The night is very deep tonight; the moonlight pours down, but the ground remains dark.
The bus quickly left the concrete road and entered the uneven path. On the potholed ground, the bus was like a small boat being pushed forward by the waves.
The driver remained silent, mechanically shaking the control lever and turning the steering wheel, while the conductor slumped in her seat, fast asleep. The noisy carriage gradually quieted down as the bus drove further and further away, and the children and the elderly began to drift off to sleep.
The temperature inside the car dropped without anyone noticing.
Zhu Qian, who was huddled in the last row by the window, shivered in her sleep and suddenly woke up.
When she opened her eyes, she found that the bus had stopped at some point, and everyone else in the carriage was fast asleep, some even snoring.
only……
Only one side of the car headlights was on, illuminating the road ahead. Zhu Qian sat up and stared intently, only to see a patch of lush green weeds, which looked like a remote, barren mountain meadow, without even a path.
Zhu Qian rubbed the skin on her arms, which were covered in goosebumps from the cold.
"Master, where are you? Why have you stopped?" After saying this, Zhu Qian froze. She realized that she was exhaling hot air as she spoke, which should have been a few degrees below zero.
If she weren't wearing short sleeves, she might have thought it was already deep winter.
If I remember correctly, it's only mid-October now. The temperature has dropped a bit, but it's not cold yet. Keep in mind that this is in the south, where temperatures drop to several degrees below zero in December and January.
"Master, Master!" Feeling something was amiss, Zhu Qian stood up and shouted, but the male driver sitting in the driver's seat did not respond at all, and the other sleeping passengers also remained silent.
At that moment, Zhu Qian was afraid.
She reached out and shoved the middle-aged man in the front seat. He had been snoring the loudest before, so why had he suddenly stopped? But as soon as her hand touched the back of his shirt, she felt as if she had pressed against an ice sculpture. She couldn't help but shiver and then sneezed loudly. Ouch, so cold!
Zhu Qian reflexively withdrew her hand; this time, she truly realized something was wrong.
She quietly took out the chili powder and pepper powder she carried with her from her backpack; these things could buy her time to escape.
She roughly counted; there were 28 passenger seats in the entire carriage, but including her, there were only 15 people sitting there, not including the driver and attendants. She was sitting in the last row, all alone, while each row in front of her had one or two people. The closest people to her, besides the snoring man, were a grandfather and grandson. Zhu Qian slung her backpack over her shoulder, quickly moved to sit behind the grandfather and grandson, and reached out to pat them. This time, she felt a chilling coldness once again.
Considering that her screams hadn't woken anyone, she figured she'd probably encountered something supernatural. Having made this judgment, Zhu Qian didn't dare delay. Her intuition told her that she had to get off the bus as soon as possible.
The old, dilapidated bus had only one door, and the rope to open and close that door was held by the conductor at the front. She didn't know what would happen if she went there; if she disturbed something bad, she might not survive. Therefore, the only way out she could imagine was… Zhu Qian turned her head and quickly returned to her seat.
The window next to her seat opened to the left and right. Because she was afraid of getting carsick, she left it open with a gap of five or six centimeters. A slightly cool breeze blew in from the gap, and for a moment she couldn't tell whether it was a dream or reality.
Looking around, there was no movement. Everyone was still oblivious to their impending doom, slumped in their chairs. Zhu Qian reached out and pushed the window, then pulled it to the left. Miraculously, it opened.
Zhu Qian's eyes lit up, and she grinned. She estimated the size of the window and was just about to crawl out when she saw illusory figures starting to appear around the bus, one after another, scattered around the bus. From two or three to a group, in the blink of an eye, men, women, young and old gradually filled every empty space.
As the number of people around the car increased, Zhu Qian felt like her scalp was about to explode.
She wanted to scream, but for some reason the sound was stuck in her throat and she couldn't get it out.
She stared blankly at those people, but they all looked straight ahead, with the same goal, as if something was guiding them from there.
It was at this moment that the car suddenly started moving again, but without the sound of an engine. The car moved forward silently, hovering and shifting, step by step, like the slow movements of an old man.
Cold sweat seeped from his temples.
What to do? What to do? It's obvious that if she jumps now, she'll die! She'll definitely die!!
