DTTM 70

Chapter 70: Come to Daddy

This is the metaverse, this is GTC… This isn’t be real… I’ve already confirmed it…

I repeated it to myself over and over again. But the copious amount of blood gushing from Zong Yanlei’s severed arm, the warm and sticky, realistic touch, the heavy smell of rust permeating the narrow car, and his rapidly fading complexion, still made me disobey his instructions for a moment and loosen my grip on the steering wheel.

Even with the gear engaged and the accelerator released, the race car could still coast for two to three kilometers before coming to a complete stop due to inertia. When I released the steering wheel, the car was still speeding forward, but its speed had visibly decreased.

Warm blood instantly stained my palms red. After pressing on the wound for a few seconds in vain and realizing that I couldn’t stop the bleeding, I suddenly remembered that there seemed to be a first aid kit that I could buy in the “products” catalog I had just browsed.

That first-aid kit was extremely expensive, costing a full ten million. Just a moment ago, that was an amount completely beyond my reach, but now…

I quickly sat back in the passenger seat, my blood-stained fingers swiping rapidly across the electronic screen. In just two minutes, the account balance had skyrocketed by twenty million, and the number continued to increase as the barrage of comments refreshed.

On the map, not far from us, the red skull icon representing a sand-fish flickered, then turned black, and then went out completely. The strange fish that had just devoured Zong Yanlei’s left arm had been blow to smithereens by the sonic bomb he was holding.

“You promised… you wouldn’t let go of the steering wheel?” Zong Yanlei’s weak but amused voice came from beside me.

He slammed on the brakes, channeling the last bit of speed into the bleak, intermittent deceleration provided by the ABS (anti-lock braking system) before the vehicle veered off course.

The car stopped intermittently, and I managed to exchange the first-aid kit during that time.

“My fault,” I whispered.

A first-aid kit with a red cross on it appeared in the car. I quickly lifted the lid and looked inside. My heart finally settled down when I found that it was equipped with a tourniquet with a twisting bar and an adrenaline pre-filled pen.

No wonder it’s so expensive; they’re all essential for survival.

Zong Yanlei’s left arm was bitten off in the middle of his upper arm, the cut a bloody mess. I didn’t have time to hesitate, I put the black tourniquet around the base of his remaining upper arm, then grabbed the hard plastic wrench and started spinning it.

The tourniquet tightened little by little, flattening the deep artery. Zong Yanlei could bear it at first, but as the squeezing pain struck, his whole body began to tremble.

As the tourniquet spun for the third time, he groaned and raised his right arm to push me away, but with his last bit of willpower, he resisted and simply placed his hand on my arm.

“It’s alright…it’ll be alright soon…” I reassured him softly, locking the tourniquet into the fixed slot. I pulled off the safety cap of the adrenaline pen and jabbed it into his outer thigh through his racing suit.

With a “click,” the medicine was injected.

Beads of sweat mixed with blood trickled down his forehead. He closed his eyes, his body trembling due to extreme pain and the physiological reaction of acute blood loss.

A moment later, the adrenaline took effect. He stopped trembling, his chest heaved, and he slowly opened his eyes. His previously unfocused pupils regained clarity, as if he had been injected with “life” in that instant.

“I’m fine now…” he said in a hoarse voice.

I knew this “fine” was just temporary when I saw his still pale face, a last gasp before death. An adrenaline pen could only maintain its effect for a maximum of half an hour. After half an hour, the pain suppressed by the drug and the discomfort caused by blood loss will return to his body, and he will go into hemorrhagic shock.

This meant the game must end within half an hour.

Tan Yunmei and Yi You were conserving their energy, so they had been driving ahead of us. They probably noticed we weren’t keeping up through their rearview mirror, so they circled back and slowly pulled up beside us. Their car was also covered in gold, indicating they had activated a protective shield as well.

The car window rolled down, and Tan Yunmei gave us an “OK” sign.

I nodded to her, indicating that everything was fine for the time being.

