Chapter 30 Chapter 30

Ruan Shiqing couldn't help but worry about Luther.

Practicing driving at a junkyard is totally different from such a brutal and intense competition.

Yet the game is still going on.

Luther avoided Larkin's malicious attempt to cut in. He moved sideways, accelerated suddenly, and overtook Larkin who had been leading by a large margin, and took the first place.

The black shuttle with a blue star pattern on it rolled up the metal debris in the garbage dump and began its second lap.

“Larkin hit him!”, “Larkin hit him!”

The situation changed in an instant, and the roars of Larkin's supporters in the audience became one. All the gamblers who had placed their bets on Larkin pounded the armrests of their seats with bloodshot eyes and roared furiously.

Larkin, who was half a parking space behind, made an OK gesture to the audience, suddenly pulled down the joystick to speed up, and crashed straight into the rear of "Gaia".

The cockpit shook violently, and Luther saw from the rearview display that Larkin raised his middle finger and smiled at him evilly.

The audience roared: "Overtake him!", "Larkin overtakes him!"

Luther gritted his teeth, tried his best to stabilize the car, pulled down the joystick and rushed forward like crazy.

Suddenly, someone threw a stone at him from somewhere in the audience. The high-speed podracing car hit the stone, leaving a noticeable dent in the car.

The body of the "Gaia" froze.

Larkin took advantage of this opportunity to overtake and took the lead again.

There was a sudden cheer from the audience, with supporters shouting "Larkin must win".

No one cared about the rock that fell from the audience.

The boys clenched their fists in anger and said to Ruan Shiqing, "They attacked us by surprise!"

Ruan Shiqing also had a very ugly expression. He was about to contact the organizer to question the fairness of the competition, but he heard Xiong Fangfang say, "In shuttle races, these little fights are normal. As long as they are not too excessive, the organizer will not intervene to stop them."

In every podracing competition, there are always radical spectators who bring stones or metal blocks to attack players they don't like.

The organizers and players were well aware of this, but this was originally an illegal competition, so this small act of misconduct was not only not criticized, but became the highlight of the competition.

Because sometimes a racer is unlucky and gets hit on the head or vital parts, resulting in a shuttle accident.

Blood can sometimes be more emotionally stimulating to the audience.

Ruan Shiqing fell silent, and the kids stopped shouting slogans.

The little dragon cub clutched the morning glory loudspeaker and said angrily, "We won't come to such an unfair competition again!"

"Okay, I won't come." Ruan Shiqing responded softly and touched his head.

The chase on the field became more intense because of this change.

Although Larkin had shaken off Luther, Luther was still following him half a car space behind and he couldn't get rid of him no matter what he did.

Two laps, three laps…seven laps, eight laps.

At this time in the race, the athletes can no longer hear the sounds from the audience. The blood in their bodies is rushing upwards, and their vision and hearing are highly focused on the field and the racing cars behind them.

There are two laps left to decide the winner.

Sweat dripped from La Jin's forehead. He looked at the red warning light on the display and gritted his teeth.

He bought this car at great expense, and he ran eight laps without stopping to replace parts. He thought that this alone would put him far ahead of other competitors. But he didn't expect that when other competitors had to go to the repair shop for temporary repairs because of engine overheating and burnt parts, Luther was following closely behind him.

He recalled that his subordinates had previously tipped him off, saying that Luther's racing car had been modified to be very powerful, and asked him to be careful, but he sneered.

"Damn it!" Lakin's eyes were fierce. If he had known earlier, he should have asked someone to break the boy's legs.

He looked back, gritted his teeth, and suddenly sneered.

But it’s not too late now.

He deliberately slowed down, and just when Luther was about to overtake him, he suddenly pressed a red button, and the high-speed spiral blade hidden at the bottom of the shuttle immediately extended out and instantly ripped apart Luther's engine.

The engine was damaged and the car body began to shake violently.

The display was filled with bright red warnings.

The car began to shake uncontrollably. Luther had no time to pay attention to anything else. All his attention was focused on stabilizing the car.

