Chapter 401: Snow Mountain |
A lone bus crawled along an empty highway.
The road was ancient, its asphalt surface a web of cracks. With every jolt of the wheels, the passengers’ heads mechanically knocked against the seatbacks, producing a series of dull thuds.
On either side of the road stretched a boundless wasteland. Low, squat tents were scattered through the waist-high wild grass, their fabric faded by sun and wind, hanging in tatters. For a fleeting moment, it seemed a rotten hand reached out from one of them.
The sky was overcast, threatening rain. Fierce gusts of wind swept across the landscape, bending the wild grass to reveal travel bags and clothes strewn nearby.
Distant objects were silhouetted against the light, appearing from the bus as nothing more than indistinct black shapes. They seemed to drift along with the vehicle, yet froze the instant one’s gaze fell upon them.
The bus was silent. Though half the seats were occupied, most passengers had their eyes closed in rest. The few who were awake stared straight ahead, quietly tending to their own tasks.
Next to Qi Si sat a young, heavily pregnant woman. A serene smile touched her lips as her hands worked a pair of knitting needles, stitching a tiny hat for an infant.
The strange thing was, her yarn had run out, yet she continued the knitting motions without pause. The smile, as if stitched to her lips, never wavered, growing more unsettling the longer one watched.
Qi Si sat in a window seat near the back, his gaze lost on the seat in front of him.
According to the information he’d gathered, the Final Instance was supposed to involve players with Identity Cards leading their respective sub-card holders up the massive black Babylon Tower behind the World Tree in the Sunset Ruins, climbing it level by level.
But clearly, that information was wrong.
At midnight on May fourth, Qi Si had inexplicably lost consciousness. When he opened his eyes again, he was on this bus.
His divine power and authority had vanished into thin air. Even the custom-made bracelet on his wrist was gone. It was as if he had reverted to being an ordinary player, stripped of all his unique advantages, left with only the power of his skills, items, and Identity Card.
Qi Si wasn’t even sure if he had been pulled into an instance, sent directly into the Babylon Tower, or transported to some ghost domain in the real world.
There was no system interface, no mission prompt. The scene felt terrifyingly real, as if it were a genuine place somewhere on Earth... Who could say?
Moreover, since waking up on the bus, Qi Si had discovered that more than half of the scarlet leaves in his spiritual sanctum were gone. His connections to Dong Xiwen and Zhang Yiyu were completely severed, leaving not a single trace, as if he had never made a contract with them or claimed their souls.
It seemed "the other him" had made a move. The only question was whether that "him" was connected to the rules or the Ancestral God...
"Qi-ge, something's wrong with the people on this bus," Lin Chen's voice reached him through a Soul Leaf. "I have this distinct feeling of being watched..."
"Don't overthink it. I'm sitting behind you. Maybe it's just me," Qi Si offered a rather unhelpful reassurance, closing his eyes to rest while he mentally sorted through the remaining Soul Leaves in his sanctum.
The two sub-cards, [Noble] and [Merchant], were still under his control, but the whereabouts of their corresponding teammates were unknown. On the bus, it was just him and Lin Chen.
And as far as he could tell, they were the only two players.
"Qi-ge, I suspect we're in some kind of death trap. The old man to my left keeps eating, but his bowl is empty. The little girl in front of me has her back to me, but I can feel her eyes on my back..."
Lin Chen’s gaze darted around, gathering information as he relayed his conclusions to Qi Si.
Their last meeting in the Sunset Ruins had ended too abruptly. Qi Si had spoken as if giving his last words, telling him about the Ancestral God and suggesting he could switch his allegiance to Fu Jue.
"I can't guarantee I'll win in the end, much less look out for your safety. If you stick with me, you might just die without ever knowing why," Qi Si had said.
Of course, Lin Chen would never leave at a time like this. Qi Si had saved his life; dying for him would be a worthy end. He only felt a pang of guilt—
Ultimately, he was still not strong enough, which was why Qi Si worried for him. If only he could be more useful, if only he could truly help Qi Si in the instances.
He had spent the entirety of May fourth preparing for the Final Instance. First, he combed through the game store, trading all his points for the most cost-effective items. Then he watched countless recordings of past instances, studying strategies...
As the clock struck midnight, he was halfway through analyzing a guide when his head spun. The world blurred, and the next thing he knew, he was sitting on the bus.
He was in a front seat, Qi Si in the back, about a meter apart. Not too far.
Clutching a new scalpel he had bought from the store, Lin Chen said, "Qi-ge, I've made a rough estimate. The bus is going about eighty kilometers per hour, and the chassis is twenty centimeters off the ground. We could jump out the front door..."
Qi Si sighed. "Lin Chen, if you're really that scared, why don't you swap seats with the lady to my left and come sit over here?"
