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.