New Times, New Hell

Chapter 82 - Ghost Bus

Inconspicuously, Yu Zhengdu softly asked the old man, “How do you know that this is a ghost bus?”

The old man’s beard trembled as he said, “I saw them paying the fare with yellow papers.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Seems like we definitely need to quickly push for paperless Underworld money transactions.

He asked curiously, “How did you get on this bus?”

The old man himself was a bit confused. “I don’t know what happened either. I was just doing what I normally do. I went to the market and bought groceries, then took a walk around the park on the way back. After, I got on the bus to head home. I’ve never encountered such a strange occurrence before.”

Yu Zhengdu glanced next to his feet. As expected, there was a bag of vegetables placed there. He had a slight sensation that something was off. Logically speaking, if the old man had done what he normally did, he wouldn’t have been able to see the ghost bus in the first place.

However, he couldn’t successfully come up with an explanation at the moment. As such, he only gently patted the old man’s wrist and lowered his voice to placate, “You don’t need to be scared. All we have to do is slowly get off the bus in a bit. Let’s not jump off.”

“I’m not scared. There’s nothing to be scared of at my age.” The grandpa observed Yu Zhengdu, gaze full of praise. “You, on the other hand, are very good at keeping your calm, young man. Not even yelling after encountering such a situation.”

Yu Zhengdu smiled modestly. He felt too ashamed to tell the old man that he had just scared all the ghosts on the bus earlier.

Thus, this bus, full of ghosts who believed they had done a good job acting like humans and an old man who believed he had done a good job acting like he hadn’t found out, maintained a strange sense of balance. Just like this, it headed towards the neighborhood Yu Zhengdu was renting from.

At the destination, the driver kept up the act and parked next to the bus stop outside Yu Zhengdu’s neighborhood. He shouted, “Passengers at your stop, please disembark the bus quickly.”

“Let’s get off.” Yu Zhengdu helped the old man up.

“Keep calm, don’t panic.” The old man acted like he was in a spy movie. He pushed Yu Zhengdu. “You walk up front, I’ll be on guard behind. If anything goes wrong, hurry and run. Don’t worry about me.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

It had to be said that Grandpa truly had a sense of justice. However, he was also very dramatic.

Either way, they had already reached their destination. He didn’t mind accompanying the old man in acting for a bit longer. Consequently, he carefully walked in the front. Just as he was about to get off the bus, a young man walked in through the front doors.

A living person.

That youth had slippers on his feet. He was wearing a cheap, black leather jacket that was balding in many different places. His entire being exuded scoundrelly vibes. He offhandedly tossed two coins into the coin machines, then lowered his gaze and headed to the back of the bus.

Yu Zhengdu stopped in his tracks. The other ghosts on the bus froze as well.

What was wrong with this ghost bus? How come so many living people had gotten on it in one night?

The old man, who was in the midst of pushing Yu Zhengdu off the bus, was so agitated he almost stomped his feet. He lowered his voice and said, “Aiyo, what’s wrong? How come another person got on? Someone definitely doesn’t want me getting off the bus!”

Yu Zhengdu furrowed his brows and looked at the youth. He discovered that the other’s expression was very dark; his eyes were murky and his eyebags made up almost half his face. This was the face of someone with very bad luck.

That youth squeezed his way to the back of the bus. Upon discovering that the bus was still parked in place, he yelled out, impatient, “Is the driver dead? How come you aren’t driving?”

Yu Zhengdu: ……The driver wasn’t the only dead person on this bus. Everyone was dead.

The old man was very exasperated too. “Ey, young people truly have no brain to mouth filter.”

He pushed Yu Zhengdu. “You get off first. I’ll go tell that young man.”

Grandpa didn’t wait to see Yu Zhengdu’s reaction. He squeezed his way over to the youth after speaking.

Yu Zhengdu looked up and discovered that the youth’s gaze was flitting. He was darkly observing everybody on the bus. Yu Zhengdu’s instincts told him something was wrong. He hurriedly made to call the old man back.

But it was already too late. Though Grandpa was old, he was extremely agile. By now, he had already made it to the youth’s side. He scooted his head close and whispered, “Young man, hurry and get off the bus……”

Before he could finish speaking, that leather jacketed youth suddenly exploded. He grabbed the old man’s neck with one arm and trapped him. With the other, he pulled out a pocket knife and unfolded it. He pressed the knife against the old man’s neck and spit. “Stinkin’ old man. This is what you get for not minding your own business.”

With Grandpa as a hostage, the youth angrily told the driver, “What are you still parked here for? Hurry and drive. Otherwise, I’m going to stab this old man.”

