Chapter 508 - 449: Mai Mingle: A Trap Within a Trap

Chapter 508: Chapter 449: Mai Mingle: A Trap Within a Trap

...The two seats the pajama man had occupied were both regular seats.

The dark blue fabric of the seats was old and faded to white. The paint on the armrests was scraped off, and a few ancient stains marred the cushions, like patches of oil floating on the sea.

A living, breathing person had vanished just like that, without a single trace.

No, that wasn’t quite right. Mai Mingle glanced at the old pregnant man’s swollen belly.

Of course, she couldn’t see anything—even though she knew that if the pajama man still existed in this world, he was inside the old pregnant man’s stomach.

The old pregnant man was distractedly stroking his belly. Just like the other two pregnant men, his eyes followed Mai Mingle and Ashley wherever they went, and he kept muttering the same sentence over and over.

"I hope it’s twins, I hope it’s triplets..."

Mai Mingle quickly turned her head away, pretending not to see.

Since both seats were regular seats, it couldn’t be that the pajama man had sat in the wrong one. That left only one possible reason for him to be "reverse" sucked into the old man’s stomach and turned into a fetus: a "violation."

’Does that mean that during the time you’re not allowed to get up, even lifting your butt off the seat for a split second counts as a violation? And as long as you violate a rule, even if you’re in a safe, regular seat, the bus residents can still come after you?’

’Even if the violation happened because a resident tricked you when you didn’t understand anything?’

’Isn’t this just sending a constant stream of ordinary people to their deaths? How is that fair at all?’

...Ah, right.

’This bus trap wasn’t originally supposed to affect ordinary people. Only Hunters were meant to step into it.’

Mai Mingle let out a long breath, pressing down on her slightly trembling hands.

’Bringing Nests and Nest traps into the Human World just for revenge, just to gain dominion...’

Mai Mingle was determined to win this game of dominion precisely because she couldn’t let people like Damian or Ashley gain ultimate control over the Nests and the Human World.

She truly wished the other human on the bus wasn’t Ashley. Then she would at least have someone to strategize with.

Then again, Mai Mingle really couldn’t say how much of Ashley was even human anymore.

When the time came that they could move about, both of them got up to continue their observations. The bus was only so large, so it was inevitable that Mai Mingle would brush past her a few times.

The most recent time, Ashley had knocked on the glass of the driver’s cabin and tried to ask a question—the driver didn’t respond at all. But as Mai Mingle drew closer, she heard a faint, sharp voice coming from Ashley’s direction. It was like a strand of hair brushing past her ear, a fleeting sound at the very edge of her hearing.

"...I’m looking into it for you..."

What?

’Who was that? Was her phone on?’

Mai Mingle’s gaze quickly swept over Ashley’s ear.

She remembered that Ashley wasn’t wearing an earpiece—it was just a subconscious glance.

But in that very glance, Mai Mingle caught sight of something flesh-colored abruptly retracting deep into Ashley’s ear canal and disappearing.

"Stay away from me," Ashley snapped, turning her head.

...No matter how she thought about it afterward, Mai Mingle was convinced that the flesh-colored thing had looked a lot like a finger.

There were five people on the bus in total, but three and a half of them couldn’t be considered human, which was unsettling enough.

But when she thought about how most of the bus’s rules were still a hidden mystery, and how the next stop might suck in new, ordinary people she had no idea how to protect, Mai Mingle felt like cursing.

She stared at the screen inside the bus, and the screen stared blankly back.

The long, continuous advertisement for human intestines had finally ended. But after it finished, a second ad never appeared. In its place was the bus’s route and the names of the upcoming stops.

Next stop:

The Reflection in a Puddle on the Road

Only a ghost could figure out what the next stop was supposed to be from a phrase like "The Reflection in a Puddle on the Road."

As for the stop after "The Reflection in a Puddle on the Road," it was even more baffling—

Psychiatric Hospital Cafeteria / Train Dining Car / Highway Gas Station

’So which one is it?’

She felt there were still many hidden rules, but Mai Mingle had searched the entire bus and hadn’t found any of the explanations usually provided in Nest traps.

If there were no instructions, there should at least be a resident to explain. But both Mai Mingle and Ashley had knocked on the driver’s cabin glass several times, and the blurry silhouette behind the dark glass remained motionless, as if it were just a decoration.

"Attention passengers. In thirty seconds, we will be arriving at the next stop, ’The Reflection in a Puddle on the Road.’"

When the bus announcement sounded again, Mai Mingle was still empty-handed, having found no new information.

Based on her last experience, she still had a final twenty seconds to move freely. Filled with a childish frustration, Mai Mingle stood by the exit door, idly wondering if she should just get off the bus, while she continued to listen to the announcement.

"Passengers who are not getting off, please carefully select a suitable seat and do not occupy the spaces reserved for the dead. Passengers who are about to get off, please have your fare ready."

