Star Rank Hunter
chapter-268

Ka——

After the last robot was cut in half from top to bottom, White Night put his laser blade away. Unlike Sula and her companions, he wasn’t wearing a protective suit. In fact, he looked as immune to the cold like the robots who assaulted them earlier.

After giving her teammates some basic first aid treatment and confirmed that their life was not in danger, Sula walked towards White Night and asked,

“Why are you here?”

White Night shot her a glance before kicking the decapitated robot beneath his feet to a spot. He replied expressionlessly, “Teacher Guan.”

Sula was surprised for a moment, but she quickly accepted his explanation. They really couldn’t hide anything from Guan Feng.

“Thanks. Are you the only one he sent?”

She was just done asking when her eyes were drawn towards a certain direction. A big wolf about 150 centimeters tall with snow white fur was running towards them in an elegant and orderly manner, its footsteps unaffected by the treacherous terrain. Anyone who caught its gaze would discover that it was a haughty wolf — if it looked you in the eye, then it was granting you a huge honor, or so it thought.

“Rubu?! Who else is coming?!” This time Sula was well and truly shocked. She just couldn’t believe that someone like them would personally attend to a mission like this. What on earth was Guan Feng thinking?!

“What on earth happened? What’s so important that even you two are...” Sula stared at White Night.

It was at this moment White Night took out a protective suit and put it on, muttering, “It’s cold.”

Sula: “...” So not even you were immune to the cold!

White Night was neither a robot nor a wolf with thick fur like Rubu the wolf. He was a human just like them, so of course he could feel the cold as well. However, he disliked wearing insulated clothing, protective suits or even breathing masks while conducting his mission because they were a hindrance. It was only after he killed all of the robots that he put his insulated winter protective suit back on.

Rubu was holding something in its mouth. It was something it had dug out of a robot’s head. After stopping before White Night and spitting out the item it was holding, Rubu said, “It’s tough. It’s tougher than it used to be.”

The robots Sula and her team encountered weren’t everything. There were robots scattered in other parts of the glacier as well. That was why White Night and Rubu had split up and attacked their enemies from two different directions.

Sula shot a glance at the crouched Rubu. Right now the wolf was busy picking out deformed metal stuck from between its teeth in a rather inelegant manner. She asked White Night again, “How many of you have come?”

White Night didn’t answer her. He walked up to Rubu and patted its head once, “Time to go.”

White Night’s attitude pissed off Sula’s companion a lot. Although White Night had saved their lives earlier, that didn’t mean they liked the way he treated them. He was just about to step forward and give him a piece of his mind when Sula stood in his path and shook her head. She was familiar with White Night’s behavior.

“Let’s leave. The situation’s taken an unexpected change, we should check with the higher ups and see if there are any new instructions. Oh right, we should also gather the robot remains. We can use them.” Sula said.

When Cillin drove past that particular glacier, everyone had evacuated already. The snow had covered up the ground and eliminated most signs of battle except for an incredibly long crack stretching down from the top of an iceberg.

“Naimi, you drive.” Cillin said.

“Ah?” Naimi asked after his brain caught up with Cillin’s request, “But why?”

“I’m tired.”

“Oh, I see. I can only do so much though. The other racers’ll probably overtake us.” Naimi was at least aware of his limits. Vege-Fritter might be holding the first place right now, but it hadn’t managed to shake of its tails.

“It’s fine. Let Vege-Fritter assist you.”

Cillin ran his fingers across the control panel for a bit and switched seats with Naimi. The latter accepted the wheel a bit nervously with Vege-Fritter acting as support.

After Cillin had left the driver’s seat, he began typing on the navigator’s analysis panel and producing many smaller windows such as wave frequency analyses or image analyses. The multifaceted data was more than enough to make Naimi’s head dizzy, so Naimi looked away and focused on his driving after the initial glance.

Cillin was able to deduce many things using Vege-Fritter’s analyser. For example, he was able to narrow down the locations where the robots had appeared. He had seen the crack on the iceberg after intercepting and processing the footage of nearby surveillance cameras from the Sizer Family and the media. He had even nailed down the location where Rubu had fought the robots.