Driven by the will to survive, Zhu Qian shrank back and crawled under the seat. When she turned her head, her pupils dilated in shock. She covered her mouth tightly with her hand, her wide eyes filled with extreme fear. She realized that, without her noticing, everyone in the car had stood up. Their eyes were fixed, their faces were pale, and they stood silently in their seats, just like the people outside the car, all staring in the direction the headlights were pointing.
Beyond the fog, Yuan Zhuan frowned as he looked at the tail of the car gradually disappearing ahead.
At this moment, Wu Tianqing also realized that it might not be a normal car, so he asked, "Master, should we still chase it?" With his master around, he was not afraid of anything, not even going to heaven or the earth.
"There's only one road left! Stop the car, we're running late!" We're almost there.
squeak……
After the car braked suddenly, Yuan Zhuan disappeared from the back seat.
Inside the maze, Zhu Qian suddenly felt a chill on the top of her head, a sensation of being watched by a crowd coming from above.
She dared not look up, but her trembling body told her that it was over... it was really over this time.
After the extreme fear subsided, her calm mind began to break free from her control. She slowly raised her head and looked over.
The next second, "Aa ...
A series of pale, smiling faces hung above her head.
Zhu Qian's eyes rolled back, and she fainted.
The next instant, the person and backpack appeared on the dirt road, and the person was already lifeless.
"Master, he's fainted." Bai Jianqiang stepped forward and checked his breathing.
"Take her with you, let's go."
"yes."
As the car lights came on again, Yuan Zhuan met the resentful gazes reflected in the rear window of the departing bus through the car window, and a smile appeared on his lips.
With a slight parting of his lips, he uttered the four-word mantra, "Subdue Yin and Subdue Demons!" which transformed into a golden Sanskrit chant that followed him directly.
Wu Tianqing turned the steering wheel, and the car turned around. A shrill scream came from behind, and it was hard to tell if it was a man or a woman.
Yuan Zhuan's gaze fell on the woman beside him, and he was surprised to find that she was an acquaintance, an 'acquaintance' he had never met.
It turns out that he had a past connection with her.
"Master, shall we go home?"
"Um."
As for Zhu Qian, Yuan Zhuan simply found a hotel and sent her in, setting up a protective barrier at the entrance to avoid any unnecessary trouble.
The next day, Zhu Qian opened her eyes and her mind went blank for a moment. When she came to her senses and recalled what had happened the night before, she suddenly sat up in bed and let out a heart-wrenching scream.
"Which crazy vixen is yelling about being in heat so early in the morning?!"
"Who's going crazy?! It's not even dawn yet!!"
"Holy crap! Holy crap..."
A string of curses outside silenced Zhu Qian and brought her back to her senses.
She finally remembered to look around, and the distinct hotel atmosphere immediately reminded her that she was in a hotel.
How is that possible?
She clearly got into the car from home and never got out! Until those terrifying things happened.
But... wait... she wasn't trembling or scared anymore.
Zhu Qian raised her hand to her chest, surprised at how strong her ability to accept things had become.
So, was it just a dream? Or did we really encounter it? It was a dream, a nightmare.
She must have come in here by herself.
Zhu Qian tried to reassure herself, then noticed her backpack was neatly placed on the bedside table, but...
It was covered in filth and dust, as if it had rolled around in dust, so dirty that it was unsightly.
Zhu Qian finished washing up in a daze when there was a knock on the door.
"Miss, you haven't paid your room fee yet. The girl who brought you here last night said you'd pay it yourself when you woke up, so I didn't wake you." She was carried in by the girl's brother, and she almost wanted to hug her tightly. If the girl hadn't shown her student ID, she would have definitely called the police.
"The little girl who brought me here?" Zhu Qian asked in confusion.
After the waiter completed the check-in procedures, he told her about what happened last night.
Zhu Qian was filled with doubt. Yuan Zhuan? She didn't know him.
Is it a child? Beiyu Affiliated Middle School?
The receptionist said the brother and sister hadn't left a phone number, so she gave up on the idea of finding someone to thank them. They probably didn't want to cause her any trouble by not leaving any information.
However, her gratitude was genuine; since she couldn't find the two people, she could only express her heartfelt thanks.
Yuan Zhuan naturally didn't take the evening's incident to heart. However, some destinies, no matter how many twists and turns they take, will eventually return to their proper course.
The marketplace is like a battlefield; blocking someone's path to wealth is like killing their parents.
People die for wealth, birds die for food!
Yuan Zhuan only found out that Cao Ming had been taken away after receiving a call from Cao Nan.