Lin Chen paused, quickly understanding. Qi Si intended to stay on the bus.
Could it be that this wasn't a death trap, but an introduction to the story?
It made sense. No matter how difficult the Final Instance was, it was unlikely to throw them into a guaranteed-death scenario from the very beginning. Five minutes had passed without any crisis, which practically ruled out the possibility of an immediate deathtrap.
Realizing his fears were baseless, Lin Chen felt a little embarrassed and mumbled an "Okay," then stood up and moved into the aisle.
Suddenly, a small mound of earth appeared on the road ahead. It looked like a grave.
The bus swerved violently, sending all the passengers lurching forward with a series of loud cracks and thuds.
In an instant, most of the passengers vanished. On the seat beside Qi Si, where the woman had been, now sat only a small, red wooden box, a half-finished knitted cap resting on top.
Black-and-white funeral portraits were scattered across the floor. Every face in them wore a bizarre smile, and their dark, lifeless eyes slowly swiveled to stare at Qi Si and Lin Chen.
Lin Chen held his breath, his expression stiffening as he cautiously made his way toward Qi Si. "Qi-ge, I think everyone on this bus besides us... is a ghost."
"It certainly looks that way," Qi Si agreed, also rising to his feet. He stepped over the portraits on the floor and stood in the middle of the aisle.
After maneuvering around the mound, the bus stabilized. Though it still jolted and bounced, one could at least stand or sit steadily.
The fallen portraits vibrated and righted themselves, one by one hopping back onto the seats. The old man picked up his empty bowl again, and the woman resumed her knitting.
Outside, the sky grew even darker. Heavy black clouds hung over the desolate plains like a lid.
The wind howled louder, its cries like the wails of ghosts. Swaths of grass were flattened, revealing their white stalks, as though the earth itself had sprouted fangs.
A shrill female voice, laced with static, emanated from the driver's seat. "Dear passengers, we are heading to the pure and supreme holy land of the Snow Mountain. Your final resting places are located on the mountainside, under the protection and blessing of the Mother God."
"It is a prime location we have carefully selected for you, with excellent feng shui, facing the water and backed by the mountains, and with convenient transportation. It is rich in history, with a friendly community of neighbors. Buried there, you will be cleansed of all your sins, return to the Mother's embrace, and receive a true rebirth, a beautiful reincarnation!"
The speech sounded like a real estate pitch, only the property was a cemetery and the clients were the dead, not the living.
The so-called "Mother God" was, unsurprisingly, the same Ancestral God who had been devoured eons ago; the Lord of Life whose resurrection had been thwarted in the Frog Hospital; the entity known as "Huo," who had been on the verge of revival in the Holy City instance...
As one of the beings who had once partaken of the Ancestral God and had just fought her for control of his body, Qi Si had absolutely no desire to return to the Mother's embrace. For him, "rebirth" and "reincarnation" were likely synonymous with being devoured and remade from scratch.
"Qi-ge, is this instance related to the Ancestral God?" Lin Chen frowned. "She's not just a participant, but also the one making the rules. Could our being here be her way of targeting us?"
"It's possible," Qi Si nodded. "So it's not too late for you to sever ties with me. As the holder of an Identity Card from the same path as hers, I'm sure she'd show you a little more patience."
Was that a joke, or... something else?
Communicating through the Soul Leaf, Lin Chen couldn't quite discern Qi Si's tone, but the words sent a chill down his spine.
For some time now, he’d had a nagging feeling that Qi Si might have truly resigned himself to dying in one of these instances.
To be more precise, at some point, Qi Si's will to survive and his interest in clearing instances had both faded to almost nothing. He seemed to be continuing the game purely out of the inertia of winning.
His connection to reality was too faint, too tenuous, like a wisp of smoke about to dissipate or a dream from which he was about to wake...
Unable to grasp the origin of this feeling and unwilling to dwell on it, Lin Chen changed the subject. "Qi-ge, speaking of which, shouldn't we get off this bus as soon as possible? I've read about death traps involving buses on the forums. If we reach the final stop, we'll probably be buried in that cemetery along with the dead."
"Let's wait a bit longer," Qi Si said with a hint of dark humor. "After all, I doubt our chances of survival are any higher if we jump."
He moved past Lin Chen, steadying himself with the seats on either side as he walked toward the driver's area.
Instantly, the gazes of every dead passenger on the bus fixed upon him, brimming with a palpable malice and hunger, as if they were about to swarm and devour him alive.
These were not the interactive NPCs of a typical instance, nor were they the ghosts from the real world that fled from him in terror. They were more like vile concentrations of malice and negativity, driven by a primal instinct to consume him.
Qi Si paid their stares no mind, coming to a stop just behind the driver's seat.
