Chapter 58 - Welcome to Hell

The bus finally rolled to a stop, after the bumpy interval.

The driver remained in his seat, apparently motionless while outside, the last vestiges of light seemed to have left the sky. At some point, the lights inside the bus had turned on automatically, but they did nothing to illuminate the dark world outside.

Meanwhile, as the air inside the bus became suffused with the metallic smell of blood, a bulging burlap sack with a pair of beautiful legs alternated between stuffing itself with body parts and scuttling eagerly toward the back of the bus.

The creature had a strange way of "eating". As it stood over the dead bodies of the mother and daughter, its legs bent into a squat, lowering the sack. A slit appeared, widening to reveal what looked like a dark, bottomless pit. Something tugged the bodies into the sack, which then wriggled as whatever bizarre entity hidden inside tore them apart. Slabs of flesh fell out of the hole in the sack, staining the once-pristine white stockings on the shapely legs a messy, bloody red.

If not for the burlap sack pausing regularly to pick up the half-digested pieces of flesh that constantly fell out of it, it would have made it to the back of the bus in mere seconds.

The pistol in Lin He's hands was clearly a piece of equipment with the ability to harm spirits, which explained why he had been able to vaporize the little girl's head with one shot. However, the same bullets barely made a dent when they hit the rippling surface of the walking burlap sack.

Xu Feng was a normal person, and beyond being a little more intrepid than most, had no powers to speak of. How could he have been prepared to face the nightmarish horror unfolding before him?

His eyes darted to his unconscious companion in the second-last row. Gritting his teeth, Xu Feng went up to Zheng YaoWen and lifted him off the seat, grunting from the effort, then dragged him into the last row.

He could tell that the two guys next to him had powers beyond those of normal humans, and his survival, as well as the survival of his companion, lay in their hands, although… the dinky weapon that the one on his right just pulled out had all but tanked his hopes.

The blade was only a couple of inches, what could it do? Sharpen pencils?

Suddenly, a large, dopey-looking nut popped up in the middle of the bus, directly in the path of the walking burlap sack. The Wall-nut obtained from the Plants versus Zombies Game was perfectly suited for the terrain inside the bus.

Compelled by some unknown force, the sack-creature abandoned the two corpses it had been feasting on and rushed toward the nut instead. The sack-creature took its usual position and the pitch-black slit opened once more as it lowered itself onto its intended prey. However, the Wall-nut was resolutely stuck to the floor. Unable to eat the nut whole, the sack-creature could only squat to take a bite and stand to "swallow". With that, it began to perform an accidentally comedic routine.

Squat, stand, squat, stand, squat...

As silly as it looked, the sack-creature was definitely consuming more and more of the Wall-nut.

Seeing that the nut would be fully eaten in about thirty seconds, Bai Zhi deployed another three Wall-nuts at once. Theoretically, this would stall the monster for another minute and a half, since that was how it worked in the game. Unless it had some way to leapfrog over them, the burlap sack would be compelled to completely break down each Wall-nut in order...

"Get off the bus already, guys, what're you waiting for?"

The stunned Lin He and company heard Bai Zhi's voice coming from outside the bus. While the Wall-nuts were keeping the monster busy, he had wasted no time stabbing Bane into the side of the nearest window and prying it open, hopping out that way.

"The windows stopped being sealed once the bus stopped! You gonna get off the bus, or are you waiting to join the other corpses in that thing's belly?"

Lin He narrowed his eyes at the sack with the shapely legs, which was still doing its dance move*, as he holstered his silver pistol.

A minute later, the group of three made it off the bus at last. It took them a little longer because two of them had to maneuver the unconscious Zheng YaoWen between them to get him out of the window.

"What is this place?"

A chill ran down Xu Feng's spine as he took a look around the spot where the bus had stopped.

"Wild" and "barren" were the first words that came to mind, but were not entirely accurate. It was, in fact, a desolate, twisted landscape.

Even the ground they were standing on didn't feel real—instead, it felt sticky. The whole surface was colored an ominous dark red, and it yielded slightly when pushed against, almost wobbling. The whole experience felt uncomfortably like walking on a large, bloody slab of meat.

"You asking me? Better off asking the driver instead, since he's the one who brought us here."

Smirking in derision, Bai Zhi strolled casually to the front of the bus, as if the situation had nothing to do with him. The lights in the bus were still on, clearly illuminating the sight of the bulging, bloody burlap sack still bouncing up and down, up and down... It was a sight most people would have found unsettling.

"What a shame, it had such a hot pair of legs too, and those white stockings..."

Bai Zhi shook his head. As he arrived at the bus door and poked his head in, he found himself locking eyes with the balding driver, who had not left his seat.

Fishing out a pack of Yellow Crane Tower cigarettes from his Inventory, Bai Zhi tossed it to the driver as he broke out into a warm grin.

"Hey brother, could you tell me where we are?"

Of course, Bai Zhi wasn't a smoker, but his Inventory could be said to be stuffed with tools and trinkets for every occasion. From electric saws to electric fans, to basketballs, et cetera, he had brought them all. Anything could be put to use, at the right time and place, according to Bai Zhi. Even something as small as a screw had a pointy end, all the better to hurt someone with.

"This is... the entrance to the Underworld."

The pack of cigarettes landed squarely on the balding driver's thigh. He glanced at it, then raised his head and turned to stare at Bai Zhi for a moment. Then, one corner of his mouth turned up in a triumphant smirk.

"Welcome to Hell, O fortunate tourist."