*Chapter 27: A Ghost Having a Field Day*

Drake's eyes went wide. Even with his experience hustling in Gotham City for so long, he'd never seen a "super-heavy metal coffin" quite this serious. "So, at least five people died in this car?"

"Well, not exactly..."

"Level with me, man, what's the deal with this car?" Drake pressed. "I've been working for you this long, and I've never even seen this car once."

The boss probably figured this death trap wasn't going to sell anyway, so he sighed. "Okay, keep this quiet, alright? This car belonged to one of the Falcone crime family's low-level guys before. After he got into an accident driving it, the car got resold. It's been floating around being sold through their family's shady operations. Every time it sold, something went wrong. The worst time, four guys in the car got their heads blown off point-blank with two shotgun blasts."

"It's been bought three times total, and six buyers kicked the bucket, everything from car crashes to shootouts, you name it. The absolute craziest time, some car flipper found a deserted spot and dumped this car, and then that very afternoon he got in a car wreck, ended up at Wayne Hospital, and was in the morgue by evening."

"Even the Falcone guys thought this car was cursed. They shoved two thousand bucks at me and practically abandoned it here. I fixed it up, even lost over five hundred bucks of my own money on it. I finally got the car cleaned up inside and out, and I pulled out close to half a pound of bullets, seriously."

"What could I do? Sold it again, and the car got sent back. At least it was just broken glass, a flat tire, a few minor dents this time. And two more lives gone inside the car."

"Counting it up, that's nine lives gone in this car now. I really don't want to be the tenth. If either of you knows anyone not afraid of dying who wants a car, send 'em over. I won't charge 'em, I'll just give it to 'em..."

"No."

Huh?

The car dealer, his speech interrupted, looked around confusedly, his movements almost perfectly in sync with Drake's head shaking beside him.

"No," Cody, standing to the side, repeated calmly. "At least three thousand."

"WTF, what are you doing, bro?!" Drake's eyes were wide as saucers, staring at the calm Cody. "There are NINE lives in this car, bro! Not your own nine lives!"

"Damn it! Awesome! Deal!" The car dealer beside them was ecstatic. "Nobody backs out! I'll get the keys right now!"

"Remember to bring the money too."

"Huh?"

Cody repeated, "I said, remember to bring the three thousand dollars too. Otherwise, I don't want the car anymore."

"Huh???"

"Holy smokes, you are seriously something else!" Drake was shocked again. "You're damn taking his car and still asking him for three grand?!"

"I'm saving his life with mine, and then asking him for three thousand bucks," Cody corrected. "For something this dangerous, three thousand dollars is practically a steal, isn't it?"

"Are you sure you don't have some kind of special knack for this?"

"So, are you selling or not?" Cody flicked a Pocky stick out of a cigarette pack and put it in his mouth. "Make it quick. If you don't agree, I'm leaving. And when this car finds its next dealer, I'll use today's recording to leverage... make five thousand dollars off him."

"......."

The car dealer's face kept changing expressions. After a long moment, he finally turned around and came back with three thousand dollars in cash and a car key.

"You better pray that you..."

"Watch your mouth. If I'm gone, the car's coming right back here."

"You better be blessed with endless fortune like the East Sea's flow, have a lifespan longer than the ageless pine of South Mountain, may you have this day every year, may you be as eternal as the sky and earth, as radiant as the sun and moon, live in a mansion twelve stories high, live for eight thousand years like spring..."

Cody shrugged. "What I appreciate most about Gotham is stuff like this. The citizens are all emotionally stable and pretty polite. When something happens, they're willing to sit down and talk it through."

"That's just nuts."

...

After spending two hundred dollars at the dealer's place to get the tires changed on the car, Cody sat inside the car, and Drake stood outside, staring at each other.

"Aren't you coming back? Get in?"

"I'll take a cab back."

"?"

"What are you looking at me for? Drive it back yourself!" Drake said, taking Cody's cell phone from his pocket and showing it to him. "Remember this speed dial. It's for Wayne Hospital."

Cody gave a cold chuckle. Taking back his phone, he casually took out a sparkling silver car key and started the car, then stepped on the gas, leaving Drake far behind.

*One-Time Cursed Car Key*

Price: 300 Asset Points

Note: O evil spirit, get out of its body!

Evil Spirit: You get out of its body first... Strange, I feel like I had a conversation like this when I possessed a little boy before.

Note 2: Which genius thought of making a car key into a sacred item?

When the sparkling silver key was inserted into the car, Cody seemed to faintly hear a piercing and resentful scream from within the car body. In just a few seconds, the chilling atmosphere inside the car vanished completely.

"Beep, beep, you jerk!"

This thing cursed like it was whining.

Cody shrugged it off and casually turned on the car's air conditioning again. This time, just warm air blew out. The icy blood mist from before disappeared without a trace, like an illusion.

He pulled over to the side of the road and took out the silver car key. In just a few seconds, it had completely turned a dark grayish-black.

He opened the system interface again, and the text description had changed.

*Side Quest: Keeping Up with the Times*

Synopsis: Still using the traditional method of possessing people? That's way too outdated. How can a person who can possess people compare to a car that can possess people? Our Mr. Evil Spirit has been having a field day possessing people in this car and seems to be looking for the tenth person to possess. A priest at a church might not be willing to take on the task of exorcising a car, but you, my friend, you know what keeping up with the times means, don't you?

Status: Completed

Reward: After capturing the evil spirit, you can trade it for an amulet, effective nine times.

Cody casually selected the trade option. The black key disappeared into thin air, and a sparkling cross necklace appeared in his hand instead. Although made of iron, it didn't feel cold to the touch; instead, it had a faint warmth.

He glanced at it briefly, then hung the necklace around his neck and continued driving home.

The estimated value of this cross in the system store was five thousand asset points, and Cody clearly remembered the Sanctified Car Key in the store, so he didn't hesitate to take on this quest and made a small profit.

As for converting the necklace into asset points, he didn't have that idea for now. When living in Gotham, luck was clearly very important.