I, the screenwriter, have experienced a resurgence of inspiration.

9:15 a.m., third floor of the inpatient department of Jiangcheng First People's Hospital.

The smell of disinfectant mixed with a faint stench of blood permeated the enclosed corridor.

Chen Xi leaned against the cold white wall, her body slightly forward, and raised her hand to rub her throbbing temples.

Fourteen hours have passed since she started her patrol last night.

During those fourteen hours, Xiao Li could still steal a moment to take a nap, but Chen Xi didn't even have time to drink water.

The entire city was on a chase for bus route 404, then we rushed to Taiping Cemetery for on-site investigation and autopsy, then prepared statements from the survivors, and we also had to work to suppress the news and calm the emotionally distraught family members...

Countless things came rushing in like a tide, and Chen Xi and her colleagues were so busy that they barely had time to put their feet on the ground.

……

"How did it go? What did the doctor say?"

Chen Xi rubbed her aching stomach, took out a piece of chocolate the nurse had given her, ate it, and barely managed to suppress the acid churning in her stomach.

Before the truth behind the zombie incident could be uncovered, another ghost bus, number 404, appeared.

I heard that the municipal building was brightly lit last night, and the entire leadership team was pulled out of bed in the middle of the night for a meeting.

Chen Xi was so busy that she almost laughed.

……

"After asking them, they said one of them must have died."

Xiao Li's face was frighteningly pale, and he looked like he wanted to vomit but couldn't.

"Captain Chen, the situation... the situation is worse than we thought."

There were seven people in total who came into contact with bus route 404 this time.

"One of them is missing, it's Zhang Chao. We searched the entire Taiping Cemetery, but we couldn't find him, we only found a pile of white stone fragments."

The forensic doctor said... the forensic doctor said there was his DNA in those fragments. Wang Lei said, "He said he'd turned to stone."

Chen Xi's heart sank suddenly.

A living person turned into stone, and then shattered.

This is even more absurd than a fairy tale.

"What about the remaining six people?"

Chen Xi rubbed her eyes and asked.

"The remaining six... There's a middle-aged man nicknamed 'Old Black.' According to Zhang Dong and Zheng Zhi, he was completely drunk last night and was supposedly left on the 404 bus."

Xiao Li took a deep breath and continued reporting: "At six o'clock this morning, someone found Lao Hei at the People's Park bus stop, 40 kilometers away."

He was still asleep, with no injuries or abnormalities on his body, still drunk—he had no idea what had happened and kept asking us why we brought him to the hospital.

People's Park, 40 kilometers away.

Chen Xi frowned deeply. Old Hei had been sleeping the whole time and hadn't been hurt at all.

Why is that?

"Where are the others?"

"The others... all claimed that they had entered a game instance, the kind of death game depicted in novels and movies."

Xiao Li's voice was dry and rough, as if it had been sanded:

"They said the dungeon was in a mass grave, and the mission was to find a tombstone with your name on it and then clean it."

"Failure to complete the task will result in death, as will breaking the rules. They say Zhang Chao turned to stone and died because he broke the rules."

"And Wang Lei too."

At this point, Xiao Li couldn't help but shudder. "I just went to see him, and the left half of his body... has all turned into a paper effigy."

Retelling simply cannot convey the eeriness and terror of witnessing it firsthand.

A living person, half solid flesh and half light paper effigy.

The most outrageous thing is that when the doctor examined him, he found that the left half of his heart was gone, but the right half of his heart was still beating.

This is beyond the limits of human imagination.

"The doctors were terrified. They had never seen anything like this before and had no idea how to treat it. They could only suggest that the patient be kept in the hospital for observation."

"And Lin Hao."

Xiao Li swallowed hard, his expression unnatural: "His neck... has a string of intestines growing out."

"Intestines?"

Chen Xi's mind went blank for a moment.

She really wanted to ask if he had suffered a serious external injury and if his internal organs had spilled out or something.

But there's an even stranger paper figure ahead, so Xiao Li's statement that "intestines grew out" should just be a purely objective description.

"Yes, it grows on the neck, hanging on one side, tied around the neck like a scarf."

The doctor tried to cut it off, but Lin Hao screamed in agony the moment he touched it, so the doctor is afraid to touch him now.

Xiao Li made a dry joke, and Chen Xi felt another wave of nausea.

A paper-made body, without a heart, yet the person is still alive.

Intestines grew out of his neck.

These things are terrifying even when heard from others, let alone when witnessed firsthand.

