80: Engine stalled and the prophet in the middle of the road

This wasn't a warning; it was clearly Death's countdown.

Before Su Chen could fully grasp the fear in the little girl's words, a grating 'sizzle' drowned out the flapping and roaring from outside.

It was the distinct sound of strong acid corroding metal, like ten thousand termites simultaneously gnawing at the proud armor plating.

The warning lights on the dashboard instantly flared into a sea of red.

"Warning! Air intake grille damaged! Main engine has ingested unknown corrosive liquid, combustion chamber pressure plummeting!"

"Warning! Outer armor durability has dropped below 30%!"

Immediately after, this steel fortress-like bus let out a wheezing sound, similar to an old man on his deathbed. The vehicle shuddered violently, its surging power instantly cut off as if strangled, vanishing without a trace.

Inertia carried the heavy vehicle forward, its tires crushing the insect corpses littering the ground, emitting a sticky sound like squashed berries, before it reluctantly came to a stop in the middle of the road.

They were now only five kilometers away from the perverted bug-player's lair.

"Damn it, it broke down already?" Su Chen slammed his fist on the steering wheel.

If it were ordinary physical impact, this bus, which had undergone primary system enhancement, could have withstood it. But this kind of chemical-magical attack clearly touched upon the current defense blind spot.

As the engine died, the onboard air conditioning system also ceased functioning.

Under the encirclement of such a high-density insect swarm, the frictional heat on the vehicle's surface combined with the suffocating external environment caused the temperature inside the cabin to soar to forty degrees Celsius in just half a minute.

The air became thick like glue, mixed with the smell of sweat and a faint, acrid stench.

"Don't panic! All students with ice-element talents, take turns releasing freezing air towards the vents! Others, check the sealing strips; absolutely no bugs must get in!"

Lin Mengyao's voice rang out promptly. Although it carried a slight tremor, her instructions were clear and organized.

The former young miss's hair was disheveled, sweat trickling down her slender neck into the depths of her collar. Her sweat-soaked shirt clung tightly to her body, outlining a breathtaking curve, but she paid no mind to it. She was holding a dry ice spray, originally used for chilling drinks, firmly blocking the first wisp of white smoke emerging from a crack in the car window.

Su Chen retracted his gaze. Even in this life-or-death situation, he couldn't help but inwardly praise the campus belle's executive ability.

This woman was indeed more useful than those screaming 'vases'.

He took a deep breath, retrieved a gas mask from under his seat, and put it on, a still-bloody crowbar in his hand.

If the car was broken, he would fix it.

If he couldn't fix it, he would eliminate the source of the trouble outside.

Just as Su Chen placed his hand on the cabin door handle, ready to rush out and have a 'close encounter' with the green-skinned bugs, a bizarre figure suddenly appeared in the beam of the headlights, which were on the verge of dying out.

Su Chen's pupils contracted sharply.

It was a woman.

In this apocalyptic wasteland, covered in filth, strong acid, mucus, and dismembered limbs, she was dressed in an immaculate pure white robe, with bare feet like white jade, strolling leisurely through the surging insect swarm.

This scene was like forcibly Photoshopping a Renaissance painting of a saint into a B-grade horror movie; the incongruity was extreme.

Even more bizarre were the frenzied, bloodthirsty Brain-Eating Locusts.

As the woman approached, the previously violent swarm seemed to encounter a natural enemy, or perhaps a king they had to bow to. The insects within a three-meter radius not only didn't attack her but instead stiffened in mid-air or retreated in terror to both sides, literally clearing a vacuum path for her.

"Who is that?" Xiaoya, who had been screaming moments ago, now seemed to have her throat clutched, her eyes wide as she pressed against the glass.

The white-robed woman walked through the dense rain of insects, directly to the windshield in front of the driver's seat.

Through a layer of cracked bulletproof glass, Su Chen saw her face clearly.

It was a face so beautiful it lacked 'humanity,' with no emotion in her pupils, only an indifferent gaze that overlooked all living beings.

The two met each other's gaze.

Su Chen even felt his Sacred Yang Divine Body suddenly throb, a resonance from encountering a power of the same origin.

