24: Chapter 24 The quiet carriage, the peeping gaze

Fang Che took a deep breath and finally pulled open the metal door of the bathroom.

"Creak—"

The sound of the thick door hinges rubbing together was exceptionally piercing in this deathly silent carriage, where even breathing was deliberately suppressed, cutting through the oppressive air and striking fear into people's hearts.

He walked out first.

Behind him was Teacher Qin Bing, who had already tidied her clothes and regained her usual intellectual and dignified demeanor, though the flush on her cheeks had not yet faded, and her swirling eyes added a touch of allure.

The two of them, one after the other, were completely exposed to the sight of everyone in the carriage.

The carriage was pitch black.

Only the faint light from the console screen and the moonlight passing by outside the Train's windows outlined the undulating contours of the resting area.

The mattresses were full of people.

More than thirty girls were each covering their heads with the newly distributed clothes, their breathing deliberately kept steady and long, as if they had long since fallen asleep in their exhaustion, indifferent to everything outside.

But this was only an illusion.

Fang Che's five senses were now very sharp, and he clearly captured the surging undercurrent beneath this facade of deep sleep, one capable of swallowing people whole.

In the darkness, at least thirty gazes were peeking through the gaps in their clothing, staring greedily, hotly, and with a trace of fear at the two of them, especially at Teacher Qin Bing.

He could even hear the heavy, uncontrollably suppressed breathing from beneath the clothing, as well as the faint sound of nails digging into palms.

Inquiry, jealousy, awe, unwillingness, and a most primitive desire ignited by power.

The air had long been filled with a strong, sour smell mixed with sweat and jealousy.

Fang Che's gaze subconsciously swept over those contours that could still be seen in the darkness, and what arose in his heart was no longer a simple sense of absurdity, but an unprecedented sense of extreme expansion.

For the first time, he realized so clearly that he was no longer an ordinary student who needed to rely on the collective, but the person who held the source of everyone's fate and power.

Just as his heart was surging, a hand lightly patted the back of his head.

Pop.

The force was very light, but it carried a trace of warning and a possessiveness that even she herself had not realized.

It was Teacher Qin Bing.

"Don't look, go back to sleep."

Her voice was not loud, one could even say it was very soft, but at this very moment, it was extremely abrupt, clearly spreading to every corner of the carriage and precisely piercing the ears of everyone whose gaze was peeking.

These seemingly ordinary words, in the current context, were tantamount to a silent declaration.

Those slightly trembling quilts froze instantly.

Fang Che's body stiffened slightly, and he touched his nose in embarrassment, pulling himself away from that inflated state of mind.

Teacher Qin Bing seemed to have seen through his embarrassment, or perhaps she was just coldly stating facts.

She stepped forward, stood side by side with him, and added calmly in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"The system prompt has sounded twice, each time more shocking than the last. Do you think, in the face of absolute power, any of them can really sleep?"

With one sentence, she broke through all the disguises.

Fang Che was speechless.

That's right, All Stats +29! This number was enough to drive any weakling struggling to survive in the apocalypse completely crazy.

He smiled bitterly and shook his head, stopped looking at the girls pretending to sleep, and turned to walk towards his mattress in the corner.

However, Teacher Qin Bing did not follow him, nor did she head towards any of the empty mattresses.

In Fang Che's surprised gaze, she adjusted her collar, strode with her long legs, and headed straight for the middle of the carriage.

That was the position for the night watch.

Under the faint light of the console, Su Qingxue and Jiang Ning were sitting there.

One had a solemn expression, her eyes filled with complexity and contemplation.

The other was tense and furious, staring dead at the approaching Teacher Qin Bing, and from those wild eyes, it was as if the truest flames of anger were about to erupt.

Teacher Qin Bing's footsteps were steady.

She had long since changed out of her high heels, but walking barefoot on the cold metal floor now, every step carried an invisible and highly suppressive aura.

She came to the two of them and stopped.

Her gaze calmly swept over Su Qingxue, then paused for a second longer on Jiang Ning's face, which was full of unwillingness and jealousy.

She didn't explain anything.

She didn't explain why Jiang Ning was the one who went in, yet she was the one who came out.

She didn't even explain how that shocking All Stats +29 came to be.

She just spoke lightly, in a matter-of-fact, unquestionable tone, just as calm as when she used to announce the scope of the final exam on the podium:

"I'll take over for you, you go rest."

The moment her words fell, a terrifying pressure was released from her body without reservation!

It was no longer the dignity that belonged to Teacher Qin, but a unique, absolute aura formed by the terrifying amplification of All Stats +29, mixed with the intellect and dignity she possessed as a mentor to control the entire situation!

The feeling made one's scalp numb and unable to breathe; that deep-seated fear and extremely intense pressure were magnified a thousand times over!

Su Qingxue's pupils shrank suddenly!

She was an extremely rational and smart person, and under that pressure that almost made her spirit feel stinging pain, she understood immediately.

The situation had changed.

The right to speak in the carriage had shifted completely in that short moment.

Without even a moment's hesitation, she stood up from her seat, took a deep look in Fang Che's direction—her eyes complex to the extreme—and then turned and walked to the resting area without a word.

A wise person submits to circumstances; in the face of absolute power, any little scheme is foolish.

However, Su Qingxue's concession made another person stand out even more.

Jiang Ning was still sitting firmly in her place.

She didn't move.

She looked up at Teacher Qin Bing, her clenched fists turned deathly pale from excessive force.

Beneath her wheat-colored skin, her muscle lines were taut, and she could erupt and attack at any moment.

Jealousy, anger, unwillingness, and a deep sense of crisis from having everything taken away constantly gnawed at her heart, causing her extreme pain.

Two women who had gained power from Fang Che.

One was the first to gain power, a pioneer who thought she was unique.

The other was a latecomer who had ascended to heaven in one step, a usurper.

At this moment, in this silent carriage, under more than thirty gazes peeking with suffocating tension, a direct confrontation full of gunpowder was formed for the first time.

Watching the atmosphere drop to freezing point, as if sparks were flying in the air, a battle was imminent.

Fang Che's heart skipped a beat.

He keenly perceived that Teacher Qin Bing now completely suppressed Jiang Ning in terms of attributes, and if they really started fighting, this carriage would likely be torn apart.

More importantly, he knew very well that if he let the two of them conflict at such a time, the delicate balance he had worked so hard to establish would collapse instantly.

So, a second before Jiang Ning was about to explode, Fang Che hurried over.

Bearing Teacher Qin Bing's terrifying pressure, he forcibly inserted himself between the two, grabbed Jiang Ning's wrist—which was trembling slightly from excessive force—and dragged her towards the resting area without any room for argument.

"Go, come back with me," Fang Che said in a low voice, his tone carrying an unquestionable decisiveness.

Jiang Ning struggled for a moment, but under the gaze of Fang Che's complex eyes, she ultimately gritted her teeth, let out a cold, unwilling snort, and turned around, following his force.

As Fang Che pulled Jiang Ning away, he secretly wiped away a cold sweat, smiling bitterly in his heart.

Although the establishment of this relationship was full of absurdity and the cruelty of the apocalypse, since things had developed to this point, he knew very well that as the source of this power, he had to balance it all.

After all, these women had nominally all become "his" women; for the sake of the big picture, and for his own sake, he absolutely could not let this "harem" catch fire on the very first night.