Death Train: SSS-level talent right from the start!

S-rank talent.

These four words carried the weight of a mountain at this moment, when everyone had just drawn their talents.

"Holy crap! S-rank talent!" A bespectacled boy in the front row stood up immediately: "Brother Zhao Hai, your talent can deal three times the base strength damage?"

Zhao Hai nodded slightly, without saying a word.

"Brother Hai is awesome! We have an S-rank, what are we afraid of now!"

"Exactly, with Zhao Hai's physique and S-level talent, he's practically a born warrior."

"Have you guys checked the group chat? There are 320 people on the train, and so far only three have been identified as S-rank!"

"Brother Hai, once we get to the Corpse Capital, you can lead us. I'll be your assistant!"

"Brother Hai, we're all classmates, you can't just abandon us."

"That's right, if we all follow Brother Hai, we'll definitely survive."

One compliment after another.

Zhao Hai's expression remained relatively calm, but the slight upturn at the corners of his mouth betrayed his true feelings.

He raised his hand and made a downward gesture, a posture very similar to a leader's signal before speaking.

"Now is not the time to talk about these things. What Teacher Zhao said in the group makes sense. When we get to the Corpse Capital, we need to make unified arrangements and deployments."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone in the carriage: "Who will be responsible for compiling the talents and initial attributes of all the students in this carriage?"

"I'll take over. There are quite a few people from our class in this carriage."

Zhou Yating stood up. She was a recognized science whiz, and memorizing the talent attributes of forty people was no challenge for her.

Zhao Hai nodded slightly: "Thank you for your help."

Just as Wang Yating was about to compile the statistics, a discordant voice rang out.

"Zhao Hai, who's in charge of the unified scheduling? Whose orders should we follow? Yours or Teacher Zhao's?"

All eyes turned to the person who had spoken.

The person speaking was wearing a black silk nightgown with the neckline slightly open, revealing their collarbone and a small patch of chest.

His features were so exquisitely beautiful that they were almost aggressive; his eyebrows were slightly raised, and the corners of his mouth held a half-smile.

He is Li Jiahao, the rich second-generation in the class. His father is a well-known real estate developer in Yuncheng.

On the day I enrolled, I drove a Porsche Panamera and casually tossed the car keys on the classroom desk. I don't know if it was intentional or if I genuinely didn't care.

His handsomeness was completely different from Zhao Hai's ruggedness; it was the kind of handsomeness that made people want to look at him more.

There are quite a few girls in his class who like him, and even quite a few from other classes.

Zhao Hai's face darkened: "Li Jiahao, what do you mean? Do you think your rich kid status is still useful? Times have changed."

"It doesn't mean anything." Li Jiahao shrugged, a half-smile playing on his lips.

"I just feel that when it comes to these forty lives, it can't be decided whoever shouts the loudest. Survival trials aren't about singing, dancing, rapping, or playing basketball."

"So you mean you have the final say?" Zhao Hai's voice turned somber.

"I didn't say that."

Li Jiahao smiled, a gentle and polite smile, but the barbs in his words grew sharper with each passing moment.

"I just feel that this matter should be discussed and decided by everyone. You mentioned unified command, but what's the prerequisite for unified command? You need to know everyone's capabilities, analyze everyone's role, and formulate tactics. Can you, Zhao Hai, handle these things?"

His words weren't harsh, but every single one hit Zhao Hai where it hurt.

Zhao Hai is a student with athletic talent, but his academic performance is terrible.

He's fine with carrying someone to a layup, but asking him to make strategic decisions? He himself isn't sure.

Zhao Hai's face turned ashen, and his fists clenched involuntarily, the silvery-gray metallic sheen returning to his knuckles.

The atmosphere inside the carriage was tense and confrontational.

Those who were just praising Zhao Hai now shrank back, their eyes darting back and forth between Zhao Hai and Li Jiahao, unsure of what to say.

A few people's expressions became subtle, and the two boys sitting next to Li Jiahao were obviously "one of his own".

One of them, named Sun Kai, was Li Jiahao's usual follower. He was thin and small, with bright, darting eyes; he was clearly a clever fellow.

"Jiahao, what's your talent?"

Sun Kai spoke at the opportune moment, his tone carrying just the right amount of curiosity.

Li Jiahao leaned back in his seat and slowly raised his right hand.

Then something strange happened: his right hand began to turn transparent and then disappeared completely, as if it had been erased by an eraser.

"My A-rank talent, [Shadow of Illusion], allows me to ethereal any part of my body for a certain period of time, making me immune to physical attacks. I won't go into details, but you can think of it as me being invincible to some extent."

Li Jiahao's voice wasn't loud, but every word was clearly audible to everyone present.

The carriage erupted in chaos once again.

"A-level talent!"

"Virtualization? Physical attacks are ineffective?"

"Holy crap, this talent is insane..."

Sun Kai, the younger brother, immediately chimed in, deliberately raising his voice: "With Jiahao's talent, even monsters couldn't hit him. How could anyone compete with that? Besides, Jiahao isn't just talented; he's also incredibly smart. Someone who scored 140 on the college entrance exam in math should be able to do tactical analysis with ease, right?"

Another follower, Ma Wenbo, quickly chimed in: "That's right, Jiahao was the student council president in high school, everyone knows his organizational and coordination skills. Even in games, there's a command role, but this is real survival, and bad command can get you killed."

The wind direction is changing.

The classmate who had just vowed to be Zhao Hai's assistant and follow him now looked as if he had swallowed a fly.

They glanced at Zhao Hai, then at Li Jiahao, and finally lowered their heads, pretending to look at their own system panels.

Of course, Zhao Hai still had supporters; two substitute players from the basketball team were sitting in the back row.

The expressions on their faces showed no change; they were usually very close, and clearly wouldn't turn against each other now.

But many more are taking a wait-and-see approach.

Of the forty people in the carriage, aside from the "core members" on either side of Zhao Hai and Li Jiahao, the remaining thirty or so people had remarkably similar expressions: bewilderment, fear, helplessness, and a touch of subtle anticipation.

They are waiting for a "leader" to appear.

Whether it's Zhao Hai or Li Jiahao, it doesn't matter who's the leader, as long as someone can tell them what to do and make them feel that their chances of survival are higher.

This is the instinctive reaction of most people in dire straits: to attach themselves to the strong, relinquish decision-making power, and exchange it for a sense of security.

The problem is that neither Zhao Hai nor Li Jiahao is willing to concede to the other.

Chen Ye looked at this scene and shook his head slightly. The strength and energy values ​​on the attribute panel were definitely not just for show.

Neither Zhao Hai nor Li Jiahao can use their talents indefinitely.

In contrast, his own SSS-level talent seems to be a passive talent, which obviously does not require any resources.

"Alright, can you two stop arguing?"

Squad leader Zhou Yating finally spoke.

She stood up from her seat, her pink pajamas looking somewhat out of place in the dim light.

But her expression and tone carried a composure beyond her years.