"I... I don"t know..." Teacher Liu"s face looked suffocated. "These hundred years and more, I"ve never been out of the country!"

Unable to leave the country for a hundred years — he really was shut in. As poor a student as I was, I"d still gone abroad once with my teacher to attend an academic conference.

I felt an odd sense of superiority and said to Duan Youlian, "Xiao Duan, did you hear? There"s no future in being a ghost, even a superior ghost like Teacher Liu. What does it amount to? You"re still subject to so many constraints, like physics, chemistry, geography, sunlight, and so on. When you think about it, being a human means you"ll have more freedom than being a ghost. At least you can move around during the day. You"d better graduate and be reborn as soon as possible."

Xiao Duan"s face was thoughtful. She seemed very moved.

On the other hand, Teacher Liu was grieved. After repeating my words to himself for a long time time, he wiped the tears at the corners of his eyes and said to Xiao Ning, "Ning-tianshi, can you transcend me as soon as possible? Listening to Teacher Shen, I"ve only now realized that during these hundred years I haven"t accomplished anything. Humans can go to the moon, but I"ve always been trapped in H City. When I was alive I imparted knowledge, once led my students out to protest in the streets, and now I"ve sunk to this!"

Xiao Ning didn"t answer Teacher Liu. Instead he looked at me and smiled, smiled in a way that made him especially good-looking, smiled so that I couldn"t help remembering the kiss by the river to put off the security guard. My heart beat faster.

He came up to me and with a quiet laugh. "Before, I concealed matters concerning ghosts from you because I was worried that once you understood the truth it would shake your determination, that you would lose your firm belief and be unable to suppress the ghosts. I was narrow-minded. Teacher Shen will always be Teacher Shen. You won"t change because of anything."

"No, no, no, I"ll change." His praise was too much. I quickly waved my hand. "Before I thought the students just had special needs and aimed to help them integrate into society. I can"t teach them like that in the future."

Listening to me, Duan Youlian looked happy.

I went on, "In the future I"ll learn from the Maoshan Sect"s experience, find ways to help my students transcend, strive to get them to memorize scriptures for transcending themselves, gives tests using ghost laws as their standards. I"ll strive to achieve transcendence for the entire cla.s.s as soon as possible."

Duan Youlian"s smile had yet to fully manifest when it became a tearful expression again. She covered her face and said to Teacher Liu, "Why is my life so bitter!"

While we were talking, the school bus arrived at the school gates, and the four of us got on the bus.

"You"re really busy tonight. I"ve had to make several rounds," the driver Qi-dage said, displeased.

Now that I knew the driver wasn"t human, I could dimly understand why had hadn"t let me sit on the seats before. I could tell that he was a good person. So I sat down in the little seat beside him and said, "Qi-dage, what"s the farthest place this bus can go?"

"The human world above, Difu below." Qi-dage"s voice was as cool as ever, his speech curt and forceful, but now I didn"t think he was cold. He just wasn"t very skilled at communicating with others.

"So if I wanted to go to Beijing, I could also take your bus? That could save a lot of money!" If the driver didn"t hurt people and was willing to keep driving, I should be able to get on well with him, as well as being thrifty.

Qi-dage looked at me with the expression living people use when they"ve seen a ghost. "My bus can only move within H City. Its only function is to take ghosts ready for reincarnation to Difu to line up to be reborn."

"Oh." I was disappointed. "Since I, as a living person, can get on your bus, that shows it must exist, from the standpoint of physics. So where do you park it during the day? Teacher Liu can"t be out in the sun during the day, so what about your bus?"

My string of questions had the driver a little panicked. He turned to the pa.s.sengers and called out, "Which one of you told him I was a ghost?"

Teacher Liu and Duan Youlian simultaneously looked at Xiao Ning. Xiao Ning took up the peach wood sword and smiled. "My Shifu, the Sect Leader of the Maoshan Sect."

"Oh, a sect leader!" Qi-dage"s expression improved at once. He smiled politely at Xiao Ning, then turned his head to stare at me. "I can always park it in an abandoned parking lot. The bus is real, it doesn"t mind the sun. I"m the one who minds the sun, and I can hide in the bus to avoid sunlight during the day."

