You Don't Give It To Me, I'll Take It Myself

"Twice, huh."

Xiao Ran felt the information from the red armband and, after pondering it carefully, understood why the driver had been smiling so strangely.

He, this temporary ticket inspector, was no different from a taxi driver on the outside. The moment he opened his eyes, he owed the taxi company 250. He had to earn back that 250 yuan for the day, and the rest was his own.

So, the driver would never compensate. As for whether the ticket inspector could make money, that was another story.

After all, there were only two chances per stop. With a car full of malevolent spirits, how could he know who had a ticket and who didn't?

Did anyone know?

Others definitely wouldn't. These malevolent spirits were just a mass of white mist when they boarded. The man in the vest hadn't seen anyone board.

But he...

Heh, he had seen it all clearly.

"You enjoyed watching me suffer while you were eating sunflower seeds just now, didn't you?"

Xiao Ran glanced sideways at the man sitting beside him, who was eating sunflower seeds. He grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, and put the red armband on his shoulder.

Having gained the identity of a ticket inspector, these malevolent spirits looked at Xiao Ran with strange or even evasive eyes.

Even though he wasn't sitting in a chair, no 'passenger' wanted to mess with Xiao Ran now.

Picking up the hanging mop, Xiao Ran began to diligently mop up the water stains on the floor.

Seeing Xiao Ran's relaxed demeanor, the driver's eyes revealed a hint of surprise. He scratched his head and returned to the driver's seat.

As Xiao Ran walked past the man in the vest, he casually took a pair of sweatpants from his space and threw them at him.

With a look of disgust on his face, he said, "Why are you sitting on the floor? Don't you find it dirty? Change into these new pants and clean the chairs for me."

"Oh, okay, okay."

Although the man in the vest looked a bit older, he wasn't confused at all. He immediately understood that Xiao Ran was creating a diversion for him. He didn't care about being stared at by a group of malevolent spirits and quickly took off his pants. Xiao Ran noticed that he was actually wearing Mickey Mouse underwear.

He left the stains under the seat for the man to deal with himself, while Xiao Ran leisurely took his mop and walked over to the old man eating sunflower seeds.

The old man looked to be around sixty years old. He carried a bamboo basket in one hand and occasionally grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds from it.

When the female ghost had attacked him earlier, this guy had watched with such relish, as if he wished the female ghost would tear him apart.

Sensing Xiao Ran's gaze, the old man was startled. He gave Xiao Ran a sheepish smile and offered him a handful of sunflower seeds from his basket: "Little brother, have some sunflower seeds."

Xiao Ran looked at the sunflower seeds being offered. The black shells were still speckled with green mold. The smile on his face widened. He tapped the scattered shells on the ground with his mop and reached out to the old man: "Three yuan!"

The old man was stunned: "Three yuan for what?"

"A fine of three yuan for littering sunflower seed shells."

"You!!"

The old man looked down at the scattered shells on the ground, his eyes widening: "I'll pick them up myself!"

But Xiao Ran didn't care. Seeing the old man's uncooperative attitude, he turned and shouted to the driver: "Brother, this old man is going to shit on your bus!"

"???"

The old man's eyes widened, almost popping out of his head. He had never met such a shameless person.

Before he could say anything, he felt a hostile gaze sweeping over him. He looked up and saw the driver's half-head peeking out from behind the partition, his eyes scanning him.

The fierce glint in his pea-sized eyes made the old man tremble uncontrollably. He immediately took three spirit coins from his pocket and handed them to Xiao Ran.

"Here, here, here, don't you dare!!"

Xiao Ran reached out and took the money. The coins made a crisp, pleasant sound in his hand, and his mood began to lift.

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

"What?"

The old man looked at the hand reaching for him again, his head tilted in confusion.

"Ticket check!"

Xiao Ran pointed to the red armband on his shoulder.

As Xiao Ran said "ticket check," the black Curse Mark on the armband began to rotate, as if an eye was staring at the old man's face.

The old man stared blankly for a few seconds before slowly coming to his senses and saying, "Didn't I just give you money?"

"That was a fine. This is a ticket check. Where's your ticket?" Xiao Ran smiled at the old man. When they stopped earlier, he had been watching the entrance, and this old man had boarded with his head down. He had seen it clearly.

"You... I..."

The old man's mouth gaped open, and a centipede occasionally crawled inside, sticking its head out as if wanting to bite Xiao Ran.

