Trembling At A High Altitude

Chapter 41: A Momentary Guest

The bus continued on its journey toward the second stop.

The scenery outside the window became increasingly dilapidated.

“Why didn’t he do anything when he was on the bus just now? I’d thought that he would do something,” whispered the teenage girl to the white-collar woman.

“Such as… Blocking the door and preventing anyone from alighting and things like that?” The white-collar woman also joined the girl in a soft discussion.

“Surely he should flee after he got off the bus, right? Why was he just sitting there and waiting for death to come? Or he could say that he had left his chair on the bus after he alighted and then use it as an excuse to return to the bus? That would probably work, right?”

“In my opinion, since the ghost is sealed and no different from a regular human and can’t kill anyone while she’s on the bus, he could beat her up and break her limbs, and then lock her up somewhere. Unless we’re out of our minds, none of us would set her free. Once we’re past the first stop, he would be able to alight and escape safely, right?”

The white-collar woman and the girl continued their discussion.

“Yes, he could use the bar chair to trap the ghost to the seats, so that she couldn’t get off the bus.”

“Or maybe… It’s because of his lighting technician identity? You know, the idea that light restrains ghosts and things like that. Or maybe he wouldn’t be considered as having alighted if he sat on a chair and kept his legs from touching the ground after he got off the bus? Or he could also step on the bar chair and climb on top of the bus and flee directly. I don’t understand why he didn’t do any of these.”

“Exactly. If he caused a vehicle breakdown or threatened the driver or something after he got on, such that the bus couldn’t reach the first stop within an hour, the ghost would be done for. I wonder why he didn’t try that, either.”

“The ghost’s abilities were sealed when she’s on the bus. In my opinion, as long as he killed the ghost on the bus, wouldn’t he have won? Of course, I’m not sure whether he’s allowed to do so.”

The white-collar woman and the girl’s discussion became more and more fervent.

The woman in the sunglasses seated behind them honestly couldn’t bring herself to listen to their discussion anymore. She couldn’t help but interrupt, “How immature do you have to be to think of something like that? On a film set, unless it’s part of the plot, you can’t attack other actors, much less the driver and other crew members. How could the director possibly allow him to do such things that would ruin the plot?”

With their level of intelligence, if it weren’t for the fact that luck was on their side, they would have been turned into wax statues a long time ago.

This was nothing to be surprised about, though, because they were just regular people in the real world. It was impossible for their intelligence level to suddenly increase overnight just because they were thrown into this place.

“We’re just having a casual discussion. It’s not like we think those methods would definitely work, too. We just find it strange that he didn’t do anything other than to sit there and wait to die after he alighted.”

The woman in the sunglasses also made a guess and said, “That’s because he knows that no matter what he does, there’s no point to it. That’s why he didn’t do anything.”

“Has he given up just like that?” replied the white-collar woman with a sigh.

“No! He will definitely find a way to counterattack and kill her!” interjected Gao Fei.

“Hahaha!” The pretty boy burst into laughter, evidently scoffing at Gao Fei’s words. He couldn’t even be bothered to refute him, so he merely burst into loud, mocking laughter.

The spectacled man mocked Gao Fei on behalf of the pretty boy. “Your ideals may be lofty, but reality is harsh. You know very well that it’s impossible for him to dodge the bullet tonight, so you can stop deceiving yourself!”

His words had only just left his mouth when the bus suddenly fell into silence.

“The ghost has successfully killed the target! Filming for this scene has ended!”

Everyone heard the director’s voice in their ears.

“Hahahaha!” The pretty boy burst into laughter again. His laughter was especially ear-piercing, as though metal spoons scraping across a porcelain bowl.

“Congrats, congrats,” said the spectacled man to the pretty boy.

“F*ck!” Gao Fei let out a curse.

Just how short of a time had it been since the bus left? Had it even been five minutes? And Li Teng had already been killed?

It seemed like he must really have given up on his own accord. Otherwise, there was no way it would have been this quick.

How could he just fold his hands and wait for death like that?! Even if he couldn’t escape his fate, he should at least make an effort to try, right!?

