the "Bone Flute"? It feels really strange that they’d say things like that.
[Xia Ta]:
Yeah.
Supernatural Artifacts all have some kind of negative side effect. The Bone Flute itself isn’t the problem; a person with normal willpower can suppress it.
It’s their own personalities that were flawed to begin with. Their savior complexes have just been amplified indefinitely.
There’s another possibility: Ling Feifei isn’t telling the truth at all.
The Bone Flute’s real ability might be something that benefits them whenever a teammate nearby suffers misfortune.
But Ling Feifei could never admit to an effect like that, or the entire apartment would shun them. So she has to pretend it has this hard-to-verify ability of "sensing ghosts’ emotions."
...
...
Putting his phone down, Gao Tian had already made a silent resolution.
’The moment we leave the apartment, I’ll use the Memory Ghost on Ling Feifei and alter her personality.’
Xia Ta:
"Gao Tian, besides the first two rules, the third rule is just as important. Do you understand its meaning?"
Gao Tian recalled that the third rule was something about not fooling around or damaging public property, and that passengers shouldn’t get on or off the bus except at designated stops.
It seemed perfectly normal, like the kind of rule a regular bus in the real world would have...
Suddenly, he froze.
’The rule was so insidious and vicious, and I hadn’t even noticed it at first—’
’You may not board or alight via any other means, except at a designated stop.’
’It couldn’t be *that*, could it?’
’If that’s the case, then this is truly terrifying. Because the Supernatural Bus would have just nullified the biggest trump card in my hand.’
Seeing the change in his expression, Xia Ta nodded:
"That’s right. It’s just as you imagined.
"While on the bus, you can’t use a Black Card to return to the living-person apartment.
"Other than getting on and off normally, you are forbidden from leaving the bus through any unconventional means, including prying open a window or using a Black Card.
"The instant you teleport back to the living-person apartment, you will be directly obliterated by the bus. In the end, only a mangled corpse will be teleported back.
"Back when Jiang Yang’s group was on their fifth mission, I was in the first-floor lobby. A weaker resident was voted ’king’ on the bus and used a Black Card. The end result was a pile of rotten meat teleporting back."
’So every restriction and rule on the bus was indeed discovered by our predecessors at the cost of their lives.’
If it hadn’t been for Xia Ta’s warning, Gao Tian might have really tried to use his Black Card if he’d run into trouble on the bus.
He confirmed:
"If I get voted ’king,’ and I choose to get off the bus first, and *then* use the Black Card outside the Route 444 bus, that’s allowed, right?"
Xia Ta nodded:
"That’s perfectly fine.
"But you might not survive long enough to do that.
"The moment you’re voted ’king,’ the killing patterns of the other ghosts will start to reactivate. And the places outside the bus are even more terrifying. You can’t predict whether getting off will make you safer or put you in more danger."
Not only that, but there was also another terrifying, unwritten rule on the bus.
"Although the bus firmly suppresses the power of every ghost, that doesn’t mean their killing patterns are disabled... If you proactively trigger them, they can still kill you. Some ’passengers’ will even intentionally try to set you up, baiting you into triggering their rule. That way, after they kill you, they don’t have to face punishment from the bus.
"For example, there was once a resident who got on the bus, and a beautiful, elegant young woman was sitting in front of him. Halfway through the ride, the bus braked suddenly. The lipstick in her hand fell to the floor and rolled in front of the resident.
"At that moment, the resident instinctively bent down to pick up the lipstick and return it to the woman. Her clothes and appearance looked perfectly normal; she didn’t seem like a ghost at all.
"The instant he bent down, he saw a grayish-blue head emerge from under the woman’s lower body, staring deathly at him. That was her killing pattern—
"Looked at from above, she’s a normal human. But looked at from below, she’s a ghost, and any living person who sees her that way dies instantly.
"And just like that, the resident dropped dead on the spot. Because he had bent down of his own volition, the ghost hadn’t broken any of the bus’s rules by killing him."
Su Jiu clutched her chest and said timidly:
"Um, in that case, should we try to sit as far apart as possible after we get on the bus?
"Some ghosts have killing patterns that can easily affect a whole area of passengers at once, leading to a team wipe."
Jiang Yang nodded:
"Your thinking is correct.
"When we vote, we focus our votes on one ghost. But when we’re seated on the bus, we should sit as far apart as possible."
After the group in the first-floor lobby began to disperse, Jiang Yang and Gao Tian walked side-by-side toward the third floor. When they reached the third floor and confirmed no one else was around, he spoke:
"Gao Tian, wait a moment.
"I have something to tell you about Pagoda Primary School, in private."
Gao Tian:
"Go ahead."
Jiang Yang:
"My fifth mission was to reach Pagoda Primary School via the Route 444 bus. Of course, the real mission was inside Pagoda Primary School itself; the bus was just an extra. You know about that, right?"
Gao Tian nodded:
"You mentioned that earlier."
Jiang Yang fumbled in his pocket for a moment before pulling out an old engagement ring.
The ring’s surface looked a bit matte, as if its owner held it in their hand day and night.
"But what I didn’t say in the lobby was that one of the residents on that mission was my girlfriend.
"No, that’s not right. She was my fiancée.
"I had already decided that I would propose to her after we completed the mission.
"She... was very smart. Extremely smart. She helped me a great deal during our previous missions. In fact, at Pagoda Primary School, I should have been the one to die, but... she took my place and stayed behind.
"She left the hope of survival to me, and I’ll feel guilty for the rest of my life. People come and go in this apartment, but she’s never coming back. I’ll never have the chance to repay my debt to her."
’Jiang Yang actually had a fiancée before? And she made it to the fifth mission with him?’
’If that girl were still alive, there would probably be four administrators in the living-person apartment now.’
Gao Tian:
"What do you want me to do?"
At his current level, it was impossible for him to enter such a dangerous place. The most he could do was check in at the gates of Pagoda Primary School.
Jiang Yang handed the ring to Gao Tian:
"When you get to the entrance of Pagoda Primary School, place this ring there.
"If she’s still there, she’ll know this ring is from me.
"This ring is a year late. It was always meant for her."
Gao Tian said nothing, simply accepting the ring in silence.
’Though he knew perfectly well that any living person who remained in a supernatural place for so long was a thousand percent dead already.’
In truth, Jiang Yang knew this perfectly well too.
Giving him the ring was just a way to hold on to a memory.
