17: The fake young master's "wheelchair drifting" car show

The night was as dark as ink, isolating the neon lights of Tianqiong City outside the towering iron gates of the Gu Family Manor.

After last night's livestream accident, which was enough to be recorded in the internet's history of aesthetic failure, a suffocating low pressure permeated the interior of the Gu Family Manor, more pungent than aged canned herring.

The servants walked on tiptoe, fearing that the slightest sound would make them a punching bag for the mistress of the house, who was repeatedly jumping on the edge of a breakdown.

On the east side of the manor, in the newly renovated first-floor suite that originally belonged to the guest room but had now become Gu Yu's temporary kennel, the atmosphere was strangely excited.

"Young Master Yu, this is the goods you ordered urgently. Please sign for it."

A man wearing gray overalls and a peaked cap was carefully unpacking a huge alloy wooden crate.

As the wooden boards were pried open, the scent of expensive mechanical lubricant wafted through the air.

This was no ordinary wheelchair.

Its entire body presented a matte carbon fiber black. The seat used the same material as an ergonomically designed fighter jet cockpit. The armrests integrated a complex control panel, with red and blue indicator lights flashing alternately in the darkness, flickering rhythmically.

Beneath the base, it was exaggeratedly equipped with four wide all-terrain explosion-proof tires and two miniature nitrogen propulsion nozzles.

[Code Name: Storm Chaser (Prototype)]

[Manufacturer: Eden · Third Laboratory]

[Function Brief: Integrated military-grade exoskeleton balancing System, automatic navigation cruise, and instantaneous acceleration overload protection (Restriction lock cracked). Top speed can reach 120 km/h. It is simply the Ferrari of wheelchairs, the F1 racing car for the disabled.]

Gu Yu lay on the bed, his broken leg in a cast suspended high up.

Although his face still throbbed with pain and his reputation was already in the gutter, at this moment, looking at this powerful steel mount before him, his eyes were still full of fanaticism.

"Good... good stuff!"

Gu Yu struggled to sit up and, with the support of his bodyguards, laboriously moved onto the wheelchair.

*Click.*

The safety buckle locked automatically.

A powerful sensation of being pushed back was instantly transmitted, as if this chair was going to take him flying in the next second.

"With this... I'll see who still dares to mock me for being a cripple!"

Gu Yu stroked the cold armrest and sneered, "That damn Gu Fan... does he think that by kicking me out of my room and breaking my leg, I'll have no way to deal with him?"

"In this Family, accidents are always frequent."

"For example... an unfortunate car accident."

The black market merchant who delivered the goods lowered his voice, speaking with a hint of flattery: "Young Master Yu, we have modified this machine's power System according to your requirements. Once 'Berserk Mode' is activated, its impact force is equivalent to a charging rhino. Let alone a person, even a wall could be knocked down."

"Very good."

Gu Yu took out a check from his pocket and threw it to the other party. "You can get lost now. Remember, this thing is for my rehabilitation training, understand?"

"I understand, I understand! I wish the Young Master a... pleasant recovery."

The deliveryman took the check and scurried out of the room like a rat.

Gu Yu sat alone in the dim room, his finger gently stroking the bright red 'Start' button on the control panel.

"Gu Fan, oh Gu Fan, aren't you lucky?"

"Didn't you manage to come back alive even from the Forbidden Zone?"

"Then I'll knock you right back into the Forbidden Zone!"

"I don't believe your bones can be harder than this titanium alloy bumper!"

...The next morning.

The sky over Tianqiong City was exceptionally clear.

Gu Fan woke up early.

Since his Great Dao Returns to One Art broke through to the sixth layer of Qi Refining, his sleep quality had been surprisingly good; he was the type who fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow and wouldn't wake up even if thunder struck.

Furthermore, as long as he circulated his Cultivation Technique, his body would automatically absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, meaning he didn't need to rely on a lot of sleep to recover his energy like ordinary people.

"This is the life of a cultivator."

Gu Fan stretched and pushed open the floor-to-ceiling window leading to the garden.

The air was filled with the fragrance of flowers and plants, as well as... the lingering smell of charcoal from that large pit in the distance.

That unlucky Celestial Master Zhang had been sent to be cremated overnight. It was said that during the cremation, they didn't even need to light a fire (he came with his own lightning fire), and he even produced several colorful sarira beads, which the funeral parlor regarded as a marvel.

Gu Fan was in a great mood and decided to take a walk along the manor's one-kilometer-long private driveway to help his digestion.

He wore his signature loose casual clothes and even held a bottle of chilled 'happy water' he had swiped from the fridge, strolling leisurely down the tree-lined avenue.

