With Yang Wei and the others gone, the bus felt much emptier, but the stench of blood in the air had grown even more pungent.
Wang Shifu and Li Xin's bodies lay on the floor, blood still winding across it.
Jiangnan frowned.
He knew he had to get rid of these potential problems.
He raised his head and swept a cold gaze over the three who remained.
Chen Tong, Wang Meng, and Liu Yuqing.
The three had just breathed a sigh of relief when Jiangnan's icy stare made their skin crawl.
"Jiang... Jiangnan?"
Chen Tong called out tentatively.
Jiangnan didn't waste time talking. He pulled out his Memo Pad and swiftly wrote a line.
Then he tore it off and slapped it onto the broken window.
[Throw the bodies out.]
At the sight of those words, both girls went deathly pale.
Liu Yuqing looked at Li Xin's corpse, his eyes still open in death, and felt her stomach roil. She instinctively took a step back.
"I... I can't..."
Even Chen Tong balked. They had only just been transported here from modern society; none of them had ever disposed of a body before.
"Could we... just leave them there?"
Chen Tong struggled to speak. "Or cover them up?"
Jiangnan didn't even raise his eyelids.
He simply lifted his right hand slowly and made the exact same finger-gun gesture he'd used to kill earlier.
He pointed at the corpses, then at the three of them.
He didn't say a word, but the meaning couldn't have been clearer.
Either you throw the bodies out.
Or you become corpses, and I throw you out.
In this apocalypse, there was no need for disobedient dead weight.
"Gulp."
Wang Meng swallowed. He was the first to understand.
"Teacher Chen, Yuqing, Jiangnan's right. We have to do this..."
Wang Meng forced himself to step forward. His legs were shaking too, but his mind worked quickly.
"The smell of blood is too strong. It'll definitely attract monsters."
"If we throw them far away, they can even serve as bait... It's a tactic."
Chen Tong and Liu Yuqing were still scared, but they understood the stakes.
The three of them joined forces and, after a tremendous struggle, finally shoved Wang Shifu and Li Xin's bodies through the broken bus window.
Jiangnan stood by the window and pointed into the distance.
Wang Meng gritted his teeth, jumped off the bus, and dragged the two bodies fifty meters toward the edge of the woods. Then he came running back, panting.
When it was all over, the three collapsed into their seats, as if completely drained.
But after that, their once-equal footing had been shattered for good.
Jiangnan had established absolute dominance through his actions.
Get to work.
Jiangnan pointed at the broken window again.
"R-right, I'll fix it now!"
Wang Meng didn't dare rest. Using the toolbox on the bus, he removed the metal backing from several seats.
After a clatter of tools and a flurry of work, he managed to seal off the broken window.
It looked as ugly as a patch, but at least it provided a physical barrier.
By the time he finished, night had fallen.
The bus grew quiet, with only their breathing to be heard.
To ease the oppressive mood left by moving the bodies, Chen Tong turned to the two beside her and tried to break the silence.
"Um... Wang Meng, Yuqing, I wanted to ask you something. Why were you both so determined to stay back then?"
Wang Meng was wiping off his sweat. At that, he scratched his messy hair and gave a sheepish grin, lowering his voice.
"Teacher Chen, to be honest..."
"I was hiding nearby then, and I saw Jiangnan point at that huge thing and make a 'bang' gesture with his hand!"
Liu Yuqing nodded excitedly, her eyes shining. "Me too! I saw it too!"
"His lips moved, and then that monster's head exploded!"
"Oh! Really?!"
Wang Meng seemed to have found a kindred spirit. "I knew I wasn't seeing things! This is definitely a Supernatural Ability! Like the ones in novels!"
The two were thrilled to share the same theory.
Hearing them confirm it, Chen Tong, who had been on edge all along, let out a long breath.
She patted her chest, and her ample curves rose and fell as relief washed over her.
"So... I'm not crazy."
