Overtime? Impossible. Unless the side gig pays more.
Qing Li, who had originally been flooring the gas pedal, started dawdling and actively looking for passengers.
“Hey, beautiful, need a ride?”
“It only costs two eyeballs. The fare is super cheap!”
In the dark night, a ghostly figure in red stood all alone by the roadside.
Following the “girl help girl” principle, Qing Li rolled down the car window and greeted her enthusiastically.
The red-clad female ghost had disheveled hair, her face obscured by her locks, making her expression impossible to discern. But after hearing Qing Li’s words, her previously motionless body suddenly bolted.
Damn, are organ traffickers this rampant nowadays?
【Holy crap, that was a red-clad fierce ghost.】
【And just being asked for two eyeballs scared her like that? Meanwhile, our little village girl couldn’t care less about face.】
【Hey there, need a ride? It’ll only cost you two arms and two legs.】
【Get in with everything intact, leave missing a limb or two.】
【Hello? Is this the supernatural hotline? I’m reporting illegal organ trafficking in the Horror World. What? You’re saying Horror World isn’t under your jurisdiction?】
Because of Qing Li’s outrageous behavior, the livestream audience was having a field day with their jokes.
Especially since even a red-clad fierce ghost was scared off and fled in panic, leaving everyone unable to hold back their laughter.
In the Horror World, ghosts are categorized by levels.
The most basic and common are low-level ghosts, followed by vengeful ghosts, fierce ghosts, red-clad fierce ghosts, supreme fierce ghosts, malevolent ghosts, and the legendary great fiends.
Currently, players in the livestream couldn’t even kill the lowest-level ghosts, and encountering a red-clad fierce ghost was practically a death sentence.
But who would’ve thought…
With just one sentence, the little village girl could send even a red-clad fierce ghost fleeing in terror. (Cue funny emoji.)
Yet along the way, Qing Li did manage to pick up quite a few passengers.
Apart from the seat next to Chu Ci, which no ghost dared to approach, the rest of the space was crammed full, with some ghosts even floating on top of the vehicle.
Upon closer inspection, they were all incomplete ghosts—none of them had intact bodies.
“I want to get off…”
“Let me off.”
“Help! Someone save the ghosts!”
Inside the bus, there were wails and screams, a scene of utter chaos.
Getting on the bus was easy, but getting off? Not so much!
The other three players woke from their unconsciousness, opening their eyes to see countless ghosts right in their faces. The ghosts’ bodies were already squashed and distorted, twisted into bizarre shapes like pretzels, grotesquely tangled together.
As they opened their eyes, the three players were so frightened their souls nearly left their bodies, and their hearts almost leaped out of their chests.
What’s going on?
Why are there so many ghosts?
This must be hell!
The three who had just regained consciousness promptly fainted again…
The soft voice of the navigation system chimed in:
“In 100 meters, you will enter a tunnel. The tunnel is 500 meters long. Please reduce your speed. Of course, you can speed if you’d like. After all, there are no cameras in the tunnel. If you hit someone, it’s their bad luck, and no compensation is needed!”
A tunnel?
Hearing that word, Qing Li frowned slightly.
—
A rotten face suddenly slammed against the windshield, and countless tiny, wriggling things began crawling out from under the decayed skin.
I screamed in despair, shouted until my voice cracked, and finally fell silent…
“I… will wait for you there!”
—
It seemed this tunnel was the location mentioned in the final bloody words scrawled on the wall.
And those countless wriggling things were likely the same eerie bugs that crawled out of the driver’s throat when his neck was severed.
Navigation system:
“You have entered the tunnel. A friendly reminder: the tunnel is dark and damp, making it a breeding ground for bugs. Please cover your mouth to avoid them crawling inside.”
As the navigation voice abruptly stopped, the bus drove into the tunnel. The roar of the engine echoed endlessly off the tunnel walls, swelling until it pounded against the eardrums.
This time, Qing Li heeded the navigation system’s warning and gradually reduced her speed.
Inside the pitch-black tunnel, even the headlights seemed dimmed, swallowed by the all-encompassing darkness that threatened to consume everything.
“Shh… shh… shh…”
A strange sound suddenly came from above the bus.
Qing Li held her breath, staying perfectly still and calm.
“Shh… shh…”
The sound grew closer, as though something was crawling from the rear of the roof to the front.
【Why does the little village girl’s expression suddenly look so serious? Did something happen?】
【Could there be something in this tunnel?】
【This doesn’t feel right at all. Did anyone else hear that weird noise?】
【I turned my headphones to max, and besides the screams of the ghosts on the bus, I didn’t hear anything unusual.】
【I feel like something big is about to happen up ahead. I’m activating the protective power of my comment shield.】
The livestream audience, observing Qing Li’s expression, started to pick up on the unsettling tension.
The next second, their suspicions were confirmed.
“Bang—”
A pale hand suddenly extended down from the roof of the bus.
Then another hand…
The pale, withered hands dangled down, tightly gripping the edge of the front windshield. Shards of glass embedded in the frame sliced into the hands, and blood began streaming down instantly.
Yet those hands seemed completely devoid of pain. Slowly, they began to crawl inward, nails scraping against the broken glass, producing a piercing, grating noise.
A gaunt, deathly pale face suddenly dropped down, its sunken eyes locking with Qing Li’s.
Her hair hung upside down, and her bloodshot eyes glared intently at Qing Li from hollow sockets.
“Help… help me…”
Blood poured incessantly from her throat as she spoke in despair. One arm reached out toward Qing Li, as if grasping for a lifeline.
Qing Li shook her head, choosing not to intervene.
“Help…”
She spat out another large mouthful of blood. Since her head was upside down, the blood flowed into her nostrils and dripped down her forehead, staining the front dashboard of the bus.
“Let’s put aside the matter of saving you for now,” Qing Li said, her gaze darkening as she looked at the mess on her new bus. “First, let’s talk about the car wash fee and how much you’ll compensate me. What do you think?”
The woman’s bloodshot eyes froze momentarily, as though in disbelief. This wasn’t part of the script, was it?
Normally, wouldn’t someone scream in terror, fall to the floor, or run for their life upon seeing this?
“H-how much?” the woman asked tentatively.
Qing Li narrowed her eyes. “Not much. Just everything except your head will do.”
“You’re courting death—”
Realizing she was being mocked, the woman’s face twisted grotesquely. Beneath her already withered features, lumps of flesh began to swell, and inside the lumps, long, squirming worms could faintly be seen writhing and twisting—just like with the driver before.
Even her bloodshot eyes revealed worms swimming within.
This scene was a nightmare come true for anyone with trypophobia.
Qing Li’s lips curled into a chilling smile. She flung a talisman onto the woman’s face. Instantly, the woman let out a shrill, ear-piercing scream, clutching her face with both hands as she fell from the roof of the bus.
“Crack—crunch—”
The sound of bones shattering was clear as the bus tires rolled over her body.
“A bunch of filthy little bugs dared to set their sights on me.” Qing Li’s expression was icy, her tone venomous.