5: Chapter 5 I'll scout ahead

One minute.

Everyone in the Train had their hearts in their throats, their gazes fixed on that tightly closed door; behind it lay unknown danger.

"I'll go down first."

Fang Che's voice was clear in the silence; he had stepped forward voluntarily.

"I'll scout the area, confirm it's safe, then you guys can come down."

He added.

"If I don't come back, you'll have to decide what to do on your own."

These words stunned the girls in the Train, and their expressions as they looked at him became complicated.

Teacher Qin Bing's lips moved; she wanted to say something, but swallowed it back.

"I'm going with you!"

A crisp voice rang out.

It was Jiang Ning.

She straightened her chest, her wheat-colored body full of a sense of strength under the red light.

"I have the best physical fitness; I can help."

Fang Che's gaze paused on her, sweeping up and down.

Jiang Ning was indeed the girl with the best physical condition in the entire class; her sprint times could beat half the boys in the sports class.

Right now, she was wearing nothing, which made it even easier to see how she differed from the other girls: her shoulders had breadth, her waist and abdomen had clear lines, and the muscles in her thighs and calves were well-proportioned and full of explosive power.

"Fine."

Fang Che nodded.

Seeing this, Teacher Qin Bing immediately made a decision: "After we arrive, you two will scout ahead. Everyone else wait in the Train; no one is allowed to move around!"

No one had any further objections.

The girls who had just been clamoring for fairness were now wishing someone would be willing to take the risk for them.

[Ding—]

[Train No. 774 has arrived at the station: Abandoned Town.]

[The doors are about to open. Good luck to all Survivors.]

"Hiss—"

Accompanied by the sound of pressure release, the heavy metal door slowly slid open to both sides.

A cold wind carrying a rotten stench poured in, making everyone in the Train shiver.

Outside the door was a gray, thick fog.

Visibility was very low, at most only a dozen meters or so.

The platform was completely empty, with only dilapidated billboards and rusty benches looming in the mist.

Fang Che didn't step out immediately; his gaze quickly swept across the platform, locking onto a half-meter-long piece of rebar sticking out of the concrete.

He walked over, forcefully snapped it off, and weighed it in his hand, only then feeling a sense of security.

"Take this."

Fang Che handed the rebar to Jiang Ning.

Jiang Ning was stunned for a moment before taking it; it felt cold and heavy in her hand.

She looked at Fang Che, who was holding a piece of broken metal billboard with sharp edges in his own hand.

Seeing him being so cautious, the tension in Jiang Ning's heart eased a little.

"Let's go."

This time, Fang Che stepped out first, his bare feet landing on the cold concrete platform.

Jiang Ning gripped her weapon tightly and followed closely behind. The two walked down the platform one after the other, stepping cautiously into the thick fog enveloping the street.

All around were dilapidated high-rise buildings, their window glass shattered completely, leaving dark hollows. The walls were covered in unknown vines, giving the entire Abandoned Town an aura of death.

The fog was damp and cold, clinging to their exposed skin.

The cold air gave them goosebumps, and their bodies trembled slightly.

To ward off the cold and for safety, the two walked closer and closer. Their arms would touch from time to time, and they could feel the warmth and smoothness of each other's skin, as well as the thin layer of sweat from nervousness.

Jiang Ning was a girl after all; in such an eerie environment, being so close to the only male, her heart began to race involuntarily.

Thump-thump, thump-thump.

The sound was so clear she was afraid Fang Che might hear it.

After his talent awakened, Fang Che's five senses were amplified; he could clearly smell a faint scent drifting from Jiang Ning, a mixture of sweat and a young girl's natural fragrance.

It smelled very good.

He didn't get distracted, his gaze quickly sweeping the surroundings, searching for their first target.

Soon, he locked onto a Convenience Store on the street corner.

The store's sign was still relatively intact, and although the glass door was shattered, the main structure didn't seem to have been destroyed.

"Let's go there."

Fang Che pointed in that direction with his chin.

"Okay."

Jiang Ning nodded.

She walked in front, reaching out to push aside an abandoned wire hanging down from mid-air.

Fang Che followed about two steps behind her, whispering: "F-level station, there shouldn't be anything too strong here."

Jiang Ning walked to the entrance of the Convenience Store and stopped.

The glass door was half-shattered, revealing a pitch-black entrance. Two rows of shelves inside had toppled over, and some snack wrappers and empty bottles were scattered on the floor.

A few shelves were still standing, and the outlines of some products could be vaguely seen on them.

"There might be... inside here..."

Fang Che, behind her, had his attention drawn to a community clinic next to the Convenience Store.

In the apocalypse, the value of medicine and medical equipment was far higher than food.

He immediately began analyzing the route and risks of entering the clinic, his brain operating at high speed, ignoring his footing.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ning, walking in front, stopped because of a faint, strange noise coming from behind the Convenience Store door, her body instinctively tensing up.

One stopped, one kept walking; there was no buffer at all.

"Thud."

Fang Che's forward momentum collided solidly into something warm and soft.

"Ugh!"

Jiang Ning was knocked staggering, unable to control herself as she pitched forward.

"Careful!"

Fang Che reacted extremely quickly, reaching out to catch her almost instinctively.

One hand went around her side, trying to grab her waist to steady her.

The other hand reached forward, trying to pull her arm back.

But both of them were naked, skin against skin, very slippery.

Fang Che's right hand, which had intended to grab her arm, failed to catch it and instead slid up along her smooth skin.

Then, his entire palm sank into an unexpected fullness and warmth.

...

Both of them froze on the spot.

Time seemed to pause for half a second.

Fang Che's fingers curled slightly; he could clearly feel the astonishing elasticity beneath his palm and the frantically beating heart transmitted through the flesh.

Jiang Ning usually wore loose school uniforms and deliberately bound her chest, looking no different from the boys.

But now...

This scale was far more magnificent than he had imagined.

The shape was firm and upright, the feel full and solid; it was completely different from the purely soft, mushy touch of the other girls in the Train, possessing an astonishing elasticity forged by long-term exercise.

Jiang Ning's body instantly stiffened like a stone.

She could clearly feel a warm, large hand covering her peaks. A burning sense of shame rushed from her tailbone straight to her head, making her tremble all over, and a layer of fine goosebumps instantly rose on her wheat-colored skin.

What made her mind go even blanker was a scalding hot, forcefully present heat source pressing tightly against the soft flesh behind her waist.

Her voice trembled: "Fang Che! You bastard, you..."

However, before the words "you jerk" could be cursed out, her gaze subconsciously glanced downward, seeing that impossible-to-ignore outline, and her cheeks burned even redder with a "whoosh."

She gritted her teeth, as if wanting to confirm something, or perhaps mocking herself, her voice as low as a mosquito's hum: "...Even with me... you have a reaction?"

"Are you not a woman?"

Fang Che replied subconsciously.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he withdrew his hand from her chest.