16: Chapter 16 Thirty Times Critical Hit

The calm yet slightly fanatical urging voice of Su Qingxue echoed through the Train carriage, which had just experienced such drastic ups and downs.

All the girls looked at Fang Che, their eyes filled with anticipation and trust.

As long as this man nodded, their sense of security would skyrocket once again.

However, Fang Che merely swept a calm glance at the public chat channel, which was still refreshing crazily and filled with despair and curses, then shook his head.

"Upgrading is not urgent."

His three calm words instantly cooled the burning hearts of everyone present.

"Not urgent?"

Su Qingxue's brows furrowed instantly, her gaze behind her glasses filled with confusion.

"Fang Che, this is our best opportunity to widen the gap."

"The window of opportunity for information advantage is very short; we must..."

"Su Qingxue."

Fang Che interrupted her. His gaze swept across the face of this intensely calm class monitor, then slowly glided over Teacher Qin Bing, and the girls around them who still wore expressions of relief from having survived a catastrophe.

Finally, his gaze landed on himself.

He reached out and pointed to his own still-naked body, then pointed to the group of girls around him who were similarly bare, only able to barely cover their key areas with their arms, his tone calm.

"Before that, let's solve the clothing problem first."

This one sentence caused the entire carriage to fall into extreme silence.

The embarrassment that had been temporarily cast aside due to immense joy and shock came rushing back at this moment with fierce intensity, overwhelming every girl.

"Ah."

A few timid girls let out a short cry, squatted down, hugged themselves tighter, their cheeks burning hot.

Even the usually calm Su Qingxue couldn't suppress a flush of red on her cheeks; she pushed up her glasses and avoided Fang Che's frank and direct gaze.

Teacher Qin Bing's expression was even more complex. She felt a sense of helpless annoyance, yet she had to admit that what Fang Che pointed out was the most basic issue at hand, and one most related to human dignity.

Indeed, they had just been ecstatic over the abundance of resources, cheering for the upgrade of the Train, and even competing in secret for who could gain Fang Che's favor.

But they had all forgotten that from the beginning of this damn game until now, all of them had remained in the most primitive, most humiliating, and most insecure state.

Dignity.

This word, which was often on people's lips in peaceful times, had become a luxury in the apocalypse that required strength to fight for.

Fang Che ignored the complex thoughts of the girls; he walked straight back to the console and swiped his fingers rapidly across the virtual screen.

Everyone's gaze was once again involuntarily drawn to him.

Within the complex list of functions, he quickly found the option for [Basic Manufacturing] and clicked on the [Clothing] subcategory.

A simple manufacturing interface popped up.

[Manufactured Item: Basic Clothing (Cotton T-shirt + Pants)]

[Required Materials: Fiber × 100]

[Note: The most basic clothing, providing only negligible warmth and protection, but it is the fig leaf of civilization.]

Fang Che glanced at the amount of fiber in the team warehouse, which was so full it was about to overflow, and then mentally calculated the number of people.

Himself, plus thirty-six women.

Thirty-seven people in total.

He needed to prepare some extras for changing.

He entered the number 40 directly into the quantity column.

[Confirm Manufacturing Item: Basic Clothing × 40?]

[Estimated Consumption: Fiber × 4000]

"Yes."

Fang Che pressed the confirm button without hesitation.

The moment he confirmed.

That familiar golden light from the depths of his soul lit up in his mind once again.

The light was so intense, so brilliant, it completely ignited his entire consciousness.

[Talent: Absolute Critical Hit Triggered—]

[Item manufacturing gains detected... Critical Hit determination in progress...]

[Critical Hit Multiplier: × 30]!

A system notification sound, different from any previous time, carrying an indescribable grandness and vastness, rang directly in the depths of Fang Che's mind.

[Critical Hit determination successful!]

[Final Acquisition: Basic Clothing × 1200]!

One thousand two hundred sets.

Fang Che's pupils contracted slightly because of this exaggerated number.

Thirty times... Is this the improvement brought about after stacking several minimum Critical Hits?

The growth potential of this talent was even more terrifying than he had imagined.

He didn't even have time to ponder where the upper limit of this talent actually lay.

The next second.

The entire carriage was submerged by endless, soft, white clothing.

Swish.

A huge gap suddenly opened in the air of the carriage, and countless neatly folded white T-shirts and dark gray pants appeared out of thin air, then poured down.

The wind they brought as they fell carried a clean, refreshing scent of cotton that had been sun-dried, instantly filling the entire enclosed space.

They piled up together, forming a huge, soft mountain of clothes, instantly occupying nearly one-third of the carriage's space, the height nearly touching the top of the carriage.

The few girls in the front row didn't even have time to react before they were submerged halfway by this sudden, huge pile of clothes, with only their heads and shoulders left exposed.

The soft fabric wrapped around them; there was no pain, only a sense of shock and bewilderment at being gently submerged.

"..."

"..."

The whole world fell into extreme silence instantly.

All the girls widened their eyes and opened their mouths, staring blankly at this surreal scene before them.

The mountain of clothes exuded a clean, refreshing scent of cotton—that was the smell of the civilized world.

One second.

Two seconds.

After the extreme silence.

"Ahhhhhhhh—"

Screams, sharper, louder, and more filled with ecstasy and excitement than any before, pierced the sky, almost threatening to blow off the roof of the Train.

"Clothes."

"It's clothes."

"It's clean clothes."

"Woooo... am I not dreaming?"

"So many... so many clothes."

"Oh my god."

"Fang Che."

"Classmate Fang Che."

It was unknown who was the first to call out Fang Che's name.

The next moment, all the screams converged into two words.

"Fang Che."

"Fang Che."

They could no longer care about any shyness or embarrassment; one by one, they descended into madness, screaming and crying as they threw themselves into that soft mountain of clothes.

One girl grabbed a white T-shirt; she didn't put it on immediately but instead pressed the soft, clean fabric tightly against her face, sniffing hard at the scent belonging to sunshine and cotton, her scalding tears instantly wetting the collar.

Another girl, hugging a pair of pants, sat directly in the pile of clothes, buried her face in her knees, and began to wail, releasing the long-suppressed fear and grievances at this moment.

Lin Xinyi also forgot who she was supposed to be jealous of; she scrambled to pull out a set of clothes from beside her, and when she touched the soft, dry fabric, her eyes instantly turned red.

She glanced at Jiang Ning, who was standing on the periphery of the crowd, looking somewhat at a loss. After hesitating for a moment, she grabbed another set from beside her and threw it over somewhat stiffly.

"What are you dazing for?"

"Put it on quickly."

Jiang Ning caught it, looked at the clothing in her hands, then looked at Lin Xinyi's awkward profile, and silently picked up a set of clothes closest to her.

The clean touch made her heart, which had become somewhat wild due to the surge in power, feel a trace of long-lost peace and stability at this moment.

Teacher Qin Bing leaned against the carriage wall, watching this chaotic yet joyful scene before her. She covered her mouth with her hand to keep that sour emotion from welling up from her throat.

The entire carriage was filled with an extremely joyful atmosphere everywhere.

The girls were rummaging through the pile of clothes, looking for sizes that fit them, and helping each other.