After Fumiya Jin, the handsome butler also seemed to realize something and stood up, wanting to see everyone else's tags.
But by then, the middle-aged man and woman had already put their tags away, as had Fumiya Jin.
The butler only managed to see the expressionless girl's tag and the one belonging to Yuki Suou that he'd seen earlier.
He pondered for a few seconds.
Standing in the aisle, he suddenly announced in a clear voice, "Everyone, my name is Hasaka. I understand that we are all on guard, but based on the current situation, I guess everyone's ticket is different. If each ticket corresponds to a specific stop, then different tickets for everyone means that only one person's ticket is correct... I think we should cooperate."
The middle-aged man turned back to look at the young butler and challenged, "You just said only one person's ticket is correct, so how can we cooperate? Wouldn't we all have to fight for that one right ticket?"
"If the instance can truly only be cleared by the holder of that single ticket, then you would be right," the young butler said. "But based on the instances I've experienced before, the Samsara Game clearly has elements of a test or a trial, not just a simple attempt to torture and kill players. If it were purely based on luck—whoever gets the right ticket gets an easy pass—that would be far too meaningless."
The young butler adjusted his glasses and continued, "Besides, the instance rules specifically state that we cannot initiate attacks on others... Isn't that meant to prevent us from fighting over it? Therefore, I suspect there must be another way to obtain the correct ticket. If we keep scheming against each other and fighting amongst ourselves, we might be the ones falling into a trap."
Hearing this, the middle-aged man thought for a moment, then slowly nodded. "If it's really as you say... I'm willing to cooperate. I definitely want to clear this with my wife."
Only then did everyone realize that the middle-aged woman next to him was his wife. The two were actually playing as a married couple.
"It stinks..."
A small voice suddenly came from the back.
Everyone was slightly startled and turned to look at the expressionless girl.
The girl had raised a hand to cover her nose, her brows slightly furrowed.
"It does seem like there's a strange smell..." Fumiya Jin also caught a whiff of something wrong.
It wasn't the stench of a corpse.
It was a more familiar smell, like photinia flowers... mixed with a bit of a pungent, urine-like odor...
He followed the smell and turned his head to get a better look...
Suddenly, he noticed a faint silhouette in the corner of the last row on the left side of the bus—someone with their head buried low, body hunched over.
Fumiya Jin hadn't noticed him before, partly because the person's head was down and their figure was almost completely obscured by the seatback in front, and partly because—there was no countdown timer.
Even now, that was still the case.
No countdown timer meant they were either dead or not human.
He moved into the aisle, his hand resting on his waist, ready to summon his tachi and strike at any moment.
With this wary posture, he slowly approached the back row.
The others also looked in his direction and soon noticed the faint shadow in the far corner...
Under everyone's gaze, Fumiya Jin reached the last row.
Peering over the back of the second-to-last seat, he looked into the corner...
He saw a young man in a hip-hop style T-shirt and ripped jeans, hunched over with his head resting against the adjacent window, his face pressed tightly against the glass.
On his wrist was a bracelet, the same kind as everyone else's ticket-bracelet, except the plastic tag on it was red.
Fumiya Jin observed him cautiously.
Seeing no movement, he didn't risk touching him.
He stared warily for several seconds.
Just then, the middle-aged man also walked down the aisle and came up beside Fumiya Jin.
After all, the instance rules forbade initiating attacks on each other, so they weren't too worried about being ambushed.
"There's someone else?" The man glanced over, and his expression suddenly changed. "Wait... is he... is he looking outside? Does he have a death wish?"
Fumiya Jin didn't answer.
He took a few steps back, moving to the right side of the last row. From this greater distance, he could just barely see the lower half of the hunched man's body...
The man's crotch and thigh area were soaked, with some unknown liquid dripping down. This was likely the source of the smell.
"Screech... Pssshhh..." The sound of brakes suddenly filled the air.
The bus began to decelerate rapidly.
Fumiya Jin and the others who were standing swayed slightly.
"Rrrrip—" A sound of tearing flesh suddenly rang out.
The man leaning on the window seemed to be pulled away by inertia, slamming forward into the back of the seat in front of him before toppling sideways and rolling onto the floor...
"Thud!"
Everyone looked down to see that the man's face was a bloody mess, the flesh completely rotted away... Beneath the thin remaining layer of flesh, his white skull was visible.
Looking back at the window he had been leaning against... a sticky, bloody, oval-shaped patch of facial skin was stuck to it, with an eyeball still attached.
"Holy crap!" The man was startled and quickly backed away.
The middle-aged woman walked over quickly. Her expression changed, but she wasn't as frightened as the man. "Is... is there any saving him?"
The man grabbed the woman's arm and pulled her back. "No way... he's definitely gone."
At that moment, the bus slowed down more and more...
And then came to a complete stop.
With a hiss, the pneumatic front door opened.
"We have arrived at station. Passengers for this stop, please disembark," the announcement sounded.
The name of the station was two muffled syllables, completely unintelligible.
Hearing the announcement, everyone tensed up, looking down at their hands or into their pockets.
But the next second...
Everyone froze.
The sound was coming from the floor.
"Thump—"
They followed the sound with their eyes.
The corpse with the ruined face, influenced by some unknown force, began lifting its head off the floor... then letting it drop... lifting... and dropping again...
Then, the force seemed to grow stronger.
Its entire upper body was lifted as if held by an invisible giant hand.
It was dragged down the aisle at great speed!
Blood trailed behind it, creating a long, wet streak.
One of its arms dragged on the floor like a tail, the red plastic tag on its wrist clattering against the floorboards...
"Holy shit..." Seeing the corpse coming toward them, the middle-aged couple quickly dodged into the empty seats on either side, clearing the aisle.
In just a few seconds, as everyone watched, the corpse was dragged by some unknown force down the nearly ten-meter-long aisle, toward the front door... and then out of the bus.
______
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