Chapter 34: Terror Bus

[Fear is a human instinct.]

[The Fear pathway in the Inner World is founded upon the dread within human hearts.]

[If an item belonging to the Fear pathway is used to initiate a ritual, it will often grant mind-related abilities. These are the premier choice for control-type abilities.]

[When forming a team for a dungeon, members with a Fear pathway ritual often take on the role of primary controller and bear the task of mitigating the drop in the team's Mental Immunity Value.]

Shen Youran's document regarding the Fear pathway was written primarily from a player's perspective, containing almost no descriptions from the viewpoint of the Inner World.

Only a sparse few lines caught Yan Jing's attention.

[Within the domains of Fear, there exists a species known as Fear Spirits.]

[Once inside, one must maintain a stable state of mind. If one's Mental Immunity Value drops below 60, it will attract the gaze of Fear Spirits and result in being hunted by them.]

[Fear Spirits possess a partial immunity to physical damage. Mental-type skills are more effective against them, with abilities from the Fear pathway yielding the best results.]

[Killing a Fear Spirit yields a Fear Spirit's heart. These hold a certain value and can be sold in the Inner World to Inner World residents on the Fear pathway.]

[Absorbing a Fear Spirit's heart is one of the advancement methods for Inner World residents on the Fear pathway, so they often fetch a good price.]

[Note: Exercise extreme caution when trading with Inner World residents on the Fear pathway. Most of them do not hold a friendly attitude toward players.]

[Furthermore, Inner World residents on the Fear pathway might suffer from a disease known as the fear plague, which drastically alters their temperament. This requires vigilance as well.]

"Fear Spirits..."

Yan Jing memorized the information, planning to test it out if he got the chance upon entering the Inner World tomorrow.

When he killed Lin Mian and An Ranran last time, he sensed that the fear they produced had faintly increased the Cameraman's weird energy. This was also why he suspected the Cameraman belonged to the Fear pathway.

He wondered if inducing fear in others was another method of advancement for the Fear pathway.

He opened the next document, which was about the Terror Bus.

This file was somewhat large, taking a moment to load.

According to the introduction, the Terror Bus was a relatively common dungeon.

It was divided into two types of dungeons: the main station and the stops.

The domain housing the main station seemed to share a power connection with the domains of the stops. Thus, even though the domains of the main station and the stops were not physically connected, they were considered the same domain.

The document primarily described the Stage A tasks when it functioned as a First Tier dungeon, with the task location being on the bus.

There were two tasks, named {No Making Noise on the Bus} and {Disembark at the Stop}.

The requirement for {No Making Noise on the Bus} was that players had to remain as quiet as possible before arriving at their stop.

If they produced any sound exceeding 40 decibels, the conductor would throw them straight out of the bus.

The requirement for {Disembark at the Stop} was to get off at the correct location.

If the stop a player got off at was not the one specified by the task, their Mental Immunity Value would instantly drop to 0 upon disembarking.

[The Terror Bus appears to operate continuously within a certain city in the Inner World.]

[If you possess sufficient strength and courage, you can use this bus to enter other dungeons.]

[The difficulty of the task lies in the fact that there are no stop announcements on the bus, and one cannot open their eyes at will. Players must rely on the sounds of the bus stopping and starting to determine how many stops they have passed.]

[Inner World residents and Fear Spirits frequently appear on the bus, leading to an extremely high level of unpredictability in this dungeon.]

[Be careful. Do not make too much noise on this bus.]

Having finished the document, Yan Jing generally understood the procedure for tomorrow.

In the Cameraman's memories, he would close his eyes every time he took this bus to Sleepland, only opening them once the vehicle arrived.

Looking at it now, this was likely to prevent his mind from wavering due to the anomalies on the bus, which would attract the gaze of Fear Spirits.

Next, Yan Jing opened the final document.

[Mad Amusement Park]

Compared to the previous two, this file was pitifully small.

It didn't even exceed half a page.

[This dungeon seems to have encountered some sort of situation. In recent years, no players have been recorded entering it.]

[Three years ago, a group of players entered, but in the end, fewer than ten survived.]

[Investigations revealed a massive number of Fear Spirits within this dungeon. Their sizes are all quite enormous, which shocks the minds of players.]

[Shen Youran's Note:]

[Yesterday, I managed to contact some of the survivors. Based on my analysis, this dungeon belongs to the domain of Fear, and the fear within it should be related to enormous sizes.]

[From their descriptions, I infer that the core of this dungeon relies on the inner fear of the players. The more terrified a player is, the more gigantic the Fear Spirits and amusement park rides will appear!]

[However, no one has entered this dungeon for a long time, so this theory remains unverified.]

[Strangely enough, when I sought these people out to ask questions, they didn't seem surprised.]

[It seems I wasn't the first person to ask them.]

[I will continue tracking this matter.]

[PS: The goods have been dispatched. What you need will arrive the day after tomorrow at the latest. Please memorize the information properly!!]

Yan Jing stared blankly at the final few sentences before letting out an involuntary chuckle.

"Teacher Shen is really putting her heart into this."

Even without knowing what he intended to do with these two dungeons, she still went out of her way to contact the survivors from back then. The effort involved certainly couldn't be summed up in a single sentence.

The greater the fear, the more gigantic the size.

This point was crucial. It might offer significant help for his operation tomorrow.

"I need to work hard as well."

He shut down the computer, mentally reviewed tomorrow's procedure, and then found a series of basic combat tutorial videos in the relevant forum section. He paid for a membership and began practicing.

