Strange Game - Anime Mashup

Lin Ye didn't understand the situation, but he instinctively ran forward to catch up.

"We can't let them get away!"

"Hurry up!"

One of the thugs helped another to his feet as they chased after him, shouting.

The No. 18 bus had stopped.

The three people waiting at the station got on one after another. Nanase Ren followed them, dropping a coin into the fare box. Lin Ye got on right after her.

"Don't even think about running away, you two!"

The two thugs also boarded the bus.

At that moment, Nanase Ren felt a growing sense of unease. The stalker had followed her onto the bus, and now he was even daring enough to keep pursuing her. It was clear that she was his target.

Could he be the one behind the recent kidnappings?

She gripped her phone tightly, ready to call the police at any moment. But then she noticed something strange. The bus was unusually cold.

Nanase Ren looked around.

The bus wasn't very crowded, but the atmosphere was unsettling. The passengers in addition to the seven people including her, there is a driver and six more passenger which seemed oddly gray, their faces blurred and indistinct.

Her instincts screamed at her that something wasn't right.

Meanwhile, the thugs focused on Lin Ye.

"Boy, come with us," one of them growled.

"We underestimated you earlier, but you'll regret it next time," another said menacingly.

Lin Ye completely ignored the threats. His attention was fixed on the strange atmosphere inside the bus.

This wasn't just a bus—this was something far more dangerous. As a "player," Lin Ye immediately recognized the signs.

This was the real danger—the bus itself.

"Hey, kid, let's get off now," one thug demanded.

The driver's cold, monotone voice interrupted them.

"Please take your seats. The bus is about to depart."

"Wait for bit—we'll get off right away—"

Before the thug could finish, his head exploded with a sickening pop. His lifeless body crumpled to the floor.

The bus fell into stunned silence.

The blue-haired thug at the back widened his eyes in horror. His companion had just died—instantly, without warning.

Nanase Ren, frozen in shock, felt terror welling up inside her. A scream began to rise in her throat.

"Don't make a sound if you don't want to die," Lin Ye whispered urgently, covering her mouth.

He pointed toward the sign near the front of the bus:

Please do not make noise during the ride.

At that moment, a middle-aged woman on the bus screamed in terror, completely ignoring the warning.

Pop

Her head burst just as the thug's had. Her body fell lifeless to the floor before melting away into nothingness.

The blue-haired thug turned and bolted for the door, but it was as though an invisible barrier prevented him from leaving.

The driver repeated in the same chilling tone, "Please take your seats. The bus is about to depart."

Under the threat of death, the remaining passengers quickly found seats.

Lin Ye calmly analyzed the original seating pattern of the passengers. "Two people sit together. One sits alone," he said softly.

He pulled Nanase Ren to a two-person seat at the back.

The other passengers followed his advice. The middle-aged man and the younger man sat together, while the blue-haired thug begrudgingly took a single seat on the other side.

The bus doors closed with a sharp clack.

"Boom... boom..."

The vehicle slowly began to move.

Nanase Ren, sitting by the window, finally gathered her wits. She shook off Lin Ye's hand, though her wariness toward him hadn't fully dissipated.

Still cautious, she glanced at him. But Lin Ye's attention wasn't on her—it was on their surroundings. Following his lead, she looked out the window.

There was nothing but darkness outside. No lights, no buildings, no sign of the bustling city of Chiba.

A dreadful thought crept into her mind.

This wasn't just a bus ride—this was something supernatural.

Her chest tightened as fear clawed at her. She wanted to cry.

She missed her family. She wanted to go home.

Lin Ye's hand reached for hers, steady and warm. Startled, Nanase Ren looked at him. With his other hand, he handed her his phone.

Words glowed on the screen:

"If you follow the rules, nothing will happen."

"Don't make noise. Don't interact with the driver."

"I'll get you out of here safely. Trust me."

The message ended with an emoji: (?????)

Something in her heart settled. Despite her initial fear of him, Lin Ye's presence now gave her a strange sense of security.

She hesitated before typing a response:

"Why are you helping me?'

Lin Ye typed back: "Do you need a reason to save someone?"

"But you followed me," she wrote.

"Because you're cute," he replied simply.

He can't just tell her that it was because of the 'strange game' mission.

The answer made her pause. Though she still didn't completely trust him, his words were oddly reassuring.

"Can we really get off this bus alive?"

Lin Ye responded with a firm thumbs-up.

The other passengers were trembling in fear. They had begun to realize the truth—the shadowy figures around them weren't human. These were monsters.

The blue-haired thug glanced nervously at Lin Ye, silently begging for help. Lin Ye pointed again to the posted rules.

"Boom... boom..."

The bus began to slow.

"We are approaching the next stop," the driver's voice intoned. "Please prepare to disembark."

The doors opened with a loud clack.

Hope flickered in the air.

The blue-haired thug vividly recalled the moment he tried to exit through the front door of the bus. An invisible barrier had stopped him, no matter how hard he pushed or struggled. He couldn't take that crucial step off the bus.

In those few minutes, he realized something critical: Bus No. 18 had its own peculiar rules.

He was a thug, but he wasn't stupid.

If he couldn't leave through the front door, perhaps the rear door would offer an escape.