From the looks of it, Sula and her team’s goal was probably to wipe out Black Viper’s robots. There were a lot of details that escaped Cillin’s understanding, but he was certain that he had picked up the robots’ presences back at the rainforest. Since they showed up in this circuit as well, it meant that they would make an appearance in all remaining circuits as well. It was impossible to know if Sula and her team could stop them all.

Naimi was speeding up while Cillin was performing his analyses. It was night time when they first arrived at the snowy lands, and it was almost dawn when they reached the end of the circuit.

Although Naimi had done his best, his skill ultimately couldn’t compare to the veterans when it came to adapting to the minute changes brought about by the environment. That being said, the lead Cillin accrued while he was piloting the race was strong enough to guarantee them the second place for this circuit. The first place was claimed by Lightning’s crescent-shaped car, the third place was claimed by Aero’s prism-shaped car, and the fourth place was claimed by Spearhead’s blade-shaped car.

There still weren’t many racing cars who stopped for maintenance at the repair stations after the fourth circuit was over. The next circuit they were about to enter was a vast desert.

The fourth and the fifth circuit were two different extremes. It was only possible because of the unique geography of this place.

Everything was white in color even though the racing cars had left the snowy lands for quite some time now, but anyone who was keeping an eye on the thermometer would realize that the temperature outside was completely different to that you might expect from the arctic. The temperature outside was almost the same as the human body temperature.

The white things were sand, all of them. It was a line that separated the snowy lands and the desert. The temperature here wasn’t as hot as it could be at the desert. In fact, one might even say that this area was relatively cool and humid.

“You want to take over, Cillin?” asked Naimi, but in reality he didn’t really want to switch places with Cillin just. Although he made a small mistake earlier and failed to take first place during the sprint, his craving for racing was brought up to the surface. Frankly, being a racer was just a lot more exciting than being a navigator.

“It’s okay. Keep it up.”

Cillin’s answer pleased Naimi, “Don’t worry, I’ll do my best!”

The white sand eventually turned yellow as they flew deeper and deeper into the desert, and the temperature outside was definitely rising in a straight line; hot enough to turn anyone into dry meat in just a matter of hours. Thankfully, the thermostat kept the internal temperature at a relatively bearable level.

When Cillin saw some animals crawling across the sand from his monitor, he couldn’t help but admire the tenacity of life for a moment. They were incredibly tiny, and they weren’t aided by any equipment whatsoever, and yet they were tenacious enough to live in a place like this through the sheer power of adaptability and evolution.

Hmm?

Finally, Cillin caught some unusual activity on his device. It originated from the robots, and it was similar to machine language in some ways. However, Cillin couldn’t decipher it due to external interferences. Even his attempts to deduce a precise coordinate was hindered because of said interferences. It was impossible to tell if the interfering source was made by the robots themselves or a third party, but one thing was certain: there were robots lying in wait for him.

Cillin had seen what these robots were capable of before, and it was the main reason he had to pass control to Naimi. The race literally wouldn’t matter if he were to die here.

Fleka had seen Vege-Fritter’s blueprint before, and Naimi was right next to Cillin when he was assembling it. However, neither of them knew that Cillin had installed a very, very well hidden, multi-password protected and independent weapons system inside the vehicle.

Right now, Cillin’s plan was to activate this weapons system and deal with any unexpected situation when necessary. The good news was that the weapons system barely affected Naimi’s driving, in fact the young man had no idea that Cillin had activated a dangerous program in Vege-Fritter.

The materials Fleka provided him was restricted, and he was forced to work under a budget, so the weapons system Vege-Fritter was currently carrying couldn’t do any real damage to those robots. That was why their main purpose was to buy time for himself.

Also, Cillin had a couple of weapons inside his ring, including the PTS K and its bullets.

He inhaled deeply. He couldn’t place all his hopes on Sula and her team. He must prepare his own path of retreat.

Naimi was deserving to be called a member of the Sizer Family. After the somewhat shaky start, he was slowly but surely growing more and more familiar with driving Vege-Fritter. Although he couldn’t get to Cillin’s microscopic level of control, he was honestly not far behind, and thanks to Vege-Fritter’s support, they were still among the top four.

The fact that Vege-Fritter, a forgotten car type, was ahead was already a miracle to most people, and it had more than proved itself during the first four circuits. Of course, only the real pros and experts knew that not anyone could drive Vege-Fritter to that level.

