After his parents and sister fell asleep, Chen Luren slipped out with practiced ease. His first stop for farming experience was, naturally, [Foot Massage Street]. For over ten days, he'd grown accustomed to the routine here—watching girls in revealing clothes promote themselves enthusiastically, a strange sense of satisfaction welling up. Of course, his main mission was still exploiting bugs for experience.
Around 10 PM, Chen arrived on the street thick with ambiguous tension.
[Congratulations! You've steadfastly resisted the "love" that costs only 50 ghost coins, preserving your vital energy. Survival Experience +5.]
The system's prompt made him freeze. "Wait, that's not right. Shouldn't each run give 10 points? Why half?" He eyed the pink roller shutter door and the girl he'd just rejected. Suddenly, a intuition whispered in his mind: Go inside. The massage ghost isn't dangerous—you're a First Rank Spiritual user now.
"Go in? Try it?" He wondered, Did upgrading my spirit let me access the real abnormal instance? Is this the right way to play? His theory made sense: like online games, lower-level mobs gave less experience as he grew stronger. Entering the parlor would mean facing elite enemies—deadlier, but with higher rewards.
Yet, true to his "survive at all costs" motto, he turned and left without hesitation. If facing the abnormal is the only way to get more experience, I'll pass. Five points are fine—I'll just find new bug spots.On the Phantom BusHe headed for the bus stop, having researched earlier: the last bus from [Foot Massage Street] to [Xiangyang Bridge Road] departed around 11 PM. The empty bus that arrived made sense for a late-night route—until the system's drama queen voice piped up:
[Warning: This is a phantom bus wandering the abnormal world, tasked with transporting the dead... Disembark before it reaches the final stop, or be taken to an unknown realm...]
"Damn, talk about luck! I got on a ghost bus!" Chen was shocked, but relaxed the next second. A spiritual scan revealed nothing—the bus's abnormal side existed on a different wavelength, just like [Foot Massage Street]. As long as he resisted temptation and got off early, he'd be safe.
The bus reached Qingshan Psychiatric Hospital Stop within five minutes. No one boarded, but the system warned
[A hunched, pus-faced abnormal carrying a basket boards the bus.]
[Don't make a sound... Don't be curious... It's just here to visit its son at the psychiatric hospital and take him home by the way.]
[It came over and sat in the seat in front of you.]
[Clever you close your eyes and hold your breath... ignoring this ugly old ghost without catching its attention. Survival Experience +10.]
"Damn, is this even a valid move?" Chen Luren's expression lit up when he heard the system prompt.
Because even though the system had given a notification, his intuitive sense of danger hadn't triggered at all. This meant... on this bus, the rules of the 诡异 world (ghostly world) and reality still operated on two separate "channels".
Did that mean he could exploit this bug to farm experience points?
"Hmm, this late-night bus runs every day. Need to check if it's always a ghost bus. I'll try again tomorrow," Chen Luren thought to himself.
As the ghost bus slowly pulled into the next stop—Lin's Mansion Station...
Just like at the Psychiatric Hospital stop before, no one physically boarded the bus, but the dramatic system triggered a warning as soon as the doors opened:
[You see a ghost student with a curvy figure board the bus, instantly piquing your interest.]
[It's clear that her outfit and figure appeal to you more than the massage ghosts on Footbath Street, so you take a few extra glances.]
[However... your lewd behavior upsets the ghost student. It stares at you intensely and slowly approaches.]
[Finally... it sits beside you.]
Upon hearing the prompts, Chen Luren froze, then his hair stood on end—because at that moment, his intuitive sense actually registered danger.
"Shouldn't have looked... shouldn't have looked!"
"For f*ck's sake, I didn't see anything! The damn system was looking, not me!"
Chen Luren cursed inwardly, tempted to get off the bus or activate the [coffin] at home to teleport back. But just as he was about to act, the system chimed in again:
[Thankfully, even though you were rude, the ghost student miss is cultured. She just wants to scare you, so you're safe.]
[Survival Experience +30...]
"Seriously? Just a scare and I get experience?" Chen Luren was confused. He 下意识 (instinctively) glanced at the seat beside him—it was empty in reality.
But for some reason, the moment he turned his head, he sensed the ghost student was looking back at him.