Last Bus of Route 13 - Chapter 57 - The Second File Folder

The realization hit me like a bolt from the blue-I had only ever had three colleagues. This revelation was nothing short of earth-shattering for me!

Di Pi and Zhu Hou, two individuals with such vivid personalities, had never existed from the very beginning.

Even so, I felt that the situation was far from simple. Shi Tou’s words and actions had always been eerily in sync with mine. A bold thought crossed my mind-perhaps I only had two colleagues!

Old Liu tried to comfort me as we rode in the car.

“You don’t need to be so scared. Your Yang Energy is weak right now, but once the curse is broken tomorrow and the 15th day of the lunar month has passed, everything will be fine.”

I couldn’t help but ask, “Why does everything seem tied to the 15th day of the lunar month? Last month on the 15th, I almost drove the bus into the reservoir. The month before that, I was told to find a Tiger-Patterned Copper Coin. And this month, it’s been one bizarre incident after another.”

Old Liu sighed deeply and replied, “You’ll have to get used to it. It’s not just these three months-every month on the 15th day of the lunar calendar, you’re at risk of a blood-related disaster. Just make sure to avoid it.”

“Every month on the 15th?”

I let out a long sigh and turned my gaze to the window, feeling utterly dejected.

Escaping Route 13 seemed like a distant dream, and now I had to deal with the risk of bloodshed every 15th day of the lunar month. Ever since I started driving Route 13, each 15th day had been more nerve-wracking than the last.

What fresh horror awaited me next month?

I didn’t ask Old Liu any more questions. Instead, I stared gloomily at the passing scenery, lost in thought.

…

As soon as Xiao Liu and I returned to the dormitory, Old Li informed me that Old Wu had come by earlier, asking me to see him in his office when I got back.

Old Wu had returned from his trip to Tangwazi Village to find Liu Yunbo!

I didn’t waste any time and headed downstairs to find Old Wu.

The door to Old Wu’s office was open. He was sitting inside, reading a newspaper. When he saw me enter, he gestured for me to take a seat.

He looked noticeably thinner than before. It seemed his time in Tangwazi Village hadn’t been easy. I wondered how things had gone with Liu Yunbo.

“Brother Wu, you’re back! Did you meet Liu Yunbo?”

Old Wu nodded, set the newspaper aside, and said in a low voice, “I did. Still as stubborn as ever. I learned quite a bit during my trip to Tangwazi Village, but I called you here to give you a couple of warnings.”

Old Wu usually spoke in a commanding tone during meetings, but now his voice was calm and subdued, as if he was being genuinely serious.

“Go ahead, Brother Wu.”

“I heard from Liu Yunbo that you’ve been running around with some old man lately, investigating that car accident from ten years ago.”

“Yeah, Route 13 is as cursed as it gets, Brother Wu. You know that better than anyone. I’m just trying to save myself.”

Old Wu sighed, clasped his hands together on the desk, and said slowly, “I know the last bus of Route 13 is cursed. I don’t blame you for seeking out Yin-Yang masters or anything like that. But as for the car accident-you need to stop digging into it.”

I froze at his words and immediately asked, “Stop investigating? What do you mean, Brother Wu? I need to figure out what happened!”

Old Wu leaned back in his chair and said coldly, “Two months ago, you snuck into the second floor and stole a file folder. I know about that, but I didn’t hold it against you…”

So he finally brought it up!

I broke into the second floor back then, pried open the main door and the archive room-there’s no way Old Wu didn’t know. Yet, he acted like nothing happened afterward, didn’t come after me, didn’t even bring it up. But now, here he is, mentioning it.

At this point, there was no need to pretend anymore. I decided to cut straight to the chase.

“Yes, I stole that file folder. Old Wu, you dumped this deadly job on me-what’s wrong with me taking a file folder from you?”

Old Wu let out a cold laugh and said, “Nothing’s wrong. When I found out you took the file folder, I didn’t make things hard for you. But now you’re crossing the line-going to Huyaoshan, going to Tangwazi. Are you trying to overturn the case from ten years ago?”

“Overturn the case?”

His words baffled me. The Route 13 bus accidents from ten years ago were all considered freak incidents. How could this be called overturning a case?

