newbobooks Chapter 957 Women
Chapter 957 Women
After saying those ambiguous words, Lin Hai relaxed completely.
He leaned back in his chair, his small eyes half-closed, the unsettling smile still lingering on his lips, his fingers unconsciously tapping lightly on his knees, completely devoid of the earlier hostility.
Even the hooded passenger next to him had changed.
The two scattered lights under its brim gradually dimmed, returning to their previous faint flickering state.
But Yu Shijiu, who hadn't looked away, noticed something was wrong.
The outline of the fingers on the hooded passenger's hand, resting on his knee, seemed... to have become a little clearer.
You can even vaguely make out that it is a woman's hand, still pale, but with slender fingers.
woman?
A woman's hands?
Alarm bells rang in Yu Shijiu's mind.
Lin Hai's memories... a woman?
Could it be that the hoodie passenger isn't becoming like Lin Hai, but rather that Lin Hai is actually trying to bring his girlfriend to the scene?
But why is it becoming more and more like Lin Hai?
Just then, He Lingling suddenly groaned and grabbed Xu Han's arm with such force that Xu Han winced in pain.
"He Lingling, you can move now?"
Xu Han was startled and immediately sat up straight, looking at He Lingling with concern.
He Lingling did not answer immediately.
Her tightly closed eyelids trembled violently, and the tears flowing from the corners of her eyes were no longer bloody tears, but a nearly black, viscous liquid.
Her lips trembled as she squeezed out a few words:
"I saw...some...some fragments..."
"It's...Lin Hai's...memories..."
"!"
Anjie and Chen Yi didn't care about anything else and immediately moved closer, while Yu Shijiu also quietly pricked up his ears.
"Rainy night...bus...lots of people..."
He Lingling's voice was broken and intermittent, as if she had used up all her strength to say each word.
"A man whose features are indistinct... he's gone mad... holding a knife... and laughing..."
"He was... chopping... a woman in a floral dress..."
"Blood...so much blood, so much blood...blood is spraying everywhere..."
"The other passengers in the car... were screaming... trying to get away... but no one... no one went up to stop him... no one stopped him..."
He Lingling's chest heaved violently as she endured the excruciating pain and continued:
“They’re watching…just like us…just like us and these passengers on the train…like this…watching indifferently…”
"Lin Hai, Lin Hai is shouting... He's crying... He tried to rush over... but someone held him back... He was held back..."
"The woman's clothes, her clothes were stained red with blood... She kept looking at Lin Hai who was being stopped... Her mouth was moving... as if she was saying... she wanted to... go home..."
As He Lingling finished speaking, she suddenly convulsed and her whole body went limp. Even more terrifying, a thick, dark red liquid slowly seeped from the corners of her eyes, nostrils, and ears.
"He Lingling!"
Xu Han was terrified and frantically poured the little healing energy he had left into her body—but Chen Yi stopped him.
"Don't use it," Chen Yi shook his head, "If you overdraw it, no one will be watching Lingling later."
Xu Han, who was being held back, trembled, "But, but Brother Chen, I, I won't, I won't treat her, she, she might, she might die from this amount of bleeding..."
Anjie's face turned ashen, and she was about to speak when—
"Brother Han."
Yu Shijiu had already left his seat and walked towards them, bowing his head as he said:
"Use the props that Thumbelina gave you."
Xu Han immediately remembered and quickly took out the item from his system inventory.
[Resilience Blessing Belt: Can be used to enhance the wearer's physical resilience and mild self-healing speed... Current usage count: 5/5]
[Note: Do players need to use this?]
Xu Han quickly clicked "confirm" and hurriedly tied He Lingling's belt.
Soon, at a speed visible to the naked eye, He Lingling's bleeding rate slowed down considerably.
Xu Han's heart sank instantly. He plopped down in his seat, panting heavily, wiping the cold sweat from his face as he breathed.
"Oh, that scared me to death! I was so anxious just now, I completely forgot..."
Yu Shijiu didn't speak this time. He seemed to have sensed something and turned to look at Lin Hai and the others in the back row.
At that moment, Lin Hai seemed to sense that someone was watching him, and he looked up at them.
Eyes facing each other.
In Lin Hai's small pupils, the swirling fragments of light seemed to freeze in that instant.
