Last Bus of Route 13

The mirror, the one in the accounting classroom-what was wrong with it? I listened intently as the uncle continued his story.

“One day, a mirror suddenly appeared next to the blackboard in the classroom. Ever since it was hung up, it became incredibly popular. There was something about it; students who looked into the mirror felt unusually happy.”

“Happy just by looking into a mirror?” I repeated, puzzled.

“Yes, many students said they saw a much more attractive version of themselves in the mirror, so the whole class ended up using it.”

I squinted, absorbed in the tale.

“And then? How did it lead to suicides?”

“Over time, the students became obsessed with the mirror, losing control over themselves. They fought and cursed each other just to get a chance to look into it. A short-statured student, unable to get his turn, ended up taking his own life.”

I was stunned, my mouth agape. “What?! Just because he couldn’t look into the mirror, he committed suicide?”

I gasped, slumping into my chair in disbelief.

“If the mirror was so sinister, why didn’t the school remove it or smash it? Why is it still hanging there?”

The uncle gave a bitter smile. “Remove it? Easier said than done. Several groups were sent to take it down, but somehow, everyone ended up staring into it, forgetting why they were there. Within days, they all committed suicide. The mirror stayed put, and then everything I told you happened, leaving the school abandoned.”

Listening to this, I felt a sense of familiarity. This mirror that couldn’t be removed reminded me of the copper bell in our company that couldn’t be moved.

Unfortunately, we had Old Liu, but these poor students had no one to save them.

For the first time, with ghosts upstairs, we were downstairs telling ghost stories. Initially, discussing these matters with the uncle felt terrifying, but after hearing the whole story, I felt more pity and sympathy for the deceased students than fear.

Evil spirits truly harm people!

After finishing his tale, the uncle wiped his tears and stared at me, asking, “Where did you get that thing around your neck?”

I was taken aback, realizing he was referring to the Tiger-Patterned Copper Coin hanging around my neck.

This Tiger-Patterned Copper Coin was given to me by Old Liu at the Yao Cave beneath Huyaoshan. Since wearing it, Old Liu never asked for it back, and I got used to it, almost forgetting about it until the uncle mentioned it.

I pulled out the coin and said, “This? A friend gave it to me.”

The uncle stared at the coin for a long time, nodding with a complex expression. “A friend gave it to you? Your friend is quite generous.”

I was about to introduce Old Liu to him, but the uncle closed his eyes, leaning against the wall, too tired to speak further.

Seeing this, I didn’t disturb him. I wrapped myself in a coat and tried to sleep on the table. That night was truly torturous; though my back wound was bandaged and no longer bleeding, the pain was excruciating. I drifted in and out of sleep all night.

At dawn, I got up to call the boy home, only to find the gatekeeper uncle was no longer in the room.

We had just stepped out of the Mail Room when suddenly a loud crash erupted from upstairs. I instinctively pulled the boy behind me, wary of what might happen next.

As the noise subsided, a cloud of dust emerged from the stairway leading to the second floor. What on earth was happening up there?

The boy was safe, and I had heard the story. I really didn’t want to get involved with whatever was going on upstairs.

“Let’s go,” I whispered, gently pulling the boy towards the exit.

We had barely taken two steps when another “boom” echoed through the building, accompanied by an even larger cloud of dust descending from the second floor!

I couldn’t just leave. The gatekeeper uncle was nowhere to be seen, and who knew what was happening upstairs? Could he be in danger?

In broad daylight, my courage seemed to swell. I told the boy to wait for me on the playground and grabbed a brick from the ground, sprinting up the stairs.

Perhaps it was the story uncle told last night that stirred something in me. With the brick in hand, my heart raced with adrenaline, and I felt no fear at all.

Reaching the top of the stairs, I shouted, “Uncle, are you there?”

Though there was no reply, I noticed smoke and dust billowing from the accounting classroom at the end of the corridor. The loud noises must have come from there.

Without hesitation, I strode to the door of the accounting classroom, kicked it open, and looked around the room, but there was still no sign of the gatekeeper uncle.

