"The venue for this underground racing event is arranged in a remote galaxy recently discovered by the Empire. The specific coordinates are a wild planet named Rockbach. All participating fanatics must drive those retro vehicles that have long been eliminated by the times to cross a death obstacle course that is handmade by the organizer and is full of dangers," Cruz lowered his voice and explained to him mysteriously..
"This is a crazy sport that completely abandons modern magic aids and purely tests personal extreme driving skills. I clearly remember that when we were young, you were the top driver in the circle.
As long as you get familiar with the feel again and after a few months of targeted recovery training, you will definitely have a great chance of winning the final Champion."
Thinking back to those days, when Chris had not yet entered the mid-life crisis, he was a fanatic in the Philippines underground street racing circle. Not only that, his driving skills were amazing, and he even accumulated quite a reputation in that circle.
However, there is no one who often walks by the river without wet shoes. After experiencing a serious car accident that was extremely tragic and almost killed someone, he was completely awakened. From then on, he decisively washed his hands and said goodbye to the crazy life of licking blood on the tip of a knife. He was determined to change his ways and pursue a more stable lifestyle.
"Those are already old memories of the Year of the Monkey, so don't mention it." Chris smiled mockingly.
"But I know very well that you have that irreplaceable talent flowing in your bones. The only thing you lack now is a set of systematic and professional awakening training. As long as you get through it, you will definitely come out on top in this game." Cruz still persisted in persuading.
"How high is the risk factor of this competition?" Chris finally couldn't help asking the core question.
"For those ordinary people who have no power to restrain a chicken, it is of course a narrow escape. But you are different. As long as you only have the most basic and weakest Battle Aura foundation flowing in your body to protect your heart at critical moments, you will be absolutely foolproof." Cruz assured.
Chris fell into a deep silence, his brain working rapidly, pulling back and forth between the moral bottom line and the temptation of reality, weighing the pros and cons with difficulty, and thinking about what choice he should make.
"Taking a step back, is this thing legal?" he asked, looking closely into Cruz's eyes.
"There is no need for you to worry about this. Didn't you complain to me before that you urgently need a large amount of Arcane Merit? Listen up, the final winner will receive the ultimate reward of a thousand Arcane Merit!"
"Stop talking to me about him and answer my question head-on. Is it legal or not?" Chris pressed without giving in.
Cruz immediately lowered his body, looked around with great vigilance, and after double-checking that no one was eavesdropping nearby, he approached mysteriously and said, "This event can be said to be both legal and illegal."
"What kind of bullshit explanation is this?" Chris frowned.
"The highest government of the Empire is actually well aware of this extreme sport that is growing crazily in the underground black market. However, you have to understand that behind this big game of chess, there is a high-level Arcanist with great hands and eyes and terrifying strength who is secretly manipulating the banker.. So, as long as this competition can proceed smoothly and without causing any eye-catching chaos, the senior management will pretend to be confused and turn a blind eye and acquiesce."
Chris secretly calculated in his heart that this kind of shady underground black market business must be involved in a certain degree of profit transfer and corruption network within the Empire government. After all, there is no absolutely perfect and impeccable system in this world Utopia.
In addition, this also involves other deeper and more complex political games. As a behemoth that rules the endless sea of stars, Arcane Empire can never impose too strict restrictions on those top Arcanists who have the ability to move mountains and reclaim seas. Otherwise, once they are pushed into a hurry, it is very likely to trigger a devastating rebellion or breed negative emotions that are difficult to suppress.
Therefore, being selectively blind on some insignificant matters is the usual political technique used by the Empire executives to give these powerful people a certain amount of free space and thereby appease their emotions.
'A whole thousand points of Arcane Merit, this is definitely a huge amount of money that can change my destiny. As long as I have this income and the recently promulgated wartime discount policy, I will be able to afford the coveted bottle of Dragon Potion in just thirty years. Even taking a step back, even if there is no discount, I only need to work hard for forty-eight years to achieve my goal!' He was crazily calculating this coveted account in his heart..
Chris carefully considered the situation in front of him over and over, hesitating on what course he should take. From the bottom of his heart, as a good and law-abiding citizen, he extremely refused to be involved in any dirty activities with illegal nature.
Although Cruz spoke of this matter calmly, as if the law was not punishable, he Chris is by no means the kind of fool who is easily fooled. He has enough experience and wisdom to understand a cruel truth: breaking the law is breaking the law, and no matter how many Diadem others use grandiose rhetoric to cover it up, it cannot change its dangerous nature.
However, at the same time, he desperately found that he could not resist the fatal temptation exuded by those thousand points of Arcane Merit. "How about this, you come with me to watch a game on site first, feel the atmosphere, and then make a final decision?" Cruz saw his wavering, and immediately continued to persuade while the iron was hot..Chris struggled in his mind for only a brief second before he nodded and agreed to the proposal.
The next game happened to be held on this Saturday, so the two hurriedly decided on a secret meeting place, and then got up and left. During this period, they even stingyly ordered a cup of the cheapest cup of coffee or tea. This fussy behavior made the waiter on the side secretly greet their eighteen generations of ancestors several times.
