95: I want more...

The corpse, used as a projectile, slammed accurately into a withered tree branch three hundred meters away.

Like a piece of rotten meat hitting a high-voltage power grid, the air around the previously empty tree trunk suddenly distorted.

The translucent humanoid silhouette was struck dead-on by Zhao Zihao's corpse; its optical camouflage instantly flickered with blinding static, like an old television screen with a bad connection.

"Ah, holy shit!"

A panic-stricken scream fell from the tree.

He Qi was having some rotten luck; his mediocre invisibility talent was already vulnerable to physical impact, let alone being hit by a corpse weighing over a hundred pounds.

Just as he tried to scramble up, a scorching large hand clamped onto the scruff of his neck like a vice.

"Running? Did you buy a ticket?"

Su Chen's voice rang out above him, as cold as a block of iron fresh out of an ice cellar.

He Qi shuddered, and just as he was about to blurt out some nonsense like "we're all classmates," Su Chen's fingers didn't pause for a second.

Since he was a sniper, there was no need to keep his hands; since he liked running away, his legs were redundant as well.

*Crack, crack.*

Two crisp sounds, clean and efficient.

Before He Qi could even draw a breath into his lungs, his arms and knee joints were shattered into comminuted fractures by the overbearing Yang Energy Su Chen had injected.

It wasn't a break from external force, but rather his internal bones exploding like crackers, completely severing any possibility of repair.

"Ah— mmmph!"

The scream had barely left his throat when Su Chen tore a piece of cloth from Zhao Zihao's corpse and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Shut up. Screaming in this dungeon? Are you worried the nearby zombies haven't had dinner yet?"

Su Chen dragged He Qi by one of his broken legs like a dead dog, heading back toward the bus without looking back.

Behind him, within the mist thinning due to the loss of its core, the faint low growls of wandering monsters could be heard.

By the time he returned to the vehicle, the atmosphere inside was even more oppressive than the mist outside.

Shen Qingqiu was standing at the bus door; her face, which usually remained calm even if Mount Tai collapsed before her, was now etched with anxiety.

She held several empty water bottles, her knuckles white from gripping them so tightly.

"Su Chen, something's wrong." Shen Qingqiu glanced at the half-dead He Qi in Su Chen's hand, forced down her nausea, and spoke rapidly. "That animal Zhao Zihao pierced the water tank at the bottom before he fled. Everyone was too tense to notice earlier, but now that they've relaxed, dehydration symptoms are starting to break out."

Su Chen raised an eyebrow and stepped into the carriage.

The scene inside the carriage was indeed grim.

Several girls with weaker constitutions had collapsed onto their seats, their lips parched and peeling, their faces showing a sickly flush.

It was the dual reaction of severe dehydration and having inhaled trace amounts of hallucinogenic pollen earlier.

Without clean water to dilute the toxins, their kidneys would fail like overloaded engines within half an hour.

"The water sources around here are all contaminated. That flower grew by absorbing toxins from the underground sewage." Shen Qingqiu bit her lip. "I've already handed out all the drinks I could find, but it's just a drop in the bucket."

"Don't panic. Since there's a flower, there's water."

Su Chen tossed He Qi into the aisle, indifferent to whether the pain would wake him.

He pulled out the crystal core he had gouged from the demon flower's heart.

The thing was only the size of an egg, a strange pinkish-purple all over. Holding it, he could feel liquid flowing inside, and it emitted a cloying, sweet fragrance that made one's face flush and heart race.

"Is this... that monster's inner core?" Shen Qingqiu instinctively took a step back. "Can this be eaten? It looks highly toxic."

"Eating it directly would be suicide, of course, but this thing is essentially a high-concentration aggregate of life essence and water elements."

Su Chen walked to the simple purification tank next to the driver's seat.

The device, originally intended for filtering rainwater, had its casing smashed by Zhao Zihao, exposing the filter element inside.

He didn't repair the machine; instead, he squeezed the crystal core in his palm.

The newly ascended "Sacred Yang" cyclone within him spun frantically. A surge of the most rigid and masculine golden true qi erupted from his Laogong acupoint, instantly enveloping the cold crystal core.

"Sizzle, sizzle—"

Yin and Yang clashed, and white smoke billowed up.