The sharp blade was pressed against Grandpa’s neck. It could pierce into the flesh at any moment. Yu Zhengdu’s expression changed. He coldly told the driver, “Drive.”

The ghost bus once again started moving. However, it was completely silent inside. There was no indication of panic or terror.

That youth hadn’t realized this. He cussed to himself, “You deserve all this misfortune. You encountered laozi after I consecutively lost two days’ worth of money. So fucking unfortunate……”

Upon hearing this, Yu Zhengdu instantly reached a realization. Gambling would affect one’s mental state and luck. This person’s luck had originally been bad. In addition to gambling and the fact that he was in a bad mood, he would naturally start losing more and more money. This made his luck worse. Under these circumstances, it wasn’t the slightest bit strange that he would accidentally get into a ghost bus.

The old man sighed, “Young man, that wasn’t your only bout of misfortune……”

Yu Zhengdu: “……” In certain regards, Grandpa could be considered quite funny.

The youth obviously couldn’t appreciate Grandpa’s humor. He gestured with his knife while yelling, “Shut up, dumb old man.”

The bus wobbled as it drove. Yu Zhengdu watched as the knife swung around next to the old man’s neck. His heart tightened and he inconspicuously glanced around the bus. He discovered that the Underworld spirits on the bus were also silently looking at him. They were obviously waiting for his instructions.

A spirit next to him lowly said, “Boss Yu, this person has really bad luck right now. He can be possessed. How about I possess him?”

Yu Zhengdu waved his hands. “Don’t. Possessing a living person breaks regulation. Your Good and Evil Scores will be affected.”

The spirit could only give up. He revealed a stressed expression. “Then what can we do?”

Yu Zhengdu’s gaze fell on the spirit of a young woman. An idea struck. He pointed at her and told the leather jacketed youth, “Hey, look. How about using her as the hostage instead of Grandpa?”

As soon as he suggested this, before the leather jacketed youth could say anything, Grandpa became agitated first. “Young man, how could you blindly come up with such a plan……”

She’s a ghost!

Right now wasn’t the time to continue acting with the old man. Yu Zhengdu was afraid that the old man would expose the truth in panic, causing the youth to lose his grip. He hurriedly said, “Grandpa, don’t worry. I know them.”

All the ghosts on the bus quickly nodded. They swung their arms around Yu Zhengdu’s shoulders and told Grandpa, “We’re really close. We’re all good ghosts who don’t harm people.”

Old man: “……”

The old man looked at Yu Zhengdu, shocked. Then, he looked at all the ghosts on the bus. His eyes instantly started rolling up into his head. He looked like he was only a second away from passing out. This scared the ghosts on the bus greatly.

Fortunately, the old man was very strong. In the end, he recovered: as expected from an experienced individual. After his initial shock, he quickly calmed down and swallowed all the questions he had. He calmly told the robber, “Young man, how about you have that little girl over there replace me?”

The leather jacketed youth had originally been guarded because Yu Zhengdu, a tall young man, had spoken up. Then, he had watched as they suddenly started a discussion. Just as he was getting impatient, they unexpectedly changed the topic and suggested having the little girl replace the old man.

The youth looked in the direction Yu Zhengdu was pointing. Instantly, his guarded expression became lusty. “If the chick’s willing, I don’t mind either.”

That was a young woman wearing a long dress. Her long, black hair was down and she was quite pretty.

After getting looked at by him, the girl covered her face in fright. Terrified, she yelled, “Aiya, I’m scared. How could you guys treat me in this manner?!”

All the ghosts on the bus joined in and pushed her forward. “Respecting the elderly and caring for the children are the responsibilities of all young people! You must go!”

The leather jacketed youth burst into laughter upon seeing this. “Yes yes yes. Little beauty, you ought to help the elderly.”

Thus, the girl got pushed in front of the youth with great reluctance. The youth held the pocket knife up to her throat and quickly pushed the old man away. Then, he wrapped his arms around her and casually buried his face against her neck. He revealed a mocking and lewd smile. “This bus is really interesting. You worked together to sacrifice a little girl. You truly know how to respect the elderly and care for the children.”

If Yu Zhengdu had pointed at anyone else on the bus, the leather jacketed youth definitely wouldn’t have agreed to switch hostages. But since he had pointed at a petite little girl, things were completely different.

Yu Zhengdu was too lazy to bother arguing with the youth. He hurriedly walked forward and helped the old man regain his balance. He asked, “Grandpa, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Grandpa patted his chest and gave Yu Zhengdu a meaningful look. “Young man, I couldn’t tell that you have such a large social circle.”