Larkin took the opportunity to pass him again, raised his middle finger and mouthed, "Victory will only belong to me."

Luther gritted his teeth, but knew that this was not the time to be angry. He barely managed to stabilize the shuttle that was about to hit the metal garbage, gritted his teeth and rushed to the repair shop at the fastest speed.

Larkin was already there, and the repairman from the garage was replacing the burned parts for him.

He looked at Luther, who was a step behind, with an arrogant look.

The maintenance personnel surrounded Gaia, looked at the huge gaping hole in the engine, and inspected the interior. They said with regret: "The damage inside is serious. By the time we repair it, the competition will be over."

After saying that, he glanced at Larkin and said with a chuckle, "It looks like Larkin is going to win the championship again."

Currently, only the two of them are far ahead, having already run more than eight laps, while the other runners are still struggling in the sixth and seventh laps.

Larkin glanced at Luther, whose face had turned red, with disdain and urged him, "Hurry up, I'm going to break the record this time."

The live broadcast of the repair shop was projected onto the big screen.

Countless people chanted Larkin's name as if he had already won the championship.

As for the scene where Larkin used the spiral blade to attack Gaia's engine, no one noticed it because Larkin was at the far end of the field and was hiding. Or maybe they noticed it, but no one cared.

After all, this is not a fair competition, but a gamble mixed with blood and interests.

Ruan Shiqing frowned as he watched the live broadcast on the central virtual screen.

He knows the racing car he modified himself best and has more confidence in Luther's driving skills. Such extensive damage is definitely not normal.

"I'll go to the repair shop and see if I can help." Ruan Shiqing gave the instruction and lowered the seat.

Only when I fell to the ground did I remember that Snowball was still in my arms.

But time was running out and he couldn't afford to delay, so he could only rush to the repair shop with Snowball in his arms.

In the maintenance room, Luther was arguing with the maintenance personnel: "You are too slow."

At this time, Larkin's red car was almost finished with maintenance.

"We have always been at this speed." The maintenance worker frowned and began to scold him: "If you are not satisfied, you can fix it yourself."

Luther clenched his fists in panic, but there was nothing he could do.

"Then we'll fix it ourselves." Ruan Shiqing stepped forward and looked down at the maintenance personnel squatting at the bottom of the engine, his expression cold.

The maintenance personnel had naturally heard of his fierce reputation, and they no longer dared to act arrogantly. They crawled out from the bottom of the engine and retreated timidly to the side.

Ruan Shiqing took off the smart computer on his wrist, put the smart computer and the puppy on the cabinet beside him, and told him not to run around. Then he asked Luther to help him and took full control of the maintenance work.

In order to save time, he didn't even change into work clothes. He drilled directly to the bottom of the engine, let Luther hand him the tools, and began to quickly repair the damaged parts.

At this time, Larkin's racing car had been repaired. He jumped into the shuttle and waved to Luther: "The goddess of victory will eventually favor me."

Luther had no time to get angry with him. He held his tools and handed them to Ruan Shiqing one by one. He did not urge him because of Larkin's provocation.

Ruan Shiqing's arrival made him feel reassured, and his previous anger and resentment subsided.

He believed in Ruan Shiqing.

Rong Heng squatted on the cabinet and watched Ruan Shiqing, not caring about the dirt, with half of his body inserted into the engine.

The engine had just run eight laps at high speed. Although it had stopped running, the high temperature inside had not yet dissipated. However, he ignored the possibility of burning himself with the high temperature and wrapped his palm with a cloth to quickly check the internal parts.

Occasionally, when Luther handed him the corresponding tools and parts, his voice was steady and powerful.

Although he still has the immaturity and youthfulness of a teenager, he is already someone that no one dares to underestimate.

Rong Heng's eyes showed approval.

Perhaps if he has the chance in the future, he should use his real identity and get to know Ruan Shiqing again.

This is a trustworthy partner and a sincere friend.

