The bus shifted slightly as it moved.
The driver forced a calm expression, but the sweat trickling down his forehead betrayed him.
“How long until the next stop?” A voice broke the silence first.
“About 5 more minutes,” someone replied.
The interior of the bus fell silent again.
“Can you let the Fire Tooth Dog sniff your scent? Maybe it can find out where that thing is.” Suddenly, Qiao Sang spoke up amidst the stillness.
Before the girl beside her could respond, a square-faced man next to her sneered, “Even if there's really a wild ghost-type extraordinary creature on the bus, are you sure you want to look for it while we’re driving? If it gets angry and something happens, can you take responsibility?”
“Yeah, let’s just wait until the bus stops at the next station,” another passenger added.
“This needs to be handled by the inspection department. We shouldn’t cause trouble,” someone else chimed in.
“Right, what’s the phone number for the inspection department? I can call,” another person asked.
“I think it’s 669.”
“That’s the control department,” someone corrected.
The passengers on the bus began to discuss among themselves.
“It’s not a ghost type,” Qiao Sang declared.
“How do you know it’s not?” someone questioned.
“You were the one who said there’s movement, and now you’re saying it’s not. Are you playing us?” The square-faced man shouted.
Qiao Sang met his gaze and replied with a smile, “Uncle, I think you’ve been targeting me from the start.”
The square-faced man’s eyes widened, and he shouted, “I’m only 24!”
“Uncle, your voice is a bit loud,” Qiao Sang said, pretending to dig in her ears.
The man glared at her fiercely, his expression menacing. If it weren’t for the Fire Tooth Dog in front of her, he might have attacked her right then.
“Why isn’t it a ghost type?” The girl asked again.
“The aunt’s beast is a Magnetic Tough Mouse. If there were ghost-type extraordinary creatures around, its tail would be upright like lightning. But right now, it’s dangling down,” Qiao Sang pointed to the beast on the shoulder of the aunt sitting nearby.
The girl paused, recalling that there was some truth to that…
The Magnetic Tough Mouse reacts to magnetic fields and can sense special magnetic activities. If there were ghost-type extraordinary creatures around, the unique magnetic field would stimulate its brain’s temporal lobe, causing its tail to stand like lightning.
But textbooks are textbooks; it was hard for her to connect such obscure details to reality…
“Right, my Magnetic Tough Mouse is indeed like that,” the aunt said, nodding as she realized.
Hearing this, the girl didn’t hesitate anymore and said, “Go ahead, let it sniff.”
Qiao Sang nodded at the Fire Tooth Dog.
The dog obediently sniffed the girl.
Qiao Sang noticed that the muscles in the square-faced man’s face tensed suddenly.
After sniffing, the Fire Tooth Dog took a few more sniffs of the air and then barked at the square-faced man.
“Shut up, you dead dog!” the man snarled.
“Bark!”
The Fire Tooth Dog’s fur bristled, its limbs strengthening, revealing sharp teeth that gleamed menacingly, clearly angered by the man’s aggression.
The square-faced man was startled but stood his ground, refusing to back down. He glanced at the girl holding the Fire Tooth Dog, hoping she would rein in her beast. Instead, he found her staring back at him with an expressionless face, her cold gaze more intimidating than the dog itself…
In that moment, Qiao Sang felt an unusual calm wash over her. She slowly stroked the Fire Tooth Dog’s back, trying to soothe it.
She knew they couldn’t attack him first; the alliance clearly stated that Beast Masters are prohibited from using their beasts to attack ordinary citizens. Even if they had to defend themselves, they couldn’t be overt about it—after all, there was an entire bus full of people.
This man was clearly suspicious. Earlier, when she mentioned the Fire Tooth Dog sensed something, it reacted most intensely to him. The dog also caught the same scent on him as it did on the girl.
Yet it was impossible for something to just appear and disappear on him suddenly.
Those involved in small tricks on a bus usually seek wealth or romantic interests.
Whatever it was had managed to keep the dog from sensing it, and the girl hadn’t noticed anything amiss. If it were something physical, there would definitely be a reaction. So it wasn't about romance.
It must be about financial gain.
“Did you lose something?” Qiao Sang turned to the girl and asked.
The girl paused, quickly checking her bag and pockets. After two seconds, she exclaimed, “Oh no, my phone is missing!”
Just as she thought, Qiao Sang mused inwardly.
Seeing this, others on the bus began checking their belongings as well.
“My phone is missing too!”
“My wallet is gone!”
“The necklace I bought for my girlfriend is missing!”
“Where’s my height-increasing insoles!!!”
“My companion beast’s sand fruit ahhh!”
After this quick check, about a third of the people on the bus discovered their items were gone.
Qiao Sang sharply noticed that those claiming their belongings were missing all sat in the middle of the bus.
She looked over at the square-faced man, more certain about her suspicions.
Realizing Qiao Sang was watching him, the square-faced man’s face turned extremely ugly. Gritting his teeth, he declared, “My phone is missing too!”
Qiao Sang said, “…”
“Ouch… I can’t bear to be apart from my beast for even a moment…”
At that precise moment, a loud ringtone rang out from the square-faced man.
The man said, “…”
Everyone turned their attention toward him.
The square-faced man awkwardly chuckled and said, “Oh, it turns out it was still on me. I couldn’t find it just now.”
Qiao Sang asked, “You’re a Beast Master, aren’t you?”
The square-faced man’s expression darkened; he hadn’t thought of how to respond.
“He is! He’s wearing the Beast Master’s badge!” The girl suddenly exclaimed, realizing the square-faced man’s odd behavior with excitement.
All registered Beast Masters in the alliance receive corresponding badges. Those at the F level wear a white badge with the Beast Master Alliance emblem and an F symbol. Some like to wear them, while others don’t—usually, the ones who don’t are lower-ranking Beast Masters.
The square-faced man wore a gray badge clearly marking him as an E-level Beast Master, indicating he had at least two mid-level companion beasts.
“Do you mind showing us what your companion beasts are?” Qiao Sang asked kindly.
The square-faced man wanted to refuse, but everyone’s eyes were fixed on him.
“Show us your companion beasts!”
“Yeah, what’s there to be afraid of?”
“Weren’t you just so tough? Speak up!”
“Is there something shameful about your companion beasts?”
The square-faced man’s face grew darker. His already contorted features twisted even more as sweat soaked his gray tank top, sticking it to his body.
In that moment of hesitation, the electronic voice from the bus rang out, “Yonglin stop is here. Passengers getting off, please remember to take your belongings with you and exit from the rear door.”
The door opened.
(End of Chapter)