The scenery here was indeed quite good.

On both sides were neatly trimmed French plane trees, with sunlight casting mottled shadows through the leaves.

If one ignored the figure hiding behind the bushes with green light flashing in his eyes, it was indeed a beautiful morning.

"He's coming... he's coming..."

Gu Yu was currently sitting in that wildly cool and explosive 'Storm Chaser,' lying in wait at a blind corner of the driveway.

He was wearing a black tight-fitting racing suit (though only the upper half was visible) and had specifically put on a full-face motorcycle helmet.

This set of equipment brought out his 'chunibyo' aura to the extreme.

He stared fixedly at the figure not far away who was tilting his head back to drink cola.

Intense hatred made his hands tremble.

The pain of the broken leg, the humiliation of social death, the grudge over the stolen room... new and old scores would all be settled here today!

"Gu Fan, you're the one looking for death! If you don't watch where you're walking, don't blame your brother for driving too fast!"

Gu Yu roared in his heart, his finger slamming down on the red button.

"Storm System, activate!"

"Target Locked: Humanoid obstacle one hundred meters ahead!"

"Full power output! Crash into him!"

Following his command, the illegally modified wheelchair let out a dull low growl.

"VROOOOOM!!!"

That wasn't the sound of an electric motor; it was practically the roar of a jet plane taking off.

The four tires gripped the ground suddenly, grinding out four black scorch marks and a puff of pungent blue smoke on the asphalt road.

In the next second.

The wheelchair lunged toward Gu Fan.

The speed was astonishingly fast.

Eighty miles... one hundred miles... one hundred and twenty!

Gu Yu only felt the howling wind as his entire body was pinned against the backrest by the massive inertia.

But the excitement in his eyes was impossible to hide.

Closer!

Even closer!

Fifty meters... thirty meters... ten meters!

He could already see the image of Gu Fan being sent flying into the sky, a bloody mess.

"Go to Hell! Hahahaha!"

Gu Yu let out a twisted, wild laugh inside his helmet.

As for Gu Fan.

He was still standing in the middle of the road, holding his cola bottle, and hadn't even turned his head.

It was as if he hadn't heard the lethal roar coming from behind him at all.

Until the wheelchair was only three meters away from him.

Just as the titanium alloy bumper was about to kiss his spine.

Gu Fan smiled helplessly.

"Sigh, playing Fast and Furious first thing in the morning?"

"Since you like driving so much, let me show you what a real 'Deja Vu' looks like."

[Ding!]

The familiar and pleasant System notification sound rang out with precise timing.

[Detected lethal traffic accident malice from 'Gu Yu'.]

[Nature of Malice: Intentional murder, speeding, driving an illegally modified vehicle.]

[Malice Level: S-Rank (After all, he really wants to turn you into a wall painting).]

[Backlash triggered! Multiplier: 60x.]

[Random effect generating... Detected that the vehicle possesses an AI System.]

[Congratulations, you have selected: Backstab of Eden (AI Awakening · Dance King Version).]

[Effect Description: Since this wheelchair is so smart, it must have its own thoughts. For example, it feels it shouldn't be a killing machine, but rather a... ballet dancer? Or a Beyblade warrior?]

Right then.

"Beep! Detected a noble Divine Unit ahead!"

An emotionless yet strangely pious synthesized electronic voice suddenly boomed from the wheelchair's speakers.

"As a wheelchair with moral standards, I refuse to execute the impact command!"

"Activating Emergency Evasion Mode!"

"Activating... Figure Skating Mode!"

"What the Hell?!"

Gu Yu's wild laugh instantly froze on his face, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

Before he could react.

The wheelchair, which had been sprinting in a straight line, suddenly and without warning locked its two left tires.

Meanwhile, the two tires on the right instantly accelerated to two hundred miles per hour.

At such high speed, this maneuver could only have one result.

"SCREEEEECH!!!"

Accompanied by an extremely sharp and ear-piercing sound of friction.

The hundred-kilogram alloy wheelchair completed an incredible ninety-degree right-angle drift less than half a meter away from Gu Fan.

The bumper practically grazed the hem of Gu Fan's pants as it passed by.

The wind pressure blew the corner of Gu Fan's clothes, yet not even the cola in his hand was spilled.

But this was only the beginning.

Due to the massive inertia combined with the counter-rotation of the two wheels.

The entire wheelchair began to take off from the ground.

It literally took off.

Like a top that had been whipped, it began to spin frantically with the rear left wheel as the pivot point.

"I love spinning! The magic of love goes round and round!"

The wheelchair's audio System automatically switched songs, playing an extremely catchy and rhythmic viral dance track.

And the volume was turned up to the max.

"Ahhh! Stop! I'm going to throw up!"

Gu Yu screamed inside the cockpit.

At this moment, he was drawing perfect circles in the air along with the wheelchair.

That centrifugal force was ten times more intense than a roller coaster.

His face was distorted by the spinning, saliva was flying everywhere, and his newly casted leg flailed in the air like an uncontrolled sausage.

"Wonderful."

Gu Fan turned around, took a sip of cola, and even had the leisure to pull out his phone and open the recording mode.

"With this drifting technique, even Takumi Fujiwara would have to hand over a cigarette."

"Look at this grip, look at this posture; it's practically a textbook for the wheelchair world."

"Young Master Yu, are you planning to participate in the figure wheelchair event at the Paralympics? I think the gold medal is in the bag."

Gu Yu could no longer hear what Gu Fan was saying.

His brain had been spun into mush.

His stomach was churning even more violently, and the late-night snack he had secretly eaten last night was scrambling to see the light of day again.

"Blegh—"

Finally, he couldn't hold it back anymore.

A rainbow-like stream of vomit followed the trajectory of the rotation, drawing a beautiful spiral in the air.

It was like adding special effects to this solo dance.

"Oh dear, that's a bit unhygienic." Gu Fan stepped back a few paces to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

Just then.

The crazy wheelchair seemed to feel that just spinning wasn't exciting enough.

"Beep! Warm-up exercise finished!"

"Detected destination! Activating Sprint Mode!"

"Target Locked: Fifty meters ahead... Open-air biogas fermentation tank (septic tank)!"

"Let's embrace the scent of nature together!"

The wheelchair suddenly adjusted its direction, and all four wheels simultaneously erupted with blue nitrogen flames.

"BOOM!"

Like a black cannonball, it carried its dizzy driver and charged straight toward the septic tank that had been specially built near the flower bed for irrigation convenience, its lid not yet tightly closed.

"No... that's..."

Gu Yu saw that dark opening in his spinning peripheral vision.

The tumbling liquid inside, emitting a mysterious odor, instantly snapped him awake.

That wasn't a pool.

That was Hell!

"Stop! Stop quickly! I don't want to eat shit!"

Gu Yu let out a desperate howl, his hands frantically slapping the red emergency stop button.

But the System responded coldly:

"Brakes are damaged. Enjoy the pleasure of flight, young man!"

"Whoosh—"

With five meters left to the septic tank, the wheelchair actually performed a highly ornamental little jump.

It drew a graceful parabola in the air.

Gu Yu looked at the approaching yellow-brown liquid surface, filled with regret.

Why?

Why am I always the one getting hurt?

I just wanted to run someone over; why do I have to go through this inhuman torture?

*SPLASH!*

A loud noise.

Water... no, filth splashed everywhere.

The image at that moment was nauseating.

That priceless wheelchair, along with its owner, plunged headfirst into the pool filled with the accumulation of years in a perfect diving posture.

The splash was a full two meters high.

The gardeners nearby trimming the plants were all stunned.

They all stared dumbfoundedly at the bubbling surface of the pool.

A moment later.

"Glug glug glug..."

A head covered in black mud and emitting a sickening stench laboriously emerged from the pool.

The racing helmet on Gu Yu's face was gone.

He even spat out a mouthful of unmentionable liquid.

"Cough, cough... Help... Help..."

He stretched out a filth-covered hand, scratching helplessly in the air.

Meanwhile, that loyal wheelchair was currently floating upside down on the surface, its two wheels still spinning stubbornly, and still playing that stirring background music:

"Running with the wind, freedom is the direction, chasing the power of thunder and lightning..."

Gu Fan walked slowly to the edge of the pool.

He didn't get too close, but stood upwind, still maintaining his leisurely appearance.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

Gu Fan shook his head, feigning pity.

"Little brother, I know you have ambitions for the Family business."

"But I didn't expect your ambition to be this big."

"You haven't even become the head of the Family yet, and you're already going deep into the grassroots to experience the work of a 'shit-stirrer'?"

"This kind of hands-on spirit really moves me as your older brother."

Gu Fan covered his nose and waved at the figure still splashing in the pool.

"Alright, swim slowly. I hear the ammonia in there is quite good for the skin; just treat it as a deep hydrotherapy session."

"Remember to take a few more gulps, don't let it go to waste; this is all our own home-produced organic fertilizer."

After saying that, Gu Fan turned and left.

Leaving behind a pool of mess and Gu Yu's gradually weakening cries of misery.

In this battle.

Gu Yu didn't just lose his dignity.

He lost a lifetime's worth of olfactory confidence.