Chapter 70: Chapter 40. Battle of the Trebuchets

Chapter 70
Thunderbolt Car Battle

Few people could be seen on the Sunday Avenue of Lungmen, perhaps due to the bitter cold. Most preferred to stay indoors, and fortunately, there was hardly any wind, otherwise the chill would have been truly unbearable.

Exusiai—no, Zhou Jinru wrapped himself thickly in heavy garments, and the young women beside him were also bundled up like little snowballs. He had originally thought that Operators equipped with shield values would be impervious to freezing temperatures, but Vermeil gave him a massive side-eye; even powerful Operators could fall ill in severe cold, and he realized he had been taking things for granted.

"I actually thought there would be more people out today."

There were a few tourists in the amusement park, but it was far from the bustling crowds she had imagined, and Vermeil looked slightly disappointed.

Zhou Jinru did not share that sentiment. He had visited some large amusement parks during holidays in the past, swept along by the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, and he utterly despised the feeling of being crammed. When sightseeing turned into people watching people, it lost all meaning.

Gummy felt no disappointment whatsoever. As long as she stayed by the Doctor's side, she was happy, and going out to play together with the Doctor meant double the joy.

Bison held the amusement park map in his hand and asked, "What does everyone want to play?"

Unfortunately, this was also his first time here, and he had no idea which attractions were actually fun.

"Riding the Ferris wheel right now is way too early. We can save the sightseeing for when everyone is tired, so let's start with some high-energy entertainment to get our spirits up, and then we can play whatever we want before grabbing lunch."

Vermeil was an expert in this field, and having her handle the planning saved Zhou Jinru a lot of trouble.

It was a pity that Iron-man could not make it today due to other matters, but there would be plenty of opportunities in the future, so there was no rush.

Bison pointed ahead and said, "Then let's go ride the Thunderbolt Cars. That should be a lot of fun."

"What is a Thunderbolt Car? A roller coaster?" Zhou Jinru's face turned somewhat pale.

槐琥 (Huai Hu) patted him on the back from behind and comforted him, "It's not a roller coaster. I used to play here when I was a kid; Thunderbolt Cars are just bumper cars, only they have a cooler-sounding name."

That was at least acceptable.

The group walked together toward the Thunderbolt Car arena. Along the way, Zhou Jinru noticed that Huai Hu kept staring in another direction. He glanced over and saw what appeared to be an attraction called the Mystery House.

The amusement park's Mystery House combined elements of suspense and horror, along with a heavy dose of puzzle-solving. However, Zhou Jinru, having been heavily bombarded by various film, television, and entertainment works throughout his life, was reluctant from the bottom of his heart to visit such places. Could Huai Hu possibly be deeply interested in that sort of thing?

Surely a chivalrous martial artist of the jianghu would not be averse to such places, right?

Huai Hu quickly noticed Zhou Jinru's gaze: "Ah-Guang, are you also looking at the Mystery House over there?"

Zhou Jinru quickly shook his head and said, "No, I just saw you staring in that direction and thought you might be interested."

Hearing this, Huai Hu's expression stiffened somewhat, and her voice dropped considerably: "I don't like that kind of place at all. I just happened to see an old friend over there."

"Uh, do you want to go over and say hello?"

"Absolutely not!"

Huai Hu blurted out, causing the people around her to look at her in surprise. She hurriedly explained, "The nature of my friend's job is rather secretive, so they don't like being suddenly disturbed. That's why, even when I spot them from afar, I usually don't go over to greet them."

I see.

A realization dawned upon Zhou Jinru. The friend Huai Hu mentioned was most likely a staff member inside the Mystery House, and they sometimes needed to wear special costumes to set the horror atmosphere, so it was best not to blow their cover...

Sigh, life is hard, even heroes shed tears.

Arriving at the Thunderbolt Car arena, a new round of play had just begun, and they could only stand outside and wait. They watched the other tourists driving, crashing into each other, screaming, and roaring in a fiery, bustling atmosphere. Just standing on the outside looking in made them feel excited, driving away a good portion of the surrounding chill.

Vermeil lifted her chin and made a provocative gesture: "Doctor, stop smiling. Once we get in there, I'm going to ram you hard!"

"Huh? You think I'm scared of you? Don't you know my reputation? I am a man hailed as the God of Driving by forum brothers, and I've even had several accounts banned..."

Zhou Jinru began exposing his own dark history for once. Unfortunately, they didn't understand what an "account" meant, nor who these "forum brothers" were, simply chalking it up as another mysterious chapter in the Doctor's enigmatic past.

"I don't mind either way, Doctor, don't stress too little."

Gummy looked utterly delighted.

Huai Hu clenched her fists and mentally pumped herself up.

Bison merely smiled; the young master of Pengschi Logistics always proved himself through actions.

The spectator mode soon ended, and everyone took turns choosing their vehicles, joined by two other unfamiliar tourists participating in the game.

"Start!"

Zhou Jinru quickly pulled the steering wheel and veered off to one side. If he drove straight into the crowd right at the start, he would inevitably get wedged in the middle by the surrounding cars, making it very difficult to readjust his position later. As he expected, the moment the match began, everyone except him crashed into one another, even Bison getting caught up in the pile-up.

"So sly!"

Vermeil was sent spinning dizzyingly by two cars colliding with her. Realizing the scumbag Doctor had run off by himself, she quickly shifted gears to chase after him, but right at that moment, Gummy rammed into her from the side, knocking her off course.

"Haha, you're not allowed to chase the Doctor—ah!"

Huai Hu's car nimbly dodged Bison's charge, slammed into Gummy, and was subsequently rear-ended by several other vehicles, leaving Gummy wailing in distress.

Meanwhile, Zhou Jinru had also spun his car around and slammed directly into the body of Vermeil's vehicle to bail Gummy out, at the cost of making himself the target of everyone's siege.

And thus the melee truly began. Zhou Jinru, this agent of chaos, no longer had any room to maneuver as everyone devolved into a tangled ball of crashes.

It wasn't until the game timer ran out that they reluctantly left their vehicles. Zhou Jinru's legs were still a little weak; too many people had rammed into him, and even Gummy had joined in by the end. The feeling of being the universal target meant he could never quite figure out which way his car was facing, leaving him to crash blindly into everyone else.

"R-Rest for a second, I'm exhausted."

"Doctor, you're no fun. You cracked under pressure so fast."

Zhou Jinru slumped onto a roadside bench, completely ignoring Vermeil's taunts. He noticed once more that Huai Hu was glancing back toward the Mystery House.

Throughout the entire game, Bison's performance had been the most eye-catching. He always managed to stabilize his car's direction instantly, unlike the others who went flying wildly the moment they took a hit.

"Ah-Song, do you play this often? Your hands were so steady when you were driving; you must have practiced a lot, right?"

Bison's tone was flat, but Zhou Jinru caught a hint of inexplicable exhaustion in it: "Mr. Ah-Guang, not at all. This is my first time playing here too, it's just that I used to ride in Miss Texas's car a lot, so I managed to pick up a tiny bit of superficial experience..."

Zhou Jinru decisively chose not to ask any further just what kind of bone-deep trauma lay hidden beneath that calm voice.