Time Game

Chapter 3: Strange Bus (3)

Chen Qufang obtained the “Crisis Glasses” during a green-level quest. Like the order of rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet—quests below green-level are easy, while green level is a watershed. Therefore, items obtained in green-level quests are even more effective in lower-level quests. With her Crisis Glasses, she successfully survived several dungeons and avoided many life-threatening situations.

But now, the Crisis Glasses are starting to get incredibly hot, as if trying to warn Chen Qufang that the old man in front of her is no longer a "person," he must have been replaced by something.

Chen Qufang couldn't help but shudder. But she was, after all, a veteran who had experienced several dungeons, and the others looked up to her as their leader. If she showed any sign of weakness at this moment, those fools might do something drastic.

"Sister Chen..." The others also noticed something was wrong with the old man and started trembling. They had all experienced one or two dungeons, so they knew how terrifying it was. Even though it hadn't made a move yet, once it did, a peaceful death would be a luxury!

"That old man is a ghost! We've found it!" The first to speak was the middle-aged man from before. He doesn't care that there were other ordinary people in this bus and shouted it out.

It was obvious that the middle-aged man had been on edge the whole time, but now that he had seen a clue, his rationality completely collapsed, and he could no longer hear anything else.

"f*****g i***t!" Chen Qufang thought to herself. Then she reached out to grab the man, “calm down, don’t be impulsive!”

But this middle-aged man displayed extraordinary speed, running to the back of the bus very quickly. With tears streaming down his face, he looked at Chen Qufang and the others with expectant eyes, saying, "Look, I caught it, we can go back now."

"Idiot." Chen Qufang has already seen this middle-aged man's fate, though she is already used to it. In higher-level dungeons, players are usually more experienced and won’t do such reckless thing, because ordinary people like this middle-aged man had already died in these low-level quests. Most of the time, they don't die directly from the game, but from their fear.

The middle-aged man's body slumped down. Then, Lu Pingsha heard another mechanical whirring, and the next moment, the man's body vanished without any trace left, like he didn’t exist at all.

"His body dis...disappeared?" The man in the plaid shirt could hardly believe his eyes. "A ghost! There's a ghost here! Driver, I want to get off! I want to get off!"

"Let's go!"

"Smash the glass door! We can escape!"

"Run!"...

Fear can be contagious.

After the middle-aged man shouted "The old man is a ghost!" and then disappeared before everyone, the passengers, who had been able to remain calm, could no longer ignore all this strangeness. With so many horror and suspense TV series and movies these days, now they realized they might have been in a dangerous situation.

"Let’s subdue the driver, we need to get out of here!"

"Yes, yes, driving is faster."

It's hard to tell whether these passengers were smart or stupid; they understood the importance of the driver, yet ignored how dangerous he is.

"Oh no! Stop them!" Chen Qufang commanded. The old man had been possessed by something strange after approaching the driver; if the same thing happened to these passengers, how can they survive?! However, Chen Qufang had overestimated her "underlings."

Those passengers were unaware of the power of those "things", so they behaved so recklessly, but they all knew how dangerous those "things" are, so they don’t dare move. Instead, they all looked at Chen Qufang, wishing she will do something. In their opinions, Chen Qufang, with her experience and equipment, should be more useful than them.

"Damn it, run!" Chen Qufang swear to herself that she would never run dungeons with these newbies again! You can never imagine how big trouble a bunch of idiots can cause together! No wonder there are so many lone wolves these days; it's not that people don't want to team up, but the damage a bad teammate can do is beyond your imagination!

Now, the back door is already closed; the only way to escape is through the window. Just minutes ago, she was mocking those who got off the bus for their ignorance; now, in just a few minutes, she is about to follow their footsteps.

The group of passengers, led by the man in the plaid shirt, hadn't even reached the driver before their bodies stiffened. Clearly, the driver is the ghost they need to find in this dungeon. The problem is, the mission only ends when one of the players puts his hand on the driver and says, "I've got you."

This shouldn't be too difficult.

There are twenty-seven bus stops in total. If they coordinate well, they can interview all the passengers halfway through the journey and then target the driver. Afterward, they can use the information gathered during the mission to find a safe way to reach the driver. But now, because of a few idiots, everything is wrong!

Bang!

Chen Qufang smashed a large hole in the bus window. Ignoring the cuts from shards of glass, she hunched over and jumped out decisively. Although the bus isn't going fast, jumping like that is still quite dangerous.

Chen Qufang used the roll to absorb most of the impact, but she was still injured. The other players on the bus didn't have the courage to jump off. Chen Qufang gritted her teeth, didn't look back, and ran forward as fast as she could.

To end this dungeon, she had to say "Got you!" to the ghost, as required by the quest. Although she got off the bus early, it doesn't necessarily mean her mission is failed. As long as she reached the next bus stop within the mission time, she would still have a chance to complete the mission. But the key now was to find something that could help her safely reach the driver without being affected.

Those newbies always thought that an experienced person like her could fight off these ghosts. Little did they know that truly confronting these ghosts head-on required not only items and extremely complex [rituals], but also [time], which could only be obtained after a perfect completion of the game. If she possessed such abilities, why would she still be stuck in low-level dungeons?

Chen Qufang felt the surrounding temperature dropping lower and lower, and the road ahead was extremely dark, making it almost impossible to discern directions. In the darkness, it felt as if an unknown creature could leap out at any moment and tear her apart! But she had no choice but to continue forward in this environment.

The only thing that gave her some comfort was that her glasses hadn't heated up yet, meaning everything around her was still under control. But as she got closer to the next bus stop, her glasses, which was normal just now, seem to sense some subtle difference and gradually heat up. Her ankle is badly twisted, making walking difficult; and if a fight breaks out now, even escaping is a challenge.

No, she couldn't die here.

The road ahead seemed to brighten slightly, but Chen Qufang didn’t cheer up. The mission had been like chaos, and this sudden change is definitely not a good thing. After taking only a few steps, she found herself blocked by someone: the man in the plaid shirt and Xiao Zhang. But whether they were ordinary people or players, their eyes had lost their luster, their faces had turned ashen, and they stared at her blankly. Chen Qufang turned her head and discovered that the bus that should have been in front of her had silently stopped behind her?

! ! !

She didn't notice at all? Sweat instantly poured down her back, and she feels like her heart was squeezed, making her unable to breathe.

She failed.

The mission was interrupted halfway through, she jumped off the bus, and now she is blocked. She is going to die in this cyan-level mission!

"You're the only one left, get on the bus." The driver leaned out from the driver's seat and looked at Chen Qufang quitely.

Chen Qufang's legs moved involuntarily towards the bus.

No, don't go! Chen Qufang is screaming in her mind, but her body wouldn't obey, inching closer to the bus door. If she gets on, she would have no chance of resistance.

Chen Qufang closed her eyes. If I'm really going to die, at least let me die cleanly.

*Sizzle—*

A crackling sound suddenly rang out.

The air seemed to smell of something burning.

Chen Qufang opened her eyes and saw the young man who had been leaning against the back door earlier, holding a talisman and sticking it directly to the driver's forehead.

"I've got you!"

*Ding-dong.*

"Congratulations to player [Stay Or Leave hgkanr] for completing the quest." The familiar yet hateful notification voice rang in Chen Qufang's ears.

"New player detected..."

"Player qualification successfully acquired."

Lu Pingsha was momentarily stunned to hear the mechanical voice suddenly appear in his head.

Holy crap, is this some kind of system-driven game?!