Chapter 54: Forgetfulness

“Something doesn’t seem right, does it?” More than ten people who got off the minibus and stood by the highway continued to talk noisily.

“What’s wrong with that driver? Why hasn’t he gotten off yet? He won’t answer when we call…”

“Who will go check?”

“Not me…”

“…”

Lü Yang looked back and forth along the highway. He saw that apart from the minibus, there were no other cars on the highway. The world seemed dead. Beyond the highway guardrail, about ten meters away, was a deep darkness so thick that you could barely see anything.

If this wasn’t the Mysterious Domain, then what was it?

Why did the Eerie Computer disappear? Last time when the Mysterious Domain opened in Qingyuan Residential Area, the Eerie Computer could be turned on and it clearly gave a prompt saying: ‘Mysterious Domain has opened.’

Forget about the disappearing Eerie Computer for now. Anyway, if this was the Mysterious Domain, then just like last time, he needed to find the Main Quest of the Mysterious Domain, complete the Main Quest to end this Mysterious Domain, and only then could he return to the Real world, allowing the minibus to continue its journey back to Guishe City.

Since he had to find the main clue for this Mysterious Domain, he couldn’t overlook anything suspicious.

The passengers who got off the bus and stood by the highway didn’t seem unusual in any way. Only the minibus driver seemed very strange; he kept sitting inside and didn’t get off, not answering no matter who called him.

Then… he should first check what was wrong with that minibus driver…

Lü Yang looked up and down the highway again before stepping from the roadside onto the highway, walking around the front of the vehicle to outside the minibus driver’s cabin.

Through the half-open window, Lü Yang saw the minibus driver. His left hand was on the steering wheel while his right hand rested on a black box beside him. He looked very confused, but his eyes were open and he was mumbling something quietly.

“Hey! Why did you stop?” Lü Yang pushed the minibus driver’s body through the half-open window.

The minibus driver turned his head to look at Lü Yang. He still seemed very confused and continued to mumble something…

Lü Yang leaned closer, putting his ear near the minibus driver, and finally heard what the minibus driver was mumbling…

“What have I forgotten? What exactly did I forget? Why can’t I remember? Why can’t I remember…”

His words sounded very familiar to Lü Yang… and immediately gave him a chilling feeling… After thinking carefully, it seemed… back in the previous Mysterious Domain at Qingyuan Residential Area, the Yi Yi who appeared in the Black Mist had said something similar!

Could there be some connection here?

If he figured out what the minibus driver had forgotten, could he find Yi Yi’s whereabouts ahead of time and find a way to save her? Lü Yang’s heart started pounding uncontrollably.

The minibus driver repeated those words over and over. Sometimes he turned his head to look at the black box below his right hand. His whole expression was completely dazed, and he only reacted very weakly to Lü Yang’s calls.

A few more men came over and shouted loudly at the minibus driver through the window.

Since talking to the minibus driver wasn’t working, Lü Yang looked up and down the highway once more and then walked around the front of the minibus, entered through the door back into the minibus, went over next to the driver, and looked at the black box below his right hand.

Oh my! It was an Ashes Urn!

Outside the black Ashes Urn, there was a faint, drifting Black Mist. It wasn’t very clear in the darkness, making everything seem extremely strange.

On a very noticeable spot on the Ashes Urn, there was a white piece of paper stuck to it. A name was written on it in black characters: Hu Wenhai.

“Hey! What have you forgotten? Have you remembered yet? Hurry up and get us out of here!” A middle-aged man outside the window also heard what the driver was saying and reached in to push the driver hard.

“Who is Hu Wenhai to you? Why do you have his Ashes Urn on the bus?” Lü Yang leaned close to the driver and quietly asked him a question. Based on Lü Yang’s previous experience, the Mysterious Domain might be related to someone who died and might involve some injustice, like Sister Mei’s husband.

The minibus driver didn’t answer Lü Yang’s question. He suddenly stood up from the driver’s seat. Just as everyone was wondering what he was going to do, he suddenly slammed his head hard against the front windshield!

Lü Yang couldn’t stop him in time. By the time he reached out to grab the driver, his forehead was already a bloody mess and his face was covered in blood. The thick front windshield had a hole smashed into it from the impact, and the entire large piece of glass was covered with cracks from the hit.

A cold shiver ran down Lü Yang’s body. How much force would it take to smash a hole like that in the front windshield with your head? The driver was clearly trying to kill himself, putting all his strength into that one hit.

“I… remember now… it’s…” The driver’s eyes became a bit clearer, and he looked towards the opposite side of the highway, mumbling something while in Lü Yang’s arms.

But when Lü Yang asked him what exactly he remembered, the minibus driver slowly closed his eyes and his breathing stopped. Lü Yang quickly performed chest compressions and rescue breathing on the minibus driver using the first aid knowledge he had learned, but after trying for several minutes, it had no effect.

Clearly, he was already dead.

There was an ID badge clipped to the driver’s chest. Lü Yang subconsciously picked it up and looked at it…

It had the driver’s employee number and name on it…

The name on the badge was clearly the three characters: ‘Hu Wenhai’! Exactly the same as the name written in black on the white paper on the Ashes Urn!

A deeper chill rose from Lü Yang’s back. Why would the driver have his own Ashes Urn beside him?

…

Needless to say, the minibus driver’s earlier strange behavior was definitely related to this Ashes Urn.

Earlier he said he forgot something, but before he died he said he remembered. It looked like for this Mysterious Domain’s Main Quest, one clue was what the driver forgot, and the other clue was this Ashes Urn with his name on it.

But now he was dead, and there was no way to ask him what he forgot or what he remembered before he died.

“What… is going on here!?”

Just as Lü Yang was about to examine the Ashes Urn, several other men who were standing outside the window had also come onto the minibus. When they saw the name on the Ashes Urn was exactly the same as the name on the minibus driver’s badge, they couldn’t help but exclaim loudly.

“Who among you can drive? We need to leave this place first,” one man suggested to the others.

“I can drive. You all move the body and the Ashes Urn to the last row, then call everyone to get back on,” said the man in his forties from the family of three sitting in the first row of the minibus. He seemed calmer and spoke to the others.

Originally, Lü Yang had received driving training in the Eerie Computer, but since this middle-aged man offered, he might as well let him drive.

The middle-aged man found an iron rod under the driver’s seat. He swung it and, with a few hits, completely smashed open the cracked front windshield. Then he sat down in the driver’s seat.

The other men worked together to move the minibus driver’s body and the Ashes Urn to the last row of the minibus. Then they called out the window a few times. The women waiting by the highway guardrail hurried over and got back on the bus. The men explained the situation to them, telling them not to go to the back of the bus and to sit as far forward as possible.