The Last Ride: A Journey Into the Unknown

The night was cold and damp, with a thick fog creeping over the dimly lit streets of Beijing. The city, usually bustling with life, felt unnaturally silent as the clock struck midnight. The streetlights flickered, casting long, eerie shadows over the empty bus stop near the Summer Palace.

A young man named Li Wei stood there, shivering slightly, hands stuffed into his jacket pockets. He was exhausted after a long shift at work, desperate to get home. The night air carried an unsettling stillness, but he ignored it—after all, it was just another late night in the city.

Then, the sound of an approaching vehicle broke the silence. From the mist emerged a bus, its headlights barely cutting through the dense fog. Bus 375—the last bus of the night to Fragrant Hills—hissed to a stop in front of him. The doors creaked open, revealing the dimly lit interior.

Li Wei stepped inside. There were only four other passengers—a middle-aged couple, an old woman, and the bus conductor, who sat near the driver, half-asleep. The young man sighed, taking a seat across from the elderly woman, adjusting his bag.

The bus rumbled forward, making its way down the empty road. Silence settled among the passengers, the occasional hum of the engine the only sound. The fog outside grew thicker, swirling like ghostly tendrils against the glass.

Then, the bus stopped.

Li Wei frowned. There was no scheduled stop here, just a lonely stretch of road lined with towering trees. He turned to look as three figures emerged from the fog. They stood perfectly still at the edge of the road, facing the bus. Their clothing was strange—long, tattered robes, seemingly from another era, covered in dirt. The two men flanking the center figure seemed to be supporting him, their hands gripping his arms as if he were too weak to stand on his own.

The doors creaked open, and without a word, the three figures boarded the bus.

A heavy chill settled in the air. Li Wei felt a shiver creep down his spine as the three newcomers moved without making a sound, taking seats at the very back. The other passengers exchanged uneasy glances.

The old woman sitting near Li Wei shifted uncomfortably. He noticed she was staring, her eyes fixed on the newcomers, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the edge of her seat.

Something wasn’t right.

The bus continued down the road, the fog outside now so dense that the driver had to slow down. The dim interior lights flickered, casting odd shadows across the passengers' faces.

Then, the old woman leaned in and whispered to Li Wei, her voice barely audible over the hum of the bus:

"Something is wrong with them."

Li Wei swallowed. "What do you mean?" he whispered back.

"Watch closely," she said.

He turned, glancing toward the back of the bus. At first, nothing seemed unusual—until the bus hit a bump in the road.

The passengers shifted slightly in their seats. Everyone except for the three newcomers.

Their robes fluttered slightly from the movement, but their faces did not move at all. In fact, Li Wei realized with mounting horror that there were no faces beneath their hoods—just a dark, featureless void where their features should have been.

His breath caught in his throat.

The old woman’s grip on his arm tightened. "They have no feet," she whispered.

Li Wei's eyes darted down. His stomach twisted.

Beneath the seats, the newcomers’ robes hung just above the floor—but there were no legs, no feet.

A deep, primal fear gripped him. His heart pounded in his chest. He turned to the old woman, eyes wide with terror.

She acted fast.

Slamming her hand against the seat, she suddenly screamed, "THIEF! HE STOLE MY WALLET!" Her voice pierced through the tense silence, making every passenger jolt in shock.

Li Wei turned, stunned.

She was pointing directly at him.

The conductor frowned, standing up. "Ma’am, please calm down—"

"I won’t calm down!" she shrieked, yanking Li Wei’s arm. "I won’t sit near a thief! Let me off this bus RIGHT NOW!"

The driver, irritated, pulled the bus over. "Fine, fine, both of you—get out and deal with this at a police station if you want!"

Li Wei barely had time to react as the old woman dragged him out of the bus, the doors hissing shut behind them.

They stood by the side of the road, panting. The bus pulled away, disappearing into the fog.

Li Wei turned to the old woman, his heart racing. "What the hell was that? I didn’t steal anything!"

The old woman exhaled, her hands shaking.

"I just saved your life."

Li Wei stared. "What?"

She pointed down the road where the bus had vanished. "Those three passengers—they weren’t human. Did you see their faces? Their feet? We were never supposed to reach the last stop."

A deep, sinking dread settled in Li Wei’s stomach.

The next morning, the story made national headlines.

Bus 375 had disappeared.

After an extensive search, authorities found the missing bus submerged in a reservoir—100 kilometers away from its intended route. The bodies of the driver, the conductor, and one unidentified passenger were found inside.

The most horrifying detail?

The bodies had been completely decomposed, far beyond what was scientifically possible in just a few days. And when police opened the fuel tank, they found it wasn’t filled with gasoline.

It was filled with blood.

The old woman and Li Wei never spoke of that night again.

But even now, some taxi drivers claim to have seen it—a ghostly bus appearing on foggy nights, driving down an empty road, searching for its next passengers.

And if you ever find yourself alone at a bus stop at midnight, and a bus pulls up with no destination sign, no driver speaking, and an eerie silence lingering in the air…