Chapter 155
Chapter 155
Jiang Li pressed her index finger twice, lighting up the two images before her-
Supporters, and Neutrals.
“I’ve made my choice.”
Jiang Li submitted her answer.
In the bullet comments of the Live Streaming Room, a uniform row of question marks drifted past: “???”
-“What’s going on?”
-“Wasn’t she supposed to choose one group? How can she select multiple options??”
Before anyone could figure out what was happening, a refreshing current poured into the minds of the vast majority of Huaguo’s citizens.
For those who had once suffered Aberration contamination, the contamination was instantly eased by more than half.
And for those who had never been contaminated, their resistance to contamination was visibly improved.
The people’s hearts in Huaguo, which had already been stirred into restlessness, did not fall apart in this crisis.
Instead, thanks to Jiang Li’s move, quite a few Neutrals were converted into fans on the spot.
“Mommy, how did you know you could pick more than one?” Red Infant had finished gnawing on the heart and was now sucking on his fingers.
Jiang Li held up the Number Two card between her fingers and turned it face-up.
“The answer was right here,” Jiang Li said.
The livestream camera zoomed in, displaying the text on the card before the audience.
The words on the card enlarged. Written on it was-
[Within Huaguo: the group designated by the Chosen One will have their “contamination resistance” increased by 50%.]
It used one phrase: designated group.
But nowhere did it limit the number of “designated groups.”
One group, two groups, or even three groups.
As long as Jiang Li designated them, they met the condition of being a “designated group,” and everyone could receive the Anti-Contamination Reward.
The crux of the problem was that every time Jiang Li claimed a reward from the System, the format had always been one choice out of three.
So when people saw these three options afterward, and the System did not explicitly state that multiple selections were allowed, their habitual thinking was muddled. They instinctively assumed it was another “choose one of three” question.
As a result, once a Chosen One selected one option, they would submit the answer in a daze.
In doing so, they would personally create their own predicament.
But if one read the question carefully, the solution was hidden right there in the wording.
When Jiang Li had hesitated earlier, she had actually been considering whether to let everyone within Huaguo have their contamination resistance improved.
But at the time, Jiang Li had glanced at the image for the Slanderers.
The representative figure in that image was a foot-picking middle-aged man typing away in a Dark Room.
The man sat in a pitch-black little room piled with instant noodle cups.
While watching the livestream, he hammered frantically at his keyboard, venting the hostility in his chest however he pleased.
Stickers of other countries’ flags were pasted along the frame of his computer.
And the words he posted online were full of malice toward Jiang Li-nothing but insults, abuse, and slander.
In the end, Jiang Li could not bring herself to be that saintly and hand the reward to people like that.
Once the System finished distributing the reward, the panel folded away.
At Jiang Li’s side, a long and narrow Void Gate also appeared.
Jiang Li tested it by reaching out. The crack in the void slowly widened until it could accommodate her entire body.
This should be the entrance back to Huaguo.
Jiang Li withdrew her hand and did not hurry inside.
Before returning to Huaguo, Jiang Li still had one thing to do.
Carrying the Mist-Treading Lantern, she walked out of the Clear Spring Hotel courtyard.
Jiang Li went straight to the Cabin across the road.
The Time-Space Converter had to be returned to Boss Shi before ten o’clock tonight.
If she forgot about it, no one could guarantee whether it would trigger some side plot.
It was a little past eight in the evening now, so there was still plenty of time.
When Jiang Li went to return the Converter, she also borrowed Boss Shi’s desktop landline.
Recalling the number she had memorized earlier beside the Bus Shelter, Jiang Li picked up the receiver and dialed.
After the call ended, she hung up.
Jiang Li said goodbye, then left the Cabin.
Carrying the Mist-Treading Lantern, she glanced toward the abandoned Bus Shelter across the road.
In this time and space, those five guests who had left the hotel were still stubbornly waiting for the bus.
But that battered old Bus Shelter had been out of service for a long time.
Those five people would never be able to wait for a bus-but that was all right. Jiang Li would handle it.
Jiang Li still remembered that piece of “Preview News” from the Unmanned Convenience Store.
At 10 p.m. tonight, an indiscriminate murder case would occur aboard Bus No. 8 on Mountain Road.
There would be five victims in total.
The phone call Jiang Li had just made was for this exact purpose.
On the call, Jiang Li had argued her case forcefully, specifically demanding that Bus No. 8 come to the stretch of “Mountain Road” outside Clear Spring Hotel to pick people up.
So before long, these five guests would get exactly what they wanted and board the bus that would take them away from this remote mountain forest.
What Jiang Li did not know was that the reason Bus No. 8 had stopped running was precisely because the bus had once malfunctioned.
Back when “Bus No. 8” was still operating on Mountain Road, it had overturned once.
The electronic route number “8” on the front of the bus had also been damaged in the collision during that rollover, turning into a “sideways number 8.”
After the bus was righted, the electronic route number “∞” on the front could not be corrected no matter what they tried.
And it was this very number that triggered the “hidden condition” of an Aberration bus, causing this bus… to change.
The symbol ∞, infinity, looked very much like a snake devouring its own tail.
From then on, this bus could no longer leave Mountain Road.
That Mountain Road became like something with no end.
The mountain road stretched on infinitely.
And the passengers on the bus entered an endless loop as well.
Everything that had once happened repeated itself again and again aboard the Aberration bus.
Thus, the Loop Bus began.
That year, the passengers on board had expended tremendous effort before finally escaping from the Loop Bus.
And Bus No. 8 never operated again.
Many years had already passed since the “Loop Bus incident.”
The memories of everyone involved back then also blurred with the passage of time, until they were completely erased by it.
Now, at Jiang Li’s request, Bus No. 8 had started up once more, and the “Loop Bus” had returned to the world.
So tonight’s bus murder case was not a simple “indiscriminate murder.”
Inside the Aberration bus, it would become a looping case.
The passengers on the bus would carry their memories with them and be killed once every day.
And once these five sinners boarded the bus, they would also be ushered into a brand-new purgatory of their own.
In truth, under normal circumstances, Bus No. 8 would never have come to Mountain Road again.
Unfortunately, Jiang Li had seen the “Preview News” and, driven by the urge to make up for releasing those sinners, summoned Bus No. 8.
“Seeing the malicious news” came first, and “Jiang Li summoning the bus” came after.
Yet it was precisely because the present Jiang Li summoned Bus No. 8 that the subsequent murder case would occur, giving rise to that piece of “malicious news.”
The whole affair was tangled and complicated.
As for what among it was cause and what was effect, they had already become so mixed together that they could no longer be distinguished.
Jiang Li did not continue lingering in the Aberration World.
She placed her hand on the Void Gate at her side.
Only when the Void Gate slowly expanded did Jiang Li lift her right foot and step inside.
The place Jiang Li returned to was the same place where she had last entered the Aberration World-
The stairwell of the old residential complex.
Back then, Jiang Li had entered the Madhouse Instance from this very spot in the blink of an eye.
Jiang Li stood in the stairwell, looking at the police officers crouched beside the stairs in front of her.
The police had brought some forensic personnel with them.
They had cordoned off a small area in front of them and were conducting some kind of blood test.
The forensic personnel were extremely focused.
They discussed things among themselves and did not even notice Jiang Li suddenly appearing behind them.
A female officer said, “This case is too old. The original crime scene was destroyed long ago.”
“And Xu Xiaobao’s condition has worsened again. With no leads and no evidence, there’s simply nowhere to begin.”