CH 53

Dondon stretched out his tiny blue feet and drew on the ground with the blue glow on his body. The drawing depicted someone with a crown seated high on his throne. A second person was tied and left kneeling on the ground. To the side was a rectangular object.

"Emperor. That is probably the emperor. The kneeling person must be the prince," said the white-eyed Gando.

"Little Pea, you think this person should see the emperor?" asked the black-eyed Gando.

Dondon nodded hastily.

"What is the rectangular object? It isn't like a document or a golden pass. A golden pass is round, after all," said the white-eyed Gando.

Everyone broke out in cold sweat. I knew Dondon was drawing a golden pass, but he did not know that the pass was round. When Dondon heard that, he continued drawing, turning the rectangular object into some sort of iron club. Behind the weapon, he drew a round object.

'Dondon is very smart. But this is too clumsy. Only a fool will fall for it,' I thought.

Surprisingly, the fierce Gandos believed the lie.

"Little Pea wants us to escort this prince to meet the emperor. Go get the golden pass," said the white-eyed Gando.

"But Master is not around. Are we doing this ourselves?" asked the black-eyed Gando.

"Didn't Master say this before? If Little Pea has a prophecy, we need to help to the best of our ability without waiting for him," said the white-eyed Gando.

"Alright. I'll go get the golden pass," said the black-eyed Gando before turning and walking away.

The mission was progressing so smoothly I started doubting myself. My mindset had been prepared to face a fatal calamity, so it was hard to believe we were going to get the golden pass so easily.

The white-eyed Gando regarded us and said, "You lowly guards, you will be in charge of escorting the prince with us. If you disobey, die."

We hurriedly nodded.

'We have to focus on getting the golden pass for now. We'll think of a way to get rid of these idiots later,' I thought.

With another clang, the black-eyed Gando jumped down from the third level.

"What the hell is wrong with this guy? There's a perfectly good staircase, but he refuses to use it and insists on jumping everywhere," I heard Zhang Bao'er grumble.

"Little Pea, see, the golden pass is here," said the black-eyed Gando.

A bright golden round object could be seen in the black-eyed Gando's hand. Countless words were carved on it. I immediately gestured at the prince to confirm if that was the real deal. The prince blinked, confirming that it was real. I then blinked and nodded at Dondon. When he received my confirmation, he reached out and grabbed the golden pass from the Gando before tucking it into his bosom.

"Let's set off. The emperor is on Planet Eternal. We need to go get a ship from the spaceport," said the white-eyed Gando.

That was just what we wanted. None of us wanted to spend more time than necessary here. The longer we stayed, the higher the risk. The black-eyed Gando hung his sword on his back before opening the door. Everyone followed him into the courtyard.

The patrolling guards were shocked to see us walking out of the building with the Gandos. Instinctively, they aimed their guns at us. The air defense drones in the sky also aimed all their guns at us, ready to fire at a moment's notice. My heart thumped nervously while cold sweat drenched my body.

"Canyue, have they discovered our disguise?" asked Zhang Bao'er softly.

"Not sure. I don't think they would dare to question the Gandos. I don't think they would dare to open fire against the Gandos either," I said.

I was proven correct. The Gandos had a ferocious enough reputation that not a single guard dared to question them. Just like that, we strutted out of the mansion with a wanted criminal, Prince Toruse, while numerous guns were pointed toward us. When the guards at the front gate saw the Gandos, they didn't even bother scanning us. They directly opened the gate and allowed us passage.

"Just like that," muttered Zhang Bao'er in disbelief.

Yes, I was in disbelief as well. After leaving Blue, this was the only mission that was so dangerous yet was completed so easily. After walking through the gate, we headed toward one of the patrol cars parked outside. I saw Dondon sitting directly on the driver's seat.

'Did this little fellow learn how to drive Eternal vehicles from Dodo? I need to find a chance to learn as well,' I thought.

The Gandos were too big, so the car wouldn't fit them. Thus, the two guarded outside the car as we headed toward the spaceport.

"Canyue, we need to throw them off. Otherwise, all of us will be exposed at the spaceport," said Zhang Xingxing.

"Understood. I was thinking of a suitable place to throw those two fools off," I replied.

"Prince, you have been here for quite a while. Do you know a good place to escape someone?" asked Old Du.

Prince Toruse remained silent. After all, he was someone who had been hiding in the sewers. He probably didn't know the planet much better than us. 

