Nowadays, the world was filled with convenient modes of transportation, especially in large cities like Jiangdu. Traveling to various places was a breeze, and many stunning methods of travel were available.
A luxurious tour bus from Jiangdu to the neighboring city Huadu was one of them.
Unlike ordinary buses that were crowded, small, and uncomfortable during long-distance travel, the newly launched scenic tour buses were excellent choices for leisure and relaxation. They run steadily and donât allow passengers to feel bumps even when driving on mountain roads. Moreover, the route for this scenic bus wasnât a mountain road. It was a famous scenic spot in Jiangdong and Huadu, full of modern prosperity and blooming flower clusters. <sup>1</sup>
Looking out the panoramic glass windows, all of the scenery was easily visible to the eye.
The seats on such buses also tend to be comfortable and casual. Although not as much as those in coffee shops, the spaces between the front and back rows on the seats were large and open. The seats could also be separated, combined, or spun on the tracks below, which was convenient for passengers who wanted to get together or passengers who enjoyed traveling alone.
With an efficient wide seat, a table that moves with the seat, and a comfortable footstool, itâs hard to imagine that so many things would be equipped to a small scenic bus.
Because of that, a scenic bus, which is longer than a 50-seat tour bus, could only accommodate up to 20 passengers.
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If someone still feels crowded and overburdened by noise in such an environment, passengers on a scenic bus can also choose to enter the second floor of the bus through the stairs at the back.
There were no fixed seats or passengers on the second floor, just a leisure area covered by a UV-resistant glass rain shield. Two or three decks and a bench to the side made up the entire leisure area. Whether it was day or night, it was nice to sit there and enjoy the cool, pre-autumn breeze.
There werenât very many scenic buses, so they were stunningly expensive. Even so, these buses were full each time they depart.
Generally, those who choose to take a scenic bus at that exorbitant price were young people who have money and leisure time who like to try new things. Those people appear relaxed and carefree throughout the journey.
But this time, after the driver turned on the autopilot function, he sat and looked back through the rearview mirror. He could feel that the atmosphere in the bus was a bit dull that day, with a depressed aura that even the expensive air filtration system couldnât remove.
The reason was most likely related to whatâs been spoken of on the internet recently.
Suddenly a space called the âNightmare Worldâ appeared in this world. Fortunately, some people became trainers and were sent to those terrible places to perform tasks, but some left without returning.
But in the midst of panic, many found that people who became trainers and survived their first mission became stronger than before, and with the help of those strange props, theyâve become different than normal people.
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Fu Mingchen only became a trainer after the disappearances began. His first novice task was in a horrible movie theater with a total of 20 trainers participating.
Among the trainers, 18 were fresh newcomers. There were some faces that were familiar to Fu Mingchen.
The reason for the familiarity was because, before entering the nightmare world, Fu Mingchen was sitting in the theater with his colleagues to watch a movie as a company team-building exercise, including the female colleagues he had always secretly admired.
Then, the 20 people in the theater, including Fu Mingchen, his department colleagues, and their manager, a total of 10 people, all entered the nightmare world!
So Fu Mingchen was either very familiar with the trainers who appeared in the nightmare world or thought he had seen them in the theater.
What Fu Mingchen didnât expect was⌠the son of their CEO, Liu Qi, the young manager who had just taken up office in their department, was also a veteran!
He was also a member of âDawn,â the largest group of trainers on the internet.
It may be because most of them were newcomers, but the 20-person task the trainers experienced wasnât difficult. When they tried their best to hug the managerâs thigh, all of the department workers safely cleared their first nightmare world task.
After they cleared the task, in the face of their confusion and panic, Manager Liu Qi seemed to have experienced such things many times. He appeared indifferent and even planned a departmental trip in the name of shock.
Liu Qi even lavishly bought tickets for a luxurious scenic bus tour for them, so the group of trainers who had just seen the nightmare world got on the bus.
They would spend most of the day in the bus together and would be reaching the last attraction â Huadu Airport â in 8 hours.
The journey was very stressful for Fu Mingchen. He really didnât like the man who held both titles of veteran trainer and future boss.
But even so, Fu Mingchen was unwilling to offend Liu Qi in order to keep his job.
Because he didnât want to expose his emotions, Fu Mingchen excused himself to get some rest as soon as he entered the bus. He sat alone in the back row and watched his colleagues sit together around Liu Qi with flattering voices and expressions. Several female colleagues with flower-like faces showed haggard smiles.
In fact, not everyone had recovered from the nightmare world. Their moods and mental states werenât very good, but they wanted to hug the thigh closest to them after the first time.
This kind of thing happened frequently in their company department, so Fu Mingchen wasnât surprised by his colleagueâs behavior.
Itâs just⌠the female colleague that Fu Mingchen has a crush on, Qiu Qiu, the department flower, also surrounded Liu Qi. Unlike the icy chill when she chatted with him, she smiled and was very enthusiastic around Liu Qi.
Even if he shut his eyes and didnât look at it, Fu Mingchen was uncomfortable just hearing their voices.
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He could only think of a way to divert his attention by looking at the other passengers in the compartment.
There was a young man sitting next to Fu Mingchen. The seat was somewhat far away from him and he was wearing a pair of light brown sunglasses on the bus, which looked slightly strange.
However, Fu Mingchen could see that among the passengers sitting to his right, there was a young man who was very handsome. Even though part of his face was covered, it was enough to attract peopleâs gaze. Even Fu Mingchen couldnât help but more.
Fortunately Fu Mingchen could still think of his crush on Qiu Qiu, so he quickly withdrew his attention.
Except for Fu Mingchen and his 11-member team, there were only 9 seats remaining on the scenic bus. After passing over the handsome young man, Fu Mingchen found that there was a small group of three old people on the bus. They seemed to be discussing the âNightmare Worldâ in low voices.
As for the remaining five people, one was a tall lady in front of him, and the other had wrapped herself so tightly and even wore a bulging hat despite the weather not being too cold.
Behind Fu Mingchen sat a family of three. There was a little boy in a small suit with his silent young parents. Except for the little boy playing with the tablet, there was no sound.
For some reason, although it was a bus with a panoramic view, the whole bus seemed to be filled only by the young man with sunglasses sitting next to Fu Mingchen, looking to the side to admire the scenery outside the bus.
Footnotes
<ol>Flower clusters: an idiom meaning colorful and vibrant.</ol>