The woman—Tianyu—did not speak, but her actions were direct.

She extended a slender hand from her wide sleeve, holding a core the size of a walnut that emitted a dazzling golden light in her palm.

Even through the glass, Su Chen could feel the terrifying heat radiating from it.

She gently pressed her palm onto the bus's engine hood, which had already started to smoke.

"Om—!"

There was no explosion, only a clear, resonant hum.

That 'Blazing Sun Core' instantly merged into the steel vehicle body, like a drop of water dissolving into the ocean.

The next second, two pure golden flames suddenly erupted from the air intake grille, which had been corroded and pitted!

These flames had no temperature, or rather, they only had temperature for evil and corrupt things.

The strong acid insect fluid clinging to the front of the car, frantically devouring the metal, was purified into nothingness by the golden flames without even emitting black smoke.

The insect corpses blocking the air intake were instantly incinerated.

The previously silent engine roared at this moment like a dragon's cry.

Su Chen felt the entire car vibrating, not a vibration that suggested it was falling apart, but a tremor filled with power.

The system panel frantically scrolled across his retina:

[High-tier energy core detected injection...]

[Sacred Yang Divine Body resonates...]

[Vehicle upgrade conditions triggered! Current status: Overload evolving.]

Having done all this, Tianyu looked at Su Chen again.

Her lips parted slightly. Su Chen heard no sound, but a clear, cold voice resonated directly in his mind:

"Only a true King can dispel the Darkness of the End."

Then, her body scattered like dandelions in the wind, transforming into specks of brilliant starlight and dissolving into the dark night.

"Showing off and then running, that's quite thrilling." Before Su Chen could complain about this inexplicable 'gift,' a tremendous sense of crisis suddenly descended from above.

This chill was ten times more intense than facing an army of insects just now!

Mo Fei, suspended in mid-air in the distance, was clearly enraged by this scene.

A large portion of his insect swarm had been incinerated by the golden flames, and that sacred aura instinctively filled him with revulsion and fear.

"Is this your trump card, you damned insect!"

Mo Fei's hoarse voice rasped like a broken bellows.

He clasped his hands together, and the sky-filling insect swarm instantly changed form, no longer a scattered dark cloud, but rapidly coalescing a thousand meters directly above the bus.

Within seconds, a gigantic black spear, dozens of meters long and composed entirely of hardened carapaces and venomous mouthparts, formed.

"Die for me!!"

As Mo Fei's arm swept down, the 'Insect Spear,' capable of piercing tanks, descended vertically towards the bus's most vulnerable skylight, accompanied by a piercing sonic boom.

There was no escape!

At this speed and coverage area, even if the car started moving now, it would be too late.

"Get out of the way!"

Su Chen shoved Lin Mengyao, who was still dazed beside him, using a gentle force to send her directly to the safe zone in the middle of the carriage.

He stomped his feet, his entire Sacred Yang True Qi circulating wildly, and golden light condensed into tangible armor on his arms.

If he couldn't dodge it, he would take it head-on!

Just as he was about to gather his qi and charge up, intending to meet this descending attack with his fists, a heavy, dead weight suddenly pulled at his right ankle.

Su Chen looked down and nearly had a brain hemorrhage from sheer anger.

It was Chen Wei.

This woman, who had been dragged and scraped under the car, had desperately climbed halfway through the inspection hatch during the brief stop.

She was no longer recognizable, her body a bloody mess, her face covered in charred scabs, yet her eyes held a frantic will to survive.

She didn't know what was happening outside; she only knew that Su Chen's leg was the thickest here.

"Save me... Su Chen... don't leave me..."

Her hands, now just exposed bone and rotting flesh, clung to Su Chen's ankle like iron tongs. To gain leverage, she even hung her entire body weight on Su Chen's leg, desperately trying to pull him down to the ground so she could climb up.

This damned deadweight!

The wind pressure from above was already making the car roof groan, and the enormous black spearhead rapidly expanded in his pupils.

At this moment, being delayed by this woman for even 0.1 seconds would result in being turned into minced meat.