Chapter 2 Chapter 2 The Kind Commuter on the Bus

That night, Jiang Shizao slept soundly for the first time.

A dreamless night.

Before going to school the next day, he stopped by the convenience store where his neighbor worked.

There was only a middle-aged man in the store at the moment. Jiang Shizao took the opportunity to chat with the uncle who was watching the store while buying meat buns.

By the time he left the convenience store with his meat bun in his mouth, Jiang Shi had already obtained a useful piece of information: his neighbor's name.

The kind neighbor who lives upstairs is named Wen Zhi.

The convenience store uncle's original words were: "Oh, I remember you, you are Wen Zhi's neighbor."

…

"Yes, Xiao Wen only comes to work in the evening."

…

"No, no, it's you students who are working hard."

…

After leaving the convenience store, Jiang Shizao walked for about two minutes on the sparsely populated streets in the early morning and arrived at the nearest bus stop.

While waiting for the bus, he habitually looked up at the sky.

Although Lingcheng is cloudy all year round, it is May now and it was already half light when he went out.

His luck today was undoubtedly very good. The sky was very clear with few clouds.

It looks like it will be a sunny day.

In the setting of the novel "Bell City", sunny days are also the rare days for the protagonist to rest, because ghosts will not appear on sunny days.

This is the officially designated safety day.

Jiang Shizao spent a week of cloudy days in fear and trepidation, and finally welcomed the first sunny day after entering the book.

With the feeling that he could survive another day, Jiang Shi sat in the back seat near the door as usual in the morning.

There were a few people on the bus, with a few early risers sitting in the front row. The bus would stop outside the largest park on the south bank of Lingcheng, and the grandparents would usually get off at that stop.

Behind Jiang Shizao sat two students wearing the uniform of another school.

Overall, the composition of people on the bus was pretty normal. Just like the weather today...

However, this idea only lasted for one stop.

When the bus stopped at "Nan'an Station 13", Jiang Shizao's eyes almost instantly caught sight of the figure on the platform -

Jiang Shizao's pupils suddenly shrank when he confirmed what he had seen, and then he immediately looked away as if by reflex.

Adrenaline surged rapidly, and after a short reaction time, Jiang Shi could already hear the "thumping" of his heart.

At this moment, his eyes were fixed on the screen of the mobile phone in his hand, and a thin layer of cold sweat broke out on his forehead due to the fright.

What's going on...

It was a sunny day outside, so why was there a woman with long hair standing on the platform, soaking wet all over, as if water was pouring out of her whole body?

The ground at the woman's feet was wet.

Jiang Shizao didn't see the woman's face clearly just now, but the woman on the platform seemed to be soaked in water, and the atmosphere around her was incompatible with the sunny day outside.

She is definitely not an ordinary person...

Jiang Shizao's chest was beating like a drum. The novel didn't mention the story of South Bank Station 13.

Lingcheng High School is located west of the center of Lingcheng. The No. 444 bus that Jiang Shi needs to take to go to school will depart from the Nan'an area where he lives. After crossing the Nan'an Bridge and arriving at the city center, it will go west and pass two stations before stopping outside the school.

After the protagonist Wen Zao transferred to Lingcheng, he lived on the west bank of Lingcheng.

Jiang Shizao didn't know whether the author Abyss would write a plot related to the south bank of Lingcheng in the future, but now he definitely had no information related to the ghosts and monsters on the south bank in his mind.

If he knew the plot, he might be able to avoid it reasonably, but now as time passed by second by second, Jiang Shizao could only hope that the bus would start again and leave the 13th stop on the South Bank.

...Why do ghosts appear on sunny days? Is the setting of the original book no longer able to constrain this world?

Jiang Shizao's heart was shaken for a moment by his own speculation. This development was definitely not optimistic.

Also, didn’t the No. 444 bus stop at the platform for a bit too long this time?

Jiang Shizao quickly realized this problem.

There had clearly been very few people on the platform just now. Aside from the figure that seemed to have crawled out of the water, there were only a few scattered figures on the platform.

The residents of Bell City on the platform apparently didn't notice the woman's presence at all.

As time went on, the bad feeling grew stronger.

Jiang Shi didn't know if it was because he was too nervous or the temperature on the bus had really dropped several degrees, but he shivered in the May day, and when he lowered his eyes he could already see a pool of water on the aisle of the bus.

A pool of dirty, turbid water was slowly flowing in the aisle.

Moving along with the water marks was a pair of dark blue legs covered with strange spots.

“!!!”

At that moment, Jiang Shizao realized his situation.

The ghost on the platform actually got on this bus!

Her movement moved the pool of black water on the ground, as if they were a whole.

At this moment, Jiang Shi, who was sitting in the first row of seats at the back, had already stopped moving. He didn't dare to look up and could only judge the ghost's position by lowering his eyes.

But when the pool of black water finally stopped in the aisle beside him, Jiang Shizao suffocated slightly.

His brain was spinning like crazy, even faster than when he was solving math problems on the college entrance exam.

——Why did she stop beside me?

This can't be true.

Wait, wait, just as Jiang Shizao was trying to decide whether to stay put and not act impulsively, or to jump out of the car and run away, the toes of the legs in the aisle had already turned towards him.