Cillin was just done preparing his countermeasures when the unusual activity on the analysis screen suddenly vanished all at once. It was almost as if the robots had winked out of existence.

Cillin stared at the screen for two straight seconds before he quickly conducted a scan for unusual activities, comparing it to the other analysis results on the screen. However, the final result proved that the robots in this area really have all disappeared. There were some minor machine language activity in other places, but none of them are close enough to impose a threat.

Something must have happened to the group of robots Cillin had narrowed down on his screen. Either they were taken out by Sula’s team, or they were taken out by someone else. The rest of the robots were making a run for it.

Who could it be?

Cillin’s concentration heightened as they moved closer and closer to the designated coordinate. Fixing his eyes firmly before him, Cillin got ready to act on first notice the second he saw any machine language activity, even if it would cost him the race.

The good news was that he detected no machine language activity whatsoever. Even better, he detected biological lifeforms not native to this desert. He couldn’t determine who they were or what faction they belonged to because of the interference device, however.

Still, some of Cillin’s tension slipped away from him. Whoever this group might belong to, they had taken out the robots hiding in this area. This meant that they weren’t his enemies at least.

By now a sand storm had descended upon them, and it was impossible to see anything outside without some sort of special sight. However, Cillin as able to catch a glimpse of a round-shaped thing about two meters wide on the desert floor. It was almost completely buried in sand, but Cillin could see some scales on it.

When Vege-Fritter flew away from the area, Cillin saw through the surveillance camera the round-shaped fellow shaking off the sand on itself before rolling down a certain direction.

At a sandstone somewhere on the desert.

The huge rock formation was a natural shelter that blocked both the sunlight and the violent winds on the desert. A man could be seen lying in between the gaps. His hat was pressed as low as possible to prevent any sand that managed to slip in from getting into his face, and his clothes looked ragged from fighting or self-tearing. Probably both.

The man was resting on his arm and shaking his legs leisurely, the half-rolled strip of cloth on his legs flapping almost in sync with his movements. He sure looked like he was having a good time despite the environment.

Not far away from the rocks, the wind continuously rolled sand across something that obviously didn’t belong to this place. However, it wasn’t completely buried in sand yet, a small corner of the object reflecting light like a metal would. If someone was paying attention, they might even catch the sound of electricity buzzing just beneath the sand. It didn’t take long for the buzzing sound to grow weaker and weaker until it died off completely.

Gulugulu.

A spiky, round-shaped object rolled closer and closer towards the rock formation. It was the ball Cillin had seen earlier.

The ball tried to roll its way into the rock formation, but it soon got stuck between the rocks. It rolled backwards and tried charging into the rock formation again, but the result didn’t change. Finally, the ball gave up after a few failed attempts. The entire rock formation might fall apart if it kept trying to force its way in.

The spiky ball unrolled itself and revealed its true appearance. It was an armadillo lizard nearly five meters long.

The armadillo lizard shook off the sand on its body before strutted its way between the gaps of the rocks. This time it didn’t get stuck.

“Fang Fang, everything’s gone smoothly. We can go back now!” The armadillo lizard said to the man lying inside.

The man called Fang Fang let out a long sigh. It was almost as if he was sad that his free time had come to an end. He pushed his hat higher with a finger, revealing a pair of small, thin eyes before glancing once at the armadillo lizard. Then, he yawned, slowly got up to his feet and stretched his back lazily.

“Let’s go. Our work’s done.”

The man and the armadillo lizard walked out of the rocky formation and into the sandstorm. Some time later, they arrived at a small sand dune. He hit one part of the sand dune with his hand while yelling loudly, “Open the door, we’re back, the sandstorm outside’s really big!”

It didn’t sound like he was striking sand when his hand made contact. In fact, when the wind blew away the sand covering the part he was hitting, it revealed a yellowish exterior that shared nearly the same color as the sand outside. It was a spaceplane disguised as a sand dune using protective coloring, material and the sandstorm itself.

It took a lot of hitting and yelling before the hatch finally opened to admit them. It closed just as quickly after both man and armadillo lizard had entered the spaceplane.

Inside the cockpit, a young girl who looked to be around seven to eight years old was busy playing a game on the main pilot’s seat. She was completely absorbed by the screen in front of her, and she didn’t react to the man and the armadillo lizard at all when they entered the cockpit.

