Chapter 6

At this moment, the bus was still quite noisy with people talking. Although Ye Xiang had many thoughts in his mind, he couldn't discuss them with anyone. He was worried that improvising lines might result in the deduction of death redemption coupons. Yes, he felt that the previous times he improvised lines without deduction were probably because a few lines didn't significantly impact the plot. Originally, every time a death redemption coupon was deducted, it was a whole number, but now the deductions included fractions, leading him to believe... that there were deductions for lines. In other words, improvising lines to a certain extent would also result in the deduction of death redemption coupons.

The male and female leads continued their conversation. The more he listened, the more he felt that they were definitely veteran actors. New actors would read lines as if they were reading from a script, but these two spoke with obvious emotional color. This made Ye Xiang think: Could improving acting skills also earn extra death redemption coupons? Otherwise, why would veteran actors care about their acting?

At this moment, Ye Xiang sat up straight because... it was almost his turn to speak.

"Xueyan," the male lead Luo Haosheng continued, "Now that I think about it, it feels strange."

"Hmm, what?"

"This bus..." Luo Haosheng went on, "When we arrived at the long-distance bus station that day, something felt off. At that time, an old beggar suddenly appeared next to us..."

"An old beggar?"

"Yes. He suddenly grabbed my leg and said, 'Young man, this bus is full of yin energy, you can't ride it!'"

"What did you say?"

The female lead Kang Xueyan immediately showed a look of great surprise, her performance was quite realistic, not inferior to real actors in TV dramas.

"How come I didn't know about this?"

"You hadn't arrived yet. We thought the beggar was trying to beg for money, so we ignored him and struggled to get free. But he kept纠缠, saying, 'You can't ride this bus, don't ride it!' At that time, Xiaoyun, who had a bad temper, kicked him and called him a stinky beggar. It took a while to get rid of him."

Xueyan turned back and asked, "Is that true? Xiaoyun?"

Ye Xiang, of course, knew this line in advance. This kind of setup was common in horror movies. The beggar was clearly a wise man, but unfortunately, he was far away. Otherwise, it would have been a great opportunity for survival. This horror movie clearly didn't give the actors a chance to use the beggar for survival, and this part wasn't even filmed. And the character he played, Xiaoyun, had kicked the beggar. He hoped it wouldn't bring bad luck.

At this moment, hearing the female lead's question, Ye Xiang had to continue in Xiaoyun's role, recalling his lines in his mind, and said, "So what if it's true? That old beggar was probably just trying to scam money. Haosheng, you don't believe the bus broke down because of what he said, do you?"

"No..." The male lead Luo Haosheng shook his head, then bit his lower lip and continued, "Now that I think about it, the bus was parked in the most remote corner, and we really had to search for a long time. When I got on, I felt the bus seemed a bit eerie..."

At this point, he looked at Zhang Nianzhou and asked, "Nianzhou, is that right?"

Zhang Nianzhou cleared his throat and said, "What are you thinking? The bus was parked in a shaded area, so it's normal."

"Better safe than sorry."

A cold voice came from behind, and Ye Xiang immediately looked toward the source. The speaker was Jiang Youlin, another female in the group of six, sitting next to Du Yan. She had always been composed, and Ye Xiang judged her to be a veteran actor.

"Youlin," the female lead Kang Xueyan, who seemed to be close to Jiang Youlin, smiled and asked, "What do you mean?"

Next, it was Ye Xiang's turn to speak: "Right, speaking of which, Youlin, you and Xueyan came later. Because you were late, Du Yan even joked that women take too long to put on makeup."

Du Yan quickly responded, "Where... where did I say that?"

As these words were spoken, everyone began to get into character, and the initial fear started to dissipate. The lines came more naturally.

Since Ye Xiang was a supporting role, he had fewer lines. The main lines were still focused on Luo Haosheng and Kang Xueyan. Luo Haosheng continued, "Yes, Youlin, you didn't see that old beggar. Do you think what he said makes sense?"

"How would I know?" Jiang Youlin turned to look at Luo Haosheng, "You decide for yourself."

As she turned, Ye Xiang was quite impressed. He had only seen her profile before, but now, seeing her face, she was indeed very beautiful and refined, looking like a real actress. Her beauty was on par with the female lead Kang Xueyan!

For the next while, Ye Xiang had no more lines. Being a supporting role, and possibly facing his death in the next scene, he naturally had to prioritize survival.

To survive, death redemption coupons were the first priority.

