Survival on the bus in class, I'm the only boy in the whole class.

Chen Qing leaned back in the last row of seats on the bus, stretched comfortably, and most of the fatigue from driving all day dissipated.

He lightly raised his fingertip and pointed it at the void, and a pale blue, semi-transparent system panel unfolded before his eyes.

He found the icon for the 'Trading Market' and tapped it.

This trading market is not an offline market, but an online market, where all goods flow in the form of data.

Once the transaction is successful, the items will be directly transferred to both parties' system inventory, making it safe and convenient.

Chen Qing wanted to see what was being sold in the market and also to see if there was any oil.

After all, they have enough to eat and drink now, but they lack oil.

The system panel refreshed, and there were quite a few people trading. The posts with red backgrounds were for buying, and the posts with white backgrounds were for selling.

[Looking to buy: 1 unit of water in exchange for 2 units of fabric. Urgent.]

[For Sale: 20 white-quality iron blocks, exchange for 100 servings of food.]

[Seeking: Does anyone have cold medicine? I'll trade 5 cans of meat for it; my teammate has a fever.]

[For Sale: Various snack gift packs, exchangeable for an equivalent amount of purified water. First come, first served.]

Food, water, basic materials, various small items, and even medicines and weapons for self-defense were sought after.

The sheer volume of messages was overwhelming.

Chen Qing could clearly sense that in this world of survival, everyone was racing against time for every bit of supplies.

Chen Qing quickly scanned the list, then used his fingertip to search for the word "fuel" in the search bar.

The panel instantly filtered out relevant sales posts, but after flipping through several pages, most of them were either for buying fuel or had ridiculously high prices, making him frown.

In this world of survival, fuel is absolutely the most valuable of all.

Buses are everyone's lifeline; without fuel, they're like lambs to the slaughter, at the mercy of ghosts and other buses.

Therefore, anyone who had oil in hand would raise prices on the spot, hoping to sell one unit of oil for the price of ten units.

Chen Qing patiently flipped through more than a dozen pages, and finally found a reasonably reliable listing among a bunch of high-priced posts.

[For Sale: 10 liters of gasoline in exchange for 500 servings of food. Serious inquiries only, no bargaining.]

Chen Qing was astonished. "500 servings of food for 10 liters of oil, that's already the cheapest deal we could find."

Their bus, number 10086, has a fuel tank that can hold 300 liters of fuel, and the last bit of fuel it has left is enough to run for at most one day.

These 500 supplies are only exchanged for 10 liters of fuel. At this price, you could empty the entire truck of supplies and still not fill the fuel tank. It's pure robbery.

But right now, this is the only seller who has oil for sale and is offering it at the lowest price.

Chen Qing had no choice but to reluctantly contact him; he clicked "Add Friend".

While waiting for the seller to accept the friend request, a soft, cuddly figure approached, its little head almost bumping into his arm.

It is Yu Ranran.

The little girl had somehow slipped over from the front and sat next to Chen Qing.

Her round eyes stared intently at the empty space in front of Chen Qing, and her little hands curiously reached out to grope, but she couldn't touch anything.

The system panel is bound to the individual; only the individual can see and operate it. To outsiders, Chen Qing is just clicking around aimlessly.

"Squad leader, what are you doing?"

Yu Ranran rested her chin on her hand, her voice soft and sweet, with a hint of the milky smell of potato chips she had just eaten, "Pointing at the air like an idiot."

Chen Qing flicked her forehead and said irritably, "What does a little brat know? I'm looking for someone to sell oil at the market. The gas in our car now will only last us another day at most. If we run out of gas, we'll all be stuck here in the middle of nowhere feeding the ghosts."

"Oil?" Yu Ranran blinked, then immediately became anxious, leaning her little body forward.

"Does that mean we're out of gas? Does that mean we'll have to carry the bus around?"

Chen Qing was amused by her train of thought. "If we really run out of gas, you'll be the one carrying us."

Yu Ranran thought for a moment and said, "That won't do. I might consider it unless you give me potato chips."

As they were talking, a notification popped up on the system panel in front of them that a friend had accepted their request; it was the oil seller.

His name is Wang Kai.

These are all names generated by the system; they are real names.

Wang Kai: "Want oil? 500 servings of food, not a single one less. You know how expensive oil is these days. I'm only selling this because I'm lucky to have you. Otherwise, I wouldn't sell it at all."

Yu Ranran tilted her head and looked at the empty space in front of Chen Qing: "Let me see it too."

The system panel can be hidden or shown.

Then, Chen Qing showed his system panel to Yu Ranran.

Looking at the system panel, Yu Ranran thought for a moment and said, "500 portions of food can only be exchanged for 10 liters of oil? Is it a loss or a gain?"

Chen Qing looked at him like he was an idiot: "Of course it's a loss. If you could trade 500 bags of potato chips for 10 liters of oil, would you?"

Yu Ranran shook her head repeatedly: "That won't do, not even a bag of potato chips."

The little guy is quite possessive of his food.

Chen Qing looked at the message Wang Kai sent. Of course, he couldn't possibly exchange 500 portions of food for 10 liters of oil. Whoever did that would be a sucker.

Chen Qing: "It's not that I'm trying to bargain, but your price is really outrageous."

"500 units for 10 liters? I've searched the entire market, and I've never seen such an outrageous offer. I think you're just deliberately trying to avoid selling."

He deliberately spoke in a tough tone to wage psychological warfare, since there are many people looking to buy fuel now, but sellers are also afraid of being stuck with unsold fuel.

Oil is a valuable commodity for personal use, but in a real food shortage, you can't survive on oil alone.

Wang Kai replied instantly, his words revealing impatience. He must have been worn down by many potential buyers, yet he was reluctant to lower the price.

Wang Kai: "Outrageous? What do you know! What's the market like these days? Ghosts and monsters are everywhere; finding oil is harder than finding your life!"

"I risked my life to get those 10 liters of gas from the gas station. 500 meals aren't expensive at all. If you think they're too expensive, don't buy them. There are plenty of people who would love to have them."

Chen Qing asked an unrelated question: "You're from Haicheng, right?"

Wang Kai: "I'm from Chongqing."

Chen Qing lied, "What a coincidence! I'm also from Chongqing. To tell you the truth, this bus is full of female nursing students."

"You know how tough it is for girls in this survival world. They don't have the strength to fight monsters, and they're prone to encountering ghosts when searching for supplies. They have to be very careful with their food supplies, so they don't have much left over."

Within two seconds of the message being sent, Wang Kai replied instantly, his words filled with skepticism, clearly indicating that he didn't believe the explanation at all.

"A bus full of female college students? Who are you kidding? Are you a female college student too?"

Chen Qing looked at these words and replied without batting an eye, "Of course."

Wang Kai was silent for a few seconds. "The name sounds like a girl's, but anyone can talk nonsense."

"Why should I believe you? Either send a voice message, or let's not talk about this anymore. There are plenty of people waiting to change my oil."

Send a voice message?

Chen Qing turned to look at Yu Ranran, who was engrossed in examining the system panel beside him.

The little girl tilted her head, puzzled, and asked, "What?"

"Ranran, your chance to shine has come," Chen Qing said, pointing to the voice button on the panel and lowering his voice.

"Help me send a voice message to fool this seller into believing we're really female college students. There'll be a reward if it works."

"Fooled?" Yu Ranran tilted her head, looking completely bewildered. Then she realized what she meant and shook her head vigorously, crossing her arms over her chest.

"No, I would never lie."