It was a driving game; a flying car game developed by the Sizer Family not long ago.

The armadillo lizard was just lying down on the floor to rest when the girl finally spoke up, “Armadillo* you brought a lot of pollutants into the spaceplane again! You’re up for the next cleaning duty!”

*I don’t know what I expected, but the armadillo lizard’s name is Armadillo. Yep.

The armadillo lizard Armadillo froze in mid step. Then, Its huge, armor-like scales swelled like it was about to pop out of its skin as it yelled, “What! Why me! I was the one who cleaned the ship last time!”

“You didn’t shake off the sand on your scales before you came in, so you only have yourself to blame.” The girl was still staring at the screen, but there was no doubt that she was speaking to Armadillo.

Armadillo’s eyes rolled cunningly before he pointed a tail at the man lying on his chair like he had no bones inside his body, “I want to make a report, Nikki. Fang Fang was goofing off and doing nothing for nearly the entire mission! Meanwhile, I nearly lost my tail while I was fighting those robots! Look at my missing scale!”

The man lying on the chair jumped to his feet immediately and pointed at the rags that were barely covering his body, complaining, “Nonsense! Look at my clothes! I did fight, and I was one step away from being completely naked! You have to help me, boss Nikki! You’ve gotta raise my pay!”

It was plain weird to see a twenty years old young man addressing a seven to eight years old kid as his “boss”.

Nikki was still absorbed in her game as she snorted, “Chi Lafang, Armadillo, both of you will clean the spaceplane next time.”

“This is injustice! I’m serious, I really did give it everything I got! Look into my eyes and see my sincerity if you don’t believe me!” said Chi Lafang while moving his face closer to Nikki and pointing at his own eyes.

The girl was finally done completing her mission as she set down the controller. She turned around and stared closely at Chi Lafang’s eyes — still as thin as slits despite his best attempt to widen his eyelids — searching for his so-called “sincerity”. Finally, she concluded, “Your eye boogers are extremely profound today.”

Not only was Chi Lafang completely unaffected by her words, he put a finger to the inner corner of his eyes before replying, “Exactly! The weather outside’s so hot that my eyes are tired and dry, and I think I’m coming down with sunstroke and fatigue! Hmm, they might even become inflamed soon, or should I say they’re already inflamed, so you absolutely should increase my pay don’t you think! Oh, and more holidays, or even better a sponsored vacation trip!”

At the back, Armadillo’s tail twitched before it buried its head between its hand and kept silent.

A moment of silence later, Chi Lafang’s attention suddenly shifted to Nikki’s ears as he asked, “Eh? Boss Nikki, when did you reach thirty five years old? I thought I saw only thirty four teeth on your ears just a while ago.”

Nikki’s ears were sharper than most people, and there was a ring of “teeth” running along the edge of her ear. The number of “teeth” on her ear represented her true age.

The question was immediately followed by a loud thump inside the spaceplane and Chi Lafang’s bloodcurdling scream.

All in all, things went pretty well during the dessert circuit. Vege-Fritter was still among the top four, and Naimi was driving faster after he shedded his anxiety and injected himself with a boost of excitement. Sadly, he finished the circuit at fourth place, falling behind his opponent by one centimeter despite being in good form. The third place of this circuit was Aero, the second place was Lightning, and the first place was Spearhead.

Five out of seven parts of the race were over already. Right now, the current score of the top four racers were: Aero - 150 points, Lightning - 145 points, Vege-Fritter - 145 points and finally Spearhead - 140 points.

The point difference wasn’t so big that a decisive victor could be spotted. It was still anyone’s game since there was no telling what might happen during the last two circuits.

Naimi felt a little depressed because he came in fourth place. Moreover, he was seriously dehydrated and fatigued due to a prolonged period of high tension and concentration.

His amazement towards Cillin had climbed to a whole new level, however. He was already feeling this way after finishing just one circuit, but earlier Cillin had flown through four circuits without rest. If this was the level of concentration and mental power a racer must maintain throughout the whole race, then he must admit that they were incredibly capable. In fact, Naimi thought that some racers and navigators must have switched positions mid-race just like them. Not anyone could stand or master an endurance race like this, and it was pure torture for those who were unqualified.

