Chapter 20 The Car Door Opens

The bus swerved slightly.

The driver tried to keep calm as he drove, but the sweat dripping down his forehead betrayed him.

"How much longer to the next stop?" a voice asked, breaking the silence.

"About 5 minutes." someone responded.

Quietness settled back inside the bus.

"Could you let the Fire-Toothed Dog smell you? Maybe it can sniff out where that thing is." In the prevailing silence, Qiao Sang suddenly spoke up.

Before the female student could respond, the man with a square face next to her sneered, "Even if there really is a wild Spectral Series Extraordinary Creature on the bus, are you sure you want to track it down while we're still driving? What if you piss it off and something happens, can you take responsibility?"

"Yeah, let's wait till we get to the next stop and then see."

"We should contact someone from the Patrol Department to handle this, let's not make trouble."

"Right, what's the number for the Patrol Department again? I'll make the call."

"I think it's 669."

"…That's the Control Department."

The passengers discussed back and forth.

"It's not from the Spectral Series." Qiao Sang declared.

"How do you know it isn't?" someone asked.

"You're the one who said there was something moving, and you're the one saying it isn't, are you messing with us?" the square-faced man exclaimed.

Qiao Sang gave him a direct look and laughed, "Sir, I feel like you've been targeting me from the start."

The square-faced man's eyes bulged as he yelled, "I'm only 24 years old!"

"Sir, you're being a bit loud," Qiao Sang remarked, casually clearing his ear.

The square-faced man glared at Qiao Sang fiercely, his expression vicious. If it weren't for the Fire-Toothed Dog in front of Qiao Sang, he might have started a fight the next second.

"Why isn't it from the Spectral Series?" the female student asked at this point.

"That lady's Pet Beast is an Electromagnetic Rat. If there were a Spectral Series Extraordinary Creature nearby, its tail would be lightning-shaped, but right now its tail is hanging down," Qiao Sang explained, pointing at the Pet Beast on the shoulder of a lady sitting nearby.

The female student was stunned for a moment, then remembered, that seemed to be true...

The Electromagnetic Rat can sense special electromagnetic disturbances.

The unique electromagnetic field surrounding a Spectral Series Extraordinary Creature would indeed stimulate the rat's temporal lobes unconsciously, causing its tail to form a lightning shape.

But the textbook was a textbook, linking such obscure content to reality was something she hadn't thought of...

"Right, right, my Electromagnetic Rat does act like that," the nearby lady agreed, nodding.

Without hesitation, the female student said, "You can smell."

Qiao Sang nodded at the Fire-Toothed Dog.

The Fire-Toothed Dog obediently moved closer to the female student and started smelling her.

Qiao Sang noticed that the square-faced man standing nearby tensed his facial muscles instantly.

The Fire-Toothed Dog sniffed around and then barked at the square-faced man.

"What are you barking at, you damned dog!" the square-faced man snarled.

"Ya!"

The Fire-Toothed Dog's fur bristled, its limbs tensed, and its sharp teeth were significantly exposed as it clearly became enraged by the man before it.

The square-faced man flinched but still refused to back down.

He looked towards the young woman holding the Fire-Toothed Dog, hoping she would control her Pet Beast, only to find her staring back at him expressionlessly, her gaze colder and more terrifying than that of the Fire-Toothed Dog...

Qiao Sang felt incredibly calm at this moment, she slowly stroked the Fire-Toothed Dog's back, trying to calm it down.

She couldn't strike first; the Alliance explicitly forbade Beast Tamers from using Pet Beasts to attack ordinary citizens, and even if they were to attack, they couldn't do so openly, not with a whole busload of people watching.

This man definitely had issues. Earlier, she had noted that the Fire-Toothed Dog had reacted most intensely to him when it sensed something amiss, and that it had smelled the same scent on him as on the female student.

But to say something appeared on someone's person one moment and then disappeared the next was not something he could do himself.

Causing mischief on the bus could only be for money or some lecherous purpose.

That thing would make the Fire-Toothed Dog unable to sense anything at once, and the female student didn't notice anything either. If it touched her body, there definitely would have been a reaction.

It wasn't for lust.

So it was for wealth.

"Did you lose anything?" Qiao Sang turned and asked the female student.

The female student was stunned for a moment, then started checking her bag and pockets, and after two seconds.

"Damn, my phone is gone!"

Just as Qiao Sang had thought.

Seeing this, everyone else on the bus began checking their belongings.

"My phone is gone, too!"

"And my wallet as well!"

"And the necklace I bought for my girlfriend is missing too!"

"Where are my height-increasing insoles!!!"

"My Pet Beast's Shasha fruit, noooo!"

Upon checking, one-third of the people on the bus realized their belongings were missing.

Qiao Sang sharply realized that those who reported their belongings missing were all seated in the middle of the bus.

Qiao Sang, looking at the square-faced man, became even more certain of his suspicions.

The square-faced man, seeing Qiao Sang looking at him, turned very ugly, bit his Ya, and said, "My phone is gone, too!"

Qiao Sang: "..."

"Ouch... my Pet Beast and I can't be separated for even a moment..."

At that moment, a loud ringtone came from the square-faced man's body.

Man: "..."

The eyes of the crowd were all thrown his way.

The square-faced man smiled awkwardly and said, "Turns out it's still on me; I just couldn't find it earlier."

Qiao Sang asked, "You're a Beast Tamer, right?"

The square-faced man's expression darkened, and he hadn't thought about how to answer yet.

"He is, he's even wearing the Beast Tamer's badge!" The female student, realizing something odd about the square-faced man, excitedly said.

The Alliance registered Beast Tamers are issued a corresponding badge; for example, an E-rank Beast Tamer's badge would be white with the Beast Taming Alliance's emblem on top, along with an 'F' symbol.

Some people like wearing it; others don't, and those who don't generally are lower-level Beast Tamers.

The man with the square face astonishingly wore a gray-base E-rank Beast Tamer badge on his chest.

This indicated he had at least two Intermediate Pet Beasts.

"Would you mind letting all of us see what your Pet Beast is?" Qiao Sang asked amiably.

The square-faced man wanted to refuse, but the eyes of everyone on the bus were focused on him.

"Let us see your Pet Beast!"

"Yeah, what's there to be afraid of?"

"You were acting all tough just now, weren't you? Say something."

"Do you have some Pet Beast you can't show to people?"

The square-faced man's expression grew uglier by the minute, his already twisted features clenched together, and the sweat on his back made his gray vest cling to his body.

Just as he didn't know what to do.

"Yonglin station has arrived, please take your belongings and exit from the rear door."

The sound of the electronic bus announcer came on.

The bus doors opened.