Speed and Passion

On a back road with no cameras, a vehicle staged its own version of "The Fast and the Furious."

No companions, no pursuers, no audience.

The cheap, beat-up truck swayed violently. Old Wang was driving, not Skye.

"Wang... urk... let go of the wheel and let me drive... urk... stop, I can't take it anymore... urk... don't... stop... urk..."

One of Skye's arms hugged her most valuable possession, her "laptop," tightly against her chest. She used her soft body to cushion it from the shocks, while her other arm braced against the front seat, her little hand gripping Old Wang's shoulder with all its strength. She was practically fighting Old Wang's torment with her life.

It was shaking too much!

Her stomach felt awful. The family bucket she'd eaten ten minutes ago had not even finished digesting. She couldn't throw it up either—it had cost a lot of money. What a waste that would be.

An upset stomach was nothing.

What mattered was the pain in her heart.

No matter how beat-up the truck was, she had saved for seven years to buy it. Now the accelerator was floored, and he did not slow down even for turns. The drifting was fake, but nearly rolling over several times was real. Skye felt as if she could hear screws coming loose, along with the tires screaming.

Those weren't screws falling off. That was money!

Never mind the heartache.

What mattered was the panic!

Old Wang, if you wanted to drive, then drive. Fine, treat the truck like a sports car. It could not outrun a sedan even with the accelerator floored anyway.

If the truck broke, then it broke. You were only eighteen. Consider the truck sold to you for twenty thousand dollars; you could pay me back slowly.

But could you please stop studying your necklace while driving?

"Ah!"

Old Wang sighed.

Ke Ying, I taught you stance training for three years for nothing.

Little Li Li from the Stormstout family was much younger than you, and she hadn't practiced martial arts for much longer than you had... not by much, anyway. She was so chubby, in the same weight class as you, yet she could skim across water on her palms. She was not afraid no matter how much a car or boat rocked, but you couldn't handle this little bumping?

Did you put all your talent points into hacking and leave none for Monk training?

Helpless, Old Wang simply stopped holding the steering wheel. He grabbed Skye's hand with his other hand, and a stream of True Qi flowed from his palm, through her arm, and into her entire body.

The next instant, Skye felt as though she had landed. Her head no longer spun, her vision no longer blurred, and her legs seemed to have taken root, perfectly still.

Her entire body vibrated... swayed... in extremely tiny movements. This was a higher realm of martial arts, one she had not yet learned.

Most importantly, her internal organs had stabilized. Even the food in her stomach stopped trying to escape and obediently moved down into the next stage of her intestines.

"Wang, thank you. I'll study martial arts seriously... my god, what are you doing? Are you trying to flip the truck?"

Skye had been deeply grateful.

But when she looked up, she saw Old Wang holding her hand in his right hand and fiddling with the pendant on his necklace with his left. He was not controlling the steering wheel?

Then she looked ahead. Through the window, a large box truck suddenly shot out from an intersection twenty meters away. They were about to crash into it.

"Wang..."

Skye's heart leaped into her throat.

Yet she had barely shouted the first word when she saw the steering wheel move by itself.

The entire truck jolted hard and tilted sharply. The wheels on the left had definitely left the ground, and the wheels on the right were surely about to be ground flat. Fortunately, the sudden lane change and turn succeeded, and they scraped past the box truck with less than ten centimeters between them!

"A veteran driver never flips his car," Old Wang said calmly.

"Wang!"

Skye felt as if she had just taken a trip to hell. Her back was drenched in cold sweat.

Old Wang, were you insane?

Old Wang ignored her.

For a Monk, True Qi was an extension of the hands and feet. Using True Qi to control the steering wheel was nothing difficult.

As for crashing, that was impossible.

A Monk's senses were extraordinarily sharp. He could see in all directions and hear everything around him. He would never crash in his life.

Another five minutes passed.

"That should be enough." Old Wang smiled as the truck gradually slowed down.

Twenty-five minutes. They had forced the truck to cover fifty kilometers on back roads. It had done its best.

There was no choice. They had to flee the scene as quickly as possible while staying hidden. Even the license plate had been covered.

An RPG had exploded. No matter how useless the police were, they could not just turn a blind eye!

More than a dozen people had died. Gangsters were people too. This was a major case, a serious case. It might even alert the Central Intelligence Agency and S.H.I.E.L.D. Old Wang had no desire to go drink coffee at S.H.I.E.L.D.; no matter how often he tried it, he could never get used to the stuff.

To be honest, Old Wang was not ready to make contact with S.H.I.E.L.D. yet.

The current S.H.I.E.L.D. was hardly S.H.I.E.L.D. at all. It was practically Hydra's "S.H.I.E.L.D. branch office." The director's immediate superior was Hydra, quite a few key operatives were Hydra, and Hydra agents were everywhere below them.

Too dangerous.

After eighteen years of arduous cultivation, this body was still lacking. He was still far from the peak of his previous life, so he could not be too reckless.

He had to keep a low profile.

Lowering his head to look at the Heart of Azeroth around his neck, Old Wang sighed helplessly.

He had no idea what was going on. It was completely unusable now and kept absorbing his True Qi. In just this short while, it was about to drain him dry.

When that young lady had given it to him, it had been filled with essence. The Heart of Azeroth had all its effects activated, but now not a single one was active. It did not even have its most basic functions. It was truly no different from an ordinary necklace.

With the Heart of Azeroth, Old Wang did not dare claim he could take on Thanos head-on, but he had been confident in dealing with Hulk and Thor.

But now, that was clearly no longer possible.

"Hack the local police and see what the situation is now." Old Wang sat cross-legged and began cultivating on his own initiative.

The Heart of Azeroth needed True Qi, so he would give it some.

Maybe it would wake up once it was full. His Golden Finger could not become useless just like that.

At those words, Skye glared fiercely at Old Wang and opened her laptop.

Business came first.

In less than ten minutes, she successfully hacked into the Los Angeles Police and stole quite a bit of information.

"The police arrived at the scene in only five minutes. They've never been this fast before. They haven't found any clues for now, and we didn't leave any clues either... wait, another major case has happened. Fifth Street!"

Skye's voice rose an octave. Her eyes widened in utter disbelief. "Twenty-three people are dead... all of them are from the Fifth Street Gang!"

"Decisive enough, and ruthless enough." Old Wang smiled.

It was clearly Robbie's doing.

More precisely, it was done by "Ghost Rider" Robbie Reyes, driven by the Spirit of Vengeance.

The reason was simple:

Revenge had to be thorough. Everyone in the Fifth Street Gang had to die.

Robbie did not have that much killing intent, but whether people lived or died was not up to him. The Spirit of Vengeance controlled him.

As for why he was in such a hurry?

Simple.

Quite a few Fifth Street Gang members had died. Once the others learned of it, they would definitely be scared. Some would surely flee, and they would not be so easy to find afterward.

He could only finish it all in one go.

"The police have no clues? That's good." Old Wang finally relaxed.

Skye took over driving while Old Wang focused on cultivation.

About half an hour later, delight appeared on his face, and he opened his eyes.

The Heart of Azeroth was no longer absorbing True Qi.

It had awakened.