"A Lord has appeared in the West Gate! West Gate requests backup!"
"Intelligence is wrong! Intelligence is wrong!"
"Help!"
"Captain! Captain!"
"It's too late, go!"
"Thump, thump, thump..."
Chen Bugu was dying.
A massive Earth Spike pierced through his entire chest.
He opened his eyes but saw nothing; his vision had already vanished.
Before death, his hearing suddenly became acute, and he heard many sounds.
There were roars, screams, explosions, breathing...
He simply closed his eyes, tried to regulate his breathing, and prepared for one last struggle after Revival.
The many sounds in his ears grew softer and softer.
"Thump, thump, thump..."
His heartbeat, however, seemed to grow louder and louder.
Chen Bugu's consciousness was hazy.
...
"Next stop, Yu Tan Reservoir. Passengers preparing to alight, please take your belongings with you..."
"Ah!"
A sudden scream broke the silence inside the bus.
Chen Bugu was drenched in sweat, his tightly shut eyes snapped open, he let out a painful cry, and uncontrollably fell from his seat to the floor.
The passengers on the 64 road bus were startled and turned to look.
The bus happened to enter the tunnel, and the sudden darkness prevented the passengers in the front from seeing Chen Bugu's pale face clearly.
"Driver! Driver! Someone fainted."
An Aunt sitting at the front of the bus, seeing someone fall, panicked and quickly shouted at the Driver Lao Liu.
"You all check on him first, if he's not okay, call an ambulance to pick him up at the next stop."
The Driver Lao Liu, wearing sunglasses, glanced at the rearview mirror and said with much experience.
Today, there were more vehicles in this tunnel, and he still needed to focus on driving, so he had to ask the other passengers to check.
In the dim carriage, the remaining passengers looked at each other, but no one moved.
"Hey, there's surveillance on the bus."
The Driver Lao Liu's voice came from the front, and only then did the passengers look up and see the red dot on the ceiling of the carriage, so conspicuous in the current darkness.
The Driver Lao Liu shook his head; he didn't blame these passengers for being indifferent, after all, there had been more and more news of staged accidents in the past two years.
Just as the other passengers were about to go check on Chen Bugu, he slowly sat up from the ground himself.
"Young man, are you alright?"
"Come sit on a chair first."
Passengers sitting around Chen Bugu began to tentatively speak.
"I'm fine, I'm fine."
Chen Bugu slowly leaned on the back of the seat and sat back by the window; his breathing was still a bit rapid, but his complexion was no longer as pale as it was initially.
The intense pain in his chest was slowly receding; he looked down, there was no blood, and no shocking wound.
...
Three minutes ago, Chen Bugu died from the Rock Tinder Earth Dragon's skill—Quicksand Earth Spike.
A massive Rock Tinder Earth Dragon pierced through the city wall, then through his chest, pinning him in the air.
He tightly gripped the stone pillar with both hands, but couldn't exert any strength.
Intense pain came from his chest, blood had already overflowed from the corner of his mouth, and his vitality began to rapidly drain away.
Chen Bugu wanted to activate his Ability.
This was the first and last time in his life he would activate his Ability.
Yes, his one-time Ability.
"Do you want to use Mythological Ability: 【Revival】?"
"Please note, this Ability is unique and can only be used once."
A mechanical female voice came from the depths of his mind; this was the first time Chen Bugu had heard it.
"Use it! Hurry and use it!"
Chen Bugu was out of strength; his eyelids drooped, and he cursed inwardly.
Shouldn't this damned Ability be passively triggered?
What kind of Revival skill needs to be actively used?
However, Chen Bugu had lost too much blood and had already lost consciousness before he could even feel the Ability activate.
In the few seconds before losing consciousness, he heard someone calling him; everyone knew about the useless Chen Bugu and his useless Revival Ability.
Although the 【Revival】 Ability belonged to the strongest Mythological Ability type, its power itself was not outstanding. In a situation of being brutally murdered, for a user on the battlefield, without teammates' support, it was merely a declaration of a stay of execution.
Most people could only Awaken one Ability in their lifetime; no one truly wished to Awaken an ability like 【Revival】 that was of no help in combat.
Moreover, for the top-tier Awakeneds, "Revival" type items were not unheard of.
Compared in this way, the 【Revival】 Ability seemed even more of a tasteless ability.
But, what was the situation now?
Chen Bugu swept his gaze across the carriage.
At this moment, the passengers on the bus were all like "newbies," sitting in their seats completely unguarded, as if the apocalypse had not yet arrived.
Wait a minute!
As if the apocalypse hadn't arrived?
Chen Bugu suddenly thought of something!
Was he dreaming?
Chen Bugu looked at the carriage in front of him and finally remembered why the phrase "Next stop, Yu Tan Reservoir..." before he woke up sounded so familiar.
This was the 64 road bus; before the Great Disaster occurred, he would take the 64 Road Bus home every weekend.
"What year is it now? What month, what day?"
He stood up and asked the Aunt in the front seat, speaking extremely fast, as if eager to confirm something.
In the front seat was a middle-aged man with a receding hairline, wearing a faded blue shirt and black-rimmed glasses, with two obvious dark circles under his eyes.
He pulled out his phone, and the screen's light suddenly illuminated his face.
Before the Aunt could even speak, Chen Bugu suddenly sat back down as if he had received an electric shock.
"Student, of course today is June 3rd, 2025."
Chen Bugu remembered, he remembered everything.
His Great Disaster happened on this day!
In his memory, the first disaster that initiated the apocalypse—the Great Disaster—happened right here!
Yu Tan Tunnel!
64 Road Bus!
Once in the tunnel, it's too late.
Revival my foot! This is clearly Rebirth!
"Student? Student?"
"What's wrong? You look a bit pale, are you really okay?"
Chen Bugu gave a bitter smile; using the light from the phone just now, he clearly saw the face of the Aunt in front of him, that face slowly overlapped with his distant memory, and he remembered.
"I'm fine, Teacher Lin, I just have low blood sugar." Chen Bugu smiled, making up a random excuse.
"Oh? Are you a student from our school? I haven't seen you before."
"No, Teacher Lin, I've already graduated."
Lin Ye, a third-year high school geography teacher at Lecheng Middle School, Chen Bugu remembered him.
In his previous life, among the people on this bus, only he and Chen Bugu walked out of this tunnel alive in the end.
Lin Ye gave Chen Bugu an apologetic smile and turned his head back, seemingly feeling guilty for not daring to help up the fainted Chen Bugu earlier.
Chen Bugu sighed.
He had already accepted his Rebirth.
Actually, for him, Rebirth was better than Revival.
After all, before Rebirth, he had to face a siege battle by Lord-level mutated beasts; for the Third Squad he led, let alone Lord-level, dealing with a few Commander-level beasts was tough enough.
If it weren't for incorrect intelligence, he wouldn't have foolishly led his squad to defend the West Gate.
Heh, with the capabilities of those in the intelligence department, such a low-level intelligence error shouldn't have happened.
Thinking of this, Chen Bugu's face darkened.
Thinking about it this way, if he had revived on the spot, wouldn't he have died again immediately after Revival, having been pierced through the chest by the Earth Spike?
They were truly well-prepared, determined to make sure he died.
Forget it, thinking about these things is pointless anyway.
The 64 Road Bus continued to travel in the quiet tunnel; today's tunnel seemed particularly long.
When the sign indicating "2KM to Exit" appeared again, Driver Lao Liu had already started to frown.
He seemed to have seen this "2KM to Exit" sign once before, five minutes ago...
Chen Bugu also noticed that space was starting to change.
He knew that the Great Disaster was about to begin.