I Raise My Wife in a Supernatural Story (Infinite) - Chapter 1

Qi Yan felt like she was having a spectacularly unlucky day.

God only knew why a 22-year-old college student like her, still in the prime of her youth and not even graduated yet, would end up in such a bizarre situation.

All she had done was take advantage of the May Day holiday to make a quick trip back to her rural hometown to handle the demolition of the old family house. Then, after going to sleep that night, she inexplicably woke up on this chaotic, rickety bus that made no sense whatsoever.

Qi Yan was an only child. Ever since her parents retired, they had been traveling all over the country, barely spending a few days at home each year. Her uncle’s family had emigrated abroad long ago and rarely returned. The old house had been vacant since her great-grandfather passed away. Her grandparents used to come back occasionally to stay for short periods and clean up, but after they too passed away, the house was completely abandoned.

Now that the local authorities had notified them about the demolition, her parents had asked her to handle it since they couldn’t make it back in time.

So, during the May Day holiday, Qi Yan returned to her hometown. After discussing and confirming the demolition details with the relevant office, she went through the three-story house one last time to check for any forgotten belongings.

To her surprise, while searching, she found a strange book in the attic. Its cover was entirely black, clearly aged, with four characters neatly written in small seal script: Tales of the Supernatural.

At first glance, it was just an unremarkable old book. But what really piqued Qi Yan’s curiosity was the fact that her great-grandfather had wrapped it in long, narrow strips of yellow paper. The paper looked just as old, its text faded and barely legible, some of it even hanging loose.

Besides the book, the storage box also contained a small, locked metal case. The case was covered in dust, clearly untouched for years. Though the case itself was worn and shabby, the lock on it was surprisingly sturdy.

A tattered book and a rusty metal case, these were the last two things her great-grandfather had left behind in this world. Qi Yan took both of them home.

Looking back now, she couldn’t quite explain why she had done it. Under normal circumstances, no one would have wanted such old, seemingly worthless items. But for some reason, she had taken them anyway.

Not only that, but that very night, out of curiosity, she had opened Tales of the Supernatural. Maybe it was the yellow paper wrapping that made her even more curious about its contents. She tore off the already fragile strips and flipped open the book.

But to her astonishment, the pages were completely blank not a single word inside!

Qi Yan scoffed in disbelief and tossed the book onto her bedside table, mentally cursing her great-grandfather for playing such a pointless joke.

All that buildup, making it seem so mysterious, only for there to be nothing inside. What a waste of time.

Shaking it off, she lay down and fell asleep. But when she opened her eyes again, she was sitting on this swaying bus.

What woke her was a woman at the front door shouting through a megaphone: “All passengers, please fasten your seatbelts! We’re approaching a sharp curve on the mountain road. Stay seated, hold onto the handrails, and do not stand up or move around!”

At first, Qi Yan thought she was dreaming and understandably so. Anyone who suddenly found themselves on a bus while asleep would assume it was just a dream.

But everything around her felt too real, too vivid. She even pinched her thigh hard to check.

It hurt. A lot. So much that she grimaced in pain.

She really hadn’t held back, that was a full-force pinch, no mercy at all.

Afterward, she had to rub the sore spot, tears nearly springing to her eyes from the sting.

[Ding! Introduction complete.]

[Welcome to the world of Supernatural Tales! In the time ahead, you will immerse yourself in the thrilling stories within this anthology!]

[Meeting is fate. Since you’ve opened Supernatural Tales, it proves you are bound to it by destiny.]

[Over the next seven days, you will experience the stories firsthand and complete tasks assigned by the NPC guiding you. A special reminder: Be extremely cautious during your journey, do not die, okay?]

[Friendly tip: There are two ways to successfully leave this world: 1. Find the “Eye” of the world and pass through it to escape. 2. Locate the “Heart” of the world and defeat it to clear the stage. You only have seven days. Players who fail to leave within that time will face the collapse of this story world~]

The moment she woke up, these voices flooded Qi Yan’s mind, bombarding her with absurd information that threatened to shatter her thoughts.

Rubbing her throbbing temples, she glanced around. Aside from her, there were five others on the bus three men and two women, making six in total. Upon closer inspection, she realized this wasn’t a city bus but more like a minibus, the kind that could seat twenty or thirty people.

Panicked exclamations filled the cabin as the others reacted with similar terror. Like Qi Yan, they had first assumed this was a dream, but the overwhelming realism and that eerie voice in their heads quickly dispelled the illusion.

“Where the hell are we?!”

“What kind of story world is this? What are we supposed to experience?”

“Is this some kind of film set? How did I get here? Kidnapping people is illegal! This is human trafficking!”

