Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Sky City
It was soon time for the next day's race.
After Long Yu received the news, she asked everyone to meet at the Attic World before the race to discuss the countermeasures in advance, and the finalized plan was - Long Yu would be responsible for collecting the equipment, Jason and Bob would lead the way with Coffee and Rum, with Dr. Wu and Cici accompanying. Dr. Wu would be in charge of warding off the unexpected at all times, Cici with Mimi would be in charge of replenishing the status, Robo would be Long Yu's replacement and if something happened to Long Yu to collect the rest of the equipment, while Merry and Dao, would be in charge of covering a retreat and blocking by all means if anyone caught up behind them.
"Little girl, it's condescending to let you cover a retreat." Long Yu still looked arrogant and spoke in a tone that sounded like a mockery.
"It's nothing, just teamwork, everyone doing their part, no highs or lows." Merry didn't look back at her.
The crowd at the start was twice as big as last time.
In addition to all kinds of mechanical airships, the track was also filled with all kinds of flying, swimming and strange racing cars and ships, and some players had even made a race car based on the colourful giant beast that appeared at the Great Wall last time .... It was a world spectacle competition.
The gorilla that slapped Long Yu off the track last time was off to the side, huffing and puffing at the sight of Long Yu's motorcycle.
The countdown sign hanging above the start lit up with a 10 second countdown!
... 3, 2, 1!
Sure enough, players from all sides were out in force. The gorilla was supposed to be the "fighter" of one of the teams. It was fast and powerful, and would attack any player who overtook his team. Along the way, a few cars were trampled by it.
After two teams had collected their second piece of equipment at the same time, it set its sights on Long Yu and began to pursue.
Another group of players, having missed the first two pieces of equipment, turned their attention to the teams that had already collected two pieces of equipment and began to speed up the chase.
Jason and Bob struggled to fight against them, and although long-range attacks were not allowed on the track, they could not resist the attacks from the high-speed airships of some players. Luckily, the airships of Jason and Bob were strong enough to keep up with them.
Just before reaching the third equipment point, the gorilla came out of nowhere and almost slapped Long Yu's motorcycle airship again with its heavy claws, fortunately, Long Yu reacted quickly enough to avoid the attack. Long Yu slowed downed a bit, Cici and Mimi activated the guardian mode and quickly repaired Long Yu's airship.
"Little girl, don't be flabbergasted!" Long Yu's voice came over the system.
Merry didn't answer and concentrated on piloting the airship. The gorilla was hiding somewhere again, but what was predictable was that it would soon launch its next round of attacks. The third equipment point was about to be reached, and if it interfered, there was a high risk that all the efforts would be lost.
Merry accelerated the airship to keep in line with Long Yu's motorcycle, hovering above Long Yu. In this way, even if she was attacked by the gorilla, Merry could manage to help Long Yu block the next attack. When dealing with such a brutal player, it's necessary to use a bit of brutality.
Only in doing so, Merry herself was in danger, and if she didn't master it well, she would be turned into a puddle of gold coins and cold experience value if she was slapped down by it on the ground.
"Merry, are you crazy?" Jason could not help but sternly discourage Merry when he saw this.
Merry remained unanswered as she switched on the omni-view system, turning on all the monitoring systems around the fuselage and staring intently at the images on the screen.
Sure enough, the gorilla reappeared in the screen, accelerating from the side and quickly overtaking Long Yu's motorcycle airship, and after choosing the right position, it was about to attack.
Merry filled the airship to the fullest power and as the gorilla slapped at Long Yu, Merry took aim and slammed into its paws. The gorilla was caught off guard and stumbled to the side. The huge claw completely covered Merry's airship and crashed into the track with a loud thud, and gold coins flying from an airship next to it by its crash.
"Merry! Merry!" Dao hysterically shouted Merry's name over the system, but there was no answer.
Long Yu successfully collected her third equipment as Dao landed near Merry and Jason also tried to rush over to rescue her.
"Focus on the game! She's making this choice to win the race!" Long Yu calmly reminded everyone.
Jason immediately calmed down, the number of players attacking in front of him was increasing, if he stopped now, Merry's efforts would be in vain, Jason had to grit his teeth and hold on.
The collection of the fourth piece of equipment went well. Although there were still a large number of players chasing after them, Jason and the other three were still very strong in resisting the pressure.
Just as they reached around the fourth equipment point, a large number of players suddenly appeared in front of them. The original assumption was that if they didn't collect the first four pieces of equipment, it would be useless even if they got to the fifth equipment point quickly, but to their surprise, people were waiting here - as long as they blocked the other players here, there would be no winner in this game and they would have another chance!
Jason and Bob, with Coffee and Rum, were caught up in the traffic before they could slow down, in this way, when Long Yu behind them reached the equipment point, she would surely be blocked along the way.