She pointed behind her again to the shadows churning and swirling in the distance, and gave us an “OK” sign once more.

I thought for a moment, then turned to check the account balance. Zong Yanlei’s pain was like a shot of adrenaline for the audience. It made them excited, they shouted, and cheered. Donations continued to flow in, and the number eventually stopped at fifty-five million.

I quickly calculated and prioritized purchasing three sonic bombs, then used the remaining money to buy two cooling bombs and two protective shields. I then put down the electronic screen and replied to Tan Yunmei with an “OK”.

Tan Yunmei gave a thumbs up, leaned back, and revealed Yi You beside her. Yi You was gesturing wildly, seemingly saying or performing something, but he looked comfortable and much better than when he was in the waiting room.

Tan Yunmei held up the number “6” and pointed at Yi You. This was the pre-race code; the number plus the navigator represented the account balance. I hadn’t expected them to raise 60 million in such a short time; another 40 million would be enough to buy the map to the finish line.

I held up three fingers (excluding my thumb and little finger) and pointed at Zong Yanlei. The number plus the driver’s name represented time. I was telling Tan Yunmei that Zong Yanlei’s physical limit was only thirty minutes left.

“Let’s go.” Zong Yanlei suddenly spoke from behind.

In the brief moment I glanced back at him, Tan Yunmei seemed to have receive his instruction and immediately stepped on the gas.

Zong Yanlei’s hair roots were soaked, and his face was covered in sweat. However, his skin was no longer pale, but covered with a sickly flush, the excitement of an adrenaline surge.

He drove with only one hand, and his movements were noticeably more tense than usual. Fortunately, the desert terrain didn’t have many complicated turns, so most of the time he only needed to keep the steering wheel steady.

“How much money did those trash pay?” he asked in a deep voice.

I wondered if there were some niche fetishists among the audience who seemed to have a particular penchant for this, because whenever he swore, the amount of money they donated skyrocketed.

“I bought three sonic bombs, two cooling bombs, and two protective shields. I still have 30 million left.”

As I spoke, the cooling effect wore off. Racing cars typically have their engines mounted at the front, very close to the driver’s seat, to maximize weight distribution, making the interior temperature easily exceed 40-50°C. In the desert, even with the air conditioning on full blast, the temperature continued to rise under the scorching sun. Within seconds, the air inside the car became scorching hot, making it hard to breathe.

“It’s so hot.” Zong Yanlei felt it immediately. He blinked, and beads of sweat dripped down his eyelashes, landing on his blood-stained racing suit.

Given his current physical condition, a high-temperature environment would not only cause blood vessels to dilate and increase bleeding, but dehydration and elevated adrenaline levels would also increase the risk of cardiac overload.

I immediately used a cooling spray and bought another bottle of high-energy hydrating drink, inserted a straw, and held it to his mouth.

He took two sips through the straw, and his breathing became a little more steady.

“There are two sand-fish approaching at high speed from five o’clock behind,” I said, staring at the electronic screen.

Two red skulls representing sand-fish swam toward us one after the other at an extremely fast speed, like two torpedoes breaking through the water.

Zong Yanlei seemed to remember something and he spat out the straw: “Didn’t you say before… that they don’t have eyes, and only have a keen sense of smell and hearing?”

“Yes, they hunt entirely by feeling the vibrations of the sand and the scent of their prey…” I suddenly realized his intention, and my voice trailed off, “…”

I stuffed a sonic bomb into my helmet, then took out a roll of bandages from the first-aid kit. After soaking them in Zong Yanlei’s blood, I tightly bound the helmet with the bandages, making it into a simple “hammer”. (Something that looked like a hammer throw weight)

I activated the protective shield and opened the skylight before pressing the activation button for the sonic bomb. A purple light flashed like a death knell.

“You only have ten seconds!” Zong Yanlei’s voice cut through the wind and reached my ears.

“That’s enough,” I murmured and stepped up from the seat before leaning my upper body out through the sunroof.