Thinking of leaving, Rong Heng glanced at the intelligent computer beside him.

According to the agreement, the person Dares arranged to pick him up should have arrived by now.

Speak of Cao Cao and he will appear.

The intelligent computer suddenly flashed red, and Noah's deliberately low voice rang out: "Your Highness, Colonel Dares himself has arrived outside the stadium. Should we send him a location?"

???

Why did Dares come here in person?

Rong Heng's face darkened.

While no one was paying attention, he jumped down from the cabinet with the computer in his mouth and found a relatively hidden shelf to hide on.

Just when he was about to ask Noah to send a text message and ask Darius to stay where he was, he went over directly, but his eyes caught sight of the boy who was busy and focused.

His face was stained with black oil, but he did not look ferocious, and his eyes were clear and firm.

If he left at this time, the boy would think that he lost him because of carelessness, right?

He will definitely feel guilty.

Rong Heng pondered for a moment, and then entered the order again, which became: "Tell Dares to stay where he is and leave at dawn. I still have some unfinished business."

Ruan Shiqing worked very quickly. After replacing the internal parts, he found a piece of metal and prepared to weld it directly on. This was the most rough and quick way to seal the gap on the side of the engine.

During the process, he whispered, "This gap seems to be caused by some sharp object. What happened?"

Luther gritted his teeth and told him what happened at that time.

Ruan Shiqing's brows gradually turned cold.

He pondered for a moment, discarded the flat piece of metal, found two extremely hard metal plates covered with sharp iron spikes, and fixed them to the engine's outer casing, one on the left and one on the right.

At this time, Gaia's engines are like two huge maces.

This scene was broadcasted, and the audience was talking about it. Even the commentator laughed: "Welding such a heavy metal plate, the spikes will also increase the resistance of the tribe. The speed of 'Gaia' will be slowed down by at least one-tenth? Or one-eighth?"

"Does he intend to use these two maces to hit Larkin? But with such a heavy body, I'm afraid he won't even be able to smell Larkin's car exhaust."

"This is the stupidest thing I've ever seen."

"Larkin is already halfway ahead. Luther is doomed to fail."

Ruan Shiqing turned a deaf ear to the laughter from the outside stadium and whispered to Luther, "Gaia has a speed limit. If you adjust the hydraulic system data to the highest level, the speed can be instantly increased by one-fifth of the original speed. But the speed limit will cause the engine to be overloaded, and it can only last for ten seconds at most. If it exceeds ten seconds, the engine will stop working due to overload. You have to calculate the time well."

Luther put on his goggles, nodded at him, and rushed into the arena again.

At this time, Larkin had already led for most of the lap and was about to finish the ninth lap.

He even had time to wave to the audience.

Luther looked at the red dot representing Larkin on the display and calculated the distance in his mind.

Come a little closer, a little closer...

"Gaia" rushed forward like an unsealed sharp blade with a fearless attitude. Those cars that tried to overtake him were left far behind before they could get close.

And the distance between him and Larkin was gradually shortening.

Luther calculated the distance in his mind, and when the gap between him and Larkin was approaching a quarter of a lap, he followed Ruan Shiqing's instructions and quickly pushed the hydraulic system data to the highest. Then he leaned back and pulled the joystick hard, and the entire racing car pointed directly at Larkin like a black arrow.

"Gaia" almost became a shadow on the court.

The audience that had been cheering for Larkin fell silent for a moment. Only the kids raised their horns again, shouting "Come on Luther" enthusiastically.

The host's voice trembled as she pulled up the data and projected it onto the central screen, speaking incoherently and excitedly: "What happened? Gaia's speed instantly increased to 1,286 kilometers per hour!"

"This is the highest speed ever recorded in podracing!"

She stared at the video feed closely: "Can Luther catch up with Larkin?"

Larkin was also thinking about this problem at this time.

After a repair, his car's speed has dropped somewhat compared to before, but the biggest threat is gone, so he is not worried about winning.

The premise is that Luther didn't suddenly drive fast.

