3: Chapter 3: The First Signs of Talent

The iron plating on the roof emitted an ear-piercing screech as it was scratched.

Separated by a thin layer of metal, the thirty people could even hear the greedy gulping sounds coming from the monsters' throats.

In the darkness, the women covered their mouths, not even daring to breathe heavily.

The strange sweet fragrance brought by the awakening of the Succubus Bloodline grew stronger and stronger inside the carriage. To the abyss monsters, this scent was like a guiding beacon in the night.

"They're looking for an entrance," Su Ya's voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz, carrying a suppressed tremble.

Lin Feng leaned against the blast door. On his retina, the Train Master's system interface emitted a faint blue light.

[Warning: A large number of Bloodthirsty Berserk Beasts have gathered on the roof, tracking a high-concentration magic source.]

He couldn't wait.

Once this group of monsters discovered the vents or the weak points at the carriage connections, this Level 0 green-skinned carriage wouldn't last even a minute.

"Su Ya, Xia Wanqiu." Lin Feng called out their names precisely in the darkness, his voice cold and hard. "Come here."

The two girls recoiled slightly.

In an environment where they had lost their sight, Lin Feng's calm tone instead became their only coordinate. They stumbled through the darkness to his side.

"Lin Feng... what are you going to do?" Xia Wanqiu's voice carried a hint of a sob.

Her body was still burning hot, and the tail behind her uncontrollably brushed against Lin Feng's calf, bringing a strange sensation.

"What abilities did you just awaken? Feel your bodies," Lin Feng ignored the tail and gave a direct order.

Su Ya closed her eyes and opened them a moment later.

In the darkness, her ice-blue horns flashed with a faint light. "Fire. I feel something burning in my blood, like I can summon flames."

Xia Wanqiu also stammered her reply, "I... I feel very cold, like there's ice in my palms."

"Very good." Lin Feng pointed at the half-severed corpse of the Ghoul on the floor. "Su Ya, use your fire to ignite its blood. Xia Wanqiu, use your frost to control the range of the fire. Don't set the whole carriage ablaze."

"Ignite the corpse?" Su Ya was stunned. "That will attract even more monsters!"

"Do it!" Lin Feng's voice suddenly rose, carrying an unquestionable authority.

The Ghoul's blood contained high concentrations of abyssal rot.

Burning it would produce a stench powerful enough to mask all other scents.

This was a low-level survival technique recorded in the Train Master system's database.

Su Ya gritted her teeth and extended her right hand. Her fingertips trembled violently, and her face flushed from the effort.

With a "pfft" sound.

A tiny, weak orange-red flame flickered in her palm.

The flame fell into the Ghoul's foul-smelling black blood.

Boom!

The black blood actually acted like gasoline, bursting into flames the moment it touched the fire.

Pungent thick smoke immediately filled the enclosed carriage.

"Xia Wanqiu, cool it down!" Lin Feng growled.

Xia Wanqiu was startled and hurriedly extended her hands.

A faint white chill surged from her palms, covering the area around the flames.

Ice and fire collided, producing a "hissing" sound that suppressed the thick smoke to the lower half of the carriage.

The next second, an indescribable stench erupted.

The smell was like ten thousand dead rats stuffed into a septic tank to ferment for ten days, then heated in a microwave.

"Blegh!"

The girls in the carriage instantly broke down. Some knelt on the floor, dry-heaving violently, almost vomiting up bile.

"It stinks so much... I'm going to suffocate..."

Su Ya and Xia Wanqiu also couldn't withstand the impact, retreating as they covered their noses, tears streaming down their faces.

Lin Feng stood there expressionless, without even knitting his brows.

Compared to death, what was a little smell?

He closed his eyes, sensing the movement on the roof.

The pungent stench drifted out through the cracks in the broken windows, perfectly masking the sweet fragrance of the Succubus awakening.

The scratching on the roof stopped.

A few low growls filled with disgust and confusion sounded from above; those Bloodthirsty Berserk Beasts seemed nauseated by this extremely putrid smell.

Thud.

Thud, thud, thud.

