The first to wake up was Ning Wei. She rubbed her aching head and looked around.
"How did I get back on Bus 444?" she asked, a little confused. Without any memory of the time she was unconscious, she appeared rather dim-witted at the moment.
The attendant liked seeing Ning Wei look dim-witted the most. She twisted her body like a snake around the handrail, then stretched her neck down to peer.
She heard the attendant say to Ning Wei in a drawn-out voice, "You need to lose weight. It took me a lot of effort to get you on board."
Ning Wei glanced at her and directly pushed away the rotten, foul-smelling head in front of her.
"You're not heavy, your bones are falling apart, and you stink terribly! Stay away from me, don't make me sick!"
Ning Wei was also sharp-tongued and wouldn't indulge the attendant.
Even though she knew about the attendant's past experiences, and that witnessing them firsthand would evoke sympathy and anger, it didn't stop them from bickering at the moment.
The driver reluctantly scratched his ear, dug out a piece of rotten brain matter, and then stuffed it back in as if nothing had happened.
The attendant and Ning Wei's argument escalated. The two, one human and one ghost, stood with their hands on their hips in the carriage, spewing saliva, neither giving in to the other.
Finally, Ning Wei raised her hand to signal a pause, as her mouth had become dry from talking.
The attendant, having achieved a temporary victory, gave a triumphant peace sign to the driver.
The driver smiled indulgently and continued to look ahead.
Ning Wei lay down in the last row to rest. The attendant floated over and sat beside her.
After a long while, Ning Wei asked, "What exactly happened that night?"
The attendant initially insisted stubbornly, "I'm not telling you."
But facing Ning Wei's serious gaze, the attendant took a deep breath and began to speak slowly.
This was merely a clearance game set against the backdrop of the attendant's and the driver's story. After those people succeeded, the attendant suddenly remembered Ning Wei and the others' choices from previous instances.
It was precisely because of this that she had rushed Ning Wei and the others off the bus, for the attendant knew that they were about to lead a bus full of people to their deaths.
In truth, this clearance was primarily on the bus. If Ning Wei and the others had pretended not to hear or see, they would have met the same fate as the other passengers, going down the hillside with the bus, burning in flames, exploding into pieces, and leaving no remains!
"So, this is how you died?" Ning Wei asked her.
The attendant nodded gently, her eyes filled with hatred as she said, "They were also from the village. Although I didn't know them personally, I recognized their faces. If they had gotten too happy one day and let something slip, I wouldn't be able to live either. Rather than that, it's better to drag these demons to hell with me early!"
"It's not your fault!"
"What?" the attendant didn't understand.
"I mean, they bullied you, and it's not your fault! You are the victim, and you shouldn't punish yourself by sacrificing your life for the mistakes others made."
The attendant hadn't expected Ning Wei to say that, and then there was a long silence.
The others also began to wake up. They had already heard the conversation between Ning Wei and the attendant, so they had remained silent, listening.
"It's all over now anyway, so there's no point in saying this," the attendant said softly.
What had happened was a fact, and regretting it was useless.
"But I don't regret it. Being able to personally punish those five men, as well as those passengers who turned a blind eye, makes me feel incredibly good whenever I think about it!"
"So, have we successfully cleared this level?" Ning Wei asked playfully, blinking her eyes.
The attendant glared at her. Wasn't that asking the obvious?
If they had failed, their bodies wouldn't even be collectible now, and they wouldn't be sitting here bickering.
In fact, the secret to clearing this level lay in the decisions of the attendant and the driver.
If they had been willing to let the passengers pass, it would have been a simple matter.
Ning Wei and her companions had repeated it several times. Each time, because they insisted on helping the attendant, the outcome had changed, leading to restarts.
However, it was precisely because of the continuous repetition that the attendant developed gratitude.
She wondered if it would have been better if Ning Wei and the others had been on the bus back then. At least... at least she would still be alive now.
The attendant and Ning Wei fell silent, and the carriage became very quiet.
Everyone felt drowsy, quietly waiting for the arrival of the next station.
The bus drove forward, and a thin mist slowly climbed up from the bottom of the bus.
Soon, the mist filled the entire carriage, and everyone fell unconscious.
Ning Wei, with her special constitution, was the first to sense that something was wrong.
She looked at the attendant sitting beside her and reached out a hand as if to question her, but only heard the attendant's drawn-out voice: "Sleep. It's all over."
Before Ning Wei completely lost consciousness, she only heard this sentence.
When everyone woke up again, the bus had already arrived at its final stop, the end of their real lives!
"Arrived, arrived! All passengers may now disembark!" This was the driver's gruff voice.
Ning Wei's eyes snapped open, and she found everything to be so familiar.
The others also noticed, but they couldn't believe what they were seeing.
Under the driver's repeated urging, they disembarked one after another.
Standing on the familiar roadside, Song Zhi pinched himself hard. "Are we really back?"
Ning Wei remembered the attendant's words before she lost consciousness and had an answer in her heart.
She hadn't expected it to end so soon. She still felt a sense of unfinished business with those clearance games.
Looking at her six companions beside her, she felt a sense of relief.
Fortunately, she had led them out successfully. Seeing their disbelieving yet overjoyed complex expressions, Ning Wei smiled from the bottom of her heart.
She very seriously and earnestly told everyone, "The game is over. You can go home now."
After saying this, she checked the time. It was ten o'clock, not too late.
"Are you serious?" Yuan Yuan asked Ning Wei repeatedly, afraid that everything before them was an illusion.
Ning Wei had a lot of patience now. She repeatedly confirmed, "It's truly over. You are free, and you can go home."
"However, before we part, I have something to remind you of. Consider it a dream and don't tell anyone about it. I'm not sure what consequences you might face otherwise!"
Everyone nodded frantically and then ecstatically took out their phones to notify their families to come home immediately.
"So, are we really leaving?" Tang Tang wanted to go but hesitated, afraid to move.
Ning Wei smiled, waved goodbye to them, and urged everyone to hurry.
However, after leaving, they still exchanged each other's contact information.
Ning Wei was the last to leave, just as she had in previous clearances. She watched their retreating figures.
After everyone had left, she sat on the platform, feeling the cool night breeze, and instinctively pulled her clothes closer.
After sitting for half an hour, she finally complained, as if speaking to no one in particular.
"You didn't even say goodbye when you left. That's not very nice."
Ning Wei muttered a few more words in a low voice, but what she said was unclear.
It was too late tonight to take a bus back to the Taoist temple, and she didn't want to walk. So, she hailed a taxi by the roadside, intending to find a hotel for the night.
As the taxi drove away, a young man of breathtaking, almost divine beauty suddenly appeared by the roadside.
A smile played on his lips, and he looked with tender eyes in the direction the taxi had left.
"We will meet again very soon, Ning Wei."