Reborn on the Freshman Bus to Nowhere

Getting into one of the nation's top universities, Newhaven University, is something I achieve after putting in all my effort throughout high school. The orientation bus for freshmen is traveling along the mountain road toward the new campus. Everyone on the bus is filled with anticipation for university life, but I'm curled up in the very last row, drenched in cold sweat. No one here knows that I've already died once. The GPS clearly shows that following this winding mountain road to the summit will lead to Newhaven University's new campus. However, in my previous life, the bus drove through a dense fog for a full three hours before finally plunging into a deserted valley. Yesterday, it was in that valley that I lost my way entirely, plunged off the cliff in sheer panic, and shattered every bone in my body. The roar of the bus engine pulls me back to reality, and I jerk my head up to glance at the time. In ten minutes, that eerie, all-encompassing fog will arrive. Chapter 1 All of a sudden, I shot up from my seat and yelled toward the driver, William Porter, "Mr. Porter, hit the brakes! You absolutely can't go down the road ahead!" That outburst instantly cut short the buzzing chatter and laughter in the bus. Everyone turned to stare at me in unison. The chaperone sent by Newhaven University, Lewis Turner, immediately stood up. He frowned and strode quickly over to me, then pressed a hand down on my shoulder. "Evelyn Randall, what has gotten into you? Sit down right now! This bus is speeding along a winding mountain road. If you shout and startle the driver, it'll cause an accident. Who's going to take responsibility then?" I gripped the backrest of the seat in front of me, trembling as I pointed at the windshield. "Mr. Turner, this isn't the right road! This road isn't open to traffic yet! "In less than a minute, a dense fog will roll in ahead and block out the sky. Once this bus drives into it, it'll never come out ever again!" Mr. Turner's expression darkened, and his voice took on a stern, reprimanding tone. "Evelyn, I think the pressure from the SAT, combined with your motion sickness, is making you hallucinate. I personally checked the route before we boarded. How could it possibly be wrong?" Just then, an extremely calm voice—tinged with a hint of mockery, even—came from a nearby seat. "Everyone, don't panic. Use your heads for a moment, will you?" The speaker was a boy in a white shirt and gold-rimmed glasses. He was Hugo Chapman, the state's top scorer in science this year. Hugo adjusted his glasses, shot me a cold glance, and pointed at the GPS display at the front of the bus. "The GPS clearly shows that if we stay on this road for another 30 minutes, we'll arrive directly at the entrance to the new campus. "As for this fog you mentioned… It's two in the afternoon right now. Advection fog caused by temperature changes in the mountains is perfectly normal. "We're all adults who earned our places at a top university through our own abilities. Let's not get swept up by this kind of illogical fearmongering." Hugo's rational analysis immediately calmed everyone down, and the people who had been somewhat doubtful quickly changed their tune. "Yeah, Hugo's right. It's broad daylight—how could this be a road that leads to our deaths?" "Evelyn, do you have paranoia or something? Hurry up and sit down. Don't hold everyone up from claiming their spot in the dorm rooms." "Mr. Turner, please do something about her. Her shout scared me so much that it almost gave me a heart attack." Mr. Turner took the opportunity to pat my shoulder. His tone softened slightly as he said, "Alright, Evelyn. No one believes what you're saying. Just stay quiet and sit properly." While taking in the mocking remarks around me, my anxiety caused me to sweat profusely, and my heart hammered against my chest. In my past life, this was exactly how the bus had blindly driven into the dense fog before plunging into the bottomless abyss! I took a deep breath and stared intently at the digital watch on my wrist. The countdown had reached its final ten seconds. "You don't believe me, do you?" I shook off Mr. Turner's hand and stared directly at Hugo. "The fog will come in ten seconds." I counted down in my head, then said aloud, "Three… Two… One." In the next second, the bright sunlight outside the windows disappeared instantly, and a thick fog slammed into the windshield without warning. The entire bus was plunged into darkness. Even the faces of the people a few inches away were impossible to make out. Suddenly, the bus jolted violently in the fog, its body letting out an ear-piercing metallic screech. The classmates who had just been yelling at me to sit down immediately let out terrified screams. A girl in the back row shouted through tears, "Fog… There really is fog!" In