Last Bus of Route 13

Old Wang’s words made me inwardly burst with joy, eagerly waiting for him to continue interpreting the divination.

Old Wang sat cross-legged, staring intently at the walnuts for a while longer, and then murmured:

“This second reading is much better than the first. Though the rain and wind may come, a hundred trees will shield you. Like a stone sinking in the sea, you will eventually find your way back to shore. It’s a sign of surviving against all odds, of life after disaster.”

I didn’t quite grasp the first part of what Old Wang said, but the part about surviving against all odds, life after disaster, I understood.

Overjoyed, I couldn’t help but ask, “So you’re saying that no matter what happens, I won’t die? Then I’m safe, right?”

Old Wang nodded with a smile, “You could interpret it that way. Though there are many trials, there’s a sign of turning danger into safety. But don’t get too optimistic. Think about it, if you lose an arm this month and break a leg next month, you’re not dead, but what’s the point of living like that?”

His words instantly doused the flames of joy in my heart.

Missing an arm or a leg? That’s not living; that’s worse than death!

Old Liu coughed twice and said, “While surviving against all odds is a good sign, one’s future is full of variables. If you don’t manage your luck well and ruin your karma, it’s not guaranteed that you won’t die.”

Old Wang gave Old Liu a thumbs-up, chuckling, “Impressive, seeing through such truths. It’s up to you, but it also depends on your fate.”

After several rounds of explanations from these two old men, I was completely confused.

One moment there’s hope for survival, the next it’s up to you, then it’s about fate. How is this any different from not having a reading at all??

I asked quietly, “Semi-Immortal Xu, can you give me a straight answer? What exactly should I do to escape this miserable fate?”

Old Wang shook his head, “This second reading only reveals so much. Your future path will be seen in the third reading.”

With that, I let out a deep sigh.

Another day to wait!!

After finishing the reading and exchanging a few pleasantries with Old Wang, Old Liu and I left.

On the way back, seeing my low spirits, Old Liu said softly, “Don’t be discouraged. Today’s second reading isn’t a death sentence, which means there’s a way to survive. Tomorrow, it should reveal your path.”

Old Liu, usually so aloof and reserved, was surprisingly comforting today.

I smiled and replied, “Don’t worry, Old Liu. I’m not discouraged. Once the third reading is done tomorrow, I’ll follow it.”

Only then did Old Liu nod in satisfaction, and we returned to Zhou Zhuang’s house.

After experiencing the rooster soul transfer, whenever I was idle, my mind would wander, fearing being misled by chicken feathers again, fearing that tomorrow’s third reading might suddenly tell me there’s no way to escape fate.

Old Liu stayed at home, and wanting to keep myself busy, I decided to help Zhou Zhuang and his wife with their work in the fields.

While Zhou Zhuang and I were working, we suddenly heard some villagers arguing by the roadside. Yangcaogou is a small village where everyone knows each other, and it’s rare for arguments to occur.

We put down our work and went to the roadside to see what was happening.

I had just reached the roadside when I realized that these villagers were not arguing, but were angrily cursing the Zhang family’s soul-transferred rooster!

A fellow villager told me that this soul-transferred rooster, just released today, started wreaking havoc on the poultry immediately. It didn’t crow or mingle with other chickens, and walked eerily like a human, managing to kill three families’ poultry in just one morning.

Chills ran down my spine as they spoke. Could the Zhang family’s son really have been reincarnated in this rooster?

The villagers grew increasingly agitated. The Zhangs referred to the rooster as their son; it killed poultry and they wouldn’t let anyone scold or strike it. Initially, considering someone in their family had just died, no one thought about compensation, but they didn’t even offer an apology.

As I listened to the villagers discussing these misdeeds of the rooster, suddenly, a young boy came running from the north. It seemed he had urgent news; he was running so fast that he fell several times. As he ran, he shouted loudly:

“Mom, come home quick, our cow was killed by a rooster!”

A woman in a floral shirt, among the gathered villagers, heard this and, gasping in shock, ran off immediately.

Before I could recover from this surprise, another shock came: the rooster had actually killed a cow!!

The villagers were equally startled and quickly followed the woman to her home.

Zhou Zhuang and I couldn’t lag behind; when we arrived at the woman’s house, everyone there was stunned!

The yellow cattle lay before us, its death a grisly sight. Its body was pecked beyond recognition, covered in blood and numerous gaping wounds.

The most disturbing sight was the cattle’s eyeballs, pecked to a pulp, with cloudy eye fluids spilling everywhere.

A month ago, I had encountered a tragically dead yellow cattle on Huyaoshan, but that was nothing compared to the scene before us.

Seeing the old yellow cattle dead, the woman burst into loud cries. In the countryside, a good cow could be worth up to twenty thousand yuan, representing a household’s entire asset and main labor force.

The onlooking villagers, forgoing their curses, hastily dispersed to check on their own livestock.

Zhou Zhuang and I weren’t worried as his family didn’t own any livestock. I saw the young boy standing aside, biting his lip, as if he too had done something wrong. I approached him and asked:

“Younger brother, did you really see the rooster kill your family’s cow?”