Yu Zhengdu humbly said, “Just a coincidence.”

At this time, the leather jacketed youth – who was hugging his new hostage – finally ran out of patience. He waved his knife around and said, “Hey, all of you. Hurry and give me all your money. Otherwise, I’m going to be impolite to her.”

As soon as he stopped speaking, the originally terrified little girl suddenly turned her head around and slowly asked, “Oh, how are you planning to be impolite to me?”

“Hehehehehe.” The youth looked down at her with a lewd smile. “What do you think……”

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly widened both his eyes. He couldn’t get the remaining half of his sentence out either.

Only to see that the little girl he had a tight grasp on was looking at him with her whole head twisted 180 degrees.

“Y-you, you……” The youth’s voice kept trembling. Because of excessive shock, he temporarily forgot to push her away. Instead, he reflexively looked at everyone else on the bus. “Do you guys see her neck?”

“Yep,” all the ghosts on the bus responded. And then, they turned their necks 180 degrees in sync, just like the girl. “We can do it too.”

Leather jacketed youth: “……”

Only to see his eyes roll into the back of his head before he fainted and fell straight back.

“Wow, what a chicken. How come he’s not even as brave as Grandpa?” Yu Zhengdu shook his head and tsk’d. He turned around to look at Grandpa. “Right?”

Only to see Grandpa clutching his heart, eyes rolling into the back of his head. His entire body was on the brink of collapse. “N-n-no, I’m scared too……”

“……” Yu Zhengdu hurriedly helped stabilize the old man. He told all the ghosts, “Hurry and straighten your heads out. You’re scaring Grandpa.”

Fortunately, Grandpa was unexpectedly strong. He didn’t even pass out given the circumstances. Once again, he calmed down. His tenacity for life aroused great admiration from all the ghosts on the bus.

Finally, the driver braved the risk of breaking regulation again and dropped them off outside the police station. This time, the old man finally got off the bus successfully.

After exiting the police station, Yu Zhengdu realized that it was already very late. Grandpa wasn’t young anymore, either. He didn’t dare to let Grandpa head home alone, so suggested accompanying him home. The old man waved his hands. “No need. Wouldn’t you get home even later if you sent me home first?”

Yu Zhengdu knew that Grandpa was kind and probably didn’t want to waste his time. Thus, he didn’t persevere. He only said, “How about this. I’ll contact your family and tell them to come pick you up.”

Grandpa thought about it and agreed, then pulled out his phone to make a call. When he looked down, though, he couldn’t help furrowing his brows. “What’s wrong? My phone’s out of batteries?”

Yu Zhengdu pulled out his own phone. “It’s fine. Do you remember your home phone number? I can call for you.”

The old man nodded and gave Yu Zhengdu his son’s phone number.

Yu Zhengdu called the number. Shortly after, someone picked up. Yu Zhengdu said, “Hello, may I ask if this is Mr. Chen……This is the situation. I encountered your father, Old Mr. Chen, on the bus today. We ran into some trouble, so it’s rather late now……”

Before he could finish speaking, the other person suddenly started yelling at him, “Blasted scammer! Aren’t you scared of getting struck by lightning after saying such things?!”

Yu Zhengdu was startled because he had suddenly gotten yelled at. However, he very quickly regained his wits. Right now, there were a lot of telephone scam calls. The other probably considered him a scammer. He hurriedly explained, “Mr. Chen, I’m not a scammer. Let me finish……”

“And you still say you’re not a scammer!” The other’s emotions seemed to be slightly out of control. Tone angry, but also slightly mocking, he shouted, “I guess you haven’t heard that my father just passed away!”

Something snapped into place in Yu Zhengdu’s brain. He instinctively turned to look at Old Mr. Chen. This glance caused him to abruptly break out in cold sweat.

Only to see that there were clearly two cuts on Old Mr. Chen’s neck. The wounds were very fresh, like the flesh had just been sliced. They had probably been accidentally created when that leather jacketed youth had been waving his knife around. However, there was no blood flowing out of the wounds. Thus, he hadn’t discovered them at first.

As the victim, Old Mr. Chen obviously hadn’t noticed anything either.

He couldn’t feel anything.

Not only this – after carefully observing the old mister’s exposed skin, one would realize that in certain places, he seemed to already be exhibiting signs of livor mortis.

Fortunately, Yu Zhengdu was someone who had witnessed many things before. In only a moment, he had an idea. Before Mr. Chen hung up, he rapidly said, “Mr. Chen, please listen to this old mister’s voice first.”