As it happened, the players in front of her slowed down, and as long as they blocked the teams in front of them with four pieces of equipment, whoever got the fifth piece of equipment would not win.
Long Yu could only reduce her speed too, but was still surrounded by the reduced traffic. The only hope was Robo, but if they didn't break through, Robo would be caught in the traffic and forced to speed up, as forcing the acceleration would only get him smashed into dust.
As the team was at a loss, a warning came on their screens at the same time: "Take cover, there's a giant object moving at high speed behind you! Watch out for dodging, there's a giant object about to impact from behind!"
"It's Merry!" Cici was the first to notice, the warning came from Merry's airship!
Jason immediately turned on his search devices and scanned for a huge object approaching from behind. After Jason increased the search signal, he actually detected Merry's airship's signal inside the huge mass.
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" Dao shouted over the contact system.
The huge mass leaned forward, its fictionally deformed head leaning up, and everyone realized it was the gorilla from earlier, whose size was not apparent when it jumped out of the track, but now that it was on the track it was clear how big it was.
It was Merry and Dao working together to push the behemoth around the track, and if they didn't get a head start, Merry and Dao's boat would soon run out of fuel.
There were only three minutes left until the fifth piece of equipment appeared!
Robo reacted quickly and rose quickly, Jason and the other three cooperated with Merry and Dao and raised the airships to a safe position.
"Everyone block the low flying airships, don't let them grab the equipment! Robo, get ready, after Merry crashes out of the channel, go get the equipment!" Long Yu said and was the first to rush into the low flying airships, ready to intercept them. The airships at high altitude would not have time to land, as long as they block the low flying airships, with Robo's speed and accuracy, there would be a chance of getting the equipment!
"Boom!" The gorilla crashed into the traffic, and all the impacted cars clattered into gold coins and landed on the track. The players at the front noticed it and quickly withdrew from the track to avoid being completely destroyed, without forgetting to absorb the gold coins before they left.
The low-flying players were not willing to concede defeat and were still struggling, but none of them succeeded in landing with Long Yu, Jason and the others chasing and blocking them.
Robo saw his chance and made a quick pass through the tunnel Merry had crashed out of and managed to collect the fifth piece of equipment.
The word "finish" appeared on the track, suspended in mid-air, with an entrance that displayed the names of the team members. Some undeterred players tried to force their way into the finish line and were bounced back by the powerful magnetic force of the entrance.
After winning the Rally, the team received a prompt at the same time: the clues for the second level will be sent to the players at 0:00 on March 12, you can choose to make the information public or encrypt it, to ensure fairness, after choosing encryption, the information will be made public to all players after fifteen days.
"Not bad little girl, you really have something!" Long Yu complimented, her eyes falling, for the first time, steadily on Merry.
"How did you do that, Merry?" Cici asked.
"Yeah Merry, don't players turn into gold coins when they land? Why were you able to drag that gorilla?" Jason trailed off.
"It didn't 'die', it just lost control as I only knocked out its core components." Merry replied.
"You're so awesome!" Bob exclaimed at Merry's feat.
... Everyone seemed to have a lot more to say, and what had previously built up in their minds trickled into their chests like ice melting into water the moment they won the race.
Before they could have a deeper conversation, the Newton alerted that a visitor was outside, so everyone had to rush offline.
On the way out, Merry looked at Long Yu and wanted to say something.
Long Yu smiled and said, "See you later, guys!"
A messenger from Dragon City arrived, flying a small airship to deliver Dragon City's access card - a heavy token. When clicked, it also revealed a map of the Dragon City.
Merry and the others thanked the messenger and were about to see him off when another airship, in the distance, came out of the city. The messenger was puzzled at first, but when the airship came a little closer, the messenger jumped into the airship and fled as if he had seen a ghost, without being able to say a word.
The airship in the distance was also headed for the Newton, this strange shaped airship resembled a squashed rectangle, with a dignified and awkward aesthetic, full of oppression.
It pulled up outside the Newton and a man in a long robe slowly stepped out of the airship, walking slowly as if weighed down by the weight of his robe. He wore a triangular hat, and a visor sticking out from the brim completely covered his face.
"Is it a Fountain Pen man?" Dao asked quietly.
Merry hurriedly stopped Dao before he got into trouble for talking too much.
"I, the messenger of Sky City in Dragon City, have been sent by the monarch to invite you all to Sky City," another slightly more simply dressed, but equally bizarre man behind him handed over a second token.
It was a bit of a shock to hear the word "Monarch" in this day and age of technology.
"Sky City? The map of the Dragon City doesn't show this place, is it in Dragon City?" Bob asked.
"I'll give you all three days to think about it, and I'll be back then." He didn't answer Bob's question, just left the words and returned to his airship, leaving the crowd on the Newton, bewildered.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone