54: We are about to enter the 'torrential rain zone'

Su Chen stared at the twisted faces on the center console screen, the corners of his mouth curling into a cold, heartless arc.

Zhao Wanting's fingers tapped rapidly on the worn-out keyboard.

Several fragmented audio and video clips were forcibly decoded and projected onto the windshield at the front of the carriage.

"Su Chen, look here."

Zhao Wanting's voice was very low, carrying a hint of uncontrollable disgust.

On the screen, the scene inside the neighboring bus numbered '005' was like a living hell.

That boy wearing black-rimmed glasses.

Wang Hao, the class monitor of Class 5, was directing several burly men to brutally wrap rusted iron wires around the hair of several crying girls.

They were imitating Qin Ya's 'masters soul thread'.

"Hurry up! Didn't you see Su Chen doing exactly this in the video?"

Wang Hao stared at the thermal imaging footage secretly recorded on his phone, his eyes bloodshot.

"As long as we make the Yang Energy resonate, we'll have endless Holy Water and we can survive! Hold them down for me!"

Su Chen watched this scene with cold eyes.

Beside him, Lin Mengyao subconsciously gripped the corner of his clothes, her fingertips turning slightly white from the force.

"They are looking for death."

Su Chen spoke indifferently, his voice sounding exceptionally clear in the deathly silent carriage.

"The resonance of the Sacred Yang Divine Body is based on 'bonds' and 'obedience'."

"Without a true emotional anchor, relying solely on physical connections to force a pseudo-resonance isn't called producing milk; it's called detonating a pressure cooker."

As soon as he finished speaking, a dull explosion suddenly echoed from the thick fog beyond the windshield.

Boom—!

In that instant, the roof of Bus 005 was ripped open as if by an invisible giant hand.

A dark red shockwave, accompanied by the tooth-aching sound of tearing metal, bloomed into a distorted flower within the mist.

Through the footage intercepted by Zhao Wanting, Su Chen clearly saw that Wang Hao didn't even have time to scream before the blood vessels all over his body suddenly bulged and burst.

His entire body was like an overinflated water balloon, blood splattering across the entire surveillance camera.

The girls beside him were not spared either, collapsing between the seats and twitching violently with blood leaking from their facial orifices.

That was the energy backlash caused by the blockage of Yang Energy.

Inside the carriage, the girls of Class 1 fell silent collectively.

The atmosphere, which had been somewhat restless, became deathly quiet at this moment.

Chen Wei, who had been constantly picking faults, turned pale.

She didn't even dare to look up at Su Chen's back, merely hunching her shoulders like a frightened quail and silently retreating to the very back of the group, trying to blend into the shadows.

"Su Chen."

Wu Qian suddenly stepped forward.

This girl, usually known for her swift and decisive manner, had slightly red eyes now, but her gaze was firmer than ever before.

Su Chen turned his head and met her gaze.

"My emotional anchor... was last week."

Wu Qian took a deep breath, her voice trembling slightly.

"When the acid rain burned through the window, you pulled me behind you and blocked that splash for me. You scolded me then, saying 'run faster, don't drag us down'."

She gave a self-deprecating laugh.

"Actually, at that moment I thought, if I could survive, it wouldn't be so bad to give this life to you."

[High-purity emotional anchor detected: Oath of Protection]

[Resonance link ready]

Su Chen didn't waste words and nodded directly: "Get in, stop talking nonsense."

The door of the purification cabin closed once again.

The three-girl resonance began once more!

Lin Mengyao naturally clasped Su Chen's left wrist, their pulses synchronizing through the skin contact.

Wu Qian reached out with her slightly calloused hands and tightly gripped Su Chen's tiger's mouth; the explosive power belonging to an athlete now transformed into unreserved trust.

Li Sisi lowered her head, her fine long hair veiling her flushed cheeks. Her fingertips trembled slightly as they precisely pressed against the critical 'Dazhui Point' on the back of Su Chen's neck.

In that instant, Su Chen felt as if his spine was a torch being ignited.

The 'masters soul thread' Qin Ya had left throughout the carriage instantly turned from gold to red, erupting with a blindingly strong light.

"Vroom—!"

The system panel before Su Chen's eyes flickered wildly, and that string of red warnings finally turned into a divine golden glow:

[Second-Stage Awakening Progress: 100/100!]

[Rank Advancement: Awakening Second-Stage!]

[Strength, Agility, and Constitution attributes have all leaped forward significantly!]

In the void, nine drops of Holy Water with dark-gold flowing light condensed simultaneously, hovering like nine tiny stars at the top of the narrow cabin.

Su Chen let out a long breath, feeling the power surging through his body like a rushing river.

He could hear the faint sound of acid rain corroding metal outside the window, and he could even sense the racing heartbeats of every girl inside the carriage.

"Everyone take one portion and purify yourselves immediately."

Su Chen pushed open the cabin door and walked out, his voice not loud, but carrying an undeniable authority.

As the power of the nine top-tier Holy Water drops diffused as mist, the deathly aura that had loomed over the Class 1 girls' heads instantly vanished.

Tang Yurou completely regained her senses, and the sense of weakness everyone felt from the spore erosion was swept away.

The crisis was temporarily averted, but Zhao Wanting's urgent typing broke the brief peace.

"Su Chen, look at the radar! After the symbiosis module upgraded, the detection range extended, but..."

Her voice was trembling as she pointed her finger at the large screen.

On the screen, a massive, deep purple fan-shaped area was sweeping toward them from directly ahead.

[System Prompt: Bus symbiosis module upgrade complete, 'Group Resonance' permissions unlocked.]

[Warning: Detected that the vehicle is about to enter the 'Zone of Myriad Tribulations Rainstorm'.]

[Environmental Assessment: Extremely Dangerous.

If the bus does not pass through within the specified time, the coating will be completely dissolved.]

Su Chen walked to the windshield and narrowed his eyes to look into the distance.

Within the originally gray and thick fog, a heart-palpitating pitch-black silhouette had emerged at some point.

It was as if a hole had been punctured in the sky, pouring down an inky torrent capable of swallowing everything.

Outside the carriage, the wind began to pick up, carrying a bone-chilling cold and a heavy scent of rust.

The continuous rainstorm had entered its third day, and the "sizzle" of corrosion from the outer shell became increasingly dense, like countless small insects gnawing frantically.

Zhao Wanting stared at the data terminal and turned her head with a grim expression, a hint of despair in her voice:

"Su Chen, emergency report... the hull's corrosion rate has reached 14% during this time, and the rain ahead... is black."