The Seventh Middle School

"[Fifth Hospital] is here. Passengers getting off, please move toward the rear door..."

"Pfft!"

The doors opened, and one shadow after another stepped down through the rear door.

"Oh, the heavens above! Shameless! Picking on a poor old woman like me!"

As soon as she got off, the Old Woman stood beneath the window, her face twisted in misery as she tearfully railed against the injustice.

A fine was one thing, but making her pay for a ticket too? It was downright unreasonable.

As she spoke, she glared viciously at Xiao Ran through the window, wishing she could tear the bastard limb from limb.

The other passengers who had gotten off all looked at the Old Woman with sympathy.

Especially the middle-aged man who had gotten off right behind her.

With the Old Woman as an example, the middle-aged man had instantly chickened out when Xiao Ran checked his ticket. He had paid the fine without hesitation. It was three times the fare, but compared to what had happened to the Old Woman, it was still a bargain.

The Old Woman wasn't satisfied with cursing through the window. Her other hand groped at her waist. "You little brat, come down here if you've got the guts! I'll show you... I... Hm?? Where's my knife??"

After feeling around for a while, she even lifted her waistband, but still couldn't find the cleaver tucked behind her back.

When she looked up, she saw Xiao Ran standing behind the window, brandishing a bizarre-looking cleaver.

"My knife!!"

The Old Woman's voice shot up an octave. She leaped up and tried to charge onto the bus.

But just then, the rear door snapped shut with a "clack."

"Bang, bang, bang..."

"Open up! Open the door! Thief! Robber! Open up, I'll fight you to the death!!"

The Old Woman pounded on the door frantically.

Huang Le heard the commotion and leaned against the window, watching the Old Woman lose her mind. He turned to Xiao Ran, who had sat back down. "What happened to her?"

"Probably lost something," Xiao Ran replied nonchalantly, playing with the cleaver he had just acquired. "But it probably wasn't anything important. My grandpa always said that anything tucked behind your waist or stuffed in your back pocket was worthless junk."

The Old Woman's pounding didn't last long. The driver had no intention of opening the door for her and simply floored the accelerator.

"Robber! Thief!!"

Watching the bus quickly disappear from sight, the Old Woman gave a few feeble howls. Then she slumped onto the ground and burst into tears.

"Now that's a fine knife!"

Xiao Ran examined the cleaver in his hand. It wasn't very long, and its shape was more like a butcher's cleaver, broad at the top and narrow at the bottom. A deep blood groove ran along the blade, and the black metal it was made of was impossible to identify.

It looked heavy, but it was surprisingly light in his hand.

The only downside was that it wasn't a Cursed Object.

He put the cleaver away, thought for a moment, then handed the knife he'd been carrying to Huang Le.

"You're getting off at the next stop. Take this knife to protect yourself."

"Oh, thanks, brother."

Huang Le was delighted. A knife wasn't anything rare, but around here, having one for protection was better than being empty-handed.

"Don't mention it. There's nothing else I can teach you. Just be careful, and don't trust anyone too easily."

Xiao Ran had a pretty good impression of Huang Le. At least, they'd worked well together just now. But there were some things he couldn't explain to him. Huang Le would have to face the trial on his own, and Xiao Ran didn't know what it involved.

As for Cursed Objects and curse marks, those were even harder to explain. Huang Le would have to wait until he got through this trial himself.

There were still a few passengers scattered around the bus. Xiao Ran could tell at a glance who had a ticket and who didn't, but he didn't check anyone else's.

After all, Huang Le would be getting off at the next stop, and Xiao Ran would be getting off at the one after that.

There was no need to make enemies of everyone.

They might be unable to do anything to him on the bus, but once they got off, that might not be the case.

Besides, he'd already made a decent profit along the way.

Between the fines and the replacement fares, he'd gotten five yuan from the old man, eight from the Old Woman, and three from the honest middle-aged passenger, along with an F-class Cursed Object—a lighter—and the cleaver he'd just acquired.

After deducting the five ghost coins he'd give the driver later, he'd made a net profit of eleven. With the three ghost coins he'd already had, Xiao Ran felt his pockets were suddenly bulging.

But his biggest gain had been forcibly taking Empty Handed Master from Mei San.

It was an incredible money-making skill.

If he hadn't been getting close to his stop, Xiao Ran figured he could have made a fortune just by working as a ticket inspector.

"Ding! [Jiaomu Village] is here. Passengers getting off, please prepare to move toward the rear door."