The car continued on with the Gandos. I started to see massive spaceships flying past in the sky. Clearly, we were approaching the spaceport. At this time, a peculiar building appeared within our vision. The building seemed to be made of countless broken vehicles piled together, reaching a height of 100 meters.

"What landmark is this? Why did they pile so many vehicles together?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

Everyone looked at the peculiar building after hearing Zhang Bao'er. At that time, I noticed an excited glint in the prince's eyes.

"Steel Current Championship. I've heard of this competition on Lidu before. This might be our best chance to escape," said the prince.

"Steel Current Championship? What's that?" asked Zhang Xingxing.

"It's some sort of activity invented by the exiles on Lidu. It is a kind of festival for them. No application is required, and anyone with a vehicle can participate," said the prince.

"What's the point of a competition like that? It's going to be a mess of everyone crashing into each other," said Zhang Bao'er.

"The race circuit runs around Lidu's underground zone. There are countless entrances for new participants to join the race. There are also countless exits for those who wish to stop participating. I heard that those who survive for more than 3 hours or destroy 20 vehicles will be rewarded with an energy club from the empire. Those who survive for more than 24 hours or destroy 100 vehicles will obtain residentship on Planet Eternal," said the prince.

"Did anyone manage to survive 24 hours or crash 100 vehicles before?" I asked.

"I have never heard of anyone getting a residentship," said the prince.

"This is probably one of the ways the empire trims the number of exiles here," said Old Du.

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"It doesn't matter. This is our best chance to escape. There won't be a better idea than this. We can join the current of steel and throw off the two fools," I said.

"With this shitty patrol car? A single collision is enough to destroy us," said Zhang Bao'er.

"What happens to the injured?" asked Zhang Xingxing.

Prince Toruse looked at her and replied, "In the event of death due to the competition, there won't be any punishment."

"Stop hesitating. We're running out of time," I said as I pointed at the row of towering buildings ahead of us.

The massive spaceport was only 20 kilometers away from us.

"Do it, then. Enter the race circuit," commanded Zhang Xingxing.

I then sat beside Dondon, the driver. The patrol car's controls were rather simple. It was in the unmanned cruise mode. Only by manually switching out of the unmanned mode would one be able to pick a different mode.

"Dondon, switch to the pursuit mode," I said.

Dondon immediately did so. A holographic arrow-like button rose before me. More arrows appeared, over 10 of them in total, pointing in different directions. When I checked, I noted that the car was probably meant to be controlled through the many holographic buttons that had risen alongside the arrows.

'This system is way too complicated,' I cursed inwardly.

I couldn't afford to waste any time as the spaceport was right ahead of us. I could even see some Eternal soldiers looking at us from afar.

"Maximum speed," I said.

Dondon then pressed one of the red holographic buttons. I was pushed into my seat as the car sped forward. Right as the car was about to crash into the white-eyed Gando, I pressed the right button. The car made an abrupt turn into an alley to the right.

Dondon and I controlled the car and moved at maximum speed through the alley, heading toward the race circuit of the Steel Current Championship, ignoring the Gandos behind us. A vague black silhouette appeared on the roof of the car. When I looked up, a massive sword was descending upon us. The black-eyed Gando was using his gigantic sword against us.

"Good heavens. Canyue, go faster," Zhang Bao'er shouted.

In a moment of desperation, I stopped holding back and pressed all the buttons on the holographic interface. The car accelerated so much that the front even rose to the sky as it shot forth.

After drawing a perfect arc in the sky, the front of the car started dropping back to the ground. The car's automated system was powerful enough to create a powerful buffer in time to stabilize the car as it landed.

A loud sound came behind us. When I looked back, I saw a massive Gando sword on the ground. A massive crater surrounded the sword, and the surrounding buildings had been leveled.

'My god. Luckily we sped up in time. How would we have survived that brutish attack?' I thought.

Then, the sound of steel clanging against the ground rang out successively. I saw the two Gandos chasing us on foot.

"Canyue, what you did exhausted all the car's reserve energy," said Dondon anxiously.

Without its reserve, the car could no longer speed up. The two Gandos were getting closer and closer. Behind them, more than 10 patrol cars were also chasing after us.

"Canyue, faster! They're catching up!" Zhang Bao'er shouted.

"This is troublesome. We probably created a massive commotion," said Old Du.

Right at that moment, the small building before us vanished, and a big race course framed by iron chains appeared.