During the long and torturous week that followed, Chris was in a state of anxiety that was as restless as a frightened bird, with a deep sense of guilt that he was about to break the law and cross the border.
For several late nights, he couldn't help but want to pick up the magic terminal and dial the number Cruz to completely cancel this ridiculous agreement. But every time the thought came up, his greed and desire for the thousand points of merit that grew like weeds would turn into an invisible big hand, firmly holding down his movements.
When the fateful Saturday finally arrived, Chris's mental state was extremely bad and haggard. After all, due to excessive tension and entanglement, he could not close his eyes for even a second last night, even while lying in a virtual game cabin that was said to provide perfect deep sleep.
Dragging his tired body, he headed to the place agreed upon with Cruz. From a distance, he saw that the other party had been waiting for a long time. After the two met, they said nothing and turned straight into an extremely remote and dark narrow alley. There stood quietly a mysterious man with a thick hood covering his face, obviously waiting for them.
Seeing this extremely classic gangster joint style, Chris's heart suddenly sounded alarms, and he had strong doubts. But now that the matter was over, he was like an arrow from the string, and there was no way out. "Relax, my friend," Cruz comforted him in a low voice, and then turned to report to the hooded man, "He is the newcomer I recommended."
The hooded man raised his head slightly, looked at Chris carefully from head to toe with a sharp gaze as if he were examining a prey, and then took out an extremely strange-looking magic instrument with a shimmering light from under his robe. Upon seeing this, Cruz put his hand up skillfully without any hesitation, then turned to look at Chris and said, "It's your turn."
"What the hell is this? What specific function does it have?" Chris took half a step back warily and asked. "Are you talking too much nonsense?" The hooded man retorted in a cold voice, with a chilling impatience in his tone.
"What, is there anything wrong with getting to the bottom of the matter?" Chris snapped back without giving up. "Don't be so nervous. This thing is just a small Signal Jammer, used to temporarily cut off the positioning and tracking signal on your Identity Arcane Terminal, so as not to attract unnecessary tails." Cruz quickly explained to the side.
In the Arcane Empire, the vast majority of citizens are extremely resistant to the extreme practice of forcibly implanting cold monitoring chips into their bodies. Therefore, the powerful Identity Magic Watch came into being and became the most perfect substitute.
This seemingly inconspicuous watch not only combines the functions of a supercomputer and a communication phone, but is also the only legal identity certificate for citizens to handle almost all matters within the empire. Each terminal is absolutely bound to its owner and is unique; once it is unfortunately lost, it will not only take a long time to reissue it, but also need to face extremely cumbersome and troublesome review procedures.
After fully understanding the true intention of blocking the watch, Chris once again fell into deep hesitation, which meant that he would completely cut off contact with the Empire official security network "Don't waste my precious time by whining here," the extremely impatient voice of the hooded man sounded again. "The great 'Arcane Big Brother' has thousands of unpreventable high-dimensional means to monitor your every move around the clock. A tracker on a mere watch is simply the least worth worrying about at the moment!"
In the end, Chris was defeated by the greed in his heart and could not resist the temptation of merit; he sadly realized that he was already riding a tiger and was in too deep.
He gritted his teeth and put his hand into the strange instrument. After about a few seconds, the hooded man waved his hand to indicate that he could take his hand away. During the entire shielding process, Chris did not notice any other discomfort or strangeness except for a faint fluctuation of magic power.
After finishing all this, Cruz took him through a secret wall carefully disguised by the extremely sophisticated Illusion Magic, and walked into a spacious room inside. There were already more than ten people waiting boredly in the room, and they obviously still need to wait here for the subsequent gathering of personnel. In the end, one after another, more than thirty unknown guys of all kinds gathered in this room.
Finally, the hooded man slowly walked into the room. He had already held a staff with a ghostly light in his hand. He chanted quickly and activated a complex large-scale space spell. In an instant, the dazzling teleportation light engulfed everyone, and along with a violent sense of space distortion, more than 30 people disappeared out of thin air and were forcibly teleported to a completely unknown mysterious coordinate.
When the dizziness dissipated, Chris suddenly opened his eyes and found that he was in an extremely empty and huge space. Looking around, there was nothing around, only a large starship with a cold metallic luster was parked quietly in front of him. "Is this behemoth our next means of transportation?" He couldn't help but ask. "That's right," Cruz replied very firmly.
"I thought we would use some kind of ultra-long-distance space jump to be transported directly to the destination of the competition." Chris felt a little confused.."Innocent. Arcane Empire's airspace and spatial dimensions are subject to extremely strict absolute control and dragnet-like surveillance by the military. Any chaebol or individual who owns a private space Transit Gate must accept 24-hour blind spots Surveillance. As for those desperadoes who dare to hide and secretly build unauthorized Transit Gate, once discovered, they will definitely be thrown directly into the bottom Black Prison to spend the rest of their lives," Cruz explained with a sneer. "This world has undergone earth-shaking changes while you were following the steps step by step without realizing it. Haven't you noticed? Floo Network, Portkey, and Vanishing Cabinet, which were ubiquitous and extremely convenient space transmission methods in the early days of the Empire, have now been completely blocked and controlled by the authorities, and ordinary people cannot touch them at all."
