Why didn't you use that ability sooner?

The lights came on in an instant.

Almost at the very same moment they lit up.

The deathly pale arms slapping against the windows outside let out a scalp-prickling sizzle, as though seared by a scorching branding iron.

Then they shrank at a visible speed, instantly retreating into the darkness and vanishing without a trace.

"These things... are afraid of light!"

Yang Yong's voice carried a trace of lingering fear, yet he sounded utterly certain. "Even ordinary light can hold them back!"

He drew a deep breath and shouted to the trembling people inside the bus, "Listen up, everyone! Gather under the lights! As long as you stay in the light, they won't dare come near!"

At his words, the survivors scrambled toward the brightest spot as though clutching at a lifeline, terrified that a moment's delay would see them dragged into that boundless darkness.

Only once their entire bodies were bathed in light did the chill in their hearts ease a little.

Even so, everyone's eyes remained fixed on the windows, every hair on their bodies standing on end.

That suffocating feeling, as though their bodies might be torn apart the very next second, silently warned them.

Those things hadn't left at all. They were merely lurking in the darkness.

The moment the lights went out, they would pounce and savagely bite through their throats.

Thump, thump, thump-

Their racing heartbeats sounded clear enough to echo throughout the bus.

Amid that suffocating tension, time ticked by, second by second.

After an unknown stretch of time, the driver, Old Zhao, suddenly broke the deathly silence with his trembling voice. "The-the bus battery's almost dead. It'll last another ten-odd minutes at most!"

As everyone knew, a vehicle had to travel at over thirty kilometers per hour to charge its battery.

But the ground outside was so uneven that fifteen kilometers per hour was already the bus's limit. Recharging the battery was impossible.

Worse still, the surrounding darkness seemed alive, ravenously devouring the light as the headlights visibly dimmed.

Before they could even think of a solution, the lights flickered several times, then went out completely.

The instant darkness fell, it was as though someone had stirred up a hornet's nest.

Countless deathly pale arms appeared out of thin air, densely packed as they battered the windows. The pounding matched everyone's heartbeats, so rapid it made their scalps crawl.

Soon, one window gave way under the strain and shattered.

The woman nearest it didn't even have time to cry for help before the arms reaching inside seized her in a crushing grip and dragged her out.

Outside the bus, only an extremely brief scream remained before everything fell deathly silent.

"Who would be next?"

Fear crawled up their spines and spread through their bodies like an icy venomous snake.

They had all become lambs awaiting slaughter.

Two quick-thinking survivors immediately squeezed toward Yang Yong.

He was the only person on the entire bus who had awakened a supernatural ability. Staying beside him might let them live a few minutes longer.

But they had barely taken two steps when the lights inside the bus suddenly came back on!

Sharp-eyed passengers immediately noticed that the little banner Yang Yong had been clutching was gone.

No one had noticed that, the instant the lights went out, Yang Yong had already thrown the One-Yang God-Sealing Banner.

The moment the banner pierced the bus's body, it not only sustained the flow of energy but also transformed into an emergency light source.

As the lights came on, the pale arms clinging to the windows recoiled as if electrocuted, as though seared by a red-hot branding iron.

The familiar sense of safety returned, and sobs of relief at surviving filled the bus.

Only one man had bloodshot eyes.

He was the boyfriend of the woman who had been dragged away.

He charged up to Yang Yong, pointed right at his nose, and unleashed a torrent of abuse.

"Why didn't you use that ability sooner?"

"If you'd used it earlier, she wouldn't have died!"

"It was you! You killed her!"

Yang Yong looked at him expressionlessly.

The survivors inside the bus all muttered inwardly:

Has this guy lost his mind?

Talking to a transcendent like that-he must have a death wish!

Some people's eyes also flickered, especially those of several young women, who looked at Yang Yong with undisguised desire.

If this attempt at emotional blackmail succeeded.

Wouldn't that prove Yang Yong was weak and easily bullied?

With a few tricks later, they could keep him bound to their side. Wouldn't that amount to another safeguard for their lives?

Unfortunately, their calculations were completely wrong.

Yang Yong coldly listened to the man's bellows, then merely asked, "Are you done?"

The man refused to let up. "No, I'm not! You murderer! You have to pay for her life with yours!"

Yang Yong picked at his ear, his face full of disgust.

What rotten luck.

Listening to an idiot like this yammer on was downright filthy to the ears.

Those deathly pale arms were still lurking menacingly in the darkness outside. He had no time to waste on a moron.

Yang Yong raised his hand and lashed out with a lightning-fast kick.

Crack-

With a crisp sound of breaking bones, the man flew backward like a torn sack and slammed into the bus wall, never making another sound.

"The Eerie can derange people's minds. Anyone who sows unrest in the convoy dies."

Yang Yong swept his icy gaze across the crowd. Everyone his eyes touched shuddered and instinctively drew their heads back.

Just as he was about to sit down and catch his breath, the driver Old Zhao's tearful voice rang out again.

"Mr. Yang! We've lost them! We've lost those off-road vehicles!"

Yang Yong's expression changed. He immediately rushed to the driver's seat and leaned against the window to look outside.

The night was as thick as ink. Where was there any sign of the off-road vehicles in the wilderness?

At some point, those vehicles had accelerated and long since vanished into the depths of the darkness, leaving only this bus driving alone through the deathly silent wilds.

"We've... been abandoned."

Someone spoke those words in a voice filled with despair.

Panic instantly swept through the bus like a plague.

"Shut up!"

Yang Yong's furious shout instantly froze the wailing passengers in place.

Things hadn't reached their most desperate point yet!

He understood it perfectly.

Their bus had never been built for off-road travel. It was already a blessing that it could crawl at a snail's pace across the uneven wilderness.

It had only been a matter of time before the captain and the others' off-road vehicles left them behind.

Their only chance now was to hold out until Captain Cao Xianming came back for them.

Transcendents were prized assets in any group of survivors.

Other survivors could be left behind, but Cao Xianming would never abandon a transcendent "artifact refiner" like him.

Even if his identity as an artifact refiner might be fake.

The deathly silence inside the bus lasted only a moment before giving way to an outburst of restrained elation.

"That's right! We still have Mr. Yang! He has Sequence Transcendence!"

"Mr. Yang can definitely keep us alive!"

Those words shot through everyone's minds like an electric current. As though clutching their final lifeline, the despairing passengers clung desperately to the name "Yang Yong" and refused to let go.