I’ll take your brains away first and return them to you after you’ve finished reading.¹

Chapter 1: Space-Time Bus

On a midsummer evening, the noses of passengers were filled with the suffocating air inside the swaying bus. Jiang Song grabbed the handrail; her skin under her clothes was hot and sticky. She felt dizzy after finishing a day of work and just wanted to go home quickly to take a shower to wash away her fatigue.

The house Jiang Song rented was in the suburbs of North City, a two-hour commute from her workplace.

After persisting for what seemed like an eternity, Jiang Song finally saw the auntie in front of her preparing to get up and exit the bus. The fat man beside her glanced at her and pushed Jiang Song aside.

The auntie walked between the two of them. Jiang Song grabbed the back of the chair first and sat down. The fat man’s feet were still on the platform, but Jiang Song intercepted him. His fat face wrinkled, and he snorted angrily.

Jiang Song was so tired that she didn’t even glance at him and turned to stare out at the passing scenery.

Sitting in front of the window, there was a slight breeze blowing by. Although it was still hot, it was much more comfortable compared to before. Jiang Song held the doll she won from the mall raffle in front of her and hugged it.

The exquisitely packaged doll looked expensive. According to the young lady from the event organizer, the doll was priced at 1,888 yuan². Jiang Song planned to sell it on her WeChat Moments when she got home.

After finding a seat, Jiang Song tilted her head and leaned against the window, closing her eyes…

The coldness permeated Jiang Song’s body, and she was subsequently awakened by it. Her eyes snapped open, and she discovered that the sky had already grown dark. The roadside lamps seemed to be dysfunctional, and the entire road was pitch black. She touched the exposed skin of her arm. Why did the temperature suddenly drop so much?

There were no other passengers on the bus. Turning on her phone to check the time, she found that it was just past 6 o’clock. But it was summer now, so how could it get dark so early?

“Sir, where are we going now? Haven’t we reached the bus stop yet?” Jiang Song stood up and took two steps forward, wanting to ask the driver why the bus lights weren’t even on- nothing could be seen, it was too dangerous.

But when she reached the driver’s seat, goosebumps instantly rose from her skin. Behind the transparent partition, there was no one in the driver’s seat… and yet the bus was still moving fast.

In the silent atmosphere, only the sound of rolling tires against the ground could be heard.

Jiang Song screamed in surprise after belated realisation.

She tried to pry open the partition, but it was locked tightly, and the key disappeared along with the driver. At this moment, the lights in the bus suddenly lit up, and Jiang Song subconsciously closed her eyes due to the strong glare.

After a while, she opened her eyes and saw the situation inside the vehicle. She was the only one standing in the empty bus. With trembling hands, she turned on her cell phone and tried to call for help. But there was no signal. Jiang Song tried to calm herself down, walking to the window and opening it. A biting cold wind blew in instantly, the speed of the vehicle grew faster and faster. She looked outside but found that she couldn’t see anything- the dense darkness isolated her line of sight.

This made her give up on the idea of jumping out of the bus.

Jiang Song closed the window and turned on the air conditioner, and her anxious mood calmed down slightly. Although she was perplexed as to why she became like this after waking up from a nap, she was sure that this was definitely not normal. There was a high possibility that she was caught up in an abnormal event that could not be explained by human cognition.

Even with an absent driver, the bus has been smooth and stable, as if it were driving automatically. Jiang Song thinks that the possibility of a crash is unlikely for the time being. She sat back in her seat, trying to reorganise her thoughts, but the moment she sat down, a crisp “D I N G” sound rang out.

Jiang Song didn’t know where the voice came from, but it was so obvious that it made her shiver involuntarily.

[Welcome to the Space-Time Bus. The player has been bound. Please select the initial equipment.]

The sudden sound instantly alerted Jiang Song. She stood up and looked around, trying to find the source of the sound, but there was no one else except herself.

“Who is it?” Jiang Song questioned, but no one responded to her. “What player?”

Jiang Song carefully moved to her seat, ready to arm herself with something to use as a weapon, but she only saw the exquisitely packaged doll. But the moment she touched it, a flash of light burst out. She suddenly lowered her head, raised her hand, and held up the doll that was emitting blue light. At the same time, the voice appeared again.

