And those crash ghosts kept screaming Zack Li's name, demanding his life. But no one else could see any of this—only Zack, who was living the nightmare firsthand. In that instant, he was scared out of his wits, nearly wetting himself.
With the funeral hearse's eerie mourning music playing, Zack was in no shape to drive. When there were only about a hundred meters left to the finish line, he suddenly slammed on the brakes.
“What... what’s going on? Why did Zack stop?” The street punks watching the drone feed had no idea what was happening. They were just baffled—why was Zack acting so weird?
But one smart-aleck immediately blurted out, “Chill, everyone, chill—do you know who Zack is? He’s putting on a show, showing off his Racing King swagger to that dumb kid! Watch, his next move will be to roll down the window and flash his signature middle finger!”
“Yeah, Zack’s always cool as hell!”
“Solid, totally solid!”
“Look, look! Zack’s opening the car door! Looks like he’s about to do something even cockier—get ready for a close-up!”
The street punks around him got hyped, and the drone camera zoomed in for a tight shot.
Finally, Zack stepped out. But what shocked everyone was his first move—he dropped straight to his knees with a thud, and started kowtowing desperately toward Ryan’s car, his whole body trembling like crazy, bawling and sniveling.
“What... what the hell is happening?” The punks nearby were all stunned.
They were all convinced Zack was about to pull off some badass move. One of his usual bootlickers even started livestreaming the whole thing.
Right then, Seven Wang was totally stunned. From where he stood, he could see the livestream screen perfectly.
On screen, Zack looked like a total loser, still kowtowing like crazy. If anything, he was banging his head even harder. At that moment, Ryan shot past him and crossed the finish line in a flash.
Victory!
Seven Wang was so stunned, he jumped up in excitement.
A quarter of an hour later, Zack was carried back, curled up like a scared rabbit.
“Zack, you lost fair and square. Pay up! Last time Seven lost to you and owed you a hundred grand. This time, just give me a hundred grand!” Ryan stared at Zack, keeping the accounts crystal clear.
“What the hell did you do to Zack? You still want money?” One of the punks shouted, clearly a die-hard Zack fan.
Before Ryan could answer, Zack suddenly slapped him: “Shut up! Go get the money—give him two hundred grand! I lost, fair and square!”
“Zack!” The punk was on the verge of tears.
“Hurry up!” Zack yelled, as if Ryan had some huge dirt on him.
In a flash, two hundred grand landed in Ryan’s hands.
“Oh yeah, didn’t we add a little side bet just now?” Ryan scratched his head and grinned.
“Don’t push it, kid! You got your two hundred grand—what more do you want?” another punk snapped, pissed off.
“Idiot, who told you to shout like that? Quick, go get the dog shit!” Zack groaned, on the verge of tears.
“Z-Zack, are you for real? You’re actually going to eat it?” His closest lackey couldn’t take it anymore.
“What else can I do? You want me dead?” Zack was absolutely miserable—no one could see it, but seven or eight crash ghosts were still glaring at him from all around Ryan.
And then, Zack bit down in agony (let’s skip the next ten thousand words here).
All the punks nearby were stunned. Seven Wang felt like he’d been struck by lightning, staring dumbly at Ryan, who now seemed totally unreal to him.
......
“Seven, take this two hundred grand and use it. You need the money more than I do!” On the way back, Ryan shoved the cash into Seven Wang’s hands. The reason Seven raced Zack in the first place was to win some money—his family had a seriously ill member, and he desperately needed cash. Plus, his daughter Molly Wang had congenital tinnitus, but Seven’s family was so strapped for cash they’d never gotten her proper treatment.
“Ryan, you—you’re giving it all to me? How could I take it?” Seven was floored, never expecting Ryan to be so generous.
“Just take it, you need it more. Don’t be polite!” Ryan insisted, though inside he was bleeding. He didn’t want to give up the cash, but as soon as he got it, the system popped up: this money wasn’t earned through honest work, it was ill-gotten and couldn’t be credited. So Ryan could only go with the flow and give it to Seven, figuring at least he’d done a good deed.
At that moment, Seven looked at Ryan. Men aren’t supposed to cry, but tears streamed down his face—he really needed that money. Seeing Ryan’s determination, he finally took it, hands trembling.
Ryan felt like he’d just had a chunk of flesh cut out of him, but he still managed a calm, easy smile.
Damn greedy system—Ryan cursed it eight hundred times in his heart.
“Bro, feeling good today?” As soon as Ryan got home, the system popped up.
“Good? What’s good about it? I’m not happy at all!” Ryan snapped. Twenty grand, a huge windfall, and he didn’t get a single cent—how could he be happy?
“Relax, check your status screen. Today you punished Zack hard and generously gave money to Seven Wang. I’m honestly moved, so here’s a heavyweight reward!” The system beamed.
“Heavyweight reward?” Ryan jumped out of bed—he really needed some comfort right now.
He quickly opened his status screen, and a line of tiny text popped up: Ryan Ling’s performance today: Excellent+. Reward: 100 merit points, raising his total from 150 to 250. Heavyweight reward: one Best Bro Card.
Ryan froze, then immediately screamed, “That’s your so-called heavyweight reward? Just a dumb card? You’ve gotta be kidding me!”
The system was stunned for a second, then got all serious: “Bro, that’s not the reaction I expected! This card is super valuable. If you write my name on it, we’ll be best bros for all eternity, never separated...”“
“Get lost! As far away as possible! What I need is cash—I want villas and sports cars, that’s the life a son of Lord Yama should have, get it?” Ryan exploded.
“A good life has to be earned through hard work. Struggle is the main theme nowadays, my boy!” the system lectured earnestly.
“Get out! Disappear right now—argh!” Ryan totally lost it.
......
Monday morning, Ryan dragged his depressed self back to school. The system had nagged him all day with moral lectures, and he’d spent the night shift driving the hearse—his life felt like hell.
He finally made it to school, caught a nap, and was suddenly shaken awake by Kevin: “Brother Feng, bad news! Something’s happened!”
“Even if the sky falls, don’t bother me—I’m sleeping!” Ryan mumbled without even opening his eyes.
“Howard Lee and Fatty Luo are about to come after you! You better hide!” Kevin urged.
“If they dare, I’ll beat them so bad their own dads won’t recognize them!” Ryan wasn’t scared at all.
Kevin gasped and got to the point: “The real problem is, they called Big Fly. He’s the toughest guy at our school—last time he soloed eight adult punks. No matter how wild he gets, the school’s discipline office doesn’t dare touch him. Now Big Fly’s coming for you!”
Hearing that, Ryan slowly raised his head, finally realizing this was serious. Howard and Fatty were nothing—he could handle them with the Justice Pencil, no problem.
But Big Fly was from another class, not listed in Ryan’s Book of Life and Death. The Justice Pencil couldn’t touch him. And Ryan knew just how crazy Big Fly was—not only was he untouchable at school, but he’d joined some Axe Club outside and even became a minor boss, always showing up at school with at least a dozen underlings. Total big shot.
“Are you serious?” Ryan was wide awake now.
“Dead serious! Howard hates your guts—he paid Big Fly eighty grand just to take a leg off you. They’re coming for you in the next couple days!” Kevin wiped the sweat from his forehead. Things were getting seriously dangerous...