133: Chapter 133 The Showdown! Sleeping with me grants unlimited power-ups!

The speedometer needle on the console was pinned at the 340-kilometer mark. The five-layered, forty-five-ton steel beast dragged a blue-white light trail across the Gobi Desert, followed by forty-four vehicles of various types, their formation held firmly within a three-kilometer range by the Fleet Link's dark silver halo.

Shen Wanbing's voice came from the command deck: "The advancement speed of the death black mist has increased again, to twenty-two kilometers per hour. Distance to the rear of the fleet—eleven kilometers."

Eleven kilometers.

At the current speed, it was enough.

Chen Chen pushed the control lever to the floor, and the ultra-low-frequency resonance of the engine traveled from the soles of his feet all the way to the dome above.

"Jiuyou."

Jiang Jiuyou sat at the sub-command station, her three-point seatbelt buckled over her military coat, her silver-white hair blown against her cheekbones by the airflow.

"Present."

"I'm temporarily handing over command of the fleet to you. Maintain the formation, and don't let those in the back fall behind."

Jiang Jiuyou's fingers were already on the holographic panel: "Understood."

Chen Chen unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up.

"Where are you going?"

"Downstairs. I have something to say."

Jiang Jiuyou turned her head to look at him.

Chen Chen's expression had a bit more... she couldn't quite put it into words. It wasn't nervousness; it was closer to a sense of relief after making a decision.

"To whom?"

"To you all. Everyone."

Chen Chen stepped down the stairs, stopping for a moment at the exit of the fourth floor.

"You come down too."

Jiang Jiuyou lifted her fingers from the panel. "The fleet—"

"AI navigation can hold for ten minutes."

Jiang Jiuyou unbuckled her seatbelt. Her military boots tapped four times on the metal steps as she followed him downstairs.

The first-floor carriage.

Shen Wanbing was processing data streams in front of the circular command desk.

Jiang Yanxue was lying on the long side of the U-shaped sofa with her saber, one leg crossed over the other.

Su Xiaoqi was squatting by a storage box, gnawing on jerky.

Shen Wanxing was huddled in the corner of the sofa wrapped in a blanket, her pink high heels placed by her feet, her bare feet resting on the floor.

Blood Rose was leaning on the other end. The zipper of her black leather jacket was still only pulled up to below her navel, and her wine-red curly hair was spread across the cushions.

Qin Hongye had come down from the fifth-floor dome to hydrate, holding a cup while standing by the weapon rack.

Chen Chen scanned the room.

Seven women, all present.

"Come sit over here."

Shen Wanbing turned her chair from the command desk, and Jiang Yanxue propped up half her body.

Su Xiaoqi moved over, clutching her jerky.

Blood Rose raised an eyebrow and sat up straight.

Qin Hongye put down her water cup and walked over to lean against the side of the sofa.

Jiang Jiuyou stood at the stairs, not sitting.

Shen Wanxing peeked half her face out from the blanket, her pale amber pupils darting back and forth between Chen Chen and Jiang Jiuyou.

"There's something," Chen Chen said, leaning against the sofa armrest with his arms crossed.

"It's time you all knew."

Shen Wanbing pushed up her glasses frame, the blue light of the concentration ice heart necklace remaining steady.

"The affixes on your bodies—you should each know how they came to be."

The six women—except for Jiang Jiuyou—each had varying degrees of reaction.

Shen Wanxing buried her face two inches deeper.

Jiang Yanxue's dark red pupils lit up.

"The system bound a mechanism to my vehicle."

Chen Chen's wording was direct. "Every one of you here is identified by the system as a 'Top-tier Beauty'. Once the binding is successful, a unique affix is drawn."

Jiang Jiuyou's military boot clicked against the floor.

"The affixes on you aren't innate talents; you have them because you followed me."

The carriage fell silent for three seconds.

Su Xiaoqi stopped chewing her jerky and tilted her head, thinking. "So... the reason I can increase Chen Chen-gege's attributes by eating is because I'm his woman?"

"Yes."

"Oh." Su Xiaoqi continued chewing. "Then that's pretty good."

Blood Rose sat up half an inch straighter, an excited red light swirling in her dark brown pupils. "I knew that Qi and Blood Mutual Nourishment effect was too ridiculous. So that's how it works."

She licked her lower lip.

"So, Master, are you a walking affix ATM?"

Chen Chen didn't acknowledge the description.

"There's one more thing."

He scanned everyone's faces.

