Warm, soft pressure pressed against his chest and back simultaneously, freezing Logan in his tracks.
Gu Xinran’s curves pressed flush against him without an inch of space between them, while Chuyu Fei wrapped both arms tightly around his waist from behind like a drowning sailor grabbing a floating log.
Gu Xinran was still trembling, the shock of the near-death experience clearly wearing off slowly. With her pink bikini top completely missing, Logan’s gaze had nowhere else to go.
The pale, generous swell of her chest rose and fell with every frantic breath, delivering a severe visual impact.
Realizing the lack of fabric up front, Gu Xinran snapped back to reality. She looked down, her pretty face flushing a deep, humiliated crimson.
"Ah..."
She let out a panicked gasp, bringing her arms up to cover herself, yet she stubbornly refused to step out of Logan’s arms. Instead, she tilted her head up, a pair of tear-bright eyes locked onto him.
"Logan... thank you. Thank you for saving me..."
Her voice shook slightly, carrying a heavy undertone of starry-eyed admiration and budding affection that she couldn’t hide.
Logan’s heart skipped a beat.
Who could actually handle that kind of direct attention?
Still, he forced himself to check his impulses, gently nudging the two girls backward to put some distance between them.
His history with Chuyu Fei was complicated. She was the one who initiated their breakup, so what was this supposed to be now? A rekindled flame? Logan didn’t have the patience to unpack that right now.
As for Gu Xinran...
The art majors in their class weren’t quite top-tier campus beauties, but her figure was world-class and she had no shortage of suitors. He distinctly remembered hearing rumors just last week that she was dating a guy from the sports department. He wasn’t about to hand out a set of horns right after an apocalyptic transport.
Even so, he noticed the interface shifting right before his eyes.
Chuyu Fei’s favorability rating shot from a complicated 80 points straight up to 90!
And Gu Xinran’s jumped from a measly 30 all the way to 80!
"Don’t worry about it. It’s just my job as tribe chief."
Both Chuyu Fei and Gu Xinran looked disappointed when he stepped back. Gu Xinran blushed furiously, frantically trying to shield herself until one of her friends ran up to drape two large broad leaves over her shoulders.
Logan maintained a cool, unbothered expression, casually spinning his Miao dao through the air before sliding it back into his inventory slot.
That calm, collected posture sent a fresh wave of awe rippling through the surrounding girls.
"I always thought Logan was cute, but right now? Tribe Chief Logan is an absolute god."
"Why didn’t you volunteer to bear his children earlier, then?"
"Is it too late to change my mind..."
"Wait, what just happened?!"
Bai Nian and her crew finally rushed over, her eyes locking straight onto Logan’s still-trembling hands.
"Logan... are you hurt?" Bai Nian asked, worry coating her voice as she dashed right up to him.
The other girls dropped their tools and crowded in, talking over each other in a frantic panic. Teacher Chen, stepping into her role as class advisor, hurried over to comfort the shaken Gu Xinran and Chuyu Fei, checking them over for hidden injuries.
"It’s fine, everyone calm down. Everything’s alright."
Bai Nian, however, reacted completely differently from the rest of the group.
She stood right in front of Logan, inspecting him up and down to confirm he was uninjured before letting out a sharp sigh of relief. But the relief vanished instantly, replaced by a sudden flash of blazing fury!
Whirling around, she glared at the cluster of girls who were still trembling in shock.
"What were all of you just doing?!" she snapped. "Were you planning to just stand there and scream your heads off?!"
Bai Nian’s voice crackled with exasperation and tough love.
"Logan was up front risking his life! Even if you were too terrified to jump in, could none of you pick up a rock and throw it to distract that beast?! If anything had happened to him out here, every single one of us would be dead meat!"
Her scolding brought an instant, heavy silence over the clearing.
Several girls flushed red and dropped their heads in shame. It was true—their brains had completely locked up. Aside from screaming, they had frozen entirely, completely forgetting they could actually contribute.
Logan felt a warm spike of gratitude watching Bai Nian back him up.
Her dressing-down played the bad cop role perfectly, silently cementing his authority and making everyone realize just how vital he was to their survival. If Logan had said those exact words himself, it might have rubbed some girls the wrong way or hurt his approachability scores for expanding the tribe down the line.
Bai Nian was always thorough, planning ahead and quietly backing him up from the shadows.
"Alright, Bai nian, leave it be."
Logan stepped forward, gently wrapping his fingers around her wrist.
"I’m fine. It’s everyone’s first time dealing with this. Being terrified is normal when you have zero experience."
His gentle tone instantly smoothed down the panic rippling through the group, turning their guilt into an even deeper wave of loyalty. Nearly every girl’s favorability rating ticked up by another ten to twenty points.
Bai Nian froze the second he grabbed her wrist.
They had always treated each other like bros, throwing arms around shoulders without a second thought. But getting gripped like this right in front of the entire class felt entirely different. Heat rushed straight from her wrist up to her ears, dyeing her fierce face bright red.
"Who... who was worried about you?! I just... I just think they’re completely useless!" she stammered, trying to jerk her hand out of his grip, though she failed to break free.
Her flustered, angry expression brought a faint grin to Logan’s face, clearing away the lingering tension in the air.
Just as that brief moment of quiet let everyone lower their guard a fraction...
*Awooooo—!*
A long, chilling wolf howl echoed from deep within the nearby forest.
The sound carried an edge of wild, starving malice.
Before anyone could even process it, answering cries erupted from all sides.
"Awooo!"
"Awooo—!"
One howl after another rattled the air, echoing from the north, south, east, and west, closing in fast.
One, two, three...
The volume grew louder, the distance shorter. The sheer cruelty baked into the sound made the air feel like it was freezing solid.
There were at least seven or eight of them! Maybe more!
Logan’s muscles locked up tight. The adrenaline that had just begun to fade surged back into his brain, but this time it felt like pure ice.
He figured it out instantly!
Wolves were pack hunters! The single scout he had just killed wasn’t a random lone wanderer.
It was a pathfinder! A cannon fodder scout for a hunting pack!
The real danger was only just arriving!
"Everyone, listen up!" Logan roared, cutting through the rising panic.
"Drop all your tools! Get inside the shelter right now! Move, move, move!"
Spurred by absolute terror, the girls scrambled, diving headfirst into the safety of the makeshift hut.