"Faster, driver! Step on it!" On the busy avenue, Maggie Monroe was anxiously urging the taxi driver. A wave of unease flashed through her mind, making her heart race, as if something was about to happen. Her Lunmai Technique had reached the unheard-of Eighth Round, granting her some mysterious psychic power.
"No need to be so worked up. Look, isn't that it right there? Just a couple more steps. The auxiliary ring road is a bit of a detour, and there are plenty of cars ahead, but it'll only take five or six minutes at most—hey, what are you doing!" The driver was speaking with calm confidence, when suddenly the pretty girl in the passenger seat reached over and yanked up the handbrake!
Screeech—the explosive sound of braking echoed as the taxi's four wheels scraped marks into the pavement. The driver, still shaken, patted himself down and rubbed the spot where the seatbelt had dug in painfully. He turned, ready to unleash a tirade, only to see the door flung open and two hundred-yuan bills left on the passenger seat. The girl had already vaulted over the median like a track star and was sprinting toward the stadium entrance.
The taxi driver stared at the rapidly disappearing girl, then at the money, finally shaking his head in disbelief and sighing, "All this for a race track? Rushing like it's an emergency... Young folks these days, who knows what's on their minds..."
The more Maggie ran, the more anxious she became. Ever since her call with Qi Xi, something had felt off, and the feeling only grew stronger with every step. It was like a medium in Death God's world sensing a premonition of death—not clear or vivid, but she was certain something bad, something truly terrible, was about to happen. And she couldn't just stand by.
While she was running, a voice no one else could hear suddenly sounded in her ear: "We agreed, remember? Everything that happens in Shanghai should go its own way—no interference. What you're doing now breaks the rules."
"I know!" The sudden voice didn't startle Maggie; in fact, she seemed to expect it. She kept sprinting, her rare streak of sass showing as she shouted, "So what? Go ahead and punish me!"
"Sigh..." The mysterious voice let out a soft, mournful sigh, then fell silent.
But Maggie, from a distance, had already spotted Qi Xi. She waved her arms and shouted with all her might, "Xixi! Xixi! Wait for me!"
But at the entrance, the other anxious young woman didn't hear Maggie's distant call. Her voice was drowned out by the roar of speeding cars as Qi Xi hurried through the door and into the corridor. When Maggie called, Qi Xi had no idea what was happening. She immediately sought out someone who might know—the "Background Girl." After sternly asking for the situation, she notified Maggie and rushed over herself.
Since she lived closer, she arrived a little earlier.
Jogging down the corridor, Qi Xi picked up her pace. She knew both of them were racing on the track, so she skipped the spectator stands entirely and headed straight for the track tunnel. "Please let nothing go wrong, please!" Her feet never stopped as the tiles flew by beneath her, and soon, she reached the end of the passage—the exit was just ahead.
Looking through the exit, she saw people scattered along the straightaway, some near, some far. In the distance, folks were driving go-karts on the inner track; closer by, racers were waiting to compete. But she noticed that every single person was distracted by something. The go-karts stopped, the waiting racers couldn't sit still—everyone stood up, eyes wide, staring at a spot she couldn't see. Then, one by one, their mouths dropped open, followed by a burst of noise and shrieks.
"What's going on?!" Qi Xi's heart skipped a beat, and she sped up. In the blink of an eye, she covered the short distance, dashed out the exit, weaved through the scrambling crowd, burst out of the waiting area, and onto the track—looking straight toward whatever had everyone riveted.
Then she saw several flying crash barriers. These barriers were made of shock-absorbing material, meant to slow things down and protect people, shaped kind of like the ad boards around a soccer field—sturdy but not too heavy. But now, more than a few of them were launched high into the air, like stones flung from a catapult, crashing toward the stands.
Next, she saw the culprits behind the airborne barriers—two cars, tangled up and tearing at each other like wild beasts.
Qi Xi's eyes went wide, her pupils shrank, and her mind went blank. She'd imagined all sorts of disasters, but nothing this bad—because those two out-of-control cars, to the sound of everyone's screams, were barreling straight toward her at no less than 300 kilometers an hour!
The two cars were now less than thirty meters away. At that speed, they'd close the gap in less than 0.3 seconds...
Time rewinds just a little.
Zhu Ming's black battle car fired at the Bugatti, special micro-pellet bullets shooting out and aiming for the Bugatti's rear tire. But Zhu Ming clearly picked the wrong moment—Jack Young, though dazed, was even more instinctive in that state. Without thinking, he made a sharp turn, foiling Zhu Ming's ambush. But Zhu Ming still managed to trigger Jack's counterattack instinct—and that unbearable surge of nameless fury.