Chapter 82: Covenantor (V)

Previous Chapter ◊ Table of Content ◊ Next Chapter

Chapter 82: Covenantor (V)

“This is the racer you found?” A flash of admiration crossed Yali’s eyes as he smiled. “What’s his name?”

“Shang Ze.” Yi Yun motioned Shang Ke over, then warned Yali, “He belongs to my Imperial Uncle. Don’t get any ideas.” What Lu Xiufan had said to Shang Ke over the communicator earlier had clearly been meant for Yi Yun to hear as well. Call me if you run into any trouble—the implication could hardly have been more obvious.

Yali raised an eyebrow and smiled regretfully. “What a pity.”

The more Yue Xuan heard, the uglier his expression became. His gaze toward Shang Ke was filled with wariness and disbelief.

“Yue Xuan, what’s wrong?” Yali casually asked when he noticed his strange expression.

“No, nothing.” Yue Xuan secretly reminded himself not to lose his composure. Yue Ze was a Covenantor with no emotions toward anyone or anything. There was no chance he would voluntarily acknowledge Yue Xuan as his younger brother. All Yue Xuan had to do was pretend he did not exist.

But how could someone with a guilty conscience truly ignore Yue Ze’s existence? Yue Ze had become a Covenantor entirely because of Yue Xuan and his mother. They had thought that sending him to the Covenantor Placement Center would remove the problem permanently. After all, a Covenantor as strikingly attractive as Yue Ze would be highly sought after there. Many powerful people used the Center to find bed partners or playthings. Covenantors had short lifespans, employment was effectively lifelong once contracted, and even if they were violated or tortured, they would never complain. Their bodies felt pain just like anyone else’s, but they could not release that pain through emotion and would simply treat the abuse as part of the job.

“All right. Call everyone over. The race starts in half an hour.” Yi Yun clapped his hands, his impatience obvious.

Naturally, plenty of people responded to a race organized by the prince. After some discussion, the final roster was set at twelve racers. The mechanics immediately got to work, performing safety inspections on every participating vehicle.

At that moment, Yue Xuan walked over to his racer and whispered several words into his ear.

The racer’s expression shifted slightly, and he discreetly glanced toward Shang Ke.

While checking the Purple Shadow’s performance, Shang Ke quietly monitored Yue Xuan. Seeing him whisper to his racer immediately put Shang Ke on guard. Surely he isn’t planning to pull something during the race? Shang Ke was competing on behalf of Prince Yi Yun. If Yue Xuan were caught interfering, the consequences would fall not only on him, but on the entire Yue Family.

A glint flashed through Shang Ke’s eyes. Fine. Let’s see exactly what he intends to do.

Energetic music burst across the stadium as a three-dimensional track of light appeared overhead. Like an intertwined rainbow, it crisscrossed through the air in dazzling colors.

Shang Ke put on his safety helmet. Through the dark visor, the track became perfectly clear. He memorized the route, including the position of every sharp turn, the length of every incline, and every other relevant detail. The course also contained maddening Phantom Tunnels. They had no fixed locations and could appear at any moment. A red tunnel shortened the route, while a yellow one lengthened it. At equal speeds, whoever caught the most red Phantom Tunnels would win. It was a test of split-second judgment at extreme speed.

【Shang Ze, if you win first place for me, ask for whatever you want.】 With only one minute remaining before the race, Yi Yun’s message appeared on the vehicle display.

Shang Ke replied, “Understood.”

The instant the countdown ended, twelve hovercars roared forward together, leaving brilliant trails of light behind them.

Three lanes separated Shang Ke’s car from Yue Xuan’s at the starting line, yet from the moment the race began, the other vehicle stayed close behind him. Shang Ke did not rush to accelerate. Given the complexity and length of the track, even traveling at full speed would take at least fifteen minutes to reach the finish. The real key to victory lay in the Phantom Tunnels.

The two cars raced one behind the other, neither yielding. They quickly reached the first sharp turn. Shang Ke was preparing to drift when he noticed Yue Xuan’s car occupying a particularly dangerous position. If Shang Ke misjudged either his angle or speed, they would collide. At best, it would be a minor scrape that did not affect the race. At worst, both cars would be eliminated.

Shang Ke immediately slowed, letting the other cars overtake him, then drifted cleanly through the gaps between them. Yue Xuan’s racer clearly had not expected Shang Ke to decelerate so suddenly. Caught off guard, he nearly collided with another vehicle and was almost eliminated. By the time he recovered, Shang Ke was already two car lengths ahead, though their rankings had dropped from fifth and sixth to ninth and tenth respectively.

“Haha, Your Royal Highness, it looks like the racer you found isn’t anything special after all,” Yali teased.

Yi Yun’s expression darkened, but he remained silent.

Ahead lay a chaotic series of connected curves. This time, Yue Xuan’s racer did not try to block Shang Ke’s line. Instead, he repeatedly nudged at the rear of Shang Ke’s vehicle as though by accident, trying to make him lose control.

“Hmm?” Yali, watching from outside the track, frowned thoughtfully.

Shang Ke was now certain Yue Xuan intended to manufacture an accident during the race. He really has no patience at all. He dares pull something like this in the prince’s race and actually thinks he can make it look flawless?

Fine. Then I’ll show you what it means to have your clever scheme backfire.

