Chapter 6: Cornered

Jiang Yan raised the emergency hammer, aiming for the corner of the window, but the man in the black hat grabbed his wrist, stopping him mere millimeters from the glass.

Jiang Yan looked at him with mild exasperation. "Why did you stop me?"

For once, the black-hatted man looked tense, gripping the hammer tightly to prevent Jiang Yan from swinging it.

They were now locked in a silent struggle, each refusing to let go. Although the black-hatted man couldn't seize the hammer, he took comfort in knowing Jiang Yan wouldn't be able to shatter the window.

After a moment, the man took a deep breath, then spoke with irritation. "Do you even understand what you're trying to do?"

"Of course. I'm breaking the window," Jiang Yan replied matter-of-factly.

The man sighed and pointed outside at the thick, swirling fog. "Let me tell you something. While I haven't gone into the fog myself, my organization has collected information about it. This fog is full of vengeful spirits and unknown dangers. If you break the window, those spirits will flood in."

At this point, he didn't care about holding back; he revealed this confidential information, hoping to dissuade Jiang Yan.

Initially, he hadn't been worried, thinking Jiang Yan wouldn't actually be able to break the window. But now, this seemingly inexperienced college student had somehow figured out a way to do it.

Jiang Yan was taken aback by the man's words, but he quickly regained his resolve. "That matches what I suspected."

"Then why would you still try to break the window? Are you that eager to die?" the man asked, unable to comprehend his decision.

"That's precisely why I have to do it," Jiang Yan answered, his voice steady. "Unlike you, I don't have any supernatural defenses. The next time this bus stops, either I or Tiantian will die. I can't accept that. Rather than sitting here waiting to die, I'd rather take my chances by breaking the window."

"I see… So you're desperate, like a cornered animal," the man in the black hat murmured, finally understanding. He had assumed Jiang Yan was rational and calm, but in the face of death, even the most logical people would eventually show their fangs.

"But have you considered this? The bus may be killing people, but it's also protecting us. You've figured out the rules, and we may be close to finding a way to escape. If you break the window and let in those spirits, you're certainly doomed," the man warned. He couldn't handle the vengeful spirits in the fog and didn't want to face that danger.

Hearing his reasoning, Jiang Yan hesitated, lowering the hammer slightly.

He looked at the man in the black hat, his expression cold. "You make a good point. Let's keep trying to find a way. But if we don't figure it out before the next stop, I'll break the window."

Jiang Yan had no choice. With only four people left, he and Tiantian were directly in line to be the next victims, and he couldn't stand the thought of losing her.

He glanced over at Zhang Tiantian, who was curled up in her seat, looking at him helplessly.

The man in the black hat sighed in relief, glad that Jiang Yan had agreed to wait. But regardless of his relief, he was resolute—if Jiang Yan tried to break the window at the next stop, he would kill him without hesitation.

The two exchanged a tense look, both holding back their own plans.

Suddenly, Jiang Yan moved quickly, raising the hammer and slamming it into the window.

"What the—!"

The man in the black hat was stunned for a moment before his expression twisted in fury. He tried to stop Jiang Yan, but it was already too late.

With a loud crash, the filthy, grimy window shattered, leaving a hole the size of an egg.

Instantly, the temperature in the bus plummeted, a bitter cold sweeping through. Outside, the dense fog began seeping in through the opening.

"Damn it!" the man in the black hat cursed, whipping his coat in a quick, fluid motion.

The sleeve of his coat extended unnaturally, almost like elastic, and neatly plugged the hole in the window.

Gradually, the temperature inside the bus returned to normal.

"So this coat is your trump card," Jiang Yan observed, intrigued. "What kind of item is this, able to block the fog?"

"Are you insane?! You said you'd wait until the next stop before trying anything!" the man shouted, furious. Although he respected Jiang Yan's bravery, in that moment he was genuinely tempted to strangle him.

Moreover, using the coat to block the fog required a significant amount of his energy, leaving him drained and unable to act further.

"I did say that. But I had to make sure the hammer could actually break the window," Jiang Yan explained. "If it couldn't, then we'd be sitting ducks. I needed to test it and see if it would leave any cracks. Turns out, it was stronger than I expected and smashed through on the first hit."

"Do you really think I'm going to believe that?" the man replied, sneering. He was certain Jiang Yan's "test" had been a deliberate move.

"Believe what you want. Besides, it's not so bad—the fog didn't get in, did it?"

"Spare me your smugness," the man snapped. "You think keeping the fog out is easy? It's supernatural, and I'm barely holding it back. Much longer, and I'll run out of energy, and the spirits inside my coat will awaken."

"Yet you're still here, right? Let's keep figuring out our options," Jiang Yan replied, settling back into his seat.

"Damn brat…" the man in the black hat muttered, teeth gritted in frustration.

The longer his coat was in contact with the fog, the tighter it seemed to constrict around him. If this kept up, he'd be strangled to death by his own coat.

Regret gnawed at him—he shouldn't have underestimated this college student. Jiang Yan's resourcefulness was beyond anything he'd expected.

Yet Jiang Yan wasn't quite as confident as he appeared. Sitting in his seat, he was growing more anxious by the minute, his hands sweating as he desperately searched for a way out.

Could this curse truly be unbreakable?

A bus that could be damaged by an emergency hammer couldn't be too dangerous, which suggested there must be a way to escape.

But where was it?

The only rule that worked in their favor was the bus's adherence to "order." As long as they followed the order of the bus, they remained safe.

Yet even with that, they couldn't escape the cycle of death each time the bus stopped.

Which meant… was the killing truly random?

Jiang Yan reviewed each stop in his mind, examining the sequence of deaths. Soon, he found an inconsistency.

So far, four people had died—three killed by the bus's stop-and-kill rule, and one due to interfering with the driver.

The bodies of the first three victims had remained in their seats, consistent with each death. By that logic, the blond youth's body should have appeared beside the driver, given his interference.

Yet his severed head had ended up back in his original seat.

The seats…

A sudden realization dawned on Jiang Yan, and a confident smile appeared on his face.

"I've found the way out. We're not going to die here."

Both the man in the black hat and Zhang Tiantian stared at him, shocked.

Just then, the bus engine cut out, and it screeched to a halt once again.

As the lights dimmed, the three of them were swallowed by darkness once more…