After a moment, the old man reluctantly put his hand in his pocket, fumbling around. Finally, with a bitter expression, he glanced out the window before reluctantly taking out three spirit coins from his pocket and handing them to Xiao Ran.

One old man, six spirit coins. Xiao Ran's smile couldn't have been happier.

The driver sat in the driver's seat, watching Xiao Ran's every move through the rearview mirror. Seeing this, he pursed his lips and instantly felt that this kid was much more pleasing to the eye than before.

"Holy crap, amazing!"

The man in the vest watched Xiao Ran's every move. He didn't know what use those copper coins were, but seeing Xiao Ran extorting these malevolent spirits, he was utterly awestruck.

I've heard of fierce people, but never one this fierce??

As for the other passengers, their gazes towards Xiao Ran became even stranger. Several passengers with guilty consciences began to slowly move towards the back door, preparing to get off the bus.

However, Xiao Ran didn't make things difficult for them. He scanned the surroundings and walked directly to the seat by the door in the back row.

The man sat on the chair, his hair slicked back, his leather shoes gleaming, dressed in a suit and tie. He even carried a faint scent of perfume.

Facing Xiao Ran approaching, the man looked up, his gaze provocative as he sized Xiao Ran up.

"Hello, ticket check!" Xiao Ran extended his hand towards the man.

The man nodded upon hearing this, stood up from his chair, unhurriedly unbuttoned his clothes, revealing purplish-blue skin, and smiled at Xiao Ran, "No ticket."

It was clear the man had no intention of buying a ticket. He seemed to understand the capabilities of the red armband very well and could tell that Xiao Ran's methods were limited. They were barely enough to deal with the female ghost, and posed no threat to him. A smirk played on his lips, his expression practically saying to Xiao Ran, "What are you going to do about it?"

Xiao Ran didn't seem surprised by this. He hadn't expected the man to willingly buy a ticket from the start. Ever since the female ghost began attacking him, he had felt the man's hostility the deepest. The Black Swan Brooch had sent waves of stinging pain several times, all originating from this man.

And while the female ghost was being beaten by the driver, this man had closed his eyes, savoring the woman's sharp screams. He was clearly a pervert.

Facing the man's indifferent attitude, Xiao Ran understood what he was thinking.

Xiao Ran's gaze scrutinized the man's purplish-blue skin, noticing that many areas were covered in thick white hair.

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

Strictly speaking, a White Zombie isn't truly a zombie, but as the first stage of corpse transformation, its physical strength is indeed very high.

The red armband's second privilege: Contract of Curse, which causes the target to enter a 30-second paralysis state. During this state, they cannot move, and the damage they receive increases by 1.5 times.

But even with a 1.5 times damage bonus, how much damage could he inflict?

Moreover, thirty seconds was too short a time.

The other party was counting on his lack of lethal methods to be so brazen towards him.

At this moment, Xiao Ran also noticed the other passengers behind him staring intently at his every move. If he couldn't collect the money this time, he wouldn't be able to collect the rest either.

"Is that so."

Xiao Ran's eyebrows twitched, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. He then decisively activated the red armband's second privilege: Contract of Curse.

A red light from the red armband shone onto the man, causing his body to stiffen abruptly.

"Blade Draw Slash!!"

As the Contract of Curse activated, Xiao Ran's long-prepared short blade slashed across the man's chest, the blade quickly opening a neat cut on his torso.

"Heh!"

Feeling the blade cut into his chest, the man merely let out a contemptuous chuckle, even anticipating Xiao Ran to give him more thrilling pleasure with the next strike.

But to the man's surprise, after the first strike, Xiao Ran immediately put away his dao and instead produced a silver needle.

"A needle??"

Seeing the silver needle in Xiao Ran's hand, images of needles piercing fingernails, ears, nipples, and genitals flashed through the man's mind. As he thought about it, he couldn't help but swallow, even starting to feel a sense of anticipation.

However, he was clearly overthinking it. Xiao Ran took out the silver needle and, without any delay, began to quickly stitch up the cut wound.

"What... are you doing??"

Xiao Ran's actions were beyond his comprehension, and he froze in place.

The silver needle darted rapidly along the wound, stitching it up completely in just a moment.

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

Xiao Ran looked up, the [Calamity Suppressing Token · Corpse Stitcher] already activated at some point, and he opened his hand towards the man in front of him: "Spirit Seizing..."