Chapter Nineteen: The Promised Hell

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Ye Yutian’s eyes were locked onto the front of the school bus. Every shambling zombie—whether once a vibrant young girl or a mature woman in office attire—had become mindless, numb, blind, now wandering the city as soulless husks guided only by sound.

“Damn it! Damn it! You all deserve to die!”

Ye Yutian slammed his right foot onto the accelerator, sending the school bus surging forward. More and more zombies crashed like rag dolls against the windshield.

Rivulets of blood, pouring as if in a storm, filled Ye Yutian’s vision.

“Why... why...” Ye Yutian switched on the wipers. With every squeaking swipe, blood was swept aside, each movement tugging at his jittery nerves.

“Flashing lights, glittering nightlife, wads of cash squandered freely...” Through the crimson, Ye Yutian glimpsed his past—a life steeped in luxury and excess. His eyes glazed over with longing.

“I want to go back…”

He had no idea that with Liu Mengchao’s departure, the terror that the reincarnators had managed to suppress was now seeping out, bit by bit, intentionally or otherwise.

“I want…”

Bang!

Another crash. A girl, no older than fifteen or sixteen, smashed her grotesquely twisted face against the glass. Her head exploded like a watermelon before Ye Yutian’s eyes. Blood splattered, almost making him believe it would reach him.

Ye Yutian bared his teeth, his eyes bloodshot. “I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die! I want to go back—I want to live the life of the rich!”

He jerked the steering wheel sharply, sending the bus swerving wildly—only two wheels touched the ground. In a drift, he barreled through a cluster of zombies.

“Are you… are you alright, Ye Yutian…?” The clueless school nurse, noticing something amiss, approached with concern.

“Calm down, Ye Yutian. Don’t be afraid. We can survive,” Xu Zhengdong said earnestly, having managed to stand amid the chaos from the recent drift.

Ye Yutian slammed his left foot on the brake. The bus lurched forward, sending everyone tumbling.

“Shut up! You pauper teacher!”

Ye Yutian sprang from the driver’s seat, glaring viciously at Xu Zhengdong. Without Liu Mengchao’s restraint, fear and rage now seeped into Ye Yutian’s soul like a creeping night.

“We…”

Xu Zhengdong realized the grim situation. No one in the bus was aligned with him.

Takashi Komuro, Saya Takagi, and a military enthusiast formed one group. Rei Miyamoto, abandoned by Liu Mengchao, looked pleadingly at Komuro, ignoring the resentful gaze of Makoto Ito beside him.

But the most conspicuous were the three reincarnators near the driver’s seat—they huddled together, taking turns at the wheel, hoping to avoid elimination from negative points.

“Shut up, loser!”

Ye Yutian stood, eyes bloodshot.

“Why should I live like you filthy insects? You have no idea how good my life was!”

“Cal—”

Smack!

Without hesitation, Ye Yutian slapped Xu Zhengdong, sending his gold-rimmed glasses flying.

“You have no idea what my life was like—you’re not even human! Do you know what it means to be rich? Only with money can you call yourself a person!”

“One thousand, or two thousand!” Ye Yutian raved, dumping all his credit cards from his wallet. “What I spend on a pack of cigarettes is your monthly salary!”

Unable to restrain himself, Ye Yutian slammed his head against the bus door again and again.

Everyone inside was stunned by his madness. In Ye Yutian, they saw their own shadows.

Perhaps the next to break would be themselves.

“What! Suddenly silent? In this hellish world, how can we survive? We can’t! We simply can’t!”

Ye Yutian ranted, half-open mouthed, venting his terror.

“If we can’t survive…”

His gaze swept slowly across the bus—from Rei Miyamoto’s prominent chest to the oblivious school nurse, Shizuka Marikawa.

“Why not…”

Ye Yutian laughed bitterly.

Seeing his gaze, Li Xin breathed a little easier. She’d thought Ye Yutian had gone insane, but it seemed he just needed a physical outlet for his suppressed emotions.

A professional smile appeared on Li Xin’s face. Like a gentle wife, she walked over and, under everyone’s puzzled eyes, gently took Ye Yutian’s hand.

“Don’t be afraid…” Li Xin murmured, guiding Ye Yutian’s hand to her chest.

Ye Yutian closed his eyes, feeling the warmth through his palm—a hardness, silicone implants, the fake breasts he’d felt so often he was sick of them.

A smile crept back onto Ye Yutian’s face as memories of wild nights at clubs flooded him.

With money, anything is possible!

But now… his money could do nothing.

This thought made Ye Yutian tremble.

Feeling him shake, Li Xin’s heart swelled with pride—her comfort was working. She softened her voice, soothing him like a mother.

“Don’t be afraid. Whatever happens, I’ll stay with you.”

“Really?” Ye Yutian looked up, tears shining in his eyes. “You’ll really be with me always?”

“Yes!”

Li Xin nodded enthusiastically, though inwardly she sneered. She’d stay only until he had no more value.

“Good!”

Ye Yutian laughed happily.

“Then come die with me!”

He had never moved so fast—spinning, he tossed Li Xin to the floor, then dropped into the driver’s seat and floored the accelerator.

“Let’s go to hell together!”

Roar!

The bus engine thundered, carrying all its terrified passengers toward the curb.

“Stop!”

The clueless school nurse, unfazed, lunged forward and grabbed the wheel, wrenching it away.

A screech of tires—bus scraped along the storefront, speed slowing.

“Let go, you bitch!”

Ye Yutian twisted his head, snarling.

Bang!

His roar was cut off as the bus slammed into the curb.

Crash.

Everything happened too quickly. The collision shattered sheets of glass, sending shards flying through the bus like knives.

A large piece sliced across Komuro’s face, leaving a long gash. But he paid no mind.

Behind him, Fujino had stopped breathing—a shard had stabbed through his temple like a dagger.

“This is what hell looks like,” Makoto Ito, seated beside Komuro, grinned, delightedly watching Ye Yutian collapse. “Isn’t it, teammate?”

The notification for team formation had just sounded in Ito’s mind. This was the hell Liu Mengchao had promised him. Ito’s smile, mixed with Komuro’s spilling blood, grew ever more vivid.

Far away in the hospital, Liu Mengchao also smiled.

“Big brother, what are you smiling at?”

“Oh?” Liu Mengchao glanced at the little girl tied to him—Alice—smiling. “Alice, aren’t you afraid of heights?” Without waiting for her response, Liu Mengchao ducked and slipped out the window.

From two hundred meters up, Liu Mengchao could survey the entire scene.

“Afraid… but, brother, aren’t you?”

Mengchao stroked Alice’s pink hair. “Because brother will create hell. So I’m not afraid.”

He looked up for a last glance at the jackpot total.

Jackpot: 200,000!

Despairing reincarnators, you’ve done well!

“Alice, have you heard of the leap of faith?”

Liu Mengchao crouched, gazing at the world below, whispering softly.

——————————————————————————————

Is anyone curious what happened between Liu Mengchao and little Alice in the herbal pharmacy? The group’s R18 author—Loli Yuanyi—is willing to paint such a scene with his pen. Ahem, the kind with the .AVI suffix.

Everyone, go ask him for the hentai…

And… yesterday I wrote until past two… woke up this morning with a stiff neck… so awkward.

This chapter is also scheduled for timed release… This time I won’t get the time wrong again…

Thanks to Mengmeng·Beria·Debiluke for the generous donation, thanks to Shanhe Jinghao, Xuanyuan Killer, Glory Dream, Red Maple Yi, Shihuaichen, Moe is Justice, and Victorica8 for their rewards~