Chapter 168: Add Ticket
Number One drove the bus away from their line of sight.
Two minutes later, the Captain stopped sending instructions through the earpiece.
Twelve minutes later, an almost identical bus entered their view from the direction the previous bus had come from.
It was like a perfect replay from over ten minutes ago - the bus stopped before them once more, only this time it was Lin Ye who had the helmet placed on his head.
This time, he was Number Two.
On the bus's windshield, there was a blurred stain that looked like uncleaned blood.
If the person who left that stain was Number One, he probably wasn't coming back.
Lin Ye boarded the bus and took the driver's seat.
This was his first time driving this model of vehicle, and with his spiritual energy currently unusable, he couldn't employ the spiritual energy impact driving method. Setting aside other complications, simply avoiding an accident would already be quite an achievement for him.
"Drive." The Captain's voice sounded through the earpiece.
The bus operated like any normal vehicle, with the key inserted below the steering wheel. Lin Ye placed his feet on the clutch and brake respectively, released the clutch, shifted into gear, and pressed the accelerator to start moving.
Not knowing what rules needed to be followed while driving this thing, Lin Ye could only try to make his behavior conform to standard traffic regulations as much as possible.
Although Number One's earlier behavior hadn't been exactly standard, he had only survived about ten minutes anyway, so there was no reference value there.
Lin Ye drove the bus toward the road's end, the Captain's instructions occasionally sounding in his ears, but after one minute, the connection cut off and the Captain's voice disappeared.
The spiritual energy concentration in the environment suddenly increased dramatically, and the roadside was no longer just desolate hard earth - plants began gradually appearing.
The road ahead also underwent changes, transforming from a thirty-meter-wide black concrete road into a twenty-meter-wide gravel path.
Lin Ye used Robert's body to absorb the spiritual energy from the air. While the concentration here was decent, until he adapted to Robert's body, there wasn't much he could accomplish.
After driving forward for another two minutes, Lin Ye spotted a simple bus stop by the roadside where a passenger was waiting.
Lin Ye didn't hesitate much, directly stopping at the station.
He currently knew almost nothing about this anomalous event, so he needed to make various attempts.
The waiting passenger was a man around forty years old wearing an old-fashioned overcoat. The man looked haggard, with messy hair and beard that hadn't been tended to for a long time, emitting a strange odor from his body.
The man stared nervously at the bus, clutching a dirty package in his hand.
Seeing the man still hesitating, Lin Ye pressed the accelerator and closed the door.
Although the other party's body showed severe signs of mutation, he still seemed to retain some rationality. Lin Ye felt it would be better if he didn't board.
But just before the door fully closed, the man squeezed through the gap and got on the bus.
The moment the man boarded, what should have been the coin slot automatically opened, revealing a space where items could be inserted.
Lin Ye glanced at that space - it was pitch black inside, bottomlessly deep, completely imperceptible.
When he first boarded, Lin Ye had tried to perceive the bus's internal structure, but his mental energy couldn't penetrate this vehicle.
Neither Number One nor Lin Ye had triggered the coin slot space when they boarded.
The man clearly knew some information about this bus. He placed that dirty package into the coin slot space, and after receiving the package, the slot automatically closed. The man glanced at Lin Ye, then went to sit in the middle section of the vehicle by the window on the right side.
Lin Ye wasn't in a hurry to communicate with the man. Judging by the man's condition and behavior, he didn't think the man would know any information useful to him.
Unlike the calm Lin Ye, Yang Lin nervously observed their surroundings. Although this was his first time riding this bus that usually only appeared in rumors, he had collected many stories about this bus before entering the station.
Lin Ye continued driving forward along the road. The first passenger seemed relatively stable, but he didn't think subsequent passengers would all be this 'ordinary.'
The gravel road extended forward as if without end. Since there were no other vehicles on the road, Lin Ye pressed the accelerator and gradually began increasing speed.
As the vehicle's speed kept rising, Lin Ye finally found some feeling of driving - this was his first time driving at such a lukewarm, unhurried pace.
A three-meter-tall humanoid mutation creature abruptly appeared in the middle of the road.
Seeing the suddenly appearing monster, Lin Ye showed no intention of turning the steering wheel. Instead, he floored the accelerator and crashed straight into the monster.
Bang!
The monster was sent flying by the bus. Lin Ye slightly turned the steering wheel, making one set of tires run over the monster's body.
An ordinary person simply couldn't execute such precise maneuvers at this distance.
Yang Lin was utterly stunned. When the monster appeared, he had prepared himself for emergency braking, completely unexpected of this outcome.
Lin Ye kept the accelerator floored, continuing to accelerate. Speed meant power - as long as he was fast enough, he'd see what ghostly thing dared block his path.
After driving like this for a while, the road ahead changed once more, transforming back into black concrete, with the width increasing somewhat.
Another bus stop appeared alongside the road ahead, with several passengers waiting there.
Seeing the station, Lin Ye began decelerating, eventually stopping the bus perfectly aligned with the station.
This time's passengers were a relatively complete family - a neatly dressed couple, an adorable child, and two elderly people with graying hair.
This family also carried wrapped 'tickets,' but when they saw Lin Ye and Yang Lin on the bus, they put away their packages. Ignoring the opened coin slot space, they moved toward the back of the bus.
Lin Ye watched through the rearview mirror as they took seats in the very last row. These people had boarded without paying.
They had prepared tickets but didn't submit them - they were planning to make someone else pay their fare.
Lin Ye accelerated his absorption of spiritual energy. He certainly didn't have the hobby of paying others' costs.
Not long after leaving the station, Lin Ye felt the seat beneath him beginning to absorb his spiritual energy and flesh. It wasn't obvious at first, but this absorption gradually increased.
Lin Ye accelerated and sent another road-blocking monster flying before slowing down and pulling over to the roadside.
"Do you have some problem with this?"
Seeing Lin Ye stand up and move toward the back, the man who appeared to be the husband in that family also stood up with a weapon and approached Lin Ye.
When they reached a certain distance, Lin Ye didn't waste words. He directly and skillfully manipulated spiritual energy to form a spiritual energy blade, stabbing it into the man's vital points from behind.
"Ah... ah... ahhh..."
The man hadn't expected Lin Ye to attack directly, nor had he guarded against attacks from behind. All he could do was collapse miserably at Lin Ye's feet.
Lin Ye calmly lifted the man and walked to the driver's position. The coin slot space opened. Lin Ye cut open the man's body and began stuffing him piece by piece into the coin slot space.
Since he didn't want to buy a ticket, he could become the ticket himself.