Chen Tong looked at Jiangnan's back, her eyes complicated and full of gratitude.
"Actually, I saw it too."
"When he raised his hand, I saw it clearly..."
"But I was so scared that I thought I was hallucinating, and I couldn't bring myself to believe it."
Chen Tong smiled bitterly. "Now that you've both seen it too, I feel better."
Since Jiangnan really did have this Supernatural Ability,
then even if they had to face monsters, they could stay on the bus with real confidence!
However, just as the three felt a little safer after uncovering the secret,
Jiangnan, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them.
He'd heard something stirring in the wind.
"Rustle, rustle, rustle..."
It was dense—and fast!
Jiangnan didn't hesitate. He tore a sheet from his Memo Pad. A large character had already been written on it.
[Shh!]
He showed the note to the three, then gestured for them to get down at once.
At the sight of Jiangnan's stern, icy expression, the three immediately fell silent and instinctively clutched their heads as they crouched beneath the seats.
The next second—
"Caw! Caw! Caw!"
A sky-filling chorus of shrieks engulfed the bus!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Countless Mutated Crows slammed into the bus in a frenzy!
The sheet metal Wang Meng had just used to seal the window groaned and twisted, as if it would be torn open at any moment.
Through the gaps, in the moonlight, they saw nothing but red eyes outside!
It was the Vengeful crow flock!
"We're done for... There are so many..."
Wang Meng stared at the dense mass and swallowed in despair.
How were they supposed to fight this?
Jiangnan frowned too.
He glanced at his Attribute Panel.
[Current Word Spirit Reserve: 6665 characters]
These were the fruits of eighteen years of effort.
No Mana recovery method. No supplies.
Every word he used meant one less.
Clearing out the hundreds, maybe thousands, of crows outside would cost at least several hundred words.
That was a whole year's worth of savings!
Jiangnan felt a pang of pain, as if his heart were bleeding.
But if he didn't fight, he'd die.
"Damn it, forget saving!"
Jiangnan steeled himself. If he wanted to live, he had to burn through his savings!
He took a deep breath and sprang to his feet.
He held both arms straight out, thumbs raised and index fingers extended, striking a dual-pistol pose.
If he was going to burn money, he might as well go all out!
"Come on, you little punks."
Jiangnan began spinning in place. The mouth he'd kept shut for eighteen years opened up and unleashed a torrent!
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
His words came at a blistering speed, a continuous stream!
As the three watched in utter shock, Jiangnan transformed into Mark B. Nan!
Everywhere his arms pointed, the crows outside burst apart and fell like raindrops!
Word Spirit: Bullet—ignores defense, travels in an absolute straight line!
One after another, they plummeted from the sky like dumplings dropped into a pot.
Every "bang" cost Jiangnan one day!
He was burning through his own lifespan!
The shrieks outside shifted from fury to terror. Realizing they'd met a tough opponent, the crows tried to climb higher and escape.
"Trying to run?"
Jiangnan swung his aim toward the sky, the corner of his eye twitching.
I've spent all my savings, and you still think you can run?!
Every last one of you can die!
"Bangbangbangbangbangbang!!!"
Another burst of deafening shots!
He kept firing for a full minute, unleashing more than three hundred shots!
Only after the final crow burst into a spray of blood a hundred meters up did the world finally fall silent.
Outside the bus, bodies littered the ground.
"Hah..."
Jiangnan slowly lowered his aching arms and looked at the number that had plummeted on his panel.
[Current Word Spirit Reserve: 6340 characters]
Three hundred and twenty-five words.
Eighteen years of silence had gone up in smoke in a single minute.
Jiangnan's mouth twitched with pain. On top of that, speaking so fast had worn his lips raw, and his throat burned.
He turned and looked at the three, who were still gaping at him from the floor.
Then he picked up a bottle of Mineral Water nearby and started cooling down...
Meanwhile,
Yang Wei's Team wasn't nearly so "lucky"...
Before you continue