It wasn’t like Naimi had never participated in an endurance auto race before, but his competition was so-so, and the obstacles blocking his way weren’t particularly difficult. That was why he was able to endure until the end. But now that he was fighting in the Winds of Freedom for real, he could only sigh at his own powerlessness. He needed more training and experience. In the past, he and a bunch of noble youngsters thought that racing on a safe road from one circuit to another was an incredibly simple task. It’s just driving! It’s just an endurance auto race, right?

Bullshit!

Naimi insisted on entering a repair station for maintenance before he told Cillin everything about his thoughts.

“I give up, Cillin. You should take the driver’s seat. Right now I’m not good enough yet.”

Cillin gave it a thought and agreed, “Okay, I’ll drive.”

Vege-Fritter wasn’t the only automobile in the repair station. In fact nearly every participating vehicle was planning to visit the repair station because the sixth circuit would take place under the sea. Death was a real threat if anything were to happen to their vehicle while they were driving underwater, and there was no guarantee that the rescue team could get to them in time every time. It was definitely better to be safe than sorry.

One of the top fours, the blade-shaped car was the only automobile currently parked at Spearhead’s repair station because they had arrived earlier than most. For example, Tobia and Naimi hadn’t shown up yet.

While the repairmen were busy performing emergency maintenance to their car, Spearhead’s racer and current captain of the Spearhead racing team, Danny was talking with his navigator.

“Something’s off about that Vege-Fritter earlier. It was still very fast, but it didn’t feel as hair-raising as before.” The navigator said.

Danny nodded in agreement. “True, it’s almost like it was a different racer altogether...”

It was at this moment both men recalled that Naimi, a member of the Sizer Family was also participating in the race as a navigator. Although Naimi was young, he had participated in many flying car competition before. Even if he had no experience in a grand race like the Winds of Freedom, he should’ve no problems racing in his racer’s stead!

“So Naimi, that young master from the Sizer Family was driving during the last circuit?”

“You’re probably right.”

“But Danny, do you think the actual racer will switch back during the last two circuits?”

“It’s possible, no, it’s very possible. As long as their racer isn’t wounded, they’ll definitely switch back during the next circuit. We need to work harder, that racer is an insane driver.”

A similar conversation was happening between Aero and Lightning’s racer and navigator as well. They had all figured out that Naimi and Cillin must have switched during the fifth circuit.

They had finally arrived at the final two circuits, the mad dash that would decide who would be the victor...

“Time to go!”

When the top four flew out of the repair station, the rest of the competitors were just making their way in. The gap of skill was absolutely clear.

The lit signs of the circuit led the flying cars down a cliff and into the sea. All four vehicles had already made the necessary adjustments and settings to minimize water resistance as much as possible prior to entering the sea.

The most troublesome part of this circuit was the big fellows roaming under the water. Although the authorities had done their work to remove them from this part of the sea, they could just as easily swim back during the race. The good news was that the circuit didn’t lead into the deep sea, so the chance that a racer would run into a big fellow wasn’t high.

Of course, some racers had run into this problem in the past, and there was nothing they could do except to dodge out of the way and hope for the best. However, the act of dodging itself was time consuming, and one second was all it took for the lucky competitor in front of them to gain a sizable lead.

The sea was very beautiful since there weren’t many industrial facilities or man-made pollution on this planet. There were plenty of coral reefs on the sea floors, and the strange fishes and sea creatures going about their business beneath the sea looked very lively. Contrary to expectations, the sea was quite the lively place.

Cillin didn’t stop enjoying the scenery around him just because he was racing. It was because sights like these never failed to invoke emotions that were beyond his control.

A colorful cast of countless sea creatures coexisted in the sea, and the surrounding coral reefs made it look like they were living in a sea carnival. It was a beautiful, natural ecosystem that Cillin rarely saw in his life. Even the coral reefs could be separated into two different kinds, the ones that swayed like flowers and the ones that were as tough as rocks. The sea was the playground of these creatures and their home.

There was a big turtle leisurely moving its forelegs, there was a huge grouper swaying its tail clumsily and honestly forwards, there was a parasite opening its big mouth and allowing small fishes to clean its oral cavity, and there was a goby and a mud lobster building a home they would share while the other stood guard...

