Volu 1. Let the Ga Begin
"Ah~"
Yawning early in the morning, I patted Sha Ha (Silly Husky) who had been with for years, endured the oppressive feeling brought on by morning hypoglycemia, and forced myself to get up.
Seeing Sha Ha staring at with its sky-blue eyes the mont I made a sound, I smiled.
"Morning..."
"Awoo~"
It was a morning like any other.
With a swish, I pulled open the curtains, and the blinding sunlight shone on my face, bringing a trace of warmth in this cold winter.
But this little bit of warmth wasn’t much to .
After all, this was the north, and the geothermal heating here was enough to make southerners die of envy.
Rubbing my forehead, I had a feeling I might get a migraine today.
Seed like I needed to be careful and avoid eating anything too salty...
Oh right!
I still had to pay the electricity bill today.
Sigh... another bus ride, huh?
Stepping on the smooth cent floor that hadn’t been renovated, I entered the tiny bathroom of less than two square ters.
After freshening up, the icy tap water of winter jolted awake.
I wiped my face, patted Sha Ha, who was beside , prepared its breakfast of dog food, and refilled a bowl with clean water.
Only then did I go to the computer and sit on a cheap sofa I bought from Taobao more than a year ago.
I opened QQ, chatted with the editor, then went to the browser and uploaded the draft I wrote yesterday.
The book This Demon King Is Clearly Super Strong but Excessively Cautious was my new project.
Hmm... how should I put it, I still felt a bit unaccustod to third-person perspective.
But since the editor requested it, I tried my best.
It just lacked that sense of imrsion.
After uploading the latest chapter, I loosened my shoulders.
My parents were gone, and I’d been living alone in this over-40-square-ter small unit given after relocation for so many years.
Although I had so experience hustling in society, my personality never fit the scheming and deceit of that world.
In the end, I chose to beco a writer.
How should I say it?
Writing novels didn’t make rich, but at least it let eat.
Thinking about all this random stuff, I put on my clothes, took the husky downstairs, and ran into the parking lot manager.
I greeted him with a smile, then let Sha Ha relieve herself in the bushes.
Though she was called "Sha Ha" (Silly Husky), she was actually quite smart.
If netizens saw her, their first impression would definitely be that she was incredibly handso.
Although she was a female husky, she was absolutely the peak of canine beauty.
Besides, she wasn’t really that silly.
She was the kind of husky that could carry herself like a pro, even without a leash!
After walking the husky, I returned ho, had a cup of coffee milk, ate so bread, and sat down at the computer to start the day's work.
Typing.
Under my fingers, the keyboard crackled rapidly.
I typed quickly, so word count was never an issue for .
The real challenge was inspiration and plotting.
Also, I always felt that my prose could still improve, but... there really wasn’t much ti to study.
Just like that, the entire morning passed.
Though I typed fast, I always had to rest after writing a segnt, rethink the next sentences, and make sure every line flowed smoothly.
Only then could the punctuation fall into place perfectly.
Otherwise, the reading experience would always feel a bit off.
I guess that’s a kind of technique in writing too, right?
I had been busy all morning.
Even though the ti wasn’t long, it still left exhausted.
My mind felt hazy—probably the side effect of overthinking?
After all... the brain was inherently a lazy organ.
"Ah~"
Yawning again, I stood up and stretched hard.
All the joints in my body cracked and popped.
I loosened up, grabbed my phone from the table, and just as I was about to order delivery, I suddenly felt... like I had forgotten sothing?
"Forget it... I won’t think about it. Food first."
I casually ordered a bowl of Lanzhou noodles and watched so new ani while waiting.
By the afternoon, my eyes were feeling strained, so I finally closed the browser of a certain pink site.
Taking a deep breath, I picked up a cigarette pack.
Just as I was about to light one and relax, a piece of paper floated down from the table with the cigarette pack.
"Damn!! Right! The electricity bill! Damn damn damn~ How did I forget that? If I don’t pay today, the power’s getting cut tomorrow! No power, how the hell am I supposed to type anything!!"
A sudden anxiety surged in my chest.
I threw on a coat in three seconds, stepped over the husky who always liked to sit by the bedroom door watching , and rushed to the door.
Just as I was about to leave, I suddenly rembered sothing and looked down...
A pair of deep blue eyes stared up at .
Her mouth was open, tongue half hanging out, panting happily.
I shook my head with a bitter smile.
Almost forgot her.
If I opened the door just like that, she’d definitely blast off like a rocket, taking ten stairs at a ti, and disappear in a blink.
"Sha Ha, go back! Not taking you! I’m going to pay the electricity bill, not going out to play!"