Then, Yu Shijiu clearly saw that the unsettling smile that had been hanging on Lin Hai's lips slowly, little by little... collapsed.
Instead, there was a deep-seated, bone-chilling twisted state, a mixture of endless pain, hatred, and madness.
"You...did you hear that?"
Lin Hai's voice was very soft, yet it pierced the eardrums of Yu Shijiu and the other four like an ice pick.
He didn't wait for their reply.
He spoke slowly, word by word:
"That wedding dress... was supposed to be worn at our wedding."
“That day…we took this cheap overnight bus home…just to save money, just to save more money to go home and have our wedding.”
"She was wearing a floral dress and got on the bus early to wait for me..."
"Then... that madman came up."
Lin Hai's voice was eerily calm, but anyone could hear the overwhelming hatred surging beneath that calm.
"That madman was just sitting quietly alone in the back of the bus, but after a few stops, he suddenly pulled out a machete from his bag... and started slashing at everyone he saw... Everyone screamed and ran away..."
"Only she, only she was closest to that madman... so she was the first one to be slashed..."
Lin Hai's cheeks began to twitch as he spoke, his short, graying hair reflecting the light from the car headlights. He said, word by word:
"Do you know what? I watched her fall right before my eyes... the blood stained her dress red..."
“I tried desperately to go and stop him… but those ‘kind’ passengers held me back tightly… constantly saying, ‘Don’t go, don’t go, that man is crazy, if you go he’ll kill you too…’”
"They just...dragged me...tugged at me with all their might, making me watch as my girlfriend...was...slashed...piece by piece by piece by that madman..."
Lin Hai's body began to tremble slightly, and his tiny pupils contracted to their maximum size.
The temperature inside the carriage was so cold... It felt like it brought him back to that late night.
-
The stench of blood, the terrified screams of men, women, and children, the men's contorted faces, the women's severed arms and legs...
Countless people, their features indistinct and their faces blank with fear, clung to Lin Hai's arms, pulling him back again and again, earnestly trying to persuade him:
"Young man, don't go over there, don't go over there, it's no use going over there... if you go over there he'll chop you up too..."
"Young man, don't go over there, don't go over there, it's no use going over there... if you go over there he'll chop you up too..."
"Yeah!" the others shouted in agreement. "You were useless going over there! Look how badly that girl was hacked! How could she possibly be saved!"
"Yes, that girl's leg was cut in half, oh my god, so pitiful, so pitiful, and so young..."
"..."
Countless voices and countless forces of obstruction and pulling gripped Lin Hai's body tightly. He roared at the people around him, his eyes bloodshot.
"She's alive! She's alive! She's alive!!!"
Lin Hai struggled incessantly, shouting hoarsely, "She's still alive! My girlfriend, my girlfriend is alive! Let me go! Let me go! I have to go save her!"
The old man next to him sighed, loosening his grip a little, and advised:
"Young man, you can't save that girl even if you go up there. That man has a knife, a knife..."
Tears streamed down Lin Hai's face as he roared:
"I can save them! I can save them! I can save them!"
"..."
Chaos reigned inside the cheap, blood-soaked bus. Some people screamed and called the police, cowering by the door trying to get off. Others looked worriedly at the girl who had been attacked by a mentally ill man and sighed.
"How pitiful..."
"So young..."
"My luck is so bad..."
"..."
A dense, almost indistinguishable chorus of male and female voices kept reaching Lin Hai's ears. He wanted to refute, to be angry, to roar—but he forcibly suppressed these emotions due to extreme fear.
"Let me go, please."
Lin Hai was in tears, and he couldn't even bear to look at his girlfriend who was being slashed again and again by the man and was unable to fight back.
"My girlfriend is dead, I don't want to live anymore..." Lin Hai's voice trembled, the last syllable quivering, "Let me go, I need to save him..."
Unfortunately, the helpful passengers didn't hear him because the train was too chaotic, with all sorts of noises—frightened screams, terrified screams—making it impossible to hear anyone around him.
Lin Hai was in despair.
He watched helplessly as his girlfriend was grabbed by the hair by a man whose features he couldn't make out. She was limp and covered in dripping blood.
Tick-tock—tick-tock—tick-tock—tick-tock!