Anytime Cillin saw a scenery like this, every time he saw a scenery like this, he would recall the myth-like era the people spoke on TV. After he had left Planet Brown Earth, Cillin witnessed many “myth-like” sceneries that were pure creations of nature that were completely unblemished by man or science. But as beautiful as they were, some people would never get to see them in their lives.

Cillin was enjoying himself, but Naimi was experiencing quite the anxiety attack. It was because Cillin was looking at three windows — the front screen, a live view of the corals, and a wave diagram he knew nothing about — at the same time!

If Naimi wasn’t afraid before, he was definitely afraid now that he had taken over the driver’s seat once for a full circuit. Three windows! Cillin, haven’t you heard the saying that one shouldn’t divide their attention into two, much less three!

Every time Vege-Fritter brushed past a big fish, Naimi felt like his breathing had slowed a beat.

This... this is just too worrisome!

And so Cillin drove, watched, and checked for any abnormal activities on his wave diagram all at the same time. Meanwhile, on the other side of the ocean, a figure emerged from beneath the seawater and walked to the shore.

The man’s body was covered in scales, and some of them looked damaged and worn. In fact, blue colored blood was seeping out of the less serious wounds, although a scab quickly formed over them. The man shook his arms once after he left the water, his hand never letting go of a certain object he had dug out of a robot’s head.

Swearing under his breath, the man’s scales receded into his body until he looked more or less like a human. Luckily for him, there was no one around to catch sight of him, or they would be screaming about a naked man on the beach.

The man produced a communicator from seemingly nowhere and made a call after he was sure that there was no one around him. He didn’t turn on the video feed though.

“Hey, it’s me, Sediya. This place has been taken care of... Yes, I know, no one saw me... I know, I know, I should pay attention to my image, right? Of course I’m not going to streak, do I look like that kind of person to you? Stop accusing me of immorality and unprofessionalism, will you... right. I got the best sample possible out of all possible targets, I’ll deliver them to you in a moment... Sigh. It’s nothing, it’s just a few hits deep enough to see the bones and a copious amount of bleeding. I’m telling you, you’ve gotta gimme a raise this time... Seriously, I’m not lying! Didn’t you notice that the sea is particularly blue today...”

Cillin didn’t pick up any abnormal machine language activity this time, so the sixth circuit ended in relatively smooth fashion — assuming that the giant squid that had appeared out of nowhere during the middle of the race, and the giant school of fishes who were probably chased over by sharks during the latter half of the circuit didn’t count as an obstacle, that is.

When Vege-Fritter burst out of the sea and claimed first place like it was on steroids, the three competitors following right behind it thought: As expected, that racer’s back in the driver’s seat.

“Hell yeah! Let’s hold onto this momentum and finish this final circuit with a bang, Cillin!” Naimi was so excited that he couldn’t stay seated, although he was a young man in his twenties, so it couldn’t be helped. How anyone this young be expected to stay calm in a situation like this?

Then Naimi glanced at the zombie-like Cillin next to him and scratched his own head. A stranger might’ve thought that Cillin was much older than Naimi judging from his reaction or lack thereof, when in reality they were pretty much the same age. Just why were they so different?

Cillin didn’t stop for a maintenance check this time because one, Vege-Fritter was doing fine and two, he had a rough idea on what really was going on with Black Viper’s robots and was no longer as worried as he was before. He thought to himself: Let’s get this over with.

Cillin activated every squamous propulsion engine there were in Vege-Fritter as his hands kicked into a blur across the control panels. Naimi subconsciously clutched onto his seat the second he saw Cillin’s movements, and a moment of thought later stuffed a pill into his mouth for the first time since the beginning of the race. Naimi’s reaction was understandable considering the impression Cillin had left him during the first circuit, and the young master had a feeling that things would go very badly for him if he had chosen not to take the appropriate measures.

He was right. The last circuit was set on a mountainous, rocky terrain, and a collision here was nothing like a collision against sand dunes. One single mistake might mean the end of the entire race.

The closer the racers were to the end of the race, the more cautious they became. No one wanted to see all their efforts go down the drain.

The sky had gotten dark again, and this without a doubt added to the difficulty of the circuit. Moreover, the lit signs indicated that the racing track were encircling a mountain, so the racers must race around the mountain several times before they reached the bottom. Assuming that the racers made a poor judgment during their flight, they would either slam into the sharp corners in the best case scenario or explode into a ball of fire in the worst, killing both man and car at the same time.

