The salesperson said the Spirit Car has a drift and jump function that could help the driver overcome obstacles.
However, Gu Mian couldn’t quite understand how to operate this "drift" and "jump", although there was a lever next to the handbrake, nearly identical to it, labeled "jumping rod".
Jumping while driving was something Gu Mian had never attempted before.
But the opportunity for practice came almost immediately.
The headlights of the Spirit Car were very bright, illuminating far-off objects clearly. Gu Mian spotted a small car blocking the road ahead almost instantly.
He drove straight towards it.
The middle of the Spirit Car was intended to hold corpses, so aside from the driver’s and front passenger seats, the remaining seats were arranged along the windows.
Fatty, sitting in the seat right behind Gu Mian, craned his head out to look forward. "Dr. Gu! What are you doing? Don’t do anything reckless!"
He shrank his enormous body behind the driver’s seat, daring only to reveal his eyes while making fearful whimpering sounds, somewhat like the wailing of a husky.
In comparison, Chu Changge, seated in the front passenger seat, seemed more composed. He stared ahead with an expressionless face, a stark contrast to Fatty, as if inadvertently showing off.
Gu Mian spoke to Fatty in the back, "Fasten your seatbelt. I guess you’ll soon experience what it’s like for a Spirit Car to ascend to the heavens."
As he said this, he reached out and touched the jumping rod next to the handbrake. "Ready?"
Fatty nodded vigorously, although he wasn’t sure if Gu Mian could see him.
Only after seeing Fatty nod in the rearview mirror did Gu Mian forcefully pull the jumping rod up.
The Spirit Car’s front end, still adorned with white banners, suddenly lifted. It leaped upwards like a horse.
"Holy crap," Fatty clutched his seatbelt tightly. "This car is fucking awesome!"
「This night was destined to be far from quiet.」
Residents near the supermarket were awakened in the middle of the night by a tremendous noise.
They said the sound was like a roaring beast or a monster trying to break down a door. Some eyewitnesses even claimed to have seen a white monster jumping on the road from their balconies; it looked terrifying.
This resulted in very few players daring to venture out the next day.
「At this time, Gu Mian, Fatty, and Chu Changge had already embarked on their journey to Hengdian.」
Chu Changge had bought a map and a compass in the supermarket. While not as handy as a digital navigation system, it could at least provide the correct direction.
Gu Mian, meanwhile, tried to stick to roads without obstacles.
Although the Spirit Car could jump in place, the experience for those inside wasn’t pleasant. Each jump and subsequent landing made their buttocks feel as if they were being shattered into eight pieces.
Their buttocks had been jolted all night.
「It was early morning now.」
There was no air conditioning in the dilapidated car. They had been shivering from the cold all night. Fatty, in particular, had wrapped himself in three layers of quilts but still felt cold.
Frost had formed on the car windows. Gu Mian had stopped the car and was wiping it off with a cloth.
Having barely slept, Fatty fetched a pan, apparently intending to fry eggs, but he couldn’t find anything to make a fire with.
The place where they had parked was quite remote; no one lived nearby. There were, however, many unfinished buildings. The construction workers had all fled by now, leaving these half-built structures behind.
Chu Changge squatted beside Fatty, looking at the map. "Because of some detours, we didn’t make much progress... Let’s see, we’re still over a thousand kilometers from Hengdian."
Fatty looked at him. "Over a thousand kilometers... I remember the original distance between Lianhua City and Hengdian was just over a thousand kilometers, right?"
"Obviously," Chu Changge said, putting away the map. "We made no significant progress last night because Gu Mian had to take twelve detours to avoid obstacles. Otherwise, why do you think you slept so soundly?"
Fatty chuckled. Although he hadn’t slept particularly well, he had at least gotten some sleep.
"That being said..." Fatty turned to Gu Mian. "Dr. Gu, you seem to have driven all night. Aren’t you tired?"
He said this while observing Gu Mian, who was still energetically cleaning the car windows, showing no signs of wanting to sleep.
Fatty continued, "Actually, I used to drive a truck, one of those big rigs, you know? An old man tricked me into driving for him. When I was hauling goods, I often drove all night without rest. It was exhausting, and I know many drivers crash from fatigue... But Dr. Gu doesn’t seem tired at all."
"Probably because it’s his first time driving so freely, so he’s exhilarated," Chu Changge remarked, also looking at Gu Mian. "You know about his luck. There are actually many things he can’t do."
"I still remember a long time ago, when we were very young, probably in elementary school. Our teacher took us on a picnic, and he always silently followed at the very back of the group. When crossing the road, he would wait for everyone else to cross before he followed."
"By noon, while everyone else was eating the lunches their parents had prepared, he would be squatting far away, munching on bread. He’d take a bite, then lift his head to look at us. Take another bite, then look at us again."
"Later, in middle school, the whole class went to an amusement park. He initially didn’t want to go but was dragged along. Then... well, then the roller coaster we were on had a sudden power cut, and our whole class was left suspended up there for half an hour."
"After that, whenever there were outings to places like amusement parks, Gu Mian would just stand to the side, looking up as we had fun."
"You might see him as carefree and capable, but in reality, he’s endured a lot over the years. So much that he’s become numb..."
Fatty was stunned. He had never imagined Gu Mian’s past twenty years had been .
Just then, however, Chu Changge abruptly changed the subject. "Still, you’d better be careful when Gu Mian is driving. It’ll be a blessing from the gods if he doesn’t get anyone killed. You should pray we don’t end up ascending to heaven directly in this Spirit Car."
"Er..." All the sympathy Fatty had just been mustering vanished instantly.