Strange metallic screeches echoed throughout the bus, as if the vehicle itself were writhing.
Two piercing screams erupted from the crowd as black smoke poured into their feet through the ground, spreading rapidly along their blood vessels and nerves, engulfing their entire bodies.
The pair grew frantically, their height shooting up as they contorted, resembling human-shaped sculptures that pushed against the roof while continuing to crack and extend in all directions.
Their faces were torn apart in agony, spreading like vines across every part of the ceiling; their eyeballs distributed themselves to the four corners of the roof, before all four eyes stared simultaneously in the direction of Yang Zicang.
A mouth spoke in a twisted tone: –Beat… the bad guy.–
Yang Zicang’s eyes were bleeding from the horror—this was a monster far more terrifying than a nightmare!
–Get out first.– Yang Zicang wrapped his arms around the girl’s tender waist, throwing her out through the window before immediately springing off the seat and jumping out himself.
The seatbelt by the window twisted like a snake and lashed outwards.
Snap! Yang Zicang’s foot was caught in the belt, yanked upward as it dragged him back into the vehicle.
The girl, still sprawled on the ground, quickly turned and grabbed Yang Zicang’s dangling arm: –Brother, get out quickly!–
–Get out, kid!–
Inside the car, the two struggled against their stubborn seat belts, just about to expend their lifespan to snap them apart, when two bulging black lumps surged from the floor at their feet, erupted, and black mist poured into their bodies.
–Ah!–
Amid the screams, the two began to swell frantically, with writhing vines of flesh spreading outward across their bodies.
These vines expanded in all directions, weaving through the carriage. Some were trapped by them, now powerless to move.
Thud! A fire extinguisher slammed over, breaking the belt. But the burly man who threw it had a gaze swiftly growing vacant; he looked painfully at his rapidly wrinkling skin.
–So… I still had thirty-two years to live…–
He staggered a step and collapsed onto the ground.
With this blow, the big man had drained all his remaining lifespan.
Two more windows, still uncovered by flesh, were smashed. Six or seven people crowded at the opening, scrambling to jump out, but half were caught by flying belt restraints.
A terrifying presence suddenly surged. Inside the car, a dark-red, membrane-like heart appeared, contracting and expanding among several –pillars– as if breathing.
On the ground, Yang Zicang crawled a few steps, where his calf was tangled, the skin there was a dark, deep color, clearly different from the rest of his body.
Yang Zicang, who appeared to be in his sixties or seventies, got to his feet and looked at the horrifying scene inside the vehicle, his eyes filled with disbelief and sorrow.
Then, from under the car, he saw a pair of legs across from him, wearing sandals and braced in an archery stance.
–Director Huang!–
Yang Zicang roared, that bastard still had his hand pulling on the door!
–Get out of here.– Yang Zicang told the girl, who was still half-kneeling on the ground in shock, to run, while he himself rushed towards the opposite side of the car with another person.
–Ah haha, only twenty seconds left, I know, soon, soon the child will be born!–
Seeing several figures rushing toward him with rage-filled faces, Huang Hsu screamed and laughed like a madman. With a thud, a fist smashed into his face, followed by a kick.
Seeing that time was almost up, Huang Hsu, while taking the beating, laughed and let go of the door. Yang Zicang limped over and drove his knee into the old man’s abdomen, who spat blood as several people’s blows continued to rain down on him.
The door banged open.
The two inside looked out of the vehicle, as several elderly people, huffing and puffing, were beating up the Mediterranean-looking old man, who was taking in more harm than he could endure.
Those in the car stepped forward with weak, unsteady feet. Blocked inside by the web of flesh, they had already fallen into despair—but at the last moment, the door unexpectedly opened.
Bang! The figure behind exploded.
The instant the one ahead stepped out, the ground suddenly turned translucent, like a murky cloud of energy, revealing a deep, dark cavity beneath—an inverted hollow cavity that seemed born from the bus itself.
Unintelligible whispers arose, and an immense sense of horror spread from within the vehicle, like a slimy tentacle coiled around from behind.
With a deep boom, a whirlwind poured into the car, and the surging heartbeat, like thundering drums, resonated from the murky web of darkness inside.
–Hah!– A red dot ignited at Huang Hsu’s chest, blooming into several twisted rays of crimson light, as if three or four geometric lines exploded from small to large, sending everyone tumbling and flipping aside. His skin rapidly healed.
–Hahaha, I guessed right, I guessed right!–
The ground quickly turned soft beneath them.
Startled, the crowd scattered and fled in all directions.
–Run!–
This Huang Hsu is truly ruthless, and now he possesses strange abilities—he might become a demon.
The passersby around him show no reaction to any of this.
Even some cars crash into the crowd only to pass straight through them—these are all illusions!
Huang Hsu, whose appearance has rapidly turned into that of a man in his twenties, greedily savors the surge of power and vitality within his body—a sensation he hasn’t felt in years.
–I, Huang Hsu, actually have a day like this.– He turns his head to glance at the dark, fine-scaled car body, shrouded in a radiating blood-red mist, his eyes full of intoxication.
