Chapter 41 : Professional

The car door slowly closed.

The old lady’s figure vanished from sight.

Yet Hua Qi’an still felt a chill creeping over her.

Such a strange old woman…

Especially that look she gave her right before leaving…

It was clear the old lady was looking at her, but Hua Qi’an kept feeling that her gaze wasn’t truly focused on her.

Rather, it was as if she were staring through her, looking at someone else.

Maybe she was just overthinking it.

Now, inside the car, only Hua Qi’an and the driver remained.

The driver was clearly tense, his expression drawn tight as he drove.

Hua Qi’an wasn’t the type to strike up conversation, so she turned her head to look out the window again.

The story that old lady had just told her replayed once more in her mind.

A rich merchant who suddenly came into money… A family head who inexplicably drowned himself in the river…

And then, the whole family—some dead, some ill… all gone in the end.

It really did sound like something out of a story.

If it were the Hua Qi’an from before, she would’ve just treated it as a tale to listen to and nothing more.

But now, her worldview had already been shaken, so maybe things like this weren’t so impossible after all.

Could these events have anything to do with that haunted house she’d visited?

Speaking of drowning, she did recall that haunted house was often filled with the salty, damp scent of water, and there was always a lot of aquatic plants.

There must be a body of water nearby.

If it really was the same “drowning site” mentioned in the story, that was too creepy for words.

Thinking this, Hua Qi’an decided she had to go investigate the water near that haunted house again today.

After that, there were no more passengers getting on.

Hua Qi’an made her way without incident to the end of this bus line.

From a distance, she could already see the bus depot.

Compared to those in Hangyang City, this station was much more run-down, and it was obvious no one maintained it regularly.

Seeing that her destination was close at hand, Hua Qi’an reached out and lifted the strap of her backpack, which she had set on the empty seat beside her, slung it over her shoulder, then tugged at the strap to adjust it.

She stood up, walked over to the rear door, as if getting ready to get off the moment the door opened.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the driver seemed to glance at her in the rearview mirror.

This driver was quite young—he probably hadn’t been driving this route for very long, and it was clear his nerves weren’t too steady.

Hua Qi’an could faintly tell his hands were shaking as he gripped the steering wheel.

Maybe that old lady’s story really had frightened him.

“Uh… little miss, you look like a college student? What are you doing coming to such a remote place all by yourself?”

Maybe he couldn’t stand the silence any longer—so the driver took the initiative to talk to Hua Qi’an.

Since they were almost at the stop, Hua Qi’an didn’t mind chatting a bit.

“It’s an assignment from school. I saw there was a place around here that fits the requirements,” Hua Qi’an made up an answer on the spot.

Given how nervous the driver looked, if she told him the truth, it wouldn’t do anyone any good.

But maybe the driver wanted to believe her—he suddenly started rambling, pouring out complaints he’d kept bottled up.

There were barely any passengers on this bus, and even when there were, they were always strange folks like that old lady.

The driver never dared share his thoughts with them.

“Miss, you must never believe in something like a pie falling from the sky…”

“I just got greedy for money and took over this job on impulse…”

He really regretted it now.

Even if he wanted to quit, someone had to be willing to “switch” and take his shift.

Otherwise, he’d have to resign… But he had a family to support—how could he just walk away on a whim?

Now, all he could hope for was that the bus company would bring in a few clueless newcomers—no connections—just like he’d been… so he could hand off this bus line to someone else.

“This kind of route that barely has any passengers should have been closed down already.”

“But for some reason, this thing’s really kind of weird.”

“It hadn’t even been suspended for a week before accidents started happening all the time on the other lines…”

The driver’s voice was trembling, his words spilling out fast as if desperate to vent all his frustrations.

Hua Qi’an just listened quietly.

The bus had already entered the station, now backing up into a parking spot.

“That is pretty strange.”

She had actually heard some urban legends about this bus route.

But it was never really her area of interest, so she only had a vague impression.

It seemed there’d once been a major accident on this line, and ever since then, all kinds of strange things kept happening to buses that ran this route.

The driver looked like he wanted to smoke, but since Hua Qi’an was still in the bus, he held back.

He’d have a few after getting off—he couldn’t handle this job without a smoke or two.

“Yeah, the main thing is… I heard our manager had a dream one night. In the dream, he was blocked by a group of people, demanding to know why he stopped their bus line…”

“When the manager woke up, he realized those people were the ones who’d died in that accident on this route! So he hurried to get the buses running again…”

As he spoke, there was a trace of bitterness in his voice.

He glanced in the rearview mirror again at Hua Qi’an’s direction.

Seeing that she wasn’t doing anything, just staring at the bus door, he couldn’t help but feel a little guilty.

Honestly.

He was a grown man, yet here he was telling all these creepy stories to a college girl.

But the girl’s guts were surprisingly strong, and that did catch him off guard.

“Miss, what’s your major? You seem pretty brave.”

Hearing the driver’s question, Hua Qi’an snapped back to herself.

Her major wasn’t really something hard to admit…

“Archaeology.”

There was no harm in telling the truth about her major.

“That’s why I came here to do an assignment.”

That part was made up.

When the driver heard her answer, he was obviously surprised.

He hadn’t expected Hua Qi’an—who looked so delicate, as if a gust of wind could blow her over—to be an archaeology major.

The vehicle gradually came to a stop—the bus had arrived.

“I thought girls who studied archaeology would be kind of introverted… Didn’t think you’d be so chatty.”

The driver opened the rear door, and looked at Hua Qi’an again in the rearview mirror.

Now that he’d let out all his complaints, he was clearly feeling better.

So he even had the leisure to tease a little.

“That scary old lady—your friend—you two were chatting so happily. I never expected archaeology students to be like this.”

This time, Hua Qi’an was completely stunned.

She didn’t get what the driver meant.

Friend?

Wasn’t it just her talking to the old lady?

She did force a smile at the end, but calling it “chatting happily” was a bit much…

Hua Qi’an’s gaze met the driver’s in the rearview mirror.

He also looked puzzled by her reaction.

“We’re at the stop now. Isn’t that girl sitting next to you getting off?”

After all, he’d already opened the door and didn’t care anymore.

Taking his cigarettes, the driver got off from the driver’s seat.

Only Hua Qi’an was left behind in the empty bus, completely bewildered.