Before leaving, I noticed the mirror. It was morning, with the sun shining brightly, yet the mirror appeared pitch black from the side. As I glanced at it, an inexplicable urge surged within me―I wanted to look directly into the mirror!

As soon as the thought occurred, my legs moved mechanically, step by step, closer and closer.

Fear gripped me as uncle’s words from last night echoed in my mind: “Everyone who looked into the mirror has died.”

Just as I was about to lose consciousness, the Tiger-Patterned Copper Coin on my chest suddenly became scorching hot, hot enough to fry an egg.

The heat snapped me back to reality, but it was too late. I had already looked into the mirror, and what I saw terrified me. With a scream, I swung the brick in my right hand at the mirror.

“Crash!”

The mirror, which had hung there for over twenty years, shattered into pieces!

Panting heavily, I stood amidst the debris, still unsatisfied, and stomped on the shards with all my might.

Once the mirror was completely destroyed, the classroom became unstable. Desks and chairs wobbled, and cracks spread across the glass blackboard. Terrified, I covered my head and dashed out of the room.

With a thunderous “boom,” the entire ceiling of the classroom collapsed, burying everything inside!

“That was close! But since uncle isn’t in this classroom, I shouldn’t worry.”

Wiping the sweat from my brow, I left the Teaching Building, grabbed the boy waiting for me on the playground, and we ran out of the school together.

I didn’t bother going to the hospital to check my injuries. Fuming with anger, I took the boy home and decided to have a word with Wei Youzhi’s wife.

When I reached their house, I didn’t hesitate. “Bang, bang, bang!” I pounded on the door furiously.

As soon as I knocked twice, the door swung open, and my sister-in-law rushed forward, tears streaming down her face, to embrace the boy.

I let out a cold laugh and said, “Well, well, what a mother you are. So it was you who encouraged the kid to run to the school. I think the one who’s sick is you, isn’t it?”

She looked the boy over from head to toe, seeing he was unharmed, then glanced at my bandaged wound and began to cry, attempting to kneel before me.

That startled me. What on earth was she up to now?

I quickly held her up with both hands and said, “Don’t do this. Explain yourself first. Why would you push your son into the jaws of danger? Do you know we almost died?”

With a sob, she replied, “I just couldn’t bear the thought of losing my son. It’s my fault, but I had no other choice.”

She tried to kneel again, and my temper flared. I shouted, “Cut it out! What’s the point of kneeling? Just tell me what you’re playing at!”

She invited me inside to talk. I wasn’t afraid of her, so I entered and plopped down on the sofa, waiting for her explanation.

Holding her son tightly, she stood across from me and said, “Xiao Zhuzi has had severe headaches since he was little. When they strike, it’s terrifying. We’ve given him all sorts of medicine, but nothing worked. Then the neighbors started saying he had an evil disease and brought in a Yin-Yang master. The master said Xiao Zhuzi’s soul was trapped by a ghost at the school. To cure him, he needed to… swap with someone else.”

Her voice grew softer and softer, until it was barely audible.

I understood. They couldn’t afford a hospital, and the Yin-Yang master had duped them. I guessed the master knew how haunted the Business School was and figured no one would actually go in with the boy to swap lives, so he just made something up to brush them off.

And why did this story sound so familiar? Wasn’t it just like how Old Wu passed Route 13 onto me? Quite the trend, huh?

I took a deep breath. While I pitied the parents’ plight, this was too cruel-sacrificing someone else’s life for their child’s. Everyone’s life is precious.

The mother and son were crying their hearts out in front of me. Anyone who didn’t know better might think I was bullying them. I sighed and said, “Sister-in-law, you’ve clearly been deceived. This isn’t like switching drivers on a bus. If you sent your son and me into that haunted school, what if neither of us made it out?”

Hearing this, she seemed to realize the danger and kept apologizing.

I didn’t want to argue further, so I asked, “Do you know about Brother Wei’s diary box?”

She nodded repeatedly and said, “I know. I actually hid that box. I’ll get it for you.”

She turned and went into the bedroom, soon returning with a large cardboard box dragged out from under the bed.

