Mysterious Revival

The time showed 5:30 in the morning.

Nearly twelve hours had passed since Yang Jian boarded this public bus.

During this period, there had been three stops, one engine failure, and one time passing through a bizarre graveyard... Although the duration of the journey wasn't long, the danger within it was unprecedented.

Those who got on this public bus were essentially plunged into a nightmare-level paranormal event. You might survive once, but it would be much harder to survive a second or third time; eventually, you would be killed.

"When did streetlights start appearing around us? Does this mean things are back to normal? Has this bus finally ended that horrific route?"

Yang Jian kept his eyes on the scenery outside the window.

At this moment, he noticed that, without knowing when, rows of streetlights had suddenly appeared alongside the dimly lit highway.

The streetlights extended ahead and behind, illuminating the entire road, making everything clear and visible; the gloom and ominous atmosphere were gone. There were even several trucks passing by in the early morning.

"If this bus stops and opens its doors in the city, you'd better get off immediately. This is one of the few chances you have, otherwise, the longer you stay on this bus, the less likely you are to ever get off," suddenly, at this time, Lin Bei, who had fallen asleep, woke up.

He abruptly reminded Yang Jian.

"Judging from your tone, you don't plan to get off, do you?" Yang Jian voiced the doubt in his heart.

He had been suspicious before.

Xu Feng and Lin Bei had had chances to get off. They could have left when he boarded during the day, but they didn't.

So Yang Jian guessed that the two men had chosen to stay on the bus of their own free will. Continue your journey on empire

Lin Bei said, "It's not that I don't want to get off; I can't. Actually, this isn't a secret. I'll tell you anyway. When I boarded earlier, a senior who had been trapped on the bus told me, this bus has a strong suppressive effect on malevolent spirits. You saw it before."

"Four ghosts were on the bus, yet they didn't kill a single ordinary person."

"The more dangerous a place, the safer it is—there's some truth to that saying. So, you two are staying on this bus to save your lives?" Yang Jian's gaze shifted subtly, and he immediately made a connection, "I've observed your conditions before, especially Xu Feng.

The malevolent spirit has completely influenced his body; he only retains his own consciousness, which would be absolutely impossible outside."

"A normal spirit controller, under such influence, would have died from the spirit's rebirth, but here he hasn't."

"The bus can limit ghosts, so it can also restrict the ones inside you. By staying here, can you avoid death from the spirits' revival?"

Lin Bei smiled, "You observe closely and your speculation is accurate. Yes, staying on this bus indeed avoids death from the spirits' revival. In fact, both Xu Feng and I are already in a state of spirit rebirth, but due to the bus's suppression, we have not died."

"This situation is quite exceptional because, for now, the problem of spirit rebirth is almost unsolvable, only manageable through the mutual restraint of controlling a second spirit to achieve a balance.

But that's just a temporary solution, and soon the balance will break as the spirit controllers continue to use the power of the spirits, leading to both spirits resurrecting together, resulting in an even faster death."

"Whereas on the bus, there's no need to control a second spirit to maintain the so-called balance. When a reborn spirit can't kill, you never have to worry about dying. No matter how the spirit inside you awakens, it only adds to your strength."

"But avoiding death comes at quite a cost," Yang Jian said.

Xu Feng, with a cold expression, said, "To be alive is the best outcome. Any price is worth paying. You haven't experienced the horror of a spirit's rebirth when you feel your life being gradually stripped away by the ghost in your body, the despair, fear, powerlessness... like a drowning person desperately grasping for the last straw for life."

"Really? But staying like this, you might have to stay on the bus for life. What's so good about being alive? Wait, no, something's wrong. When you got off the bus earlier, why didn't you die from the spirit rebirth?"

Yang Jian suddenly caught a loophole in their words.

Lin Bei touched his bald head, "Actually, it's nothing much, it's just that we've been here a long time. The spirits, being suppressed for such periods, seem to gradually enter a dormant state. In that state, we can control a fully resurrected spirit, but not for long. After a limit, the spirit will still be stimulated to awaken and will still kill us."

Upon hearing this, Yang Jian immediately thought of his own situation.

