Chapter 204: Visit the camp
"Stop the car, let's switch positions. I'll drive."
Lin Ye didn't want an impaired driver behind the wheel for him.
"You know how to drive?"
Driver Wang looked at Lin Ye with suspicion.
"I watched for a while just now, seems pretty straightforward."
Lin Ye didn't know where this inexplicable confidence came from. Despite never having driven before, he simply felt driving wasn't difficult at all.
"...Maybe I can tough it out a bit longer?"
Driver Wang's face was full of conflict. He couldn't hand over his job to someone who'd never driven, but he really couldn't hold on much longer.
"You're barely conscious. What if we drive off the road later? Better let me try. If I can't handle it, we can switch back."
Watching Driver Wang occasionally shaking his head slightly, Lin Ye had a bad premonition. "...Alright, drive slowly. If it doesn't work out, switch back to me."
Driver Wang pulled the bus over to the roadside and exchanged positions with Lin Ye.
"Why did we stop? We're not there yet, right?"
"Where are we? What kind of godforsaken place is this?"
"Who cares? How can we get lost going to a ruins site?"
"Ah, Teacher Lin switched with Driver Wang. Old Lin actually knows how to drive!"
"I seem to remember he doesn't have a license."
"You must be mistaken."
...
Ignoring the commotion from the students behind him, Lin Ye followed Driver Wang's procedures and smoothly started the school bus.
After just a short while driving, Lin Ye grew familiar with the feeling, as if this wasn't his first time behind the wheel.
"Are you really driving for the first time? How do you feel more skilled than me?"
Driver Wang said incredulously.
"Who knows? Maybe I've driven in my dreams."
Lin Ye didn't understand what was happening to him either. After just one night's sleep, he felt like yesterday's version of himself was somewhat unfamiliar.
"Hey! Watch out ahead!"
Driver Wang turned and saw the figure standing in front of the school bus, shouting loudly.
Lin Ye didn't brake—instead, he floored the accelerator, driving straight through the figure.
Thump!
The figure shattered instantly upon impact, but it left nothing behind—no bloodstains, no flesh fragments.
"What did you do! Stop the car immediately!"
Driver Wang was nearly going mad. This was supposed to be an ordinary ruins visit—he never expected something like this to happen.
"What's wrong? Is there a problem with my driving?"
Lin Ye looked at Driver Wang with a puzzled expression.
"What are you talking about? You hit someone!"
Driver Wang roared angrily.
"Have you been drinking? Or didn't sleep well? I'm just driving normally, didn't hit anything at all. Look in the rearview mirror if you don't believe me."
Lin Ye replied with complete confidence.
"...Strange, really nothing there, but I clearly saw..."
Driver Wang rubbed his eyes vigorously, then looked at the rearview mirror again. No body on the road, no bloodstains, absolutely nothing...
"Close your eyes and rest for a while. I'll handle things from here... Should I take you back?"
Lin Ye said considerately.
"No need... Sorry, probably didn't rest well last night. I'll lay down for a bit, call me if anything happens..."
Driver Wang suspected his eyes were failing him, but he didn't dare speak up, afraid the academy might discover and he'd lose this excellent job.
As a driver, Driver Wang's eyes were certainly fine. Lin Ye had also seen that figure, and he saw it more clearly than Driver Wang—the figure had appeared suddenly in the middle of the road.
That's why Lin Ye drove straight through it. Crashing into strange things seemed to be his instinctive reaction—he hadn't thought twice about it at the time.
As for why he didn't tell the truth, it was because he saw nothing in the rearview mirror.
Sudden appearance, no corpse, eerie figure, his own abnormal state...
These factors prompted Lin Ye to conceal the truth.
His younger sister was also in the bus—he didn't want to stop and investigate.
Lin Ye accelerated the school bus toward the ruins. He didn't know what that figure was, but he hoped to leave whatever it was far behind.
"Teacher, is something wrong?"
Class President Yang Hua walked up behind Lin Ye, leaning on the driver's seat and bringing her head close to Lin Ye's as she asked.
Yang Hua was a very gentle female classmate, quite popular in class—everyone called her Sister Hua.
"Nothing's wrong. Driver Wang didn't sleep well last night. He'll be fine after some rest. Don't worry, it won't affect the field trip."
Lin Ye's voice was cheerful, completely belying that he'd just hit someone.
"I'm not worried about the ruins visit—I'm worried about you, teacher. Are you okay driving alone?"
Yang Hua asked with concern.
"It's fine. I discovered I actually have quite a talent for driving."
Lin Ye unconsciously increased speed, as if this was how it should be.
"Aren't you driving a bit too fast?"
Yang Hua nervously gripped the back of Lin Ye's seat as she asked.
"Go back and fasten your seatbelt. I'm about to accelerate."
Lin Ye's instincts were urging him to go faster... not that he suddenly wanted to race.
'School buses really aren't up to par—can't even get decent speed.'
Lin Ye thought.
"You're just starting to accelerate now?!"
Yang Hua hurried back to her seat and fastened her seatbelt.
Thus, thanks to Lin Ye's excellent driving skills, the school bus drifted into the camp within an hour.
"...Holy shit, I'm actually still alive."
"I'll never mock Teacher Lin behind his back again."
"He actually drifted on mountain roads with this decade-old school bus! I felt like the bus was going to fall apart!"
"Mommy! Waaah!"
"What's wrong with me? I actually found it kinda thrilling..."
"It was thrilling, if only I wasn't in the vehicle."
"He was flying too low."
...
Ignoring the students who lay on the ground as if reborn, Lin Ye walked toward the camp administrator's cabin.
"You must be Teacher Lin, right? Why are you here so early?"
As Lin Ye approached the administrator's cabin, a disheveled fat man emerged from inside, smiling as he greeted Lin Ye.
"Hey, heard there were problems on the main road? So we left early. Turns out the main road was fine—maybe the transportation department already handled it. Is the camp ready? The kids can't wait!"
Lin Ye wore a friendly smile on his face. While pointing out the school bus's location, he glanced back behind him.
No one was following him.
"The main road's fine? The camp? Ah, right, the camp is ready..."
Guided by Lin Ye's words, the fat man glanced toward the school bus's direction.
As Lin Ye turned back, he naturally reached toward the fat man's shoulder as if to pat it, while his other hand moved up from the fat man's blind spot.
The fat man didn't know what this smiling young man intended, but he didn't want to raise Lin Ye's suspicions, so he just smiled at Lin Ye without any extra movement.
Crack!
Before the fat man could react, Lin Ye snapped his neck.
From the fat man emerging from the administrator's cabin to having his neck broken by Lin Ye, the entire process took less than five seconds.