You Won't Give It to Me? I'll Take It Myself

"Twice."

Feeling the information conveyed by the Red Armband, Xiao Ran thought it over and understood why the driver had laughed so strangely.

His temporary job as a ticket inspector was basically the same as being a cab driver outside: the moment he woke up, he already owed the taxi company 250. He had to earn that 250 back first, and only then would the rest be his.

So the driver would never lose money. Whether the ticket inspector could make a profit was another matter.

After all, he only had two chances at each stop. How was he supposed to know which of all the evil ghosts in the carriage had tickets and which didn't?

Would anyone know?

Of course not. When those evil ghosts boarded, they were nothing but hazy white shapes. The tank-top guy, for instance, hadn't even seen anyone get on.

But him...

Well, he'd seen everything perfectly clearly.

"Having a great time watching me suffer while you munched on sunflower seeds, huh?"

Xiao Ran shot a sidelong glance at the man sitting nearby, grinning to reveal a row of white teeth as he fastened the red armband around his shoulder.

Now that he had the authority of a ticket inspector, the evil ghosts looked at him with strange, even evasive, expressions.

Even though he wasn't sitting in the chair, not a single "passenger" dared try anything with him now.

Picking up the mop hanging nearby, Xiao Ran began carefully cleaning up the water on the floor.

Seeing how relaxed Xiao Ran looked, the driver's eyes flashed with surprise. He scratched his head and returned to the driver's seat.

As Xiao Ran passed the tank-top guy, he casually took a pair of sweatpants from his space and tossed them to him.

With a look of disgust, he said, "Why are you sitting on the floor? Isn't it filthy? Change into these and wipe that chair clean for me."

"Oh, sure, sure."

The tank-top guy might have looked a little old, but he wasn't stupid. He immediately realized Xiao Ran was covering for him. Ignoring the evil ghosts staring at him, he quickly took off his pants. Xiao Ran glanced down and saw that the guy was wearing Mickey Mouse underwear.

He left the stains beneath the seat for the man to deal with, then leisurely carried the mop over to the old man eating sunflower seeds.

The old man looked about sixty. He held a bamboo basket in one hand and kept reaching inside for handfuls of sunflower seeds.

When the female ghost had attacked Xiao Ran earlier, this guy had watched with such relish that he'd practically been hoping she would tear Xiao Ran apart.

The old man noticed Xiao Ran looking at him and froze. Then he gave Xiao Ran an awkward smile and took a handful of sunflower seeds from the basket, offering them to him. "Here, young man. Have some."

Xiao Ran looked at the seeds in his outstretched hand. Green mold speckled their black shells. His smile brightened as he tapped the mop against the scattered shells on the floor and held out his hand to the old man. "Three yuan!"

The old man blinked. "Three yuan for what?"

"You littered sunflower seed shells. That's a three-yuan fine."

"You!"

The old man glared at the shells scattered across the floor. "I'll pick them up myself!"

But Xiao Ran couldn't care less. When the old man refused to cooperate, he turned and shouted to the driver, "Hey, big brother! This old man's going to take a dump on your bus!"

"???"

The old man's eyes bulged so far he nearly popped them out. He'd never met anyone so shameless.

Before he could say anything, he felt a hostile gaze sweep over him. He looked up and saw the driver's head appear from behind the partition, eyes sizing him up.

Those tiny, beady eyes gleamed viciously, making the old man tremble all over. He hurriedly took three pieces of ghost money from his pocket and handed them to Xiao Ran.

"Here, here! Just don't go making things up!"

Xiao Ran took the money. The coins rang sweetly in his hand, and his mood lifted.

But before the old man could breathe a sigh of relief, Xiao Ran held out his hand again.

"What now?"

The old man stared blankly at the hand reaching toward him like a demon's claw.

"Your ticket!"

Xiao Ran pointed to the Red Armband on his shoulder.

As soon as he said the words "ticket check," the black curse marks on the armband began to turn, as if an eye were staring straight at the old man's face.

The old man sat there blankly for a few seconds before slowly coming to his senses. "Didn't I just pay you?"

"That was a fine. Now I'm checking tickets. Where's your ticket?" Xiao Ran asked with a beaming smile. When the bus had stopped earlier, he'd kept his eyes on the entrance. The old man had boarded with his head down. Xiao Ran had seen it all.

"You... I..."

The old man opened his mouth. A centipede crawled back and forth inside, occasionally poking its head out as if it wanted to bite Xiao Ran.

