The eye contact lasted only a moment. After that, Ji Jue withdrew his gaze and didn’t look again. The smile on his face didn’t change in the slightest. He simply watched from the side the indulgent extravagance like an outsider, never once joining in.

By now, he was ten thousand percent certain that the newcomer meant trouble. The only question was how much the other side had paid to make that woman bare her teeth like that, turning into a rabid guard dog over her territory. They were all just outsourced help. Why make things difficult for fellow contractors?

They could’ve just talked it out privately, put on a good show, make the race exciting, and split the money afterward. It was not like money ever ran out. Friendship first, competition second.

Of course, that only worked as long as you were not the one coming in second, but judging from how close that woman was with Mu Jiang, practically glued to him, she didn’t seem like a struggling hired hand like Ji Jue. More like a deeply involved partner.

And if she was not interested in friendship, then all Ji Jue could offer was his big stick. Unfortunately, the only thing he had on him was a 9mm Deer Hunter gun. He wasn’t sure what caliber she preferred... Maybe he should go bigger?

Off to the side, an inconspicuous little three-wheeler had quietly parked next to a cluster of trucks, awaiting orders.

Just like that, after all the trash talk, taunts, and pre-race hype, the champagne-sipping young elites finally kicked things off.

This race, aside from the bitter rivals Chen Yubo and Mu Jiang, also had five or six other participants. Every single one of them was driving either a show-floor centerpiece luxury car or something so heavily modified it was barely recognizable. Eight or nine supercars lined up on the road, engines roaring nonstop, the deafening sound shaking the air.

“Hm?” When getting into the car, Mu Jiang, accompanied by a female companion, looked toward Kunpeng at the side, slowly raising his brows. “Why did you bring someone else? And you even brought a man?!”

The mockery in his expression grew even more obvious, and he raised his voice. “Don’t tell me you hired some help with money?”

Before Chen Yubo could react, Ji Jue spoke first, nodding in acknowledgment. “Hello, yes.”

His straightforwardness actually made Mu Jiang, who had a stomach full of snide remarks, pause for a moment. “Hm?”

“Considering the danger of the mountain road race and to prevent accidents between the competitors, Mr. Chen specially hired me to provide safety support for the race.”

Ji Jue smiled and took out a thick stack of certificates from his pocket: emergency lifesaving certificate, first-aid certificate, level-three mechanical engineer, level-two auto repair technician, and more. He placed a whole pile of red and green booklets in front of Mu Jiang, whose expression kept changing. For a moment, he was left speechless.

Chen Yubo patted his stomach and laughed, then patted Ji Jue on the shoulder. “Safety first, safety first. This buddy of mine is a miracle worker. I spent a lot of money to hire him. If you get so worked up later that you’ll pop a vein, he can even save you. That’s still better than the one you brought, who only knows how to cry on the side. What do you think?”

Mu Jiang shot them a cold glance, slammed the car door shut, and said, “Keep him for yourself! When I win later and you’re crying so hard you can’t see the road, maybe he can crawl out and add some windshield washer fluid for you!”

Beep!

A sharp, piercing horn sounded from the front of the track. All the participating cars made themselves heard with their roaring engines, like furious beasts bellowing in anger. That continuous wave of noise was enough to make one’s face flush and blood boil with excitement.

A warm, humid wind swept in from the long night.

“I’m counting on you, Mr. Ji. If we lose this one, I won’t have any pride left to show my face for the next six months,” Chen Yubo said.

He was no longer as arrogant as before now that he was in the car. It was as if he had been knocked back into his original form, gripping Ji Jue’s hand and refusing to let go.

Ji Jue could only comfort him once more. He’d been doing that a lot today. “Relax, relax. It’s a guaranteed win.”

Beep—!

A second horn sounded from directly ahead. The temporary streetlights that had been pushed into place switched to yellow. No one spoke anymore. Everyone widened their eyes, holding their breath and staring straight ahead at the sliver of green light that was about to appear.

Under the catalysis of alcohol and wagers, no one could suppress their excitement or their obsession with speed any longer.

“Here we go.” Ji Jue reached out and placed his hand on the car door, saying softly, “Get ready.”

“Huh?” Chen Yubo turned back in confusion. “Get ready for wha—”

The final signal burst out. The green light lit up, then a violent gust of wind slammed in through the window.