the darkness, every pair of eyes on the bus locked onto me. They believed me now—because the moment the fog descended matched my countdown to the exact second. Chapter 2 "E-Evelyn, how on earth did you know?" There was finally a tremor in Mr. Turner's voice. The commanding authority he had been maintaining moments ago had also disappeared in the face of the eerie fog. Several boys who had been mocking me earlier also panicked and stood up one after another. "Mr. Turner, shouldn't we tell Mr. Porter to stop the bus right now?" "This fog is unnaturally thick. We can't see a thing!" "Yeah! Evelyn said once this bus drives into the fog, it'll never come out. Let's turn around now!" Seeing that everyone on the bus was finally on my side, I felt the tension in my heart ease slightly. If everyone forced Mr. Porter to stop the bus, the tragedy could be avoided. "Mr. Turner, tell Mr. Porter to stop the bus, now!" I shouted. Mr. Turner swallowed hard and immediately turned toward the driver's seat, yelling, "Mr. Porter! Mr. Porter, pull over and hit the brakes! The fog is too thick. We can't continue forward!" "I'm trying to step on the brakes too! But for some reason, the brake pedal suddenly became extremely stiff. I can't press it down at all!" Mr. Porter roared frantically from up ahead. Panic erupted in an instant. Unable to remain calm any longer, Hugo suddenly stood up and screamed, "How can the brakes fail? Pull the handbrake!" Instead of slowing down, the bus accelerated as it continued downhill due to its momentum. Everyone clutched their seats in despair. I squeezed my eyes shut and braced for the weightless sensation of falling into the abyss, just like what I had experienced in my previous life. However, the expected out-of-control plunge off the cliff never happened. Instead, the navigation system's robotic voice echoed loudly throughout the bus all of a sudden. "Beep! The bus is about to enter the exclusive tunnel for Newhaven University's new campus. Please slow down." Immediately after, a whoosh rang out. The bus broke through the thick fog, and the view ahead suddenly opened up. There was no cliff, and no road leading to death. Rather, a modern, brightly lit, spacious tunnel appeared right in front of us. Above the tunnel entrance hung a huge blue sign that read, "Dedicated Tunnel For Newhaven University's Southern Campus." The deathly silence inside the bus lasted for a full three seconds before deafening cheers erupted. "A tunnel! It's the tunnel to the school!" "That scared me half to death! I thought we had really entered some kind of twilight zone!" Up front, Mr. Porter let out a heavy sigh of relief. "The brakes are also working again!" The speed of the bus steadily decreased, and it continued smoothly through the brightly lit tunnel. My classmates who had been scared out of their wits just seconds ago awkwardly wiped away their cold sweat. Right after that, everyone's eyes locked on me once again. This time, those gazes were filled with anger and intense hatred. Mr. Turner had a livid expression as he pointed at me and shouted, "Evelyn Randall! What else do you have to say for yourself? This is what you meant by driving toward our deaths? That the bus is never coming out? "Do you have any idea what you just did? You incited panic, nearly causing a stampede and a traffic accident!" Hugo straightened his wrinkled white shirt and sneered as he looked at me. "I told you, you were just hallucinating because you were under extreme stress. We were literally only passing through a pocket of cold air in the valley. "Once we arrive at school, I will immediately report your disruptive behavior on the bus to the academic affairs office." The crowd echoed his sentiment, eyeing me as if I were a lunatic. "She's truly psychotic. We almost got killed because of her." "I'm definitely requesting a dorm change during registration later. There's no way I can live with her." I stood frozen in place. My mind went completely blank. What was going on? In my previous life, the bus had clearly driven into the dense fog and fallen into a deserted valley, leaving the 35 of us waiting for death in despair. Why was there a tunnel ahead this time? Could it be that my outburst just now had triggered a butterfly effect, causing the bus route to actually change? Had my rebirth really saved us? I collapsed into my seat, staring blankly out the window. The tunnel lights rapidly flashed past us. Just when I thought everything had safely passed, something unexpected happened. Chapter 3 A very faint electric crackle sounded, and just as the bus had driven deep into the tunnel, the cabin lights suddenly went out without any warning. Immediately afterward, the bright lights along the ceiling of the tunnel began to go dark, one after another. Starting from behind us, row after row of lights rapidly went out. Endless