Stronger with Crimson Modifier

Chapter 329 - 321: I’m in a Hurry

At that moment, he was leaning back in his seat in the last row of the bus, a position that gave him a clear view of everything inside.

The bus cabin was dimly lit, the vehicle swaying slightly and jolting from time to time.

Excluding the man in the tank top who had ignored all warnings, courted death, and been reduced to a bloody pulp splattered across half the cabin,

and the driver, whose identity was questionable and who seemed less than human, there were a total of six people in the cabin, including himself.

In other words, there were still five temporary script actors left: two women and three men.

His gaze slowly swept over the others. ’In my opinion,’ he thought, ’it’ll be a miracle if even two of these temporary actors survive.’

After all, temporary script actors were all ordinary people.

To survive a script task, one could only rely on their own wits to find the path to Vitality within the mission.

But the people before him didn’t look like they had that kind of Ability.

The short-haired woman had some cunning, but her acting was truly terrible.

As for the drunk, shirtless man, his death in a situation like this was almost a certainty.

There was also another woman, a teenager, and a Young Man. Judging by their behavior, they were all mediocre, with nothing that stood out.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, Yang Hu was suddenly startled. His gaze fell on the Young Man to his front left.

Due to the angle, he could only see the man’s back.

When he had first boarded, he had observed the few people in the cabin.

He remembered this person; he had seemed like just an ordinary Young Man.

But now, he suddenly realized that from the very beginning,

the other man hadn’t made any significant movements. Whether it was the death of the man in the tank top or the appearance of the Blood Word task, he had remained far too calm.

’Maybe he’s just scared stiff.’

Yang Hu thought. He had seen people like this before—all bark and no bite. They appeared calm on the surface but were actually terrified to their core.

The only strange thing was that he hadn’t noticed it before. For a veteran actor like him, who had survived three script tasks, that should have been impossible.

’Could it be because of this Deceitful Bus?’

He frowned. Although he was a little puzzled, he secretly raised his guard.

He knew all too well that carelessness was fatal for a script actor.

An old man had once warned him of this, but unfortunately, that man had died in a script task not long after.

For them, dying in a script task seemed to be their ultimate fate. The only difference was how long they could manage to hang on.

The bus swayed as it moved forward.

Up ahead, Hu Qi leaned back in his seat. He appeared to be resting with his eyes closed, but in reality, his senses had already enveloped his surroundings.

The moment the Blood Word message had appeared on the window pane,

he had felt a special power mark him. The sensation was similar to when he had been marked by the Yama’s Token.

It was just that the power of the Blood Word Script’s mark was relatively weaker.

Furthermore, this power seemed very unstable; he estimated it would take some time to fully stabilize.

Perhaps this was because he was currently just a temporary script actor.

With his strength, removing it wouldn’t be difficult, but he had come here specifically to enter the Nightmare Gap where the Blood Word Script resided, so naturally, he wouldn’t do that.

’This model is quite interesting.’

Hu Qi’s eyes glinted. This script task was a lot like a game. The only difference was that you could restart a game if you died, but failure in a script task meant a one-way ticket to death.

At this thought, he glanced at the endless fields ahead and sent a mental message to Hu San.

"You said before that you can increase your own power by absorbing the fear from living beings. Can other Dream Eyes do this as well?"

Ever since boarding the bus, Hu San had been curled into a ball, its head obediently buried in its tail.

It didn’t dare make the slightest movement, as if afraid of being discovered by the Blood Word Script and ruining Hu Qi’s plan.

Hearing Hu Qi’s question, it moved slightly and lifted its head.

"Master, you are both right and wrong.

As Dream Eyes, we can absorb the various kinds of Power of Emotion from living creatures as sustenance to enhance our own Nightmare Power.

But among the seven passions and six desires, other emotions are not very effective. Only the emotion of fear is the best supplement, and it’s also the easiest to obtain."

Hu Qi was somewhat surprised to hear this. ’So Dream Eyes have this Ability. No wonder they constantly hunt living beings, just to absorb the intense fear they emit on the verge of death.’

And the way this Blood Word Script selected actors and made them struggle through its tasks was, in a way, another method of collecting the emotion of fear. It was just that compared to other Dream Eyes, the Blood Word Script’s methods seemed far more sophisticated.

As Hu Qi and Hu San were communicating, his gaze suddenly shifted. The bus, which had been traveling at a steady speed, began to slow down.

He looked ahead. Beside the dimly lit fields, a few figures seemed to be standing, as if waiting for the bus.

After what had happened before, although no one in the bus spoke,

they were no longer distracted. Each of them sat in their seats with uneasy expressions.

What Yang Hu had said—that they would die if they didn’t complete the script task—was too bizarre.

On any other day, everyone would have dismissed him as a madman.

But now, they had the cautionary tale of the man in the tank top—a living person who had exploded right before their eyes.

No one dared to take any chances.

The teenager in the school uniform was an exception, however.

He was at that cringey, edgy age and was also a fan of web novels.

His keen interest in mysterious and bizarre things was evident from his slightly flushed face.

’I knew it. I’m the protagonist. This must be my chance to rise!’

He muttered to himself.

His gaze shifted to the front half of the cabin, where he saw that the mangled remains of the man in the tank top had vanished without a trace.

It was as if the bus cabin itself had devoured them.