41: A three-day bet: who will be the first to open their heart?

This headache was, of course, feigned.

Su Chen lowered his eyelids, appearing to calm his churning qi and blood, but in reality, he was mobilizing the warm internal martial energy within his dantian, meticulously sensing the three distinct auras lingering on the bronze model.

At that moment, the model was like a picky eater, reacting completely differently to the 'extra meals' just splattered upon it.

Lin Mengyao's blood felt icy cold and carried a sticky, astringent quality.

It was the cold poison long suppressed by her family's drugs, exuding a stubborn sense of 'I refuse to accept this.'

Qin Ya's blood was entirely different.

Warm, mellow, and lingering, like a bowl of perfectly cooked millet porridge that melts in the throat, emanating a pure desire to nurture.

As for Zhao Wanting, she no longer had a physical form. What clung to the wheel bearing was merely a wisp of obsession, similar to static electricity.

Su Chen's mind was as clear as a mirror.

This damned vehicle's so-called 'loyalty test' wasn't about measuring who loved him more, but rather calculating whose bioelectric waves had higher compatibility with the bus's 'Holy Sun' engine.

It was just like matching a charger to a phone; it was about protocol handshakes. Deep affection alone couldn't get the juice flowing.

'Su Chen.'

Lin Mengyao's voice shattered the dead silence, carrying a chilling, all-or-nothing resolve.

Su Chen looked up to see the campus belle, usually so aloof, staring fixedly at the line of blood characters gradually fading away.

She suddenly raised her hand and tore off the imperial green jade Guanyin pendant that never left her neck.

'No need for three days. I'll make the wager with you right now.'

She slapped the jade pendant onto the alloy handrail with a sharp crack, the force so great it instantly created a hairline fracture on the jade surface.

'This jade seals the Lin family's ancestral 'Heart-Locking Toxin,' the same source as the palace maiden mark poison on my arm.'

Lin Mengyao's eyes blazed, as if trying to see through Su Chen's eyes into his very bones.

'If I win, I want you to swear to the heavens and all the gods and buddhas that no matter how far you go in the future, you will never interfere in the grudges of the Lin family's previous generation. If I lose...'

She paused, pressing her fingertip hard against the crack.

*Hiss*—

A faint wisp of bluish smoke seeped from the crack in the jade pendant, carrying a pungent odor similar to bitter almonds.

'If I lose, I will voluntarily ingest this toxin. From then on, my life, along with the Lin family's secrets, will be entirely at your disposal.'

Su Chen's nostrils flared slightly, catching the bitter scent.

This woman was truly ruthless, bargaining with her own lifeblood on the line.

The palace maiden mark on her arm wasn't for preserving chastity at all, but a time bomb, and this jade pendant was the detonator.

She was betting that Su Chen not only needed her body to provide Yang Energy, but also needed her alive to unlock the Lin family's resource vault.

Before Su Chen could even respond to this, the faint sound of footsteps came from the rear of the bus.

Qin Ya walked over.

She wasn't as imposing as Lin Mengyao. In her hands were merely a half-empty bottle of water and a torn-open pack of compressed biscuits.

'Have something to eat.'

Qin Ya walked past the aggressive Lin Mengyao, straight up to Su Chen. She broke the biscuit into pieces and offered it to him, her movements as natural as handing a cup of hot tea to an overtime-working colleague in the office.

'I don't understand those vows about fighting and killing, and I don't want to fight for the driver's seat.'

Qin Ya's voice was soft yet exceptionally clear. She bent down to straighten the slightly crumpled collar of Su Chen's shirt.

'I just hope to stay on the bus, even if it's just cooking you a bowl of hot soup in the corner.'

The moment her fingertip touched Su Chen's collar, the old scar of the tracking talisman running across her collarbone lit up without warning.

*Zzzap*.

The long-neglected LED reading light overhead suddenly erupted in a dazzling halo of warm yellow light. The previously flickering voltage instantly stabilized as if connected to the national grid.

Su Chen's pupils contracted slightly.

Well, well. This bus really was a snob.

Lin Mengyao was over there swearing oaths, and the bus showed no reaction.

Qin Ya just offered a biscuit and spoke a few gentle words, directly triggering the 'energy feedback' mechanism.

It seemed that for this survival bus, a stable logistical supply was more attractive than a chaebol heiress who might explode at any moment.

'The core... is agitated... it's hungry!'

Zhao Wanting's phantom suddenly shook violently on the windshield, eerily reminiscent of the static snow on an old television.

'The core is burning... it finds the blood impure... it's urging us!'

Her pale, paper-like fingertip traced across the glass, and a blood-red navigation route faintly materialized.

'Yang Energy node... thirty kilometers ahead... abandoned gas station.'

Zhao Wanting's voice sounded squeezed out of a rusty radio.

'Must go... must complete the co-pilot ritual there... otherwise... core explosion!'

Thirty kilometers ahead on that desolate highway, a gas station icon labeled 'Yang Energy Node' flickered, glaringly conspicuous.

Su Chen's heart skipped a beat.

His intuition as an internal martial arts expert told him that place was no safe harbor, but a 'meat grinder' this bus had specifically prepared for them.

To secure the driver's seat, someone would likely have to weigh their heart on a scale there.

The night grew thicker. Inside the bus, only the engine's tireless low roar remained, like a beast lurking in the shadows, greedily watching every person in the vehicle.

'Hold on.'

Su Chen wasted no words. He didn't even acknowledge Lin Mengyao's wager, simply flooring the accelerator.

The night was as dark as ink. On the highway, only the muffled roar of the engine could be heard.

Inside the bus, it was so quiet only the sound of breathing remained.

Most of the other girls had fallen unconscious from the earlier fright. Su Chen remained alone by the driver's seat. By the faint light of the instrument panel, he used his fingernail to secretly carve something into the seam beneath the leather seat.

It was a series of extremely subtle lines, forming a miniature 'Yang Gathering Array.'

This array held no offensive power; its sole purpose was to amplify the aura fluctuations of anyone who came into contact with it.

'Loyalty isn't in words, but in the blood.'

Su Chen muttered to himself, lightly flicking away a bit of skin debris from his fingertip.

He could sense that behind the thin partition curtain behind him, someone was standing.

Though he didn't turn around, his acute hearing caught the faintest clink of metal.

It was the sound of a silver needle rolling in a palm.

Lin Mengyao stood there, tightly clutching a silver detoxification needle she had prepared long ago.

It was her only key to neutralizing the palace maiden mark's control and completely freeing herself from her family's grip.

If she injected that needle, she could face Su Chen with a completely free will, and might even win this wager.

But she hesitated, not making a move.

Her breathing was laced with hesitation, fear, and a trace of an indescribable anticipation.

A cold smirk tugged at the corner of Su Chen's mouth. He didn't bother to expose this thin layer of pretense.

In this apocalyptic world, hesitation itself was a form of screening.

Half an hour later, the bus gradually slowed down.

Ahead in the darkness, a massive outline gradually took shape.

It was a long-abandoned gas station, standing alone on the desolate plain.

Pale moonlight spilled down, illuminating several huge fuel storage tanks. The red rust on their surfaces resembled dried bloodstains, exuding an ominous aura of death in the night wind.