Xia Linyin had a nightmare.

In her dream, she was trapped in a cloud of black mist and couldn't get out no matter how she tried.

Just as she was feeling hopeless, a voice rang in her ears. The voice sounded cold, yet carried a faint sadness, "Are you leaving?"

"Yes, I'm leaving." She heard herself answer.

Xia Linyin covered her mouth tightly, her eyes filled with fear.

She clearly meant to say, "Who are you?", but why did this sentence come out of her mouth?

Where exactly is this place? Why is she here?

Why can't she find her way out no matter how she walks?

Then she heard the owner of that voice chuckle softly, a low, magnetic laugh that sent chills down her spine.

Xia Linyin's body trembled involuntarily. Fear, like a slippery, cold snake, slithered through her entire body, making her scalp tingle and her hair stand on end.

The laughter stopped, and Xia Linyin felt a breath brush against her earlobe. She quickly turned her head to look, but saw nothing.

Suddenly, two cold words rang in Xia Linyin's ear, "Don't even think about it!"

The voice was cold and gloomy, yet it seemed to carry a childlike quality, as if a child, when an adult deliberately asked for their favorite toy, hugged the toy even tighter and tilted their head to say "no."

"I really can't bear this pain anymore," Xia Linyin said uncontrollably again. At the same time, an indescribable pain surged through her limbs and bones, making her eyes hot and her throat choked with discomfort.

"Can you really bear to leave me like this?" the voice asked dejectedly.

Upon hearing this, Xia Linyin felt an even greater pain in her chest, as if a large chunk of her chest had been ripped out.

She clutched her chest and crouched down, tears streaming down her face. Her lips moved, and she murmured unconsciously, "It's all over."

"No, everything is just beginning." She heard the voice in her ear, evil like a demon's whisper, and then she was pulled into the deeper black mist by a force.

When Xia Linyin woke up, her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to jump out of her throat.

She lay there with her eyes open in the darkness, her neck sticky with sweat; Xia Linyin knew it was sweat, and she felt like she was soaked through.

As her heavy breathing and heartbeat gradually subsided, Xia Linyin slowly exhaled a breath of stale air. She reached for the bedside lamp, intending to turn it on to go to the bathroom, but her hand found nothing.

Xia Linyin felt her heartbeat quickening again after it had finally calmed down. She took a deep breath and moved her arms, groping in the dark.

The moment she touched the switch, she pressed it without hesitation, as if she had grasped a lifeline.

So by the time she realized the sensation was wrong, it was too late.

It was as if a beam of intense light had suddenly shone on her, the blinding white light exploding before Xia Linyin's eyes.

She reflexively closed her eyes and raised her arm to shield them.

A cold wind blew, making Xia Linyin shiver. She lowered her arms and slowly opened her eyes.

What came into view was a wide but deserted road, with streetlights casting an orange glow on both sides. The dim lighting made it seem somewhat eerie.

A few scattered stars hung in the night sky, and all around was quiet. The silence was so profound that Xia Linyin could clearly hear herself swallowing.

She was now sitting on a bench at a bus stop, wearing a low-cut, red, V-neck bodycon dress instead of her usual conservative Winnie the Pooh pajamas.

Xia Linyin felt that she must be dreaming; clearly, she was having a dream within a dream.

Yes, that's right, she's still dreaming!

Xia Linyin kept comforting herself.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her palm, and she quickly turned her palm over to look.

Several lines of glowing text appeared on her palm.

"Dear player, we are honored to inform you that you have been selected as a player in our game called Quick Travel Horror Game. You will need to travel between different worlds to complete the tasks we issue. After successfully completing ten tasks, you will have the opportunity to return to the real world and receive certain rewards."

"Friendly reminder: After each mission, you will be taken to a safe place where you will have seven days to rest. All injuries sustained in the mission world will be completely healed, but you cannot be resurrected after death."

After Xia Linyin finished reading, the glowing characters disappeared. Before she could even process it, new characters appeared in her palm.

"Rumor has it that at midnight, a No. 44 bus will run. Anyone who accidentally gets on the No. 44 bus will disappear from the world and no one knows where they went."

"Player's mission: Get on bus number 44, find the ghost on the bus, and eliminate it."

The words gradually disappeared, and Xia Linyin felt she should break down and cry. She had been inexplicably thrown into a horror game, and the stinging pain in her palm told her that she was not dreaming. She could no longer deceive herself.

But at this moment her mind was unusually calm, even though her body was trembling uncontrollably.

She wanted to live!

"The injuries sustained in the mission world will all disappear, but the dead cannot be resurrected."

This means the game is dangerous; she could get injured or even die in it.

She didn't want to die, and she especially didn't want to die inexplicably in a game.

She didn't know how the game managed to do all this, but she knew that panicking and being afraid at this moment would do no good and would only make her die faster in this damned game.

"Calm down, calm down!" Xia Linyin took a few deep breaths.

First of all, the meaning of the friendly reminder is very clear: no matter how serious her injuries are, as long as she has a breath left, she will be able to fully recover after reaching that safe place.

However, once she dies in the mission world, she is truly dead; there is no chance of starting over or being resurrected.

In other words, if she were killed by the ghost on the bus, she would be completely dead.

The thought of ghosts made Xia Linyin tremble. She quickly shook her head, trying to clear her mind of all the horror movie scenes she had seen before.

As for the ten tasks and the rewards, Xia Linyin didn't have the mind to think about them. What she needed to consider right now was how to complete the first task and how to survive.

"Find the ghost on the bus and destroy it."

Destroying a ghost was something Xia Linyin had never dared to dream of before. She had always held a "what you believe in, you don't" attitude towards such supernatural things.

If we were to encounter it, we wouldn't even have time to run.

But now, she has no choice but to actively seek out a ghost and destroy it.

She is neither a Taoist priest nor a sorcerer, so how can she eliminate a ghost?