Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 190
The KALLIMA was looking for the gaps of wind in a curve, whereas ALKAID was going in a straight line.
A straight line is, of course, always shorter than a curve. Together with the boost of the wind, ALKAID was suppressing KALLIMA the whole time in the first two minutes.
"Solar Eclipse Jiang Shaoyang is indeed impressive! The air paths and stabilizer fins are so delicate!
"It seems that the record will surely be broken this time. Might be an improvement of—an entire second!"
"Solar Eclipse! Solar Eclipse! Solar Eclipse!"
Jiang Shaoyang was more or less considered as a local refiner of Serpent City right now. Many young man looked up to him as their idol.
Seeing that ALKAID modified by him was so remarkable in the game, his fans all shouted in excitement.
Inside the Hell Storm Domain, the two super shuttles had entered a floating stone belt.
KALLIMA made best use of its lightness and swiftness. It danced countless small arcs in the limited space, as if it were drawing pictures of fish scales in the air. By the dancing, it avoided the randomly moving stones that were everywhere.
Such dodging skill was known as "Fish Scale Dance". It was a very professional technique in super shuttle racing.
The audience had recognized the technique, and all applauded for Fiend Fire Lu Feng's amazing 'Fish Scale Dance'.
In the meantime, slowing down a little bit, the ALKAID crashed into the floating stone belt at a subsonic speed with vague greenness around its body.
"Guan Dong is crazy to ride into the floating stone belt at a subsonic speed! How daring!"
"Look at his auxiliary fins!"
The stabilizer fins of ALKAID started vibrating at a high speed the moment the super shuttle entered the floating stone belt.
The scattered stones that luckily broke through the spiritual shield of ALKAID were all minced into powder by the auxiliary fins.
It was then that everyone realized the auxiliary fins of ALKAID was only partly for the guidance of wind. More importantly, they were meant to crumble the stones!
How many rune arrays had been carved inside the auxiliary fins to make them capable of both?
Solar Eclipse Jiang Shaoyang's design was truly inspiring!
[ol][li data-annotation-id="a92ce5d3-6f83-c679-b33e-7c9536792e17"]A genus of butterflies of the family Nymphalidae, also known as the oakleaf or oak leaf butterflies. See more details on Wikipedia.[/ol]
Chapter 276: Windchaser |
The rest of the game was very entertaining, although there was no suspense anymore.
Watching the KALLIMA was like watching a spectacular Fish Scale Dance show, in which it swept exotic, elegant curves time and time again to cut in the gaps of the wind and stones trying to catch up with the ALKAID.
However, the ALKAID looked like an unreasonable general who could not be talked sense to when on the winning side. The super shuttle kept the subsonic speed and suppressed its opponent all the time.
The two drivers both showed their best driving skills. The two vehicles they were in also displayed the limit of super shuttle performance which dazzled all of the audience. The unfathomable movements, even if played at the 1/10 of actual speed, still impressed everyone with the true meaning of 'greased lightning'.
Towards the end, ALKAID never gave KALLIMA any chance to surpass it, not even once. It dominated the entire game and rushed past the finish line first.
The narrator was silent for five seconds before he cried,"11'44''31!
"Driving his ALKAID, Battle Axe Guan Dong has given us a magnificent presentation that has never been done before and created a new lap record of the Hell Storm Racetrack!
"He is 3 seconds faster than Fiend Fire Lu Feng's record from three months ago!
"Let's all cheer for Battle Axe Guan Dong, who is the unquestionable king of the Hell Storm today!"
The super shuttle fans were dazed in the beginning. A moment later, screams that were ten times crazier than previously burst out from the crowds!
3 seconds!
On a racetrack that had been challenged by countless experts, countless times, it was difficult enough to improve the record by 0.3 second. A 3-second breakthrough could be called a miracle!
Fiend Fire Lu Feng and Battle Axe Guan Dong drove their super shuttles to the safe area where defense arrays had been deployed.
