In Virtual Reality

oadcasted Riverside Station six times.
Wang Zhou Zhou and the hoodie boy got off at the Zhi Xing Building.
We wanted to get off too, but the boy in the hoody reminded us it was best not to get off early, so we sat down and asked the driver for our stop.
The driver told us there were two more stops.
Qin Yue Qing and I got off at Richmoor Bank Station.
Still, before we did, the electronic broadcast repeated Rising Signs Building one more time, even though there was a different stop between Rising Signs Building and Richmoor Bank Station.
I think it was called…
Lok Junction Stop or something.
You know what happened later—we got off.

 

Shen Xi laughed bitterly, “Luckily, I trusted Wang Zhou Zhou and the other boy; otherwise, Qin Yue Qing and I might not have made it back.”

 

**

 

Wang Zhou Zhou's transcript was roughly the same as Shen Xi's and Qin Yue Qing's.
At most, he added some additional details with strong personal emotions.

 

For example, the men that sat in the backseat looked at each other fiercely.
The social animal that kept turning its back on them may or may not have a face.
The old man may have a human head in a black bag by his feet.

 

Male officer: “……”

 

The kid sure liked to speculate.

 

But amid Wang Zhou Zhou's string of detailed narrations, the male officer instantly caught the key point.

 

“Are you saying that the boy beside you helped you?”

 

Wang Zhou Zhou gave a nod.

 

“He caught my eye when he first got on the bus.
This brother was wearing a pink hoodie and looked flamboyant.
He skipped all the empty seats and instead sat next to me.
But thanks to it, I am still alive.
If he hadn't stopped me, I probably would have tried to get off like the other man and met a similar end.”

 

The male officer nodded and continued, “Did he have any characteristics?”

 

“He…”

 

Wang Zhou Zhou thought carefully and held out his hand to gesture.

 

“That brother looks a bit shorter than me, about 1,75 meters (5'7″) or so, less than 1,8 meters (5'8”).
He had a phone in his hand.
He kept looking at it for some time, but I didn't peek to see.
As for his face, he was good-looking at a glance, but his eyes looked pretty intimidating.
Nothing else stood out.” Wang Zhou Zhou stammered: “But that brother's eyes are really scary.
When I tried to stand up, he stared at me, my legs turned to mush, and I had to sit back down.
I didn't dare to look at him closely afterwards, but if I saw him again, I would recognize him.”

 

**

 

Inside Jiang City's Bizarre and Mysterious Event Investigation Division conference room.

 

About twenty people were sitting inside, each with a different expression.
They had just read the freshly made statements and held them in their hands.

 

The sophisticated-looking male officer spoke first: “The survivor's transcript of this 'Eternal Bus' incident is in front of you.
Please take a look and express your opinions.”

 

The people in the conference room flipped through the pages again.
After organizing their words, they started discussing.

 

About half an hour passed before the discussion was called to a halt.

 

“Lieutenant Li (李), I think we should start with the boy in the pink hoodie.” Someone suggested, “After all, he helped Wang Zhou Zhou, Shen Xi and Qin Yue Qing, which shows that he deeply understands the supernatural.
If we're lucky, he might know something about the origins of the Spirit Shenanigans that we don't.”

 

The male officer, also known as Lieutenant Li, nodded.
“I have also considered what you said.
However, neither of the survivors are familiar with him.
Under the strong pressure of fear and stress, the impression of the mysterious man in their minds is distorted by personal emotions.
Wang Zhou Zhou only remembered that the other party had frightening eyes.
Shen Xi and Qin Yue Qiang only had the impression that he was a handsome boy.
But none of them could describe any specific facial features to draw a portrait.
We can only pay more attention to the investigation.”

 

The female officer in charge of Shen Xi and Qin Yue Qing's transcripts looked at the information in her hands and speculated, “But from Shen Xi and Qin Yue Qing's descriptions, it seems that this mysterious man was quite friendly to them.
The other party hinted at how they survived the mystery through a series of body movements and words.
We can tentatively classify the mystery man as a friendly faction.”

 

“Inspector Wang, that's a bit hasty, isn't it?” Someone offered a different opinion, “Just by virtue of this one shenanigan that was described through the mouths of the survivors? You can't possibly know how many filters the survivors would apply to the people who helped them, can you? Besides, Wang Zhou Zhou said he got off the bus with the hoodie, but the station surveillance didn't see anyone other than him get off.
For that alone, we can guess the other person is probably not human.”

 

Wang Ju (王菊) frowned, “I'm just guessing with the given evidence.”

 

“Okay.” Lieutenant Li halted the debate, saying, “Little Wang is just giving ideas.
It's good for everyone to have more ideas about the shenanigans.”

 

He pondered for a long time, then said to Wang Ju, “Little Wang, go and arrange for Wang Zhou Zhou to meet with Shen Xi and Qin Yue Qing and have He Du (何都) work with you to mark out as many notes as possible about the misadventure into the 'Eternal Bus'.
Show me the summary after you have finished.
By the way, have the comrades who monitor the Internet pay more attention to see if there are any signs of bizarre and unexplainable incidents emerging.
The comrades in the other operations sections should go out more often when they have time.
Look for patterns from previous Spirit shenanigans.
That's it, all right, everyone take action.”

 

——— Translators Notes ———

 

Lieutenant Li

李: Li = plum

 

Wang Ju/Inspector Wang

王菊: Wang = king or monarch / best or strongest of its type / grand / great, Ju = chrysanthemum… King of Assholes? XD In BL novels chrysanthemum is usually a synonymy for the back door.

 

He Du

何都: He = what / how / why / which / carry; Du = all / both / entirely / (used for emphasis) even / already / (not) at all / capital city / metropolis