Chapter 117: Ghost-Wall Maze—Spirit Money
Qin Junchi felt it was very strange—Su Keke actually wanted to get out of the car in the middle of nowhere.
The driver also quickly said no, no—he had to deliver them safely to their destination.
Su Keke pursed her lips and didn’t insist anymore.
Sure enough, people really shouldn’t greedily chase little bargains.
If they waited a bit longer, they would probably reach the place where the other party had died, and then things would become troublesome.
She alone could get away easily, but now there was a living person beside her.
Qin Junchi had gotten into the car because of her, which meant a karmic connection had formed between them.
After the car drove another ten minutes or so, Qin Junchi happened to glance out the window. His brows furrowed and his face fell. “Driver, are you taking a detour? Why do I feel like we’ve been on this road just now?”
The driver got a little angry hearing that. “Young man, I’ve been in this line of work for nearly twenty years. I’ve never done the kind of thing where I purposely take detours!”
“…Maybe I saw wrong. I apologize.”
Qin Junchi craned his neck and glanced at the meter up front. The mileage and fare looked reasonable.
Maybe he really had just been seeing things?
Su Keke poked his shoulder with a finger. When he turned to look at her, she covered her mouth with her hand and whispered, “You didn’t see wrong. This is a ghost-wall maze. In a moment, no matter what you notice, don’t get excited—especially don’t scream. And absolutely, absolutely don’t let him know he’s already dead, or it might provoke him.”
Qin Junchi looked at her with a complicated expression.
Ghost-wall maze? Don’t let the driver know he’s dead?
Little Keke… you’re really not joking?
He stared at the back of the driver’s head. Just now he’d been chatting so enthusiastically with the guy. Was Keke saying he’d been talking to a ghost this whole time?
That… was too ridiculous.
Although Qin Junchi believed Su Keke’s talismans were effective, he still remained skeptical about the existence of gods and ghosts.
However, when Qin Junchi saw the car turn again—and once more begin driving down that bumpy, pothole-filled path—his heart suddenly started pounding wildly.
He hadn’t been wrong. This road was the third time now!
Every time they turned, they somehow returned to the starting point of this same small road again.
Qin Junchi thumped his forehead hard, trying to confirm whether he was dreaming.
It hurt. Didn’t feel like a dream.
He slowly lifted his head and looked toward the front. On the driver information placard was the driver’s name and employee number.
And the moment Qin Junchi saw that name, he froze.
Wang Lushan?
Why did that driver’s name feel familiar?
Qin Junchi suddenly thought of something and swallowed with difficulty.
It was the same name as the taxi driver in yesterday’s traffic-accident news report.
And the face… looked pretty similar too.
Qin Junchi’s scalp went numb instantly, a fine cold sweat beading across his forehead.
He stared at the meter again. After watching for a long time, he realized the numbers on it didn’t move at all.
Time and distance seemed frozen—yet the car was clearly moving.
Qin Junchi’s body went rigid like stone. If someone hit him with a hammer, he felt like he’d shatter into rubble.
Only now, as he looked at the driver again, did he notice how wrong the man’s complexion was—pale, the bluish-white pallor of a dead person.
A chill crawled over Qin Junchi’s skin. He didn’t dare take even a single deep breath, holding it in until his face turned red.
Su Keke poked him again with her finger.
Qin Junchi jumped, jerking backward in fright.
Su Keke gestured with her fingers and whispered, “No time. Get out with me.”
Qin Junchi sucked in several breaths and nodded at her.
Su Keke said to the driver, “Driver, I suddenly remembered—my relative lives nearby. Just drop us here. I’m not going to Peach Blossom Town anymore. He’s getting out with me.”
“Y-Yeah, yes. We’re getting out h-h-here,” Qin Junchi stammered, his voice shaking.
The driver let out an “Ah.” “Oh, I see. Alright then. This place is pretty remote—be careful on the road.”
He looked down at the meter. “It’s 47 yuan total.”
Su Keke pulled out a bill from her bag and handed it over. “Driver, no need to give change.”
When Qin Junchi saw that bill, his face turned even whiter.
It was… spirit money.
Spirit money…
Qin Junchi stumbled out of the car in a daze, his face as pale as the driver’s.
After the taxi drove away, Qin Junchi looked at the little girl beside him. His expression was half-laughing, half-crying—his handsome face forcibly dragged down in looks by that ridiculous expression.
“Little Keke… that driver was… you knew from the start?”
Su Keke gave a small “Mm.” “Yeah. Riding a ghost taxi—just pay with spirit money. You can save a bit. Shifu and I have taken it a few times before. But you don’t run into ghost taxis often. After all, they’re usually only ones that had an accident just a few days ago—”
Right then, a sudden bang sounded ahead.
Qin Junchi jolted so hard his whole body shook, like his soul was about to jump out.
The taxi that had just driven off wasn’t far away. As it turned a corner, it suddenly crashed into something. The entire car crumpled, the front caved in by a huge chunk.
There was still a faint mist around, yet the two of them saw this scene with crystal clarity.
Qin Junchi’s mind exploded with a boom. His legs went weak and he nearly collapsed from fear.
If he hadn’t gotten out just now, he would probably already be minced meat!
Qin Junchi put a hand on Su Keke’s shoulder, teeth chattering. “Little Keke, let your big brother lean on you. My legs are kind of soft.”
Su Keke shot him a sidelong look and muttered, “Are you really Uncle’s eldest nephew? Why are you two not alike at all? If Uncle ran into something like this, even if he were surprised, he’d still look calm.”
Qin Junchi couldn’t speak, because he was staring at that bloody scene ahead with eyes widened in terror.
The blood-soaked driver in the crushed taxi lifted his crooked head back into place, then drove the broken car away. Not long after, that wrecked car returned to its original intact shape, and the bloody driver turned back into a normal-looking person.
Once the car disappeared from sight, the surroundings seemed to change all at once.
The fog dispersed. The roadside lights no longer looked as dim as before. Occasionally, two or three small cars or big trucks passed by.
What he had just seen shattered Qin Junchi’s worldview. He wiped his face hard. “Little Keke… that wasn’t my hallucination, right?”
“You can treat it as a kind of hallucination.” Su Keke said. “Master Yin wrote that what your eyes see can deceive you. A ghost’s electromagnetic waves affect our body’s electromagnetic waves, which then interfere with brainwaves, so we experience illusions. The ghost-wall maze is just because our eyes are confused. In fact, the road is still that same road.”
Qin Junchi still wore an expression that was hard to describe.
Heh. So… he really had been chatting with a ghost the whole way—and chatting pretty happily, too?