"An abandoned lot... Qi-dage, that"s dangerous!" I was rather afraid. "Won"t the bus leak oil? Does it run on electricity or gas? Do you have to pay to charge it or get gas?"

Qi-dage took his hands off the steering wheel, clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and said, "Have you ever seen a ghost bus need gas?"

"Then what does it use for energy?" I couldn"t understand it, and I was really curious.

The driver couldn"t get anything out for a long time. Finally he said, "I don"t really know. Anyway, it can"t move during the day, and at night it can."

"Then there must be some mysterious energy during the night that science hasn"t been able to discover yet that moves the bus. But this energy is incompatible with the sun"s light and heat, so the bus can"t move during the day. The bus"s speed is probably between forty and eighty kilometers per hour, so even if it drove all night it could still only go five or six hundred kilometers. It really can"t go very far." I sighed. "Unfortunately I stopped taking physics in my second year of senior middle. Otherwise I would have a deeper understanding."

The driver didn"t answer my question. Instead, Teacher Liu pulled me from the little seat and whispered, "Don"t ask anymore. If he gets angry and crashes the bus, Duan Youlian and I will be all right, but it won"t go well for you and Ning-tianshi."

I thought about it, then sat down next to Xiao Ning and quietly asked him, "Does anyone pay the driver? He"s been driving all night."

"I suppose he collects Yin energy." Xiao Ning thought about it and said, "Most ghost vehicle drivers are those who drive to the other side. They can cross between the human world and the underworld. You couldn"t say they"re officials of Difu, but they still have some power. In ancient times the drivers were called ferrymen. They ferried souls across the w.a.n.gchuan River to Difu. On the river they would collect the ghosts" most important things. Now times have changed, and the ferries have become buses. This type of school bus must be able to hold more ghosts than a small boat."

I nodded. "There"s also the fact that the population has increased by a lot. The daily mortality rate is so high that a small boat wouldn"t be enough. So you could say that the driver is a temporary worker of Difu. Do you know if he can become a permanent worker in the future?"

Xiao Ning probably hadn"t considered this kind of question before. He didn"t answer.

I asked Duan Youlian, "Do you have a driver"s license? One of the Cla.s.s A ones, that you can drive large vehicles with?"

Duan Youlian shook her head.

"Then you can"t be a temporary worker, so you"d better be reborn," I advised. "As for reincarnation, once you"ve learned some legal common sense, then you can graduate and become a splendid child. I have to make a plan. First, I need to understand how Difu operates, explain it to the students, and let them choose whether they want to be reborn or become employees of Difu. Then I can tailor my teaching to their career plans."

It really wasn"t easy being a teacher. You had to consider so many things. My level of expertise was inadequate.

I spent the whole ride thinking about what I should do in the future. By the time the bus reached the Fourth Hospital, my head hurt from thinking.

Xiao Ning led me off the bus. With Teacher Liu"s help, the four of us smoothly avoided the watchman and entered the Inpatient Area.

Room 902 of the Neurology Department was a private room. A woman in her fifties was lying on the bed with her eyes closed and her mouth covered by an oxygen mask.

When Teacher Liu opened the door, he disappeared, turning into a notebook that appeared in the woman"s hand. Duan Youlian sat on the floor looking blank, as if she had lost her soul.

"Princ.i.p.al Zhang has status. Ghosts can"t misbehave in front of her," Xiao Ning explained.

I went to Princ.i.p.al Zhang"s bedside and looked at the instruments at the head of the bed. Her pulse was slow, but she was still alive.

But Princ.i.p.al Zhang was comatose. How could she stay in contact with me and even send me money?

Then my cell phone lit up.

Princ.i.p.al Zhang: h.e.l.lo, Teacher Shen. This is the first time we"ve met, and I can"t greet you properly. I"m truly sorry.

We could communicate!

I used my phone to send a message: Princ.i.p.al Zhang, how can you send messages?

Teacher Shen, please do me a favor. My cell phone is in the cabinet. It only has 1% power left. Please charge it for me, so I can continue to communicate with you. The nurse"s aide always forgets to charge it for me.

I numbly took the cell phone and charger out of the cabinet and plugged it in. Under her oxygen mask, the corners of Princ.i.p.al Zhang"s lips curved slightly.

I watched wide-eyed as the phone lit up and typed me a message with no one operating it: Teacher Shen can ask any questions he has for me!