He held the phone up to Old Mr. Chen’s ear. Old Mr. Chen said, “Hello? Ah Xin ah, I’m with Xiao Yu at the police station on Academy Street. Drive over and come pick me up. Don’t trouble the nice young man……”

After the old mister said this, Yu Zhengdu quickly grabbed the phone back. He asked, “Mr. Chen, did you hear the old mister’s voice?”

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. After an unknown amount of time, Mr. Chen finally spoke up. His voice was filled with disbelief, “My father is really with you? He’s still alive?”

“I don’t think so, but I also can’t really comprehend the situation,” Yu Zhengdu lowered his voice and answered. He calmly said, “I’d like to ask you to make a trip over, please. We’ll discuss further then.”

Mr. Chen hurriedly asked for the address. “I’m heading out right now.”

After hanging up, Yu Zhengdu sent him a text message explaining matters. Mr. Chen was quite agreeable. He very quickly replied.

According to Mr. Chen’s response, Old Mr. Chen had passed away in his sleep the day before yesterday. According to their ancestral customs, they had sent the old mister’s body to an ancestral temple in the suburbs for a day. They had been planning on getting him cremated after a religious ceremony.

Unexpectedly, when they had woken up this morning, the old mister’s corpse had disappeared.

Because the news had reported about a few corpse robbing incidents a few years ago, Mr. Chen’s family’s first reaction was that someone had stolen Old Mr. Chen’s corpse. Their entire family was furious and had paced around their home for the entire day. This was the reason why Mr. Chen had been so agitated upon receiving Yu Zhengdu’s call.

After getting the whole story, Yu Zhengdu thought back on Old Mr. Chen’s behavior this whole trip. Those things he had found slightly strange in the beginning could finally be explained.

No wonder why Old Mr. Chen had clearly been doing what he normally did but accidentally got onto a ghost bus. No wonder why he had clearly almost passed out a few times after being scared by the ghosts on the bus but remained fine. No wonder why he, as an elderly individual, could still move so agilely……

Obviously, the old man was no longer alive. However, for some unknown reason, he was still using his physical body. Thus, Yu Zhengdu and the bus full of ghosts hadn’t discovered this situation.

Yu Zhengdu reached an epiphany. He had seen quite a few ghosts at Luofeng, but this was his first time encountering one in the situation Old Mr. Chen was in. He temporarily didn’t know what to do.

He pulled out his phone and instinctively made to contact Shang Que. When he opened WeChat and saw all the messages that had failed to be sent, he finally remembered that Shang Que was in the middle of a cold war with him.

Actually, even if Shang Que wasn’t in a cold war with him, considering his emotional state right now, it still wouldn’t be suitable to go looking for Shang Que as soon as he encountered trouble.

A strange feeling of annoyance rose in Yu Zhengdu’s heart. This annoyance had already plagued him the entire day, but he couldn’t pinpoint why he was feeling this way and also couldn’t make the feeling go away.

He sighed, then opened the company group chat. He shared a brief summary of the situation he had come across and asked:【Are any ghosts free right now to come over and help me resolve this problem?】

Kang Jin probably felt very guilty in his heart. He quickly replied:【I’m free. Wait a moment】

But soon after he sent this message, Shang Que replied too:【You’re not free】

Kang Jin thought this was Shang Que forbidding him from helping Yu Zhengdu. He criticized the other to his face for a change:【Boss, you can’t treat Xiao Yu like this】

Shang Que:【I can】

Shang Que:【I’m going】

Shang Que:【Yu Zhengdu, summon me with the heart seal. Quickly!】

Group chat:【………………】

Yu Zhengdu:【…………………】

For some reason, upon seeing Shang Que’s tantrum-like messages, Yu Zhengdu couldn’t help laughing out loud. He closed his eyes and chanted the Ghost King’s Seal silently to himself.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw that a familiar figure was already standing before him.

Thin and tall, handsome in appearance. Though he was simply standing there quietly, he could give Yu Zhengdu a sense of security.

The annoyance that had been plaguing Yu Zhengdu all day suddenly completely disappeared.

Only now did he realize that after merely a day, he actually kind of missed Shang Que.

Yu Zhengdu gently moved his lips, “Xiao Shang……”

“I’m not listening!” Shang Que covered both his ears. With an elegant, cold expression, he said, “I’m still in a cold war with you!”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

The author has something to say:

Shang Que: I have principles!

Yu Zhengdu: Can’t keep this man around!