Chapter 169 Malicious Cut-Off

"Fine, you've got some skills."

The man in the peaked cap spoke first. He was panting, his brim tilted to one side, and rainwater flowed down his forehead.

He took half a step back and raised his hand to straighten his brim, revealing a dark face. He looked to be in his thirties, with deep wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and lips turned pale from the rain.

"Which team are you brothers from?"

"Let me introduce ourselves..."

"We're from the Haicheng Jubiao Maintenance Station. Our team is called jubiao bus. We're ranked just over 20,000 on the Highway Rankings. It's not a huge team, but being at this rank, you should understand the prestige..."

He spoke calmly, but he still sounded proud when mentioning their rank.

After all, ranking just over 20,000 out of 370,000 Vehicles was indeed considered a top-tier team.

It was just that even he was a bit surprised...

Before the apocalypse broke out, the ice maker beside him had allowed him to awaken the A-rank Talent [Ice-making Control]. Although it had many limitations—for example, it could only freeze water surfaces and the ice thickness was limited—

in this sea ravaged by torrential rain, this Talent was like a fish in water.

But just now, he had actually been crushed on his own home turf?

That young man, stepping on a mass of black stuff, was faster than him and had quicker reactions. His own ice screen couldn't do anything to the guy...

"Rank 20,000?!"

The Man with Swimming Goggles swayed in the water, his expression changing.

When the apocalypse broke out, he was swimming at the pool and Awakened the C-rank [Deep Diver] Talent.

He had originally thought that snatching Treasure Chests in the water would be a sure thing.

Looking at it now, his team was ranked 200,000 while the other was 20,000. They weren't even in the same league. If he tried to force it, he wouldn't just fail to get the chest; he might even lose something in the process.

He swallowed hard and suppressed his frustration. "Ahem, well, we're from the Haicheng Swimming Pool. Our team is Flying Fish Mini-truck, ranked around 200,000. We can't compare to you."

He squeezed out a smile and swam backward. "There's only one chest. You two fight for it; I'll head out first. Let's consider ourselves friends today. I hope you'll look out for me if we meet again."

The man in the peaked cap nodded. "Fair enough. Flying Fish Bus, right? I'll remember that. I'll tell our car owner when I get back. If we run into you during a mission, we'll definitely look out for you!"

The Man with Swimming Goggles didn't say more and dove into the water.

At this point, only two Vehicles remained, neither willing to yield.

The man in the peaked cap felt he couldn't see through the man and woman before him, so he took the initiative to speak: "Brother, it's just us now. I think that guy who just left was a smart man."

Chen Yu shook his head. "He's a complete idiot. He could be fooled by just a few words. It'd be a miracle if he lives comfortably in the apocalypse."

The man in the peaked cap was stunned. "What do you mean?"

Chen Yu turned his head. "I mean, since you're also a smart man, I'm going over to open the Treasure Chest."

"?"

"Wait a minute!"

The man in the peaked cap took a step forward, and the ice beneath him cracked.

"Are you sure you want to make enemies of us? I saw your car, that little bus, right?"

"You'd better not threaten me."

Chen Yu was already stepping on his shadow, moving forward until he was just a step away from the building material treasure chest.

The man in the peaked cap still wanted to stop him,

but a cold voice drifted over: "Take one more step, and you're dead."

These words left the man's foot suspended in mid-air for a long time before he slowly pulled it back.

He gritted his teeth, turned around, and walked back,

layers of ice spreading toward his Vehicle beneath his feet.

"Splash, splash, splash—"

Stepping on the shadow, Chen Yu pushed aside the nearby rule seaweed.

Shen Qingci leaned against his back. "When you said those words just now, it was quite scary."

Chen Yu spoke indifferently, "Of course, because what I said was true."

Chen Yu pushed aside the last clump of seaweed and patted the lid of the Treasure Chest.

"We're here. Open it."

Shen Qingci poked half her head out from behind his back and looked at the chest.

The dark green seaweed had been pushed to both sides, revealing the grey chest body submerged in the water.

"Still me?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

Shen Qingci placed her fingertips on the lid.

The Treasure Chest lid slid open silently, a faint light swirling inside.

[Obtained: Wood x30 units]

[Obtained: Iron Blocks x20 units]

[Obtained: Parts x200 units]

[Obtained: Fabric x30 units]

[Obtained: Glass x50 units]

[Obtained: Electronic Components x10 units]

[Obtained: Low-grade Energy Core x2]

[Obtained: Special Material: Rule Seaweed Remains x10 meters]

The materials were stored directly in Shen Qingci's backpack, and she immediately traded them to Chen Yu.

"It seems... like less than last time?"

Chen Yu glanced at the numbers, his mouth twitching. "Yeah, overall it's quite a bit less. Maybe it's because this chest's location was too obvious, so the difficulty wasn't high?"

All this was just speculation.

Of course, there were other possibilities, like: are building material treasure chests truly random?

While Chen Yu was thinking, the Talent return notification appeared!

[Talent Return: Wood x6,000 units, Iron Blocks x4,000 units, Parts x40,000 units, Fabric x6,000 units, Glass x10,000 units, Electronic Components x2,000 units, Low-grade Energy Core x400, Rule Seaweed Remains x2,000 meters]

Among them, the one-time increase of 40,000 units of Parts was simply heaven-defying!

And the Rule Seaweed Remains also increased by 2,000 meters all at once. It was inexhaustible, simply inexhaustible!

By the time the two returned to the car, the girls had been waiting to welcome them for a long time!

"They're back, they're back..."

"Brother Chen Yu! Senior Sister! Are you two okay?"

"How come those two people ran away just now?"

"What was in the Treasure Chest? Did anything dangerous happen?"

Chen Yu didn't want to answer the flurry of questions, so the heavy responsibility naturally fell to Shen Qingci.

Yang Kexin walked to the driver's seat and continued driving.

But they hadn't gone far.

She suddenly said, "Wait..."

"What's wrong?"

Zhang Wanyue asked.

Yang Kexin didn't answer, just staring out the windshield.

The wipers were still moving rapidly, but what was on the road wasn't rain.

It was ice.

A thin layer, clinging to the highway surface.

It extended all the way to the front of their car.

Thick in some places, thin in others, some veering left, some veering right.

"Are you kidding me! It's twenty or thirty degrees above zero, how can there be ice?"

Yang Kexin gripped the steering wheel firmly, afraid of accidentally flipping off the highway.

Shen Qingci was stunned. "Ice? I know, it's the work of the people in the car ahead. Junior Brother Chen Yu just forced back an Awakened who could generate ice..."

"What? Generating ice?"

Wang Mengmeng cried out, "Isn't that cheating! That's so disgusting! Using such tricks on us!"

Shen Qingci snorted coldly and raised her hand. The shadow beneath her feet slid out silently, clinging to the highway surface like a black snake, passing through the ice shards and heading straight for the rear wheels of that car.

The shadow coiled around them.

That medium-sized bus didn't change at all; it didn't even wobble.

Shen Qingci frowned and increased the intensity.

But it was still useless.

Chen Yu explained, "Senior Sister, haven't you noticed? Unless your shadow can make the road surface collapse, Vehicles are not affected by any Talents."

Shen Qingci was taken aback. "But the ice on the ground..."

Chen Yu said calmly, "The ice won't affect us either. It just looks dangerous. If you don't believe me, Kexin, just turn the wheel a little and you'll see."

Yes, in this section and the previous one, Vehicles were invincible.

Vehicles would only take damage in special sections.

The people ahead clearly didn't know the rules, but their intentions were malicious, and they have already sought their own path to death.