The closer they got to the mountain, the shorter the track became, but the risk associated with danger also grew proportionally bigger. Racing in such an environment demanded a lot of skill, and it was why Naimi felt like his heart would jump out of his throat every time Vege-Fritter brushed past the protruding rocks on the face of the mountain. Just now Naimi took a peek at his analysis data and discovered that they were less than five millimeters away from collision during that last turn!

A lot of racers could’ve done this in the norm, but this was a race and Cillin was flying as fast as he was during the first circuit!

Naimi felt like he could faint at any moment, and a nauseous feeling was sitting firmly in his stomach. Was this the legendary carsickness the normies were talking about? He would be laughed all the way to his death bed if a member of the Sizer Family were to hear about this! A Sizer Family member experiencing carsickness, is that a joke?!

Naimi wasn’t the only one who thought that his situation was ridiculous, the racers behind them were just as astonished. Was he seriously flying in a circuit like this at that speed? Was he trying to win or was he trying to commit suicide?!

Every time Cillin made it past a mountain, the people waiting at the finish line would cheer like mad. It was nighttime now, but the live feed on the giant screen was processed so that every flying car was marked with glaring highlights, so everyone could see the Vege-Fritter that was highlighted in silver zooming past the screen like a literal beam of light.

Gen Xingming was yelling “go faster” and “charge” like crazy, not caring at all if Cillin could even hear his cheers. The people around him didn’t care that it was the nth time he shouted “that’s my bro!” either. Everyone was screaming and cheering like they were in a carnival.

Brielles stared quietly at the giant screen at the center of his vision for a very long time before he chuckled quietly and shook his head. His followers didn’t know what his reaction meant. Everyone here was aware that Brielles, Naimi and a young boy had made a bet with each other, and it looked like that relic Vege-Fritter was actually going to win the race. If that was true, then Brielles was going to lose 100 million MB. 100 million... It was literally the sum of years worth of pocket money. Had they been in Brielles’ position, they would probably have to roam the streets as beggars.

It was only natural for Brielles to feel terrible after losing so much money in one go. That was why no dared to speak up for fear that they would become Brielles’ practice target.

Brielles suddenly got up to his feet and caused everyone of his followers to quake in fear. However, the young man paid no heed to their reaction and turned to his servant, “Prepare the money.”

“About the general...”

“I’ll speak with him about this.”

“Yes, young master.”

Done speaking about money, Brielles waved his people away and walked into his private lounge. Then, he made a call on his communicator. It didn’t take long for a figure both Cillin and Bel were very familiar with to pop up on the screen. It was Nuhatch Tousen.

“What’s wrong? Judging from the time, is there some shit you need me to wipe off your ass again?” Tousen was wearing his military uniform and looking a little travel-worn, but overall he looked pretty spirited. He had probably just come back from a mission not long ago.

Brielles smiled at Tousen before saying, “I lost money today, brother.”

By now Tousen was very familiar with this line already, so he asked carelessly while cleaning the dust on his clothes with a cleaner, “How much?”

“100 million.”

“That’s ok... what did you say?!” The cleaner shattered into countless pieces in his hand as veins popped out of Tousen’s forehead.

“100 million MB.”

Tousen sucked in a deep breath to calm himself. Oh no, I feel like running to the other side and end that little bastard once and for all.

He inhaled deeply again, and once more.

When Tousen finally got his emotions under control, he started talking with barely suppressed anger, “Did you mistake our family for a business-based family like the Sizers?! You lost 100 million in a goddam race?! Do you think 100 million falls from trees or something? Do you know how much allowance I get from the military, and how little I get from bounties despite hunting down a dangerous criminal?! Do you know...”

In the middle of throwing a bunch of “do you know your bro, I”, “do you know our papa” and “do you know our family” at Brielles, Tousen suddenly noticed that something was amiss. In the past, the little bastard would’ve cut him off impatiently with a wave of his hand, but today... something wasn’t right. Something really wasn’t right.

Tousen looked closely at his younger brother’s image. It was just a video feed, but it was enough for Tousen to tell that Brielles was acting strangely.

“Were you... bullied?” Tousen asked tentatively. Money was money; it was something that could be earned as it was spent. But bullying was a different story altogether because it was something that was tied closely to a man’s pride. At a certain level — to borrow his momma’s words — it was something that affects a growing man’s mentality, especially a young man who was already kind of twisted already.