At midnight, the driver would die. It was already 10:30 PM. Midnight was approaching. According to the plot, before 11:00 PM, they would confirm the bus couldn't be fixed and decide to spend the night on the bus. They would lock the doors and windows and then fall asleep one by one. Luo Haosheng would fall asleep, have a nightmare, and wake up at midnight.

Even if Luo Haosheng fell asleep at 11:00 PM, the hour between 11:00 PM and midnight was a blank period in the plot. Although Luo Haosheng woke up at midnight, Ye Xiang couldn't be sure the driver would die exactly at midnight. That blank period might be when the ghost entered the bus to kill!

No...

Ye Xiang suddenly negated his own thought.

"Enter" the bus? According to the old beggar, the problem was with the bus itself. The beggar's warning was not an exaggeration.

In any case, during that blank hour, Ye Xiang couldn't just do nothing. The script only covered the first act, where the driver died, but Xiaoyun, who was still alive. However, Xiaoyun, who was Ye Xiang, had already left the bus once. This change in the plot might make him a "priority target" for the ghost. Horror movies had no logic, and the plot was determined by the script. As a supporting role, he could die at any moment, so he needed to accumulate enough death redemption coupons to prepare for the worst.

What could he do during that blank hour?

He felt that Luo Haosheng and the others wouldn't just sleep through the blank period.

Since escaping the bus wasn't safe, he needed to consider how to survive. In any horror movie, they wouldn't be doomed. There must be some way to restrain the ghost. The old beggar only warned them but didn't give them any talismans. Why the bus was full of yin energy was unknown. As for whether the old beggar said anything else, the actors wouldn't know since they never met him.

Luo Haosheng, Kang Xueyan, Du Yan, Zhang Nianzhou, Jiang Youlin... and himself, a total of six people, were the main characters in this horror movie. It seemed that only by working together could they deal with this situation. What should they do during that blank hour?

Should they just sleep through it, or watch the driver die?

Ye Xiang felt he had to do something. After all, doing so might increase his death redemption coupons. He needed to find a way to restrain the ghost. There must be a method hidden somewhere in the horror movie to help them survive!

After much thought, he was still indecisive due to the lack of information and clues.

He wanted to ask the driver about his plans, but he didn't want to deduct more death redemption coupons yet. He could only observe the driver's actions. The driver knew he would die at midnight and wouldn't just sit there. He would definitely try to escape before midnight.

However, escaping alone might be even more dangerous, and he might still die.

What Ye Xiang needed to consider was... whether to stay in the bus or escape at midnight.

At this moment, he suddenly felt the bus becoming quiet. The outside was pitch black, and the surroundings were shrouded in darkness.

Everyone seemed to have finished their lines, and the bus fell into a deathly silence.

The driver had already announced that the bus couldn't be fixed temporarily. They decided to spend the night on the bus and figure out a plan in the morning.

Ye Xiang finally made up his mind! Stay in the bus! If all these actors weren't afraid to die, why should he leave? Clearly, everyone thought that running alone would be more dangerous and would waste death redemption coupons!

However, he couldn't fall asleep during this time. He would just close his eyes to rest, keeping his mind alert. It was only 8:00 PM when he entered, and it was too early for him to feel sleepy. As for midnight...

According to the script, at least until the end of the first act, Xiaoyun was still alive. He could only hope this wouldn't change.

Time passed quickly, and soon, all the passengers closed their eyes. However, Ye Xiang knew most were probably faking sleep. Who could sleep soundly on a haunted bus?

He occasionally opened his eyes to look at the driver, who was still sitting steadily in the driver's seat!

Ye Xiang thought the driver would definitely escape, but was he planning to wait until midnight? Or... was he a veteran actor with some way to deal with the ghost?

Should he do something?

Ye Xiang hesitated.

Should he persuade the driver to leave the bus?

He had thought about trying to save the driver but ultimately didn't dare.

One hour...

One hour later...

What would happen?

In the dense darkness outside the bus, the wind began to howl, like a mournful cry...

Ye Xiang closed his eyes, pretending to sleep. However, for some reason, his eyelids felt increasingly heavy, and each time he opened them, they would droop again...

He kept reminding himself not to fall asleep, but he couldn't resist the drowsiness and eventually... fell asleep!

He woke up dazed after some time. At this moment, almost everyone in the bus was lying in various positions, and the lights were off.

Shocked, he immediately checked his phone. The time was...

11:58 PM!