…

Since filming had ended, there was no point in the bus continuing to the next stop anymore.

Thus, the driver made a U-turn and drove back where it had come from.

Five minutes later, when they passed by the first stop—in other words, the stop where Li Teng and Mrs. Guo had alighted at—everyone went to the windows and looked at the bus shelter where Li Teng had been when he got off earlier.

The bus shelter was in a terrible mess.

The advertisement lightbox had been smashed to bits. There was blood everywhere on the broken remnants of the lightbox.

There was also a large pool of blood that hadn’t dried yet on the ground.

From the looks of it, an intense fight had broken out there.

Or perhaps… A torturous death.

They didn’t dare to imagine just what Li Teng must have experienced before his death.

It definitely wouldn’t have been an easy time.

Mrs. Guo would never give him such an easy death. She would definitely have tortured him for a few minutes before she killed him.

Mrs. Guo might have wanted to torture Li Teng for a longer time before she killed him, but that mouth of Li Teng’s… It could make someone die from fury. Mrs. Guo mustn’t have wanted that to happen, so she must have been unable to hold herself back and quickly killed Li Teng.

“What a pitiful guy. He had quite the eloquent mouth that could turn falsities into truth and even bring the dead back alive. What a shame that he couldn’t talk his way out of it and get away alive this time,” remarked the spectacled man as he clucked his tongue a few times. Everyone could tell that he was in an extremely good mood now.

With Li Teng around, his days in the film crew would definitely be pretty rough. Now that Li Teng was dead, none of the others posed a threat to him anymore.

“Will we see him again?” asked the teenage girl. She felt rather down.

It hadn’t even been an hour, but the old lady and Li Teng had left one after the other in just this short amount of time. Life was truly unpredictable, and a person’s life was simply so fragile and fleeting.

“He will probably come back to bid farewell to us,” replied the white-collar woman softly.

“What a shame. He was probably a very interesting person in real life,” said the woman in the sunglasses in evaluation of Li Teng.

“He’s someone who makes a clear distinction between kindness and hatred. A very intelligent but unlucky man,” said Gao Fei as a simple conclusion of the Li Teng he knew.

“Granny is someone who has very clear views of her own. Her appraisal of him was pretty good. This is honestly unexpected…” said the white-collar woman. The granny she was referring to was the refined old lady.

Although that refined old lady had had a very good opinion of Li Teng, little did they imagine that the words had only just left her mouth when Li Teng departed along with her.

No matter how deep an impression he left on them, he would ultimately be nothing more than a momentary guest in their lives and would disappear from their memories very soon.

The dead were gone, but the living had to trudge on, regardless.

…

After they returned to the bus stop, they had departed from and passed through the little alley. Everyone was back in front of the cafe again. They sat around the coffee table.

The pretty boy and the spectacled man dragged their bar chairs away from the others and sat by themselves in a corner as they chatted away happily. The spectacled man held nothing back as he fawned on the pretty boy and took the opportunity to ask him a few questions. The pretty boy mostly provided only half-answers to hold the man’s interest.

It looked like the spectacled man fully intended to switch over to Mrs. Guo and the pretty boy’s side. The pretty boy was also interested in taking in a new underling.

Everyone else was in low spirits. They kept quiet and didn’t say anything.

This was a firm and impenetrable film crew, while the actors were no different from running water.

Every scene saw actors leaving and new actors joining.

At the end of every old story was the beginning of a new story.

Life wasn’t a web-novel. There wouldn’t be only a single fixed lead character.

To this particular film crew, no one was an eternal lead character. Or, at the very least, the dead would never be.

…

Ten minutes later, Li Teng appeared at the street corner and walked over with a despondent look on his face.

When the women saw how he looked, they felt an inexplicable twinge of heartache.

Ever since they had gotten to know Li Teng, they had never once seen him dejected and downhearted like this.

He always had a very calm expression on his face and occasionally used performance art to achieve dry humor. He would then drink his coffee and secretly make fun of people who didn’t like him and bring some alternative entertainment to everyone.

In short, he should have been a happy person and not dispirited like this.