The bus soon reached a village. Through the window, Xiao Ran saw nothing but darkness. The houses stood unlit, and the air was filled with a smell like charred wood.

"Brother, I'm getting off. Thanks for looking after me along the way. If I make it out alive, I'll treat you to a drink."

"Sure!"

Xiao Ran nodded and gave Huang Le his contact information before watching him get off.

The moment Huang Le stepped out of the bus, his figure began to blur. It was as if he'd entered another world, and he vanished before Xiao Ran's eyes.

"Ding! Next stop, Seventh Middle School. Passengers getting off, please move toward the rear door."

No one boarded at this stop. The driver closed the doors early and started the bus.

Xiao Ran stood up and walked over to the driver. He placed the red armband and seven ghost coins on the cup holder beside him.

The driver glanced at the money, picked it up, and weighed it in one hand. At the crisp clink of the ghost coins, his bear-like face broke into a smile as sweet as honey.

"Your cut was five yuan. Why are you giving me seven?"

"Things went smoothly, thanks in part to your influence. I'd feel bad if you didn't take it, big brother."

"Heh!" The driver curled his lip. He knew Xiao Ran was trying to ingratiate himself, but he was still pleased. After all, who could hold a grudge against money?

He put the coins away, then pushed the red armband back toward Xiao Ran. "Come by again if you get the chance. I'm always losing money on this route. I need someone to help me keep things in order. If you've got time, come lend a hand."

"Will do."

Xiao Ran smiled as he picked up the red armband.

The Cursed Object itself wasn't the important part. What mattered was getting on the driver's good side. If he ran into trouble later, he could always hide on the bus. At the very least, that might save his life.

"[Side Quest: Temporary Ticket Inspector] completed. Rewards will be settled after this Maze City ends."

As the driver took the money, Xiao Ran heard the notification at the same time.

According to the prompt he'd received when he entered the Maze City, he only needed to complete three side quests to leave. He'd already completed one before even reaching his destination, so naturally, Xiao Ran was in an excellent mood.

"The Seventh Middle School, huh?"

The driver glanced at Xiao Ran. "That's no good place."

Xiao Ran understood that the driver was warning him. He hurriedly asked, "Big brother, it's my first time here, and I don't know much. Could you give me a few pointers and broaden my horizons?"

As he spoke, Xiao Ran quietly took out two ghost coins and placed them on the cup holder.

"I don't know much myself." The driver glanced at the coins before continuing. "I've only heard that the place has so many rules it'll scare you senseless. But the real danger comes from the ghost stories. You're going to school there, so if you run into something you don't understand, you can find Sister Li, the dorm supervisor, in the dorm building. Give her this, and she'll help you."

As he spoke, the driver reached into the storage compartment beside him, took out a small box, and handed it to Xiao Ran.

Xiao Ran opened the box. Inside was a pair of reading glasses.

"She left them on my bus by accident the last time she rode with me."

"Left them?" Xiao Ran was skeptical of that description, but he still put them away. "Thanks, big brother."

The driver nodded and said nothing more.

Seeing that, Xiao Ran tactfully returned to his seat.

The ride took only five or six minutes. Soon, the outline of a school came into view in the distance.

"Ding! Seventh Middle School is here. Passengers getting off, please move toward the rear door."

As the announcement sounded over the bus speakers, Xiao Ran stood up and headed for the rear door. The other passengers stayed in their seats, making no move to get off with him.

The bus slowly pulled to the stop. With a "clack," the door opened.

Xiao Ran stood at the door and peered outside. He saw an empty street. Across the road, the school gates were covered in rust, and the whole campus lay shrouded in a layer of black shadow.

He stepped off the bus and started toward the school gates across the road.

"Hey!"

Xiao Ran turned around. Through the window, the driver called out to him, "Remember to check your ticket."

Then, while Xiao Ran looked on in confusion, the driver started the bus and quickly vanished from sight.

"My ticket?"

He reached into his pocket and felt around. His original ticket was gone. In its place was a Student ID stained with blood.

The blood had blurred the photo on the Student ID.

Then the blood seemed to come alive, twisting and writhing as a line of bloody text appeared on it.

Name: Wang Meng

Class: 2017

Cause of Death: Jumped from a building

Main Quest: Complete this semester's final exams.

[The deity presiding over this Maze City is God of Pleasure Hu Ji. You may please the deity through sexual pleasure between men and women to obtain a temporary boost to a special ability. The greater the pleasure, the stronger the boost!]