Last Bus of Route 13 - Chapter 109 - Bull's-eye Person

Maybe I was being overly sensitive, but the moment I heard “bull’s-eye,” I was startled.

I bent down to pick up the cigarette that had fallen to the ground and quickly slipped out of the supermarket.

I didn’t return to the office. Instead, I hailed a cab and went straight to Old Liu’s house. To my horror, Old Liu wasn’t home!

Staring at his tightly shut front door, my heart sank halfway to the floor.

It was nearing noon now, with more than ten hours left in the day. The blood disaster hadn’t arrived yet-how was I supposed to get through tonight?

I called Bun Hairstyle to ask about the search for the wooden figure. When he told me there were no leads yet, I decided not to go over. Instead, I took a cab back to the company dormitory.

The wood carving business could wait. Today was the 15th day of the lunar month-everything else had to take a backseat.

Once inside, I stripped off my clothes and burrowed under the covers. Last month, I had nearly died because of Liu Yunbo’s “The Gate Where a Hundred Ghosts Cry.” But now, here I was, alive and well. I refused to believe that if I stayed obediently in bed, wrapped up in my little blanket and going nowhere, a car could drive into the dormitory or a bomb could drop on me. What other accidents could possibly happen?

After smoking a cigarette, sleepiness overtook me, and I drifted off.

When I groggily woke up, it was already dark. Xiao Liu was nowhere to be seen, likely off somewhere fooling around.

I tidied myself up a bit and headed out to grab some food. On my way out, I ran into Old Li, who was carrying a bag of beer back to the dormitory.

Seeing me, Old Li lifted the bag of beer and grinned.

“Not your shift tonight, right? Call Xiao Liu later and come over. Old Ding and I will be waiting for you two to have a drink.”

I smiled and nodded, replying, “Sure, let me grab a bite first, and I’ll be there.”

By 8 p.m., the area around the company was almost deserted. The few small restaurants still open were already preparing to close.

I randomly walked into one, ordered a plate of fried rice, and started wolfing it down. Just as I was enjoying my meal, I noticed the shop owner standing at the door, sighing repeatedly.

Curious, I asked, “Boss, what’s going on outside? Why are you sighing like that?”

The shop owner poked his head back in and said, “There are a lot of stray dogs around here. I usually feed them leftovers. But tonight, some dog dealer showed up and caught several of them. Sigh… That guy looks pretty scary. I don’t think I could take him on, so I can’t do anything to help.”

A scary-looking dog dealer? My mind immediately flashed back to the conversation I overheard among the women at the supermarket earlier. Could it be the same dog dealer? Catching dogs all the way out here? Damn, how brazen can you get?

At that moment, Xiao Liu walked in. I lost my appetite, put down my chopsticks, and quickly called him over to go outside and catch the dog dealer.

Xiao Liu didn’t eat dog meat and had always despised dog dealers. Hearing what I said, he immediately got fired up, rolled up his sleeves, and followed me out.

There weren’t many pedestrians on the street. According to the shop owner, the guy should still be nearby. But Xiao Liu and I searched back and forth for over half an hour and found nothing.

The night wind picked up, and the chilly breeze made Xiao Liu turn around and yawn.

It was precisely during this yawn that Xiao Liu squinted his eyes and pointed behind us, saying, “Hey, look over there. There’s someone holding a dog!”

I followed his finger and looked. Sure enough, in the shadows across the street, not far away, stood a person holding a dog. But it was too dark, and there were no streetlights where he stood, so I couldn’t make out his face.

“Bro, do you think it’s him?”

I scrutinized the figure for a moment and said, “He’s holding a dog, so it’s probably him. Let’s go catch him.”

Just as we were talking, the person in the shadows seemed to notice us. But he didn’t move-he just stood there quietly, watching.

I had just taken a step forward when my phone suddenly rang. Worried that the guy might run, I answered the call while pretending to casually walk in his direction.

It was Xiao Zou calling. As soon as I picked up, she anxiously asked, “Where are you? Something’s wrong!”

I lowered my voice and replied, “I’m outside. What’s wrong?”

“Grandpa just realized one of the wooden figures is missing. I came clean with him. You need to run, now!”

I froze for a moment and responded, “Why should I run? I didn’t lose it. Is Old Master Zou blaming me for this?”

“No,” Xiao Zou said urgently. “Grandpa said that if someone used the beast knife to carve eyes on a wooden figure, it could easily attract an evil spirit. That thing might come after you! You need to hide, fast!”

Hearing this, I was completely dumbfounded. Xiao Liu and I were now only twenty or thirty meters away from the so-called dog dealer. Xiao Liu had already rolled up his sleeves, ready to take him on.

It finally hit me-damn it, that Bull’s-eye Person wasn’t a dog dealer at all. It was the wooden figure I had carved with the beast knife!

What a joke. I had been wondering why this thing was stealing dogs near our company. Turns out it wasn’t here to steal dogs-it was here to catch me!

Cold sweat broke out all over me. I quickly grabbed Xiao Liu and, while cautiously backing away, said, “Run. Forget catching him. I messed up-he’s here for me. Let’s get out of here, now!”