The sound of blood dripping mingled with the patter of raindrops splashing off the bus roof, one after another, striking Lin Hai's eyes, which were already bulging with rage.
"Small*……"
Lin Hai watched as the man dug his girlfriend's eyes with his hand, and he was so terrified that he almost lost his voice.
"Do not--"
No, no, no, no, no—no way!!!
Tick-tock—tick-tock!
Raindrops fell on the roof and windows, breaking the silence inside the car.
"And that driver... that driver in the red hat..."
Lin Hai's expression was ferocious. He suddenly looked up towards the driver's seat, his voice rising abruptly, filled with deep-seated resentment:
"He just sat there! He didn't stop the car! He didn't call the police! He didn't even look back once!"
"He just keeps driving! Driving! Just like now! Completely oblivious to everything happening in the car!"
Meng Lang and the others were stunned. It took them a while to come to their senses and look at Mu Lanzhi. "Lanzhi, how is Brother Lin now?"
Li Ye asked somewhat uneasily.
Mulanzhi was silent for a few seconds, then slowly shook her head. "We... let's just do whatever he wants us to do."
Li Ye and the others were completely dumbfounded.
Ma Ming quickly pressed, "What do you mean? So if Brother Lin tells us to die, we'll die too?"
Li Ye and Meng Lang: "..."
Mulanzhi: "..."
She sighed inwardly and closed her eyes briefly. "Let's wait and see what Brother Lin thinks."
Ma Ming was extremely anxious. "Lanzhi, please persuade Lin—"
"Ma Ming! Stop talking!"
Meng Lang, who was standing next to him, noticed that Mu Lanzhi's expression was off and quickly stopped Ma Ming from continuing.
Ma Ming, who had been stopped, was still somewhat confused. "Meng Lang, why are you pulling me—"
"...Stop arguing."
Mulanzhi pinched her brow, feeling a splitting headache. She looked up at Lin Hai, who had stood up, and said:
"It's just a guild tournament, so what if I die with Brother Lin once?"
Ma Ming and the other two were taken aback. Li Ye opened his mouth in shock, "Lanzhi, you mean..."
Li Ye swallowed back what he was about to say.
Although he didn't say it very clearly, everyone understood what he meant.
—Mulanzhi meant that if Lin Hai really wanted to die, the rest of them would die with him.
"Guild Tournament Dungeon".
Mulanzhi said calmly, "We really won't die."
Ma Ming said urgently, "But dying in a guild competition will severely impact our mental state—"
"nothing!"
Meng Lang seemed to realize something and quickly covered Ma Ming's mouth, a bead of cold sweat trickling down his forehead.
"Lanzhi," Meng Lang said, "if Brother Lin really intends to die with us, then we'll die with him."
Ma Ming and Li Ye looked at him in disbelief.
Especially Ma Ming, whose eyes seemed to say—"Meng Lang! Do you know what nonsense you're spouting?!"
However, despite their shock, the two did not offer any rebuttal.
After all, this is a competition, and they can't really die.
Ignoring the looks from Li and Ma, Meng Lang looked at Mu Lanzhi and said, "If we die together, can Brother Lin accept it?"
Mulanzhi: "..."
She sighed wearily and shook her head slightly: "It seems unlikely to me."
"So it's just a gamble?"
Meng Lang hesitated.
"Pretty much," Mulanzhi replied, "In any case, we're all on the same team."
"..."
The three of them fell silent, because—Lin Hai began to "reminisce" again.
"Ha ha……"
Amidst countless gazes, Lin Hai covered his face, his shoulders trembling uncontrollably. His voice suddenly became much softer, as if he were muttering to himself.
"Until, until that madman got tired of hacking... and jumped out of the car and ran away by himself when the car stopped... he finally drove the car to the next stop... and called the police..."
"Haha...hahaha..."
Lin Hai chuckled softly, a laugh filled with anguish and despair.
“Everyone told me… he was mentally ill… there’s nothing we can do… just consider yourself unlucky… your girlfriend was just unlucky. If she hadn’t gotten on the bus, if she hadn’t chosen such a far back seat… if, if she hadn’t sat so close to that mentally ill person… she wouldn’t be in this situation…”
"But why?!"