Awakening with a start, Leaf found himself startled by how long he had been asleep.

He promptly turned his gaze to the driver's seat.

Is the driver... now... deceased?

In the darkness, he shot a sidelong glance and to his surprise, discovered that Jiang Youlin was also awake! Yet, besides them, the others seemed to be deep in slumber. Luo Haosheng, the main male character in the front, was tossing and turning, likely tormented by nightmares as scripted.

Leaf dropped his gaze, peeked towards the driver's seat, shrouded in darkness, impossible to make anything out.

Is the driver dead? Or alive?

Jiang Youlin's gaze occasionally swept over him, their eyes met and mutual understanding was unspoken. They could only observe the situation for now.

The driver's seat was ominously quiet, and the time displayed on the mobile phone was now 11:59 PM.

Was the driver already dead? Considering the slim time margin, it was highly likely that midnight had already passed.

He held his breath, waiting for time to tick away, unable to muster the courage to make a move.

Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind, the driver wasn't an idiot. Knowing he was going to die, he must have escaped using a Death Redemption ticket. How could he possibly still be here?

Suddenly, a figure began to rise in the darkness by the driver's seat. Looking at the silhouette, it seemed to be the driver! He held his breath even tighter, anticipating that he might encounter a real ghost at any moment. Not a fake ghost played by actors in a horror movie, but a real, horrifying specter!

Leaf bit his lower lip, feeling sweat trickling down his body, especially a chilly sensation under his armpits.

The shadow gradually stood up and started to walk slowly. The darkness flickered with a spark of light, illuminating the face of the person. It was indeed the driver's face. He had lit a cigarette with a lighter, and the light vanished as quickly as it came.

After a long while, the driver sat back down in his seat.

Leaf felt his heart rate speeding up. He had never been so terrified in his entire life. At that moment, his gaze shifted to Jiang Youlin, only to see her hand pointing at something, her finger trembling subtly...

At that moment, Leaf noticed that her body was shaking violently. It was clear she was petrified. However... the direction she was pointing at seemed perfectly normal to Leaf!

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Suddenly, a possibility came to Leaf's mind. Could it be... Jiang Youlin was seeing something only she could see? Was she a seasoned actress, possibly possessing the so-called "Third Eye"?

His legs began to shake. Anyone who had lived a normal life, when suddenly thrown into a horror movie world and coming into contact with real ghosts, would be shaken. It was already a testament to his mental fortitude that he hadn't fainted out of fear! And this was with plenty of people in the car and after he had prepared himself mentally!

At this moment, he wondered if the driver had stayed back because he was well-prepared, armed with a weapon to fight the ghost.

The next moment, he heard a loud thud. The driver's body had fallen heavily to the ground, followed by the sounds of a struggle. Opposite to him, Luo Haosheng, seated upfront, was also struggling, probably at a critical point in his nightmare. Once he woke up, he would witness the horrifying scene just like the script dictated.

Leaf held his head in his hands, praying for time to pass quickly. He hoped that the driver, with his anti-ghost weapon, would be able to annihilate the ghost. The figure of the driver began to rise slowly in the darkness, making his heart leap. As the glow of a spark illuminated the driver's face, the tension eased slightly. The driver was merely lighting a cigarette with his lighter, not the harbinger of supernatural horror that he had feared.

Then, as suddenly as the tension had risen, it fell again. The driver went back to his seat, the specter of horror lingering only in Ye Xiang's imagination and the terrified gaze of Jiang Youlin.

Her eyes darted back and forth between the driver's seat and Ye Xiang. Was she just as scared as he was? Or did she see something he could not? His heart pounded, blood rushing through his veins, echoing the rapid tick-tock of the clock - it was 11:59 PM. The stroke of midnight was a heartbeat away.

In that tension-filled moment, Ye Xiang recalled the script. The midnight death of the driver was part of the plot. He sat, frozen in anticipation, waiting for the clock to strike twelve, for the grisly scene to unfold. Yet, nothing happened. The driver was alive, and the fear of imminent death had not pushed him to flee the bus. Was it the driver's bravery, or was it the ignorance of his impending doom that kept him in his seat? Ye Xiang didn't know.

Then came the unexpected - the driver slumped over in his seat, and a wave of horror swept over Ye Xiang. A chorus of screams broke out, and the first act came to an abrupt close.

As the shocking finale of the first act ended, Ye Xiang's mind filled with new information. The script for the second act was revealed, and his name, Shya Yun, was part of it. But there was more to it - two characters were slated to die in the second act, and he was one of them.

The realization hit him like a sledgehammer. He was going to die. But how? And why him? The questions whirled in his mind as he tried to process the reality of his impending death. The sympathy in Zhang Nianzhou's eyes did little to comfort him. Instead, it heightened his fear and anticipation of what was to come.

The rest of the group were in shock, too. Each of them dealing with their fear and confusion in their way. The young woman who was their tour guide was on the verge of tears, the horror of the situation clearly overwhelming her.

The murder mystery unfolded as Luo Haosheng began his investigation. As he questioned the group, looking for witnesses, Ye Xiang felt a glimmer of hope. Perhaps his impending death could be avoided if he could figure out why he was targeted and by whom.

As he delved deeper into the script, he couldn't help but wonder - what if his fate could be changed? What if his actions could alter the course of the story? The possibility fueled his determination to survive and overcome the supernatural horror that awaited him in the coming acts. But for now, he had to play along, to live out his part in the deadly script. He was, after all, in a terrifying world of horror and death, where the only certainty was the uncertainty of survival.