After reading the message on his phone, Chen Ge's gaze toward the couple beside him shifted. Mingyang Residential Area had been built for ghosts, and all three investors had died — there was definitely something suspicious going on.
Chen Ge even suspected that all three investors had been lured by that terrifying shadow, which was why they had gone to all that trouble to build a residential area next to Liwan Town — a thankless endeavor if there ever was one.
"The deaths of the three investors are probably connected to the shadow as well. Stopping at nothing to achieve its goals, using people up and killing them to eliminate evidence — the person behind all of this has a vicious heart."
Now that he knew the couple's identity, Chen Ge looked at them in an entirely different light.
The man had insisted on getting on the bus, eager to head to Liwan Town — he had most likely received some kind of information. The woman, on the other hand, had adamantly refused to board the Route 104 bus, and there was probably a deeper reason behind that.
The two of them had different ideas, but when they committed suicide, their bodies burned together. Unable to part, they had simply remained stuck at the bus stop ever since.
If it hadn't been for Chen Ge, the two of them probably still wouldn't have gotten on the bus.
"This couple could be helpful for learning about Liwan Town and Mingyang Residential Area. Looks like I can't just treat them as simple employees."
Having figured out the couple's identity, Chen Ge grew even more curious about the other passengers.
"Tonight is destined to be a bountiful night." Chen Ge had come to enjoy the thrill of tackling low-star trial missions. Sitting around, chatting, and solving problems — what a pleasant atmosphere that was.
The couple whispered in hushed arguments. Chen Ge picked up his backpack, left the last row, and sat down beside a man whose limbs seemed wildly uncoordinated.
"Hey there, brother — what's your name?" Chen Ge held his backpack and looked at the man beside him.
The man turned his head stiffly. It took him a long while to realize that Chen Ge was talking to him. He raised his hand and made a few gestures. When Chen Ge still didn't understand, he pointed at his own mouth and then waved his hand.
"Mute?" Chen Ge hadn't expected to find a passenger like this on the bus. He leaned forward slightly. "Sorry about that."
The man waved both hands, and his fingertips accidentally brushed against the back of Chen Ge's hand — still warm.
"His hands are warm? This is a living person?" Chen Ge's pupils contracted. He activated his yin eyes but couldn't spot anything unusual about the man. "He's probably like Xiao Gu and Huang Ling — got on the bus by accident."
After thinking for a moment, Chen Ge felt something didn't add up.
The ghost bus had pulled into the stop at eleven thirty at night. Who would be standing at a bus stop waiting at that hour?
Chen Ge stared at the man for a long time and gradually noticed the issue — the man seemed to have some kind of intellectual disability. It wasn't that he couldn't make a sound; he simply didn't know how to speak.
A person with an intellectual disability, riding a ghost bus to Liwan Town in the dead of night — was he genuinely impaired, or pretending?
Chen Ge took out his phone and opened his contacts page. "It's dangerous for you to be out here alone. Where are you headed? I'll go with you. Here's my number."
The man didn't seem to understand his words and just kept waving his hand.
Chen Ge looked at the man's clothing. His clothes clearly hadn't been washed in a long time, and his pants had holes in them. This image hardly matched that of a serial killer or a mastermind pulling strings from the shadows.
Unable to communicate, Chen Ge tried a few more times before giving up. He planned to finish the ghost bus mission first, then follow this man to see what exactly he intended to do in Liwan Town.
If there was something wrong with him, Chen Ge would restrain him immediately. If he turned out to be just an ordinary person, Chen Ge would still follow him and make sure he wasn't attacked by ghosts.