"Listening to your analysis, it seems that it really makes sense." Chris nodded in sudden realization.
Due to the extremely cumbersome security check procedures for boarding the ship, the two of them waited in line for nearly an hour before everyone finally boarded the ship. Then, with a very slight roar of the engine, the huge spaceship instantly activated the highest level of stealth status, Silencio like a ghost Silencio disappeared into the sea of stars, and galloped away at full speed towards the final destination of the trip - Lochbach.
This underground voyage across the galaxy was much longer and more torturous than he expected. It took more than two hours before the spacecraft finally landed smoothly. The moment he stepped out of the spacecraft cabin and his feet stepped on the solid ground again, a deafening and crazy cheer like a doomsday tsunami boomed from the horizon not far away, soaring into the sky.
Shocked, he looked in the direction of the sound and saw an extremely majestic, giant open-air stadium standing proudly in the distance, like a steel behemoth. Countless people who were crazy enough to lose their minds were pouring into it like a bursting tide. Although he was still more than thirty meters away from the entrance of the stadium, the boiling, noisy and earth-shattering noise was still like a heavy hammer, shaking his eardrums and making his blood surge.
"Let's go, don't be stunned. I spent a lot of effort to get a few VIP seats with a very good view of the game." Cruz patted his shoulder and urged..Cruz led him through the crowded crowd with ease and came to their exclusive seats. As soon as he sat down, Chris immediately understood why these thugs were so crazy and hysterical.
In the vast expanse of sky in the center of the entire stadium, there is a huge, almost blinding holographic projection screen suspended. The most thrilling and tragic highlight moments of previous death races are being played on a loop with extremely shocking ultra-high-definition quality. Those scenes are extremely pale to describe as thrilling. The racing cars rolled and disintegrated in the sea of explosions and flames. The scene was extremely bloody but exuded a fatal and wild charm.
In just the next ten minutes, through the crazy baptism of these images, Chris finally established an extremely intuitive and profound understanding of this illegal underground event that is strictly prohibited - he clearly saw the scalp-numbing fatal dangers and the extreme stimulation that could easily ignite anyone's hormones.
"The banker behind the interstellar event that can organize such a large-scale and luxurious interstellar event without anyone noticing is definitely a super giant with astonishing wealth." Chris couldn't help but exclaimed. "You are wrong. The only one who is truly as rich as any country and controls the absolute wealth of this universe will always be Arcane Empire himself." Cruz responded with a meaningful sneer at the corner of his mouth. "Oh? There seems to be something in your words. How do you say this?" Chris asked curiously.
"According to the supreme iron law of the Empire constitution, no individual or corporate consortium is absolutely allowed to own their own private planet territory. However, Empire has opened an extremely expensive opening for them: they can spend sky-high gold coins to 'lease' the right to use the planet from the government." Cruz explained the method in detail. "Lease? If they want to hoard private real estate on this planet, or engage in a huge underground black industry like today, this leasing model does make sense." Chris nodded thoughtfully.
"You have only seen the surface. The core and most profitable use of this sky-high price leasing method is actually to wildly mine the rare magic mineral vein resources buried underground. Exploiting through this sideline method is far more profitable than directly purchasing it from a government monopoly agency at a high price. Products are much more cost-effective. However, the Empire government is not a vegetarian. After being severely stripped of a layer of heavy taxes, the real money these capital tycoons can really save and put into their own pockets is actually not as exaggerated as imagined."
"It seems that Empire officials have always maintained extremely strict and strong control over these private enterprises and super consortiums that are growing wildly in the dark, and the chains are very tight." Chris commented. "Indeed, this is simply the biggest regret and sorrow of commercial freedom." Cruz snorted coldly, with obvious dissatisfaction in his tone.
"I don't think so," Chris retorted immediately and clearly. His outlook was still deeply influenced by the Empire's education. "Pure capitalism without Empire's powerful supervision is definitely the perfect recipe for a devastating disaster. Allowing capital to pursue profits without a bottom line will only devour all ordinary people in the end."
"But don't forget, extreme high-pressure totalitarianism is also a dead end leading to destruction." Cruz responded tit-for-tat.
"You are right. But at least so far, history has proven countless times that our current system ruled by arcane emperors is far better and more stable than the Old Era system before Great Cataclysm." Chris insisted on his position.
For this reason, Chris decisively decided not to dwell on this sensitive and dangerous political topic. He was extremely keenly aware that the former best friend in front of him had completely changed over the years and unknown experiences, and had become very different from the simple friend in his memory.
What's more, the deep inside information revealed in the other party's words and deeds seemed to indicate that he knew a lot of top-secret information that ordinary civilians should not have access to. Luck What's more, Cruz also seemed to be aware of the subtlety of the atmosphere, and had no intention of continuing this topic that could easily cause trouble.
At this moment, accompanied by a burst of brilliant magic fireworks that shot straight into the sky, the chief host of the next Death Race event made his debut in the spotlight, appearing in the center of the stadium, completely igniting the fanatical atmosphere of the entire venue.