He looked on the display screen and saw the black dot behind him getting closer and closer.

Larkin pulled the joystick angrily, but the car could not speed up as he expected.

By this time, Luther was already behind him.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!

Luther was counting the seconds in his heart, and when he caught up with Larkin and passed him by, he suddenly adjusted the hydraulic system data back to its original position, then pulled the joystick to the right, and the entire car body was instantly swung to the left. The engine full of hard iron spikes hit Larkin's shuttle racing car hard with the help of inertia.

The red car was thrown out by the huge impact force, rushed out of the track, and knocked down several towering metal garbage piles in succession. It rolled over several times before finally stopping.

The audience was silent for a moment, and then countless people stood up and slapped the table in front of them frantically, shouting and yelling: "Larkin! Get up!", "Larkin! Get up!"

With blood all over his head, Lakin pushed open the cabin door and fell out of the shuttle cabin in a panic.

He needed treatment, but the audience, who had lost the bet, were ignited with anger. They roared, and some even threw stones and metal blocks at Larkin, shouting at the top of their lungs: "Get up! Go beat him!", "You bastard, get up and catch up with him!"

Ruan Shiqing held the puppy in his arms, stood in front of the maintenance room, and looked up at the huge virtual screen in the center.

Larkin collapsed on the track; Luther had already started his last lap, and countless racers were trying their best to catch up with him but were already doomed to fail.

There were also spectators whose heads were filled with anger and who were shouting wildly.

All of this gathered together and gradually twisted into countless swaying lights and shadows.

Every sound, every figure, is like a part in an engine, burning wildly in this lost land.

This gray planet, far away from its star and without any light, has been able to survive to this day only by relying on humans as fuel.

Maybe one day, one moment, when everything is burned out, this planet will sink into complete darkness.

Ruan Shiqing suddenly felt a sense of suffocation.

It shouldn't be like this.

A feeling of powerlessness rose from his body. The boy holding the cub in his arms lowered his eyebrows and murmured in a low voice: "It shouldn't be like this."

But it shouldn’t be like this, so what should it be like?

He couldn't say anything, so he could only sigh.

Rong Heng raised his eyes and looked at him, his eyes were deep, as if he understood why he was sighing.

He turned his head and looked at the abandoned garbage dump from afar, with sneer in his eyes.

It really shouldn't be like this.

There are too many garbage planets like B3024. These planets have poor resources, poor environment, and no signs of life, but they can accommodate the garbage and waste produced by prosperous planets.

The reason they first appeared was because the existence of garbage dumps would affect the environment on prosperous planets, so the Empire began to issue laws to search for lifeless planets like B3024, sending transport ships and teams of colonial soldiers to take root on desolate planets and build energy centers. They converted the waste into energy, stored it, and then transported it to various planets.

On a planet like this, there should only be workers sent by the government.

But it is unknown when the Empire began to become corrupt from the inside out. For their own selfish interests, the staff of these energy centers either took in criminals wanted by the Empire or colluded with interstellar pirates, becoming the pirates' den...

After thousands of years of development, the energy centers deceived the upper and lower levels, and these desolate planets were gradually filled with a gray population.

But the corrupt empire knew nothing about this.

Or in other words, I know, but I can't do anything about it.

The war with the Zerg is almost draining the huge empire. The tycoons who made their fortunes from the war have gradually taken control of the empire's economic lifeline. With their strong financial power, the influence of the big capitalists has penetrated into every aspect of the empire. Countless officials have been bribed and degraded to become their mouthpieces.

Even the royal family had to be restrained by such a powerful network of power.

His mother worked hard to change all this, but died on the front line.

Now, he is the only one left of the royal family and the Jewish clan.

He must hurry back and take up this responsibility.

Luther took the lead and finished the last lap.

The "Gaia" covered with sharp iron spikes broke through the red line, reached the finish line first, and took off the flag of victory.

However, apart from the little ones who were cheering hard, there were only sporadic voices cheering for him, which were quickly drowned out by the howling and cursing.