After rummaging through it, I found nothing but diaries of various sizes. It seemed Old Wei had written quite a lot over the years. The information Old Wu mentioned was probably in these diaries!

I asked if I could take the diaries home to read them slowly. She didn’t even ask why I needed them and quickly agreed.

After we finished discussing the matter, we went to the hospital to get my wound dressed. I also registered the young man for a specialist appointment. After an afternoon of diagnosis and tests, it was determined that the boy had pediatric epilepsy and needed hospitalization.

I knew their family was extremely poor and couldn’t afford the expenses. As a bus driver, I didn’t have much savings either. Helplessly, I called the young man with the Bun Hairstyle and borrowed thirty thousand yuan from him to cover the child’s hospital fees.

My sister-in-law was moved to tears, and she slowly took out an orange notebook from her bag and handed it to me, saying:

“Thank you, you are truly a benefactor to our family. This diary was written by Old Wei when he worked at your company. I don’t know what information you’re looking for, but I think it might be related to what’s recorded in here.”

I accepted the diary book with mixed feelings, realizing she had held onto it as a bargaining chip!

If I hadn’t spent those thirty thousand yuan, she probably wouldn’t have been willing to give me this diary. It’s really hard to fathom people’s hearts!

Once everything was settled, I took a cab back to the inn, arriving after nine o’clock in the evening. The landlady was at the counter and, seeing me return with my wound dressed, sneered:

“Oh, young man, did someone hack you?”

I shook my head helplessly. This woman’s words were unpleasant, and I didn’t want to engage with her. I just wanted to go back to my room and sleep, planning to leave the next day.

Seeing that I didn’t respond, the landlady rolled her eyes at me and continued watching her TV.

Back in my room, I packed my luggage and went to sleep.

At dawn, I went to the bar counter to settle the room fee. As I was taking out the money, the landlady started again, staring at me and saying:

“Young man, you don’t look so good. Did you see a ghost?”

This Fat Woman never had a kind word to say, and I was really fed up. I thought of retorting:

“I did, went to the Business School last night, full of ghosts.”

Upon hearing this, the landlady cracked a melon seed and spat the shell at me, saying:

“With your cowardly look, you dared to go to the Business School? What do ghosts look like?”

I knew why she spoke to me like this; she must have judged me by my appearance, thinking I wasn’t wealthy, and was mocking me.

“Ghosts look just like people,” I replied casually.

“Sister, the Business School isn’t as scary as you think. Stop being so mysterious with everyone; there’s even an uncle guarding the gate.”

The landlady, munching on melon seeds, sneered:

“You’re talking about before? Yes, there was someone guarding the gate. He was good, but it’s a pity…”

I handed her the room fee money and said:

“Pity what? Isn’t it good to have him there, providing an extra layer of protection for the Business School?”

The landlady, gazing at the ceiling at a forty-five-degree angle, said nonchalantly:

“Pity he ended up committing suicide! What’s the point of being a good person?”

Her words suddenly stunned me. Suicide?

I asked in confusion:

“Sister, what did you say? The gatekeeper uncle committed suicide? You must be mistaken. I stayed in his Mail Room last night. Isn’t he short and a bit bald?”

Upon hearing this, the landlady tossed aside the melon seeds and widened her eyes, asking:

“What? You really went to the Business School last night?”

I nodded.

The Sister quickly snatched the money from the bar counter, didn’t give me change, and pushed me out, muttering:

“Get out, get out, get out! That gatekeeper let students in and felt guilty afterward, committing suicide. You must have stayed in a graveyard!”

Before I could react, the landlady pushed me out of the inn and slammed the door shut.

Holding the box of diaries, I stood there in disbelief for a long time.

The gatekeeper uncle was dead!!

…

At the train station, I struggled to load the big box onto the train. Once everything was arranged, I stared out the window in a daze. Goodbye, Mudanjiang. I hoped Xiao Zhuzi’s illness would be cured, and that the haunted Business School would find peace.

Hope…

As I was thinking, the train started moving.

Looking out the window, I saw a smiling face among the crowd seeing me off.

The gatekeeper uncle was standing outside, smiling and waving goodbye to me!