"Master, I've done everything I can to find someone to negotiate with. I've said all the right things and offered the best terms, but it's no use. That Wang Jin is a ruthless scoundrel. The entire underworld of Beiyu City treats him with deference, not for any other reason than his wicked nature. He's like a chosen one; no one can kill him. Whatever he wants, he always gets it easily. Whatever he sets his sights on never escapes his grasp." Cao Nan rushed to the company and, without bothering with pleasantries, went straight to the point.
These past few days, he has been rushing around trying to save people, but little did he know that all his efforts would be in vain.
Wang Jin wanted his father-in-law to step down and let his supporter take the position.
My father-in-law is only in his fifties and can work for at least another ten years. Even if he had a thick skin, he couldn't bring himself to quit his job for his younger brother. He didn't even have the courage to mention this condition to his wife.
"Is Tenth Street the fuse?" Yuan Zhuan hit the nail on the head.
Cao Nan paused for a moment before nodding, "Yes."
"I understand, I will bring Cao Ming back."
"Then thank you, Master." Cao Nan stood up and bowed to Yuan Zhuan, but she avoided it.
"You don't need to thank me, this is all my fault. You can go now, I need to go and make preparations."
"good."
After watching Cao Nan leave, Yuan Zhuan used an array to deduce Cao Ming's birth chart: "Deep in water and scorching in fire!"
"Yuan Sun, come with me for a bit." Yuan Zhuan prepared the talismans he might need and found Yuan Sun, who was diligently teaching at the boxing gym.
"What are you doing?" Yuan Sun looked at Yuan Zhuan's features with suspicion, but found no indication that she was about to travel far away.
Accompanying them this time were Wu Tianqing, Bai Jianqiang, and Yuan Sun, the old man and the young woman.
“That Wang Jin has quite a few men under his command…” Wu Tianqing began to tell Yuan Zhuan about Wang Jin.
The next second, Yuan Zhuan opened the huge cloth bag slung across his shoulder. Wu Tianqing immediately saw the colorful little paper figures inside and his scalp tingled. He could imagine what Wang Jin and the others would encounter.
The van sped off in a certain direction.
Mountain underground boxing gym.
In the underground boxing gym filled with violence and bloodshed, the late hour was the height of the battle. The roars and the beast-like clashes were stimulating the nerves of the audience and participants, whose passion had reached its peak.
"Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!"
"Kill him! Kill him!!"
"Cheer! Cheer! Cheer!"
The audience had gone wild, with screams echoing continuously from the stands.
Above the ring was a small bleacher stand, less than five square meters in size, which offered a panoramic view of the entire arena. This stand was never sold to the public, but today, several people were standing on it.
They drank tea and chatted, their eyes occasionally sweeping down as if searching for something.
"Brother Jin, Cao Ming hasn't eaten for four days. If this continues, I'm afraid it won't work." The middle-aged man with a receding hairline stood hunched over next to the stool, looking troubled. Although it wasn't hot, he was covered in sweat.
On the stool, the handsome young man remained indifferent, as if he hadn't heard a thing.
"Baldy, can't you see that Brother Jin is in a good mood today? Don't let those trivial matters spoil Brother Jin's mood for watching the match. Hurry up and get lost!" The tall, burly bearded man kicked the middle-aged man away. The force wasn't great, but it was enough for the middle-aged man to kneel down with a thud.
After kneeling on the ground, the middle-aged man didn't rush to get up. Instead, he wiped his sweat and continued to plead, "Brother Jin, if Cao Ming gets into trouble, our entire business community will be in trouble, and our chamber of commerce will collapse. That old man is no pushover, and besides, he has the backing of that guy in Kyoto. We really can't afford to offend him!" The man's voice choked with fear.
He came to Wang Jin for his own selfish gain, hoping to intimidate him and earn some benefits for himself. Little did he know that Wang Jin was even more reckless this time than before. In the past, he would only mess with the underlings, but now he was going straight for the higher-ups. If something went wrong, not only him, but everyone involved would be going to jail.
That old man was no pushover; in his youth, he was even more formidable than Wang Jin.
When a tiger closes its eyes, it doesn't mean it won't eat people; it means it's full.
If people actually believe that tigers lose their animalistic nature after they've eaten their fill, and then approach them, they'll only face certain death.
He dared not gamble, nor could he afford to.
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