Mai Mingle froze and looked up at the ceiling. ’Is the announcement different from last time?’

’It didn’t mention a fare last time, did it? Oh, right, you have to pay a fare to ride the bus—’

Mai Mingle’s gaze shifted to the transit card scanners on either side of the door. She had seen them several times already but had never realized she was supposed to pay a fare, dismissing them as mere decorations like the sticker ads inside the bus.

There were only scanners, no place to insert cash. ’How do I pay the fare?’

"The right to use a leased special seat lasts for only one stop and expires when the bus next stops. The bus is now arriving at the station. New passengers will be boarding shortly. Ten—"

’You can lease the right to use a special seat?’

’The announcement gave a lot of new information this time. Maybe I can think it through during the period of dark silence after the bus stops.’

Mai Mingle turned and walked back toward her regular seat. Ashley was already back in her original spot, staring at her with a blank expression.

...as if she were waiting for something.

By the time Mai Mingle finally understood what Ashley was waiting for, it was one step too late.

"Three—"

Only two seconds were left in the bus announcement’s countdown.

The hair on her body suddenly stood on end. Ashley swooped down from the back row like a hawk, her shadow enveloping Mai Mingle.

’Wait, doesn’t this count as using force?’

Mai Mingle wasn’t completely defenseless, but Ashley was a well-trained police officer. Not only was Ashley stronger, but her grappling and combat skills were far beyond anything a civilian could handle. Mai Mingle felt her collar suddenly tighten. A hand like a steel claw grabbed the front of her shirt over her stomach.

With a powerful tug from Ashley, she was yanked stumbling from her seat.

Ashley didn’t strike her, because there was no need.

The moment Mai Mingle stumbled and fell to the aisle floor, Ashley smoothly sat down in her seat.

"One."

The bus announcement finished the final number.

The inside of the bus was instantly plunged into pitch-black darkness.

"...Oh dear," the bus announcement slowly emerged from the void-like darkness where the world had gone silent. "Passenger Mai Mingle was not properly seated when the bus stopped. She has violated the rules."

A chill ran through Mai Mingle. With a trembling hand, she fumbled for the seat beside her and slowly pushed herself up.

She understood everything now.

Ashley had been setting a trap from the very beginning.

The bus had neutralized all weapons, so Ashley had deliberately misled Mai Mingle by saying, "I guess we’re not allowed to fight," which made Mai Mingle feel safe enough to sit near her. But there was another explanation for weapons turning into baguettes and toothbrushes.

’Causing physical harm to passengers is not allowed.’

When Ashley had dragged Mai Mingle out of her seat just before the countdown ended, she hadn’t harmed her at all; she had merely forced her to break a rule.

’The only question was, how could Ashley be so sure the rule was "no harming passengers" and not "no fighting"?’

’Was it because she created this entire bus trap?’

’She couldn’t possibly have known all the rules from the start, could she?’

’What’s going to happen to me now?’

Countless thoughts and fears crashed through her mind like a turbulent storm. Her thoughts were shattered into fragments by sharp emotions, unable to form a coherent idea.

She sat down in a regular seat from memory—but it was already too late.

"Passenger Mai Mingle, please await notification of your punishment."

She sat stunned in the darkness, replaying the last few seconds over and over, hoping it was all just a nightmare she would wake up from.

...What would happen next?

’Will the new residents who board the bus come after me? Or will those two not-yet-pregnant men sit on me? Will I end up like the pajama man, sucked into a resident’s stomach to become a fetus?’

’Why can people crush their own kind like insects just to satisfy their own desires?’

The bus lit up again.

Light, color, shape, sound... like strokes of oil paint, each returned to its proper place on the canvas, once again forming a bus.

A pale-faced young woman was standing in the bus aisle. As the lights came up, she blinked a few times involuntarily. She clutched the collar of her raincoat tightly, her fingers so pale they were almost blue, like a dead person’s.

She was also an ordinary person, her face filled with terror and confusion. Just as she looked up, her eyes met Mai Mingle’s.

"How—How did I get on a bus?" the young woman asked, her voice pleading for help.

Mai Mingle opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

The young woman didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, as if she’d suddenly remembered something, she turned around almost neurotically and let out a sharp cry.

"It’s him!"

She shouted as she backed away toward the rear of the bus, revealing another man behind her. "He got on the bus too—please, someone call the police, he’s been following me—"

...That man also looked like an ordinary person.

’It seems no residents got on at this stop. What’s going on?’

Mai Mingle felt as if a giant wooden mallet was hammering at the back of her head, blow by blow. Her consciousness, her thoughts, had no escape. Every time she tried to think, the mallet would slam down, shattering her mind into fragments again.

And every fragment reflected the same fear.

"I’m a police officer," she heard Ashley say. "What’s going on with you two? Tell me about it."