[The initial equipment has been picked up, please check.]

Jiang Song frowned: “What initial equipment? This is my doll.”

Suddenly, a screen of light unfolded before her eyes.

[Player Jiang Song’s initial equipment: Stand-in doll]

[Equipment Description: In each game, the doll can protect you from one fatal injury, with a defense of 100.]

[Note: Players’ initial equipment will not be dropped.]

The next moment, the doll disappeared and turned into a stick figure imprinted on her wrist.

“That’s… so magical…”

Then, the scene began to change, and countless neatly arranged cards appeared before her eyes. They were black and gold-plated, with dense retro patterns. It had an extremely magical and unique charm.

“What’s this?”

[Player, please draw your own card.]

Jiang Song followed its prompt and randomly selected a card. The card turned over, and a golden light flashed.

[Congratulations to the player for obtaining the Attraction Card.]

[Card Introduction: No matter how unpopular you are, the Attraction Card allows you to choose an NPC in the game to gain their favor, making them obey your orders and instructions, helping you complete the game better.]

[Note: Players’ personal cards will not be dropped.]

Jiang Song thought this thing should be quite useful. After clicking to confirm the claim, she ignored it. She noticed that there was a piece of personal information in the upper right corner of the blue screen, so she clicked it to check it out.

[Player: Jiang Song]

[Gender: Female]

[Age: 24]

[Completed Games: 0]

[Initial points: 100 (Newbie reward)]

[Online Users: 150020006]

Jiang Song’s heart grew heavier. Even though she was oppressed by work every day, she had read similar novels and watched some similar movies about her situation. As long as she was not the protagonist, as long as she came to such a place, she would be seeking death.

Jiang Song felt that she was not destined to be the protagonist. As soon as she graduated, she became a subordinate³. If you don’t work, you won’t have food to eat. She worked hard for three years, and at the end of the year, her balance was only three digits. Now she is so miserable that, additionally, she is forced to enter this kind of strange game. But Jiang Song didn’t ignore the number of users online. There were over 100 million people? Were they all forced into this like her?

Jiang Song couldn’t get an answer, so she exited her personal information interface and found a shopping mall interface with a dazzling array of goods, all of which she had never seen before. They were incredibly impressive; any one of the items could render her shocked for ten thousand years. The prices were ridiculously high as well.

[The Space-Time Bus reminds players to take their seats. We are about to arrive at our first stop.]

Jiang Song listened to its prompts and sat in her seat obediently. She knew that this kind of game was generally very dangerous. Although there was equipment and cards, these two things did not give Jiang Song any confidence. She opened the mall and started searching.

But what can she buy with 100 points?

Jiang Song used the shopping experience she had accumulated over the years and finally chose a repair fluid with a very high cost-effectiveness.

[Item Name: Repair Fluid (Price: 100 Points)]

[Item Description: Strong adhesiveness. When your wound is bleeding, it can help you stop the bleeding.]

Jiang Song looked at the small bottle in her hand and felt that this life-saving item, compared to other things in the mall, only cost a hundred points, which was a bargain for her.

The bus was speeding up, and Jiang Song’s heartbeat increased faster and faster. She searched her phone but couldn’t find the person she was looking for. In the end, she could only open the file transfer assistant and write a will. Although the message failed to be sent, it at least recorded her mood at the moment. Jiang Song put away his phone and sighed resignedly.

As the speed of the bus gradually slowed down, Jiang Songdi’s heart began to hang in the air. It was still pitch black outside. The bus stopped at this time, and the door opened automatically.

[The Space-Time Bus reminds players that the destination has been reached. Please get off.]

【10、9、8、7……】

The tight countdown made Jiang Song, who had originally wanted to dawdle for a while, let out a curse. She didn’t want to try to figure out what the consequences would be if she didn’t leave after the countdown was over. Anyway, it would for sure not be anything good.

Translator’s Note: Hello fellow readers~ Nice to meet you! In some parts, I took the liberty of rewriting the sentence and word structures in my style so that it flows better in English. But I’ll always try as much as I can to stick to the meanings & wording of the original text for current and future novels. Please enjoy this story along with me~ ^u^