5: The squad leader secretly hid clues about the supply depot? I'll kill her in a heartbeat!

It was a fragment of a map dug out from the cash register of a gas station convenience store.

The edges were scorched black, and it had a pungent smell of engine oil.

Su Chen's movement to bend down and pick up the map was very slow, as if he were intentionally leaving time for certain people to react.

"What is this?"

Zhao Wanting rushed over in a few steps like a startled wild cat.

Before Su Chen could see the handwriting on it clearly, she snatched the fragment away.

Su Chen didn't stop her, simply letting a trace of warm Yang Energy remaining on his fingertips swirl across the paper's surface.

"Underground Fuel Storage Tank? Right in the convenience store's backyard cellar?"

Zhao Wanting glanced at it, and her face instantly turned from livid to a near-sickly pale.

She didn't show surprise; instead, she looked as if she had caught some fatal poison. In front of everyone, she exerted force with both hands and with a "rip," tore the fragment to pieces. Not feeling satisfied, she then crumpled it into a ball.

"Su Chen, are you crazy or are you trying to kill us?"

Zhao Wanting's voice was so sharp it went out of tune.

"That's a trap! This kind of fake intelligence is meant to lure fools who think they're smart into a trap, only to be gnawed by those monsters until not even bones are left!"

The small flame of hope that had ignited in the bus was completely extinguished by her bucket of ice water.

The girls looked at each other; some shrank their necks, while others showed expressions of fear after the fact.

"Is that so?"

Su Chen leaned against the back of his seat, pulling a coin he'd picked up from somewhere out of his pocket. He flipped it nimbly between his fingers, making a slight metallic clinking sound.

"The Class Monitor's reaction is so intense, it's almost as if you already knew something was there."

"I'm doing this for everyone's safety!"

Zhao Wanting growled.

"The handwriting."

Li Sisi, who hadn't spoken the whole time, suddenly spoke up.

She pushed up the black-rimmed glasses on the bridge of her nose, holding her phone in her hand. On the screen was a photo she had just snapped.

Li Sisi's voice was calm to the point of being cold: "The fragment in Su Chen's hand used 0.5mm black gel pen ink. Moreover, the nib has a slight habit of scratching the paper, causing the hook at the bottom of the number '3' to be particularly long. This characteristic is identical to the convenience store inventory list you destroyed at the front of the bus yesterday."

The entire bus went dead silent as over thirty pairs of eyes simultaneously looked toward Zhao Wanting.

Zhao Wanting's breath hitched, her eyes darting away for a moment before she pointed at Su Chen with gritted teeth.

"That's... that's because I knew that place was dangerous and had already decided to give up on it! Su Chen, you're intentionally trying to create a divide, aren't you?"

Ridiculous!

This woman has a problem!

Back when he first discovered this fragment, he had guessed there might be an issue, so he used it to test Zhao Wanting!

Sure enough, the test worked.

Su Chen ignored her hysteria and simply closed his eyes, as if feeling the atmosphere in the bus that had become scorched due to the conflict.

Late at night, the light from the emergency lamp was so weak it seemed it could go out at any moment.

Su Chen sat cross-legged on the floor, not sleeping.

He could feel the 'Extreme Yang Sacred Body' within him operating slowly, the heat flow gathering in his pupils.

Opening his eyes slightly, a faint golden aura flashed and vanished in the dark night.

Su Chen turned his head, his gaze locking onto Zhao Wanting.

The woman was lying on her side on a seat, tightly clutching her backpack and her expensive silk pillow in her arms.

Su Chen stood up and approached her with light movements, without making the slightest sound.

His foundation from a martial arts family, combined with the tempering of his bones by Yang Energy, allowed him to move like a fish in water in this narrow space.

Soon, he reached the side of Zhao Wanting's pillow.

A trace of Yang Energy seeped from his fingertips like invisible tentacles, precisely probing into the inner lining of the pillow.

The texture wasn't down feathers, but rather oil paper with a bit of hardness.

Su Chen pinched with two fingers and pulled out the thin object.

By the extremely faint dark golden light, he could see this piece of waterproof cloth clearly.

The map on it was extremely precise, with coordinates pointing directly to a location eight kilometers ahead—an 'Abandoned Military Supply Station.'

Next to the coordinates was a line of tiny red annotations: [Female-exclusive refuge area, strictly excludes male sources of infection].

The truth became clear in an instant.

A mocking sneer couldn't help but curl at the corner of Su Chen's mouth.

What autonomy, what 'for the greater good'!

It turned out this Great Class Monitor wanted to take her 'pure' female army and find a place to start a post-apocalyptic Kingdom of Women!

