282: Chapter 282 A Light in the Darkness, Speed ​​Beyond Limits

In the midnight city, neon lights flashed alternately, flickering between light and dark.

Signboards glowing with a mix of dark red and deep blue emitted a hazy, dangerous aura.

Dynamic dance music with heavy bass faintly leaked through the walls like a suppressed heartbeat.

The alley behind the bar was dark and damp, filled with a mixed stench of alcohol and trash.

An unmarked black sedan's engine growled low as its tires rolled through puddle water and quickly accelerated.

Two headlights pierced the city's night sky, slowly merging into the traffic of the main road nearby.

After half a second of silence, the shadows deeper in the alley seemed to come alive, squirming gently.

A figure in a dark sweatshirt stepped out silently, the brim of his cap pulled extremely low, almost obscuring half his face and revealing only his sharp jawline.

He stood quietly at the alley entrance, staring in the direction the black sedan had driven off.

It was Fang Cheng, who had followed Xu Hao here.

Just a moment ago, he had evaded all eyes and ears, creeping up to the second floor like a ghost.

Relying on his sharp hearing, he had clearly caught the brief, fierce struggle inside a VIP room, followed by Xu Hao's final roar of shock and anger.

From that, he deduced the situation: Xu Hao had been attacked by those two unidentified people and forcibly taken away.

A pungent smell of car exhaust still lingered in the air.

The target had been moved. He had to follow immediately and track their trail.

Fang Cheng's eyes swiftly scanned the street.

Just then, a taxi with its "Vacant" roof light on slowly drove past the intersection.

Without a moment's hesitation, Fang Cheng leaped across several meters in a single stride, rushed to the curb, and waved his arm.

Screech—

With a sharp screech of brakes, the taxi came to a stop right in front of Fang Cheng.

The window rolled down, revealing a chubby, fair face under the neon lights that looked somewhat familiar.

"Where to, brother?"

The driver yawned, asking sleepily with a mutter, "In the middle of the night... I was just about to call it a day..."

"Follow that black Wuling sedan that just left up ahead, license plate Dong A-XXXXX."

Fang Cheng's voice was low. As he spoke, he opened the door and slipped into the back seat.

"Hurry up, stay close, don't let them get away."

"Alright! No problem!"

The driver seemed startled awake by the concise, powerful command, instantly perking up and agreeing readily.

As he deftly shifted gears and restarted the car, he habitually checked the passenger through the rearview mirror.

A professional smile formed on his chubby face, but his small eyes were scrutinizing carefully:

"Hey? Say, brother, why do you look kind of familiar to me?"

"Are you... didn't you ride in my cab last time, the young man who bought a ton of barbell plates? Right, right, right, that handsome young man covered in muscle!"

Fang Cheng understood. It really was the chatty driver he had met last time.

Without showing any emotion, he turned his head and pressed his cap down even further, while casually letting the driver see his shiny bald head reflecting the neon lights.

He replied calmly, "You have the wrong person."

"Uh..."

Seeing the bald head, the driver was visibly stunned. Comparing it to his memory and sensing Fang Cheng's cold atmosphere, he laughed sheepishly and scratched his own rather sparse hair.

"Oh, oh, maybe I misremembered. A lot of young people go to the gym these days. Heh, people look alike all the time!"

Sensibly, he didn't press further, though the flames of curiosity and gossip were clearly ignited.

"Driver."

Fang Cheng's expression didn't change at all as he urged:

"Please focus on following that car ahead. Keep a safe distance and try not to attract their attention."

"I suspect my good-for-nothing brother-in-law is inside, probably out fooling around with some vixen again. I need to catch him in the act and get some evidence."

He spouted pure nonsense with a completely natural tone, as if he were truly bothered by family troubles.

"Holy crap! Catching an affair? Red-handed?!"

Upon hearing this, the driver's eyes went wide, and he instantly became excited.

As if he had found his life's calling, he slammed his hand on the steering wheel.

"Brother, you came to the right guy! I'm an expert at this!"

He slammed the accelerator all the way down, and the taxi's somewhat old engine let out an eager roar, shooting forward like it was injected with adrenaline to latch onto the taillights of the black Wuling a hundred meters ahead.

"Back in the day..."

While frantically turning the wheel to weave S-curves through the somewhat crowded city traffic, the driver bragged with spit flying everywhere:

"When I was young, I helped a cheated bro chase down his wife and her lover."

"Heh! It was so thrilling back then. We chased them from the east side to the west side, and I finally cornered them right at the door of a remote little motel. The lover was so scared he barely managed to pull his pants up!"