The boy nodded without hesitation and slowly said:

“I was just adding some grass for the cow when I saw a yellow rooster flapping its wings and pecking at the cow.”

After a pause, the boy added:

“This rooster isn’t scared of people. I threw stones at it, but it didn’t run away.”

I took a deep breath. From the mutilated body of the yellow cattle, it was clear that this soul-transferred rooster was killing for meat!

Feeling sorry for the woman, I pulled out a hundred yuan from my pocket and handed it to the boy, then Zhou Zhuang and I headed home.

This was too horrifying. This soul-transferred rooster was definitely problematic; I needed to rush back and tell Old Liu.

Old Liu was cleaning in the yard when he heard what Zhou Zhuang and I had to say. He was also taken aback and said coldly:

“A soul-transferred poultry, though it no longer eats chicken feed, should definitely not eat meat. This…”

Old Liu leaned on his stick, pacing back and forth in the courtyard, deep in thought. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, his eyes lighting up as if struck by a revelation.

“Ah! This might not be a soul transfer… it’s soul devouring!”

I couldn’t make sense of what he was saying, so he explained further:

“Soul transfer is when a fragment of a deceased person’s soul is nurtured within poultry. Soul devouring, on the other hand, is when that fragment of the soul is fed to the poultry to consume!”

Before I could fully process this, Old Liu grabbed my hand and urged me to follow him to Zhang’s family to find that rooster.

The three of us wasted no time, breaking into a jog toward Zhang’s house.

At a street corner, Zhou Zhuang accidentally collided head-on with a man running from the opposite direction. The man, eyes brimming with tears, fell to the ground, dusted himself off, and prepared to keep running.

Zhou Zhuang recognized him and called out, “Han Dong, why are you crying? What happened?”

The man, Han Dong, wiped his tears and turned to reply, “My wife just called. She said my father was pecked to death by a rooster at home.”

“What?!” My jaw dropped in shock. The idea of a soul-transferred rooster pecking a yellow cattle to death was already beyond belief. Now it had killed a person?

Han Dong didn’t stop to explain further and rushed off toward his home. Old Liu pointed ahead and signaled for us to follow him.

We hurried after Han Dong, and by the time we reached his house, we found that his father had indeed passed away.

The old man’s death was eerily similar to that of the yellow cattle. His clothes were shredded into tatters, his body soaked in blood, and most horrifying of all-his eyes were gone!

Old Liu frowned deeply and asked Han Dong’s wife, who was sobbing nearby, “Did you see how the rooster attacked your father-in-law?”

Through her tears, Han Dong’s wife replied, “My father-in-law was in the courtyard drying things. He saw a rooster pecking at our yellow cattle in the barn and went over to shoo it away. Who would’ve thought it would end like this?”

We stood in the courtyard, stunned and speechless. Suddenly, Zhou Zhuang pointed toward the fence and shouted, “Look! Isn’t that the rooster from Da Lao Wang’s soul transfer?”

We followed his gaze and saw a rooster standing just outside the fence, staring back at us.

Without hesitation, Old Liu gripped his stick and charged toward it. The rooster, unfazed by his approach, didn’t move or flee.

Worried for Old Liu’s safety, I quickly followed. Only when we got closer did the rooster flap its wings and dart off toward the village road.

The villagers, terrified after witnessing the rooster’s deadly behavior, kept their distance, watching from afar as Old Liu and I gave chase.

Old Liu, being older, couldn’t run fast. The rooster seemed to toy with him, running a few steps before stopping, waiting for Old Liu to catch up, and then darting off again.

We chased it all the way to the village entrance, where it disappeared into an abandoned water station.

I called out for Old Liu to wait for me, but it was as if he didn’t hear me. He went in alone.

My heart raced with anxiety. Could Old Liu, at his age, really handle that rooster?

Just as I was about to rush in after him, someone grabbed my arm from behind.

Startled, I turned around and nearly jumped out of my skin.

It was the blind old man who always asked me for the time! His eye sockets were hollow, deeply sunken, and utterly terrifying.

At his feet stood a chick with a tuft of red feathers near its comb.

I quickly shook off his hand and shouted, “Old man, I’m in a hurry! Don’t bother me right now!”

I was about to turn and run when the old man spoke in a low voice, “Aren’t you looking for Semi-Immortal Xu? That’s me.”

I froze mid-step, disbelief washing over me. “What? You’re saying you’re Semi-Immortal Xu?”

The old man smiled faintly and nodded. “Your name is Li Yao. You’re a bus driver, and you have a mole on your left buttock.”

His words left me utterly stunned. My name and job weren’t exactly secrets-anyone could find that out with a bit of effort. But the mole on my butt? Only my parents knew about that!

Eyes wide, I asked, “You’re really Semi-Immortal Xu? Then hurry up and help me save Old Liu! He’s inside that water station right now!”

The old man didn’t move. He simply stood there and shook his head.

Frustrated, I shouted, “What do you mean by shaking your head? If you’re not going to help, don’t waste my time-I’ll save him myself!”

The old man replied calmly, “No need to go in. Just wait for Old Liu to come out.”

Then, he gave me a mysterious smile.