53: What makes him so special that he can have thirty goddesses all to himself in his car?

Those pupils, which had regained their sight thanks to the nourishment of the Holy Water, now looked like a drop of thick ink falling into clear water, rapidly spreading until it covered the entire whites of her eyes, presenting an eerie, deathly blackness.

Su Chen strode several steps to Tang Yurou's side, bringing with him a gust of cold, sharp wind.

He roughly pulled back the girl's eyelids.

The skin his fingertips touched was cold and slimy, as if he were touching the mucus of some deep-sea fish.

"Muscle tone has vanished, heart rate is thirty beats per minute; she's molting."

Li Sisi's voice trembled upon closer listening; she was gripping her crumpled notebook tightly.

"Su Chen, the Holy Water's neutralization speed can't keep up with the spores' parasitic efficiency. A two-hour infusion interval is suicide; it must be shortened to one hour."

"But based on your current production, less than two people in this entire bus will survive in the end."

Su Chen didn't speak; he summoned the holographic panel that only he could see.

[Current Yang Energy: 21%]

[Second-Stage Awakening Progress: 61/100]

[Negative Status: Spore Erosion (Resistance decays by 12% per hour)]

Fuck.

He cursed inwardly; these numbers were even more eyesore than his math grades back in school.

He had thought they could barely scrape by with the three-person resonance, but he hadn't expected the laws of this apocalypse to leave no room for survival at all.

When his strength had previously reached the Golden Core stage, according to the power curve provided by the Apocalyptic Heavenly Dao, it was roughly equivalent to a First-Stage Awakening.

Originally, this level of strength was already far beyond that of ordinary people.

But now, it seemed it was still far too insignificant!

If he couldn't break through to the Second-Stage Awakening as soon as possible...

...then this bus would soon turn into a mobile can of rotting meat.

Just as the atmosphere in the bus reached a breaking point, Qin Ya, who had been sitting silently in the corner, stood up.

This beautiful Class Teacher, who usually blushed even when speaking loudly, now had eyes that were terrifyingly clear.

With a sharp rip, she tore off the white inner lining of her professional suit, her movements crisp and decisive.

She even revealed a portion of her thigh, as rounded and smooth as jade, but no one was in the mood to admire it.

Dipping her finger in the blood flowing from its tip, Qin Ya wrote with a flourish on the rusted floor, leaving behind eight small, murderous characters.

"Carry Energy with Emotion, Build a Bridge with Memories."

Then, without hesitation, she pressed the "masters soul thread" entwined with Su Chen's aura into a metal crevice in the wall of the Purification Chamber.

“Buzz!”

The pool of blood that should have dried up actually began to burn like a living thing.

Golden patterns spread frantically along the walls of the chamber, covering every seat armrest like a network of human capillaries.

"Teacher Qin is using her life as an amplifier for you."

Zhao Wanting's voice came from the driver's seat, tinged with disbelief.

"She's burned all her obsession from the past three years of grading homework and protecting her students. Su Chen, that's emotional energy—it can forcefully resonate with Yang Energy."

Su Chen gave Qin Ya a deep look, and she returned it with a gentle yet firm smile.

Though she was voiceless, that "I will protect you" determination struck Su Chen directly in the heart.

"Lin Mengyao, Li Sisi, get in."

Su Chen was brief, pulling both women directly into the Purification Chamber.

The chamber door slammed shut, and in the narrow space, the breathing of the three intertwined once more.

"Don't think about anything else."

"Teacher Qin has provided an anchor. Now, you can only have one thought in your heads: how I led you to survival."

Su Chen's voice was low, carrying a certain captivating magnetism.

Lin Mengyao slowly closed her eyes.

In the darkness before her, images gradually became clear.

It was one night when a slime-covered monster smashed through a window frame, its claws only a centimeter away from her throat.

It was Su Chen who had literally torn open the monster's chest.

In that moment, the blood splattering from him was scalding, burning right through all her pride as a chaebol heiress.

Li Sisi thought of her most desperate moment.

Everyone on the bus was fighting tooth and nail for half a bottle of mineral water, yet only Su Chen had stuffed the last piece of compressed biscuit into her hand.

He had said, "A top student has to survive until the end, otherwise who's going to bury me?"

His tone was incredibly sharp-tongued, yet it brought her more peace than any sweet words ever could.

Su Chen felt two scalding streams of consciousness pouring back into his body through the masters soul thread.

The system panel began to issue frantic warnings:

[High-purity emotional fluctuations detected! Yang Energy frequency splitting initiated!]

[Holy Water production correction: 3/min!]

[Special Reward: Memory Materialization!]

In the void before Su Chen's eyes, countless crystalline fragments actually began to float.

He saw Qin Ya late at night under a lamp, helping him file a late absence application, sighing as she rubbed her temples.

He saw Lin Mengyao after school, inexplicably using a wet wipe to clean off a prank graffiti on his desk.

These were details he had never noticed in reality.

[Lin Mengyao's Loyalty +12%!]

[Li Sisi's Loyalty +9%!]

[Qin Ya (Hidden Binding): Life Link established!]

"Ha..."

Su Chen exhaled a breath of turbid air, feeling the originally weak spark in his dantian explode violently, golden light bursting forth from his body.

[Yang Energy: 38%! Second-Stage Progress: 82/100!]

A drop of Holy Water condensed in the void, but its color was no longer azure; instead, it bore a trace of noble dark gold!

Through the masters soul thread and along the armrests, the medicinal effect was instantly and precisely infused into Tang Yurou's mouth.

Tang Yurou's pupils constricted sharply.

The blackness receded like a tide, and her fingers twitched slightly, softening from that corpse-like rigidity.

"She's alive! Tang Yurou is back!"

A muffled cheer erupted in the bus.

However, before Su Chen could even step out of the Purification Chamber to enjoy a moment of peace...

Zhao Wanting's distorted voice pierced everyone's eardrums through the loudspeaker.

"Su Chen, something's happened! Regional fusion is accelerating. Within a three-kilometer radius, following the second bus, a total of seven bus signals have appeared!"

On the large screen, the radar map was densely packed with red dots.

One of the red dots was hurtling toward them at a suicidal speed.

"Damn it, someone is eavesdropping on our channel. One of the buses is broadcasting our class's purification data in real-time!"

The screen shifted, cutting to a blurry thermal imaging video.

The video showed the intimate posture of Su Chen and Lin Mengyao with their wrists overlapping and their auras resonating.

Inside that dilapidated, blood-scented oncoming bus...

...a male student with black-rimmed glasses and a fleshy face stared intently at the screen, his teeth grinding audibly.

"Extreme Yang Sacred Body... inexhaustible Holy Water?"

He slammed his fist onto the console, his eyes filled with twisted greed.

"Over here, thirty of us grown men are nearly killing each other for a sip of piss, so why does that Su Chen guy get to monopolize thirty goddesses in his bus and even play at this dual cultivation nonsense?"

"Ram them! Tear that guy named Su to pieces! The women and the water on that bus—they're all ours!"