Chapter Thirty-Five: The Rampaging Loli

"Damn." Hu Bi cursed loudly, his old face burning with embarrassment. He had intended to stir up trouble but ended up being played by the other side—a complete loss of face.

All the other cars had witnessed this scene. Whether or not Redbird’s provocation had succeeded, it was clear there was someone itching for chaos inside that vehicle. The race had only just begun, and most competitors preferred a smooth transition, so the other cars quickly veered away, steering clear of Redbird as if avoiding the plague, then collectively picked up speed.

In the blink of an eye, Redbird had fallen to last place.

Zheng Nanfang had been keeping an eye on Redbird’s movements. Seeing Redbird get blinded by the high beams of the car behind and overtaken made him laugh out loud. He chuckled and cursed old Hu for being incorrigible, then spun the wheel, closing in on the AC Cobra that was trying to overtake them.

Tang Suan couldn’t help but let out a helpless sigh, thinking to herself: You have the nerve to say Hu Bi is troublesome? And what exactly are you doing right now, young master?

Zheng Nanfang accelerated, gaining a car length ahead, then jerked the wheel to change lanes. The Viper’s tail swung out, its tires kicking up dirt, sand, and weeds, showering the AC Cobra from head to toe.

Blinded, the AC Cobra slammed on the brakes, only to be rear-ended with a crash by a Challenger muscle car trailing behind. The rear bumper and taillights were smashed on the spot.

Both cars ground to a halt, and several people got out of the AC Cobra and the Challenger.

The instigator, having succeeded with his mischief, slipped away at once. The distance was too great and the dusk too deep to make out the drivers' faces, but from the sudden explosion behind and the fireball rising in the rearview mirror, it was likely the first elimination of this road race had just occurred.

“Boss, you really are bad,” murmured Shu Yangcong from the backseat.

Zheng Nanfang paused, then burst into laughter. “It feels strange hearing you say that while fully dressed.”

Tang Suan caught on instantly, clutching her belly in laughter; Shu Yangcong, realizing her slip, blushed scarlet and shot him a reproachful glare.

Shaman couldn’t suppress a grin either, glancing at Zheng Nanfang with newfound understanding: reserved on the surface, but quite the tease.

…

Before long, the convoy entered open country, where shrubs and trees thinned out, and the racing cars finally stopped bunching up, scattering in every direction as they sped madly away.

Zheng Nanfang glimpsed in his rearview mirror that Redbird had caught up again. On the way, a heavily modified car—its original make unrecognizable—apparently botched a scuffle for position with another racer, crashed headlong into a dead tree, spun out of control, and rolled off the track into a gully.

“Hm? What’s old Hu up to now?” Zheng Nanfang muttered.

The three women in the car all turned to look back. Redbird, now like a man possessed, floored the accelerator across the wilderness road, tires flinging sand several meters high, the engine roaring as he rapidly closed the gap.

“Isn’t he afraid of running out of gas halfway?” Tang Suan wondered aloud.

Redbird showed no sign of slowing, quickly catching up to the Viper and pulling alongside. His window slid down.

“What the hell are you doing?” Zheng Nanfang lowered his own window and shouted, craning his neck.

“Hell, step on it! Damn it, I’ve provoked another lunatic!” Hu Bi shouted about running away, but his face was flush with excitement, as if high on something.

Zheng Nanfang glanced in the rearview mirror just in time to see the AC Cobra he’d forced to a halt earlier catching up, something dark and menacing protruding from the custom sunroof.

Curious, Zheng Nanfang eased off the gas to get a better look, but suddenly Shaman in the back screamed, “Shit, shit, shit! Step on it! That’s a grenade launcher!”

Before she finished, a burst of fire erupted from the AC Cobra’s roof. The explosion detonated between the Viper and Redbird, a powerful shockwave nearly flipping both cars.

Shrapnel sprayed everywhere, pockmarking half the bodywork of both cars, but miraculously they managed to regain control.

“What the hell was that?”

Zheng Nanfang was stunned. The people in the car behind were really taking things too far—was it worth hauling out an RPG just because he’d blocked them once?

“I’m outta here, can’t afford to mess with this!” Hu Bi yelled in his hoarse voice, then rolled up his window and accelerated past the Viper, vanishing in a cloud of dust.

It had to be said, there was a real difference between driving solo and carrying three passengers. The Viper’s performance wasn’t bad, but with the extra weight, it was just a hair slower than Redbird.

Fortunately, reloading a grenade launcher wasn’t exactly quick, and the recoil slowed the AC Cobra down enough to let the Viper open up a bit of distance.

“A homemade, improvised weapon,” Tang Suan said, much calmer than the two girls in the back. She rolled down her window, plucked out a fragment embedded in the bodywork, and examined it. “It’s shards of glass, mixed with steel balls and nails, a whole mess of stuff.”

“That’s a relief, then, homemade means it’s not too dangerous.” Zheng Nanfang let out a breath. Homemade weapons were generally unreliable, like loading armor-piercing rounds into an air rifle—no matter how potent the bullet, the gun just couldn’t deliver.

Shaman, equally relieved, patted her chest and said, “No wonder they missed. I remember someone in Raw Meat Town once fired a real one of these—hit from so far away it looked like the shell could lock on, brought down two buildings with a single shot.”

“They have things like that in the Lower District?” Zheng Nanfang was incredulous. “If any car was armed with that, what’s the point of racing? One shot and everyone’s done for.”

“It’s not that exaggerated,” Tang Suan replied serenely, lighting a cigarette and tucking it into Zheng Nanfang’s mouth with a smile. “All the high-end weapons are in the Upper District. Anything in the Lower District is just hand-me-down rejects. But honestly, in the Lower District, there’s nothing you can imagine that you won’t eventually find.”

Zheng Nanfang shook his head, half amused, keeping a close eye on the AC Cobra’s movements. The car behind didn’t seem inclined to fire again, only accelerating to catch up.

Both cars were fairly evenly matched, so unless something unexpected happened, overtaking each other was no great feat.

As the AC Cobra drew closer, Zheng Nanfang noticed it wasn’t pulling out for a side attack, so it was unlikely they’d resort to heavy weaponry again. He eased off the gas to save some fuel, curious to see what their next move would be.

The AC Cobra pulled up alongside the Viper. For a few moments, the two cars raced neck and neck, neither gaining an advantage. Then the window on the other side slid down.

“It’s a girl,” Tang Suan noted.

Zheng Nanfang glanced over. The driver was a petite girl, even slighter than Shaman, her long hair a wild cascade of rainbow colors, face painted ghostly white, eyes rimmed in thick black makeup—her real appearance completely hidden. The passenger was also a girl, though her hair was less flamboyant. Both wore nothing but black bras on their upper bodies, their shoulders and arms covered in tattoos—wild, sexy, and unmistakably young.

The driver revved the engine, lips moving rapidly in curses that were lost to the wind.

Tang Suan couldn’t help but laugh, spreading her hands. “What now?”

“Let them go ahead. As long as they don’t start shooting, just let them pass,” Zheng Nanfang replied, still shaking with nervous laughter. He glanced over just as the driver met his eyes.

The rainbow-haired girl bit her lip, put on a fierce scowl, and flipped Zheng Nanfang the middle finger.