The wind whipped up the work jacket.

John saw Alek glance at him sideways on the winding track.

The other party seemed to have noticed it too—the persistent stranger might be up to no good.

The distance wasn't enough.

John suddenly twisted the throttle.

The wheels steadily crossed onto the straight cement structure.

He let go of the handlebars, leaving the vehicle's cruising and balance calibration to Kenichi Sora.

The AI would make fine adjustments to maintain a steady speed.

John reached over and grabbed the Triangular Maple rifle, his palm patch connecting to the firearm's intelligent system.

The quad-scope synchronized with his prosthetic eye.

He focused, locked on to the target, and amidst winds exceeding speeds of two hundred kilometers per hour, pulled the trigger.

Bang——

The sound of the depleted uranium bullet was deep and short.

The bullet didn't shoot at Alek but precisely hit a fragile structure on the track ahead.

Bang.

The metal connector snapped.

The load detector reacted in a chain.

Two rows of fault indicator lights lit up on the track above the train, outlining two red lines extending into the distance.

The motorcycle sped through the middle.

On the already narrow race track, a sudden row of metal protrusions, used to stabilize the train, popped up.

The train below wobbled.

The carriages emitted an agonizing scraping sound.

Passengers grabbed onto the handrails, looking up at the flashing LCD screen on the train's roof.

Someone screamed first.

Then...

People inside the carriage pointed outside.

Several motorcycles were flipped over, slipping off both sides of the train, falling off the elevated bridge, and crashing around the buildings.

Red lights flashed.

Sparks flew.

John's disruption of the metal structure triggered the track's self-protection mechanism, ejecting various detection and protection devices on the already narrow road.

More than half of the riders didn't react in time. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

They fell off the track, ignited in explosion, and ended up as chunks of meat amid vehicle wreckage.

Alek reacted swiftly, jerking the body to evade on the rugged road.

The Glaive II is a new model motorcycle.

Its data is extremely exaggerated, requiring time for the rider to adapt.

Alek accelerated too quickly, causing the rear wheel to hit a protrusion, almost losing control and flipping over—fortunately, he's an experienced rider, like a hot-tempered cowboy, forcibly calming the wild horse beneath him.

But this incident caused the Glaive II's speed to plummet.

John's Alloy RCH sped like a black lightning bolt, surging past the chaotic crowd and sticking close.

The first squadron vanished.

The race broadcast drone soared over the city skylines, seeing only two motorcycles racing side by side.

Alek wasn't a fool.

He heard the engine roar approaching, quickly extracted a spray gun from the motorcycle's side, and unleashed a burst of explosive flame towards the Alloy RCH.

Black smoke wrapped around bright yellow flames, not only exceedingly destructive but also blocking the view of the race.

John was forced to decelerate.

The Alloy RCH pierced through the thick smoke, discovering that the train track segment had ended.

The Glaive II soared into the air, landing onto the asphalt.

Alek drifted into the curve, glancing back:

John was forced onto the side hill of the road, yet he didn't lose balance or fall, nor did he get grazed by traffic.

"Damn, lucky bastard."

Alek turned his head and raced the wrong way in the most congested section of Sakura Cross Street.

He dialed the Eastern people's phone.

"Someone wants to mess me up... Do I need to describe? They're damned attacking on the racetrack, get the hell off the woman and watch the broadcast! A black Eisenberg, original Alloy RCH, city series six wheels..."

Alek suddenly paused.

"Damn, I think I know who it is."

His expression turned tense.

Mercenaries and illegal racers are an intersecting circle.

If you do your jobs well with high intermediary ratings and happen to have impressive racing skills, you're quick to be remembered.

"He's serious, damn it, Noda, get moving! You must find a way, or I'll die on the..."

Buzz——

As if responding to Alek's alarm.

The RCH that disappeared on the track suddenly shot out from the alley, with high-speed spinning tires almost brushing past Alek's shoulder.

Swoosh——

John drifted to land, pursuing again.

The city's traffic was disrupted.

Alek gritted his teeth, only able to accelerate blindly.

They engaged in a thrilling close brawl among the dense traffic, with metal scraping, submachine guns exchanging fire, the roar of engines mixed together.

Until a heavy transport truck blared and charged through.

The two bikes tacitly pulled apart.

Alek let out a temporary sigh of relief, his helmet soaking with cold sweat, feeling his heart racing faster than the tachometer.

The legendary tales from the banquet table never felt as real as the firsthand experience, Alek could previously boast "too bad it didn't meet me" sitting at the bar counter, and now with the encounter face-to-face, huge pressure was felt on the track after one clash.

He's even reconsidering the Fukui contract, thinking of slipping out of the track at the next intersection.

The road was chaotic.

The sounds of sirens and wind blasting from drones were clear.

"Huff, huff..."

Alek forced himself to calm down, first lowered his center of gravity, clutching the spray gun tightly in his right hand, staring amid the intersecting speeding traffic, finally catching a glimpse of black shadow.

John perched the rifle again.

Knowing the opponent has close-range weaponry, he definitely needed to leverage the distance to bully the range.

As the shot fired.

The traffic went into a frenzy.

The escaping drivers caused a jam on the city's main thoroughfare.

John attempted to snipe the opponent, yet always narrowly missed, either the bullets whistling past the back of the racing suit or shattering the glass of nearby vehicles, dispatching several shots realizing the opponent was formidable too.

Alek's nickname was Mangy Dog.

He's skilled at controlling the positioning of the vehicle, fully focused on dodging and escaping, indeed challenging to kill.

Those who survive across ten different tracks aren't ordinary people.

But Alek was nearing collapse.

"Damn, how is it possible!?"

He had already recklessly accelerated, exceeding 250 miles an hour, a wild behavior on the city track, supported by the Glaive II's acceleration and intelligent avoidance.

But what about the opponent?

Alek knew Eisenberg and was aware the Alloy RCH's intelligent control system couldn't maintain balance under such direction changes, needing the rider to concentrate.

Why could he perch a rifle?

Bang——

The display window beside Alek was opened with a hole.

The high-penetration bullet didn't shatter the glass but instead emitted a chilling whistle.

[The vehicle has issues.]

Kenichi Sora took over the motorcycle's intelligent system.

It assisted John's riding, capable of detecting his prosthetic body status, utilizing the ballistic co-processing unit, synchronizing the exact shooting data of the new gun, even calculating the deviation of each bullet.

Normally, the target should've been dead.

"Fukui indeed got a good bike, no wonder spending money on marketing prep."

John chuckled lightly, pulled the trigger again.

Not aiming at Alek anymore, but exploiting the Triangular Maple's shooting speed and penetration power, continually firing at non-critical parts of the Glaive II, thus interfering with the opponent's driving.

Swoosh——

A screeching brake was heard.

[He's trying to escape.]

"I know."

John also darted into the sharp turn, closing in on the target.

Alek twisted the throttle with a terrified face.

This Glaive II wasn't complete, and a few bullets hit sensitive parts, causing system issues.

Death threats loomed.

He fought desperately, using the spray gun to interfere.

John timed it rightly, sliding over like ice, swinging the stock to hit Alek's helmet.

Bang.

The opponent jerked his head back, falling into the traffic.

A piercing screech and honking unfolded into a chain accident.

The Alloy RCH departed the scene.

The Glaive II crashed into the street corner, shattered into pieces, and further away was a bloodied corpse.