Pursuit and Interception

Qu Jianlei focused on driving while Xiao Jing's face was pale from the punishing bumps along the way.

But he did not complain. Instead, he stared fixedly at Black Sky Bro's movements.

Qu Jianlei was highly observant, but when he was not paying attention, he had no desire to actively observe anything.

Still, after a while, he noticed something unusual. "What are you looking at?"

Xiao Jing answered seriously, "Can you teach me to drive? At this rate, you won't be able to hold on."

"The problem is, you can't even reach the controls," Qu Jianlei replied helplessly.

How could he not know that things would look bleak if he kept going? But the Hairless Freak was simply too small to drive.

If they were traveling on level ground, Xiao Jing could try driving while standing, or tie something to the soles of his shoes.

But they were racing across the wilderness now. Even Qu Jianlei himself was getting jolted badly. If Xiao Jing drove, it would be a miracle if nothing went wrong! Yet Xiao Jing persisted. "The accelerator, clutch, and brakes aren't needed for now. I only need to control the steering."

"That's impossible." Qu Jianlei smiled and shook his head, finding the guy rather amusing.

"If something unexpected happens, one bump could send you flying... This is the wasteland."

It was not just the driver who could be thrown from the vehicle. Passengers would have an even harder time enduring it.

Xiao Jing continued stubbornly, "Then find a flatter patch first, and let me take over temporarily."

"You can catch up to the car anyway, right? You have to get out and hit them head-on."

Qu Jianlei pondered for a moment, then gave a bitter smile. "You really know how to make trouble for me... Actually, I have a way to get away."

Xiao Jing's eyes immediately lit up. "What way?"

But Qu Jianlei could not be bothered to answer. He simply gave him a rough explanation of what to watch out for when driving.

In fact, driving skills were not that important out here in the wilderness. As long as you did not recklessly drive into a huge pit, you would be fine.

Next came fixing the accelerator in place. That was not difficult either—just wedge it.

Then Xiao Jing slowly shifted into the driver's seat and sat in Qu Jianlei's lap.

"When you find suitable terrain, just jump out."

They soon reached level ground, a stretch of gravelly sand. Even if there were pits, the jolting would not be too severe, and the dust was much lighter.

Dust was a Double-Edged Sword. It could shield Qu Jianlei and Xiao Jing, but it could also shield the pursuing convoy.

Qu Jianlei unfastened his seat belt, grabbed the Laser Gun and machine gun, and jumped out of the vehicle.

He still chose the Laser Gun first. He aimed at a closed off-road vehicle to the side and rear.

That vehicle was slightly faster, seemingly intending to pull alongside him and limit his ability to change direction freely.

Then they would gradually squeeze him into their net, leaving him with no chance to escape.

Someone who took the lead like that had to be taken out! Qu Jianlei had originally intended to aim at the driver. If one shot did not work, he would fire several more.

But the next moment, his eyes lit up. The fuel tank was unprotected?

The pursuers were also somewhat confused. "What... fell off the vehicle?"

"No, it's a person!" someone shouted. "Is this guy crazy?"

The next moment, a flash of light appeared, and an off-road vehicle erupted in a Violent Explosion.

"Bastard, how dare he!" Madman roared. The exploding SUV belonged to his team.

Overcome by rage, he no longer cared about anything else and shouted, "Machine gun barrage!"

"First One, we need to slow down first," the Machine Gunner in the truck bed said with a bitter smile.

Although the terrain here was relatively flat, the truck was moving too fast. The machine gun's spread would be far too wide.

Madman was utterly crazed in battle and demanded the same from his team.

But after the battle ended, he would carefully tally the ammunition expended. He never went easy on anyone who wasted bullets.

Hearing that, Madman made a decisive choice. "Slow down!"

At the same time, the other vehicles were startled as well. A motorcycle preparing to flank from the other side instantly turned away.

Qu Jianlei gave a cold smile and raised his gun, shooting the rider off it.

"Fuck," an Open-Top Light Truck nearby cried out in shock. "A sharpshooter!"

As the many vehicles scattered to avoid him, Qu Jianlei selected his third target.

It was an open-top truck without a windshield, though its front end was fitted with some armor.

Wasteland teams came in every shape and form. By all rights, a vehicle without a windshield was not unusual.

When they had the chance, they would repair it. If they lacked the time or the conditions, they would just make do for the moment.

They had received the news today and rushed over in a hurry. How could they have imagined that the windshield would prove so important? Qu Jianlei's third shot struck the driver.

The driver's reaction was not actually slow. Seeing that the other man seemed to be aiming at him, he instinctively tilted his head.

But he was still too late. Half his skull was instantly blown away.

Qu Jianlei saw several vehicles clearly slowing down. He raised the machine gun and swept them with fire, then turned and ran.

By sheer bad luck, the target of that burst was the small truck carrying Madman.

Madman had invested quite a bit into this vehicle, making it tough and sturdy. When machine-gun rounds struck the glass, they only left white marks.

But those white marks counted as hidden damage. Enough hits, and the glass would shatter all the same.

