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

Squad leader Zhou Yating's pupils suddenly contracted, and her whole body trembled; she was clearly terrified.

The others weren't much better off.

Fear spread like a plague among the people, and everyone's face was etched with the same expression: the fear of death.

Chen Ye noticed Gu Qinghuan standing at the very edge of the crowd; her expression remained unchanged.

She didn't cry, didn't tremble, and didn't even instinctively shrink into the crowd like the others. She just tilted her head slightly and looked in the direction of the gray fog.

"Don't cry."

Lin Shuyao's voice suddenly rose.

She stepped out from the crowd and stood before everyone: "Can crying solve problems? Can crying bring the dead back to life? Can crying kill those monsters? No. So take your tears back."

These words were so harsh that several people who were crying were momentarily speechless, their tears still on their faces, but their crying did indeed subside.

"Teacher Lin is right."

Zhao Ruoxi took a deep breath and tried to make her voice sound more stable.

"Now is not the time to cry. Some of our classmates have already died, which proves that those monsters really do kill people, and it also proves that all the rules mentioned on the radio are true. We must be extremely careful."

She paused for a moment, her gaze sweeping over everyone present.

"Now, we need a temporary command structure. I propose that we teachers and class committee members form a temporary command group to coordinate everyone's actions. Does anyone have any objections?"

No objections.

"agree."

"I'll listen to Teacher Zhao."

Most people were nodding.

But Li Jiahao spoke up again: "Teacher Zhao, I have a question. Who will be the leader of this temporary command group?"

Zhao Ruoxi glanced at him: "I can be the team leader."

"Mr. Zhao, you're a teacher and a homeroom teacher, so you're the most suitable person to be the group leader," Li Jiahao said, then changed the subject. "But I have a practical question for you, Mr. Zhao: what level of talent do you possess?"

Zhao Ruoxi's expression froze for a moment.

"Grade D"

She said two words.

Li Jiahao nodded, then turned to Lin Shuyao and Fang Yuan: "Teacher Fang, Teacher Lin, what about you?"

Fang Yuan adjusted his glasses: "Grade C."

Lin Shuyao was silent for two seconds: "Grade C".

Li Jiahao shrugged, his tone still gentle: "The three teachers are all at the D-level and two at the C-level. Our students, however, have S-level, A-level, and B-level students. Teacher Zhao, I'm not questioning your authority; I'm simply stating an objective fact."

"In this place, under these rules, talent rating and basic attributes determine combat power. To command a survival battle, the commander needs sufficient combat power as support."

He put it mildly, but the meaning couldn't be clearer.

Your teacher is too weak; he can't give orders.

Zhao Ruoxi's expression was somewhat unpleasant, but she did not refute it because what Li Jiahao said was true.

In this new world where strength reigns supreme, her D-rank talent makes her less powerful than those students who draw A-rank or S-rank characters.

"So you mean who should be the team leader?"

Zhao Hai's voice came from the other side, his tone unfriendly.

Li Jiahao glanced at him, a slight smile playing on his lips: "I didn't say who should be the leader. I was just saying that a team leader should have enough combat power to earn everyone's trust. Zhao Hai, you have S-level talent, so your combat power is definitely sufficient. But do you think you're suitable to be the team leader?"

"Why am I not suitable?"

Zhao Hai retorted.

"So tell me, starting from this platform, which direction should we go? How should we plan our route to survive for 24 hours? What should we do if we encounter monsters? If we can't defeat them, where should we retreat? What if we can't retreat? Have you thought about these things?"

Zhao Hai was stumped by the question.

His mouth opened and then closed, his expression shifting from anger to frustration, and then from frustration to annoyance.

"I'm not Zhuge Liang, how the hell would I know these things?"

"Yes, you don't know, but I do."

Li Jiahao's tone remained calm; he spoke these words with nonchalance, yet they carried the weight of a muffled blow.

Zhao Hai clenched his fist again, the metallic sheen creeping up his knuckles once more. He, an S-rank, was constantly being outmaneuvered by Li Jiahao, an A-rank, which greatly annoyed him.

"That's enough!"

Lin Shuyao suddenly spoke up. She walked between Zhao Hai and Li Jiahao, glanced at Zhao Hai first, and then turned to Li Jiahao.

"There are monsters roaming outside. One person has already died. Are you still arguing about who should be the leader? We are the teachers. Although we may not be as talented as you, we have more experience than you."

She turned to Zhao Ruoxi and said, "Ruoxi, you lead everyone to a safe place first. Discuss things as you move. We can't stop here. This is a platform, an open area with no cover. If a large number of monsters come, we'll be sitting ducks."

Zhao Ruoxi snapped out of her daze and nodded: "Teacher Lin is right. Everyone, let's leave the platform and find a safe place first."

She turned to look at the outside of the platform, where she could vaguely see a passageway leading outside the station through the gray fog, with collapsed buildings and abandoned shops on both sides of the passageway.

"Go that way, everyone stay close and don't fall behind."

Zhao Ruoxi led the way in that direction, with Lin Shuyao and Fang Yuan flanking her on either side.

The students in carriage number three began to move.

Chen Ye walked in the middle to back of the group, with Qin Zhaoyang right next to him: "I thought I could rely on the teachers, but I didn't expect that these three teachers' talents are all useless, not even as good as mine."

Chen Ye didn't respond. He knew he couldn't rely on his teacher. If he had any fighting ability, he would build his own team, as long as the talent was high.

Most of the capable people have already banded together and run away. The group in carriage number three may seem large, but there are probably only a few who are truly capable of fighting.

However, he still has to stay with the main force, otherwise he will surely die.

Seeing that Chen Ye didn't reply, Qin Zhaoyang continued, "Brother Ye, do you think we can survive?"

Chen Ye didn't reply because he caught something out of the corner of his eye.

Just then, a shadow darted out from the gray fog.

It moved with incredible speed, like an arrow released from a bow, rushing towards the rear of the column from the depths of the gray fog.

"Be careful!"

Almost as soon as Chen Ye shouted those two words, he reached out and grabbed Qin Zhaoyang's collar, pulling him sharply to the side.

A dark gray figure swept past where Qin Zhaoyang had just been standing, bringing with it a stenchy gust of wind.

The creature missed its target, its body twisting in mid-air before spinning at an angle no human could possibly manage, landing three meters away with a dull thud.

Everyone saw it.

His gray skin, like dried leather, clung tightly to his skeleton, making every rib clearly visible.

Its head was bald, without a single hair. Its facial features looked as if they had been erased and redrawn. Its eyes were completely black, with no whites or pupils.

His nose was reduced to two black holes, his mouth was twice the width of a normal person's, and his lips were turned inside out, revealing a row of uneven yellow teeth.

Its fingers were longer than normal, with dark gray nails that gleamed with a metallic sheen in the dim light.

"A monster...a monster!"

Screams erupted.