Chapter 617: What The Hell?

Chapter 617 What The Hell?

That is definitely not Chen Xiaolian and the others!

Bluesea was quick to arrive at that conclusion.

Regardless if the incoming party was friend or foe, Bluesea dared not reveal his presence. Bluesea knew that if the incoming party was in league with the jetpack fellow, the pile of arsenal in the minivan notwithstanding, there would be no way for him to fight them off.

He breathed silently, not daring to make any noise as he observed the vehicle barrel forward in his direction.

Damn it! Bluesea swore inwardly.

The tank was twice as big as a normal tank. After turning into a street filled with other vehicles, the tank did not slow down; it did not even swerve around. It simply mowed down everything in its path.

Some of the smaller vehicles were instantly crushed under the tank’s treads. The sounds of metal twisting echoed out as the cars were flattened. 

Earlier, Bluesea had hastily stopped the minivan he was currently in. Thus, it was right in the tank’s path.

Bluesea looked at the rear-view mirror and saw that the tank was getting closer. Cold sweat oozed out from his hands.

What… should I do?

Bluesea’s mind raced and he quickly went through a series of plans.

First, start up the engine and escape.

No. The velocity of the tank may not be lower compared to this minivan. Beyond that, however, is that highly futuristic flat-shaped muzzle on the tank turret. That is definitely not there simply for show.

Second plan, quickly open the door, slip out of the minivan and run back into the building.

No. To be capable of driving such a tank, the people inside must possess combat skills that are comparable to that of the tank. Even if those people do not possess Chen Xiaolian’s ability to one-hit kill those monsters, I will still be incapable of fighting them back. By chasing me into the building, it would be just a matter of time before they find me.

His mind raced as he examined several plans on how to deal with the situation. However, he was unable to come up with anything. Seeing that there were less than 10 metres between him and the tank, Bluesea gritted his teeth. His left hand moved to grip the safety belt while his right hand gripped the front passenger’s seat. Then, he tightly shut both his eyes.

Boom!

Thankfully, the minivan was larger. Thus, it did not suffer the same fate as the sedan cars, trampled under the might of the tank treads. Even so, the momentum of the charging tank was so vast it sent the minivan flying. The minivan flipped over the ground a few times before finally coming to a halt after knocking into a minibus. 

All Bluesea could feel was a strong force sweeping through him as his entire body was thrown around. The loud impact deafened his eardrums. Getting thrown around the interior of the minivan, his entire body was slammed about to the point where it grew numb. It felt as though his body was on the verge of breaking apart.

After a few seconds of dizziness, Bluesea struggled to raise his head. Regaining his bearings, he looked out through the minivan’s broken window.

Thankfully, the people operating the tank appeared ignorant to the fact that there was actually someone among all the vehicles they just ran through. It continued barrelling forward.

However, the direction it was taking would lead it right to the convenience store.

Bluesea vigorously shook his head to shake the dizziness in his head away. Next, he quickly unfastened his safety belt before rushing out from the minivan that was currently sprawled on the ground. Moving with a crouched posture, he then hid behind a sports car.

After confirming that the people in the tank had not noticed him, Bluesea quickly smashed the sports car’s window. Next, he hot-wired the car, made an abrupt turn with it and sent it charging forward in the other direction.

Fortunately, the tank had earlier trampled through the street, which were originally filled with various vehicles. Thus, there were no longer any obstacles blocking Bluesea’s path. Bluesea slammed his foot down on the accelerator, eliciting a loud roar from the sports car’s engine as it reached its maximum velocity. With that, it charged toward the intersection in front.

At the same time, the tank abruptly came to a halt. It was a braking force that seemed disproportionate for a tank of such size. Next, its turret turned to aim at the sports car that Bluesea was driving.

So fast!

Bluesea stared at the wing mirrors with widened eyes and was able to see all that was transpiring with the tank. He hastily pulled the hand brake; at the same time, he slammed both feet down on both the accelerator and the brake. Without missing a beat, he then turned the steering wheel to its limit.

Following the screeching sound from the tires, the sports car made a sudden swerve on the street, drawing an arc across the surface of the street.

At the same time, a beam of blue light blasted out from the muzzle of the tank turret, punching through the street like a thunderbolt.

The sports car jerked as the beam of light grazed the surface of the sports car; its right-side wing mirror disappeared without a trace.

What remained of the wing mirror part was a smooth surface. It was as though it had been cut off by a very sharp blade.