Seeing my furrowed brows, Old Wu continued, “I owe you an apology for making you carry such a heavy burden for me. It doesn’t sit well with me either. I’m telling you this for your own good-focus on finding a Yin-Yang master and stop digging into these matters. It’ll only put you in greater danger!”

I was completely dumbfounded. It was just a simple bus accident-why was Old Wu making it sound so convoluted? From what he was saying, if I kept investigating, I might end up losing my life?

Honestly, I didn’t care about what really happened with those accidents. All I wanted was to get out of this place, far away, and never drive a bus again. If it weren’t for Sixth Uncle constantly urging me to go to the second floor, I wouldn’t bother with any of this.

“Old Wu, you’re still not being clear. What’s the secret behind the three accidents in Tangwazi ten years ago?”

Old Wu instantly lost his temper. With a loud “bang,” he slammed his hand on the table.

“If I told you everything today, you wouldn’t live to see tomorrow’s sunrise. Just listen to me and stop asking questions!”

Though I usually have a good temper, I’m not one to be pushed around. This life-threatening job was forced on me by Old Wu, and now he’s acting like he’s in the right?

“Old Wu, cut the lecture. I’m still alive and kicking. If it weren’t a matter of life and death, do you think I’d care about any of this?”

Old Wu glared at me with wide eyes for a long moment, then sighed and withdrew his hand from the table.

“You’re right. It’s my fault. Honestly, I’ve regretted it. I’m old enough to face death, but you’re still young-you shouldn’t have been dragged into Route 13.”

After yelling back and forth with Old Wu, he suddenly softened, his tone turning sentimental. But I wasn’t moved in the slightest. Old Wu was a slippery character, a master of using both carrot and stick.

“Old Wu, do you know how desperate I feel right now? I found Mr. He, the man who saved you ten years ago. But before he could save me, he died.”

Old Wu froze upon hearing about Mr. He’s death, then let out a long sigh.

After a while, he finally asked, “By the way, how did you know there was something hidden in the second floor? Who told you?”

Sixth Uncle used to be the person I trusted most. But ever since he introduced me to Liu Yunbo, I’ve been utterly disappointed in him.

Nowadays, I only trust Old Liu. There’s no need to keep anything from Sixth Uncle anymore, so I said directly:

“Sixth Uncle from Tangwazi Village told me.”

Old Wu’s head shot up the moment he heard the name “Sixth Uncle,” his expression betraying a mix of shock and disbelief.

“Sixth Uncle from Tangwazi Village? Are you kidding me?”

Seeing Old Wu’s reaction to Sixth Uncle’s name, I couldn’t help but feel puzzled. Was there some connection between the two of them?

“Yes, Sixth Uncle from Tangwazi Village. I don’t know his real name; everyone just calls him that.”

Old Wu furrowed his brows, his voice suddenly tense. “It’s really him? He’s still alive?”

His words left me completely baffled. I had my doubts about Sixth Uncle’s survival back then, but Bai Fan had reassured me, putting those suspicions to rest.

“He’s alive and kicking, as sturdy as ever.”

Old Wu’s frown deepened upon hearing this.

“If he’s still alive, then things are going to get complicated. But… it doesn’t make sense…”

He rested his chin on one hand, muttering to himself like he was lost in thought.

I didn’t have the patience to keep listening to his ramblings. Standing up, I said, “Alright, if there’s nothing else, I’m heading back to rest.”

Old Wu seemed so absorbed in his own mutterings that he didn’t even register my words. I turned and walked out the door.

This trip to Tangwazi had left Old Wu acting like a lunatic. I still couldn’t figure out what was going on between him and Liu Yunbo.

After everything I’d been through, I was utterly exhausted. With a night shift ahead, I returned to the dormitory and went to bed early.

The next morning, Old Liu came by. Strangely enough, ever since spending a few days at the funeral home near the cremation furnace, things had improved. Xiao Liu’s possession symptoms had subsided, and even the eerie whispers from under the bed had vanished.

Old Liu didn’t even sit down when he entered my dormitory. Instead, he started chanting some cryptic incantations.

After a while, he pointed at my bed and said, “Lift the bed frame.”

I felt a chill of fear and asked him cautiously, “Lift it? I’ve swept out long strands of women’s hair from under there before. Old Liu, are you mentally prepared for what we might find?”

Old Liu nodded firmly. “It’s fine. Just lift it.”

