ca-book Chapter 6 He escaped on a tricycle! That idiot is asking for it!
Chapter 6 He escaped on a tricycle! That idiot is asking for it!
The system panel was still refreshing its properties, and Su Chen had already climbed onto the vehicle seat.
The moment you step on the pedal, the sensation changes completely.
It is no longer loose, rusty iron.
The metal chain gripped the surface of the mud, its anti-slip teeth firmly embedded in the silt, keeping the tricycle completely still and incredibly stable.
Su Chen tried kicking it.
The car body lurched forward two meters, but remained stable without skidding or sinking.
The tracks rolled over the acidic mud, making a continuous "crunching" sound. The mud was squeezed aside from both sides and could not stop its progress at all.
He kicked again.
The vehicle picked up speed instantly, and the acidic wind whistled against our faces as the tricycle sped quickly and straight across the mud.
Da Xia's live stream room.
Three hundred million people watched as that dilapidated tricycle, which had just been stuck in the mud, now ran around freely in the S-class disaster zone, covered in metal tracks.
The comments section went completely wild.
[Holy crap! Is this even a tricycle?!]
[Transformers, huh? The tricycle has undergone a super evolution!]
It can run faster than my electric scooter in the mud!
[Heavy armored tricycle, ahhhhh!]
Where are the people who were laughing at him for picking up trash? Come out and take your beating!
[It even has tracks! Installing this on a tricycle turns it into a war machine!]
[Su Shen has been playing a long game from beginning to end! Towing, repairing, installing tracks—every step has been meticulously planned!]
Official studio.
Zhao Mingyuan braced his hands on the table, staring intently at the speeding tricycle on the screen.
"pretty!"
He turned to look at Lin Xiaotang.
"Do you now understand why he dragged that broken-down car for thirty-eight meters?"
Lin Xiaotang nodded, her hand still trembling as she picked up the water glass.
"It wasn't that he was reluctant to part with the car. He knew from the beginning what was in the treasure chest, where the supply crates were, and that the car could be repaired."
Zhao Mingyuan slammed his hand on the table.
"Everyone thought he was just collecting scraps, but he was plotting! From the moment he killed the monster, every step he took was calculated!"
Lin Xiaotang turned to the camera.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Su Chen's tricycle has been upgraded! It's now a Class D all-terrain vehicle, capable of traversing mud freely! He's advancing towards the safe zone!"
The barrage of comments exploded again.
[Tricycles are awesome!!!]
[Su Shen: Thank you everyone, you're all trash.]
[That's hilarious! That fat guy from the US just called himself the "King of Junk," doesn't he feel ashamed now?]
[I want to see their reactions in the US livestream!]
The live stream from the United States.
James Hall stared at the screen, his mouth slightly open, unable to utter a single word.
The tricycle he had mocked for a full half hour was now covered in metal tracks, speeding through the mud of the S-class disaster zone more smoothly than their competitors' SUVs.
The co-host nudged his arm.
"Would you like to... give me a review?"
James slammed the beer can on the table, splashing foam all over it.
"It's just a three-wheeled vehicle. A Class D vehicle, the lowest grade. Our contestant drives a Class B armored off-road vehicle."
He deliberately emphasized the words "Grade B".
"The difference is obvious. How can a modified tricycle compare to an armored vehicle? What a joke."
The comments from the US quickly echoed this sentiment.
[That's right! A Class D junk vehicle! It was crushed in a single encounter!]
A tricycle is a tricycle, even if you add tracks, it's still a tricycle!
The commentator from Japan was also desperately trying to find a way to salvage the situation.
"The difference in vehicle tiers is a major drawback. There are three whole tiers between Tier D and Tier B, and they are not even in the same league in terms of defense, speed, or endurance."
"Su Chen is temporarily out of trouble, but in the long run—"
He didn't finish his sentence.
Because a new global notification popped up simultaneously above the live streams on all channels and in all countries.
[Global Announcement!]
[Warning! Indian athlete Singh Raj has died!]
[Cause of death: Consumed by a Class D aberration, the "Desert Cracked Jaw Lizard".]
Punishment is imminent—
More than 200 live streaming rooms around the world fell silent at the same second.
The comments that were just discussing Su Chen's tricycle have all disappeared.
The DaXia live stream was the first to react.
[Holy crap? Someone died?!]
[An Indian athlete? How did he die?]
[Eaten by a monster? ???]
Wait, punishment? What punishment?
The system didn't give anyone time to process it.
Below the blood-red announcement, a replay video automatically popped up.
All live streams from all countries were forced to switch to the same channel.
The scene depicts a vast expanse of yellow sand and Gobi Desert.
A silver-gray armored off-road vehicle was parked on the sand, with a heavy machine gun mounted on its roof and the tricolor flag of India painted on its body.
Class B vehicle.
