85: Survival sentry in the mist and the former leader

That hideous silhouette existed for only a fleeting moment before being completely swallowed by the rolling grey-white tide.

It wasn't like ordinary water mist; it was more like a mass of living cotton wool with a chewing consciousness.

The world outside the car window instantly lost its depth of field. The xenon headlights, which could originally pierce through the darkness, seemed to hit thick milk; the light was abruptly cut off and devoured less than three meters from the front of the bus.

[Warning: High concentration of 'Time Devourer' magnetic field interference detected.]

[Vehicle navigation system is offline.]

[External Yang Energy defense shield is undergoing continuous corrosion. Estimated collapse time: 15 minutes.]

[Mission Triggered: Hunt 'Time Devourers' and obtain their cores to synthesize the 'fog-piercing bright lamp'.]

The red light on the dashboard flashed distractingly. The Golden Crow phantom originally enveloping the vehicle body now looked as if it had been splashed with sulfuric acid, letting out a sizzling wail as its luster dimmed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Tsk, another one of these disgusting forced-map-progression mechanisms." Su Chen turned off the piercing alarm, silently cursing the game designers for being so heartless.

This kind of debuff, similar to 'Blindness + Continuous Health Loss,' was purely designed to force players to get out of the car and fight for their lives.

He didn't rush to step on the brakes; instead, he slowly released the accelerator, letting the steel fortress weighing dozens of tons glide silently under its own momentum.

Then, he closed his eyes, his eyeballs twitching slightly beneath his lids.

If it were before, this would have just been him dozing off while slacking during practice at the martial arts hall. But now, the Saint Yang Blood surging within him granted him a radar-like perception.

In this cold, viscous mist, any living being with even a hint of warmth was as conspicuous in his mind as a candle flame in the dark of night.

"Brother Su Chen, the radar is broken, we..." On the passenger seat, Lin Mengyao's voice was a bit tight, her hands death-gripping that modified multi-functional military shovel.

"Shh." Su Chen raised a finger to his lips, then pointed at his ear. "The Su family's ancestral 'Listening to the Wind to Discern Position.' Don't be noisy, I'm listening to the wind."

Lin Mengyao immediately shut her mouth obediently, the look in her eyes as she watched Su Chen gaining a few more points of admiration.

Although she couldn't understand at all why he could hear the wind outside in a fully enclosed cabin, since Su Chen said so, it must be some kind of profound ancient martial arts secret.

In fact, what Su Chen heard wasn't wind, but frequencies.

Eleven o'clock direction, about fifty meters.

Besides that tooth-aching metallic clashing sound, like fingernails scratching a blackboard, there was also the sharp, shrill sound of a survival whistle, one after another.

That kind of old-fashioned plastic whistle—only a stiff, old-fashioned guy would carry one around.

Most importantly, Su Chen captured a familiar energy fluctuation.

Lukewarm and overflowing, it carried a nauseating sense of holiness, like a glass of plain water with way too much saccharin added.

"Heh, it's a small world." Su Chen opened his eyes, a playful smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

He would recognize the scent of this 'Holy Light' ability even if it were turned to ash.

He jerked the steering wheel, and the bus's massive tires crushed over the broken roadbed, sliding silently into the darkness on the left.

As the 'Eye of the Main God' switched to low-power low-light mode, the mist ahead seemed to be pushed aside slightly by an invisible giant hand.

It was an abandoned gas station.

Six ragged figures were standing back-to-back in a circle, being suppressed by dozens of translucent, eerie shadows.

Those were the 'Time Devourers.'

They had no physical form, like crudely cut paper figures from a shadow puppet play, presenting a bizarre two-dimensional flatness in a three-dimensional space.

But every time their long, thin claws swung, they caused ripples in space.

At the core of the encirclement was Su Chen's old acquaintance—the former monitor of Class 1, Senior Grade 3, Zhao Zi Hao.

At this moment, this former 'Messenger of Justice' looked rather disheveled.

His designer suit had long since turned into rags, his slicked-back hair was gone, and his face was covered in black soot.

He held both hands high, propping up a tottering, milky-white light shield like an eggshell, protecting the survivors behind him.