Hearing my scolding, Sha Ha’s ears instantly drooped against her head.
She looked at pitifully.
But... no matter how pitiful you look, I still can’t take a husky on a bus!
"Be good, watch the house. I’ll be back soon. Don’t wreck the place!"
"Whimper..."
The husky let out a pitiful sound and turned back to the bedroom, glancing back at every few steps.
I stood at the door, watching until she returned to the bedroom, then finally let out a sigh of relief, opened the door, and stepped outside.
My husky’s back was covered in pure black fur, the sides of her body were gray, and her belly was white.
She looked incredibly cool.
Among dog lovers, hardly anyone could resist such a handso design.
But sadly, a dog was still a dog.
So people could accept it, so couldn’t.
So I couldn’t take her on the bus.
No matter how likable she was.
I opened the door and left.
Checking the ti on my watch, I hurried out of the community and didn’t even bother greeting the neighbors.
The power company closed at three—if I was any later, I wouldn’t make it!
Seriously... it was already 20xx.
Why hasn't online paynt been implented yet??
Grumbling about the backwardness of the local power company, I quickly made my way to the bus stop.
The city’s Second Ring bus line ran every ten minutes, so I didn’t wait long.
A bus with the plate number LC·4444 approached from a distance.
I didn’t know if it was just my imagination, but as that bus ca closer, everything around suddenly turned eerily quiet.
Even though it was broad daylight, it felt strangely desolate.
The bright red bus stood out starkly, and when it entered my vision, my attention instinctively went straight to the license plate.
It was a bizarre feeling.
Normally, people wouldn’t look at a bus’s plate first, especially not one with such a striking color.
But for so reason, that was the first thing I noticed.
As I stared at the license plate, a gust of icy winter wind blew past .
Even though I was bundled in a thick down jacket and pants, I felt for a mont as if sothing cold and eerie had crawled onto .
Goosebumps erupted all over my body.
"Beep beep~"
Snapping back to my senses, I realized I had been frozen by that strange feeling.
I didn’t even notice the bus had already stopped right in front of .
Shaking my head to dispel the tingling on my scalp, I quickly walked to the bus door.
Just as I was about to get on, a wave of cold wind blew out from inside the bus.
Logically, that shouldn’t have happened—the bus had heating.
Even if the doors opened frequently with people getting on and off, the interior was still full of passengers.
How could it feel so cold?
For a brief mont, I felt an overwhelming reluctance to get on the bus.
But… ti waited for no one.
I glanced at my watch.
This was the last bus that could get to the power company before it closed.
Any later, and I probably wouldn’t make it!
"Tsk! Why am I scaring myself for nothing!"
I clenched my teeth, trying to pump myself up despite feeling unusually timid today.
Just as I was about to say sothing else, the bus driver grew impatient.
"Getting on or not? If not, I’m leaving!!"
As soon as I heard the driver, I didn’t have ti to think—I just got on the bus.
The mont I boarded, a wave of regret suddenly rose in my chest.
I instinctively turned back to look at the bus door that was about to close, and a strong urge to get off flooded over .
But I froze.
What was wrong with today?
I didn’t like taking the bus because I got carsick, but it had never reached the point of fear, right?
While I was spacing out, the bus doors closed, and the vehicle started moving again.
Only then did that strong urge to get off slowly subside.
I let out a long sigh, turned my head back, and casually pulled out a coin I had prepared.
When the driver shot a suspicious glance, I vaguely understood that he probably found suspicious.
So I waved the coin in front of him.
He seed a bit short-tempered—maybe had so road rage—grunted, and didn’t look at again.
Forget it… let it go.
Arguing with soone like this would only waste my precious ti.
I dropped the coin into the fare box and finally turned to look inside the bus.
There weren’t many people, maybe just a dozen or so.
For a bus seven or eight ters long, it wasn’t crowded.
The seats were spacious.
But as I glanced around, sothing about the scene inside made feel off.
I couldn’t shake the sense that… sothing was very strange.
I randomly picked an empty seat and sat down, unconsciously lowering my head in thought.
What exactly was strange?
I looked up at the bus interior again.
Not many people.
Three middle-aged won seed to be together, carrying bags—probably just ca back from grocery shopping.
That wasn’t odd.
There was a female high school student over there.
Judging by her uniform, she was probably from LC City’s key high school.
Hmm… today was a school day, but this ti of day was a bit off.
The girl was very pretty.
Even without makeup, I thought she was more beautiful than most made-up celebrities—looked like a classic, well-bred young lady, with perfect posture.
Yeah… I might’ve snuck a couple extra glances because she was pretty.
Nothing unusual about that.