The car door was open.
A burly man with a thick beard jumped off the car, his feet on the sand, carrying a military machete.
His name is displayed in the upper left corner of the screen—Singh Raj, India's number one player.
"Watch closely, brothers!"
Singh patted his chest, his face beaming with excitement.
"I'm going to kill this lizard myself and give our great nation a great start!"
In the video, 30 meters away behind a sand dune, a giant gray-brown lizard is lying on the sand basking in the sun.
It is over five meters long, with thick scales covering its back, and its lower jaw split in two, from which mucus constantly seeps out.
Class D variant, Desert Cracked Jaw Lizard.
The chat in Da Xia's live stream room went crazy instantly.
He got off the bus? Why did he get off?
"You're driving a Class B armored vehicle, buddy! Can't you just shoot it with a machine gun from inside?!"
[What kind of brain circuit is this? Getting out of the car to grab a machete and attack a D-level monster???]
Alright, alright, this guy's obsessed with being a hero.
The playback continues.
Singh, brandishing his machete, charged at the giant lizard with a roar.
The split-jawed lizard slowly turned its head, its vertical pupils shrinking into thin slits.
Singh swung his sword down, striking the giant lizard's carapace.
"clang!"
The machete was deflected.
A notch appeared on the blade, leaving only a white mark on the scales.
Singh paused for a second.
The next second, the split-jawed lizard opened its split lower jaw.
That mouth was wide enough to swallow an adult whole, from head to toe.
It bit Singh's waist.
A short, painful scream can be heard in the video.
Then came the dull thud of bones breaking.
The split-jawed lizard tilted its head back, flung Singh deep into its mouth, and swallowed him after a couple of throat movements.
From the moment she got off the bus to her death, the entire process took no more than eight seconds.
The playback footage freezes on the empty sand.
All that remained on the ground was a chipped machete and a pool of blood.
The silver-gray Class B armored vehicle had its doors open and its engine still running.
All live streams worldwide are dead silent.
The live stream room remained silent for a full five seconds before the comments started appearing.
Eight seconds... just eight seconds.
[Driving a Class B armored vehicle, equipped with a heavy machine gun but not using it, getting out to grab a knife and start slashing...]
This isn't about survival; it's about suicide.
I can't laugh anymore. The contestant died, and the punishment...
Before the barrage of comments could finish, the system's blood-red notification popped up again.
[Punishment in progress—]
[The death of an Indian player has triggered a backlash from a disaster of the same level!]
The D-class aberration "Desert Cracked Jaw Lizard" will randomly appear throughout India!
[Descent Countdown: 3...2...1...]
The scene was forcibly switched to the skies over New Delhi, the capital of India.
Real-time satellite imagery.
A crack appeared in the middle of the clear sky.
It is over two hundred meters wide, with dark red energy fluctuations surging around its edges.
It wasn't just one that fell out of that crack.
It is a group of split-jawed lizards.
One, two, five, ten, twenty...
A giant, grayish-brown lizard fell from the sky, crashing onto city streets, rooftops, and overpasses.
Each one that landed kicked up a large amount of concrete debris.
Pedestrians on the ground began to scream and run.
A split-jawed lizard landed at an intersection, its split jaws snapping open, and it bit into a bus that was waiting at a red light.
Another one climbed over the exterior wall of the high-rise building, its sharp claws tearing apart the entire glass curtain wall, with shards cascading down.
Within a minute, the entire country was plunged into hell.
Viewers in all live streams around the world saw this scene at the same time.
No one speaks.
There are no bullet comments.
The live streams from Daxia, Lighthouse Country, Sakura Country, and Russia were all so quiet it was suffocating.
In the official studio of Da Xia.
Zhao Mingyuan sat motionless in front of the camera, his face ashen.
Lin Xiaotang turned to look at him, her lips trembling slightly.
"Professor Zhao... is this the price of a competitor's death?"
Zhao Mingyuan spoke after a long pause.
"When a competitor dies, a disaster of equal magnitude befalls the country. This was stated to everyone in the rules from day one."
He paused for a moment.
"Singer was facing a D-rank monster, so what fell down was a group of D-rank monsters."
Lin Xiaotang's voice trembled.
"What if... what if we're facing someone of a higher level?"
Zhao Mingyuan did not answer.
The chat in Da Xia's live stream room began to appear slowly.
So if Su Shen dies in an S-class disaster zone... then what will befall us is an S-class disaster?
Stop talking.
That idiot in India killed so many people... all just to show off.
He had an armored vehicle and machine guns; nothing happened while he was inside, but he insisted on getting out to show off.
One person's folly can cost an entire nation.
Now I truly understand the weight of this game.
In the US livestream, James Hall surprisingly refrained from making any jokes.
He sat in his chair, staring at the tragic scene in India on the screen, without saying a word.