Jia Xitong found a black animal scale on her older brother's bookshelf, and ever since then, she has been having the same dream.
In her dream, there was a person whose face she couldn't see clearly, who kept saying he liked her and asking her why she didn't go to him. She would often wake up in the middle of the night because of the dream.
She tried to throw away the animal scales, but they kept reappearing near her.
She didn't dare tell her family about it, so she could only tell her college roommate.
"This is a yin peach blossom, and it also indicates possession by an evil spirit."
“There’s a very efficacious Taoist temple in my area. It’s currently on holiday. Would you like to come with me to pray?”
Her college roommate was the one who came up with a solution for her.
We've been together at school for almost three years, so we know each other very well.
Unable to resist the other party's enthusiastic invitation and her desire to resolve her dream, Jia Xitong followed her roommate onto the bus heading to the Taoist temple.
Because she hadn't been sleeping well lately, Jia Xitong seemed a bit listless after getting on the bus. Her roommate, noticing her state, tried to lighten the mood by chatting with her.
"Tongtong, have you ever heard the ghost stories about buses?"
"What is that?"
When her roommate saw her asking a question, she smiled mysteriously and then took out her phone to search for the ghost stories she had read before.
"That is to say, there are some taboos on the bus at midnight that are not known to others."
"Buses are not allowed to stop on roads where they can see graves."
"If the driver hears a cat meowing, he must not open the car door."
"If the bus is heading west, it absolutely cannot go straight; it must take a winding, circuitous route."
"Pay attention to the number of passengers on the bus. If there is one extra passenger, find him immediately and everyone shout at him until he disappears..."
The bus seemed to have fallen silent, except for the sound of my roommate reciting the rules.
As Jia Xitong listened to this story without a protagonist, she felt the temperature around her drop several degrees, and she got goosebumps.
"Xiao Chu, can we please stop talking about this?"
She tugged at her roommate's sleeve.
"Oh, what's the big deal? It's the middle of the day, and the sun is shining so brightly..."
Her roommate's initially dismissive voice gradually faded as she looked out the window. The bright sunlight had vanished, leaving the outside world dim and yellowish. The car's interior lights were also turned on.
White lights, a quiet cabin, the vehicle travels along the bumpy mountain road, its body swaying constantly.
Everything was so strange...
"Let's...stop talking."
Jia Xitong grasped her slightly cold hand, "Anyway, we'll be at the Taoist temple soon."
Instead of being comforted by Jia Xitong's words, her roommate felt even more terrified. Looking outside, her eyes filled with fear, she said, "But the path to the Taoist temple doesn't lead this way at all."
"Tongtong, how many people were on the bus when we got on?"
"It seems like there are eleven."
Jia Xitong remembered it so clearly because when she boarded the bus, she overheard the driver complaining that with the widespread use of high-speed rail, fewer and fewer people were taking buses. The bus, which had over thirty passengers, only had eleven.
Including the driver, there were a total of twelve passengers.
Just as Jia Xitong was counting the people on the bus, her roommate's voice came softly, tinged with suppressed fear and trembling, "Tongtong, there are thirteen people on the bus right now..."
Her roommate's voice drifted over, and Jia Xitong felt a chill run down the back of her neck.
She finally couldn't hold back any longer and looked at the driver in front of her.
However, through the rearview mirror, she met a pair of white eyes, and Jia Xitong's mind went blank.
She forced herself to look down at her phone, her fingers trembling as she dialed the police. Suddenly, the bus, which had been moving normally, stopped abruptly, and Jia Xitong was thrown forward, slamming against the back of the seat in front of her.
A mournful meow came from outside the car.
The car door opened.
When Jia Xitong looked up again, she saw eleven graves standing not far away.
"Little Chu."
Jia Xitong fearfully reached out to grab her companion, but the other's hand was cold and stiff. She turned her head and saw that her companion was dead.
Her pupils were unfocused, her body was yellowish and stiff, and her mouth was open as if she wanted to speak to remind Jia Xitong.
But I couldn't bring myself to say it.
Her terrified expression was directed at the spot behind Jia Xitong, who at that moment also felt the extremely low temperature and heard a faint, eerie laugh in her ear.
Immediately afterwards, finger marks appeared on her slender neck, and Jia Xitong's face turned bluish-purple from suffocation...
Even more terrifying was the feeling that she was being detached from her body, as if an invisible, extremely cold force was pushing her out of her own body.
Help!
Someone please save her!
At the moment of death, black scales emerged from her pocket, bursting forth in a cloud of black mist.
The black mist fiercely tore apart and devoured the chilling aura that Jia Xitong felt. She only felt a bloody scent enveloping her, and the terrifying atmosphere scared her half to death, causing her to faint.
The next day
Jia Xitong woke up in the hospital.
The white lights and walls made her feel as if she were in another world.
"Tongtong!"
A familiar voice rang out, startling Jia Xitong.
Before she could dodge, her supposedly dead roommate rushed towards her and hugged her tightly, saying, "Tongtong, you scared me to death! How could you suddenly faint on the street?"
What?
Jia Xitong was stunned; they hadn't agreed to go to the Taoist temple together. Then, on the bus, something terrifying and unknown appeared.
My roommate died.
She seems to be dead too...
Jia Xitong remembered the black scales she had tried to throw away countless times but couldn't find them. However, she looked around and searched all her pockets but couldn't find them anywhere.
"Luckily, a kind young man saved you. He came to see you today, you should thank him properly."
As my roommate spoke, an excited expression appeared on his face.
Then he slowly leaned close to Jia Xitong's ear and said, "He's right at the door. So handsome! Remember to ask for his WeChat!"
Upon hearing this, Jia Xitong looked towards the door and saw a tall man dressed in black standing there, looking at her with gentle eyes. "Hello, my name is Shang Yanting."
Hello.
Jia Xitong looked at him and inexplicably thought of the tearing, cold black mist.
"I found this on the ground earlier, is it yours?"
Under Jia Xitong's gaze, the man slowly took out the familiar black scale, the very thing Jia Xitong had lost several times but hadn't thrown away.
Should we throw it away this time too?
Jia Xitong hesitated for a moment, then took it from his hand. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
The man's smile deepened at her actions. He looked at her tightly clutching the dragon scale and said, "Don't throw away important things carelessly."
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