The Gentleman at the End

[Telling a story], in Yi Chen's view, isn't it also a malignant entity?

But strangely, neither Yi Chen nor anyone else felt any threat from this old woman.

Jin cast his gaze towards Yi Chen, seemingly already considering him the captain of this mission, and then made a throat-cutting gesture with his thumb.

"Should I kill her?"

Seeing that Yi Chen did not respond, it seemed as if he left the right of choice to Jin to decide.

The old woman, seeing that no one answered her question, took it upon herself to prepare to tell her story. Just as she was about to speak, she found her tongue was already covered in ulcers, and within seconds, her body underwent complete cancerous transformation and died swiftly.

Plop~ As her body fell heavily to the ground, bright red lotuses bloomed over her surface, and even the glow seeping from the flowers slightly illuminated the carriage.

With the old woman's death, everything seemed to quiet down, but the sense of danger lurking in the shadows did not seem to dissipate.

Not long after,

the vehicle reached the next station, and another passenger boarded, still in the same black attire, but this time it was a mature woman. She too went to the middle of the carriage, holding onto a strap.

"Everyone, I just heard a very interesting story. Would you like to hear it?"

As soon as she finished speaking, cancer struck, and she leaned against the previous old woman's body, covered in red lotuses.

Jin had not yet come into contact with evil and didn't know what a malignant entity was. Curious, he asked, "Mr. Yi, what would happen if we don't stop them and let them continue to tell stories?"

"The malignancy might project into reality directly through the stories they narrate, having a direct impact on us. It's a conceptual entity that will ignore any illness effects on us, causing harm to our biological concept.

Of course, if your illness can reach the conceptual level, it might be able to block it.

My lower half and William's right eye were lost dealing with a malignant entity.

The main purpose of coming here is to search for traces of William while avoiding contact with the malice of this world as much as possible. When we return to Body City, we will handle related events as new recruits to satisfy our curiosity."

"Stories come true? Sounds interesting. No wonder William got so captivated by this kind of thing that his heart went off to other realms. Such conceptual power, a power capable of annihilating gods, who wouldn't want it?

Speaking of which, since we're avoiding contact with[Evil]this time, how long do we have to stay on this bus? Why not get off and use our abilities to search for William's location directly."

Yi Chen dismissed Jin's suggestion with a wave,

"No… The reason we're searching for William's traces in this world is because someone guided us here. I suspect the person guiding us from the shadows is William himself.

Therefore, just follow the natural course. If William indeed wants to see us, he should continue giving guidance once we arrive in this world.

This bus, which arrived just in time, might be part of the guidance."

"Alright~" Jin didn't ponder further, whoever got on would immediately be affected by her plague and quickly succumb to cancer.

Lorrian just sat quietly in the last row, peering out to the moon hidden between the clouds,

while Reagan had his eyes closed, seemingly Sensing something.

The bus drove past three more stations, with passengers of similar attire but different identities boarding, all with the purpose of sharing stories.

All were left to Jin to handle, while Yi Chen tried to observe this world as much as possible to discern any missed details.

It can be confirmed that this world is basically identical to the world Yi Chen experienced before his Life, currently in a big city,

with the time being[01:40]

Due to the curfew, all shops on the streets were closed, and there wasn't a single wandering figure to be seen, not even stray cats or dogs.

Clearly, the bus's appearance was abnormal; looking at the driver through the rearview mirror, there was just a pale, bloodless face, and the driver hadn't blinked once from the time they boarded till now.

When the fourth station was reached, the bus's broadcast sounded.

"Balloon Road has arrived. Please transfer for buses 011, 139, and 1910, and passengers heading to the new trade mall, please alight at this station."

Upon hearing the key numbers, Yi Chen decisively got off,

and when all four got off the bus, those passengers who should have died from cancer stood up, with red lotuses still embedded in them.

They hadn't come back to life, but some unknown Power had them stand like puppets, and they all uniformly raised their right arms, waving goodbye.

At this moment,

the moon, supposedly hidden by clouds, seemed like it had grown its arms, forcibly parting the fog to reveal itself, a beam of Moonlight precisely shone on the bus.

A terrifying scene unfolded.

The bus, which previously appeared normal, revealed a flesh and Blood form under the Moonlight, resembling a fat person with a huge belly and limbs transformed into wheels.

The belly of the fat person was hollow, allowing a view of the inside of the carriage,

those passengers who liked telling stories grew a nerve from the back of their heads connected to the bus, with dozens more being dragged behind the 'bus' by the nerves from their brains, rendered a bloody mess from the dragging.

At each station, a person would be randomly chosen to board and tell the passengers a story.

Yi Chen softly commented:

"The Malice's infiltration into the world can even disguise itself as public transport within human society, yet it maintains the 'function' of the transport itself, appearing most likely only at night, affecting those traveling at night in the form of a 'last bus.'

However, as long as you don't listen to the stories, the Malice itself won't become hostile.

Only by fulfilling all conditions—traveling at night, boarding, and listening to stories—does one fall into danger… how interesting.

The evil here seems to operate according to certain 'Rules.' Of course, it might just be an isolated case."

Jin grinned beside him, thrilled by the fresh experience.

The group temporarily stayed at the bus station, waiting quietly for the arrival of bus 1910, but after half an hour, no such bus arrived.

"Do we have to wait till morning for the bus service to officially start? If I were William, I wouldn't waste time this way."

Yi Chen's gaze returned to the current station name—[Balloon Station].

The balloon keyword naturally reminded him of Art,

just then, a voice from the small grape within him said, "Mr. Yi, I've discovered something, I'll share a remote Vision with you now."

"Okay."

As a Vision window from the small grape emerged in his mind, it showed the new trade mall across the street, with balloons floating inside the dark windows that were hard to discern with the naked Eye.

The arrangement of those balloons formed a string of English characters.

「come in」

The English characters formed by the balloons made Yi Chen 90% sure that it was William's guidance, but he didn't quite understand why William wanted to 'meet' this way.

Crossing the street to the entrance of the large mall, the main doors which should have been locked tight were completely open, even with two incomplete mannequins placed as if they knew they would arrive tonight.

As the group stepped into the mall,

Squeak~ the sound of metal scraping came from the darkness.

A doll with a bright red smile appeared, riding a child's bicycle out of the dark, holding a red balloon in its hand.

As Lorrian wanted to summon Moonlight again to reveal the doll's true form,

the Moonlight was completely blocked by the red balloons packed at the top of the building, unable to shine inside. When he wanted to use the Moon Transformation Disease to Sense William, he couldn't get any Sensory response at all.

At this moment, the doll came before them, its mouth opening as it began playing the tape installed within.

"I want to play a game with you, the winner shall receive my reward!"