"Hold on! For justice and hope! Rescue will definitely come!" Zhao Zhao Zihao roared hoarsely, his voice cracking from dehydration. "As long as there is light in our hearts, we will not fall!"

"Light my ass, save your strength!"

A cold scolding responded to him.

Beside him, a long-haired girl in a worn-out denim jacket was gritting her teeth and swinging a sword.

That was Shen Qingqiu, the kendo specialist in class who always kept to herself.

The longsword in her hand was already rusty and even had a chipped edge, but every thrust was accurately aimed at the joint connections of those shadows.

Those were the weaknesses of the 'Time Devourers.'

Puchi!

With a flick of her wrist, Shen Qingqiu's sword tip sent a monster's core flying, but the hiking boots on her feet had clearly worn through their soles; she stumbled, nearly falling to her knees.

Su Chen sat high in the driver's seat, looking down at this group of former classmates.

Their backpacks were as flat as paper; they had clearly been without food for a long time.

Though Zhao Zhao Zihao's light shield looked bright, it was actually hollow and weak.

"Save them or not?" Lin Mengyao also saw the people outside and instinctively looked at Su Chen.

"No rush, let him shout a few more slogans." Su Chen fished a lollipop out of his pocket, peeled it, and popped it into his mouth. "A call for help right now is only worth a pack of biscuits. When he's about to die, it'll be worth a life."

Before his words even faded, the battlefield situation suddenly changed.

A slightly larger Time Devourer suddenly stretched its body, avoiding Shen Qingqiu's sword tip like a giant pancake. Its claws ignored physical collision volume, piercing directly through that thin layer of Holy Light shield, aiming straight for Zhao Zhao Zihao's throat.

Zhao Zhao Zihao's pupils shrank. The 'righteous' expression he had been maintaining instantly collapsed, turning into the most naked fear in the face of death.

That's about enough.

Su Chen crunched the candy in his mouth and slammed his right hand down on the red button in the center of the steering wheel.

Beep—!!!

The high-decibel air horn, modified by the system, instantly blasted, sounding like a clap of thunder in the dead silence of the mist.

The massive sound wave had no physical killing power, but it caused the Time Devourers, who relied on sound waves and magnetic fields for positioning, to freeze. The claw stabbing toward Zhao Zhao Zihao stopped just half an inch from his Adam's apple.

In that fraction of a second of hesitation, the car door sprang open.

With no flashy special effects, Su Chen was like a cannonball fired from a barrel, directly smashing through the mist.

He didn't use any weapons. With his Extreme Yang Sacred Body circulating, his entire right hand instantly became as red as a branding iron.

"Get lost!"

With a loud roar, Su Chen swept his palm across.

There was no actual sensation of contact, but the heatwave from that palm strike was like a scorching sun melting remnant snow.

The three Time Devourers caught in the palm wind didn't even let out a scream before their translucent bodies twisted and evaporated in the high heat, leaving only three fingernail-sized black crystals falling to the ground.

The crisis was temporarily averted.

Zhao Zhao Zihao slumped onto the ground, gasping for breath. The feeling of collapse after surviving a disaster made his whole body tremble.

He looked up, his gaze passing through the gradually dispersing dust to see the man standing in the interplay of light and shadow.

A well-tailored black trench coat, combat boots so clean they didn't have a speck of dust, and that somewhat nonchalant expression that still seemed out of place even in the apocalypse.

"Su... Su Chen?" Zhao Zhao Zihao's eyes widened in disbelief.

In that instant, Su Chen clearly captured the changes in the other's facial micro-expressions.

First was the wild joy of being rescued, followed by bewilderment at the current situation, and finally... it settled into a twisted jealousy born from the immense disparity.

We're all classmates. Why am I eating dirt, drinking wind, and shouting slogans while you look like you just came back from a fashion week runway?

Su Chen pretended not to see the fleeting flash of malice in the other's eyes. He leaned over to pick up those few still-warm black crystals, tossing them in his hand with a crisp clinking sound.

"Everyone, if you don't mind, shall we talk about the matter of the bus fare?"