CH 56

The wavy-haired woman’s attitude had taken a 180-degree shift, but this wasn’t because she suddenly had a change of heart. 

Using the underworld show’s phone camera function, only I and the people in the live-streaming room could see what was happening in the bus.

A long-haired woman with flowing tresses dressed in a bright red gown that resembled blood stood up from the seat behind the wavy-haired woman. With both hands, she began rubbing the wavy-haired woman’s face, while her black hair, also stained with blood, gradually wrapped around the wavy-haired woman’s neck.

This red-clothed woman who had appeared in my dream had never left. She had been following behind the wavy-haired woman all along.

As I pieced together the events that had transpired, everything started to make sense. The wavy-haired woman had falsely accused Yang Rou, the original wife, of infidelity and had cunningly taken over her position, becoming romantically involved with Li Zijian.

Feeling deeply wronged, Yang Rou had gone to the hospital alone to have a check-up with her bulging belly, but as she was leaving the residential area, tragedy struck when she was hit by the No. 14 bus.

Filled with anger and resentment, her spirit lingered on in the human world, and she grew attached to the No. 14 bus, which had long gained a reputation for being cursed.

So in truth, from Li Zijian’s making that call toward the wavy-haired woman, telling her to abort the baby, to the other events that transpired in the video call, it was all the vengeful ghost of Yang Rou’s doing.

“No wonder the red-clothed woman in my dream was clinging to Zhang Rong, following her wherever she went. It turns out to be because of her unresolved resentment.” 

Upon careful recollection, the clothes of the red-clothed ghost were extremely loose-fitting. The first time I saw her in my dream, I thought she was wearing a red coat. In fact, it was a bloody maternity dress, but the unborn child in her belly had already died, making it appear loose.

The baby in the basket climbed up the wavy-haired woman’s leg and onto her body. Her eyes bulged with fear, and her neck appeared to elongate, as if being pulled up forcibly like a carrot from the ground.

“Help…me…save me…” The wavy-haired woman’s life was hanging by a thread. The ghost seemed to be deliberately torturing her, thus slowing down the process of death.

Sitting in my seat, I watched everything unfold through my phone, clearly witnessing the wavy-haired woman’s cries for help. However, I had no intention of intervening, firmly believing in the principle of “reaping what one sows.”

Both Yuan Feng and the wavy-haired woman had brought their misfortune upon themselves, thus attracting the attention of these vengeful spirits. 

Having inadvertently saved Yuan Feng’s life, I knew that justice could still be served in the daylight through legal means. However, the case of Zhang Rong was entirely different. Although her actions were morally reprehensible, they did not violate any laws. At most, she would face public condemnation, which would not significantly impact her life. She could still enjoy the insurance compensation from Yang Rou with Li Zijian.

Unfortunately, some forms of justice in this world cannot be fully served and may go unnoticed by most. In my opinion, if the death of the wavy-haired woman could placate the wrath of the vengeful ghost, then it was, in some sense, a fair outcome.

“Auntie, you…” As soon as Yiyi spoke, I stopped her. As someone who has struggled in society, I know very well that I should protect myself and not come in contact with the bad luck of a ghost.

But the actual situation deviated from my expectations. The three drunken construction workers and Yuan Feng walked over.

The wavy haired girl’s appearance was too bizarre, so it was hard not to attract attention from the other passengers.

“Help… help me…” 

Standing amidst four burly men, they formed a united front, emitting a strong aura of yang energy. As a result, the movements of the red-clothed female ghost began to slow down.

“What’s wrong with this girl? Is she sick?” 

“Maybe she’s having trouble breathing. Could it be asthma? The smog in the city causes a lot of people to get this disease,” 

“You two know nothing. Get out of the way!” The man named Wang Chunfu shouted, appearing a bit tipsy. He looked at Zhang Rong with a frightened expression and said, “Hey, at times like this, you need to perform chest compressions and artificial respiration. Move aside and keep the airway clear.”

He was really lecherous, and I couldn’t bear to watch this farce unfold, but I couldn’t interrupt because I hadn’t yet determined the identities of these three people.

“Learn something useful. This is common knowledge for emergency situations,” Wang Chunfu spoke with a practiced tone, but his expression was vulgar and lewd.

He tore open Zhang Rong’s collar and began to press on her chest, pretending to take a breath before lowering his head to exhale into her mouth.

“Sister, do you feel any better?” The man’s Yang energy entered her body, and Zhang Rong felt a bit of warmth. The ghost’s black hair entangling her neck also loosened a bit as she nodded repeatedly, 

“Save me, save me.”

“Okay! I’m a softhearted person, I can’t bear to see someone die!” Wang Chunfu continued to breathe into her mouth, and without realizing it, his face, which was already flushed from the alcohol, turned a sickly gray color.

“Brother Fu, let us help too,” 

“Sure, sure, you guys come and help. When you press down, make sure to use force,” Wang Chunfu replied.

