10: A bottle of water won over the hearts of the entire class!

"Thud—!"

The deafening sound was like someone slamming a battering ram against everyone's skulls.

The entire bus tilted violently, the frame groaning under the unbearable strain.

"The fuel tank guard!"

Su Chen didn't even turn his head; the strange tearing sound traveled directly through the chassis to the soles of his feet.

Through the rearview mirror, he saw that the Rotten-faced Dogs king was forcing its half-rotted head through a gap in the guard plate.

Two rows of fangs were gnawing frantically at the reinforced steel plate, with less than three centimeters left until the fuel line.

Once the fuel line was bitten through, this bus would become a mobile crematorium!

The screams inside the bus erupted instantly.

"Stop screaming! Shut up!"

Su Chen slammed his palm onto the steering wheel, and the horn blared a piercing, long sound, drowning out all the panic.

He didn't rush to deal with the beast tearing the vehicle apart; instead, he bent down and leisurely pulled a sealed white plastic water tank from under the driver's seat.

This was his private stash he had secretly accumulated last night using his "Purification Halo." It was a full three liters, crystal clear. In this world full of mud and filth, this thing was more dazzling than gold.

Although the situation was critical, he had his own way of dealing with it.

Furthermore, this was the perfect moment to establish his authority.

"Click."

The sound of the bottle cap unscrewing was very soft, but in the dead silent and desperate carriage, it sounded like a thunderclap.

The sound of clear, cool water flowing rang out. Su Chen deliberately poured a little water onto his hand, the sound of moisture acting like the most malicious temptation.

Gulp. Gulp.

Even Zhao Wanting, who had just been calling him an evil cultivator, couldn't control her throat from swallowing.

Physiological instincts don't lie.

Green light appeared in everyone's eyes; that look was no different from the monsters outside wanting to eat meat.

"Listen, the fuel tank is about to be bitten through. I have a way to solve it, but I need absolute obedience."

Su Chen shook the water tank in his hand, his gaze sweeping over those pretty faces, now shriveled and withered from dehydration, his tone as cold as if he were discussing a business deal.

"Whoever wants to live, vote now! There can only be one voice on this bus."

"This... this is extortion!"

Zhao Wanting gripped the seat armrest tightly, her knuckles turning white: "You're trying to establish a dictatorship!"

"Say whatever you want."

Su Chen shrugged, even leaning back.

"You can choose to exercise your democratic rights and negotiate with that dog not to bite the fuel line, but I'm only giving you ten seconds."

"Ten."

"Nine."

"I'm with Brother Su Chen!"

The first to raise her hand was still Zhou Xiaomeng.

This sports representative with a ponytail still had bruises on her face, but her eyes were frighteningly bright: "He saved Sister Yurou and fixed the bus! If it weren't for him, we would have already rotted into dust at that service area!"

"I agree too..."

Wang Li, sitting in the back row, timidly raised her hand, her voice choked with sobs.

"My child is still waiting for me to go back... As long as I can survive, I'll listen to anything."

"Logical closed loop."

Li Sisi pushed up her black-rimmed glasses that were about to slide off, as calm as if she were solving an Olympiad math problem.

"Su Chen holds the core technology (repairing the bus) and the only sustainable resource (purified water). In this closed system, rejecting him is equivalent to suicide. I vote in favor."

Following Li Sisi's stance, like falling dominoes, one hand after another was raised.

Zhao Wanting looked at the classmates around her who used to obey her every command, but now they were defecting one by one, her eyes filled with disbelief and shame.

"You... this is just buying people off!"

She gritted her teeth, her voice sharp.

"A bottle of water is enough to buy away your backbone?"

Su Chen didn't even give her a glance.

He picked up the barrel of water directly and handed it to Qin Ya.

"Teacher Qin, you are the Class Teacher and the only adult authority here."

Su Chen stared at Qin Ya, a playful curve tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"You tell me—who should this bus listen to from now on?"

This was an open conspiracy.

He was forcing Qin Ya to make a clean break.

Qin Ya looked at Su Chen, then at the group of students behind her with eyes full of longing, and then at the monster outside the window frantically ramming the back of the bus.

She took a deep breath, the intellect and gentleness belonging to a teacher transforming into a kind of determination at this moment.

