48: Chapter 48 The Faceless Driver's Life and Death Account

The dilapidated Route 404 bus sped frantically through the thick fog.

The chassis of the bus emitted a piercing metallic screech, looking as if it could fall apart at any moment.

Outside the window, the black outline of the City of Wrongful Deaths was completely swallowed by the churning, blood-colored mist.

That terrifying deathly aura, which felt like needles on their backs, finally began to dissipate.

Lin Ye lay flat on his back on the cold, water-stained aluminum alloy floor.

His chest heaved violently, each breath a heavy gasp of survival after a narrow escape.

Leng Yue's exquisite, tall body was pressed tightly against his, her silver-white hair draping over him like a soft net, completely obscuring his vision.

"..."

"..."

With such soft, fragrant beauty in his arms, Lin Ye would normally have taken the opportunity to feel her up.

But having just escaped the gates of hell, his nerves were still highly strung, and he was in no mood for such dalliances.

Adhering to the principle of "temperance," Lin Ye placed his hands on Leng Yue's slender waist, preparing to push her up.

However, Leng Yue beat him to it.

Supporting herself with one hand on a rusty seat frame, she stood up nimbly.

Her long black trench coat swept through an elegant arc as she rose, concealing those stunningly beautiful legs that were practically a crime.

She lowered her gaze, tucked her messy silver hair behind her ear, and restored her usual aloof, inviolable queenly posture.

"Thank you for saving me, Husband."

Leng Yue's voice was clear and cold as she extended her fair, delicate hand to pull Lin Ye up from the floor.

"We're family, no need for formalities. Besides, if you got dragged away by those tentacles, who would I live off of?"

Lin Ye patted the dust off his trousers and teased casually.

To the side, Fatty Wang was still slumped in the aisle.

He clutched the ominous boning knife, which was wrapped tightly in his jacket like a zongzi, muttering under his breath as if this butcher's knife were some peerless magical treasure.

"Ye-zi, does this mean we survived?"

Fatty swallowed hard, his voice still trembling.

"Fifty-fifty."

Lin Ye took a deep breath, his gaze passing over several rows of empty seats to the driver's seat at the very front of the bus.

The blood-colored thick fog outside the window had completely receded, replaced by the pale, ordinary mist common near the Corpse Reservoir.

This ghost bus had successfully driven out of the fragmented domain of the Underworld, returning once more to the crack between the realms of Yin and Yang.

But the trouble was far from over.

Lin Ye had not forgotten that their original purpose in boarding this ghost bus tonight was to remove the scapegoat mark on Lin Xiaoxiao's neck.

The bus began to slow down.

The bloated figure that had been sitting rigidly in the driver's seat like a corpse suddenly moved.

"Crack... crack, crack..."

A hair-raising sound of twisting bones echoed through the deathly silent bus.

The driver's head, covered by a battered uniform cap, slowly and steadily turned a full one hundred and eighty degrees to face backward!

When that face was fully exposed to everyone's view, even the well-traveled Lin Ye couldn't help but twitch his eye.

On the flat, pale skin, there were no eyes, no nose, and no mouth.

It was like a lump of dough that had been crudely smoothed over, exuding an absurdly bizarre and horrifying vibe.

The Faceless Driver!

"Hand... over... a... scape...goat..."

A raspy voice exploded directly in everyone's minds.

The Faceless Driver raised its bloated, blister-covered right hand and slowly reached into the air.

Drops of black, filthy water gathered out of thin air, condensing into a battered, illusory register above its palm.

The register flipped open with a rustle, though there was no wind.

The pages were filled with names written in fresh blood.

The paper of the register felt like human skin, tinged with a dismal blue-gray.

Lin Ye's gaze swept over the dense blood-red characters, and his heart sank.

Many of the writings on the pages had already dried and turned black. Beneath the names were densely marked dates and locations, even detailing the victims' causes of death.

"Jiangzhou No. 1 Middle School, drowning," "North Suburbs Construction Site, tower fall"...

These names were clearly the "accidental death" missing persons reported in Jiangzhou City over the past month.

Moreover, at the end of the pages, there were several incomplete, half-written names.

Those names seemed to be struggling, constantly squirming on the pages and oozing foul-smelling, thick blood. It seemed that as soon as a name was fully written, that living person would drop dead instantly.

And on one of these pages, three striking blood-red characters were written—[Lin Xiaoxiao].

The bloody words were flashing continuously, as if an invisible thread connected the register on one end and Lin Xiaoxiao's soul in the real world on the other.

As long as the driver drew a cross over this name, Lin Xiaoxiao's soul would be forcibly taken away.

"Hand... over... a... person... or... leave... your... lives..."

The Faceless Driver's mental transmission rang out, and its dense water-based resentment locked onto the four of them in the back row of the bus.

The entire bus came alive; the doors and windows locked tight, and the steel chassis squeaked under unbearable pressure, as if intending to keep them here forever.

Fatty let out a terrified yelp, almost throwing the butcher's knife out of his hand.

Frost Star, however, excitedly licked her little canine teeth.

Her deep blue heterochromatic eye was filled with a fierce, eager light:

"Brother-in-law, this faceless guy looks so dumb. Can I twist his head off and kick it like a ball?"

Just as Lin Ye was weighing the pros and cons, a faint light flickered on his retina.

"Ding! "My Lord, Please Behave Yourself" System notification: Detected the ghost bus demanding a scapegoat karma. The debts between the realms of Yin and Yang must be settled. Please make a decision within three minutes to end this ill-fated connection!"

[Option A: Violent Demolition Team—Shout "To hell with your karma!", order Leng Yue and Frost Star to team up and tear this piece-of-junk bus apart, and beat the Faceless Driver into a QR code.]

[Reward: Reckless Headband x1. Consequence: Violently breaking the contract will trigger a backlash from the reservoir's century-old resentment. The mark on Lin Xiaoxiao's neck will instantly erupt, causing her to die on the spot.]

[Option B: Righteous Self-Sacrifice—Step forward, slice your finger, and use your own Pure Yang blood to replace Lin Xiaoxiao's name.]

[Reward: Receive a "Good Citizen of Jiangzhou" banner. Consequence: You will become a lifetime VIP passenger of the ghost bus, forced to clock in for work at the reservoir every midnight.]

[Option C: Deceiving the Heavens with a Substitute—Use the [soul-fixing mirror fragment] just salvaged from the Ghost Market ruins, combined with Daoist secret techniques to conceal your aura, to forcibly erase the mark on the Ledger of Life and Death. Then, use high-level pressure to intimidate the driver into shutting up.]

[Reward: Husband Points +300, receive the limited-time title "Fare Tyrant" (Aura +100% in transit-type supernatural events).]

[Option D: Karmic Fishing—Turn the tables. Use the soul-fixing mirror as a medium. Instead of erasing the ledger, forcibly transfer this "life-claiming contract" to a high-level fierce ghost within the City of Wrongful Deaths.]

[Reward: Obtain a fragment of the [Underworld Ghost Dao Seal], unlocking partial Underworld authority. Consequence: This action is extremely dangerous and may attract the attention of the ancient will deep within the City of Wrongful Deaths, triggering an "Underworld Wanted Order" and drawing endless pursuit in the short term.]