The doors shut and the bus pulled away. The young man's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed nervously. He clamped the umbrella between his legs, fished a one-yuan coin from his pocket, and dropped it into the fare box.
The crisp clink of the coin drew every passenger's gaze to him.
Being stared at by so many strange people, he quickly ducked his head, as though if he didn't look at them, they wouldn't notice him.
The young man shuffled over to the exit door and made a smart decision—stand right next to it so he could be the first one off.
The 104 bus swayed from side to side. The young man gripped the handrail with a white-knuckled fist. Perhaps from sheer nerves, the veins on his forearms stood out in raised blue ridges.
"Newcomer?" The doctor seemed to be seeing the young man for the first time. He raised an eyebrow slightly, pressed his lips together, but ultimately said nothing.
After a minute or two, the young man stole a cautious glance around and noticed the other passengers had stopped paying attention to him. He finally let out a small breath of relief.
His hand slipped into his pocket. He quietly pulled out his phone, seemingly about to open the camera.
"Now, filming is a bit much."
Seeing someone approaching, the young man was so startled he nearly dropped his phone on the floor.
"There are plenty of seats in the bus—why are you standing there?" Chen Ge's smile was infectious, and his voice was pleasant to the ear.
"I…" The young man didn't dare admit he was scared. Ever since boarding, his thoughts had slowed to a crawl, and for the life of him he couldn't come up with a reasonable excuse.
"Are you still in school?" Chen Ge casually grabbed the young man's arm. "Come sit over here—it's drafty where you're standing."
Before the young man could even process what was happening, Chen Ge had already steered him to the very last row of the bus.
He silently calculated his distance to the exit door, then glanced at the sealed window, and concluded that smashing the glass and jumping might actually be faster.
"Don't be so tense. First time riding the 104's last run?" Chen Ge sounded like a friendly older brother from next door. "You've probably been misled by some posts online. The bus company really does run an extra midnight trip on certain special days. I don't know the exact reason, but you can rest assured—we're all living people."
To bolster his credibility, Chen Ge opened his travel bag and lifted out the white cat. "Have you ever heard of a ghost owner who keeps a cat?"
The white cat, scooped out for no apparent reason, was thoroughly displeased. It swiped its paws at Chen Ge but couldn't reach him, its fur bristling with indignation.
Seeing such an energetic cat, the young man's fear ebbed a fair bit. He scratched his head, still not entirely convinced. "But there's a torrential storm out and it's the middle of the night—how can there be so many people riding the bus?"
"All kinds of people stay up late to make a living—call-center operators, night-shift drivers, security guards, late-night radio hosts. This city couldn't keep growing without them." This burst of positive energy felt oddly out of place inside the eerie, horror-movie bus, but Chen Ge couldn't have cared less. "Oh, right—what do you do? What are you still doing out this late?"
"I…" The young man started to speak, then stopped. He looked at the other passengers. The interior of the hearse bus had no lights on, and all he could make out were clusters of dark silhouettes.
His palms wouldn't stop sweating. After thinking it over for a long time, he quietly put his phone away and said to Chen Ge, "I'm a student at Linjiang No. 1 High School."