After a moment, the old man reluctantly put his hand in his pocket. He felt around left and right, then looked out the window with a pained expression before grudgingly pulling out three pieces of ghost money and handing them to Xiao Ran.

Six pieces of ghost money from one old man. Xiao Ran couldn't have been happier.

From the driver's seat, the driver watched Xiao Ran's every move in the rearview mirror. He curled his lip, but the kid seemed a lot more likable now than before.

"Damn, that's incredible!"

Watching Xiao Ran, the tank-top guy had no idea what those coins were for, but seeing him extort the evil ghosts left him utterly in awe.

He'd heard of tough guys, but never anyone this tough!

The other passengers looked at Xiao Ran even more strangely. A few "passengers" with guilty consciences began edging toward the rear door, preparing to get off.

Xiao Ran didn't bother them, though. He looked around and walked straight to the seat by the rear door.

The man sitting there had slicked-back hair and polished leather shoes that gleamed like mirrors. He wore a sharp suit and even carried a faint scent of cologne.

As Xiao Ran approached, the man lifted his head and looked him over with a challenging gaze.

"Hello. Ticket check!" Xiao Ran held out his hand.

At that, the man nodded, stood up, and slowly unbuttoned his shirt, revealing purplish-blue skin. He smiled at Xiao Ran. "I don't have a ticket."

Clearly, the man had no intention of buying one. He seemed to understand the Red Armband's powers well, and he had also seen that Xiao Ran's methods were fairly limited. He'd struggled even against the female ghost, so he posed no threat to the man. The man's lips curled upward, his expression practically asking Xiao Ran, What are you going to do about it?

Xiao Ran didn't seem surprised. He'd never expected the man to willingly buy a ticket. Ever since the female ghost had attacked him, he'd sensed that this man was more hostile toward him than anyone else. The Black Swan Brooch had pricked him with pain several times, each time because of this man.

And while the driver had been beating the female ghost to a pulp, this man had closed his eyes and savored her shrill screams. He was a bona fide sadist.

Seeing the man's defiant attitude, Xiao Ran understood what he was thinking.

He studied the man's purplish-blue skin and noticed patches of thick white hair growing across it.

"A White Zombie! This place really has everything. No wonder he's so confident." Xiao Ran narrowed his eyes.

Strictly speaking, a White Zombie didn't count as a proper zombie. But as the first stage of corpse transformation, its body was indeed very tough.

The Red Armband's second special ability was Curse Contract. It could paralyze a target for up to thirty seconds. During that time, the target couldn't move and took 1.5 times more damage.

But even with that 1.5-times damage bonus, how much damage could he actually deal?

Besides, thirty seconds was too short.

The man was certain Xiao Ran had no truly damaging abilities, and that was why he dared to act so recklessly.

Just then, Xiao Ran noticed the other passengers staring wide-eyed at him. If he couldn't collect the money this time, he wouldn't have a chance of collecting the rest either.

"I see."

Xiao Ran raised an eyebrow, a cold glint appearing in his eyes. As he spoke, he promptly activated the Red Armband's second special ability: Curse Contract.

A beam of red light shone from the armband onto the man, and his body abruptly stiffened.

"Blade Draw Slash!"

As Curse Contract took effect, the short blade Xiao Ran had been charging up for some time slashed into the man's chest. Its edge swiftly opened a neat cut across his chest.

"Heh!"

Feeling the blade sink into his chest, the man merely sneered. He even hoped Xiao Ran's next strike would give him a more thrilling rush.

But what the man hadn't expected was that after the first slash, Xiao Ran immediately put his blade away and produced a Silver Needle instead.

"A needle?"

Seeing the Silver Needle in Xiao Ran's hand, the man began imagining needles under his fingernails, in his ears, through his nipples, and into his dick. The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. He even swallowed in anticipation.

But he'd clearly gotten ahead of himself. Xiao Ran took out the Silver Needle and immediately began stitching up the wound.

"What... are you doing?"

Xiao Ran's actions were so far beyond the man's understanding that he froze in place.

The Silver Needle darted rapidly along the wound, stitching it closed in the blink of an eye.

"If you won't give it to me, I'll take it myself!"

Xiao Ran looked up. At some point, the [Calamity Suppressing Token: Corpse Stitcher] in his hand had already been activated. He held out his hand toward the man before him. "Spirit Seizing..."