The three men exchanged a smile and took turns performing CPR. 

Jianbang and Jianye possessed even more yang energy than Wang Chunfu. From the mobile phone screen showing the ghostly scene, the red-clothed ghost’s hair had being tangled around the four men, but since they collectively bore the weight of her resentment, they were not in any immediate danger.

The No. 14 bus moved slowly forward, and it seemed like the driver was unaware of everything that was happening on board. After passing through a large area of desolate and dilapidated rose gardens, a huge investment promotion billboard appeared, followed by a broadcast announcement inside the bus.

“Ding dong! We have arrived at Station Huayuan District. Please take your belongings and exit from the back door. Please watch your steps when exiting the vehicle.”

Yang Rou had her accident in the Huayuan District, and according to the scenario with the middle aged woman and the other woman that was with Yuan Feng at the time, the ghosts on the bus had to get off at the place where they died. In other words, the red-clothed ghost was going to get off at this stop.

“Zhang Rong is lucky. She managed to escape death.” 

The front and back doors of the bus opened. I kept a close eye on the movements of the Red clothed Ghost on my phone. She couldn’t kill four people at once. Her blood-soaked clothes were flipping, and her black hair was curling like waves.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes passed. The baby who had been lying on Zhang Rong’s body had turned dark, and fell back into the vegetable basket. Then, as if by magic, a white cat with both eyes gouged out jumped out of the basket and fled from the bus.

No one got on the bus through the front door. The driver pulled the lever and prepared to start.

“The vehicle is starting. Please hold on to something… The next stop is Zhanduan Watchtower” 

The announcement came once again. The front door had already closed, but the back door was only halfway closed, as if something was stuck in the middle.

“Driver, the back door is broken!” Yuan Feng knocked on the back door and the driver turned to look, but he seemed reluctant to leave his seat. He only whispered, “It might be a mechanical problem. Can you try pulling it a few times?”

“What a lousy bus!” Yuan Feng stood up and kicked the door a few times, then used brute force to close it. “Alright, let’s go!”

As I witnessed his actions, cold sweat dripped down my forehead. I was the only one on the entire bus who knew why the back door wouldn’t close. It wasn’t due to a mechanical problem, but because the red clothed ghost had jammed the door. She still had unfinished business to attend to, and her resentment had yet to be appeased.

I had been watching the livestream closely, and I saw that in the end, Yuan Feng had forcibly driven the Ghost away from the bus. However, she hadn’t gone far. Her face, obscured by her black hair, was pressed tightly against the glass of the door, and her head kept banging against it.

As the bus resumed its journey, I naively believed that the worst was over at this stop and we could continue safely. But to my horror, it turned out that the truly terrifying ordeal had only just begun.

Before we could leave the station, the No. 14 bus came to a sudden stop again. The passengers were all puzzled, “Why aren’t we moving? Come on, let’s go!” The driver trembled as he stood up from his seat, his face turning pale as he looked outside.

“What’s going on?” I felt anxious. After all, we were very close to the final stop. I ran to the front door to take a look and was startled by the scene before me.

A pregnant woman was lying a few centimeters away from the front wheel of the No. 14 bus. No, to be precise, it was a pregnant woman’s corpse. Her beige maternity skirt was dyed red with blood, and her eyes were wide open, staring at us from a skewed angle.

“Oh my god! You hit someone!” The three drunken construction workers were scared awake by the sight of the corpse lying on the ground.

The wavy haired woman screamed and ran to the back of the bus, “Yang Rou! It wasn’t me who killed you! It has nothing to do with me! It has nothing to do with me!”

“That wasn’t me who hit her! I only saw a black figure lying on the ground from afar just now, and I thought it was a piece of wood. It wasn’t until I got closer that I realized it was a person!” The driver was so scared that he couldn’t speak properly. He wiped his sweat while explaining.

Yuan Feng, the driver, and the three workers stood in front of the bus, looking at each other with no idea what to do.

“Her face is swollen and congested. The time of death should have been a few hours ago,” I said to the driver while holding my phone. “Don’t panic. Can we drive around her and get the bus out first?”

“We’re too close. This old bus will slide forward when it starts, and we will definitely run over the body as soon as we move,” The driver kept rubbing his hands, and I realized his palms were sweaty. “And there’s something I have to tell you…”

The driver hesitated before speaking, “The old driver who drove this bus before me told me never to stop at a station for more than five minutes, or something bad would happen.”

“What would happen?” Yuan Feng and I asked in unison.

“I don’t know. The old driver called me last night before he died…” The driver’s face became even more grim as he spoke.

“This is not good.” I frowned and looked outside the bus. We could only stop at each station for a maximum of five minutes, but with the dead body blocking our way, we couldn’t leave.

“Hurry up and find a way quickly. It’s already been four minutes!”

************

TN :  So as you can see, the videocall was the ghost’s doing. One thing I still don’t know and which I don’t really think is relevant to the story is whether Zhang Rong was still pregnant.