“Stop the bus! Stop it right now!” A tall, burly young man stood up from his seat, ignoring the woman in the front row who tried to dissuade him as he staggered forward, gripping the seats for balance. “Are you deaf? I said stop the damn bus!!”

The man was bald, wearing a loose sleeveless T-shirt that revealed arms covered in cryptic tattoos. Qi Yan looked down at herself her pajamas were gone, replaced by the sportswear she usually wore outside.

The bald man reached the driver’s seat and glared at the woman standing nearby, who smiled at him with a stiff, unnatural grin. Her eyes held an unsettling intensity as she spoke in a singsong voice, “Please return to your seat, honored guest. The road ahead is full of sharp turns, it’s very dangerous.”

Her words were a warning, but her tone dripped with excitement, as if she was eagerly anticipating his next move.

Qi Yan could tell, this woman didn’t want the bald man to comply at all. It was as if the more he acted out, the more it excited her. Her tone wasn’t persuasion; it was outright provocation, deliberately pushing the situation further out of control.

Sure enough, the bald man’s temper flared even hotter. He shoved the woman blocking the aisle aside and stormed over to the driver in two or three strides, grabbing the man’s arm.

“Stop the car! Stop the damn car right now!”

The driver was a scrawny, elderly man who seemed to have no strength or even weight, to speak of. With just one yank from the burly bald man, his entire body lurched sideways like a marionette on strings.

As the minibus hurtled toward the cliff ahead, now completely out of the driver’s control, panic erupted instantly among the other passengers.

“Y-you, let go! What the hell are you doing?!”

“Let go now! We’re going to fall!”

“Aaaaah!I don’t want to die!”

The cabin erupted into chaos. Despite there being only eight people in the vehicle, including the driver and the woman in the front, the noise made it sound like dozens were screaming at once.

Qi Yan clutched the seat in front of her with both hands, watching the scene unfold in horror.

Through the minibus’s front windshield, she saw clearly, the unmanned vehicle swerved sharply on the winding mountain road, skimming the edge of the cliff before barely making the turn and continuing forward.

The sight left everyone stunned. The frantic terror of nearly plunging off the cliff transformed in an instant into a deeper, more unsettling fear of this eerie bus.

“Wh-what the hell is going on?” The bald man was the first to react. Still gripping the frail driver, he stared in disbelief as the steering wheel moved on its own.

“You this, where the hell are we?!”

He abruptly released the driver, staggering back several steps before collapsing onto the aisle, his legs giving way under the weight of fear.

The frail driver hadn’t uttered a single word the entire time. Freed from the bald man’s grip, he calmly took hold of the steering wheel again, appearing entirely focused on driving.

But everyone had realized one undeniable truth: this vehicle didn’t need a driver. Whether he steered or not made no difference, the bus moved on its own.

The woman who had been silently watching the spectacle all along curled her lips into a sinister, mocking smile. Slowly, she picked up the megaphone beside her and brought it to her lips, her narrowed eyes fixed on the bald man sprawled on the floor. “Sir, I did warn you to hold on tight and stay seated. Why wouldn’t you listen?”

She then addressed the group, her voice dripping with theatrical emphasis. “Ladies and gentlemen, our next stop is the destination of this journey, Bai Shui Town. Allow me to reintroduce myself. I’m your guide, Sister Hong. We’ll be staying here for seven days as we explore the secrets of the Zhong Mountain Range.”

She deliberately lingered on the word “secrets,” relishing the expressions of dread on everyone’s faces.

“No! no! What kind of place is this?! Let me go! Let me off! I want out!” A high school girl in a uniform hugged her knees, curled into a ball on her seat, sobbing uncontrollably. “Jokes have limits. I was just sleeping at home. I was still in bed. How did this happen?! Where the hell are we?!”

The tour guide, Sister Hong, looked at her with a smile, as if staring at a raving lunatic: “Didn’t I already say? This is Baishui Town in the Zhongshan Mountain Range.”

“Bullshit! We’ve never heard of any Baishui Town! And we sure as hell don’t know anything about Zhongshan, let us go!!”

“Hehe! hahahaha!” Sister Hong’s laughter grew even more eerie as she raised a hand and vaguely pointed at her head. “You can’t leave! Didn’t you all hear the script’s opening narration? It already gave you the answers, yet you keep asking questions. What a bunch of useless fools!”

Everyone’s faces turned deathly pale. Of course, they had all heard the narration but none of them wanted to believe it. A world from a supernatural script? It was too absurd! How could any sane person believe something like that!

Qi Yan clenched the armrest of the front seat with both hands, his knuckles turning white from the force.

This was just his damn luck.

Support I Raise My Wife in a Supernatural Story (Infinite)