"Affixes can be upgraded. Without limit."

Shen Wanbing's typing stopped.

"The fastest way to upgrade—"

"Is to sleep with me."

The air in the carriage froze for a full two seconds.

Shen Wanxing stuffed her entire face into the blanket.

Jiang Yanxue's dark red pupils dilated sharply, her mouth twitching slightly. She sat up from the sofa, hands propped on her knees, her whole body radiating the aura of a beast ready to pounce.

Blood Rose laughed out loud, her wine-red curls tossing. "Master, you've finally stopped pretending."

Shen Wanbing's finger, pushing her glasses, froze at the edge of the frame. Her breathing quickened by half a beat, and the blue light of the concentration ice heart necklace flashed twice before being forcibly steadied.

Su Xiaoqi bit her jerky and looked up at Chen Chen. "So you weren't fighting upstairs last time?"

Qin Hongye's knuckles turned white as she gripped the hem of her clothes. Her dark brown pupils turned toward the window, her ears flushed deep red.

Jiang Jiuyou—

Her ice-blue pupils narrowed into thin slits.

"To put it simply," Chen Chen said, standing up from the armrest with his hands in his pockets.

"From now on, you'll take turns coming up every night. Whoever's attributes grow faster, their affix will evolve more fiercely."

He tilted his head slightly.

"Long-term intimacy leads to infinite upgrades. That's what it means."

"..."

Jiang Jiuyou ground her molars.

"Chen Chen."

She walked over from the stairs, her military boots stepping heavily, her silver-white low ponytail swinging in an arc behind her.

She stopped a step away from Chen Chen.

Extremely complex emotions swirled in her ice-blue pupils.

"Are you just phrasing your base desires in such a refined way, or do you really think every woman in the world would—just because of some numbers—"

Chen Chen took half a step forward.

The distance was compressed to less than ten centimeters.

Jiang Jiuyou's words caught in her throat.

Chen Chen reached out, pinching her chin with his thumb and index finger, gently tilting it up two degrees.

"You will eventually be one of them too."

His voice was very soft.

But in the enclosed space of the first-floor carriage, every word landed with crystal clarity.

Jiang Jiuyou's throat moved.

Her ice-blue pupils met Chen Chen's gaze for a full three seconds.

And then—

A piercing alarm shattered everyone's attention.

A crimson system announcement flooded the All-frequency Communication Channel simultaneously, the font so large it filled every holographic panel in the carriage:

[Emergency Announcement! The number of survivors on the First Map has fallen below the threshold—the Elimination Match mechanism is officially activated!]

[The death black mist has entered the ultimate acceleration phase! Remaining coverage time: 47 seconds!]

[All survivors will be forcibly spatial-jumped to the Second Map the moment the mist makes contact!]

Forty-seven seconds.

Chen Chen released Jiang Jiuyou's chin.

"Go up and sit down."

Jiang Jiuyou's military boots clattered as she ran up the stairs.

Chen Chen took three steps up to the fourth floor, dove into the driver's seat, and locked his seatbelt.

"Everyone, fasten your seatbelts!"

The first floor erupted into chaos.

Jiang Yanxue grabbed Su Xiaoqi, pinned her to the sofa, and buckled her seatbelt.

Shen Wanbing strapped herself into the command chair. Qin Hongye rushed to the fifth-floor dome and snapped the fixed lock of the sniper position.

Blood Rose scrambled to pull her seatbelt, and Shen Wanxing helped her buckle it.

Outside the holographic panoramic window, the rear horizon was completely swallowed by a wall of ink-black darkness.

The advancement speed of the black mist was no longer twenty-two kilometers per hour.

It was two hundred meters per second.

A tsunami.

Over the communication channel, Iron Wall's voice cracked: "The mist is accelerating—all vehicles, full speed—"

It was too late.

The black mist closed in from all directions.

Thirty-two seconds.

The sky outside the panoramic window darkened.

Fifteen seconds.

The vehicle began to vibrate violently.

A rift tore through the Spatial Barrier directly in front of the fleet, stretching across the sky, and incandescent, blinding light poured from within.

Five seconds.

A sense of weightlessness.

Everyone's internal organs seemed to push upward simultaneously.

Shen Wanxing screamed, held tightly against the chair by her seatbelt. The jerky in Su Xiaoqi's mouth flew out and bounced off the ceiling.

And then—

Everything vanished.

Sound, gravity, vision.

It was as if someone had pulled the plug on the entire world for three seconds.