For weeks, the whispers from under the bed had tormented me endlessly. I’d considered summoning the courage to lift the frame a few times, but I always chickened out in the end.

I called Xiao Liu over, and the two of us grabbed opposite ends of the bed frame. Counting to three, we heaved it up together.

I couldn’t bring myself to look at first, quickly turning my head away. I asked Xiao Liu nervously, “Xiao Liu, did you see anything? Does the woman under the bed have a head?”

Xiao Liu chuckled sheepishly.

“A woman? You’re dreaming. You’ve been going on about ghosts under the bed, but look at this-doesn’t it make you eat your words? There’s nothing under here but a Paper Man.”

A Paper Man?

I turned my head to look. Sure enough, apart from a layer of dust, there was only a small yellow Paper Man under the bed.

“Isn’t this the Paper Man Liu Yunbo gave me back then?”

Old Liu stepped forward, picked up the Yellow Paper Man, folded it in half, and took out a lighter to burn it.

I bent down to take another careful look under the bed. It was completely empty, which finally put my mind at ease. I lowered the bed frame back into place.

“Old Liu, so this Paper Man’s been under my bed all along? If I’d known, I would’ve just lifted the bed and burned it earlier.”

Old Liu watched as the Paper Man turned to ash, then pocketed his lighter. In a cold tone, he said:

“Once the curse is broken, it’s just a Paper Man. But if you’d lifted the bed frame before breaking the curse, who knows what might have been under there?”

Old Liu’s words made me gasp sharply.

No matter what, the ordeal of “The Gate Where a Hundred Ghosts Cry” was finally over.

The heavy weight on my chest could finally be lifted. At last, I could sleep peacefully tonight.

After dropping Old Liu off at his home, Xiao Liu and I, with nothing better to do, went out for drinks. We drank until six in the evening before heading back to the company.

As we passed the security room, we happened to see the old man from the security room rushing out, carrying a black cloth bag.

I greeted him and asked, “Uncle Zhang, where are you rushing off to?”

Uncle Zhang glanced at me and said, “Old Wu was sitting here chatting with me earlier. He left in a hurry and forgot his bag. I thought I’d chase after him to return it.”

Uncle Zhang was nearly seventy years old and had trouble moving around. Wanting to help, I said, “Uncle Zhang, give me the bag. He hasn’t gone far, has he? I’ll catch up to him.”

Uncle Zhang nodded and handed me the bag, saying, “Old Wu was holding onto this bag tightly when he came in. It seems quite important. Don’t delay; get it to him quickly.”

After I agreed, Uncle Zhang went back inside.

The black bag was stuffed full of items. Curious, I opened it to take a look. Inside were some food and daily necessities. Just as I was about to close it, a corner of a kraft paper folder caught my eye.

Wait… this is a file folder!

I pushed the food aside and pulled out the folder.

Though the folder was intact, the kraft paper had darkened with age, clearly having been there for many years.

Suddenly, it hit me-this looked just like the file folder that had been hidden in the second floor years ago!

I remembered clearly that there were three such folders, but I had only managed to take one.

The folder I had taken contained information about the driver involved in the accident. What could this folder hold?

I handed the bag to Xiao Liu and, driven by curiosity, opened the folder.

Inside was a thick stack of forms.

I looked at them with suspicion. These seemed to be records of the victims of the car accident from ten years ago.

Each form was densely filled with names and addresses of the deceased, with photos attached on the side.

To my shock, most of the unfortunate passengers were not from Tangwazi Village but from Huyaoshan!

Wait a minute-hadn’t it always been said that the victims of the three vehicles were all villagers from Tangwazi Village?

Why, then, were the forms showing addresses from Huyaoshan?

As I flipped through the forms, only a few listed Tangwazi Village as the address. But one photo stopped me cold, leaving me stunned and almost causing me to drop the stack of forms to the ground.

The face in the photo was all too familiar-withered and wrinkled, with a white towel wrapped around the head.

It was Sixth Uncle!

I stood there, dumbfounded, my mind racing with thoughts. In the end, I felt utterly drained, letting the stack of forms scatter across the floor.

Sixth Uncle was dead. He had been one of the passengers from ten years ago. This revelation shocked me deeply. But what terrified me even more was this:

I suddenly thought of the woman I adored, the one I was pursuing.

Bai Fan.