20: It got on the bus without buying a ticket

“I advise you not to eat here. Ferocious beasts have very sensitive noses. If they smell the food and target us, I alone can’t deal with so many ferocious beasts,” Xiao Shen advised.

The main thing was, he hadn't expected Cui Fucai to be so unreliable.

He had never seen anyone bring fried chicken and soda when coming to the forest to hunt ferocious beasts.

At most, they'd bring some dry rations.

But then he thought of Cui Fucai's wealth, and it seemed perfectly normal.

After all, he was rich, so what if he swapped dry rations for fried chicken?

“Oh, okay, then I’ll keep it in my bag and won’t take it out to eat,” Cui Fucai nodded obediently.

Finding the third-tier Golden Horned Tiger was simple; with Xiao Shen’s current strength, wounding it to near-death wasn't a difficult task.

“Quick, the rest is up to you.”

Xiao Shen dragged the near-dead Golden Horned Tiger over and let Cui Fucai finish it.

“Alright!” Cui Fucai seized the opportunity and stabbed the Golden Horned Tiger to death with a knife.

Mission accomplished!

Xiao Shen picked up the Golden Horned Tiger's beast crystal and put it into his storage pouch, then said to Cui Fucai, “Let’s go. We’ll go back and submit the mission.”

“Aye, alright,” Cui Fucai was particularly obedient, not dragging his feet at all.

By the time they returned to the guild, it was almost noon. Xiao Shen didn't know that just a second before he arrived, Chu Feiyue had just bought his potions and left… Little Ice Fox was taking the ride again.

This time, it was strutting proudly, because Baby was now a second-tier ferocious beast!

And it didn't need a ticket to get on the vehicle!

When it got on, Ge Yunying and the others were already in the vehicle. Little Ice Fox saw so many people inside and immediately bristled with fright.

“Woo woo woo woo!! (Why are there so many people?!)”

Perhaps Little Ice Fox’s commotion was a bit loud, as Wang Yi and the others all opened their eyes.

“Oh, it’s actually a ferocious beast cub, how cute!” As soon as Ge Yunying saw Little Ice Fox, her maternal instincts overflowed.

Girls can never resist cute things.

She stood up, wanting to pet Little Ice Fox, but Little Ice Fox quickly dodged further away.

“Woo woo woo woo! (Humans are all big bad guys!)”

Don't come near it, it's scared!

“This little ferocious beast is so afraid of people; someone must have hurt it before,” Ge Yunying said.

The relationship between ferocious beasts and humans had always been poor, but few would harm such a small ferocious beast cub.

After all, what they needed were beast crystals. Ferocious beast cubs were generally low-level, some even less than first-tier. Even if they killed them, they wouldn't get a beast crystal, and might even attract their parents, making it not worth the effort.

Feng Zhi also looked at Little Ice Fox curiously.

Wang Yi, on the other hand, was thinking: since my Mystic Horned Beast had to buy a ticket last time, then this little ferocious beast should also need to buy a ticket to get on, right?

He didn't know what his reasoning was, but he just waited there, waiting for Little Ice Fox to be forced to buy a ticket later.

But he waited and waited and waited. Little Ice Fox had already found a spot, stomped its feet, and started cultivating, yet no one asked it to buy a ticket.

What was going on??

Were they bullying him for being honest??

Huh?

So he stood up and stared at Little Ice Fox.

Ge Yunying saw him suddenly stand up and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Wang Yi said awkwardly, “It, it didn’t buy a ticket to get on.”

Ge Yunying heard this and covered her mouth, laughing, “Haha, Wang Yi, so you care about money too.”

It was the first time she had seen Wang Yi so flustered.

Wang Yi grew even more awkward: “But my Mystic Horned Beast had to buy a ticket last time.”

It's not poverty that bothers people, but unequal distribution; that's the principle.

Lin Feng didn't want Wang Yi, a major patron, to feel like he was being scammed, so he explained:

【The beast crystal Little Ice Fox used to buy a ticket was worth six thousand low-grade spirit stones, but it only took one ride, so it doesn't need to buy a ticket to get on until the spirit stones are depleted.】

So that's how it was.

Now Wang Yi no longer felt unbalanced.

Instead, he unlocked a new skill: “Can I also deposit some spirit stones on the vehicle?”

【You cannot directly deposit spirit stones, but you can use equivalent treasures as spirit stones.】

Upon hearing this, Wang Yi immediately reached into his storage pouch and took out a defensive Jade Talisman and three third-tier beast crystals: “Are these acceptable?”

Lin Feng used his Eye of Truth to appraise these items:

【These combined are worth one thousand two hundred low-grade spirit stones, equivalent to ten rides.】

The ticket price might increase after he leveled up to three, but he wasn't saying that now.

“Alright, then let’s store them for now,” Wang Yi was finally satisfied.

Little Ice Fox didn't understand why humans would have such strange thoughts, actively letting the vehicle tie them down.

If it weren't for the fact that it had no change and could only deposit that beast crystal, it would never have handed over such a valuable beast crystal!

Wang Yi: What do you know? I’m saving this for my Mystic Horned Beast!

...After Xiao Shen submitted the mission, he successfully received five hundred low-grade spirit stones and a bottle of healing potion.

Cui Fucai also lived up to expectations, directly giving Xiao Shen another three hundred low-grade spirit stones as a tip.

Because Xiao Shen completed the mission so quickly and safely, Cui Fucai wanted to book him for next time.

“It depends on the situation. If I’m free then, I’ll take your mission,” Xiao Shen said, putting the spirit stones and potion into his storage pouch.

“Alright.”

Xiao Shen had originally wanted to find Old He to sell the third-tier beast crystal, but when he went to the stall, he found no one there, so he had to leave.

How could he know that Old He had just been treating his fiancée, Liu Ling'er.

Xiao Shen ran into the Ferocious Beast Forest, searching for traces of the train.

It was also lucky that he came at the right time; Wang Yi and the others hadn't reached their disembarkation time yet, and Little Ice Fox was also on board, filling all four seats.

“So many people today?”

Xiao Shen usually rode alone, at most with Little Ice Fox.

A scene like today, with four people plus Little Ice Fox, had never happened before.

Wang Yi, however, felt a sense of familiarity, because another human had arrived.

“Hello, brother, my name is Wang Yi.” The education Wang Yi received since childhood taught him to make many friends, so even if he lost some primal energy by pausing his cultivation, he didn’t care that much.

“Hello.”

Compared to him, Xiao Shen was much more cautious. After all, having been betrayed by the person closest to him, it would be too foolish not to learn a lesson.

Wait, he said his name was Wang Yi?

That Wang Yi from the Beast Taming Bureau?

When Xiao Shen was in the Wall, he often heard about the Three Great Powers, and the Beast Taming Bureau was one of them.

He heard that the personal disciple of the Director of the Beast Taming Bureau was named Wang Yi. Wang Yi was very talented in beast taming and was also very refined, rarely getting angry with people.

Xiao Shen looked at Wang Yi carefully several times, trying to confirm whether this Wang Yi was indeed that Wang Yi.

“We’ve ridden this vehicle twice now. How about you, brother? Do you come often too?” Wang Yi showed a perfectly appropriate smile.