Facing the raging desert winds, I gripped one end of the bandage, took a deep breath, and swung my arm with all my might. The heavy helmet, carrying the sonic bomb, spun above my head, leaving a circular afterimage.

I counted silently to five, then let go.

The red and white helmet drew a perfect parabola in the air before flying towards the sandy ground behind the vehicle.

A sand-fish was immediately attracted by the strong smell of blood. It jumped out of the sand and swallowed the blood-stained helmet along with the bomb whole.

The other sand-fish didn’t fight over it; instead, it accelerated directly toward our vehicle. Its long, slender tail covered in barbs lashed out like a steel whip.

I reacted quickly and ducked back inside the car before crouching down. I barely managed to dodge the deadly attack. A deafening metallic clang echoed from above, as if a giant were wielding an iron rod and slamming it against the protective shield.

I immediately checked the electronic screen; the red skull in the background had stopped moving, flickered a few times, and turned black. It had been blown to pieces.

Monsters that have no sight and rely solely on their sense of smell and hearing to locate enemies have no way of distinguishing between prey and bait.

“It works!” I exclaimed, my voice brimming with barely contained excitement.

After that, I followed the same method and used Zong Yanlei’s helmet to make another bomb trap, successfully taking down the third sand-fish.

Only one left. If things went well, we could finish the race in half an hour.

However, perhaps it had sensed the death of its kind, the last sand-fish vanished without a trace for the next ten-odd minutes. No matter how hard we searched, it was nowhere to be found.

Just then, a third vehicle appeared on the map, marked by a green icon indicating that it was the main vehicle of the “Full Throttle” team.

A sand-fish was following closely behind them.

In the distance, I saw the golden race car open the passenger window and throw out a purple sonic bomb. Unfortunately, the timing and aim were off; the bomb rolled onto the sand, only grazing the fish’s body before exploding behind it.

The enormous roar not only failed to kill it, but also thoroughly enraged this monster with its sensitive hearing. It roared to the sky and charged at the race car in front of it. Although protected by a shield, the car remained motionless, but from the rapidly rising windows, it was obvious that the navigator inside was quite frightened.

“Take their fish,” Zong Yanlei said succinctly.

As his adrenaline levels dropped and the flush faded, his skin returned to its previous paleness.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

Holding the “hammer” I had already finished in my hand, I thought for a moment, and just in case, I also bought a “super cactus.” Although it wouldn’t kill the fish, installing it on the roof of the car could drive them away and damage other competing cars.

As I finished the operation, I inadvertently caught a glimpse of those chaotic and messy comments out of the corner of my eye.

[This is so awesome! Hahaha! This definitely deserves a spot in the top 1 compilation of the Demon King’s most painful moments!]

[My number one is still the time he got his stomach pierced by a trap!]

[I loved watching him fall off the cliff; even with broken arms and legs, he still wanted to continue the competition, and that final, defiant look in his eyes…tsk tsk tsk.]

[I want to see him suffer even more!]

[I want to see him suffer even more!]

[I want to see him suffer even more!]

[I want to see him suffer even more!]

[I want to see him suffer even more!]

I closed my eyes, tossed the screen aside as if I were throwing away a wad of dirt.

I opened the sunroof and leaned out again.

Our vehicle was only about twenty meters away from Full Throttle’s main car, positioned in their blind spot to the side and rear. The sand-fish was completely focused on attacking the “prey” in front of it and had no idea that we were quietly approaching.

I pinched my index finger and thumb together, put them in my mouth, and blew a loud whistle.

The sand-fish suddenly stopped, its head swiveling around with that fishing-rod-like tentacle, before slowly turning its terrifying, eyeless face toward us.

It had spotted us.

The moment I felt it was about to rush over, I swung the bandage around, mimicking how those wealthy ladies beckoned their cute little dogs, even using an affectionate tone.

“Little one, come to Daddy quickly.”

***

Author’s Note

ABS means that when you step on the brake, you don’t brake all the way down at once, but rather you brake and release intermittently, which makes it less likely for the car to roll over.