CHAPTER 26: 26: EYES OF THE PASSENGER!

Rewards:

— 1 Clothing Store Opening (Wishing Stop)

— 1 Bench

— 5000 Survival Points!

That’s a lot of rewards.

The most eye-catching one is the opening of the clothing store at the Wishing Stop Station.

It was a good thing for Aria and the others.

They could finally afford a change of clothes.

The only question on Aria’s mind was how she could complete the task while being so far from the Wishing Stop Station.

It meant that two new people had reached the Heavenly Train Station.

With that, she had completed the task without even doing anything.

Isn’t that amazing!

Who said there is no such thing as a free meal in this world?

Two new people had become passengers in her absence.

Her goal of gathering five was finally complete.

Aria wore an excited smile as she stepped into the car while Caelan placed Lolo in the backseat.

Noticing his master’s sudden liveliness, Lolo made a small hand gesture to communicate with her.

By the time Aria noticed Lolo, she had already finished talking with the Fluff Ball System.

It was regarding the current situation of the Heavenly Train Station.

She wanted to know if there was a way to see what was happening there, but the system kept telling her that her level as Stationmaster was insufficient.

Geez. Sometimes she wondered if this system was handy or just plain useless.

Lolo was asking why his master was so happy.

Aria gave an answer without revealing everything.

"We can finally go back to City C. Just you wait, I’ll let you eat some delicious snacks."

Delicious food?

Lolo wondered if there could really be anything better than a slice of hard bread and a bowl of plain white rice.

Still, he nodded quietly, trusting his master’s words.

Aria knew it was not easy for him to believe.

All she could do was wait until the time came, and let them see for themselves.

It was the same with her promise to Caelan.

She would make sure to repay the male lead soon.

Just thinking about how she would soon fulfill her promise and be free of that debt, Aria could not stop a small smile from curving on her lips.

This time, the road was littered with more and more sliced or unrecognizable bodies of infected creatures.

There were even living mutant animals roaming about, and a giant mutant bird often flew over their car, though by good fortune it never attacked.

Aria was stunned as she kept seeing them.

It seemed that the closer they got to City C, the more infected there were.

The sight made her feel a bit anxious about what they might face ahead.

Aria’s unease only grew as they drove, but it eased when the road no longer showed any corpses.

The empty stretch made her believe there were fewer infected in this area.

The road ahead was blocked by abandoned cars lined up side by side, forcing them to slow down and turn onto another path.

At first, everything seemed normal, but something clicked in Aria as her eyes landed on a single black car in the middle of the road.

This was seriously not normal.

Two men were on the car, one on the hood and the other leaning against the door.

They did not move, just waited and watched.

Caelan’s foot pressed the brake at once.

The car rolled to a stop, close enough to see the men’s expressions yet far enough to pull back if needed.

Aria drew a sharp breath, her heartbeat racing, and shifted her gaze to the Male Lead.

"Are they ambushing us?"

In the nearby buildings, not just one or two, but countless eyes were watching them, and Aria could feel it instinctively.

"Don’t get out, and don’t say anything."

Caelan commanded strictly, his tone calm but serious.

He stepped out with a calm demeanor, face unreadable, as if danger were just another routine.

The two grown men, clearly armed and strong just by their appearance, had already moved toward them.

"Brother! Good to see you on such a lovely day. Are you alone?" A man with a deep scar over his right eye called out, his voice trying to sound friendly.

Yet his eyes never met the man he had called Brother, Caelan.

Instead, they lingered on the woman in the passenger seat, hungry and lustful.

The sight of a woman made his blood boil with anger, and the thought of her fair skin made him imagine tasting it with his lips and tongue.

A wicked excitement surged through him, awakening a long-dormant part that had been aching for days to be released onto soft flesh.

This person’s shameless gaze was clearly unwelcome.

Caelan’s gaze turned cold as he looked at these two men, as if they were already dead.

He didn’t forget to move, positioning himself between the men’s line of sight and Aria to block their view with his body.

The others expressed their displeasure with sharp clicks of their tongues.

"Brother... are you mute? Can’t talk? I think that will make it easy for us to let you go, but only if you hand over the woman in your car. " The same man spoke arrogantly, his gaze flicking to the freak with mismatched eyes.

They saw nothing threatening in Caelan, which gave them the confidence to confront him.

To the men surrounding him, this man seemed like a weakling.

If it weren’t for the fact that Caelan had a woman in the car, they wouldn’t have bothered wasting their energy on him.

"Let us go, and your group will have to continue to live." Caelan said coldly, not a hint of fear showing in his posture.

The words he had just uttered made the smug man in front furious, and he spat onto the cement, hitting the dirt below.

"Heh, not scared? You’re alone. I’m not alone, I have my brothers around. You really want to fight us over a woman?"

"Brother, a woman is just a woman. A p-ssy is a good thing to enjoy, and sharing it with your brothers is a man’s blessing to brotherhood."

The next man spoke casually, walking straight toward the car and passing Caelan as if he weren’t even there.