Thrilled to Pieces

"Remember, you brought this on yourselves."

Chen Feng turned the wheel and floored the accelerator, pulling away.

"Trying to run? Not a chance!" the greasy man shouted. "Son, don't let him get away!"

The boy excitedly wiped his runny nose. "Got it, got it!"

"Box him in! From the front and back!"

The father and son chased Chen Feng from opposite directions. They probably thought an explosion just meant a car would go bang, scare the player, and end their turn early.

When Meng Chengcheng saw Chen Feng's car keep sounding warnings as it came under attack from both sides, she instinctively called out, "Watch out!"

Chen Feng looked toward her voice. She was risking a collision herself to cut off the greasy man's car and take some pressure off him. His heart stirred. Looks like she really has fallen for me.

But just then, the middle-aged woman who had been frightened moments ago suddenly charged in and knocked Meng Chengcheng aside. "Stay away from my husband!"

"Beautifully done!"

The greasy man burst out laughing. "I've got a wife. Do you?"

With that, he charged straight at Chen Feng.

Behind Chen Feng, the boy pursued relentlessly in his bumper car.

"Nowhere to run!"

Chen Feng was trapped between them, unable to move forward or back. Even the God of Mount Akina would probably have been done for.

But Chen Feng activated the Sandevistan.

In an instant, the entire area slowed down.

Someone might ask: Chen Feng had sped up, but his car hadn't. What good would turning the steering wheel a hundred times in a second do if the car couldn't keep up?

Well, it did some good.

The car couldn't speed up, but Chen Feng was plenty strong.

He jumped out of the car, intending to kick it clear.

Then he thought better of it. If one punch from him could smash a brick to pieces, what if a kick blew the car apart?

So he carefully gave the car a gentle push, moving it out of the trap. Then he got back in and let time return to normal.

"What?"

"Ah!"

The father and son were driving at full speed when everything blurred. The white car that had been right in front of them vanished, leaving them staring at each other.

"No!"

By then, it was too late to brake.

Crash!

The two cars hit head-on.

The impact tore both steering wheels from their hands and rattled them to the bone. Their insides hurt as though a boxer had punched them in the gut.

And it wasn't over. Both had already hit Chen Feng once, and now they had hit each other. Warning bells rang from both cars at once.

"See you."

His tires squealing against the ground, Chen Feng drove off.

Just as the two recovered from the collision, they heard limbs tapping against the ground.

The ghost cars were coming.

Run! Run!

The greasy man spun his wheel and swerved sharply, escaping a ghost car.

His elementary-school-aged son wasn't so lucky.

Crash!

A ghost car rammed the boy's white car aside. The warning bell instantly became frantic.

Before, it had rung ding-dong, ding-dong.

Now it went ding-ding-ding-ding.

It sounded like a bomb counting down.

At the sound, the nearby ghost cars immediately backed away from the boy.

"Dad, my car's broken!"

The boy looked helplessly at his father. No matter how hard he pressed the accelerator or turned the wheel, the car wouldn't respond.

The greasy man frowned. "What kind of lousy ride is this? We queued forever, and now he can't play after just two bumps?"

"Dad! I'm not done playing!"

"All right, all right. Stop fussing. I'll take you on it again later."

"Yay!"

Hearing that his dad would take him on another ride, the boy threw both hands up in delight.

Then he blew up with joy.

BOOM!

The greasy man froze. Flames shot high from his son's car, and with a blast of scorching air and the acrid stench of burning, the entire car exploded.

Metal parts, tires, and his son, who hadn't even had time to scream, were reduced to charred fragments.

His boy had been blown to pieces.

"My son!"

The husband and wife screamed together.

The middle-aged woman slammed on the brakes and scrambled toward the wreckage.

But halfway there, a ghost car charged at her. Its tongue flicked out, curled around her, and swallowed her whole!

"Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch."

"Ptooey!"

The ghost car spat out a pile of bone fragments.

"Ah! Ah! My wife!"

The greasy man shouted as he dodged the ghost car behind him. His hatred for Chen Feng had reached its peak. "You knew from the start! You knew those were real monsters, didn't you?"

"Why didn't you tell us? Why?"

"You got them killed!"

Meng Chengcheng was speechless. She had seen the whole thing. "Mister, you were the ones who started trouble. And a monster killed your wife. You don't dare get angry at the monsters, so you blame us for everything?"

Chen Feng told Meng Chengcheng not to waste her breath. "Why bother arguing with him? Hey, mister, sure, it was my fault. What are you going to do about it?"

The greasy man's eyes reddened. "I'll fucking kill you!"

Seeing him charge over as if ready to die, Chen Feng didn't flinch. "Come on, then!"

Bang! The cars collided, pulled apart, then collided again!

Ding-ding-ding-ding! The urgent countdown rang from both cars.

"You think that because both our cars are done for, you've taken me down with you?"

"Haven't I?"

"Idiot. I've got a girlfriend. Do you still have a wife?"

Chen Feng flipped into Meng Chengcheng's car.

The greasy man was left standing there, utterly lost.

"No! Stay away!"

He took off toward his wife's car, but how could two legs outrun four?

Watching the ghost car devour the greasy man, Meng Chengcheng brushed back her hair and said irritably, "Who's your girlfriend?"

Chen Feng laughed it off. "I was just messing with him."

People were strange. Chen Feng's casual attitude left Meng Chengcheng feeling a little disappointed. But now wasn't the time to dwell on that. The important question was: "What do we do next?"

The game had originally set five people against five monsters. If each person kept one ghost car occupied and took a hit now and then, nobody would be in danger.

But now their single car was up against five monsters. If the monsters boxed them in from both sides, neither of them could escape.

"Don't panic. The middle-aged woman's car is still there."

No sooner had Chen Feng said that than a bang rang out.

The car was gone.

Chen Feng fell into thought.

At the amusement park, revealing what happened in a ride was punished with a deduction of Game Coins. Getting matched with newcomers who knew nothing was unavoidable.

If clearing a ride depended entirely on your teammates, though, that wouldn't be reasonable.

There had to be a way to clear it alone.

What was it?

Chen Feng remembered Meng Chengcheng saying they could seize a black car, just like in Hide-and-Seek.

That was it. The black cars were monsters made of flesh and blood. No matter how many times they crashed, they wouldn't explode.

The problem was that they were monsters, and they ate people! A visitor would be eaten the moment they got close.

Even if someone managed to knock one unconscious in a collision and climb aboard, wouldn't it just throw them off when it woke up?

Damn it! If only they were dead.

Wait. Dead?

"With my strength, I can just kill them."

Chen Feng's superintelligence told him it was time to use his superstrength.

But that wouldn't do.

"Meng Chengcheng is still here. If I suddenly show off and smash a monster to pulp with one punch, even an idiot will know I'm not Liu Xiaohu."

Chen Feng still didn't know his identity had been exposed long ago.

"Is there a way an ordinary person could kill a monster?" As Chen Feng thought it over, his eyes suddenly lit up. "I think I know what to do."

With that, he hit the brakes, grabbed the steering wheel, and turned the car a hundred and eighty degrees.

Meng Chengcheng was stunned. "Why are you driving toward the ghost cars? Stop!"