My Dating Sim Just Got an Update - Chapter 16

Huo Keyu’s blunt refusal caught the young student’s completely off guard. They had assumed that meeting an old acquaintance would guarantee them a ride, but they hadn’t expected this.

“Hey, you! How  can you be like that!” The overly familiar boy, Yang Xiangrui, turned red in the face. He glared back at the hostile Huo Keyu, clearly indignant. “I was asking Jian Dan and the others. Who even are you? What right do you have to”

“I have the right because I don’t know you!” At that moment, Huo Keyu was like a cat with its fur standing on end, staring them down without yielding an inch.

“I’m telling you, you’re just being an ugly, heartless”

“I don’t know you, so why should I have any sympathy for you!”

Seeing that Huo Keyu was on the verge of a full-blown shouting match with the boy, Ren Chenxi quickly stepped in and pulled her back. “Keyu, calm down. They… they don’t mean any harm.”

On the other side, a girl standing next to the boy gave him a sharp tug. She rolled her eyes and scolded him, “Yang Xiangrui, stop making a fool of yourself! If you don’t know how to speak properly, just shut up! We’re the ones begging them for a ride!”

Once the girl finished her scolding, the other students chimed in, offering a flurry of apologies to Huo Keyu. They very sincerely promised they had no ill intentions and were simply hoping to catch a ride.

Perhaps moved by the genuine attitude of the other students, the tension in Huo Keyu’s face finally softened a little. However, she still didn’t agree to let them on.

“Where is your own car? Why did you go into the forest and then come back out?”

“We ran out of gas…” another boy explained with a miserable expression. “We got lost and ended up taking detours in the forest, and before we knew it, the tank was empty. We waited in the car for a while, hoping another vehicle would pass by and give us a lift. We actually did see one car, but they refused to take so many of us. Before they left, they warned us that there’s a Level 4 mutated beast deep in the woods that has already killed quite a few ability-users. They told us to abandon the car and run.”

Over the past two years, the vicious, predatory mutated beasts had often evolved faster than human ability-users. The highest-level ability-user Ren Chenxi had encountered so far was only Level 3, yet here they were, facing a Level 4 beast right out of the gate! A Level 4 mutated beast. her two remaining Explosion Cards wouldn’t be enough to handle that…

“You have ability-users with you, right? What kind of abil”

Huo Keyu was still cross-examining them with a defensive air, but Ren Chenxi noticed a red dot on her mini-map closing in at an incredible speed. Connecting the dots with the students’ warning, her face turned grim. She rushed to the dashboard, hit the door release, and shouted out the window, “Stop talking! Get on the bus, now! A mutated beast is coming! It might be that Level 4 one!”

Hearing that a Level 4 beast was approaching, the students scrambled onto the bus in a panic. A few of the boys maintained their chivalry, letting the girls go first. Yang Xiangrui, who had been so abrasive earlier, even reached out to steady a girl who nearly tripped in the chaos.

Almost as soon as the last person stepped on board, the silhouette of the beast appeared on the other side of the vehicle. It was a massive mutated leopard—no wonder it moved so fast on the mini-map!

Without even waiting for the door to close, everyone urged Chang Ling to drive.

“Go, go, go! The beast is pouncing!”

Chang Ling started the bus as fast as she could and slammed it into gear. As they surged forward, she asked Ren Chenxi with a trembling voice, “Sister Xi, where are we going? Should we turn back?”

“No! Swerve around those saplings and keep pushing into the forest! If the Level 4 beast is already here, what else could be left to worry about in there?” Ren Chenxi had caught a glimpse of the leopard’s health bar and level in that split second—Level 4, and that health bar was incredibly long! “Don’t worry, with this leopard around, other beasts will probably be hiding from us! Listen to me: wheel to the right, we’re going around the right side!”

Guided by Ren Chenxi’s seemingly calm voice, Chang Ling’s panic began to subside. She followed the instructions, swinging the bus to the right and accelerating.

Everyone on the bus wanted to avoid a direct confrontation, but would the leopard let them just drive away? With a thunderous roar, it lunged directly at the left side of the bus.

Thud!

The impact elicited a loud crash from the frame, and the entire vehicle rocked violently. Fortunately, the bus was heavy and large enough that it didn’t tip over.

Seeing its first pounce fail, the leopard tried to scramble up toward the windows. Several panes had already shattered from the initial impact. Seeing this, Ren Chenxi grabbed a fruit knife and hurled it toward the leopard’s eyes.

Ren Chenxi’s accuracy was 100%, but a Level 4 beast had the reflexes to dodge. The knife flew straight for its eye, but the leopard jerked its head aside at the last second. At the same time, Chang Ling swerved the rear of the bus, shaking the leopard off the window sill.

“Run! Faster, faster, run!” A group of people crowded around Chang Ling, even more agitated than she was.

