CHAPTER 34: CHAPTER 33: BUS 357 (2)

Zaen was wondering how to get rid of a sentient truck when he saw something. He wasn’t alone in there. A bald man had forced the door open and walked inside.

Wait... don’t interfere with my task!

The limes from the task window appeared before him.

[Condition: This is a one-man operation. Taking help from others might alert the anomaly. Proceed with caution.]

Since he was alone, the bus might not even realize what he was up to. But with another party there, things could get messy, and messy they did.

"You with the bandages!" Marcus yelled, pointing at Zaen. "What are you doing here—?"

"Shut it, you moron!" Zaen yelled back.

He couldn’t hold back his temper after all, and because of that fool, the entire task could be ruined.

Just then, an automated announcement was made.

[Welcome aboard bus 357. All passengers are requested to take their seats and hold on tight. The next stop is Death.]

[Snack won’t be provided aboard the vehicle, as the passengers are the snacks.]

A buzz filled both of their heads as they clutched them and swayed wildly.

[You heard an anomaly’s declaration.]

[Sanity -2]

[Current sanity: 148/150]

Just two points? Then why does it hurt so much?

Zaen couldn’t see it, but the man before him was in a much worse state than him. While Zaen only saw the static texture, Marcus was exposed to the entire horror on the Bus 357.

The lighting inside the bus flickered and went out, plunging them in darkness. Marcus forced his eyes open, but still couldn’t see anything.

Even so, he reached out for Zaen, thinking it was all his doing and that if he eliminated the boy, everything would return to normal.

However, as he reached for him, something else caught his attention.

The floor... why does it feel mushy all of a sudden?

The metal base of the bus had seemingly disappeared, turning into a grimy thing instead. Marcus turned on his phone’s flashlight and looked down, only for his eyes to widen in disbelief.

The entire bus was covered in flesh! Not just the base, but everything that was metal had turned into flesh. The support columns, handrails, and handholds had changed into that of bloodied bones, and the glass... it had turned into some sort of membrane instead.

But that wasn’t even the worst of it. The flesh around them was literally eating them up. It was like they were trapped in quicksand.

Marcus realized why everyone who entered the bus never returned... they literally became one with the anomaly!

"What the hell is this!?" Marcus exclaimed.

Meanwhile, Zaen was blissfully unaware of Marcus’s struggle.

To be more precise, in his ’vision’, Marcus had already disappeared and was sitting in front. The static texture was slowly eating him up. But the same didn’t happen to him.

Why?

My presence...

Since Zaen was using the walking stick, it lowered his presence in comparison to Marcus, who had already lost his mind.

He punched the membrane-like window, trying to escape, but no matter how much strength he put into it, the window didn’t budge.

"It doesn’t seem the anomaly can hear us," Zaen mumbled, remembering how Marcus had yelled at him, and he had yelled back, but nothing had happened immediately.

Taking a chance, Zaen yelled at Marcus.

"Don’t touch any surface if you can afford it!"

Unfortunately, Marcus had already lost his mind. While his regeneration was keeping the anomaly at bay, once he lost his sanity, nothing else mattered.

Instead of wasting time on saving someone who was already gone, Zaen decided to use Marcus instead. The anomaly had all its attention on Marcus, but as if sensing Zaen thought... the anomaly did something.

"What was that?"

Zaen asked out loud as something flew past him. He looked ahead, only to realize the man’s silhouette had changed... it no longer had a head. The thing he felt move past him was Marcus’s severed head.

As for the rest of the body, now that Marcus was dead, his regeneration ability didn’t trigger and was swallowed by the anomaly.

...fuck.

Zaen was hoping to take things slow, but his plan was blown thanks to the stupid bastard. There was no point in lessening his presence anymore. The bus already knew he was there.

He summoned the Boning Sword and struck the nearest bone column. The sword sliced it in half, and unexpectedly, the bus swayed as if it could feel the pain.

Could it be?

Zaen thought and stabbed a seat. Once again, the bus became unstable. His theory that the entire bus was a living anomaly was confirmed, but he wasn’t happy because the notifications appearing before him ruined every joy he felt.

[Total damage dealt: 498]

[(Lvl 20) Bus 357’s HP: 14,502/15,000]

Zaen was too stunned to be scared, staring at the notification as he counted and recounted the numbers just to be sure that he wasn’t hallucinating.

"Fifteen thousand!? And level 20!?"

Zaen was cursing the Task page without breaks. He got screwed over by it again because, for some reason, it never displayed the target’s details before he accepted the task.

Suddenly, he realized why the man from before was hitting absolutely anything and everything. He must have realized the bus was a living anomaly and wanted to destroy everything.

How weak was that bastard?

That was the first thought Zaen had. After all, Marcus had hit the bus until his knuckles bled, and still he couldn’t lower the bus’s HP by a single point.

...wait, could it be the anomaly only registered my hit because... I’m the one who accepted the task from the system?

It was the only explanation he had for the strange scenario because the decapitated man didn’t seem to be all that weak.

While he was thinking all that, he noticed something heading his way. He raised the Boning sword and felt something being cut in half. It was a fleshy-arm imbedded with razor-sharp bones.

It was the same thing that had decapitated Marcus in the dark, but thankfully, Zaen’s perception saved him... but not for long.