"So don't worry, brother. With me here, I guarantee I'll keep a hawk-eye on that cheating couple. They won't be able to escape even if they grew wings!"

"Look at my drifting... wait, no... look at my tracking skills, professional or what?"

Fang Cheng: "..."

Ignoring the driver's chatter, he merely leaned forward slightly, his eyes piercing through the windshield.

His gaze locked onto the black sedan ahead like a hawk, as he coldly reminded him again:

"Focus on Driving. Don't follow too close, but don't lose them either. Try not to speak, it affects your Driving skills."

Meanwhile, his brain was working at high speed.

The attackers' clean methods and targeted actions very likely pointed to that mysterious and dangerous organization—Noah.

As for why they suddenly attacked Xu Hao?

Perhaps Xu Hao possessed intelligence that threatened them.

Or perhaps Xu Hao was one of them, now being purged due to betrayal or an exposed identity.

Regardless of the truth, as long as he followed this car and found their hideout, all mysteries would be solved.

Even if he couldn't obtain core information about the organization, destroying one of Noah's strongholds in Dongdu by following the clues and severing the tentacles that might reach for him was still a good outcome.

Under the driver's "superb" Driving skills, the taxi wobbled along as it trailed behind.

It soon drove out of the brightly lit downtown area and turned onto a highway leading to the remote outskirts.

Streetlights grew sparse and dim, flanked by pitch-black farmland and woods, with fewer and fewer vehicles on the road.

Night enveloped the land like thick ink, with only a few flickering lights visible from distant village houses.

Just then, the black Wuling sedan ahead seemed to finally notice the anomaly of the taxi behind it, which was relentlessly tailing it with an aggressive Driving style.

Its brake lights flickered abruptly.

Immediately after, under Fang Cheng's gaze, the rear window rolled down silently.

Fang Cheng's pupils constricted abruptly, and he immediately shouted to the driver:

"Watch out, get your head down!"

Almost at the exact moment the window rolled down, a dark gun barrel poked out from inside, pointing straight at the taxi behind.

Bang! Bang!

Two muffled yet highly penetrating gunshots blasted loudly on the silent suburban road.

The flames spewing from the muzzle appeared extraordinarily glaring in the dark!

"Holy shit!"

The driver, who had been bragging endlessly and boasting of being a "tracking expert," froze with excitement turning to horror.

Replaced by terror, he let out a pig-slaughtering shriek:

"Wasn't this about catching an affair?! Why are they using real weapons?!"

Instinctively, he jerked the steering wheel, attempting to dodge the incoming bullets.

However, it was all too late.

Their target was not the passengers in the car, but the tires.

Soon, the taxi's front-right tire blew out.

Immediately after, a heavy pop came from the rear-right tire.

The speeding vehicle instantly lost balance and control, fishtailing and spinning wildly on the narrow road like a runaway horse, emitting a hair-raising screeching sound.

Then, it slammed violently into the metal guardrail by the roadside.

Clang!

With a deafening crash, the guardrail was twisted and deformed like a pretzel.

Bang!

The driver's airbag deployed violently, hitting the terrified, screaming driver in the face like a giant white fist.

This fat driver, who had just been bragging about his "glorious achievements," didn't even have time to groan before his head tilted to the side, passing out completely amidst the mess.

To Fang Cheng, whose physical strength far surpassed that of normal humans, a collision of this degree was merely a somewhat violent bump.

The instant the car drifted out of control, he relied on his formidable balance, remaining as motionless as if fixed to the seat even without wearing a seatbelt.

When the taxi hit the guardrail and finally stalled into stillness, Fang Cheng glanced at the driver lying unconscious over the deployed airbag.

Then, his calm gaze swept across the center console, finding an inconspicuous red SOS emergency button, which he decisively pressed.

The in-car System's synthesized electronic voice immediately sounded:

"Severe collision detected, airbags deployed. Emergency rescue System activated, connecting to the rescue center... Location information sent..."

Having done all this, Fang Cheng didn't linger for a second. Exerting a bit of force in his arm muscles, he pushed open the heavily deformed, jammed door and easily climbed out of the overturned taxi.

Behind him, the amber lights were still stubbornly flashing, like a distress signal sent into the dark.

Fortunately, it was midnight and traffic on the suburban road was extremely light, preventing a more severe multi-car pileup from this sudden accident.

Fang Cheng stood up, dusted off his clothes, and walked back to the middle of the road.

Looking up, the offending black Wuling sedan had already taken advantage of the earlier Chaos to speed away.

Leaving only a faint, dim point of red taillight on the horizon at the end of the night, about to fade out.

Fang Cheng's expression was calm, devoid of anger or anxiety; instead, it carried a hint of excitement.