Fiend Fire Lu Feng jumped out of his KALLIMA. Looking at the ALKAID which had been seriously damaged and yet was still firm, he complimented sincerely, "Good shuttle!"
He wasn't complimenting Battle Axe Guan Dong's driving skills, as the two of them knew each other's driving skills too well after competing on professional racetracks all the time.
The difference of their driving skills couldn't possibly lead to the 3-second breakthrough.
The only explanation was that ALKAID had been modified too well!
"After this battle, Solar Eclipse Jiang Shaoyang's name will be known by all super shuttle drivers and fans. He will be acknowledged as a first-rate modification master now."
Fiend Fire Lu Feng observed with mixed feelings.
Soon, the two super shuttles were transported to the workshop by staff of the Aurora Autos, where they would be fully maintained by Jiang Shaoyang and Mei Ze personally.
The Hell Storm Racetrack was empty now.
Although the game was over, the super shuttle fans crowding at the Aurora Autos didn't intend to leave.
Many of them were preparing themselves to drive on the Hell Storm Racetrack. They were hoping that the two professional drivers could kindly offer some advice to them.
"Master Fang, what do you think of the dual competition today? Wasn't it phenomenal?"
Yuan Qi's face was flushed out of excitement as if he had drunk a lot of wine.
"Indeed it was. The ace drivers deserve their names. Their driving skills are much better than mine. As for the two super shuttle modification masters, especially Solar Eclipse, Jiang Shaoyang…"
Li Yao closed his eyes and reminisced about the breathtaking super shuttle match. He thought for a long time before he continued seriously, "Speaking of this particular modification plan, his ideas and designs are much better than mine!"
Yuan Qi asked, "And you're still going to challenge the racetrack today?"
"Of course!"
Li Yao smiled, "Let's go. Let me show you the ALKAID modified by me."
Yuan Qi couldn't believe his eyes when Li Yao drove ALKAID out of the large-scale truck slowly.
Looming before him was a gargantuan metal monster whose layers of plate armor were welded together in the crudest way, making the super shuttle look like an aerolite wearing several layers of steel clothes.
The size of this metal monster was almost ten times larger than that of an ordinary super shuttle. One could never tell that its prototype was an ALKAID from its outlook.
"What…what is this?"
Yuan Qi was stupefied.
Bigger size meant higher spiritual energy consumption. Besides, it would be more easily affected by the chaotic wind in the wretched Hell Storm Domain. The odds of it being hit by scattered stones were hundreds of times higher, too.
Yuan Qi couldn't help but shouted, "What kind of super shuttle is this?!"
"It is not exactly correct to call it a super shuttle."
Li Yao said, "Battle Axe Guan Dong and Solar Eclipse Jiang Shaoyang optimized the performance, driving skills, modification, and everything else possible about their ALKAID. There is no way that I can defeat them on the Hell Storm Racetrack with a super shuttle. Therefore, I didn't plan to modify it in the way that a super shuttle is usually modified."
"Not a super shuttle?"
Yuan Qi didn't understand, "Then what is it?"
"Crystal suit."
Li Yao smiled. "You may consider it to be a crystal suit without four limbs."
Since too many amateurs had signed up to challenge the Hell Storm Racetrack today, it had been decided, according to the convention, that the match would be held in groups of eight contenders.
Yuan Qi was a VIP of Aurora Autos. He was a somewhat famous expert among the amateur super shuttle drivers, and the performance he gave yesterday was absolutely amazing. Therefore, he signed Li Yao up for the first group without too much trouble.
And when Li Yao drove his ALKAID to the start line of the Hell Storm Racetrack neither too fast nor too slowly, every audience had the same reaction that Yuan Qi just did: they rubbed their eyes which they thought were deceiving them.
The ALKAID, which was huge, ugly and clumsy, looked like a silly truck compared with the other seven soft, light and elegant super shuttles.
Judging from the outlook, even 'Heaven Uproar', a spiritual beast that was often used to carry heavy loads, could run faster than it.