The race was on!

Ji Jue smiled, his hand brushing over the dashboard. “You can speed the way you desire. Tonight, no one can stop you. I guarantee it.”

“Roger!”

With the growl of the engine, Kunpeng seemed to be, at long last, breaking into sobs. Like a mad dog finally freed from its chains, steel roared in fury. A prisoner that had never once tasted freedom since leaving the factory finally shot forward.

Spark plugs ignited, fuel was delivered, and the engine spun into madness. Then, it sped off the moment the race started, and its speed surged to its limit in an instant.

Under the astonished gazes of all the spectators, Chen Yubo, who had always been the slowest to react, had already taken the lead and charged to the very front, racing forward at an unimaginable speed.

This was the power of Deus Ex Machina!

With the enhancement of Ji Jue’s ability and Fluid Alchemy, Kunpeng’s acceleration leapt even further, even more exaggerated than the official measurements. It went from 0 to 100 km/h in 1.7 seconds.

And it was still accelerating, still pushing further. In a short distance of only a few hundred meters, the numbers on the dashboard had already jumped to 260.

Kunpeng was like a rocket. Even the streetlights outside the window blurred into streaks, stretching into fleeting straight lines. The scenery became indistinct, and when Chen Yubo finally snapped out of the sudden acceleration, he couldn’t help but scream.

“Ah! Ah! Ah! Aaaaaaah! Help!!!”

He instinctively tried to struggle, only to realize he was already tightly strapped in by four or five seatbelts and pinned in the driver’s seat, barely able to move.

Ji Jue gripped his arm, not letting him shift gears. “If you want to win, then weld your damn foot to the accelerator. Even if the sky falls, you are not allowed to let up! With me here, you won’t die. As long as you don’t drive yourself to death, just floor it like your life depends on it.”

“So fast! It’s too fast!” Chen Yubo screamed in terror, staring at the blurring scenery outside the window, already dizzy and disoriented. “I’ve never driven this fast before!”

“Well, you are now!” Ji Jue raised his voice. “Remember how you asked it to help you? It answered you!”

He looked at Chen Yubo, and together with Kunpeng, asked him, “Are you going to run away?”

Chen Yubo froze. He couldn’t make a sound. With gritted teeth, he managed a smile that was more unsettling than tears, yet his foot remained firmly on the gas pedal.

Ji Jue nodded. “Good. Very good.”

The engine trembled fiercely, letting out deafening roars as Kunpeng cried out in ecstatic rage. The speed increased once more as the car shot forward in the lead as it approached the first turn.

Behind them, two headlights were biting down hard, refusing to let go. A Mustang was charging forward, locked in pursuit.

In the first gentle curve, it didn’t slow down at all. The entry and exit lines were flawless, the timing perfect to an almost uncanny degree. It wasn’t just the terrifying power of the modified engine anymore; the driving itself was so outrageous that Ji Jue even suspected there was a professional champion racer casually out for a joyride sitting inside. With skills like that, how did it even get knocked down from F2?!

Ji Jue’s eyes widened in disbelief.

And yet, with the advantage of the corner and the monstrous, almost unrecognizable modifications of the Mustang, Mu Jiang had actually caught up, racing side by side with them.

The two cars sped up again along the narrow mountain road, neither willing to give up even a fraction of speed.

“Damn it, what’s the point of a good car if the driver’s trash? It still comes down to the person driving!”

Mu Jiang turned his head, grinning toward Kunpeng, about to mock the people inside and even gesture something, but his hand froze halfway through the action. In the driver’s seat, Chen Yubo slowly turned his head back.

What the hell kind of expression was that?

Chen Yubo’s face was streaked with tears and snot. Clearly, he had been screaming and crying in terror just moments before, but now the corners of his mouth were pulled into an exaggerated grin, lips stretched wide[1]. He was neither crying nor laughing, and he flickered in and out of view under the flashing streetlights. His face reflected in the eerie green glow of the dashboard, looking utterly bizarre.

Mu Jiang felt a chill shoot up from his heels all the way to the back of his skull.

Damn it, there’s a ghost!!! That bastard Chen Yubo, does he actually have some dead racing god from who knows how many years ago possessing him?!

In that split second of distraction, Kunpeng widened the gap. It slowed slightly, preparing to enter the next corner. No matter how Mu Jiang adjusted his line, it skillfully blocked every possible overtaking path behind it.

