Bizarre Honkai, a Wife-Chasing Crematorium

But Beichen had said that rituals were probably only possessed by the source, which was the source of the bizarre.

As for why it was "probably," it was because no one could be sure about bizarre things.

A long period of time would distort all existence, and there were no eternally unchanging rules.

Speaking of the source of the bizarre...

Li Mo carefully recalled Beichen's account.

The source of the bizarre would continuously pollute its surroundings until all living things, dead things, and conceptual bodies in the vicinity became ghosts. Ghosts, in turn, could create derivatives based on their own rules.

If this continued to spread, the city would sooner or later become a dead city.

Li Mo held the file and walked past two stations along the way. He did not find anything strange, and his phone could not find any corresponding news, except for disappearances.

"So many people have died, the pollution can't have not spread. But in reality, there are no ghosts connected to the ghost bus. Then it's very likely that after triggering the rule to enter the ghost bus, you will be forcibly dragged into a world created by ghosts."

"You can't get off the bus before satisfying some conditions, or the probability of death after getting off is even greater."

Li Mo quickly analyzed and drew some obvious conclusions.

"I'll tell Rin first. Otherwise, if I disappear without a word like Sakura, she will be very worried."

Li Mo stopped moving forward. The file stated: in a state of being alone, walk three consecutive stations in Nagazora City, Far East, and finally stop at a certain station for more than seven minutes.

The ghost bus would appear. Getting on should be mandatory, and the consequences of not getting on would only be more serious.

There must have been people who had encountered the ghost bus and stayed behind, but they had not survived, which meant that staying at the station was also a dead end.

Li Mo stopped at the second station, hailed a taxi, and went straight back to school.

At this time, Rin should still be in class, and then prepare to eat lunch in two hours.

But when Li Mo arrived at school, he did not see Rin's figure. Only after asking did he find out that Rin had not come to class today.

"Strange, is Rin slacking off at home? It's also possible. After all, the school's courses are not necessary for her."

Li Mo thought to himself and quickly returned home. However, to his disappointment, he did not find Rin at home.

But her schoolbag was on the sofa, which meant that Rin had been home.

"Her schoolbag is at home, but she's not at school. Where could she have gone?"

Li Mo was very confused. He could only go back to the hospital and ask if anyone had visited him that day. The answer was yes.

After pulling out the surveillance footage, Li Mo clearly saw that after school in the afternoon, Rin had stayed in front of his window for a long time before leaving the hospital with her schoolbag.

To find out Rin's whereabouts, Li Mo used Beichen's authority to pull out the surveillance footage from the roadside.

The surveillance footage showed that at night, Rin had first returned home, then went out to eat.

Late at night, she had been wandering aimlessly at a bus station, walking forward while in a daze, and finally stopping in a daze in front of a certain station. Judging from the time, she should have been waiting for the last bus.

Wait a minute...

How many stations did she walk?

"One... two... three... four... five..." Li Mo went back and counted. The number finally stopped at five, far greater than three.

The surveillance footage suddenly distorted, as if it had been hit by something. The last thing it recorded was the broken ground and the explosion of a bomb, but the surveillance in reality was clearly fine.

When it returned to normal a few minutes later, Rin's figure was already gone. The last bus was late, and after seeing that there was no one at the station, it quickly drove away.

"She stayed there for more than seven minutes... the environment changed."

"Rin got on the ghost bus last night!?"

Li Mo's heart skipped a beat. He subconsciously bit his lip and stared at the surveillance footage.

The worst-case scenario had occurred. What would be the consequences of Rin getting on the ghost bus without knowing any of the rules...

She might not even... have survived the night.

Without hesitation, Li Mo immediately took a taxi to a relatively desolate suburban station, left the city center. The noon sun at the suburban station was scorching, and most people were resting, satisfying the condition of being alone.

"One... two... three..."

For half an hour, Li Mo made sure to walk past three stations while alone. He finally stopped at the third one, sat on a brand-new public chair, took out his phone, and silently counted down seven minutes, waiting for the ghost bus to appear.

If he had still been hesitant before, now, no matter for what reason, Li Mo had to get on the bus.

He had sworn to find Sakura, but he had failed.