The Machine Gunner in the truck bed was still aiming. At the sight of that, he ducked behind the shield plate and cursed inwardly. Did he really need to shoot so accurately?

The next moment, Qu Jianlei was already carrying both guns and sprinting away in a blur.

By then, the pursuing vehicles had slowed down, and a storm of bullets poured toward Qu Jianlei.

But they were moving after all, so their aim was a little off.

In less than a few minutes, Qu Jianlei caught up with the vehicle, grabbed the door, and leaped into the cab.

Quite a few people saw that scene. Several were even holding binoculars and could see every detail clearly.

"Fuck," someone could not help swearing. "What the hell did we get ourselves involved with?"

Wastelanders did indeed have excellent physical fitness, but no matter how good they were, there was always a limit.

A temporary sprint fast enough to catch a truck moving at full speed was simply absurd!

Of course, in the wasteland wilderness, no vehicle could truly reach full speed—the terrain was simply too terrible.

But on this hard gravelly ground, the road conditions were already considered good. They could reach fifty kilometers per hour.

That was roughly eight hundred meters a minute.

The man had actually caught up to the truck by sheer force despite starting some distance behind...

Who would dare believe it if they had not witnessed it themselves?

But fear was fear. There were still people willing to take the risk.

Someone shouted, "I'm not afraid of dying, I'm only afraid of being poor! Keep chasing!"

Madman's vehicle accelerated without hesitation. "Fire! Don't spare the ammunition!"

He had completely erupted. He no longer even cared about conserving bullets.

He knew very well that what had allowed him to carve out a place for himself in Hong Five was his mad, fearless desperation.

If he started calculating petty costs at a time like this, he would completely lose the foundation that kept him alive.

Others were more cautious. They suggested that armored vehicles take the lead as the main force, while lightly defended vehicles roamed around to harass them.

It was the opinion of experienced and steady people. Many motorcycles could only circle far away.

But in this pursuit, motorcycles were destined to be of little use. They simply could not keep up with the truck's speed.

Some motorcycles did have plenty of horsepower, but they only had two wheels and were far too difficult to balance.

After chasing for more than ten kilometers, Qu Jianlei got out and attacked again.

This time, he only killed one driver. It took three consecutive shots to break through the bulletproof glass before he could shoot the man dead.

Although he had only killed one person, the pressure he put on the pursuers was enormous.

Under such circumstances, no vehicle dared get too close.

The key was that everyone was moving. No one else had Qu Jianlei's ability to jump out of a vehicle and fight.

It was not as if no bullets struck the Open-Top Light Truck, but the mesh alloy plates at the rear really were useful.

And so the chase continued, one side pursuing and the other fleeing, until night fell without anyone noticing.

But the pursuers had already chased Qu Jianlei for nearly three hundred kilometers. The greater their sunk cost became, the less likely they were to let go.

There were currently twelve off-road vehicles chasing Qu Jianlei, and nearly everyone was determined to get him.

Night had fallen? No problem. Turn on the headlights and keep chasing.

It was not that the pursuers wanted to expose their targets. At full speed through the wilderness, they simply could not drive at night without lights.

Qu Jianlei's headlights were on too. There was no other choice.

But the pursuers behind him also had searchlights, the elite setup for hunting in the wild.

How could anyone bold enough to involve themselves in this matter not be elite?

Seven or eight headlights shone on Qu Jianlei's vehicle at once. The feeling was beyond words.

Qu Jianlei even felt that nighttime was far harder to endure than daytime.

But he finally found an opportunity and used cover to jump out of the vehicle.

He raised his gun and shot out two searchlights, perhaps even wounding a Hunter.

Then he fled decisively. Sure enough, bullets came chasing after him moments later.

After jumping back into the vehicle, he tore open a tube of Nutrient Solution and swallowed it. Then he snarled, "Do they really have that many Night Vision Goggles?"

The good news was that after this attack, the pursuing vehicles deliberately widened the distance again.

There were not that many searchlights to begin with. If that guy smashed them all, how could the pursuers dare continue chasing?

And so what followed was a contest of endurance.

Unfortunately, the first vehicle to break down was one of the pursuers' heavily armored trucks.

That truck had stalled. As for the reason... they had come in too much of a hurry and had not had time to maintain it properly!

Such things were extremely common in the wasteland. Hunters had a difficult time surviving and could not keep their vehicles in perfect condition at all times.

Being able to properly maintain a vehicle before an important operation already made one a qualified adventurer.

And they had received notice of Qu Jianlei's whereabouts at the last minute. Being able to gather enough people to pursue and intercept him meant their response had not been slow.

Wasteland vehicles might not have been particularly advanced, but they were quite sturdy and durable.

Still, considering they had been driving at full speed for so long without stopping, it was not surprising that problems had arisen.

The breakdown of that vehicle left many pursuers dumbfounded.

"Fuck, we were only thinking about wearing him down, but our vehicles might not outlast his!"

They did not know that Qu Jianlei's vehicle had just been modified and was the least afraid of being worn down.