Heavy landing sounds echoed one after another.

The monsters gave up on this stinking tin can, jumped off the carriage, and vanished back into the thick fog.

The crisis was temporarily averted.

Lin Feng glanced at the crowd still dry-heaving, then walked over to extinguish the burning blood with a rag.

Just then, the lights on the ceiling of the carriage flickered with a sizzle and turned back on.

[System Prompt: The initial stage of the Succubus awakening has ended. The magnetic field has stabilized; the carriage's backup power has been restored.]

The lights illuminated the carriage once again.

Thirty girls sat slumped on the floor in a sorry state, looking at each other.

They had all changed.

Besides Su Ya's horns and Xia Wanqiu's wings and tail, the other girls also displayed various succubus characteristics.

Pink eyeshadow, eerie tattoos, pointed ears.

But this wasn't what shocked them the most.

"Look... the system panel!" a girl with twin tails suddenly screamed.

A translucent attribute panel popped up in front of everyone.

[Player: Su Ya]

[Race: Low-rank Succubus]

[Talent: Flame Control (Rank B)]

[Mana: 90/100]

[Player: Xia Wanqiu]

[Race: Low-rank Succubus]

[Talent: Frost Control (Rank A)]

[Mana: 85/100]

The others also started announcing their talents one after another.

"I'm Rank D, Plant Growth!"

"I'm Rank E, Vision Enhancement..."

"I'm Rank C, Mental Charm!"

Silence.

Then came irrepressible ecstasy.

The shadow of death that had loomed over everyone was instantly thinned by this sudden power.

They had thought they were just lambs waiting for slaughter, but now, the system told them they possessed supernatural powers.

Su Ya looked at her hands. With a thought, a fireball ten times larger than before ignited out of thin air in her palm.

The intense heat caused the surrounding air to warp.

She casual waved, and the fireball slammed into the metal wall, leaving a charred mark.

"So strong..." A flash of shock crossed Su Ya's eyes, and she then straightened her back. The pride of being a top student returned to her.

Xia Wanqiu also tried waving her hands. A layer of frost rapidly spread from the soles of her feet, completely freezing the blood on the floor.

The pair of dark red bat wings behind her flapped gently, causing her entire body to hover a few centimeters off the ground.

"I can fly! And I can control ice!" Xia Wanqiu cried out in surprise.

The atmosphere in the carriage changed.

Fear receded, replaced by blind optimism and excitement.

A few girls huddled together, even starting to discuss how to use their abilities to renovate this broken carriage.

"With Senior Su Ya's fire and Wan Qiu's ice, the monsters won't be able to get in at all!"

"Exactly, we have combat power too. If that Ghoul from before came in now, Wan Qiu could freeze it into an ice sculpture in an instant!"

In the corner, the girl with heavy makeup who had previously complained about Lin Feng distributing too few supplies had now awakened Rank D Water Manipulation.

A ring of water swirled around her fingertips as she looked at Lin Feng with a provocative gaze.

"It seems we don't need someone barking orders all the time anymore," the heavy-makeup girl snorted coldly. "Shouldn't the supplies be redistributed? We're Ability Users now."

Su Ya frowned, glanced at Lin Feng, but said nothing.

Although she was grateful for Lin Feng's decisiveness just now, deep down, she didn't like his dictatorial attitude.

Now that everyone had abilities, perhaps they truly could stand on equal footing.

Xia Wanqiu also retracted her wings. The awe in her eyes when she looked at Lin Feng had diminished, replaced by the confidence of an A-rank talent holder.

Lin Feng watched all of this silently.

He didn't argue or get angry, only curling his lips into a mocking sneer.

Foolish.

They didn't understand the rule of "equivalent exchange" at all.

Why would the system give them such powerful strength for nothing?

He opened the Train Master's exclusive monitoring panel.

At the rear of the carriage, outside that fragile iron door, a massive red light dot was rapidly approaching.

Bang!

A loud boom interrupted everyone's cheering.

The entire carriage shook violently as if it had been rear-ended by a heavy truck, and several standing girls fell directly to the floor.