16: Chapter 16: Rich kid showing off in a Ferrari? This car isn't as high-class as my toy.

The underground parking garage of Hang Lung Plaza.

Jiang Chen walked in front, tossing a silver-gray metal sphere up and down in his hand, clearly enjoying himself.

Behind him, Academician Chen Shuyin, the youngest academician of the Longke Academy, looked like a little assistant, carrying bags upon bags of flashy women's clothing—JK uniforms, Lolita dresses, and even a few sets of silk pajamas that made one blush just looking at them.

"Mr. Jiang," Academician Chen Shuyin pushed up her glasses, her tone laced with helplessness and confusion, "although I have no right to interfere with your private life, buying so many different styles of women's clothing... can your 'two-dimensional friend' really wear them all?"

Even now, she believed that Jiang Chen was a hardcore anime otaku and was buying these things to perform some kind of material offering for a strange game character.

"You don't need to worry about that."

Jiang Chen caught the falling metal sphere, his fingertips gently stroking the hidden patterns on its surface, a smile playing on his lips, "Girls, you know, always feel like their closet is missing one piece of clothing. Besides, this is strategic material."

Strategic material used to trade for black technology; it was worth more than anything.

The two had just reached the low-key, jet-black Hongqi H9 with military license plates when a piercing engine roar suddenly exploded in the empty parking garage.

"Vroom—vroom—!"

The sound was deafening, carrying the distinct, arrogant vibe of a nouveau riche, annoying anyone who heard it.

A flashy red Ferrari LaFerrari, like a bull with bloodshot eyes, pulled an incredibly showy drift and forced its way into the empty spot next to the Hongqi.

Before the screech of tires against the ground had even stopped, the car doors had already swung up like wings.

A polished Italian handmade leather shoe stepped out.

Following it was a face that Jiang Chen was intimately familiar with, yet found incredibly punchable.

Wang Kai.

This guy was actually still in Tianhai City?

Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised. Didn't General Qin Weiguo say in the principal's office that day that he was going to send him to the Northwest to plant trees? It seemed the kid's father, a school board member, really had some pull, or perhaps the official announcement of the "exercise" had saved his life.

"Yo, isn't this our 'Great Hero Jiang'?"

Wang Kai took off his sunglasses and eyed Jiang Chen with a sarcastic expression. His gaze lingered on the Hongqi for two seconds before he sneered, "What? The exercise is over, and the country didn't give you a certificate of merit? Still driving this piece-of-junk domestic car?"

Clearly, this guy believed the official announcement.

In his eyes, that grand spectacle the other day was just a show, and Jiang Chen was nothing more than an extra who got lucky and was chosen. Although he had been scared witless at the time, he had since realized it and felt he had been played by a loser, and he was currently bursting with unvented anger.

Jiang Chen looked at him as if he were an idiot: "You didn't go to the Northwest?"

At the mention of this, Wang Kai's expression changed; it clearly struck a sore spot.

He had indeed been taken away that day, but his father had pulled strings that reached the heavens, and combined with the authorities defining it as an "exercise" to keep things quiet, he had managed to escape disaster.

But in front of Jiang Chen, he couldn't lose face.

"Whether I go or not is none of your damn business!"

Wang Kai leaned against the Ferrari's door, patted the streamlined body, and looked smug, "Look at this! A Ferrari LaFerrari! There's only one in all of Tianhai City! It cost thirty million! I'm worried the exhaust fumes here might ruin your piece-of-junk Hongqi."

He pointed at Jiang Chen with disdain, "And look at you, dressed up like a gentleman, but in reality, your pockets are probably emptier than your head. Only a bumpkin like you, who has never seen the world, would be so easily fooled by that so-called 'exercise'."

Academician Chen Shuyin stood to the side, her brows slightly furrowed, her eyes instantly turning cold.

As someone from the Longke Academy, she despised these kinds of arrogant, bullying rich kids.

Furthermore, this Hongqi had undergone military-grade modifications; the bulletproof glass could withstand sniper fire, the chassis could resist landmines, and the modification cost for the onboard satellite communication system alone was enough to buy two Ferraris.

"Ignorant."