"How are their mental states? Can we ask them questions?"

"Both Wang Lei and Lin Hao are not in good mental condition. Wang Lei kept talking nonsense, saying that he shouldn't have stolen the gold."

Lin Hao is very short-tempered; he curses at everyone he sees and always seems to want to rip his guts out.

As Xiao Li spoke, he scrolled through his phone:

"Zhang Dong and Zheng Zhi are in relatively good spirits, but they are quite frightened and their speech is incoherent. They repeatedly emphasized that we must protect them and that they were not lying."

"Have the hospital rooms been arranged?"

Chen Xi straightened up and asked, "I heard there's a girl who seems to be in good spirits. Let's go ask her first."

"Don't worry, Captain Chen, everything is arranged. They're all in the isolation ward on the third floor."

Two plainclothes police officers were stationed outside each ward, preventing anyone from approaching or contacting the outside world. This was in accordance with a report submitted to Director Jiang.

The criminal investigation team colleagues nodded in agreement:

"All the doctors and nurses involved in the treatment were repeatedly instructed not to disclose any information to the outside world."

The hospital director was also summoned for a talk and ordered to maintain a complete news blackout throughout the hospital.

Chen Xi nodded; this was the only thing she could do for now: "Have the instructions from above been issued?"

Block information, control public opinion, and avoid causing widespread panic.

Mentioning this, my colleague's face showed a helpless expression:

"The higher-ups said that this matter cannot be disclosed to the public for the time being, and they also rejected our request to warn the public not to approach buses at night."

Chen Xi pinched the bridge of his nose: "One person died last night, and two others turned into this ghostly state."

"If the public isn't warned, and if the No. 404 bus reappears tonight, even more people will suffer."

"The higher-ups said they were afraid of causing panic."

Xiao Li cautiously raised his hand, "I know this—the higher-ups are probably afraid of a repeat of what happened in Sichuan back then."

This story is set in the 1980s and 90s. In a neighboring county, a farmer's dog contracted rabies and killed the family's pig. The family cooked and ate the sick pig, and the whole family contracted rabies.

Later, the relatives took the farmer's family to the provincial capital for medical treatment. On the way, several members of the family developed rabies, their skin turned red, and they started biting people, injuring several people.

As a result, the rumor spread, turning into claims of zombies biting people. Eventually, the story spread further and further, until it became known that a Qing Dynasty zombie had been unearthed from the Wuhou Temple, and that the zombie had run into the streets and bit many people to death.

In short, the rumors spread wider and wider, even involving the military.

In the end, it caused widespread panic, social unrest, and many unnecessary losses.

……

"The above means that there is currently no conclusive evidence to prove that the No. 404 bus is a paranormal event, and everything is still under investigation."

If the information is made public rashly, it will only cause panic among the public. Moreover, the peak tourist season is just around the corner, and there is a fear that it will affect the tourism image and public security of Jiangcheng.

Currently, the only option is to increase patrols and deploy more police officers to patrol all bus stops and main roads throughout the city to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

My colleague rubbed his head in exasperation.

"Increase patrols?" Xiao Li was terrified when he heard this.

"We mobilized half of the city's police force last night and chased it all night, but we couldn't even catch a glimpse of that ghost car."

It can teleport, pass through walls, and disappear into thin air. How can you chase it?

"Never mind, I'll go and report to Director Jiang myself at noon."

Chen Xi slowly exhaled:

Although Wuhan is not exactly a city that never sleeps, it is a well-known tourist city in China.

At three or four in the morning, there are many people wandering around, eating late-night snacks, drinking, and playing mahjong.

—Especially the commercial areas like Jiefang Road and the food street, which are even more lively at night than during the day.

If the No. 404 bus appears in those areas tonight, it could take away dozens or even hundreds of people at once...

She didn't even dare to think about it.

Chen Xi could understand his superiors' concerns and knew how serious the consequences of large-scale panic could be.

But she knew all too well that the truth would eventually come out.

There were too many witnesses to what happened last night.

Just the patrolling police officers on Binjiang Avenue, the staff of Taiping Cemetery, the doctors and nurses at the hospital, and the families of the survivors...

With so many people, it's impossible to shut everyone up.

Before long, the story of the ghost bus on route 404 will spread throughout the entire city of Jiangcheng.

In that case, the panic will only worsen.

"Forget it, let's not talk about this anymore."

Chen Xi strode forward, pressed the button for the upward elevator, and said, "Let's go check on Lin Hao and Wang Lei first. I'll report to Director Jiang."

……