The moment he confirmed claiming the option, a surge of scalding hot current violently pumped out from his heart, wildly sweeping through his limbs and bones along with his blood.
Ling Feng only felt the muscles all over his body tightening and engorging with blood, the skin beneath his clothes revealing an abnormal flush.
At the same time, a massive amount of combat memories were forcibly crammed into his brain—straight punches, hooks, knee strikes, chokeholds, joint locks, ground and pound...
Those muscle memories, which seemed to have been honed through thousands of real-combat trials, completely fused into his bodily instincts in an instant.
This feeling was too wondrous.
He moved his shoulders slightly, his joints making a faint cracking sound, feeling as though he could smash a bull to pieces with a single punch right now.
"Ling? Are you alright?"
Amy beside him sensed something was wrong, leaning her body slightly towards this side, carefully scrutinizing his face with a look full of concern.
"Why is your face so red? Even your neck is completely flushed. Is it too hot in the car and you're running a fever?"
"It's nothing."
Ling Feng shook his head, exhaled a long breath, and suppressed that violent sense of power, "Just woke up, my blood flow surged a bit. It'll be fine after a moment to steady myself."
Just as his voice fell, Andrea in the front row slammed hard on the emergency brakes.
The tires screeching against the asphalt road made a harsh, piercing sound, and the three people in the carriage lurched forward together.
"What the hell! What on earth is going on!"
Andrea slammed both hands heavily onto the steering wheel, her expression so gloomy that water seemed ready to drip from it.
Ling Feng and Amy leaned forward to look.
The flow of the entire Route 72 had completely paralyzed, turning into a super-large open-air parking lot.
Colorful cars were connected bumper-to-bumper, blocking the several lanes so tightly that water couldn't leak through, and the end could not be seen at a single glance.
Harsh honking rose one after another, all sorts of heads poked out from the front car windows, and irritable cursing and complaining blended into a mess.
"We can't go on. The road ahead is completely blocked off."
Andrea helplessly pulled up the handbrake, adjusted her seat backward, and leaned decadently against the backrest, "That bunch of idiot drivers must have caused another chain reaction pileup ahead. Who knows how long we'll have to wait for this?"
"Can we only wait here idly?"
Amy asked somewhat anxiously, leaning over the passenger seat.
"Otherwise? If you had wings, you could fly us right across right now."
Andrea retorted ungraciously.
Since they couldn't leave, Ling Feng simply pushed open the car door and stepped down.
The system prompt stated that the m200 sniper rifle had already been issued to the trunk.
This was a safety guarantee, after all; he had to confirm it with his own eyes.
The air was permeated with the pungent smell of automobile exhaust.
In the nearby cars, several bearded white men were cursing and slamming their car doors.
Ling Feng walked around to the rear of the car and reached out to press the trunk switch.
As the tailgate slowly rose, the two women's large pink suitcases came into view.
Beside the suitcases, there was an extra military-green composite material tactical gun case over a meter long, its surface covered with shock-proof diamond patterns.
Got the goods!
He reached his hand over and directly flicked open the metal latches at both ends of the gun case.
Click.
Lifting the lid, inside the high-density foam cushion quietly lay that ultimate lethal weapon full of violent aesthetics.
m200 sniper rifle!
The dark, heavy metal gun body, the custom-made lengthened heavy barrel, the thick bipod, and an exaggeratedly long high-magnification tactical scope mounted above it.
In the groove beside the gun body, two spare magazines and a few boxes of shiny golden 7.62mm caliber bullets were neatly stacked.
Even if this thing just lay there quietly, it exuded a bone-chilling sense of oppression.
"Hey! Buddy!"
The window of a pickup truck in the adjacent lane rolled down, and a fat black man wearing a baseball cap was preparing to ask for a light when he inadvertently glanced at Ling Feng's open trunk.
The cigarette in the fat black man's mouth dropped directly onto his thigh, his eyes widened like copper bells, and his Adam's apple rolled frantically twice.
Is this fucking something that can be casually placed in a trunk?!
Ling Feng ignored him, neatly closed the gun case, lifted this tens-of-pounds heavy monster out with one hand, and casually closed the trunk.
The fat black man was so frightened that he slammed his foot on the gas pedal, forcing himself forward by half a meter even though there was no road ahead, terrified of getting involved with this Asian holding heavy firepower.
The surrounding drivers who were originally still cursing loudly saw the highly recognizable long strip-shaped tactical box in Ling Feng's hands, and their voices instantly quieted down, each of them hurriedly shrinking back into their cars and rolling up the windows.
In America nowadays, anyone who dared to swagger around carrying this thing was either a special forces veteran executing a secret mission or a merciless, cutthroat bandit.
Pulling open the car door, Ling Feng placed the gun case horizontally directly on the floor mats of the back seat.
The heavy thud of the heavy object hitting the ground made Andrea in front turn her head back.
When she clearly saw that eye-catching military tactical box at her feet, her brows instantly knit into a deep frown.
"What is this thing?"
Andrea stared closely at Ling Feng's face, "When we packed the suitcases together just now, this thing definitely wasn't inside. Isn't this box a bit excessively large?"