Academician Chen Shuyin spat out the two words coldly.

"Who are you calling ignorant?"

Wang Kai only then noticed the beautiful woman behind Jiang Chen, and his eyes went wide.

With her cold temperament and tall figure, she had that intellectual, mature vibe that was infinitely better than that vapid Lin Yao. Especially those glasses—they went straight to his heart.

"Beauty, what kind of future is there in hanging out with this poor kid?"

Wang Kai twirled his car keys, flashing a smile he thought was handsome, making the Ferrari's prancing horse logo glint, "Get in my car, let me take you for a spin? This car goes from zero to a hundred in just 3 seconds; let me show you what real G-force feels like."

Jiang Chen ignored him and just looked down at the metal sphere in his hand.

This was a "little toy" that Jiang Wanqiu had specifically dug out from the ruins of the Wasteland an hour ago to thank him for the "divine clothing" (which was actually a discounted item from Uniqlo) he had fed her.

[Individual Tactical Reconnaissance Sphere (Civilian Version)]

[A product of the pre-Wasteland civilization, utilizing a micro Anti-gravity Engine, all-terrain adaptability, and silent flight.]

In that era of highly advanced technology, this thing was just a remote-controlled toy for kids. But in 2025, this was absolute black technology.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!"

Seeing that Jiang Chen was ignoring him, Wang Kai felt he was losing face. He strode forward and reached out to slap the sphere out of Jiang Chen's hand, "What are you acting so deep for with a piece of scrap metal? Are you still unweaned and playing with a yo-yo?"

Jiang Chen flipped his wrist, easily dodging his grasping hand.

"A yo-yo?"

Jiang Chen looked at the plain-looking metal lump in his hand, a playful curve forming on his lips, "Young Master Wang, your judgment is truly lacking. Just like how you think your Ferrari is fast."

"Isn't it fast?"

Wang Kai acted as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world, "This is a supercar! V12 engine! Your piece-of-junk Hongqi wouldn't even see my taillights! What, you want to race me?"

"Is that so?"

Jiang Chen fiddled with the metal sphere, his tone airy, as if he were commenting on the nice weather, "In my eyes, your car is no different from a mobility scooter for the elderly. True speed doesn't require wheels."

"Ha? No wheels?"

Wang Kai laughed until he was doubled over, tears almost coming out, "Was your brain crushed by a door? If you don't use wheels, do you fly? Do you think you're Iron Man? Or does that piece of junk in your hand carry you into the sky?"

Jiang Chen sighed.

How could one possibly advance technology while dealing with vermin like this?

"Academician Chen, step back a little."

Jiang Chen reached out to shield Academician Chen Shuyin behind him, and then, right in front of Wang Kai, casually tossed the "metal lump" into the air.

The movement was as casual as throwing away trash.

"Watch closely, you bumpkin."

Wang Kai sneered, preparing to mock him by saying the ball would land on Jiang Chen's own foot. His mouth was already open, the profanity on the tip of his tongue.

However.

The metal sphere did not hit the ground.

It suddenly stopped in mid-air, as if completely freed from the shackles of gravity, hovering there in defiance of all physical laws.

Immediately after, a faint humming sound, like an electric current slicing through the air, rang out.

"Click—click—"

Countless precise fissures opened on the surface of the metal sphere, and a deep blue light burst forth from them, instantly illuminating the dim parking garage and casting a cold, sci-fi glow over everything around it.

The originally smooth sphere began to deform rapidly; its outer shell opened like petals, extending four transparent rotors as thin as cicada wings, while the core in the center emitted an unsettling energy fluctuation.

It hovered quietly in front of Jiang Chen, perfectly still, yet exuding an absolute sense of oppression from the future.

Wang Kai's laughter died abruptly, like a duck being strangled.

He opened his mouth wide, his jaw nearly hitting his feet, his eyes bulging as if they were about to fall out of their sockets, and he pointed a trembling finger at the floating object, stuttering:

"What... what the hell is this thing?!"

Jiang Chen shoved his hands into his pockets, looked at the floating sprite, and calmly uttered a single sentence:

"This is called... Do you even deserve to talk about cars?"