Under the terrifying heat of Su Chen's palm power, the crystal core's shell quickly melted. The alkaloids inside, originally full of toxins and hallucinogens, were like snow meeting lava when they encountered the overbearing Sacred Yang Qi. They were forcibly "refined" into the purest gaseous water molecules, which then rapidly condensed within the purification tank.

*Glug, glug.*

In the damaged water tank, the water level began to rise at a visible rate.

Only, this water... wasn't quite right.

It wasn't transparent but had a faint amber hue, and it even emitted wisps of steam along with a pleasant scent like orchids.

"Bring a cup," Su Chen ordered.

Shen Qingqiu immediately handed over a stainless steel thermos.

Su Chen filled a cup; the water temperature was around fifty degrees Celsius, feeling scalding to the touch.

He walked over to the nearest person, Lin Mengyao. The campus belle was now drifting in and out of consciousness, unconsciously murmuring, "Water... water..."

Su Chen pried her jaw open and poured down this cup of "special water" transformed by his Sacred Yang Divine Body.

The next second, a reaction occurred.

Lin Mengyao's previously dull and dry skin regained a moist luster almost instantly—in fact, it became... too moist.

An incredible heat exploded inside her.

It wasn't just rehydration; it was more like a high-concentration bio-current rushing through her esophagus to her entire body.

"Ying..."

Lin Mengyao let out an extremely sweet nasal moan. She looked as if she had just stepped out of a sauna, her entire skin instantly flushing with an enticing layer of pink.

Sweat trickled down her slender neck, dampening the front of her clothes.

She snapped her eyes open; her once cold eyes were now misty and out of focus.

This water contained Su Chen's "extreme yang qi." For women with cold constitutions, it was practically the most potent tonic in the world, even carrying a certain indescribable catalytic effect.

"Hot... so hot..."

Lin Mengyao instinctively felt the aura radiating from Su Chen, which made her feel extremely comfortable. It was like a moth to a flame; she completely lost her reason.

She struggled to spring up from her seat and clung to Su Chen's arm like an octopus, her burning cheeks rubbing against his cool combat uniform.

"Su Chen... I want more... give it to me..."

The carriage fell into a dead silence as all the conscious girls stared wide-eyed at the usually aloof campus belle in such a doting state.

Shen Qingqiu's face turned red all the way to her ears, and she asked stutteringly, "What... what did you put in the water?"

"Yang Energy, which is also life force." Su Chen pushed Lin Mengyao aside slightly without changing his expression, but the woman's strength was surprisingly great; her fingers were practically digging into his flesh. "The side effect is a temporary surge in endocrine activity. You can think of it as an adrenaline overdose."

Actually, Su Chen himself was a bit surprised.

Because he clearly saw that as Lin Mengyao continued to absorb the "Extreme Yang True Water" in her body, a faint golden mark was slowly appearing on her smooth forehead.

The pattern looked like a burning sun. Though it was only the size of a fingernail and flickered in and out of sight, it exuded a sacred and majestic aura.

On the system panel, an inconspicuous message quietly flashed by:

[Target detected absorbing Sacred Yang Source. Forced contract formation in progress...]

["Sun Maid" mark generated. Loyalty locked. Life sharing activated.]

So that's how it is.

The corners of Su Chen's mouth curled into a playful arc.

Having drunk his water, she was now his.

This wasn't a side effect; it was the most efficient slave collar imaginable.

"What are you all standing around for? If you want to die of thirst, just say so." Su Chen scanned the dazed girls around him. "Line up for water, one cup each. You might feel a bit... hot after drinking it, but just bear with it and it'll pass."

How was this something you could just "bear with"?

Looking at Lin Mengyao's expression of both pain and extreme pleasure, the girls swallowed hard, feeling both fearful and longing.

However, just as Su Chen was preparing to hand out the second cup of water, the entire bus suddenly shuddered without warning.

It wasn't the vibration of an engine starting, but rather... an expansion similar to a creature letting out a satisfied burp.

Su Chen keenly felt that the floor beneath his feet seemed to have softened slightly, and the originally cold metal handrails now felt warm to the touch, as if they had a body temperature.

The overflowing demon flower energy and Su Chen's excess Yang Energy didn't seem to be completely absorbed by the water tank. Instead, they flowed through the damaged pipes toward the deepest depths of this "old friend"...