This was not Bluesea’s first time seeing energy-tier weapons. However, the precision and power that the tank had just shown was something else. Compared to the tank, the jetpack fellow’s energy blaster from back then was like a child’s toy.

Having dodged the first blast, Bluesea slammed his foot down on the accelerator once more. The sports car gained momentum again. Then, making another swerve, it turned around into a corner.

As expected… … it is the enemy.

Bluesea wiped off the sweat trickling down from his forehead as he gave his undivided attention toward the road ahead. Occasionally, he would glance at the remaining wing mirror.

The roaring sound coming from behind him clearly indicated that the other party had turned around and was pursuing him.

Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Hearing the tank coming after him, Bluesea muttered to himself.

His plan was not to lure the tank away. Rather, he had wanted the tank to change its direction so that he could be the one to reach the convenience store first.

He was not worried about whether Chen Xiaolian could defend against or defeat the people operating the tank. However, if the tank were to suddenly make an appearance, Yang Lin and the others would have no way to protect themselves in the ensuing battle.

Although they were in modern-day Manhattan, all forms of communication in this world had stopped working. That meant Bluesea had no way to contact Chen Xiaolian.

The only option available was to reach them before the tank.

As he was approaching another corner, the tank turned into the street from behind and its turret steadily turned to aim at the sports car. Bluesea took a deep breath and performed another drift.

The blast missed once again, striking instead the row of cars parked beside the street. However, the cars did not explode. Instead, the blast cut through all the cars and the surface of the street, creating a deep line of gully on the street.

…

“Deiha, your aim is shit.”

Seated on one of the Thunderstorm Tank’s seats was an elegantly dressed middle-aged man. There was a trimmed moustache on his handsome face, which revealed a slight frown. His figure displayed a noble air; however, that air could not conceal the sinister aura emanating from within him.

In another seat was none other than the thin man with the jetpack from earlier. At that moment, he was scrambling to operate the controls before him. Hearing the words from the middle-aged man, he frantically explained, “Mr Wu Ya, this… … this is not my fault! Although this Thunderstorm Tank can be operated by one person, it usually requires one to drive and another for the gunner position… I am just one man. To have me drive and fire is a bit too much for me!”

“So, what you are trying to say is… … you are complaining that I am not willing to help you?” The one known as Wu Ya raised his eyebrows, both his hands remained crossed before his chest. As for his legs, they too were crossed, despite the narrow area within the Thunderstorm Tank.

“No… … that is not what I mean…” Although Wu Ya had spoken those words casually, Deiha ended up shivering. “The car won’t be able to make it far! This instance dungeon… …  had played host to a great many battles. So, there are not many clear roads for it. As long as I keep chasing after it, it is only a matter of time before it reaches a dead end.”

“Fine. I don’t care what you do. However, since I have loaned this Thunderstorm Tank to you, if you cannot kill off the little fellow driving the sports car in 10 minutes…” said Wu Ya casually.

“I… I will definitely!” Deiha could clearly sense the threat within Wu Ya’s words. He frantically nodded. Next, he tapped the control panel before him a few times before saying, “I have the sports car locked down. It will not be escaping from us!”

Before him was a screen displaying a 3D map of their surroundings. On the map was a flashing dot of light moving rapidly before him.

That was the detection system that came together with the Thunderstorm Tank. It allowed for the monitoring of any large objects within a certain radius.

Although it could not detect the smaller human body, a car was much larger. As long as the system had locked down on the car, it would be able to continue its pursuit of the car.

Deiha focused his all on the display screen as he drove the Thunderstorm Tank in pursuit of the sports car that Bluesea was driving.

…

Bluesea was already putting his best driving skills forward. However, he was unable to pull away from the tank.

From time to time, he would encounter a car parked on the middle of the street or the debris from a collapsed building. Although the sports car possessed extraordinary performance, there was no way for it to unleash its true potential within such a place. It could only decelerate again and again to circle around the obstacles in its path. As for the Thunderstorm Tank, it was a colossal vehicle capable of simply trampling anything in its path. And trampled its way forward it did.

Bluesea had originally planned to quickly create some distance between the strange-looking tank and buy some time, which he would utilize to rush toward the convenience store to inform Chen Xiaolian of this matter.

He did not need long for that. By Bluesea’s estimate, one minute’s worth of distance was enough.

At present, however, the pursuing tank was not giving him the opportunity to do so.

Although Bluesea had successfully avoided the blasts several times by turning into another street, the distance between them had never exceeded one block.

Under such circumstances, he could not lead the tank back to the convenience store.