After all, n were creatures ruled by their lower half.
I’d never denied that about myself.
However, it seed the girl had been crying.
She had that tear-stained beauty look that really tugged at the heartstrings.
But… as a man in his thirties—even if I looked young—I couldn’t possibly make a move on a high schooler.
No matter how tempting, that’d be a straight shot to death row, and I wasn’t ready to die yet.
I didn’t dare stare too openly—after all, she was a girl and likely to be wary.
So I turned my head away and looked at the other passengers.
Most of them I’d already observed, and nothing was off.
But then I noticed sothing—five of them seed to be a group.
And this group… was very strange.
Yes… judging by their interactions, they were clearly together.
But why did they feel so out of place?
Two of them were young punks—one with dyed yellow hair, one with blue.
Total "Shamate" fashion.
But the look in their eyes was filled with fear.
They seed extrely nervous, constantly glancing around like they were afraid of sothing.
Then there was a middle-aged man with a handkerchief, frequently wiping sweat from his forehead.
His flabby body swayed with the motion of the bus.
Just like the two punks, he was scanning his surroundings anxiously, as if searching for sothing.
The other two seed like a pair of high school lovers.
The girl’s face was pale, gripping her boyfriend’s hand tightly.
It was subtle, but her body trembled slightly.
As for the boy, he also looked panicked, eyes darting nervously around.
Finally, I had found the source of the strange feeling on the bus, and my obsessive compulsion eased a little.
I exhaled deeply and looked at those five people.
They seed to be discussing sothing.
I furrowed my brow and tried to listen closely.
Occasionally I could catch words like "It’ll be fine," "Too dangerous!" "We still don’t know what the warning is!"—which made even more confused.
What were they doing?
The five of them ca from completely different backgrounds.
The two punks looked like typical low-level thugs who hung around nightclubs.
The high school couple seed refined—well, nerdy—real, proper students.
The middle-aged man wore simple clothes, but the watch on his wrist was a Longines—clearly soone with money.
I wasn’t rich myself and didn’t care for cars, but I had a passion for watches.
Sadly, being poor, I only wore a Casio radio-controlled watch I got second-hand.
But the Rolex in that man’s hand—I recognized it at a glance.
It was a gold model, and even second-hand, it would go for seventy to eighty thousand.
No way those two cheap thugs or that broke student couple could be hanging out with soone of that level.
The boy’s shoes were 361°, the girl’s outfit wasn’t anything fancy, and their phones were just Honor series—not high-end.
That spoke of average family backgrounds.
One of the punks had a decent phone, but the other was holding an outdated iPhone 6S.
No matter how I looked at it, this lineup made no sense together.
This group… was just too mismatched.
What were they afraid of?
How did they even know each other?
Curiosity drove to think deeper.
And just as I was pondering all this, the bus passed three more stops.
Strangely, even though there were people waiting at the stations, not a single one boarded.
The seat I was in gave a clear view of the door, and without exception, I could see that flash of fear in the eyes of every person outside.
That fear gradually shattered the calm I had just managed to reclaim.
No!
There was sothing off about this bus today.
I should... wait!
I was an atheist.
How could I let a re sense of fear push to get off?
Wouldn't that be admitting that things like instinct actually existed?
But... what was this fog creeping in all around?
Huh?
Fog?
Suddenly, I realized sothing was wrong.
This... wasn’t a bus anymore?
What the hell was this fog?
This unexpected situation made instinctively overlook sothing.
I raised my head and looked toward the front of the bus.
At that mont, the entire front seed to be swallowed by fog.
It was barely three ters away, yet I couldn’t see the windows clearly.
I could only faintly make out a shadow sitting in the driver’s seat.
"Driver!! Driver!! Isn’t this weird? Is sothing wrong with the bus? Why is it smoking?"
As I spoke, the other passengers seed to notice sothing strange as well and began asking questions in confusion:
"Yeah~ Where’s all this smoke coming from?"
"Driver! What’s going on? The bus isn’t broken, is it?"
"Stop the bus! I want to get off!"
That pretty high school girl also seed to notice sothing wrong.
She slowly ca out of her sadness, looked around, then glanced curiously at the floor beneath her seat.
Just one glance, and she suddenly let out a piercing scream that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
My scalp tingled as I whipped my head around to look at her.
I saw her standing fearfully on her seat, pointing at the aisle between the seats below her.
Her eyes were wide, her mouth trembled, but no words ca out.
"What’s wrong?!"
Seeing the girl like that, I couldn’t help but feel concerned.
After all... this was a world ruled by appearances.