She took the water tank, but instead of distributing it immediately, she poured a little onto her own dry, chapped lips in front of everyone.

Sweet, pure.

It was the taste of life.

"From today on, all survival decisions on this bus will be led by Su Chen."

Qin Ya's voice was not loud, but every word was resonant, carrying an unquestionable force.

"If something goes wrong, I, Qin Ya, guarantee with my status as a teacher that I will bear the consequences with him!"

The transfer of power was complete!

Su Chen smiled, the smile of a hunter watching prey fall into a trap.

"Very good."

He grabbed the walkie-talkie at his side, his gaze instantly changing from lazy to sharp as a knife.

"Everyone sit tight and hold onto the handrails! Lin Mengyao, go to the passenger seat!"

Lin Mengyao, who had been standing silently on the side, immediately sat in the passenger seat.

Just as she fastened her seatbelt, Su Chen felt something hard being slipped into the pocket of his windbreaker.

It was a cold metal USB drive.

Immediately after, Lin Mengyao's cool fingertips brushed against his waist almost imperceptibly.

Boom—!

A pure warm current instantly exploded from his waist, rushing straight to his skull.

【"Attachment" level bond contact detected, information flow is being parsed...】

A pale blue holographic map unfolded in Su Chen's mind without warning.

It wasn't provided by the system, but was "read" from the USB drive.

Ten red highlighted coordinates flickered on the map; these were nearby secret military facilities.

One blue dot marked "Seventh Strategic Water Purification Plant" was less than twenty kilometers away from them.

This girl, did she just hand over the life-saving trump card her tycoon father left behind?

Su Chen calmly pressed against his pocket, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

"Sit tight!"

He slammed his foot on the gas pedal, and the modified engine let out a beast-like roar.

But this wasn't to start moving forward; he was in reverse gear!

"Thud!!!"

The massive impact caused everyone to lurch forward violently.

The Rotten-faced Dogs king, which was forcing half its body inside at the rear of the bus, never expected this iron beast to suddenly counterattack.

The heavy rear of the bus acted like a sledgehammer, slamming it hard against a dead tree behind them.

The nauseating sound of bones shattering could be heard clearly even through the bus body.

Before the king could even let out a scream, it was crushed into a puddle of mud.

"Shift gears! Charge!"

Su Chen flicked his wrist, shifting gears and revving the engine in one smooth motion.

The bus, like a wild horse off its leash, rolled over the bloody mess and sped off into the depths of the mist.

"Li Sisi, distribute the Molotov cocktails we made earlier! Everyone, listen to my command and throw them out the side windows!"

"Yes!"

"Fire!"

Following Su Chen's order, homemade incendiary bottles filled with diesel and cloth strips flew out of the windows.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Flames exploded in the mist, forming a temporary wall of fire that blocked the group of rotting corpses chasing closely behind.

Zhao Wanting curled up in the corner at the back, watching Su Chen's calm, commanding figure, then looking at the girls around her who were cooperating tacitly and fighting desperately for survival.

She felt like a useless, redundant person.

She gripped the water bottle with "Zhao Jianguo" written on it tightly, her fingernails scratching white marks into the three characters at the bottom of the bottle.

Why... would Father's name appear in the file of that notorious defecting officer?

What kind of person was the man who taught her about loyalty and honor since she was a child?

Don't know how much time passed, the bus speed slowly decreased.

The mist gradually thinned, and the outline of a building resembling a steel beast appeared on the horizon.

"We're here."

Su Chen stepped on the brake, and the bus stopped in front of a huge, half-collapsed iron gate.

A crooked sign hung on the iron gate: "Seventh Strategic Water Purification Plant - Military Restricted Area."

The wind blew, and the iron gate made a creaking, eerie sound.

On the concrete ground behind the gate, there were bloodstains and bullet casings everywhere, and the air was filled with an unsettling silence.

Su Chen touched the USB drive in his pocket; Lin Mengyao was looking down, comparing it to the map in the encrypted file, her brows slightly furrowed.

"The terrain map here..."

Lin Mengyao had just started speaking when her voice suddenly trailed off.

She discovered that the "Safe Entrance" marked on the map was wide open at this moment.