The middle-aged man and the younger man seated in the double row on the left had the same realization. None of them wanted to remain on this eerie, perilous bus any longer.

'Get out. Get out now.'

The thought consumed them.

When the bus stopped and the rear door opened, the younger man was the first to leap up and sprint toward the exit. The middle-aged man followed close behind, with the blue-haired thug trailing them.

However, a strange figure seated closer to the exit rose first, blocking the way.

The younger man trembled, silently pleading for the creature to move faster.

Thud... thud...

The figure moved at an agonizingly slow pace, its deliberate steps filling the three men with dread. Though they cursed it in their hearts, they dared not make a sound or attempt to push past it, fearing retribution.

Nanase Ren grew increasingly anxious.

She saw the three men seizing their chance to leave and realized it was an opportunity to escape. However, seated on the inside, she couldn't move unless Lin Ye stood up and let her out.

Desperation flickered in her eyes as she shook Lin Ye's arm and pointed toward the door.

Click.

Time Stop

Lin Ye immediately stood and focused on the route map displayed inside the bus.

When the bus was moving, it had been too dark to see anything. But now, with the interior lights brighter, the map was visible.

The current stop was lit up with incomprehensible symbols. The next two stops were similarly marked with unrecognizable text. However, the fourth stop displayed three clear words: "Chiba City Station."

The realization struck Lin Ye like a lightning bolt.

The first three stops didn't belong to the human world. Getting off there meant certain death.

Lin Ye returned to his seat, released the time stop, and placed a firm hand on Nanase Ren's shoulder, shaking his head gently.

"This isn't our stop," he said, his voice steady.

He pointed toward the route map.

"You'll die if you get off."

The figure near the door stepped off the bus. The younger man froze, torn between Lin Ye's warning and the overwhelming desire to escape.

But Lin Ye's earlier advice had already saved them once. Gritting his teeth, the younger man decided to trust him.

As he hesitated, the middle-aged man behind him surged forward, shoving past.

"What are you doing?"

The young man's balance faltered as the blue-haired thug was jostled from behind. The strange figure, impatient to disembark, forced its way through the group.

Thud...

The young man stumbled and fell toward the bus door.

"No!"

He grabbed desperately at the door's armrest, half his body already hanging outside.

Lin Ye reacted quickly, activating his time stop and rushing to pull the young man back.

If the man had chosen to leave willingly, Lin Ye wouldn't have interfered. But since the young man had trusted him, Lin Ye didn't hesitate to try to save him.

Unfortunately...

"Have a safe journey," Lin Ye said regretfully.

No matter how much strength he used, the young man wouldn't budge. It was as if an invisible force anchored him to the void outside.

Beyond the bus lay an endless darkness, an abyss that devoured everything.

Realizing he could do no more, Lin Ye returned to his seat and released the time stop.

"Help me!"

The young man's panicked voice echoed through the bus. His eyes darted desperately toward the middle-aged man, the blue-haired thug, and finally Lin Ye.

"Please..."

Lin Ye shook his head slightly, indicating his helplessness.

Bang.

In an instant, the young man was swallowed by the darkness.

The strange figure that had disembarked stepped and forced his way out on the bodies of the middle-aged man and the blue-haired thug, got off the bus quickly.

"Ahhhhhh!"

A blood-curdling scream pierced the void outside, chilling everyone on the bus to the core.

It was the young man's voice—agonized, guttural, and horrifyingly brief.

He was dead.

The blue-haired thug and the middle-aged man scrambled back to their seats, shaking uncontrollably.

Cold sweat dripped from their brows and soaked their backs. Their legs wouldn't stop trembling.

If not for Lin Ye's warning, they would've met the same fate.

Gratitude filled their hearts. The blue-haired thug, in particular, felt deeply moved. He had picked a fight with Lin Ye earlier, yet Lin Ye had chosen to save him.

Nanase Ren exhaled shakily, relieved to have narrowly avoided death again.

She suddenly realized that she was clutching Lin Ye's arm tightly. His steady presence gave her an unexpected sense of security.

Blushing, she released her grip and sat upright, mumbling a soft, almost inaudible, "Thank you."

Lin Ye handed her his phone, its screen displaying the words: "No sincerity at all."

Nanase Ren blinked, meeting Lin Ye's gaze. His earlier teasing words, "You're cute," replayed in her mind, and she quickly looked down, flustered.

Lin Ye simply shrugged.

No one else attempted to leave.

"Please take your seats," the driver intoned. "The bus is about to depart."

The doors closed with a sharp click.

A new figure appeared at the entrance, stepping onto the bus unsteadily.

All eyes turned toward him.

His disheveled hair and obscured face, but his tattered blue clothes were stained with dust and dark, red sticky fluids.

Thud... thud...

His unsteady steps echoed ominously as he moved, scanning the bus with hollow, dark eyes.

"It hurts..."

"It's broken..."

The man's low muttering sent chills down the passengers' spines.

The blue-haired and the middle-aged man took a careful glance and noticed the bloody and horrific appearance of his abdomen. Their heartbeats quickened instantly and they trembled all over.

'Don't come here. Don't come here,' they silently pleaded.

The middle-aged man was especially terrified at this moment, because he was sitting in a double seater, and after the young man died, there was an empty seat beside him.

Their hearts pounded as the man took another step forward.