Last Bus of Route 13 - Chapter 74 - The Mysterious Letter

The opening of the library was a great boon for us, and Bun Hairstyle and I didn’t dare delay, rushing inside.

Just like the last time, there were no lights in the library, just tables and windowsills filled with candles for illumination.

As soon as Bun Hairstyle entered, his eyes widened like a child discovering toys, and he whispered to me:

“Man, how can there be a library in such a desolate place? We’ve jumped from one danger straight into another.”

I looked around and didn’t see Lao Liu. I replied:

“It’s just a bit out of the way, nothing else is wrong. I’ve been here before; there’s a caretaker that I sort of know.”

Bun Hairstyle nodded half in doubt and followed me to the second floor.

The second floor had even more bookshelves, and Bun Hairstyle, like on our first visit, was amazed at the many old books stored here.

Deep among the bookshelves, we finally saw Lao Liu, who was fervently writing on paper against a bookshelf.

Lao Liu wasn’t surprised to see me and greeted me with a cheerful smile.

“Here you are, kid. How come Old Liu didn’t come with you today?”

“I’m fleeing here for refuge. There’s a bloody corpse outside that keeps circling around; make sure you don’t open the door.”

Lao Liu paused at that.

“Bloody corpse, what’s that?”

Bun Hairstyle chimed in:

“It’s a dead person, all the skin peeled off, and despite being dead, it keeps yelling for help.”

Lao Liu laughed and said:

“I just saw that. You mean the person chasing you downstairs?”

“A person? Can you still call it a person when it’s dead?”

Lao Liu shook his head and explained:

“If there wasn’t something special driving it, how could a corpse walk or talk? A body itself can’t walk or talk; the one downstairs isn’t a dead body, but rather a very much alive person.”

This statement from Lao Liu stunned me.

Bun Hairstyle frowned and asked:

“A living person? Can a living person look like that? All the skin is peeled off.”

Lao Liu pulled an old book from the shelf and said lightly:

“It’s not peeling, it’s poisoning.”

Poisoning??

The person was bleeding all over, with no skin visible, looking just like a skinless person. Lao Liu told me it was poisoning!

“Poisoned with a kind of corpse poison that can cause the skin to decay quickly-it’s quite rare.”

It sounded unbelievable at first, but on thinking it over, Lao Liu’s words made some sense. If it were a dead body, it would not be screaming for help.

Taking a deep breath, I realized he wasn’t a walking corpse, just a poisoned patient!

So, considering that, the hand reaching out of the grave mound yesterday, and the sounds from the Casket compartment in the hearse, were they really living people too?

Who would poison them, and why would both suit men be targeted? They must have seen something they shouldn’t have in the hearse, just like Bai Fan saw something she shouldn’t have!

With this in mind, I quickly said to Lao Liu:

“Since it’s poisoning, let him in quickly, he’s bleeding all over. If we don’t stop the bleeding, he might really die.”

Lao Liu waved his hand dismissively and said, “It’s too late now. If I could have saved them, I would have opened the door earlier. They must have died out there by now.”

Hearing this, I felt a pang of sadness. Were these two lives lost because of me?

Seeing me standing there dazed, Lao Liu smiled and said:

“Young man, the world is in good order, there aren’t so many ghosts. You just need to stop scaring yourself.”

His words were a reassurance to both a frightened me and Bun Hairstyle.

After chatting with Lao Liu for a few more moments, we gathered our courage and left the building.

Not far into the forest, with the light from our mobile phone, we saw a “bloody corpse” lying motionless in a pool of blood.

It looked like he was truly dead this time, more like he bled to death!

Since these men in suits weren’t killed by ghosts, it must have been murder.

I told Bun Hairstyle that we must call the police tomorrow. We couldn’t bear the burden of this responsibility.

Seeing the scene, Bun Hairstyle covered his mouth and nose, pulling me to hurry out.

As we passed through the Poplar Forest and neared the large grave mound, a thought struck me. I had seen fresh soil on the mound even before the person inside had crawled out during the day yesterday. The person inside must have been buried in advance!

If it was all staged, then the corpse that Mr. Wang, the hearse driver from the funeral home, couldn’t have run out by itself. We need to visit the funeral home again; that old man was lying!

I kept these thoughts to myself and didn’t share them with Bun Hairstyle. Who sent Bun Hairstyle the photo? Why did someone play tricks to prevent us from finding the hearse?

All these events unfolded after Bai Fan saw someone trying to sneak into the second floor. I vaguely felt that this person had a significant connection with me and everything that was happening. Who did Bai Fan see?

Everything should be much simpler once she wakes up.

Despite the fear that the dark night brought, Bun Hairstyle and I stumbled our way out of the old housing area.

When we took a taxi back to the dormitory, it was already two-thirty in the morning.

To my surprise, Xiao Liu was still awake.

He sat on the bed, dozing off under the light, and became quite excited when I returned. He asked where I had been and expressed his worries.

I responded to him without much detail.