The videos taught rather fundamental combat techniques, but for his current self, they were sufficient.

This was especially true for the weapons chapter.

When he first entered the Inner World, he noticed that his Day Selection Ritual abilities seemed capable of being unleashed through the Cameraman's body. This undoubtedly added a great deal of confidence to tomorrow's operation.

What he needed to do now was first learn how to use them proficiently.

Since the Fear Seeds transformed into a limited number of sharp spikes, he went downstairs to pick up a wooden stick and followed along with the video to practice.

His learning speed was extremely fast.

Although he had never learned anything similar before, after mimicking a few movements from the person in the video, Yan Jing was surprised to find it wasn't as difficult as he had imagined.

First, the original owner of his body had taken some combat classes in the Clan during childhood and still retained some muscle memory. Combined with his own experiences from his past life, wielding a weapon quickly became second nature.

Second, after initiating the Day Selection Ritual, his physical fitness had comprehensively improved, which seemed to include his level of coordination.

After just a few hours of practice, he could wield the wooden stick with decent form. Like a short spike, a single thrust produced a sharp whistling sound, piercing straight through two sheets of paper stood up on the desk.

When he pulled the stick back, the paper still hadn't fallen.

This was considered achieving the first stage goal taught in the video.

With the existence of Transcendent abilities, the level of combat in this world seemed significantly higher than in his previous one.

He practiced for quite a while longer until sweat soaked his clothes and steam faintly emanated from his muscles. Only then did Yan Jing finally stop, take a shower, and go to bed.

The next day.

Yan Jing entered the Inner World and met up with Mantou as agreed.

Old Master Liu and Chen Nian were waiting at the market's front gate, saying they wanted to see the two off.

"When comrades march to war, not a blade of grass remains."

A massive banner unfurled in their hands, creating a sight too embarrassing to look at.

Stepping through the market's front gate meant leaving the domain of Rotten Vegetable Village.

In the past, looking through a player's perspective, Yan Jing could see a towering curtain of light at the front gate. However, from the Cameraman's perspective, there was nothing.

There were only dense, tiny cracks on the ground, completely separating Rotten Vegetable Village from the outside world.

Outside the urban village lay a "segment" of a straight highway.

Unlike the Surface World, this highway didn't stretch off into the distance with shops and sidewalks on either side. Instead, it appeared severed. Most of the scenery on both sides was obscured by a pitch-black color, as if scenes of former prosperity had collapsed into bottomless abysses of absolute darkness, swallowing any light that fell into them.

Even the sun seemed to dim slightly in response.

The only things visible to the naked eye were the Sun-Swallowing Tower opposite them and the two stations on either side of the highway. They stood independent of those pitch-black shadowed regions, untouched by the darkness.

"Unstable Domains."

Beside him, Old Master Liu sighed with emotion.

"Everything about this domain is fine, except that there are too many Unstable Domains. Rumor has it that a supreme entity descended upon this world and shattered this massive domain with a single punch, resulting in the dense cluster of Unstable Domains."

Yan Jing's eyes flickered slightly.

Unstable Domain was the name of these shadowed regions.

The space within them was extremely erratic. If one fell in, they would be teleported to a random area and sustain severe injuries due to spatial flickering.

In the Inner World, this was virtually indistinguishable from death.

And to cross an Unstable Domain, one had to possess a vehicle.

He didn't know how such an absurd rule had formed, but it was the truth.

Because of this, a genuine vehicle was incredibly precious in Old Sin City.

Even a bicycle was extremely rare.

Once a vehicle came into existence, it possessed a designated route, capable of helping its driver traverse the Unstable Domains to reach a specific destination.

"Alright, seeing us off here is enough."

Yan Jing turned his head to bid farewell to his two friends.

"Nizi, remember to close your eyes after getting on the bus. When the bus stops next, that means we've arrived. Understand?"

With his hands stuffed inside his military overcoat, Old Master Liu bent over and nagged Mantou endlessly.

"Thanks for your hard work this time. Just bring her back safely."

Chen Nian sounded more like he was entrusting an orphan to his care.

"Okay... okay..."

Mantou nodded vigorously, her small face sporting a serious expression:

"Grandpa and big brother, don't worry. I... I will definitely... bring Y-Yan Jing... back safely!"

"..."

Yan Jing immediately took Mantou's hand and hurriedly walked toward the station.

If he let Mantou stay with these two guys any longer, her way of thinking would definitely deteriorate.

The moment he stepped into the station.

Yan Jing experienced a completely different sensation than before.

The tiny cracks on the ground acted like a barrier, isolating this station from the outside world.

The entire world abruptly turned a twilight yellow-gray, extending to every grain of sand and stone in sight.

"Creak— Creak—"

As the wind blew past, the iron sheets on the station's rain canopy rattled noisily.

Then, it suddenly started to rain.

Yan Jing immediately led Mantou under the canopy. From their perspective, not a single raindrop fell on the highway outside the station, yet the rain within the station was growing heavier and heavier.

The color of the raindrops gradually deepened, eventually turning blood-red as they fell by their feet and pooled into puddles.

No, it would be more accurate to call them pools of blood.

"It's raining."

Yan Jing tightly held Mantou's hand and looked at the nearby bus stop sign.

Blood-red raindrops streamed down its surface, staining the text on it to look exceptionally sinister:

Route 15 Bus

Starting Station: Terror Station

— Virtue Bridge

— Solitude Lane

— Sleepland

— Sun-Swallowing Tower

— Mad Amusement Park

— Dandelion Manor

Terminal Station: Death Club