"What… what is this thing?"
"It's just a pile of scrap iron and copper. Is it even drivable in the blowing wind and sweeping stones of the Hell Storm Domain?"
"The shape design is the exact opposite of aerodynamic."
"Let's put super shuttles aside. Even an ordinary shuttle wouldn't be devised like this. This is just a big iron lump, is all!"
Laughter, boos, doubts were shouted out continuously from the crowds.
Fiend Fire Lu Feng and Battle Axe Guan Dong, after an exhausting match, were resting in the VIP room of the Aurora Autos waiting for their super shuttles to be maintained. Out of pure boredom, they turned on the light beam and started watching the competition of amateurs.
Both of them laughed out aloud when they saw the grotesque super shuttle.
"It's actually a lot of fun to watch the amateurs' games now and then. There's never going to be a freak like this in a professional championship in a thousand years."
Inside the ALKAID, eyes closed, Li Yao was sensing the palpitation of every rune array in ALKAID, as if he were placed in a special crystal suit. The feeling was both familiar and strange.
"Beep… Beep… Beep!"
Three red lights turned green one by one.
Li Yao opened his eyes suddenly. The brilliance in his eyes seemed to be piercing through the heavy plate armor and cutting the wind and stones in front into pieces.
The ALKAID roared and dashed out like an enraged rhino.
Another round of laughter burst out from the crowds, because the ALKAID was the slowest to run off. The other seven super shuttles had long marched forward like arrows just freed from bows.
However, the two ace drivers in the VIP room both changed their face when they heard the boosting noise of ALKAID.
As real experts, they immediately recognized the potential of the super shuttle's power rune array from the noise.
The super shuttle was definitely not as boorish as it appeared. On the contrary, it was a super super shuttle!
"ALKAID?"
Battle Axe Guan Dong even stood up in concern.
He realized through the booming that, behind the hideous heavy plate armor, the super shuttle was also an ALKAID whose power system had been as well adjusted as the one that Jiang Shaoyang modified for him!
"Huh?"
Jiang Shaoyang and Mei Ze, who were maintaining the two super shuttles in the workshop, heard the noise of the shuttles, too. They both stood up straight and listened attentively.
"Shua!"
With the roaring of power rune arrays, Li Yao charged into the blowing wind. The outmost plates of the ALKAID perked up, which, like forty or so fan-shaped sails, shivered briskly in the air and caught the wind around, increasing the speed of the ALKAID exponentially.
One, two, three…
The other seven super shuttle that had been struggling in the chaotic wind were all surpassed by Li Yao within several seconds, unable to do anything about it.
"How could it be?"
All the audience felt that their eyes were deceiving them again.
The wind in the Hell Storm Domain was strong, chaotic and utterly unpredictable.
The amateurs usually chose to dodge the wind. The professionals usually chose to slide through the wind from its gaps while borrowing part of its power.
However, this mysterious driver played with the biting wind with the forty sails as if it were a toy.
Such technique was far beyond the category of super shuttle racing. After all, even the craziest super shuttle drivers wouldn't practice their driving skills in tornadoes if there was any sanity in their head.
"His sense of control and anticipation of wind was so impressive!"
"How did he learn such skill?"
"However, even if he can catch wind now, how is he going to deal with the floating stone belts with such a huge size and so many sails?"
In the exclamations, Li Yao rushed into the first floating stone belt.
"Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!"
Countless scattered stones hit the giant shell of ALKAID savagely.
"Bo! Bo! Bo! Bo!"
The outmost layer of the plate armor that covered the ALKAID, after several cracks, suddenly broke up and formed an unconsolidated iron shield outside of the spiritual shield of the ALKAID.
The iron shield held back 90% of the scattered stones.
After letting go of the first layer of its plate armor, the ALKAID was much smaller in size like a cicada that just sloughed. It accelerated and dashed out of the first floating stone belt.
"Shua!"