Seeing my state, Xiao Liu didn’t nag any further. He pulled out a letter from under his pillow and handed it to me, saying:

“Your letter.”

After that, he crawled into his bed and fell asleep.

Back in high school, when electronic devices weren’t widespread, I used to exchange letters with others. It’s been over a decade since I graduated, and I haven’t written any letters. Who could it be?

On the front of the envelope, written with a black carbon pen, was: “To Li Yao.” Besides that, there was no information about the sender.

Puzzled, I opened the envelope and began reading the letter inside.

Brother:

It has been several months since we last met. How have you been?

I haven’t been idle lately. I’ve done some checking on that Route 13 bus you’ve been on.

As you’ve seen during your drives, many phenomena cannot be explained by science, and we must believe that ghosts truly exist in this murky world!

Do you remember Sixth Uncle you mentioned to me? He indeed died ten years ago.

If you don’t believe it, you could verify this in Tangwazi Village. Don’t trust any talk or connections related to Sixth Uncle.

Because of the three car accidents ten years ago, all were caused by him.

This last bus is a death curse. Stop driving it and get away as far as you can!

I read this letter and found it utterly baffling. It started off with a friendly address as if the writer knew all about me, and I had no clue who it was from until I saw the signature in the bottom right corner of the paper. I was so startled that I threw the letter away immediately.

Neatly written there was a line:

“As if seeing you in person, Tang Xiansheng’s own handwriting.”

Old Tang!!

A letter from Old Tang?

It completely blew my mind. People say death is like a lamp going out, but here was Old Tang, who died ten years ago, writing letters?

I stared at the letter I had thrown on the floor, lost in thought.

After calming myself, my first thought was that this letter had to be fake, someone must be writing in Old Tang’s tone.

The content of the letter was simple: first, do not trust Sixth Uncle. Second, stop driving and leave as soon as possible.

But these points contradicted everything I knew.

Old Liu and Sixth Uncle had both told me the curse on the car was still active, and leaving meant death.

This series of events faintly made me feel like I was being manipulated, used, trapped, and led by someone in the shadows.

Though many things were still unclear, I gradually formed my own conclusion: everything stemmed from three car accidents ten years ago.

I had to investigate!

Resolved, I went to bed.

Upon waking up, I quickly arranged to revisit the funeral home that ran the hearse with Bun Hairstyle.

Mr. Wang’s body definitely hadn’t moved on its own, and that hearse hadn’t been driven by a corpse either. There was something fishy going on.

The old man at the funeral home seemed surprised to see us back, and was cold and dismissive this time, treating us as if we were invisible.

I cut to the chase and asked:

“Old man, are you hiding something from me? Mr. Wang’s body didn’t just move on its own that day, did it?”

The old man faltered upon hearing this, and stammered in response:

“Why wouldn’t it be? The body disappeared right under your noses, didn’t it?”

Bun Hairstyle was startled by my question and asked:

“Bro, what do you mean? You think Mr. Wang’s body didn’t move on its own? Then how did it disappear?”

“You should ask him about any tricks,” I said, prompting Bun Hairstyle to suddenly glare and grab the old man, demanding angrily:

“Old guy, are you playing games with me? What really happened?”

The old man, frightened by Bun Hairstyle’s outburst, stuttered even more.

“No, no, it’s not my fault.”

Seeing the keys hanging from the old man’s waist, I grabbed them and signaled Bun Hairstyle to join me in checking the mortuary again.

Back in the mortuary, we found Mr. Wang’s body, perfectly intact, lying on the slab!

Bun Hairstyle, shocked, looked at me and said:

“How did this body come back on its own?”

As I searched around the slab, I discovered a hidden door!

The body must have been hidden underneath during the power outage triggered by the old man.

That meant the brief power outage had been a carefully planned move!

Bun Hairstyle understood and, lifting the old man high, demanded:

“Who told you to do this?”

The old man, trembling, mumbled unclearly.

Before the old man could respond, Bun Hairstyle’s phone rang.

After picking up, Bun Hairstyle excitedly shouted to me:

“Tang Yao says Bai Fan is awake!!”

Shocked and thrilled, I instructed Bun Hairstyle to keep an eye on the old man and rushed back to the hospital to see Bai Fan.

Entering the ward, I indeed saw Bai Fan sitting up in bed, looking lively, with Tang Yao and Old Liu by her side.

It turned out Old Liu had returned.

I quickly greeted Old Liu and hurried to Bai Fan.

Bai Fan, seeing me, was also very happy and kept reassuring me not to worry about her.

After a while, she remembered something else and instructed:

“By the way, I went to your company a few nights ago to find you and saw one of your colleagues sneaking around. He doesn’t seem like a good person; you should stay away from him.”

I had almost forgotten about this until Bai Fan mentioned it. This person might be the mastermind behind harming Bai Fan, so I asked:

“Uh, can you describe what he looks like?”

“He’s about your height, slim, in his forties, and he seems to have a mole beside his nose.”

As soon as Bai Fan finished describing, my brow furrowed, and my head buzzed.

Her description… wasn’t that Old Tang!!!