I hadn’t even spared a thought for the strange sounds from those middle-aged won, but this girl’s reaction made ask without thinking.
Then I suddenly rembered sothing, quickly turned toward the driver, and was just about to shout—
But the mont I turned my head, I froze.
Through the thick fog at the front of the bus, the driver slowly turned his head and looked at …
Those eyes—I didn’t even know how to describe them.
They were filled with greed and desire, locked dead onto .
But that wasn’t the scariest part.
The scariest part was that his mouth… was split open in an impossible way.
It tore all the way back to his ears in a grotesque, inhuman grin.
And with that eerie smile, he stared straight at !
Cold terror shot up my spine.
Sweat drenched my shirt.
My scalp prickled and goosebumps rose all over my body.
In that instant, fear spread through my entire being, and that terrifying smile just kept growing larger in my eyes!
I didn’t know why, but I simply stood there, unmoving.
Even though that horrific smile was still at a distance, I gradually felt like I was looking up at it… and then—
A searing pain ripped through my neck.
I instinctively tried to cry out, but only a gurgling sound ca out.
My hand reached for my neck—and then I understood…
My neck had been twisted and torn by my own backward motion!
Warm, crimson blood gushed from my neck’s artery.
I tried to speak, but my mouth was filled only with blood.
That terrifying smile continued to enlarge before my eyes.
The bizarre visual overwheld all my senses—I didn’t even know how to react!
I felt the cracking moan of the vertebrae at the back of my neck.
I wanted to lower my head, to return my body to normal, but I couldn’t move.
I could only stare—locked in eye contact with that horrific and twisted grin.
Staring… staring… until it completely filled the sky, completely filled my field of vision, completely twisted my neck around behind .
Crack!
The sound of my neck breaking echoed in my ears.
I stared dazedly at the other passengers in the bus.
And now… every single one of them looked at with eyes full of absolute terror.
The smile vanished.
But… I had died.
I knew I was dead.
I…
My body gradually lost all vitality.
My heart stopped beating.
Blood splattered across the entire bus.
Then I felt as though I had been torn from my body.
In the next mont, a frenzied, twisted impulse flooded my consciousness!
Kill! Kill!!! Eat! Eat!!!!
Kill them all!! Devour everything!!
My entire awareness was consud by madness.
My mories grew faint.
In a daze, I seed to grasp sothing.
It gave a sense of unbelievable sweetness.
This oval object was in my hand, and I wildly shoved it into my mouth, biting and chewing.
A sharp scream rang in my ears, but it didn’t stop from eating.
Through the haze, I sensed sothing was fighting with over it.
I bit down madly, not even bothering to chew properly.
I just felt a cool sensation slide down my throat.
At the sa ti, sothing… seed to be biting …
I didn’t care.
I turned and bit back.
That face—I would never forget it!
That eerie smile, accompanied by a series of creepy "giggling" laughs, continued to bite into the “people?” around .
And I also bit furiously.
But… slowly, I realized I couldn’t compete with it.
It devoured most of them.
I only got a few.
Suddenly, it turned its full attention to .
That overwhelming fear chilled to my core, like I’d fallen into a bottomless abyss.
What I had eaten turned into a stream of clarity, briefly returning my sanity.
Fear took control at last!
I wanted to run!
I had to run!!
No… I must escape!!
I spun around and fled wildly.
But… that twisted grin was always right behind , gradually filling the space around .
That smile distorted and expanded, occupying nearly all of reality.
I was consud with terror, fleeing in a frenzy.
Eventually… when I had no more room to run, I suddenly noticed a sliver of light beside .
The space around was being swallowed by that gaping grin.
Its grotesquely torn mouth beca pure darkness, devouring everything—space, light, everything.
That tiny gleam of light was now my only hope.
In a daze… I ran toward it.
It was as if sothing had absorbed half of , and in the blink of an eye, I fell—
At the sa ti, everything around beca clear again.
The senses I lost along with my body instantly returned to my awareness.
The world spun wildly.
A sharp pain shot through my arm, making cry out instinctively—but…
That voice… wasn’t mine.
“Ah!!!”
A crisp female voice echoed in my ears.
I suddenly felt the cold unique to winter all around .
I seed to be lying in snow?
And that sharp female scream… had co from my mouth?
In a daze, I opened my eyes.
Just a few ters away, the bus lay tipped on its side beside the road.
A nearby cent truck had spilled its entire load onto the bus.
The entire vehicle’s shell was crushed nearly flat.
And ‘my’ body… was half-hanging from a window, my neck torn apart by the bus window fra, bones snapped, my head dangling by a strip of flesh.
Those lifeless eyes—stared straight at .
"That’s… ?"
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