He then unhurriedly opened his bag, retrieving the white stone mask he kept with him at all times.

He then pressed the mask firmly onto his face; the icy, rock-like touch covered his entire face.

Through two ruby lenses that looked like congealed blood, Fang Cheng's vision instantly turned blood-red.

His gaze shot onto the road ahead like precise laser radar, firmly locking onto the light point about to disappear into the darkness.

In the eyes hidden behind the mask, two clusters of fire seemed to burn silently.

The next second, Fang Cheng squatted down, resting his hands on the ground, assuming a textbook-perfect starting sprint pose.

The muscles in his legs instantly bulged and tightened like gnarled tree roots, and the ground beneath his feet seemed to sink slightly, unable to bear the force.

Crack!

A crisp sound, like the air exploding, detonated in the quiet night sky.

It even drowned out the faint sound of the car engine in the distance.

On the asphalt road, a fine ring of spiderweb-like cracks actually appeared around his footing.

Wearing the white mask, Fang Cheng launched forward instantly, reaching an acceleration on par with a top-tier supercar.

His entire person seemed to transform into a cannonball freed from gravity, hurtling along the dark highway toward the speeding black sedan ahead.

Whoosh—

Fierce winds raged and roared in his ears, creating a tangible barrier of airflow.

The trees, road signs, and even darkness itself along the road rapidly receded, stretched, and blurred in his vision, ultimately turning into a flowing, chaotic blur of colors.

At this moment, he was no longer an entity that could be defined as "human," but a white lightning bolt! A streak of light tearing through the night curtain!

Fang Cheng's running speed far surpassed the physical limits of Earth's creatures, easily overtaking even the occasional night-driven vehicle on the road!

A rich kid Driving a flashy red convertible sports car was hugging a hot babe beside him while deafening party music played in the car, enjoying midnight speed and passion.

Suddenly, he felt a white hurricane blowing past with a "whoosh."

The powerful airflow messed up his hairstyle, his bangs covering his eyes, and he nearly lost control of the steering wheel.

The rich kid stood dumbfounded, watching the unbelievable white figure rapidly recede in the rearview mirror, even forgetting to chew the bubble gum in his mouth.

The hot babe beside him turned pale with fright, her voice trembling:

"Young Master Zheng, w-what was that just now? Was it a ghost?"

The driver of another long-haul truck was yawning, holding a cup of scalding coffee in his hand, preparing to take a sip to refresh himself.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a white light passing by at an unbelievable speed.

He didn't even see clearly what it was, only feeling like thunder had rolled past his ears.

The massive shock caused his hand to tremble, instantly spilling the scalding coffee over the steering wheel and his thighs.

"Ow—hot hot hot! Holy shit, is that fucking human or ghost? Or did a meteorite fall?"

Grimacing in pain, the driver stared shaken at the white figure hurtling ahead, his heart pounding violently.

Meanwhile, inside the black Wuling sedan.

Two men in jackets were discussing the series of events that had occurred earlier.

From their words, it was clear that the one Driving the car was named Officer Zhou Liang, while the one sitting in the passenger seat was named A-Li.

"Could that taxi tracking us earlier belong to the Red Tiger Gang?"

A-Li frowned, looking back at the unconscious Xu Hao lying in the rear seat, and said with some unease:

"As soon as we brought Xu Hao into the car, they followed?"

"Doesn't seem like it."

A-Li calmly steered the wheel and offered his opinion:

"That bunch of hoodlums from the Red Tiger Gang doesn't have such fast reaction speed, nor the guts to directly tail us. Probably someone behind them happened to run into us nearby, or of course, it might just be a mistake."

"However, to be safe, getting rid of them is always the right move. The boss instructed that this operation must be clean and quick; we can't let the Red Tiger Gang know Xu Hao fell into our hands."

"Yeah, true."

A-Li nodded, relaxing slightly.

Just then, through the rearview mirror, he saw something in the distance behind the car rapidly approaching.

At first he thought it was an illusion, but the object became clearer and clearer.

"Officer Zhou Liang, look behind us!"

A-Li's tone carried a hint of alarm and uncertainty.

Officer Zhou Liang immediately turned his head to look back.

In the darkness hundreds of meters behind the car, a white human figure was sprinting toward them at a speed that completely defied common physics.

The figure grew closer and clearer—

A pure white mask and two crimson, blood-like gazes, resembling a man-eating Rakshasa demon in the night!

"Wh... What kind of ghost is that?!"

Officer Zhou Liang's face paled drastically, his voice trembling involuntarily.

The speed of that figure's run was so fast that it made his scalp tingle.