Chapter 12
Chapter 12: The Fracture in the Wheat Field
Half an hour later.
The bathroom door opened.
Jiang Nan walked out wrapped in a bath towel, his damp hair falling across his forehead, the usual sharpness in his expression softened just slightly.
He glanced at the neatly folded clothes and gave a satisfied nod.
This "cleaner" was worth taking in.
After changing into clean clothes, Jiang Nan felt his eyelids growing heavy.
He walked straight to the large bed at the rear of the vehicle, lifted the covers, and slipped inside.
The bedding was warm and toasty, and there was a soft, warm body already in it.
Chen Tong.
She had already changed into her sleepwear on her own initiative and was curled up under the covers warming the bed for him.
Sensing Jiang Nan climb in, Chen Tong gave a faint shiver—nervous, yet with a hint of anticipation.
But Jiang Nan simply reached out and pulled her full, soft figure into his arms as though she were a body pillow.
He found a comfortable position and closed his eyes.
No suggestive lead-up. No next move.
A few seconds later, the steady rhythm of his breathing followed.
He was exhausted.
The battle ahead required his peak condition—he had no energy to waste on something like that.
Chen Tong blinked, then wrapped her arms around this young man several years her junior and closed her eyes in quiet comfort.
In the living area.
Yu Shishi stared at the large bed with barely concealed longing: "Um… I kind of want to go over there too…"
"Dream on!"
Liu Yuqing yanked her back and pressed her firmly onto the couch.
"Is that a place someone like you can just waltz into? That's a Special Scene CG trigger point! Do you want to get your account banned?!"
"Now sit here and squeeze onto this couch with me!"
"Oh……"
Yu Shishi curled up sulkily in Liu Yuqing's arms.
Inside the vehicle, everything was warm and peaceful.
……
At the same time, deep in the Wheat Field, the sun blazed overhead.
Compared to the paradise inside the motorhome, this place was nothing short of a bloodbath.
The 11 survivors who had fled into the depths of the Wheat Field were now standing in a circle, locked in a fierce argument.
The Awakening Fruit had become the fuse that split them apart.
"Wu Hao! What do you think you're doing?!"
Yang Wei's face had gone iron-grey. He jabbed a finger at the bespectacled young man across from him and roared:
"I was the one who led everyone out of there! I was the one who found the Wheat Field Safe Zone!"
"What gives you the right to make a grab for the squad leader position now?!"
"Ha. You led us?"
The young man called Wu Hao let out a cold laugh and pushed his glasses up.
He'd been part of Li Xin's old circle—a student council officer—and had always looked down on athletic types like Yang Wei.
"I'll give you this: last night, you got lucky and stumbled onto the right path."
"But so what?"
"This is the apocalypse now! Strength is the only thing that talks!"
Zzzt—zzzt—zzzt!
Wu Hao raised his hand. Several arcs of violet lightning erupted violently from his palm.
"Natural selection, survival of the fittest!"
"I awakened a Grade B combat ability—【Lightning Mastery】! The most destructive element-type ability there is!"
"And you, Yang Wei?"
Wu Hao fixed him with a look of pure contempt: "A Grade C【Strength Amplification】. At best, you're a pack mule."
Then he turned and pointed at Guo Shuai, who stood at Yang Wei's side.
"And you, Guo Shuai."
"Grade D【Danger Perception】? With a detection range of only 20 metres?"
"I've got eyes! I've got ears! What use is a garbage ability like that?!"
"By the time you sense danger, the monster's already breathing down your neck!"
"And you have the nerve to stand there and give orders to leave the Wheat Field—to leave this Safe Zone! What an absolute idiot!"
"Wu Hao, you—"
Guo Shuai's face flushed crimson, but he said nothing in return.
Behind Wu Hao, Liang Rui and the fake Wang Jinsheng and the others all broke into smug smiles.
Liang Rui cradled a fireball in her palm—Grade C【 Fireball】 Technique—while the fake Wang Jinsheng's arms twisted and morphed in an instant into several withered yellow stalks of straw, writhing with fluid flexibility.
Grade C Straw Binding.
"Yang Wei, wake up and smell the reality."
Liang Rui leaned into Wu Hao's side and sneered: "Stick with Wu Hao and you'll eat well. That little parlor trick of yours? Save it."
The tide had turned completely to one side.
Bai Lianhua, who had been clutching Yang Wei's arm this whole time, let her eyes flicker—and quietly let go.
"Yang Wei… maybe… we should just go along with Wu Hao?" Bai Lianhua said in her soft, deliberately gentle way. "We're all classmates, after all. More people means more strength…"
Yang Wei stared at her in disbelief. "Lianhua, you…"
He hadn't expected her to switch sides too.
"Hmph! If that's how it is—those who walk different paths cannot plan together!"
The last shred of illusion in his heart shattered.
He clenched his fist and bellowed: "Guo Shuai! We're leaving! I want to see for myself which of us ends up not surviving!"
"Fine! Let's go!"
Guo Shuai had his own backbone. He spat hard on the ground: "A bunch of fence-sitters! To think I misjudged all of you!"
"Move it! Yang Wei—you can't talk sense into people who are already dead!"
The two of them turned and walked away without looking back.
Yang Wei glanced over his shoulder one last time at the woman who had fawned over him every step of the way, and let out a bitter, hollow laugh.
"Ptooey!"
He spat fiercely in Bai Lianhua's direction: "You filth! Yu Shishi had it right last night—you're nothing but trouble!"
With that, he and Guo Shuai walked toward the far end of the Wheat Field and never looked back.
"Ha. 2 idiots."
"Perfectly good Wheat Field to stay in, and they insist on going somewhere else. Truly beyond saving."
Wu Hao dismissed his lightning and let out a contemptuous snort.
And in a corner no one was paying attention to—
The "Wang Jinsheng" whose arms had turned to straw was smiling.
As their departure made the wheat stalks sway, the sounds carried into its ears.
The fake Wang Jinsheng watched them go, its gaze locked onto Guo Shuai's retreating figure.
"Heh heh heh…"
"Run… run…"
It murmured to itself in a voice only it could hear.
"As long as you're still in the Wheat Field… you're all just nutrients for me…"
"No one gets away…"