Chương 22: 022, Scarecrow
At this moment, Linda was utterly confused and perplexed by the behavior of the man with vitiligo wearing a duckbill cap.
But since he had already turned his head away and was no longer looking at her, she didn't think too much about it, only feeling that perhaps besides the skin condition, there might also be something wrong with the man's mind.
She continued interacting with her live stream audience, but many viewers were sending messages filled with supernatural elements, talking at length about the terrifying urban legends of buses, casting a very spooky atmosphere in the live stream.
So, Linda had no choice but to reply with half-hearted comments every now and then, trying to change the subject.
Actually, she was not very brave, especially in such weather, on such a strange bus, she was even less willing to discuss topics of the supernatural.
Most of the time, the source of fear is multifaceted.
Some people are afraid of the unknown.
Some are simply afraid of the dark.
Some have a fear of heights.
Others fear the ocean.
Simply put, it's a lack of security.
A bus is a closed space that's always moving, and no matter what, it cannot provide the sense of security that comes with standing on solid ground.
And Du Wei, who was sitting on the far left by the window, was multitasking, watching the time on his phone while also observing the man with vitiligo.
At 20:20, he could distinctly feel the bus slowing down and gradually coming to a stop.
The rear door opened, and a gust of cold air blew into the bus, hitting Du Wei and Linda, who were sitting in the back, instantly making them feel a bone-chilling cold.
Outside, the rain poured down heavily, the sky was frighteningly dark, and in the distance, one could vaguely make out an expanse of wheat fields, with a small house lit up somewhere far off within the fields.
Watching the man calmly, Du Wei's heart filled with deep suspicion.
He had lived in New York for a year or two, and before he was afflicted by the Evil Spirit, he too had driven around, exploring the entire city and its suburbs.
However, to his disappointment, the city called New York was not at all as grand as he had imagined.
At best, it seemed like a second-tier city.
But the suburbs of a second-tier city had no so-called wheat fields.
So where on earth was he now?
He immediately opened the GPS on his phone, only to find that it was constantly flashing.
...
At that moment, the man standing by the rear door gestured to Linda, as if he wanted her to come with him.
But Linda was even more confused by the man's action and shook her head without a second thought.
Joking aside, getting off the bus in the middle of the night with a strange man would be madness unless she lost her mind!
Seeing this, the man with vitiligo seemed somewhat angry, emitting a heavy, raspy breathing noise from his throat.
"Ding..."
A sharp and urgent bell rang out inside the bus.
Everyone's eyes turned to the front of the bus, where the driver, who had only shown his back, had pressed the bell.
As the bell stopped ringing, the man with vitiligo stepped off the bus without hesitation, stood outside, raised his head, and looked at Linda inside the bus.
Throughout the entire time, Du Wei had been observant of the man.
While in the bus, due to the duckbill cap, he had not been able to clearly see the man's face, but now, from his higher vantage point and with the man looking up into the bus, Du Wei had a clear view.
He saw.
Under the duckbill cap was a face covered with white patches, reminiscent of a certain moth, but the sight of his eyes brought about an extremely nauseating sense of discomfort.
Where one would expect to find eyes, there were two round balls made up of straw, irregular and somewhat coarsely textured.
But no matter how one looked at it, it invoked an instinctual fear.
In an instant,
Du Wei felt his stomach churn, and a sharp buzzing sound filled his ears as he directly entered into a state of Spirit Vision.
Now, he saw the man outside the bus was actually a corpse, and behind him stood an entity made of straw, just like the scarecrows made by farmers to prevent birds from pecking at their crops.
Two bundles of straw were thrust into the back of the man's head, connecting the two.
There was no doubt that this entity was manipulating the corpse.
Du Wei also noticed that the Scarecrow's left leg had a wound from some kind of blade, and though it was a straw body, it was not hard to understand why the man's left shoulder had sagged when he walked before.
After taking a deep breath, Du Wei felt his scalp tingle—was this thing also an Evil Spirit?
Linda, on the other hand, was terrified into a stupor, trembling uncontrollably, even dropping her phone to the floor. It wasn't until the bus doors closed and it started moving forward that she slumped to the ground, gasping for air violently.
"Heh…"
Linda breathed with difficulty. During those few seconds of eye contact, her mind went blank. She had been unable to even scream, nearly collapsing entirely.
Then she twisted her head, covering her mouth as she looked at the other people inside the bus.
The driver seemed completely unaware of what was happening behind him, continuing to drive.
The black couple was cuddling together, seemingly as if nothing had happened.
Her gaze then shifted to Du Wei, sitting expressionless on the left, which only heightened her sense of terror.
More coincidentally, Du Wei was also looking at her, which scared her so much that she immediately pressed her back against the bus body, her eyes full of fear and caution.
Du Wei looked away, no longer pouring his attention on her, and he felt slightly relieved internally.
He had been worried that this unfamiliar woman would start screaming in fright, but unexpectedly, she managed to keep a bit of composure, which was arguably the best possible outcome in this situation.
After that, the entire bus fell into a silence akin to death.
Under the night sky, the bus continued to move forward as if it would never stop.
Du Wei rubbed his temples, starting to think.
Based on the current situation, Father Tony had made a grave error in judgment.
He assumed that the bus was haunted by an Evil Spirit.
But in reality, this was not the case.
The most abnormal thing at present seemed to be the passengers inside the bus.
A man with vitiligo was actually a corpse controlled by a Scarecrow.
A black couple that remained in their own world the whole time showed no abnormal behavior, because as the bus doors closed, he had exited the state of Spirit Vision.
And the remaining woman seemed the most normal in appearance.
Du Wei had seen Linda's phone screen—she appeared to be a streamer, and for now, she seemed like an ordinary person who unwittingly boarded the bus.
Du Wei exhaled, stopping his contemplation.
For the time being, he could only be sure of two things.
First, the bus didn't seem to pose a danger; it was the passengers that were potentially dangerous, as they might not be human.
Second, the bus had the ability to isolate the state of Spirit Vision. It seemed to follow certain rules, as evidenced by the peculiar Scarecrow that got off the bus as soon as the bell rang, without making any other moves.
Suddenly, Du Wei turned his head to glance at Linda.
Shaking, she held her phone and slowly edged closer.
With fear in her voice, she asked in a barely audible whisper, "I know your name is Du Wei, and you are a psychologist, right?"
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