Another thirty sails turned erect and, after subtle adjustment of angles, caught the wind around, boosting the speed of the super shuttle again.
The audience finally stopped talking.
They finally understood why this super shuttle was so huge.
It was quite possible that there were three to four layers of plate armor each covering one another outside the super shuttle.
In the chaotic wind, the plate armor could be raised as sails; in the floating belt, the plate armor would be dropped layer by layer as iron shields to defend the stones.
Li Yao had passed five floating stone belts with the same method. The originally ragged super shuttle was slimmer and sharper every time it took off a layer of plate armor.
None of the audience had ever seen such a driving technique.
There could be one possible word to describe Li Yao:
Windchaser!
Chapter 277: Unbreakable Record |
After passing through five floating stone belts, the plate armor of ALKAID had all dropped off, revealing the perfect, streamlined shell.
It was not until then that much of the audience realized that this mysterious driver was driving the same model of super shuttle as Battle Axe Guan Dong had, the ALKAID!
What's more, the shell of this ALKAID also had an inlay of auxiliary fins that looked like shark fins.
However, the fins were much fewer than those on the previous ALKAID. Also, they looked somewhat awry on the shell of the vehicle.
At first glance, they unmistakably brought the feeling that not only would they fail to stabilize the super shuttle, they would also stir the chaotic wind into a more chaotic one.
As it turned out, ALKAID lost the smoothness that it'd had in the beginning and started trembling.
"What's the meaning of this?"
"Even as a layman, I can tell that the distribution of the auxiliary fins is completely against aerodynamics. They're messed up!"
"The previous modification was so brilliant. Why would he modify his super shuttle in such a way towards the end? It will do better without these auxiliary fins!"
All the super shuttle fans were gazing at the light beams with their full attention while pondering the reason.
Even Fiend Fire Lu Feng and Battle Axe Guan Dong were looking at each other in confusion.
They'd been in countless super shuttle races. Never once had they seen such bizarre modification. They had no clue what its purpose was at all.
Jiang Shaoyang and Mei Ze, who were in the maintenance workshop, both dropped their work and rushed out to study Li Yao's ALKAID.
Li Yao's performance in the beginning was already shocking enough for them, especially for Jiang Shaoyang, who thought he had explored all possibilities in the optimization of the ALKAID. He'd never expected that someone could modify an ALKAID that was even more crazy and brutal than his.
Manipulating forty sails at the same time in tornadoes to borrow the power of wind was not a skill that every super shuttle driver could handle.
Therefore, no modification master had ever realized that a super shuttle could be modified in such a way!
But the crooked, disordered auxiliary fins caused them greater confusion.
Mei Ze opened his mouth and asked, "Shaoyang, can you tell the function of the auxiliary fins?"
Him speaking first was a sign that he had admitted that Jiang Shaoyang was better than him in the field of super shuttle modification.
The corners of Jiang Shaoyang's eyes twitched violently. The annular eclipse tattoo on his forehead seemed to be enlivened and turned into a swirl that was too deep to measure.
After pondering for a moment, his eyes bulged wide, as he realized what was going on. He couldn't help but shout, "No! It's impossible!"
Right then, Li Yao encountered the sixth floating stone belt.
"Bad luck!"
The super shuttle fans all sighed for him.
Luck played an important role on the Hell Storm Racetrack.
If a driver was lucky and just came across three or four sparse floating stone belts, it would be very easy to get a good result.
However, if a driver was unlucky and ran into five or six floating stone belts, he might be caught by the scattered stones by accident even if he was a professional driver.
Today, it seemed that Li Yao was the unlucky driver.
The stones in the sixth floating stone belt were dense and sharp. They were colliding with each other and splitting into smaller stones without any pattern all the time.
The ALKAID had run out of the plate armor. Its spiritual shield was much duller than before after the tremendous consumption.
Its defense ability had hit rock bottom.
A scattered stone the size of a fist would be enough to crash it.