That drifting precision, that cornering accuracy, was exactly like the nightmare he had once witnessed on the track. He was completely impossible to catch up to!

Mu Jiang suddenly felt a chill in his heart. Was he going to be completely defeated by that so-called “Slowpoke Racer” from the club?

Panicking, he shot a glare at Cheng Shuang[2] in the passenger seat. “What the hell are you spacing out for? Do something!”

The woman, fully focused on maintaining her ability, slightly changed her expression but said nothing. She simply increased her flow of spirit matter, further driving the modified monster of a machine, built from all kinds of over-spec parts, to accelerate again. At the same time, she raised her other hand and slowly extended it toward the speeding Kunpeng ahead.

Immediately after, she frowned. Her control and interference... had been pushed aside?!

Before her ability could even take effect, that car had already been enveloped by another power. Not only that, the power left no blind spots, wrapping everything from the inside out.

From the wheels to the chassis to the engine, the entire vehicle had become one unified whole. With the material interference of the Ember Path, it was being reinforced as a single entity, as if it were a work of nature itself, flawless and seamless. The entire car had turned into an alchemical construct.

Cheng Shuang scowled in disbelief. Either the person sitting in the opposing car was a master craftsman she had never even heard of, or the terrifying nature of his ability far exceeded her imagination.

When it came to using external objects, no follower of the Supreme Benevolence path could surpass Ember. Even more, the type of ability her opponent was using seemed to be the same as hers.

Cheng Shuang had not been as lucky as Ji Jue to be taken in by a master and had never paid a single cent in tuition, nor was she a Chosen One of the Ember Path. She was of the Origin Path. After an accidental encounter with a Supreme Resonance, she discovered that she could use her own spirit matter to influence and interfere with complex mechanical constructs.

Unfortunately, its strength, efficiency, and scope were nowhere near comparable to a Chosen One’s summoning. Worse still, the high-end matrices of the Origin Path were tightly controlled by the Empire and the Federation, so what she could buy on the black market was only fragmented or mediocre at best.

For manipulation-type abilities, the advantage of acting first was absolutely crucial. If the opponent took control first, then trying to wrest control back would mean engaging in a brutal tug-of-war under an extreme disadvantage.

Additionally, Ji Jue had already transformed the entire Kunpeng using Fluid Alchemy, turning it into an alchemical construct. It was like a fortress, locking her out completely.

At this rate, things could get bad. The moment that thought surfaced in her mind, she couldn’t help but tremble.

Without any more hesitation, she gritted her teeth and pulled out a seemingly ancient, square iron box from her shoulder bag. The palm-sized box unfolded, revealing a complex arrangement of mirrors and structures inside. Once locked into place, it became a compact device resembling a telescope.

Looking through the hollow center, one could see light refracting between the lenses, forming a kaleidoscope of dazzling, multicolored brilliance.

Yet the front of this kaleidoscope had a strange, unnatural opening. It aimed far ahead at Kunpeng. Unfortunately, because of the high speed, the lock-on function kept failing.

After several consecutive failures, Cheng Shuang finally snapped in anger. “You’re useless. Drive steadier!”

“Why don’t you fucking drive yourself? You think this is some damn ride-hailing service?!” Mu Jiang screamed back. “If I lose this race badly, neither of us is getting away with it!”

For a brief moment, killing intent flickered in Cheng Shuang’s cold eyes, but she did not retort. With Mu Jiang’s forced coordination, the kaleidoscope finally managed to envelop the speeding Kunpeng within its field and lock onto it.

Cheng Shuang’s face turned deathly pale. She only felt her spirit matter being endlessly devoured by this artifact, drained dry in a matter of seconds.

A faint, resplendent glow flickered within the kaleidoscope. The power within had been released.

1. I’M CRYING this author is too hilarious TT ☜

2. In 2019 Cheng 程 was the 44th most common surname in mainland China. “霜” means frost, which carries strong imagery of coldness, clarity, and quiet beauty. It often suggests something pure but distant, elegant yet slightly aloof, and sometimes tinged with a subtle sense of loneliness or emotional restraint. To me, “程霜” creates a name that feels crisp and restrained, with a cold, clean aesthetic. It reminds me of the image of early winter frost on a quiet road. ☜