In the Hundred Training Space, Shang Ke had studied racing techniques from multiple worlds. One advanced technique was called Ghost Mirage. By manipulating speed and angle while taking advantage of reflections, airflow, and other factors, the driver could create visual displacement and even layers of false afterimages. The effect primarily confused the pursuing driver, while outside observers found it extremely difficult to detect what was actually happening.

The racer tried to strike Shang Ke’s vehicle without making it obvious, but the Purple Shadow suddenly became strangely elusive, making its precise position almost impossible to judge. Every time he thought he was about to make contact, he struck nothing but empty space.

What he did not realize was that his supposedly subtle behavior looked blatantly obvious to the spectators. They could not see the visual displacement created by Ghost Mirage. All they saw was Yue Xuan’s racer repeatedly chasing Shang Ke and trying to ram him, only for Shang Ke to dodge every attempt with uncanny precision. Sometimes the other racer was not even trying to hit him, yet the illusion of misalignment between the two vehicles still made it look that way to the audience.

The spectators’ expressions became increasingly strange, and one after another, they looked toward Yi Yun and Yue Xuan.

Yi Yun remained expressionless, while Yue Xuan burned with humiliation and anger. He cursed the racer as an idiot. Yue Xuan had told him to create an accident discreetly—not openly chase the other vehicle around trying to crash into it!

The racer remained completely unaware and diligently continued carrying out his supposedly “secret” order to create an accident.

Shang Ke decided he had played with him long enough. With a sudden sharp turn, he shot through a red Phantom Tunnel that had just appeared and instantly left Yue Xuan’s car far behind.

He had already made a rough calculation: red Phantom Tunnels appeared approximately once every twenty seconds, while yellow ones appeared about once every ten seconds. Even if he accidentally entered a yellow tunnel, he could continue following the same rhythm. If his calculation was correct, then while catching seven red tunnels, he would at most mistakenly enter one yellow.

As long as he maintained the rhythm, Shang Ke could almost predict when a red Phantom Tunnel would appear.

The spectators then watched the Purple Shadow pass through one red Phantom Tunnel after another with almost no misses, rapidly overtaking the cars ahead. Shang Ke had originally fallen to second from last and appeared to have no chance of victory. Yet in only five minutes, he surged from near the bottom all the way into the top three.

Yi Yun, who had remained outwardly calm until then, finally lost his composure and shouted excitedly, “Excellent!”

The surrounding spectators erupted into equally passionate cheers.

At this point, only a thousand meters remained before the finish line. The racer currently in first place assumed the crowd was cheering for him and became almost uncontrollably excited. With the finish line directly ahead and no other vehicles visible behind him, he actually took both hands off the controls and struck a triumphant victory pose.

Then a red phantom flashed behind him, and a streak of purple lightning shot out from it, crossing the finish line first by a margin of three meters.

“Awesome!” Yi Yun punched the air excitedly.

Shang Ke stepped out of the car and removed his helmet. His hair lifted lightly, scattering several glistening drops of sweat.

Standing before the Purple Shadow’s gorgeous bodywork, his cool temperament and elegant figure sent the crowd’s cheering to another peak.

Several minutes later, the other racers arrived at the finish one after another. Once Yue Xuan’s car finally came in last, the referee officially declared the race over.

“Excellent performance!” Yi Yun praised.

“Thank you.” Shang Ke remained as calm and detached as ever, yet brilliant light shimmered in his eyes. Like a firestone burning beneath ice and snow, it made him look unexpectedly dazzling and left more than a few people staring in admiration.

Watching Shang Ke become the center of everyone’s attention, Yue Xuan flew into a rage and slapped his racer across the face in public.

The sharp slap rang astonishingly clearly even through the noisy racetrack.

Yi Yun and the others turned toward him, disgust and contempt evident in their eyes.

Everyone had seen the racer’s behavior during the competition. He would never have dared act that way without someone’s instruction. What they could not understand was what had possessed Yue Xuan. Of all the people he could provoke, why choose the prince?

And now, seeing him slap the racer in public, they could not help wondering: was Yue Xuan angry because the man had acted recklessly—or because he had failed to be subtle enough?

Realizing how badly he had behaved, Yue Xuan hurriedly apologized. “My apologies. I lost my composure.”

Yi Yun gave a cold snort without bothering to hide his disgust. The expressions of everyone else became equally subtle.

Yue Xuan’s face went deathly pale. Being openly disliked by the prince meant the other nobles would begin distancing themselves from him as well. His future in the capital was likely to become extremely difficult.

Damn it! This is all that short-lived bastard’s fault!

Yue Xuan glared venomously at Shang Ke, but Shang Ke did not even look at him. To Yue Xuan, the Covenantor’s complete indifference felt more mocking than any deliberate sneer could have been.

Yue Xuan clenched both fists, killing intent plain in his eyes.

He failed to notice Yali observing him from nearby. Seeing Yue Xuan stare fixedly at Shang Ke, Yali shook his head inwardly. The prince had probably already guessed there was some grudge between Yue Xuan and the racer named Shang Ze. But Shang Ze had been brought here by the prince. Targeting him this openly was no different from slapping Yi Yun in the face.

This is the Yue Family’s heir? What an absolute fool.

Yue Xuan stepped forward, intending to explain himself to Yi Yun, but Yali blocked his way. “Yue Xuan, we’ll record the wager you lost for now. When His Royal Highness decides what he wants, I’ll have someone notify you. For today, you should go home.”

Yue Xuan’s face immediately turned ashen.

Previous Chapter ◊ Table of Content ◊ Next Chapter