Fish Fiend

The carriage corridor was packed with all kinds of "passengers."

A man in a black burial shroud stood rigidly in place, his face as pale as if it had been coated with putty.

Behind him was an old man who looked kind and amiable, except he only had half a head.

The woman on the right looked more normal, just very pale. As if she had noticed the vest-wearing man staring at her, she gave him a polite little nod, only for her left eyeball to roll out at the worst possible moment.

And that was nothing compared to the figures behind them, drenched in blood and giving off a foul stench.

The sight defied everything he knew. An intense feeling of suffocation, along with a chill, swept from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, freezing even his blood.

For a moment, the vest-wearing man stayed frozen halfway through getting up. He wanted to sit back down, but his limbs didn't respond to the command.

Instead, he remained hunched in that half-risen position, drawing the "passengers'" attention toward him.

Just as he stood there stiff as a board, completely at a loss, a hand reached from behind and yanked him. His balance gave way, and he toppled backward.

Only after landing hard on the seat did he realize he was sitting in Xiao Ran's place, while Xiao Ran had taken his.

"Don't mind us. My friend likes the view, so we switched seats," Xiao Ran said with a grin.

"Right, right. I like the view."

The vest-wearing man nodded like a pecking chicken, staring out the window and not daring to look back.

The passengers stared at Xiao Ran for a while, then silently looked away.

But not all the passengers were fooled.

A hand suddenly landed on Xiao Ran's shoulder from behind. Its icy touch felt as cold as a freezer, making him shiver.

He looked up and saw a woman beside him, wearing a blood-red dress. Her black hair hung loose, completely covering her face, and large drops of water kept dripping from it.

"Drip, drip..."

Water drops pattered onto the floor by his feet. The air seemed to freeze.

A pale hand slid down from Xiao Ran's shoulder. He could clearly see every vein bulging across its surface, like a tangle of earthworms.

"This is bizarre. I've never heard of a Floating Fish showing up on a bus."

Xiao Ran frowned.

As the saying went, Cross Fish were tragic, Flying Fish were hateful, and Floating Fish were sinister. These three kinds of corpses were the most troublesome. Floating Fish in particular were usually drowned corpses. Water was yin, and encountering a corpse was ominous; they often turned into Water Ghosts, most eager to claim the lives of the innocent.

The woman's hand was ice-cold as it caressed Xiao Ran's shoulder. The smile at the corner of her lips grew more and more savage.

Xiao Ran didn't move. He only frowned and glanced at the other passengers, watching their reactions.

On the seat across from him, an old man grinned wickedly as he reached into a bamboo basket, pulled out a handful of sunflower seeds, and began munching on them with relish.

The elderly woman in the row ahead grinned at him.

Xiao Ran glanced behind him. A few furtive figures in the back seemed to have noticed the commotion and slowly began edging toward him.

In an instant, the temperature around him plummeted. The Black Swan Brooch on his chest kept warning him.

A fierce hostility seemed to be closing in around him.

Seeing Xiao Ran remain motionless, the woman suddenly tightened her grip and tried to drag him out of his seat.

Xiao Ran's heart clenched. He was about to draw the short blade in his right hand when he suddenly felt his arm grow heavy. He looked back and saw the vest-wearing man clutching it tightly, pulling the whole arm into his embrace.

The vest-wearing man had his head practically buried between his legs, his body curled into a ball.

His heart was trembling. Only now did he realize he probably shouldn't have boarded this bus.

But even though he was terrified, he didn't dare let go. If the woman ghost dragged the kid away, whether he lived or died was one thing—but what would happen to him once the seat was empty?

He understood the principle of shared fate.

He just didn't know his efforts were completely unnecessary.

Watching the vest-wearing man, Xiao Ran didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Still, he felt a little more warmly toward the greasy middle-aged man. At least he'd thought to pull him back at a crucial moment.

"Sorry, but I don't give up my seat!"

Xiao Ran turned and glared coldly at the woman, then immediately activated Ghost Cloak with [Trainee]. His cloak suddenly hardened, knocking her hand away.

