26: By imperial decree, I will touch the male god.

"Ahead is… a highly acidic, high-radiation zone!"

Before Teacher Qin's voice had even faded, a teeth-grinding "hissing" sound came from the bus's exterior.

The originally sturdy anti-rust paint quickly bubbled and peeled away in the thick fog, revealing the mottled, iron-blue color corroded underneath.

Su Chen's fingers tightened slightly on the steering wheel; he could feel the temperature inside the vehicle dropping rapidly—a signal that the defensive formation was collapsing.

With this level of corrosion, it wasn't just metal; if an ordinary person inhaled a single breath of this white fog, their lungs would rot into a puddle of pus within three seconds.

"What are you panicking about?"

Su Chen snorted coldly. A thick, searing aura, like magma, poured from his palms into the steering wheel, instantly spreading throughout the bus along its frame.

Hum—

A pale golden halo flickered outside the bus windows, and the hissing of corrosion ceased abruptly.

But Su Chen's expression was not good.

He could feel the Yang Energy within his body draining away rapidly, like floodgates being opened.

"Teacher Qin, announce the new rules."

Su Chen stared straight ahead, his voice steady.

Teacher Qin immediately understood. She turned her head, her sharp gaze sweeping over the trembling girls.

"Everyone, listen up! The radiation concentration has exceeded the vehicle's load limit. Su Chen's 'Yang Energy Shield' is our only talisman for survival."

"To maintain the energy cycle, from now on, everyone must have at least three seconds of physical contact with Su Chen every hour, otherwise the shield will fail, and you'll bear the consequences!"

The previously deathly silent carriage instantly erupted into chaos.

Is this even survival?

This is simply "touching the Male God by decree."

"Line up! One by one!"

Lin Mengyao had already taken out that familiar tactical notebook at some point. She stood in the middle of the aisle with a cold face, and the deterrent power of the campus belle made the agitated girls quiet down immediately.

"I'll go first! I'll go first!"

Zhou Xiaomeng bounced over to the driver's seat.

Because she had practiced track and field for years, she was wearing a revealing crop top, and there was a scrape on her right leg that hadn't fully healed.

She brazenly grabbed Su Chen's right hand as he shifted gears.

The moment their fingertips touched, Zhou Xiaomeng felt as if she had been electrocuted.

A layer of fine golden light quickly covered her skin, and that energy, like the warm sun, coursed through her blood vessels.

"Wow… Brother Su Chen, you're so hot."

Zhou Xiaomeng narrowed her eyes in comfort, and the injured right leg actually healed and scabbed over at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Three seconds are up. Next."

Lin Mengyao ruthlessly pulled Zhou Xiaomeng away.

The girls stepped forward one by one; some shyly squeezed Su Chen's shoulders, while others nervously grasped his fingertips.

The temperature inside the carriage became ambiguous and searing as this "ritual" proceeded.

When it was Lin Mengyao's turn, she didn't just touch and pull away like the others.

Her palm, like cold jade, pressed firmly onto the back of Su Chen's hand, her five fingers locking tight.

Four seconds, five seconds, ten seconds…

"campus belle Lin, leading the way in breaking the rules? Does this count as settling a personal score?"

Su Chen raised an eyebrow and turned his head to look at her.

At close range, he could smell the cold, faint fragrance on Lin Mengyao that was becoming increasingly rich due to her rising body temperature.

Lin Mengyao's ear tips were so red they were almost dripping blood, but her gaze remained stubborn.

She leaned into Su Chen's ear and lowered her voice.

"The sensors just detected an abnormal electromagnetic pulse to the east. It's the military's electronic suppression tactic; they want to paralyze our vehicle system first."

"I need to borrow your Yang Energy to locally increase the shield strength."

As she spoke, at the point where their palms touched, a ball of golden light twisted and spun frantically, finally condensing in the air into a miniature model of the bus shield.

"I'll accept that as a sufficient reason."

Su Chen chuckled.

With the appearance of the shield model, not only the people but even this steel beast underwent a mutation.

The golden-red Yang Energy spread along the seat rails to the bus shell. The originally mottled paint peeled off like a snake shedding its skin, revealing an alloy exterior that shimmered with a cold, metallic luster.

Inside the four deflated tires, a dense inflating sound erupted, and a layer of fine, diamond-shaped barbs grew eerily on the rubber surface.

The flashing fault lights on the dashboard all extinguished, replaced by rows of ancient runes emitting a faint glow—technology that current human civilization could not interpret at all.

"Roar—!"

In the thick fog, a dozen Rotten-faced Dogs, their bodies festering and with only half their skin on their faces, lunged at the bus windows under the cover of the mist.

The moment their claws, which were capable of tearing through steel plates, touched the bus body, it was as if an ice cube had hit a red-hot branding iron.

A "sizzle" sound rang out.

The monsters didn't even have time to wail; they were directly knocked over by the invisible heat wave emitted by the bus body, turning into piles of ash in mid-air.

"Now, do you understand who holds the key to survival?"

Su Chen felt the sense of control filling his body; the feeling of holding the lives of all the girls in the class in his fingertips gave his inner selfish nature extreme pleasure.

Zhao Wanting, huddled in the corner, collapsed on the ground.

She had not participated, and at this moment, she could only watch helplessly as that layer of golden-red halo enveloped everyone else.

Meanwhile, she herself was being eroded by the fog; her rib wound was oozing foul-smelling black blood, and the excruciating pain drove her nearly mad.

"Let me touch you too! Please! Su Chen, I'm willing to be your dog, let me touch you!"

She screamed, crawling humbly toward Su Chen.

Su Chen didn't even turn his head; he just delivered a backhanded side kick, his Martin boot landing precisely on the back of her charred hand.

"Want to touch me? Are you worthy?"

Su Chen's tone was as cold as eternal ice.

"A door-opening dog only deserves to lick boots. Now, your only value is to go and lure that jeep behind us over here."

As he spoke, he kicked a roll of blood-stained, discarded bandages from under the driver's seat, his eyes fixed on the flickering lights deep within the fog.

Zhao Wanting shuddered.

She looked at Su Chen's merciless gaze, then at the menacing, deformed shadows outside the car; the last shred of reason in her eyes was replaced by a frantic desire to survive.

She tremblingly grabbed the bandages, like a puppet being controlled, and the moment Su Chen opened the bus door, she stumbled into that man-eating white fog.