Xiao Liu had already rolled up his sleeves, ready for action. Hearing my words, he frowned and said, “Are you out of your mind? We’ve been looking for him all night, and now that we’ve found him, you want to run? Who’s catching who here-are you catching him, or is he catching you?”

Just as he was speaking, the figure in the shadows moved. Slowly, he took a step toward us. As he stepped out of the shadows, I finally saw his face clearly. It was a human face-nose, mouth, ears, all just like ours. But those eyes… they were enormous. So large that a single pair of eyes took up nearly half his face, like something out of a sci-fi movie, like the eyes of a bull!

My heart skipped a beat. Tonight was the 15th day of the lunar month!

I had no time to explain to Xiao Liu. Grabbing him, I started running back like a madman.

The Bull’s-eye Person noticed our movement, dropped the stray dog he was holding, and picked up his pace to chase after us. I didn’t care about direction anymore, running wildly along the roadside.

Xiao Liu, being on the heavier side, couldn’t keep up for long. After about ten minutes, he was so exhausted that he plopped down on the ground. Glancing back at the Bull’s-eye Person who was still chasing us, he said, “Why are we running? It’s just a dog dealer. I could knock him out with two punches.”

If it were just a dog dealer, that would be fine. But this Bull’s-eye Person was beyond explanation. I quickly pulled Xiao Liu up and dragged him along, urging him to keep moving.

In no time, the Bull’s-eye Person caught up. Without breaking a sweat, he reached out to grab me.

Seeing this, Xiao Liu didn’t hesitate. He swung a punch straight at the Bull’s-eye Person.

“Bang!” The Bull’s-eye Person let out a howl of pain as Xiao Liu’s heavy punch sent him tumbling.

The Bull’s-eye Person, clearly enraged by the punch, now had bloodshot eyes and blood dripping from his mouth, making him look utterly terrifying.

Xiao Liu, however, wasn’t fazed. Rolling up his sleeves again, he prepared for another round. I quickly grabbed him and dragged him away, urging him to keep running.

In the blink of an eye, we found ourselves back at the familiar alley near the Great East Gate. I remembered that last month, during the Ghost Waiting for Bus incident, we had been chased to this very spot. Gritting my teeth, I pulled Xiao Liu into the depths of the alley, heading toward that eerie Great East Gate Restaurant.

It had been a while since I’d been here, but everything seemed unchanged. It was as if no customers had ever come. The little decorations on the tables were still exactly the same.

As we entered the restaurant, the shop owner greeted us with his usual smile, holding that old, worn-out paper menu.

I wasn’t here to eat. Turning around nervously, I saw the Bull’s-eye Person standing dumbly at the restaurant’s entrance, staring at me with a look of despair.

His eyes were filled with confusion and fear, and he seemed to have no intention of stepping inside.

I was right! These evil spirits seemed to be afraid to enter this place!

“What now?” the shop owner asked, noticing our flustered appearance.

Before I could respond, Xiao Liu, panting heavily, said, “My buddy here has something wrong with his head. We were supposed to be catching a dog dealer, but when we found the guy, he suddenly started chasing us instead.”

The shop owner glanced toward the door, smiled, and said, “What dog dealer?”

I turned to look outside again, but the Bull’s-eye Person was gone.

It was exactly like last month. The family of three from the Ghost Waiting for Bus incident had also disappeared at the restaurant’s entrance.

No matter what, I had narrowly escaped this time. Xiao Liu, unaffected, casually ordered the usual: noodles, beer, and stir-fried dishes.

After about ten minutes, I finally calmed my racing heart. Suddenly, I remembered Wei Youzhi’s diary. Turning to the shop owner, I asked, “Big Brother, how many years has this little restaurant of yours been open?”

The shop owner, standing by the cash register, smiled and said, “It’s been so long, it might be older than you.”

He didn’t seem interested in chatting further. After saying this, he turned and went into the kitchen.

By the time Xiao Liu finished his meal, it was already past eleven at night. While I knew there was something strange about this restaurant, the thought of facing the Bull’s-eye Person outside scared me even more.

Xiao Liu, being a staunch atheist, wouldn’t understand the truth if I told him. So, I made up an excuse, saying that the Bull’s-eye Person was actually a loan shark out to kill me. To avoid being ambushed, we should wait until morning before leaving.

Hearing this, Xiao Liu nodded in concern.

And so, we spent the night at the restaurant. By dawn, the two of us, exhausted, dragged ourselves back to the company.

Finally, the 15th day of the lunar month had passed without incident. I let out a long sigh of relief.

Walking through the company courtyard, Xiao Liu suddenly pointed and asked, “Where’s our Route 13?”

Following his gaze, I looked toward the parking area. Sure enough, it was empty.

“Was Captain Wang driving last night? Maybe he took it for maintenance or repairs,” I said casually.

We didn’t think much of it and headed up to the dormitory. There, we found Old Li and a group of drivers gathered with washbasins, their faces grave as they talked about something.

When they saw me, their expressions grew even darker.

Puzzled, I asked Old Li what had happened.

Old Li glanced at the two of us, sighed, and said, “We just got word. Last night, the new Captain Wang drove your Route 13 last bus into the Tangwazi Reservoir with a full load of passengers. Everyone died!”