And he, the only male, was obviously unplanned trash that could be thrown away at any time.

No wonder Zhao Wanting wanted to go against him.

"What you wanted to hide wasn't some danger at all."

Su Chen thought to himself, casually tucking the waterproof cloth into his inner pocket.

The next morning.

Zhao Wanting stood up, ignoring the heavy dark circles under her eyes, and forced herself to maintain her leader's posture as she announced: "The monster density on the road ahead is too high. Based on my judgment, we need to turn here and take a detour on the southern provincial road."

That hateful Su Chen, daring to go against me.

Then this time I'll abandon you on the southern provincial road, and then lead all the girls in class to the supply station to live a good life!

Zhao Wanting's thoughts were very beautiful.

"The provincial road is out of gas; going south is just waiting to die."

But she didn't expect that as soon as she spoke, Su Chen would suddenly yawn and say indifferently.

Since he had already learned of this woman's plan last night, he naturally wouldn't let her succeed!

"Su Chen, shut up! You have no say here!"

Zhao Wanting was instantly like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"The supply station is exactly eight kilometers straight ahead."

Su Chen interrupted her calmly, his eyes staring straight at the girls whose throats were already parched with thirst.

"There are military water purifiers there, high-grade diesel, and special antibiotics that can save Tang Yurou's life."

"You're talking nonsense! There are only monsters there!"

Zhao Wanting shrieked frantically.

Su Chen turned his head, looking at Lin Mengyao who was staring blankly by the window.

"Student Lin, I remember that your father's Lin Family Security Systems once contracted the underground defense engineering in this area three years ago, right?"

Lin Mengyao was startled, her memory at this moment seemed to have been forced through the fog by some power.

Following Su Chen's 'body purification' for her over the past two days, she found her senses and memory had become exceptionally sharp.

She stared at the coordinates Su Chen gestured, her eyes gradually focusing, and finally nodded heavily.

"I remember... the landmark for those coordinates is an abandoned water tower. My dad took me there; it was his proudest work... there really is an emergency supply station there."

As soon as these words were spoken, the bus completely erupted into chaos.

Qin Ya stood up, this gentle teacher showing a stern expression for the first time.

"Wanting, explain! Why did you lie?"

"Men will only betray!"

Zhao Wanting shouted in collapse, tears sliding down her face which was distorted by anger.

"My dad relied on my mom's resources to rise to the top back then, only to push her into a fire pit at the moment of crisis! Su Chen is the same! He just wants to treat us as his playthings! I'm doing this to save you!"

"Then did your father ever teach you."

Su Chen walked closer step by step, looking down at her, his eyes as cold as ice.

"In the apocalypse, only those who survive have the right to talk about ideals? And you, because of your personal grudge, almost made these thirty lives be buried with you."

He produced the waterproof cloth and threw it in front of Li Sisi.

Li Sisi only glanced at the coordinates and that line of male-excluding annotation before pushing her glasses, her tone devoid of emotion.

"Verified. The map is real. Based on the current resource consumption curve, I propose to abolish the Class Monitor's unilateral decision-making power. From now on, route planning will be decided by Su Chen."

"Agreed."

"I... I agree too. I don't want to drink muddy water anymore."

The girls raised their hands one after another.

Zhao Wanting slumped down on the steps.

Tightly clutching her already empty water bottle, a look of bewilderment appeared in her eyes for the first time.

The bus let out a low roar and, under Su Chen's command, turned back around, crashing through the thick fog toward the supply station.

Lin Mengyao quietly sat down next to Su Chen.

She pulled an exquisitely wrapped peppermint from her pocket, tore open the wrapper, and gently held it to Su Chen's lips.

"Have this, it'll soothe your throat."

Her voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

The moment Su Chen opened his mouth to take the candy, Lin Mengyao's fingertips inadvertently brushed across his palm, lingering for a brief three seconds.

A familiar current instantly spread through Su Chen's entire body; it was the sign of the 'Sacred Body' being triggered.

Su Chen's vision suddenly changed, the metallic texture of the bus gradually fading away.

On that distant horizon, the military supply station was no longer a ruin, but was flashing with a dazzling golden light.

In the center of that light, a pulsing prompt box appeared in his mind:

[Detected Intermediate Resource Point, contains 'Primary Vehicle Enhancement Box,' can upgrade survival bus to 'Primary Armored Mobile Fortress'.]

Su Chen's heart jolted. The cooling sensation of the peppermint exploded in his throat as he looked at the slightly blushing campus belle beside him, a victory-is-mine smile curling at his lips.

"Thanks. This candy is quite sweet."