Infinite: Dawn Game

Chapter 946 Getting on the Bus

"..."

The five skeletons in the mud, urged on by the driver, took stiff and heavy steps, one step, two steps, three steps... treading on the mud and the broken bones of their kind, slowly walked towards the bus.

Inside the carriage, Lin Hai slowly stood up, his small pupils flashing with light as he stared at the five skeletons on the platform by the train window, a disturbing smile once again curling at the corners of his mouth.

"It seems there are going to be a few more things that shouldn't be in the car."

Mulanzhi and the others felt a chill run down their spines and turned to look at Lin Hai.

"And we..."

Lin Hai didn't notice their gazes. His eyes swept over the five "alive" people in the seats in front of him, and his voice was as soft as a viper's hiss.

"Perhaps we should also think about how to make room for the 'new passengers' at the next stop."

Mulanzhi was startled, "Brother Lin, you—"

"Shhh."

Lin Hai raised his index finger to his lips and smiled:

"Lanzhi, don't speak, they're coming up."

Mulanzhi's forehead was already sweating profusely. She took a deep breath and nodded silently.

Brother Lin... what exactly is he planning to do?

Five humanoid skeletons outside the bus door had already stepped onto the bus steps.

Dark red mud dripped from their broken skeletons, leaving sticky stains on the metal pedals.

As they were loaded onto the vehicle one by one, a strong, pungent smell of rotting earth instantly overwhelmed the musty odor that had been lingering in the carriage.

The driver showed no reaction to the nauseating smell, simply repeating what each passenger had said when they boarded:

"After you get on the bus, move inside and don't block the door. The fare is fifty yuan per person."

The five humanoid skeletons silently took out their dirty banknotes one by one and handed them to the driver.

The driver took them one by one and put them into the box at his feet, impatiently urging them to hurry.

"Hurry up and find a seat, I'm about to drive."

"..."

No skeleton responded to him.

The five skeletons moved very slowly, each step accompanied by the "plop" sound of mud dripping from the skeletons onto the ground, which was particularly clear in the silent carriage.

At this moment, all the passengers/players in the carriage focused their attention on them.

First, there was the first skeleton at the very front. It was almost entirely just its upper body and a leg bone on its right side. It was supported by that single leg and an arm bone, and it moved forward slowly in an uncoordinated hopping manner.

The second one behind it looked more intact, but its skull was covered with fine cracks, and two faint, dark reddish sparks flickered deep in its eye sockets.

The most astonishing skeleton was the third one. It was very short and looked somewhat like a child's skeleton, but almost all of its ribs were broken and stuck together by the dark red mud in the burial mound. It was tightly clutching a dirty, muddy cloth bundle that was also difficult to see the shape of.

The fourth skeleton was the tallest, with unusually broad shoulder blades, but its spine was twisted into a strange "S" shape. With each step it took, the bones in its body made a constant "creaking" sound as it struggled to keep up with the weight, making one fear that it might fall apart as it walked.

The last skeleton... was the "freshest" of the five skeletons.

Yu Shijiu's gaze lightly fell on the fifth skeleton.

Its stark white skeleton was covered with numerous dark red muscle fibers and tendons that had not yet completely rotted. Even half a piece of dried skin remained on its skull. A turbid eyeball was embedded in its empty eye socket, mechanically and erratically turning.

As they were fully inside the carriage, the doors slammed shut with a hiss amidst the driver's impatient "tsk."

The moment the car door closed, the already lowered temperature inside the car plummeted to freezing.

Five skeletons stood silently in the aisle near the train door, not immediately looking for seats, but instead all "looking" into the carriage.

Instead of looking at the living passengers, or at the other strange passengers with their heads down, he looked directly at the back row, in the direction where Lin Hai was.

More accurately, he was looking at the hooded passenger next to Lin Hai who had his head down.

At the same time, the system notification sounded again—

[Current surviving players in the dungeon "The Way Home" - "Alive" 5/5, "Echo" 5/5]

[5/5 of the "passengers" at the burial mound have boarded the bus.]

[Friendly Reminder: Please make good use of the carriage space and rules... All players (passengers) please note that the bus has not yet reached its final destination.]

Hearing the game notification sound in his ear, Yu Shijiu's breath hitched slightly.

After the system notification sound disappeared, all the players' eyes involuntarily fell on the five skeletons.

The gazes of the five skeletons, like cold probes, pierced through the dim air of the carriage and locked onto the back row.

Lin Hai's smile remained unchanged, but Yu Shijiu noticed that the knuckles of his hands, which were crossed in front of him, had turned slightly white from excessive force.

Yu Shijiu raised an eyebrow.

...Lin Hai is not as calm as he appears on the surface.

The hooded passenger next to Lin Hai kept his head down, showing no reaction to the five focused gazes directed at him.

But deep within Yu Shijiu's left arm, that familiar chilling sensation became clear again, even... carrying a hint of indescribable excitement?

Yu Shijiu touched his left arm and forcibly pressed the bristling hair back down.

Although it works quite well, the side effects are indeed a bit too intense – Yu Shijiu is now really starting to consider how to suppress the contamination on his left arm.

"..."

The entire carriage fell into a suffocating stalemate under the gaze of the skeletons.

The skeletons showed no sign of moving for the time being, simply standing quietly in the passageway, letting the mud drip from between their bones onto the floor.

Tick-tick-tick-

The passengers on the bus, heads bowed, looked just like background figures, completely silent.

The living passengers—Xiao Juan, A Hao, and several other men and women who had been trying to keep a low profile—held their breath and tried their best to suppress their trembling and dared not move.

"master……"

The brief silence inside the car was broken by a faint voice, tinged with a sob.

It's Xiaojuan.

She seemed to have used up all her courage, gripping her boyfriend Ahao's hand tightly, her eyes fixed on the driver's red hat brim, her voice barely a whisper:

"The car...there's no room left..."

She was telling the truth.

The bus didn't have many seats to begin with, and the empty seats vacated by the passengers who got off earlier weren't all concentrated in one place.

The five skeletons that boarded the train were all tall (except for the child's skeleton), with jagged frames that almost blocked the aisle near the doors.

If they all sit down, the existing seating arrangement inside the bus will need to be adjusted.

Xiao Juan suspected that the reason why the five skeletons did not immediately find seats was this... They must be one person, no, one skeleton would need two or three seats.