Brielles shook his head and smiled, “No, I just realized a few things during my time here.”

In the past, Brielles had always thought that his brother and his father were just making excuses when they made him pilot flying cars instead of battleships. After all, a battleship was a battleship and a flying car was a flying car; how could they possibly be the same? To make a comparison, a flying car was a land coward and a battleship was a space hero. It was why Brielles had always hated flying cars, his grudge extending even to Naimi of the Sizer Family. It was the main reason they often butted heads against one another.

But now after that match, Brielles felt like he found something he had lost a long time ago. The feeling of being so fast that time itself seemed to freeze in limbo — he felt like the boy who saw a battleship for the first time again. Flying cars weren’t a mistake. He was.

If he kept fooling around like this, where he stood right now might be where he was ever going to be for the rest of his life. He would always be watching others fly from a viewing platform, unless he changed this with his own hands.

At the 23rd military zone, Tousen suddenly felt goosebumps all over his body. What did he just hear? Did his little bastard of a brother really say he “realized a few things”? Did I run into a ghost today*?!

*meaning something like “the sun rises from the west”

“You, you’re watching that winds of something, right? Don’t think too much and don’t do stupid things, okay!? Just stay there and wait for me!”

Tousen turned off his communicator and contacted Brielles’ men immediately; they were all people his papa had sent over to guard his little brother. Unable to question anything useful from their mouths, Tousen ordered them to watch Brielles’ every move and stop him in case he does anything stupid at all cost.

After that, he immediately rang his papa at the imperial capital and exclaimed the second the call went through, “Papa, this is bad, Brielles said he’s realized some things!”

“What?! Did he suffer a shock or something?! Tell the men to stop him from doing stupid things, quickly!”

...

Meanwhile, Brielles stared at his communicator while feeling a little confused. Shouldn’t his brother feel happy for him? So why had he looked at him like he was about to commit suicide?

By now an ear deafening cheer was shaking the world outside, and Brielles put away his communicator after he read a message he received. Then, he beckoned over his servants and subordinates and left the place. The cheers were loud, and the atmosphere was exciting, but it was, after all, not a stage that belonged to him. If he couldn’t walk away from someone else’s stage, if he always lived under the shadow of another’s stage, then he would never truly be able to take a step forwards.

...

When Vege-Fritter raced past the finish line, Gen Xingming literally ran over the people in front of him to reach Cillin.

Cillin had parked Vege-Fritter at a private parking lot to avoid the overly excited crowd, but that didn’t stop Gen Xingming from racing towards him the second he got out of the vehicle. Bel and Ulaganuo were following closely behind him, and Cillin caught a glimpse of Sula somewhere amongst the crowd too.

Sula gestured for him to follow her later, and Cillin gave her a nod before he welcomed Gen Xingming and the others. After receiving a fist-salute congratulations from his friends, he mentioned that he needed to leave a bit for business.

Gen Xingming had seen Sula and a couple of people waiting since a while ago, so he didn’t try to stop Cillin. Then, he turned to look at Naimi still sitting inside Vege-Fritter.

“Hey Naimi, what are you waiting for? Come out already! I’m so excited not even shouting three times can quell the boiling blood in my veins!”

“Yeah, Naimi, come out and party with us already!”

“Naimi, the prize, don’t forget to claim the prize! And don’t forget to wear and handsome formal attire and show off later!”

Naimi looked a little pale even after he looked up in response to their chit chat, but there was no mistaking the excitement in his eyes.

“I want to go party too, but my legs are completely numb after such a long ride! Give me some time to catch my breath first, I’m not a robot like Cillin.”

It was a lie. His legs were in fact shaking with fear, not numbness, but it wasn’t something that Naimi was going to admit readily. Still, his scalp tingled like that of a character in a fairy tale who barely escaped through the gap of a devil’s teeth. Seriously, he would’ve fainted already if he hadn’t wisely taken that pill earlier.

On the other side, Sula led Cillin to a room while saying, “Black Viper had sent their greetings, and we were here to help you. However, your master Guan Feng was the one who really did all the work.”

When the door opened, Cillin was immediately greeted by several unfamiliar faces and two animals.