Chapter 63: A Vehicular Duel? It Doesn’t Seem Entirely Unacceptable

Lin Mu glanced at the multimedia screen, then adjusted the camera to match Jiang Ying’s perspective.

What’s so special about this? The screen was too small; Lin Mu didn’t notice anything unusual.

“What happened?” he asked.

“There’s a brawl among a bunch of cars at the left front! I can’t tell how many, but it’s definitely a lot.” Jiang Ying, though too far away to distinguish the exact number, could still make out the shapes of the vehicles. And since they were all moving, it would be odd not to recognize them as cars.

Lin Mu looked at the house, then decided to head over first and ask questions later. The vehicle accelerated suddenly, reaching a speed of 120.

“Aah!—” Jiang Ying was startled by the acceleration, but as she opened her mouth to shout, a strong wind rushed in, forcing her to quickly shut her mouth and close her eyes. She cursed inwardly... but didn’t dare voice it, for the moment she even thought about it, the collar around her neck sent a jolt of electricity through her. If she actually cursed out loud, she’d probably be shocked even worse.

And so, a vehicle with a vertical “flagpole” sped rapidly toward the cluster of cars. Though described as a heap of cars, there were really only seven or eight, engaged in a chaotic melee.

As they drew near, Lin Mu hurriedly brought the collector down from the air—if it were spotted, what if it escaped? Yet he’d forgotten that Jiang Ying was still up there.

Jiang Ying felt herself descending, her face lighting up with secret delight. But as she saw the situation below, her joy vanished, replaced by terror.

“Damn!” She cried out as branches battered her body relentlessly; helpless, she could only shield her face. She could bear the pain elsewhere, but any injury to her face would be unbearable.

Enduring the pain, she descended all the way to the car roof.

Lin Mu frowned, wondering why he couldn’t retract it. Suddenly—thump!—a pair of long legs landed on the windshield.

Lin Mu was momentarily stunned, realizing—oh, right, Jiang Ying was still attached above.

He glanced at the radar; the eight light points were still pursuing each other, but not moving fast.

“001, get out of the car and bring Jiang Ying down.”

“Yes, Master.”

Five minutes later, Jiang Ying lay on the ground behind them, unwilling to move.

It hurt. Everything hurt.

“Sister Wanqing, help me check my back…” Jiang Ying looked at Gu Wanqing, tears threatening to fall; she was completely speechless.

Gu Wanqing, suppressing her laughter, lifted Jiang Ying’s collar and saw red marks streaked across her back.

It was obviously swollen.

“It’s already swollen,” she said.

“Wuwuwu—I’m so miserable—” Jiang Ying sobbed, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Lin Mu looked in the rearview mirror, his lips twitching. She was really crying this time.

But it was his fault for forgetting about her.

“Ahem, take this panacea—it’ll fix you up.” Lin Mu handed a panacea to 001 to give to Jiang Ying.

Jiang Ying quickly swallowed the medicine, and the pain vanished almost instantly.

She secretly lifted her shirt for a peek—everything was healed.

Phew—

As long as there were no scars.

She hugged her knees and leaned against Gu Wanqing, determined to never be so pleased with herself again.

Ten minutes later, Lin Mu drove out of the forest, arriving behind several vehicles.

Looking at the distant cars, Lin Mu was puzzled—how had so many vehicles ended up together? All day, he’d only encountered three. One, Wang Changjun, was in his vehicle; another had escaped, and the last was dead.

But how did these eight cars gather here?

Sh-sh-sh—

The vehicles rumbled across the sandy terrain, making different sounds; Lin Mu paid it no mind.

But just as he drew near the cluster, preparing to take down one of them, the ground began to shake.

In Lin Mu’s view, a massive stone wall rose in the distance, sealing off all exits.

Behind him, Shu Xin stuck her head out to check the rear.

“This is bad! There’s a wall rising behind us too—we’re surrounded.”

Given recent experiences, Shu Xin felt this could not be a good sign.

“Welcome to the Car Arena!”

In a flash of light, Lin Mu was instantly teleported beneath the wall, trapped inside an iron fence.

He was bewildered.

He’d been about to make his move, but now he’d been teleported—was someone messing with him?

Car Arena? Why not a beast arena?

But the changes didn’t stop. In the center of the sandy ground, a space enclosed by iron mesh rose up. A passage linked Lin Mu to the central arena.

“Next up: vehicle battles! The winner not only claims the cores of the other nine cars, but also receives an extra ten Level 1 vehicle cores.”

Lin Mu’s eyes lit up. That wasn’t so bad.

“You heard correctly—there will be only one winner!”

“At the start of each round, you may select one vehicle accessory for combat.”

“One final reminder: only death counts as defeat!”

Now, a giant screen appeared in the sky, displaying: [Number 1 vs Number 10, please prepare…]

In front of Lin Mu appeared the number 8.

That meant he was Number 8.

He stroked his chin; this seemed rather interesting.

The others crowded behind, curious, gazing up at the screen.

Soon, two cars appeared onscreen.

Their bodies were painted with the numbers 1 and 10.

Number 1 had chosen a front face made up of a dozen steel blades at the car’s nose.

Number 10 had installed three steel blades on each side.

One favored head-on collision, the other side scraping.

The spectators watched with relish.

Lin Mu, however, was puzzled—it resembled his own modification skills.

Only theirs were temporary, while his were permanent—and could even be enhanced.

So…

Was this a bit unfair?

“Wow! So you can do that?”

“I get it now—death is the only defeat.”

Lin Mu steadied himself; the outcome was already clear.

From the cars’ conditions, Number 1 had lost—its body was severely damaged.

But by the rules, only death counted as defeat.

The owner of Number 10 was utterly dead; the front windshield shattered, a bullet in the chest, lifeless.

Lin Mu suddenly understood—you could use weapons as well?

The other vehicles were much the same.

They had assumed combat would rely solely on the cars, not realizing weapons were allowed.

[Number 1 wins! Next, Number 2 vs Number 9, please prepare…]

Lin Mu tapped the steering wheel, feeling there was little challenge.

Ten minutes later—

[Number 8, please select from the following options.]

His panel automatically popped up, displaying a series of choices.

Vehicle position, modified parts, and quantity.

Parts included long blades and short blades.

The quantity depended on the selected position.

But for Lin Mu, it didn’t matter—his own modifications far exceeded the others.

He casually checked a few boxes and confirmed.

Below the number 8 outside the car, a countdown appeared.

When the timer hit zero, the gate opened.

Lin Mu smirked. “Come on, brothers—your cores are all mine!”