56: I'm here to help.

Before Qin Ya and Lin Mengyao could even approach to ask what was happening, Su Chen pinned Luo Li directly onto the cold floor.

His knee pressed hard against her spine, and the blade of his short sword was instantly pressed against her delicate carotid artery.

"Ah! What are you doing?! I have the water-fixing pearl, I'm here to help!"

Luo Li screamed with a sob in her voice, the blue bead in her hand rolling off to the side.

"Help?"

Su Chen gave a cold laugh, his free left hand unceremoniously reaching into her pure white dress.

"Su Chen!"

Qin Ya couldn't help but speak up; the scene looked far too much like an assault.

"Shut up!"

Su Chen didn't even turn his head. His fingers groped within the girl's bosom, and the sensation of cold, inelastic skin beneath his fingertips made him even more certain.

Finally, he felt something hard.

He yanked it out.

A talisman paper, made from the skin of some unknown creature, was pulled out.

The talisman was blood-red, with a portrait drawn on it in some kind of black grease.

Although the artwork was crude, twisted, and eerie, the features were clearly Su Chen's!

The interior of the vehicle fell into a sudden, dead silence.

The words of protest on Qin Ya's lips were forced back down, and Lin Mengyao's gaze instantly shifted from pity to wariness.

Su Chen looked at the talisman, which was still emitting a fishy stench, then looked down at the "young girl" beneath him, who was still trembling with tear-filled eyes.

"The 'Rain God Cult' sure delivers their packages with precision."

Su Chen leaned close to Luo Li's ear, his voice as low as a devil's whisper.

"No heartbeat, zero-degree body temperature, and carrying my funeral portrait... What, did you plan to board this vehicle just to attend my funeral?"

Luo Li stopped struggling.

She slowly raised her head, and in those large eyes that had been filled with fear, a depth that was completely at odds with her appearance suddenly flashed.

The timid curve of her lips seemed to quirk upward slightly.

But in the next second, she reverted to her pitiful act, crying out to the girls watching.

"I picked that up on the road... I was just so cold... Sisters, save me..."

"I don't have time to listen to your stories."

Su Chen flicked his finger, and the blood talisman with his "funeral portrait" floated down to his feet before he indifferently crushed it into the muddy water.

He gripped Luo Li's slender neck and tossed her into the pile of clutter in the back of the vehicle like a chick waiting to be slaughtered.

"Qin Ya, keep an eye on her. If she dares to move, or if that bead gets more than a meter away from her, throw her out to feed the tentacles."

Luo Li slammed into a crate of bottled water, her eyes instantly filling with tears from the pain as she curled into a trembling ball.

Her pitiful appearance caused a subtle crack in the otherwise tense atmosphere of the cabin.

Su Chen ignored the commotion behind him.

The corrosiveness of the black rain outside was still intensifying; the windshield had already been etched into a frosted texture, and visibility was less than five meters.

He had to immediately clear the fallen rocks blocking the canyon.

Otherwise, once the rainwater rose above the chassis, this piece-of-junk car that hadn't fully evolved would turn into an iron coffin.

He turned and stepped out of the car door again, twirling the alloy short sword in his hand before his figure vanished into the curtain of rain.

As soon as the door closed, the temperature inside the cabin seemed to drop by several degrees.

Luo Li hugged her knees, her pale lips turning purple from the cold.

She tilted her head slightly and looked at Chen Wei, who was closest to her and shivering while rubbing a hand warmer. Her voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz.

"Sister... could I have a sip of water? I'm so cold..."

Chen Wei hesitated for a moment but still handed over a half-finished bottle of water.

"Thank you, sister."

Luo Li tilted her head back and took a sip, her wet lips appearing exceptionally bright red.

Using the motion of wiping her mouth as cover, she leaned forward and whispered in a voice only Chen Wei could hear.

"That big brother is holding my other 'water-fixing pearl.' He definitely didn't tell you... the barrier range of that bead is only two meters."

Chen Wei's hand jerked, spilling half the water onto her pants.

"What did you say?"

"The bead is on him; only the driver's seat is safe."

Luo Li blinked her large eyes, her gaze filled with innocent terror.

"The metal of this car can't block the 'Black Fiend Rain' at all. When the rain gets heavier later, he'll be able to survive as long as he holds the driver's cabin."

"And this cabin... it's just 'the skin' used to shield him from the rain."

These words were like a drop of cold water falling into boiling oil.

Chen Wei's face instantly turned deathly pale.

She instinctively looked toward the center console.

Li Sisi was focused on the radar, with the magnetic card representing control over the vehicle lying by her hand.

In desperate situations, human intelligence is often inversely proportional to the level of fear.

"We're going to be abandoned... We have to get control and turn back!"

Chen Wei's sanity completely snapped under the stimulus of the crisis.

She suddenly stood up and charged toward the driver's seat like a madwoman.

"Li Sisi! Give me the card! We're going back!"

"Are you crazy?!"

Li Sisi was startled and instinctively protected the magnetic card.

"Give it to me! That bastard wants to use us as cannon fodder!"

Chen Wei screamed as she tried to pry Li Sisi's fingers open.

Behind her, a few girls who usually hung out with her were also starting to stir, and a small-scale mutiny seemed imminent.

*Slap!*

An extremely crisp sound of a slap caused the chaotic cabin to instantly hit the pause button.