You made all the streamers on the internet kneel before you when you were asked to make a game.

The chat in the veteran driver's live stream was filled with comments like "Congratulations on clearing the level."

However, the game interface did not display any "game won" or "level cleared" notifications.

The torrential rain outside the car window has stopped.

The thick, impenetrable black fog gradually dissipated.

The bus continued to travel smoothly.

The road ahead was no longer the endless coastal highway, but a bumpy, muddy dirt road.

On both sides of the dirt road were withered yellow weeds and sparse, crooked trees.

At the end of the road, the outline of a dilapidated and desolate village came into view.

A crooked stone tablet stands at the entrance of the village.

The experienced driver slowly brought the car to a stop and saw the three characters on the stone tablet: "Village of the Wrongfully Dead".

The experienced driver's brain went blank for a moment, and he abruptly turned his head to look at the village entrance.

Several figures were seen wandering around the village entrance with blank expressions.

One of them was as pale as a dead man, and his left hand was strangely sewn together with that of a woman in a red wedding dress next to him.

The other was a young man with delicate features and a calm demeanor.

It was indeed...

Berserker Dragon Bro and the leader of the Scientology Cult!

The veteran driver's live stream exploded at this moment!

[Holy crap! Holy crap!!! The final stop is the Village of the Unjustly Dead?!]

[Map stitching! This is a map stitching! "Midnight Bus" and "Reincarnation" are connected!]

My God! What a massive undertaking! What is this planner called "Good Guy" trying to do? Is he trying to connect all the games into a single horror universe?

[Brother Long! It's the real Brother Long! They're not NPCs!]

So... are we driving buses to pick people up, or to send them to their deaths?

Everyone was stunned again.

What happened to the quick and easy game they were promised? Turns out, this was what was waiting for them all along!

……

The Village of the Wrongfully Dead.

Lu Zhixing's expression turned just as ugly as that of the raging dragon brother.

No, it's even uglier.

Brother Long's face was deathly pale, like that of a young master suffering from kidney deficiency.

An abnormal, paper-like texture began to appear on Lu Zhixing's face.

"hiss……"

He raised his hand and gently scratched the back of his hand.

It's very itchy.

An itch that seeps out from the very bones.

He looked down and his pupils suddenly contracted.

On the back of his hand, fine cracks appeared.

As he scratched, a small patch of skin peeled off like dried-out plaster.

What's exposed beneath the peeled skin isn't flesh and blood.

Instead, it consists of a frame of fine, dense bamboo strips with a pale yellow sheen.

"Grass!"

Seeing this, the Berserker Dragon Brother next to him was so frightened that he took a step back.

"Master, you...you're about to transform?"

Lu Zhixing didn't speak, but his brows were furrowed.

He could clearly feel a terrible change taking place in his body.

My joints are becoming increasingly stiff, my skin is becoming increasingly fragile, and even my thinking is starting to show signs of slowing down.

Paper dolls!

This was the price he paid for his deal with the paper shop owner.

In exchange for 72 hours of game time, you can learn the secrets of the ancestral hall.

Now, there is less than an hour left until the agreed 72 hours.

If he fails to "pay" the price in time, he will be assimilated by the rules and completely transformed into a paper doll NPC who can only wander around the Village of the Dead.

"We must find that boss!" Lu Zhixing decided immediately.

He, Brother Long, and several surviving players who were willing to follow them immediately headed towards the paper offering shop in the village.

Along the way, Lu Zhixing's body became increasingly paper-like.

His cheeks also began to peel away, revealing the crisscrossing bamboo strips underneath.

It looks like a cheap doll that's only half-made and hasn't had time to be covered with cardboard yet.

The surviving players were too frightened to approach Lu Zhixing because of his appearance.

Only the Berserk Dragon, despite grumbling and cursing, stayed close by his side.

"Damn it, cult leader, you'd better hold on!"

"If you turn into a paper doll, who am I supposed to ask to help me clear the game?"

Brother Long is very aware of his own limitations.

Soon, the group arrived at the entrance of the paper craft shop.

But what they saw plunged everyone's hearts into despair.

The paper craft shop's door was tightly closed, and a notice written in calligraphy was pasted on the door.

The handwriting was crooked and messy, like scribbles.

"Going to town to buy goods, burning paper money if needed."

"They...they ran away?"

"One player cried out in despair."

Enraged, Brother Berserk kicked the door.

"Damn it! This son of a bitch NPC! He dared to mess with us!"

"I'm going to set his shop on fire right now!"

As Brother Long spoke, he looked for a torch.

"etc!"

Lu Zhixing stopped him.

His eyes were fixed on the notice, his mind racing.

"Going into town..."

"Where is the town in this village?"

"Purchase goods..."

"What kind of goods does a shop that does business with ghosts need to stock?"

"Burn paper money if you need anything..."

This sounds more like a sarcastic remark with a touch of wicked humor.

Lu Zhixing walked up to the notice, stretched out his half-paper-like fingers, and gently touched the ink on it.

The ink had dried completely, but a faint trace of eeriness and... the sound of opera singing remained on it.

Lu Zhixing suddenly raised his head and looked outside the village. "He didn't run away."

Lu Zhixing said in a hoarse voice, "He went... to see a play."

"Listen to opera?" Brother Long looked bewildered and reached out to touch the ink stain. He hadn't heard anything.

Lu Zhixing understood upon seeing this.

It seems that only he, in his paper form, could hear the opera singing.

"Do you remember what I discovered in 'The Return of the Soul'?" Lu Zhixing reminded him.

"The Chen family kept Xiaodie from the 'Hundred Opera Troupe'."

"That opera troupe is the key to solving all the mysteries!"

"The paper craft shop owner's so-called 'stocking up' isn't about sourcing goods, but rather inspiration and stories!"

"He needs to go see a new play so he can make new paper figures!"

Lu Zhixing's analysis sent chills down the spines of everyone present.

"Then... what do we do now?" a player asked in a trembling voice. "We can't get out of this village at all!"

Yes, we can't get out.

Although the curse of the Village of the Wrongfully Dead has been broken, the stone tablet at the village entrance acts like an invisible barrier, trapping them all here.

Lu Zhixing glanced at his hands, which were becoming increasingly thin like paper, and felt his life force slowly slipping away.

That shouldn't be the case. Since the paper shop owner left clues about where to go, there should be a way to escape the village of the unjustly killed.

But where is the way out?

Lu Zhixing frowned as he sorted through the information.

What exactly did he overlook in this village of the unjustly killed...?

No, that's not right. Suddenly, Lu Zhixing had a flash of inspiration and looked sharply towards the outside of the village.

A faint, intermittent roar of a car engine echoed in sync with Lu Zhixing's thoughts.

Everyone except Lu Zhixing was stunned.

They were surprised to find an old bus parked outside the village of the unjustly killed, next to the stone tablet that read "Village of the Unjustly Killed" at the village entrance.

The car door opened with a "whoosh".

A pale-faced driver was looking at them with terrified eyes.

Lu Zhixing breathed a sigh of relief; just as he had expected.

The latest episode of "Midnight Bus" by "Good People" reveals what was waiting for them!

"Get in the car!" Lu Zhixing shouted with all his might.

"If you want to live, come with me!"