Ghost Cloak · Trainee

Privilege 2: Iron Armor

Once activated, the cloak's strength increases by 200%, providing excellent defense against physical damage, but greatly reducing the wearer's mobility.

Duration: 2 minutes

The woman froze. Her blood-red eyes fixed on Xiao Ran as she reached for him again. Xiao Ran raised his cloak to shield himself. Her black nails scraped against it with an ear-piercing shriek.

The sound was unbearably grating, but it made the other passengers' eyes burn even more intensely.

Yet the woman kept clawing at the cloak.

"You have been attacked by an evil spirit. Tempering points +1!"

"You have been attacked by an evil spirit. Tempering points +1!"

Xiao Ran watched the woman's fingers scrape against his cloak, making that shrill noise. He didn't strike back right away, instead silently observing his surroundings.

He also noticed that the other evil spirits' hostility toward him was growing, but none of them had attacked.

It seemed there was some kind of unspoken rule between them.

Thinking of how the woman ghost in front of him had only tried to drag him out of his seat, Xiao Ran began to form a rough idea.

It seems that as long as I stay in my seat, all they can do is glare at me.

But if that's the case, why can the woman attack me?

As he wondered, a chill suddenly crept up from beneath his feet. He looked down and saw that a puddle had appeared there at some point, both his feet submerged in it.

"Water!"

Xiao Ran immediately understood. Water was yin, matching the woman ghost's nature. By standing in it, he had created a link between them, giving her the ability to attack him.

The other evil spirits in the carriage didn't have that ability. All they could do was glare.

After clawing at him more than ten times, the woman seemed to realize she couldn't hurt Xiao Ran this way and grew agitated. Water dripped steadily from her body.

She abruptly withdrew her hand. Her wet hair writhed like countless long, thin snakes, worming through the gaps in Xiao Ran's cloak.

But this time, Xiao Ran didn't put up with it. He poured all the Tempering points he'd accumulated into his strength and shouted, "Get lost!"

As he spoke, his cloak flew open, and a flash of cold light burst from beneath it.

"Blade Draw Slash!"

The woman ghost's movements froze. Xiao Ran's Blade Draw Slash was as fast as lightning, and it struck her squarely in the face. Its tremendous force split her cheek and sent her flying backward.

The other evil spirits saw this and looked at Xiao Ran with fresh wariness. Even the ones who had been edging toward him silently retreated two steps.

Xiao Ran saw it all. "Heh. They're all bullies who pick on the weak."

"Ahhh!!"

The woman ghost had already climbed to her feet. The gash in her face had healed, but the process had made her grimace in pain. She rolled her neck, then spread her arms and lunged at Xiao Ran again, ready to fight him to the death.

Seeing that physical attacks alone didn't do much damage to her, Xiao Ran immediately prepared to activate the Mourning Ring.

"Why are you making all that noise? Shut up, all of you!"

Suddenly, an angry roar rang out, and the entire carriage fell silent.

The driver slowly turned around in his seat. His bear-like face was shrouded in shadow.

Even the woman ghost, who had lunged right up to Xiao Ran, froze. When she met the driver's gaze, she seemed to snap back to her senses. Reluctantly, she lowered her hands.

Beneath her tangled hair, her face looked like skin that had been soaking in water for a long time. It twisted in pain as she glared viciously at Xiao Ran's innocent face.

The other evil spirits immediately knew better than to meet the driver's gaze.

Whether it was intentional or deliberate, someone had gone out of their way to leave the woman ghost and Xiao Ran exposed to the driver's scrutiny.

The driver's tiny eyes narrowed to slits. His gaze shifted to Xiao Ran and the woman, and his little bean-sized eyes grew hostile.

The woman seemed to want to say something, but her lips trembled, and she couldn't get a single word out.

Xiao Ran felt the same way. The driver's deranged grin as he crushed the monster flashed through his mind, and the pressure in his chest surged.

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the puddle at the woman's feet. His heart stirred. He pointed at the water on the floor and said,

"Bro, she peed on your bus..."

Actually, this chapter should've been called [She Peed], but I figured it'd be too easy to censor, so never mind.