Only the host on the podium was still giving an impassioned speech, inviting the newly crowned champion to come on stage to give his speech.

Luther just held the trophy and bowed in the direction of Ruan Shiqing.

He said: "I am standing here just to prove that those who discriminate against race are idiots!"

He raised his hand and hammered his chest, his eyes firm: "Ancient humans are no worse than any other race! Not only today, I will use the rest of my life to prove it to you!"

The cursing in the audience stopped, and countless people looked at him in shock.

There were also some rare ancient humans who straightened their backs, clapped their hands wildly on the table and cheered, with expressions of honor on their faces.

They repeated Luther's words: "Ancient humans are no worse than any other race! Those who discriminate against race are fools!"

The noise became louder and louder.

Luther raised the trophy high and gestured to the audience, then bowed deeply before jumping off the platform and trotting towards Ruan Shiqing.

This tall and strong man, however, became somewhat at a loss in front of Ruan Shiqing. The only thing he could do was to cover his left chest with his right hand and make the most solemn promise: "Today's victory is half due to you. After the game, I will go to Sikkim. But you will always be the lighthouse that guides me forward. No matter when and where in the future, as long as you need me, Luther Montagu will go through fire and water without hesitation."

He bowed his head to Ruan Shiqing as a sign of respect.

"This is the honor you have earned yourself." Ruan Shiqing smiled and punched him: "Keep in touch in the future. If I have the opportunity to go to Xijin, we will meet again then."

The champion of the high-speed shuttle race will receive a pass to Sikkim and a prize of 500,000 Star Coins.

Luther immediately went to collect the bonus, and then transferred half of it to Ruan Shiqing.

Ruan Shiqing returned the transfer and showed him the interface of his bet, saying with a smile: "You have earned much more for me than this. If you need money when you go to Xijin, don't be polite to me. I will charge you interest."

Before the game started, Luther's odds were ranked fifth from the bottom, at 20.8, while Larkin, who ranked first, had odds of only 2.5.

This is enough to show how big the gap is.

But sometimes a huge gap also represents a huge benefit. Ruan Shiqing bet 100,000 star coins at the time. According to the odds, the star coins he finally won were: 100,000 x 20.8 100,000 = 2,180,000.

The Star Coins bet increased by nearly twenty-one times.

Seeing this, Luther was relieved and did not insist any more.

After bidding farewell to Luther, Ruan Shiqing went to the audience seats to look for the Xiong brothers and their cubs.

The little dragon and the little fox were lying on the shoulders of the bear brothers respectively, while the little robot 09 was pushing a cart with the mermaid cubs. The flying robots that were released to cheer for Luther had also been collected by the careful little robots.

Everyone was very excited because Luther had won the final victory.

Xiong Yuanyuan rubbed her hands happily: "In order to support Luther, I also bet 2,000 star coins, and now I've made a fortune!"

Xiong Fangfang glanced at him and showed his interface: "I bet 5,000 Star Coins."

The two brothers looked at each other and laughed happily.

The little dragon and the little fox reached out their hands to Ruan Shiqing. After their father took them, the little dragon asked excitedly, "Is Luther going to Sikkim in the future? Can we go too?"

Nota pouted: "There are many bad people in Sikkim. We will be bullied if we go there."

Her home planet is Tutar. Tutar and Sikkim are very close, and people from Sikkim often travel to Tutar. In the eyes of the little fox, people from Sikkim are just like people from Tutar, arrogant and rude, and all of them are bad people.

It would be dangerous for them to go.

Even the little mermaid next to him let out a soft "ah" in agreement, grabbed Ruan Shiqing's sleeve, and shook her head gently.

Don't go to Sikkim.

Ruan Shiqing patted the cubs' heads and said softly, "We won't go. We'll stay on Planet B3024."

The kids had simple ideas, but he thought more deeply.

The identities of these cubs are sensitive and are not tolerated by their respective races, so they cannot be seen in public.

If he really wants to take them away from Planet B3024 one day, he must be strong enough.