Their circumstances were very similar to his own past attempt at suicide by hanging. They too were using the forced capabilities between spirits to suppress each other.

But Yang Jian's method was more violent, and its effects were substantial; it was akin to going all-in.

Win and you have it all, lose and you're left with nothing.

Their method, however, was more gentle, akin to buying insurance and living off the interest. It might not yield much, but it triumphed in being safer.

"Even if we don't have to stay here forever, according to what you're saying, it's still a considerably long period of time. And there are dangers along the way, it's not always safe just staying on the bus," Yang Jian said,

Lin Bei said, "As long as we can keep staying, we'll leave eventually. The longer you stay on the bus, the longer the ghost inside your body remains asleep. I've been here for six days, got off the bus twice. The day I boarded, I should have died when the fierce ghost awoke, but I was lucky and survived on the bus.

The third day I got off, the fierce ghost awoke after three minutes, but now, the time it takes for my fierce ghost to awaken is about ten minutes, and in the meantime, I can control a revived ghost without any concerns."

"Incredible, isn't it? The longer you stay, the longer you can control the awakened fierce ghost. Perhaps if someone stays for a few months, that ghost might just fall into a complete sleep."

"That's enough, Lin Bei. You've said enough. You should keep such important information a secret."

Xu Feng stared at Lin Bei, clearly dissatisfied with his attitude in revealing secrets.

Lin Bei said with a smile, "He has a chance to get off alive, he should take this message out. We, who can't leave the bus, might die on it any day. Do you plan to take this secret to the grave? Besides, the intelligence we've obtained was kindly left behind by the earlier ghost riders, who were among the first to figure it out at the cost of their lives."

"If the clues break off here, the next ghost riders to board will have to start from scratch, how many people will die unnecessarily?"

"So it took you studying Buddhism until now to remember you're a chanter? Where was your good heart earlier, why didn't you save those passengers?" Xu Feng scoffed, "What fake compassion."

"My ability is limited, I can't save others, so I simply close my eyes and sleep, knowing nothing, seeing neither death nor despair."

Lin Bei spoke up, "So I only do what I can. There's a saying, 'To save others, one must first save oneself.' Even though I don't rescue people, I also do not harm them."

"What's the difference?" Xu Feng said skeptically, "You're still just a bystander."

Yang Jian ignored their accusatory banter and cut straight to the point, "According to what you're saying, this bus is the last hope for ghost riders close to awakening? Despite the risks, getting on is worth it."

"You can't understand it that way, this bus can't be controlled, who knows what supernatural places it will drive to? I haven't been on the bus for long, but I've experienced two engine failures, one with a full load, and another with ghosts blocking the road, both big crises. Even though I can control an awakened fierce ghost, surviving is still not easy."

"The previous ghost riders all died, he and I are the same in being able to control a perfectly awakened ghost, but his ability to protect himself was not adequate, so he died. I remember hearing from a surviving ghost rider that the longest someone survived on this bus was a full two and a half months, though I don't know if it's true."

"Survived two and a half months? Did that person die?" Yang Jian asked, somewhat surprised.

This bizarre bus constantly faced emergencies, yet someone managed to endure for so long.

"No, he got off. As for whether he died later, no one knows. In any case, he never came back to the bus," Lin Bei said.

Two and a half months?

That would be over seventy days.

Surviving even one day on this bus is tough, let alone more than seventy. That survivor must have been exceptionally skilled.

"Seventy days of suppression, the ghost inside his body might have gone from a sleeping to a crashed state. Maybe he, like me, perfectly controlled an awakened ghost. Riding the bus is different from hanging yourself, but the result is the same." Yang Jian felt that the person who survived over seventy days didn't die.

But was hiding in some city.

However, even if someone truly survived by this method, Yang Jian didn't envy them.

Others had to endure over seventy days to succeed, who knows how many close brushes with death they faced. If they managed to perfect the fierce ghost, they earned it.

Nevertheless, Lin Bei's words affirmed Yang Jian's thoughts.

There are indeed some people in the world who, by various means, start down a path to completely control fierce ghosts.

Those fortunate and successful weren't just Yang Jian, he wasn't the only lucky one.