If Rin died again... even if he found Sakura, Li Mo wouldn't know what expression to use, or what face he had to face her questions.

"Time's up."

Li Mo looked up, moved his gaze from the zeroed timer on his phone, and looked at the road ahead.

No change.

It was just that... the lights of the high-rise buildings in the distance had gone out, and there were no more chirping of insects or other sounds in his ears.

It was as if he were the only person in this world.

"As expected, I should have arrived in another world. I need to sort out what to do next."

"First thing: wait for the ghost bus to arrive alive. This should be very simple, but I can't let my guard down."

Li Mo stood up and scanned his surroundings. He didn't see anything.

If he couldn't get on the bus, then the origin of the ghosts on the ghost bus could not be explained. They were probably people who had gotten on the bus and then died.

It was not certain, but his intuition told Li Mo so.

If he couldn't get on the bus, then the ghost bus shouldn't have appeared. The first to be polluted would have been the station, not the vehicle.

After a long while, the surroundings were still dead silent, and there was not a single sound. Li Mo's tense heart slowly relaxed. It seemed that the real danger was after getting on the bus.

"Second thing: after getting on the bus, try to find a way to get off as much as possible. I have a feeling that before getting on the bus, the outside is safe. Once I get on, the outside is no longer safe. Staying at the station or other places is a dead end."

Li Mo's thoughts spun rapidly. It was also very simple to come to this conclusion.

That was that none of them had survived before, and he couldn't see anyone.

Many people had disappeared on this street, but he hadn't seen a single one just now.

And when the ghost bus showed its fangs, someone must have jumped off, but the result proved that that was wrong.

In a supernatural event, one must act according to the ghost's rules. Forcibly breaking the script would most likely make one the ghost's first target.

"I really should have asked Sister Beichen to tell me more..." Li Mo was very puzzled. He shook his head and pulled himself together, "Forget it. Who knows that I would voluntarily enter a supernatural event now? When I heard about these things back then, I was determined to stay away. But Sister Beichen might know something. She thought I couldn't hide, so she told me about the Bizarre in advance."

"Otherwise, I wouldn't even know how I died..."

"Don't be nervous. Sister Beichen said, keep a calm mind, don't trigger the ghost's killing rules, and carefully observe the methods to escape without triggering the killing rules. Sometimes you can even trust your intuition, not your senses."

"An ordinary person's cognition is easily interfered with. What you see and hear is all false. Every once in a while, you have to analyze whether the logic of the scene is problematic."

"There won't be male students in a girls' school. A person only has one pair of eyes and one pair of ears..."

Li Mo kept recalling Beichen's reminders and carefully recited them all.

Even so, his clasped hands still trembled uncontrollably. A bright light shone from the roadside, and the roar of a car was low and oppressive.

Li Mo frequently shook his legs and kept muttering to relieve his inner fear.

"Beep—"

The ghost bus had already arrived in front of Li Mo. It was tattered, just like what he had seen in the photo.

Li Mo swallowed his saliva and stood there as if frozen.

The reason was none other than that the ghosts on the ghost bus in the photo... when he had woken up and checked again, had all strangely stared at him outside the photo...

When he got on the bus later, wouldn't it replicate the scene in the photo...

Thinking of this, Li Mo couldn't help but swallow again. If he saw all the people on the bus turning their heads towards him in unison, no matter how much he deceived himself, he still couldn't hold back the fear in his heart.

"Let's do it."

Li Mo gritted his teeth, took two steps, and got on the bus.

...

...

"..."

After getting on the bus, Li Mo did not see the expected bizarre scene.

There were many people in the car, and there were few empty seats, but there were still some.

The driver was very normal, just an ordinary middle-aged man.

On the bus, there was a gloomy boy wearing headphones and listening to music, looking out the window. There were couples sitting side by side, their hands folded together, their faces full of happiness. There was a contemplative old man holding a book, his eyes deep, immersed in the ocean of knowledge.

The most eye-catching was a mother and son sitting in the front seat of the bus, smiling and talking.

The child snuggled in his mother's arms, playing with his mother's hair, his eyes flashing with curiosity and innocence towards the world, while the mother looked at the child gently, her face beaming with the light of motherly love.

The car seemed to be full of life, with the atmosphere of the mortal world everywhere.

