Free Web NovelChapter 128: Chapter 128
"Impressive!"
For two consecutive runs, the people ahead had given two solutions: one was to dodge the fare, and the other was to take the ticket seller’s finger.
If you were weak, you’d try the first; if you were strong, you’d go for the second.
Outside the venue, teams were already being formed.
Compared to fare evasion, if you could eventually afford tickets with your own power, nobody would choose to run away.
"That works if you can win, but what if you can’t?"
"Then just buy the ticket, like a normal person!"
"I still feel like it’s not that simple."
...
As they spoke, the second batch of teams already rushed in. This time, the people going in were a little less capable—after all, the confident ones had all gone in with the first wave.
But this time, exactly ten people entered, just filling the ten available seats.
The ticket seller watched them marching straight toward him and immediately realized their target was him.
Upon seeing them, he grinned crookedly with a weird chuckle.
He began plucking his own fingers one by one, respectfully offering them up.
A wide, twisted grin. Crooked, warped fingers. However you looked at this scene, it was disturbingly bizarre.
"The hell? Did he just chicken out?"
"Nah, this is way too wimpy."
"This whole thing just feel weird, man."
...
Right then, Zhou Ang sat in his seat, trying to memorize the route, but it was pitch black outside—not a thing could be seen through the window.
"Brother Che, actually I have a thought," Zhou Ang said, looking across the aisle at Jiang Che.
"You know, it’s not specified whose finger it has to be. So could we just take the ticket seller’s finger?"
"He doesn’t seem all that strong, so if—I’m just saying if—someone was really powerful, couldn’t they just take his?"
Jiang Che turned his head. "Why do you want to take his finger?"
He remembered Ding Ning had told him: this dungeon wasn’t really an SSS-level rules dungeon. If that was the case, then the rules they’d been told the whole way were fake.
People were just misled by the Six-Star Pond’s name.
If it’s not a rules dungeon, that means it’s a free dungeon.
"If you don’t provide a ticket and stuff goes wrong in the middle, we’ll be thrown off, right?" He glanced nervously out the window; if they got dumped in a place like this, their chances of survival were slim to none.
"Because we’re getting off partway." Jiang Che had detailed information, given to him by Ding Ning—a guide of all the stops along the route.
According to Ding Ning, this was indeed a supernatural world bus, designed so various little spirits could hop from dungeon to dungeon.
Boarding truly required a ticket, but not a finger.
Why would a bus in the Evil Spirit Realm need human fingers as tickets?
If the dungeon isn’t open, where would the evil spirits riding the bus get their hands on human fingers?
Humans might feel the bus never stops, but in reality, it’s stopped many times along the way.
It’s just that the ride is so smooth, you can’t feel any difference, and the evil spirits on the bus had come and gone, swapped out several batches already.
On this bus, no matter who the passengers are, you can’t attack other passengers.
"Getting off," Jiang Che announced as he sensed the landmark change again, then stood up and walked over to the door.
Xiong Jie and Zhou Ang followed as Jiang Che stood, both suddenly realizing that the bus had, in fact, stopped. The driver just turned his head to give them a creepy look—
—then looked away again.
As soon as he got off, Jiang Che saw Hua.
Then a strange fog seemed to envelop him, Xiong Jie, and the others.
"Alright, the live feed disappeared," Hua, now as tall as a person, said, slapping two branches together as if clapping her hands.
Tuantuan, standing beside Hua, was like a tiny cannonball, launching herself straight into Jiang Che’s arms.
"Daddy!" Tuantuan called out happily.
Zhou Ang was stunned; this voice was all too familiar.
That brat from earlier?
But wasn’t that brat in the Human Realm?
He looked at the child in Jiang Che’s arms—it was exactly the same as the one he’d seen before.
"That’s my daughter, you should have seen her before," Jiang Che said, smiling.
"This is Uncle Zhou Ang, you know him too." Holding Tuantuan, Jiang Che’s eyes couldn’t hide his joy.
Tuantuan had been announcing the stops to him the whole way, and as soon as he arrived, she insisted he get off.
"Is this... Six-Star Pond?" Zhou Ang muttered, eyes focusing mainly on Hua.
The human-sized Cannibal Flower was swaying constantly, with Jiang Che and his so-called daughter beside it—an absolutely eerie sight.
"This isn’t Six-Star Pond," Jiang Che explained.
"Hua, long time no see. You look even prettier," he said, smiling at Hua.
"Hmph. And you can tell if I’m pretty or not like this? You’ve barely left for a few days and already picked up the glib tongue from those people outside?"
Hua snorted coldly.
Jiang Che paused, "I thought you were supposed to always compliment girls, no matter what, when you meet them?"
Xiong Jie stood stock-still, head down, behind Jiang Che.
Outside, he’d dare speak a little, act as Jiang Che’s friend. But once inside a dungeon, he knew his rank instantly.
"You... and the evil spirits..." A trace of doubt flashed in Zhou Ang’s eyes. He felt as if he understood—and yet didn’t.
Jiang Che was really with the evil spirits?
And Xiong Jie seemed to know about it, too.
"This is my wife’s good friend." Jiang Che pointed at Hua.
Before they arrived, Ding Ning had already informed him that she was away at a meeting for now, not at home.
"You..." Zhou Ang took a deep breath.
Xiong Jie stayed dead silent. He knew if Zhou Ang reacted the wrong way now, only death awaited him.
The evil spirits would never tolerate a human like that near Jiang Che.
"No wonder you keep going on about building a world where humans and evil spirits coexist," Zhou Ang said, as if it suddenly all made sense.
"Hello," Hua extended a branch.
"Hello..." Zhou Ang reached out his hand too.
This was his first time in such close contact with an evil spirit. Touching Hua’s branch—just a quick tap and back.
Honestly, he wasn’t afraid. All this time and the spirit hadn’t harmed him, and Jiang Che was there too, so it must be fine.
The main thing was, earlier he’d met Tuantuan, had seen that child before.
The kid had helped them a lot then, relayed messages to her mom.
Maybe it was precisely because Tuantuan didn’t harm his mother that now, with Tuantuan and Hua, he actually felt no fear.
Just a bit curious.
"You smell pretty tasty," Hua said, rubbing her branches and snorting while staring at Zhou Ang.
She still felt guilty for hurting Jiang Che before, had been thinking about how to make it up to him, but after seeing him, she just couldn’t do it.
Especially when she saw who Jiang Che brought. Xiong Jie was Ning’s contracted servant, so no problem—but this ordinary person isn’t afraid either?
Maybe she couldn’t control Jiang Che, but couldn’t she handle a Zhou Ang?
"Huh?" Zhou Ang froze for a moment, but saw she was just looking up, not making a move against him.
Did he really smell that good?
"I use Safeguard soap."