There was another junction before him. Bluesea furiously turned the steering wheel as he performed another drift. Four black coloured lines were left on the surface of the street as the tires screeched and the sports car swiftly turned to dodge yet another energy blast.

Gradually, the distance between Bluesea and Chen Xiaolian and the others grew.

…

“Mr Wu Ya, I will be able to catch him soon!” Deiha stared intently at the screen before him, a triumphant look on his face. “The terrain scanner shows that there are many obstacles on the road up ahead! As long as I can force him up that road, we will be able to catch up to him!”

“Mm…” Wu Ya gave a vague hum. He appeared unconcerned with the sports car. “The one in the car, it is not the one you mentioned earlier?”

“Probably… not.” After considering the question for a moment, Deiha replied cautiously, “That man is an Irregularity, quite a strong one at that. At least, stronger… … much stronger than me. If he is the one driving the sports car, it seems unlikely that he will just try to run all the time.” 

“Idiot.” Wu Ya harrumphed coldly. “Just because he is stronger than a trash like you doesn’t mean he is powerful, understand? Even if he is powerful, how can he face a Thunderstorm Tank without any equipment?”

“Yes, yes…” Deiha hastily nodded, not daring to show even the slightest trace of anger on his face. He smiled and said, “Mr Wu Ya, you are an expert. Just by lifting a finger, you can easily crush a small character like him. It is only natural that you will think nothing of him!”

“Enough nonsense. It doesn’t matter if the one in the car is an ordinary human or an Irregularity, just hurry up and kill him off. After that, clear the instance dungeon. We do not have much time left. Heaven knows how long before the Development Team realizes the BUG here!” Wu Ya said with icy impatience.

“Understood… understood, Mr Wu Ya…. … eh?”

Deiha mumbled adherently. As he was mumbling, however, he suddenly stopped and stared at the screen before him. “Another one appeared?”

On the display screen before him, the central dot represented the Thunderstorm Tank. Before the central dot was a dot of light, which represented the sports car that Bluesea was driving. The Thunderstorm Tank had been maintaining a distance of roughly 500 metres between it and the sports car. At that moment, though, a third dot of light had suddenly appeared before the dot of light representing the sports car.

Through the screen, he could see that the third dot of light was coming from the left. There were approximately two kilometres between it and the Thunderstorm Tank. Additionally, it was moving very fast.

It was moving toward the sports car.

Strangely though, according to the 3D map, the dot of light was… … in the air.

“Mr Wu Ya! We…” Deiha looked back and asked in a whisper, “In our coalition, is there anyone who owns a large-scale flying vehicle? Judging by the size of this dot of light, it should be a… … Tidal Fighter?”

“Impossible.” After pondering over the question, Wu Ya replied firmly, “Since the last refresh, I have not heard of anyone finding a Tidal Fighter. Besides, the allocation for those fellows in charge of clearing those instance dungeons were done with transparency. This one is definitely not one of ours.”

“… … …” Deiha’s face suddenly turned ugly to behold.

Although the Thunderstorm Tank was overbearingly powerful, it was, at the end of the day, just a ground-based combat vehicle. Against a Tidal Fighter capable of flying in the sky, the Thunderstorm Tank would be at a disadvantage.

Furthermore, the Thunderstorm Tank that he was presently driving was not his own. Rather, it was Wu Ya’s. Given his strength, regardless if it was before or after entering this World’s End, he had never possessed his own Thunderstorm Tank. Although he had driven the Thunderstorm Tank a few times since, he was still far from proficient in handling it.

If Mr Wu Ya’s words are true, if no one from the coalition had obtained a Tidal Fighter in the last refresh… …

That means the dot of light in front is the enemy!

“Mis… … Mr Wu Ya… … what should we do?”

Deiha stuttered.

“What are you panicking for?” Wu Ya sneered. “Just because the tank detected an aircraft doesn’t mean it is a Tidal Fighter. Besides, even if it is a Tidal Fighter, what is there to fear? Keep chasing!”

“Yes…” Deiha nodded. He pushed the control shaft and continued to pursue the sports car.

The dot of light on the screen rapidly approached.

It did not take long for the dot of light in the 3D map to close the distance between them.

At that moment, the Thunderstorm Tank had just made a turn into another street. The object represented by the dot of light was just behind the corner of the street before the Thunderstorm Tank.

Observing through the periscope, Deiha adjusted the turret, aiming it at the sports car before the tank.

As he was about to press the fire button, Deiha suddenly became shocked. Next, he exclaimed loudly.

“The F***, that… … what the Hell is that!”

…