Through some mysterious connection, the shadowy monster inside the car conveys its emotions and desires to Huang Hsu—a craving for humans, a thirst for living beings.
Huang Hsu glares darkly at the people lining the streets on both sides. he can sense that these are merely shadows of the real individuals, and laments inwardly: What a pity that none of them can be devoured.
In his perception now, humans have naturally become food he can consume at will.
Huang Hsu’s gaze falls on the few figures running into the distance.
Yang Zicang and the other three cross the road and race toward the white commercial building on the left.
Suddenly, strands of white energy web emerged from within the building, rapidly converging towards its interior. Once they detached from the building’s surface, the structure itself fell into decay.
Something within the building was awakening; several of them sensed that it might be caused by their own passing.
To that something, humans served as a catalyst for its premature birth.
–This thing can also give birth to monsters?!–
They were terrified, and continued to sprint forward in panic.
Boom!
Just a few dozen meters behind them, a colossal, elongated metal-branched monster slammed forward rapidly.
The bus monster smashed into the other side of the street, shattering a house wall beneath a building.
–Aaaah!–
The three on the opposite side scattered in panic into different directions, and one was instantly devoured by the monster’s massive windshield-like maw.
The few of them turned and dashed into an alley.
–The alley is narrower… hopefully, it will make that monster give up chasing us.–
The lungs of the two men heaved like bellows, gasping out ragged –hars, hars.–
Liu Ming clutched his chest, leaning against the wall, breathlessly said, –I… I can’t go on. I feel like I’m about to die… I… I need to rest a moment.–
A vibration echoed from nearby.
Several people looked up and saw the glass and structural layer of a twenty-story commercial building next to them collapsing with a thunderous roar. But oddly enough, as they fell, they continuously transformed into streams of white energy converging downward.
Yang Zicang furrowed his brow, vaguely grasping at something, yet he couldn’t form a clear thought—only a hazy feeling lingered.
Behind them, across the street, the roar of the bus monster sounded again, accompanied by faint screams; another life had been lost.
–Come on, don’t stop to rest. There’s movement in that street—should be others. Let’s check it out,– Yang Zicang encouraged.
Liu Ming gasped, –What if it’s another monster? Then we’re dead anyway.–
–Hell, then go ahead and die—even girls do better than you.–
Yang Zicang snapped, turned, and dashed through the winding alley toward the direction of the building.
–I’m sitting at a 78 this time, remember that,– Liu Ming, spurred by the insult, scrambled up from the ground and followed behind.
Beyond these residential blocks lay another street. That collapsed commercial building now stood on the main road, stripped to floor slabs and rectangular structural pillars, looking like a dilapidated, unfinished ruin.
–Someone’s there.–
The young girl’s fair fingers pointed at a blurry figure beneath the commercial building, his body enshrouded in thick white lines that constantly radiated various curves, intertwining, contracting, and expanding.
A monster, or a human?
The old man rushed from behind the alley. Yang Zicang glanced back, seeing thick black smoke rising not far behind.
The bus monster was approaching from the other side!
The light around the figure beneath the commercial building suddenly contracted.
–Quick, run. We’re being chased by a monster,– said Yang Zicang.
–A monster… a nightmare?– The man in a white trench coat and wide-brimmed hat stood up and looked over.
The man’s face was firm, his gaze sparkling with brilliance—his features marked him as an outstanding, extraordinary figure, dashing and divine.
A series of loud crashes shook the air.
The sound of collapsing buildings came from behind.
–Oh, with such a commotion, you’re still alive.–
The man in the white trench coat strode forward step by step, a tattoo of a beauty blowing a kiss etched on his muscular arm.
–What kind of thing was it? How many people did it eat?–
–A car, a bus. Seven or eight dead—no, maybe ten by now.–
–I understand.–
A white flash appeared on the man’s chest.
As he moved, this radiance spread into an ethereal geometric figure enveloping his body, like a constantly shifting triangle.
When he passed before the group, the phantom lines elongated, drawing closer to Yang Zicang.
As they approached, Yang Zicang saw a faint light flicker within his own heart, resonating with the tips of those approaching lines.
A telepathic message emerged in his mind: in that moment, they had established some mysterious connection.
Moreover, though his eyes watched the man walking past, a broader scene appeared directly in his consciousness—as if another –perspective– were overlooking everything from a third-person, top-down view.
{Honored guests, you should be able to hear my mental conversation directly by now, right?}
–How amazing,– the girl exclaimed in awe.
{**You can call me Bai Yuan. Hmm… that bus nightmare contains at least several centuries’ worth of Chronos. I’m afraid I might not be able to take it down alone. Would you like to *Invest* some of your own lifespans? That way, my odds of victory will increase—so long as I exceed its lifespan by just a few dozen years.**}
The man in the white trench coat turned to look at the group of septuagenarians and octogenarians, a playful grin curling on his face.
This time, instead of using his mind’s voice, he spoke aloud: –Entrust your lifespans to my command for now. I will use your lifespans to help you escape the pursuit of the nightmare.–
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