“Xiao Ling, keep right! See that large tree covered in vines in the distance? Go around it, then turn left and head deeper into the woods!” With the leopard momentarily shaken off, Ren Chenxi checked her mini-map and continued to navigate.

The leopard was only temporarily deterred. Seeing the bus pull away, it let out a low growl and put on a fresh burst of speed. A bus couldn’t even keep up with a car, let alone the speed of this mutated leopard. In a matter of seconds, the bus rocked again. The glass at the rear of the bus shattered completely, and more terrifyingly, the cunning leopard hooked its claws into the window frame, its massive head already poking inside!

The damn thing was trying to crawl into the bus!

Before Ren Chenxi could even shout a warning, Song Xin began to scream in terror. “Which of you are ability-users! This leopard is coming through the window! It’s Level 4—my Slow effect isn’t working on it!”

“I’m a Strength user!” A slender girl stepped forward.

“Lu Ping, don’t go! Let me do it, I’m a Wind user!” Another boy blocked her path and turned to face the leopard.

However, both were only Level 2, and their abilities did very little damage to the beast. In the time it took them to speak, the leopard had already managed to get half its body into the cabin.

Without a second thought, Ren Chenxi flicked an Explosion Card at the leopard. Since the card was invisible to others, the leopard didn’t try to dodge, though its keen instincts made it tilt its head instinctively at the last moment.

Boom! The leopard’s dodge wasn’t wide enough, and the card detonated right on its massive skull. A loud blast followed, blowing a patch of fur clean off and leaving a bloody wound that began to gush.

An R-rank card against a Level 4 beast really didn’t do much damage; that long health bar only dropped by about a tenth.

The sudden explosion didn’t make the leopard let go; instead, it completely enraged the beast. It roared and thrashed, kicking its legs to force its way into the aisle, its massive frame warping the window frame.

Wula—! Jian Dan’s Erhu began to wail.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Regardless of whether it worked, Song Xin started bashing her cymbals.

The boy who claimed to be a Wind user began firing one wind blade after another at the leopard.

The Strength-user, Lu Ping, was already gripping a long iron rod, inching toward the beast.

Yang Xiangrui, the boy who had almost fought with Huo Keyu, also gripped an iron rod with trembling hands, thrusting it toward the leopard’s face in an attempt to push it back. To Ren Chenxi’s shock, his arms were stretching forward like the protagonist of an old anime!

“Are your arms made of rubber?” Even in such a crisis, Ren Chenxi’s focus drifted involuntarily.

“They’re made of meat!” Yang Xiangrui gave her a smile that looked more like a sob. “If they get bitten off, they’re gone for good…”

“Oh…” How tragic.

Not just tragic, but seemingly useless. Since he wasn’t a Strength-user, the iron rod he was using to poke the leopard was suddenly clamped between the beast’s teeth. With his strength, he couldn’t possibly push the creature off.

“I’ll help you.” Lu Ping dropped her own rod and moved to his side, grabbing his elongated arms and pulling with all her might.

“Hey, hey, hey! Sister, take it easy, my arms are going to snap…”

While everyone was paralyzed with tension, staring at the leopard trying to squeeze inside, Ren Chenxi took the opportunity to toss a Grease Card.

“Shut up, Yang Xiangrui! You’re a man, what’s a little pain! Lu Ping, use more strength! I see the leopard moving back a bit… wait? It slipped?”

The moment the Grease Card took effect, the leopard’s entire body began to exude a thick layer of oil. Its claws, which had been death-gripping the seats near the window, immediately lost their purchase. With Lu Ping’s forceful shove, the leopard literally slid right out of the window frame.

“Roar!!!” Having been so close to getting inside only to slip out like that, the leopard could only let out an indignant, frustrated roar.

“It’s down! It’s down!”

“Faster! Shake it off!”

After a collective cry of relief, the group began badgering Chang Ling again.

“The pedal is to the metal! How much faster do you want me to go!” Now that the immediate danger had passed, Chang Ling found the energy to snap back. A moment ago, when the leopard was crawling in, she had been doing nothing but screaming “Aahhh!” in panic.

On the other side, Yang Xiangrui retracted his arms, rubbing them as he praised Lu Ping. “Big sister, you’re so strong! You actually managed to shove a Level 4 leopard off the bus!”

Lu Ping, however, looked out the window at the leopard, which was still doggedly chasing them, with a confused expression. “It wasn’t my strength. It was the leopard… it looked like it was suddenly. sweating?”

“It was definitely sweating!” The girl who had been cheering for Lu Ping chimed in. “I saw it myself. The leopard broke into a total sweat, and then Lu Ping just pushed it and it slid right off. Look, it’s still sliding around while it’s trying to catch us! Geez, that’s a terrifying amount of sweat…”

Everyone, that’s not sweat, it’s grease! There was a heavy smell of oil in the air… but then again, the bus already smelled like diesel.

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