Jiang Shi couldn't help it any longer——

What did she want to do—?

Help!

And then just then.

"Good morning."

A pleasant voice suddenly broke in.

Jiang Shizao was stunned for a second. He was almost about to raise his hands—he was almost ready to hold on to the window sill and jump out of the open bus window.

But as the voice rang out, Jiang Shizao saw a young man in a slim-fitting suit walk two steps into the aisle beside him, and then sit down in the empty seat next to him very naturally.

It was the owner of the pleasant voice just now.

...Just a few seconds ago, Jiang Shizao almost thought that the female ghost was going to sit in the same position.

After the young man in a suit sat down, the No. 444 bus finally started off again and headed towards the next stop.

The ghost girl disappeared from the aisle. Everything seemed to happen in the blink of an eye. After the man in the suit appeared, the temperature on the ground and in the carriage returned to normal.

In the few seconds that Jiang Shizao was stunned by the drastic change in the situation, the young man next to him turned his head to look at him.

"Long time no see. Good morning." The young man greeted familiarly.

By the way, the other party seemed to be saying "Good morning" to him just now.

...After confirming that the ghost crisis was temporarily resolved, Jiang Shizao calmed his breathing and heartbeat.

"Good morning." But he wasn't quite sure of his relationship with the young man beside him. Even now, he was still a little confused. Or maybe this was the feeling of surviving a disaster.

Jiang Shizao looked at the young man.

The man was dressed like an elite young man who had already entered society. His features were quite handsome, and it was easy to get a good impression of him at first sight.

Jiang Shizao couldn't help but take a second look. Although it was inappropriate, he was still amazed at the average appearance of the residents of Yuling City.

The young man smiled faintly and chatted with Jiang Shizao naturally: "The company sent me on a business trip for a week. I just returned to Lingcheng yesterday."

"By the way, how's Shi Zao doing lately?"

"I'm fine..." Jiang Shizao replied. But inside he felt a pang of misery, with no one to confide in: No, he's not fine at all.

The young man narrowed his eyes, then subtly regained his friendliness. "High school must be tough, right?"

"Yes." Jiang Shizao nodded heavily.

Lingcheng High School is the core of the entire story. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a hotbed for supernatural events and a headquarters for ghosts.

Although Jiang Shizao tries hard to maintain the image of an ordinary high school student, it does not mean that he will not encounter those supernatural phenomena.

For example, the female ghost that just appeared at the bus stop. Similar ghosts and the supernatural phenomena they cause are numerous in Lingcheng High School.

The only thing Jiang Shizao can do is to ensure his own safety by maintaining his persona.

...and firmly implement the belief: don't look around, don't seek death, and you must survive.

Just then, the young man said, "We work overtime every day at our company, too. There are no buses left by the time we get off work in the evening. And we have to be at the office before 8 a.m." A wry smile lingered in his voice. "It's really nice to talk to you this morning. It's so early."

Before he knew it, the young man next to him had revealed almost all of his information.

Every morning, the young man and Jiang Shizao would take the No. 444 bus at the same time. Jiang Shizao would board the bus at the 14th stop on the South Bank, while the young man's apartment was near the 13th stop.

Over time, the two became friends chatting on the bus.

Jiang Shizao suddenly realized that this was the case. As a former office worker, Jiang Shizao was very empathetic to the people around him.

The other person's situation was probably even worse than his, having to go to the company so early every day. At least the company Jiang Shizao worked at required him to clock in at 9 a.m. But the young man next to him had a schedule almost as fast as a high school student like him.

About a quarter of an hour passed like this. The bus safely drove onto the South Bank Bridge. Jiang Shizao was probably convinced by this time that the female ghost would not appear again.

Now that he thought about it, it was thanks to the appearance of this young man that the female ghost disappeared. Although Jiang Shizao was not sure why - it might be because the young man had taken the seat next to him first.

Grabbed a seat?

Jiang Shizao smiled bitterly at his unfounded thoughts and shook his head. Rather than this speculation, he preferred to believe that it was the young man's vitality that drove away the ghost.

But no matter what, thanks to the young office worker next to him, he no longer has to face the two extreme choices of sitting next to a female ghost or jumping out of the car.

Then again, the residents of Bell City are really enthusiastic.

Whether it was the neighbors who worked at the convenience store or the office workers he met on the way to school, they all gave Jiang Shizao a very good impression.

...and the voices are all very nice too.

The young men around him would also share all sorts of interesting stories with Jiang Shizao. Some of them happened at work, others happened in social life. This was a great change for an ordinary high school student.

No wonder the two of them became bus companions.

"By the way, brother." Jiang Shizao didn't know the young man's name, so he had to call him brother first.

But he didn't know if it was his illusion, the young man's eyes seemed to change suddenly, and those friendly eyes became very deep in that instant.

Jiang Shizao was stunned for a moment, and when he looked carefully, the emotion in the young man's eyes was still as gentle.

...It must have been an illusion just now.

After living in Lingcheng for a few days, I felt a little nervous.

Jiang Shizao sighed slightly in his heart.