"An m200 sniper rifle, plus a hundred rounds of spare ammunition."
Ling Feng's tone was extremely flat.
"Are you kidding?!"
Andrea's volume rose by an octave, her face full of disbelief, "You carry military-grade heavy firepower of this level with you? Who on earth are you? And where on earth was it hidden just now!"
"In the spare tire compartment at the bottom of the trunk. You guys just didn't notice it when you put the boxes in."
Ling Feng casually spun an unprovable lie, leaning comfortably against the backrest, "As for what kind of person I am? Just an ordinary survivalist.
Recently, the news everywhere has been broadcasting infectious diseases and riots.
In this ghost place of America, without some hard gear for self-defense, you wouldn't even know how you died."
As soon as these words came out, Andrea was choked up.
Although the timing of pulling out this gun was very strange, Ling Feng's words indeed had no flaws.
Over the past few days, the news on television and radio had become increasingly bizarre, and the National Guard had even started blocking roads.
Having a man with formidable firepower by her side provided a solid sense of security.
Amy's eyes, on the other hand, lit up as she curiously eyed the gun case.
Her wariness decreased by a few points instead, and she only felt that the man beside her was becoming increasingly mysterious and reliable.
Time passed bit by bit in anxious waiting.
The sun gradually slanted westward, orange-red evening glows paved the sky, and the entire highway dragon-like line of cars remained completely motionless.
Ling Feng lowered half of the car window, lit a marlboro, and took a deep drag.
The smoke drifted away along the gap, but his expression was somewhat ugly.
Logically speaking, in the original plot, that group of people—Shane, Lori, Carl, and the old RV man Dale—encountered traffic jams on this exact road section and then witnessed the famous scene of downtown Atlanta being bombed by the military.
But looking around now, they were all unfamiliar, strange faces.
Did a deviation occur in his reborn timeline?
Or did the butterfly effect cause the protagonist group to turn at the intersection ahead?
If he really couldn't run into the protagonist group, in this doomsday that was about to go completely haywire, relying on himself to solo with two women would cause the danger coefficient to skyrocket straight up.
Let alone those wandering hordes of corpses, those deranged survivor groups trailing behind were the biggest trouble.
Thinking of this, Ling Feng's brows could not help but knit together.
A soft, warm palm suddenly covered his thigh.
Through the thin fabric of his trousers, that sensation was particularly clear.
Ling Feng turned his head sideways.
Amy had leaned in closer at some point, the distance between the two of them close at hand.
The little girl's exquisite face exuded a bit of docility, and her sapphire-clear eyes were filled with worry.
"Don't be too anxious, Ling."
Amy gently patted his thigh, soothing him in a soft and gentle voice, "This kind of cross-state highway often experiences these large-scale congestion accidents.
Highway patrol officers must already be directing traffic ahead.
We can probably resume moving slowly after waiting a little longer, everything will get better."
Looking at her serious look, the irritability deep inside Ling Feng's heart instantly dissipated by more than half.
Such a considerate little sister, who wouldn't love her?
Ling Feng's lips curved upward, his left hand holding a cigarette draped outside the window, while his right hand directly turned over, cupping the small hand resting on his thigh.
It was very smooth, very soft, and the palm was small enough to be easily completely enveloped.
Amy evidently did not expect him to make a move directly.
Her body suddenly stiffened, her fingers instinctively shrinking back wishing to withdraw, and two intoxicating flushes instantly flew up her fair cheeks.
"Don't move."
Ling Feng whispered.
The strength in his hand increased by a few points, his fingers aggressively intertwining between her finger gaps, directly interlocking their ten fingers and firmly gripping her in the palm of his hand.
Feeling the temperature and strength transmitted from the palm, Amy struggled for less than two seconds before completely giving up resistance.
She resignedly let Ling Feng hold her, her head hanging lower and lower, even her breathing becoming somewhat hurried, and the pounding heartbeat like a deer dashing about could hardly be concealed in this cramped back seat space.
As for Andrea sitting in the driver's seat, she was still irritably twisting the knob of the car radio, trying to search for some useful news broadcasts, completely not noticing this ambiguous scene happening in the back seat.
Right at this moment, that familiar mechanical voice in his mind rang out extremely abruptly.
[Ding! Detected that the host and Amy have produced intimate physical contact!]
[Pleasure Points + 100!]
Ling Feng's fingers holding the cigarette suddenly paused, almost laughing out loud.
This gives 100 just like that?
So it wasn't just reaching the final step that had rewards; this kind of foreplay stage of holding hands and petting could still fleece the system!
Calculated this way, holding hands gives 100, so what if they take it a step further to a hug? A kiss?
If he dared to cross the line just a little bit... wouldn't these points soar straight up!
What kind of doomsday survival was this?
This was clearly a paradise for farming points!
With these endless streams of Pleasure Points, those god-tier skills and top-grade supplies in the store would sooner or later all end up in his own pocket.
Thinking of this, Ling Feng's gaze looking at Amy became even more fervent, his thumb intentionally or unintentionally rubbing gently against the back of her hand, feeling that delicate texture.