A sign was nailed to the coin box by the entrance. Three lines were written on it in a dark red paint:
[1. This bus is bound for the Holy City of the Snow Mountain. There are two stops en route. Before the tunnel, passengers may exit but not board. After the tunnel, passengers may board but not exit.]
[2. The driver is responsible for the safety of all ticketed passengers. In principle, passengers may not attack one another.]
[3. Please keep your ticket safe. If you lose your ticket, please purchase a replacement as soon as possible.]
The paint was faded in several places, with streaks running down from the letters as if it were spilled blood.
The driver slowly, stiffly turned its head, its joints making a soft scraping sound. Its voice was hoarse. "Can I help you?"
Only then did Qi Si notice that the driver, clad in a military overcoat, was a paper figurine. Its flat, pale face was adorned with two circles of rouge, and its protruding eyes stared blankly ahead.
The voice that had advertised the cemetery came from a mouth embedded in the center of the steering wheel. Its lips were painted a garish red, revealing a full set of sharp, white teeth.
Qi Si casually patted his pockets but found nothing that could be called a ticket.
He offered an apologetic smile and asked softly, "I'd like to buy a replacement ticket. How do I go about that?"
The driver's voice seemed to emanate from its torso. "With an item you received from the Mother God."
Qi Si's eyes narrowed.
He had received quite a few things from the Ancestral God—authority, souls, even the entirety of what it meant to be "Qi"...
Was this its way of reclaiming what it had bestowed?
Lin Chen had followed close behind Qi Si. After reading the three rules on the sign, he quickly realized that staying on the bus with a ticket was likely safer than getting off.
Setting aside the rule about passengers being unable to attack each other, just considering the desolate wilderness outside, who knew how many dangers they would face on the way to the Holy City of the Snow Mountain?
He thought for a moment and said to the driver, "I'd like to buy a replacement ticket too."
The driver repeated, "With an item you received from the Mother God."
Qi Si understood. The phrase "an item you received from the Mother God" didn't refer exclusively to the divine authority the gods had acquired, nor was the driver asking him to return it to its original owner.
In a broader sense, all things in the world were formed from the flesh and blood of the Ancestral God, including life and souls. Naturally, that also included the many items in the Weird Game that contained fragments of authority.
With that, he took out the [Ghost Driver's Recorder] and held it out. "Will this do?"
The driver took the recorder. Its eyes rolled up and down as it inspected the device for a moment before stuffing it into a slit in its stomach. It then produced a yellow paper talisman and handed it to Qi Si.
Qi Si saw that the yellow paper was printed with his own face, his expression sinister. It looked like a funeral portrait made just for him.
Lin Chen also took out his [Camera Filter] and gave it to the driver. Ever since acquiring the [Human Skin Mask], the item that could only make minor facial adjustments had become useless.
By now, the sky was almost completely dark. A blood-red moon hung high in the sky, casting down a scarlet glow.
With their tickets in hand, Qi Si and Lin Chen returned to their seats and gazed out the windows.
The once-barren grasslands were now teeming with animals. From their shapes, they were yaks and goats. They ran in great herds in the same direction as the bus, as if rushing to a promised feast.
A goat ran alongside the bus and turned its head toward Qi Si. Its strange, horizontal pupils met his through the glass, conveying a silent despair and sorrow.
It was as if it wasn't running of its own free will, but was being pulled by some unseen force toward a predetermined death.
Qi Si saw the tents again, decaying and scattered like grave mounds across a sea of stampeding yaks and goats. The fierce wind bent them to one side, their canvas flapping like tattered flags.
But there were no people. The ones who had pitched these tents were nowhere to be seen, as if they had simply vanished into thin air.
The bus came to a stop. The shrill female voice and the hoarse male voice spoke in unison from the driver's seat. "Those without tickets, please disembark here."
No one got off. Qi Si and Lin Chen had just purchased their tickets and were now legitimate passengers.
The bus started moving again, passing a broken stone monument by the roadside and heading toward a mountain range that had abruptly appeared on the flat plain.
There seemed to be words carved on the monument, but Qi Si couldn't make them out clearly. What he could see was the thick, dark blood trickling from the monument's fractured edge, as if a living being had been struck down by a blade.
Qi Si wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but the moment the bus passed the monument, the sky seemed to darken further, and the ground itself turned blacker.
Even the howling wind fell silent, now blowing from a different direction, lighter and more distant. It was like crossing from the realm of the living into the domain of vengeful spirits, where one dared not speak above a whisper.
At the same time, Xu Yao's Soul Leaf vibrated with a message: "Qi Si, this place is the absolute middle of nowhere. They just dumped me and some handsome guy at a platform. Who knows when the next ride is coming...."