darkness surged forward at a terrifying speed, swallowing everything behind us and instantly engulfing the entire bus. "Why did the power go out?" "It's dark outside too!" The lively cheers inside the bus instantly turned into a chaotic clamor of shock and confusion. Just then, several muffled mechanical clicks rang out in quick succession. The pneumatic doors of the bus were automatically locked, and every window lock was forcibly cut off and jammed tight. We were completely sealed inside a speeding iron coffin. Mr. Turner pounded frantically on the seat in front of him. "Mr. Porter! Turn on the lights! And why are the doors locked?" From the driver's seat came Mr. Porter's voice, thick with terror and on the verge of tears. "It's not me! The bus is out of control! All the dashboard displays have gone black, the accelerator is stuck all the way down, and the steering wheel is locked! Help!" At that moment, the engine let out a roar, and the bus began accelerating wildly through the pitch-black tunnel. The wind howled outside the windows, and the entire vehicle shook violently. The people who had been mocking me just now completely broke down. "Help! Save us!" "Open the door! Smash the windows, quick!" Hugo had lost all his earlier composure too. He crawled desperately toward the window, grabbed the emergency hammer, and smashed it against the glass like a madman. Clangs rang out, and sparks flew everywhere, yet the glass remained completely intact. "It's bulletproof glass! It won't break!" Hugo shouted in despair. Mr. Turner pulled out his phone. The screen's light illuminated his pale face. "There's no signal! Not even one bar! We're completely cut off!" Just as everyone on the bus descended into absolute panic, a sharp burst of radio static came from the bus' onboard speakers, and the previously black displays faintly lit up again. Then, a monotonous voice delivered a news broadcast through the speakers. "Breaking news—at 3:00 pm today, a horrific and major traffic accident occurred inside the abandoned air-raid shelter tunnel on the outskirts of the city. "A bus carrying 35 freshmen of Newhaven University mistakenly entered this abandoned tunnel after losing its way. The vehicle crashed into the concrete wall at the end of the tunnel at high speed, causing a violent explosion. "According to search and rescue personnel, all 37 people inside the vehicle perished on the spot." The announcer's voice echoed through the dead-silent bus, sending chills down everyone's spine. My watch displayed the current time as 2:50 pm, while the time of the accident predicted by the broadcast was 3:00 pm. "Impossible… This is impossible…" Hugo collapsed in the aisle, gripping the emergency hammer tightly in his hand as he trembled uncontrollably. "Wasn't this tunnel supposed to go to the campus? How could it be an abandoned air-raid shelter?" Mr. Turner desperately pulled at his hair as tears streamed down his face. "We're doomed… In ten minutes, we're all going to crash and die right here!" The entire bus devolved into a living hell, echoing with cries, prayers, and grief-stricken yells. Everyone pounded against the doors like lunatics, while at the front, Mr. Porter repeatedly slammed his foot against the unresponsive brake pedal, cursing helplessly. On the other hand, I was the only one who pinned myself to my seat, my hands gripping the armrests so hard that my knuckles were white. Bulletproof glass, a tampered GPS, automatically locked doors, a pre-recorded "broadcast of our deaths", as well as the abandoned tunnel disguised as a dedicated campus route… Every single thing was… In my previous life, we had plunged off a cliff in the fog. In this life, we were going to crash into a wall in the tunnel. No matter how the process changed, the ending was still the same—everyone on this bus had to die today. However, who was behind this? Mr. Porter was wailing for help, Mr. Turner was having a breakdown, and Hugo was smashing the windows. They all looked like innocent victims, filled with fear of their impending deaths. If none of them were the killer, then who exactly had set up this deadly trap, one that had even calculated my rebirth into the plan? Time ticked away second by second until it was 2:58 pm. There were only two minutes left until we slammed into the concrete wall at high speed as foretold before. I turned to look at Mr. Turner bashing his head against the door like a madman, then at Hugo, who was huddled on the floor and muttering to himself. Finally, my gaze fell on the dead surveillance camera above the driver's seat. Deep in my mind, a detail I'd completely overlooked in both my lives suddenly clicked, cutting through my confusion like a lightning bolt. "I finally understand what's going on!" I exclaimed. Everyone instantly fell silent and turned their gazes toward me in unison.