Did I get on the wrong bus?

No... how could I make such a low-level mistake...

Li Mo guaranteed that he had gotten on the bus only after confirming that the vehicle in front of him was the tattered ghost bus in the photo. There was absolutely no mistake.

Then where was the problem?

It couldn't be that my posture for getting on the bus was wrong, right?

At this point, there was no turning back.

Li Mo walked past the front half of the bus and came to the back half.

The only empty seats were in the second to last row and the last row.

In order to better observe the actions of everyone in the car, Li Mo resolutely sat in the last row.

The moment he sat down, he felt a chill.

Li Mo subconsciously got up and glanced at the seat. There was no ice or anything. Was it an illusion of his senses?

It didn't feel like it... forget it. There was no better position than this.

Li Mo remained quiet throughout the process, patiently observing the words and actions of everyone in the car.

The ghost bus soon arrived at the next stop. The person getting off would press the button next to them when the ghost bus was about to arrive, and a sharp and loud bell would ring in the car.

After that, the driver would stop the ghost bus and open the back door.

Li Mo squinted his eyes and focused on the person getting off.

His previous conclusion was that getting off was a certain death, and now was an excellent opportunity for verification.

Time passed minute by minute. The person getting off first stretched out his left foot. His habit was different from that of a normal person. Li Mo noted this down. Most normal people would stretch out their right foot first when getting off.

But this situation was accidental. He would note it down first and only use it as a reference.

But the next scene made Li Mo unable to help but complain in his heart.

The person getting off was a young man.

The steps for getting on and off both had two levels. This hot-blooded young man actually waited until both feet were steadily on the same step before proceeding to the next step.

It looked particularly awkward.

At school, a boy who went up and down the stairs in this way would be laughed at by his brothers for several classes.

Usually, only people with one leg inconvenient would walk like this.

Li Mo continued to take notes.

That person was preparing to land on the ground. Li Mo concentrated, stuck his head out the window, and observed the changes in the other party's landing.

Disappointingly, there was no change.

The expected death did not occur, and there was no counterattack from the rules.

Could it be that getting off was allowed?

Li Mo looked up at the environment outside the car. The ghost bus had already driven to the junction of the suburbs and the city, and there were more people.

There were many passengers waiting at the station. Li Mo could even see street vendors.

But shouldn't he be isolated from reality after getting on the bus? Did his reasoning have a problem again?

Li Mo was perplexed.

"Forget it. It's at least a good thing to be able to see living people," Li Mo said softly. After two seconds, he added, "Probably..."

The ghost bus drove a few more stations and arrived at the city. The noise of people began to rise, and the outside of the car was a bustling scene.

The ghost bus was no different from a normal bus. They were both fulfilling the duty of transporting passengers to their designated destinations.

It was just that everyone didn't seem to look over. Apart from a few people who had triggered the rules and could see the ghost bus, others completely ignored the ghost bus.

On the road, even if the ghost bus was driving fast, people would not stop because of it.

Apart from these seemingly meaningless signs.

So far, Li Mo had not found any clues related to the "ritual" or Rin.

"...Cold. Is the air conditioner set so low?"

Li Mo shrank his body, looked up at the equipment blowing cold air, and reached out to turn it off.

But the expected cold did not recede. Instead, his limbs began to become stiff, as if he were exposed to the ice and snow without any clothes.

Li Mo was still in a daze. His right hand uncontrollably grabbed something, was dragged by the thing held in his hand, and swung it in front of him.

"What... happened?"

Li Mo looked at the suddenly appearing cursed blade, Crimson-Dyed Sakura, and the rotten flesh that had been cut in two in front of him, each half twisting and deforming on the ground.

He was stunned on the spot, his brain not reacting for a moment.

Shouldn't this thing be at home? Why did it appear in his hand?

The cursed blade, Crimson-Dyed Sakura, Beichen's weapon. Since Beichen fell ill, it had never been used again. This weapon was sealed in the storage cabinet at home.

Specialized in dealing with ghosts.

Holding it required a price, so Li Mo had been very sensible and stayed away, never picking it up out of curiosity.

Now, the sudden appearance of the cursed blade made Li Mo's hazy cognition gradually clear.