Chapter 51: Ghost Car
Brother Meng barely lifted his eyelids, his voice hoarse and feeble. “Once I die, everything in my backpack goes down with me. Even if I’m dead, none of you are getting a single scrap!”
Dragon Emerging from the Sea frowned and raised his sidearm to put a bullet through him, but Lin Huai reached out and pushed his barrel down, stopping him.
“Wait. Don’t rush to put him down. The ten-minute limit isn’t up yet; we still have a bit of time.”
Saying that, she pulled a raw pig heart from her backpack, coated it in the fresh blood pooling around Brother Meng’s mouth, and tossed it straight into the dark river running alongside the highway.
The second the bloody organ broke the water’s surface, a massive, jagged shadow shot up from the murky riverbed, tearing the calm water apart.
Half of an enormous head surfaced—an appalling blend of a rotting whale skull and a giant crocodile snout. Its greenish-black skin was covered in thick, barnacle-like nodules, and dark red tendrils dangled from its gill slits, writhing frantically as it gulped water.
Most horrific of all was its compound eye, which took up almost two-thirds of its head. Seven vertical amber pupils were set in a honeycomb pattern. Deep within each pupil, tiny pinpricks of crimson light flickered and rotated, tracking the descending meat.
Its massive jaw split open into four separate lobes, revealing three concentric rings of spiral bone teeth.
As its fangs snapped shut around the pig heart, a faint green phosphorescence, like decaying fireflies, flared from the gaps in its teeth, lighting up the grayish-white skin peeling from its neck.
Just beneath the surface, dozens of python-thick tentacles twisted in the dark current. The tip of each tentacle ended in bony claws shaped like human hands, twitching and clawing blindly at the water.
A putrid, nauseating mist drifted up onto the asphalt, leaving everyone in the squad stunned.
Even Dragon Emerging from the Sea had never encountered such an abomination. His expression turned dead serious. “Boss, what is that thing?”
Lin Huai remained completely calm. “A Shadow Worm. It’s an aggregate monster formed from drowned corpses rotting on the riverbed. It won’t drag itself onto dry land, but it is pathologically sensitive to the smell of blood.”
She turned her eyes back to Brother Meng. “So, have you made up your mind?”
Terrified down to his soul by the sight, Brother Meng coughed up another mouthful of blood. His trembling fingers tapped his system interface, dumping every single item from his inventory onto the road in a clattering pile. “Please… just give me a quick death…”
Lin Huai turned and walked toward the spoils. Behind her, a sharp gunshot rang out.
With the supplies gathered, they divided the haul according to their earlier agreement: rare items went into Lin Huai’s inventory, squad members received shares based on their combat contributions, and the general resources were deposited into the communal vault.
As usual, Lin Huai stored the shared stockpile inside the jade coffin, and, true to her word, she scooped up Brother Meng’s body and sealed it inside as well.
With Sister Hanba’s promise, disposing of corpses had become far more convenient.
Once the coffin had absorbed most of the corpse’s negative energy, Lin Huai raised her undertaker work permit and channeled a summons. Two fuzzy-haired zombies carrying a heavy mortuary crate materialized right on the highway shoulder.
After handing over the drained body, Lin Huai got back behind the wheel and drove on.
The two damaged Level 3 vehicles remained hitched to the back of her hearse. After some thought, she opened a private chat with Dragon Emerging from the Sea.
[Bone Ashes Mixed with Rice]: Brother Long, I still have two Level 3 vehicles. Let’s award them based on merit. Every member of our core squad is already at Level 3, so please pick two suitable candidates from the broader five-hundred-person guild.
[Dragon Emerging from the Sea]: Understood. I’ll review their contributions and find the right people.
While Dragon Emerging from the Sea handled the roster, Lin Huai pulled out two vehicle repair cards, intending to restore the towed cars right away.
She selected one card and tapped “Use.” Instantly, the loud revving of an engine echoed from somewhere close by.
Yet no side road opened, and no truck appeared on the asphalt. Instead, a bizarre spectral bird swooped down from the gloomy sky.
Whenever this creature flew, its flapping wings produced the roaring sound of a speeding car. Because of this, survivors called it the “Ghost Car”—though ancient myths also knew it as the Nine-Headed Bird.
The beast descended with clear purpose. The moment its talons touched the ground, it shifted into the shape of a man with a bird’s head, dressed in grease-stained mechanic overalls, with two enormous wings folded across his back. The feathers along the wings were serrated and gleamed like black metal.
Holding a compact toolbox, he marched toward the first damaged car. The small box unfolded, expanding into a full roadside repair station equipped with every wrench, torch, and socket imaginable.
Lin Huai watched with keen interest as the bird-headed mechanic plucked several metallic feathers from his own wings, tossed them into an automated mill to forge custom mechanical parts, and began installing them onto the vehicle.
She walked over, pulled out a handful of melon seeds, and held them out. “Brother Bird, you’re working hard. Here, have some snacks. Take your time with the repairs; there’s no rush at all.”
In human form, the Nine-Headed Bird kept only two visible heads: one was poking beneath the chassis to check the axle, while the other watched the milling lathe.
Hearing her voice, a third feathered head popped out from his neck out of thin air. Its beak clattered open and shut, producing a raspy, duck-like voice tinged with youthful surprise: “I’ve fixed thousands of cars out here, but you’re the very first customer to ever offer me food! You’re really nice.”
The third head dipped down, pecking hungrily at the seeds. “Still, I’m just an on-call repairman. I don’t have the authority to refund your repair card. Tell you what, though—if you buy cards directly from me, I can give you an insider discount.”
Delighted, Lin Huai pulled out more melon seeds, along with a feast of fresh wild berries, blueberries, and walnuts, dumping them into a large stainless-steel bowl and setting it right before him. “Oh, Brother Bird, that’s far too kind of you! Tell me, if I buy cards from you, do you earn a sales commission?”
The bird-headed mechanic was cracking shells so fast he could barely breathe. Without missing a beat, a fourth head sprouted from his neck just to keep chatting with her: “That’s right! We get a commission for selling cards on the road. But our direct prices are slightly higher than what the station stores charge, so most players prefer saving their coins for the service hubs. Since my first day on the job, I haven’t managed to sell a single card.”
Lin Huai raised an eyebrow, feigning outrage. “Then those players have terrible taste and don’t know quality when they see it! They’re way too stingy. Why waste time driving to a station when they could support an expert like Brother Bird?”
She smiled warmly. “Don’t feel down about your sales, Brother Bird. Just watch—I’ll boost your numbers right now!”
She pulled up her system interface without hesitation. At 2,999 underworld coins per card, she bought ten cards in a single transaction.
“Brother Bird, take a look! Are ten enough? If you ever need more sales, just say the word and I’ll buy another batch next month!”
The Nine-Headed Bird had never seen such a free-spending client in his life. All his heads bobbed up and down like chickens pecking at grain. “Enough! More than enough!”
Grateful, he reached back, plucked three metallic feathers from his primary wing, and pressed them into her hands. “Take these as a thank-you gift! If your car ever takes critical damage, just press one of these feathers against the hood. Even if the chassis is blown in half, it will hold your vehicle together and keep it running for three full hours!”
Lin Huai took the feathers with careful respect, storing them away. Putting on her most sincere smile, she brought up her light screen. “Brother Bird, my name is Bone Ashes Mixed with Rice, but you can just call me Fanfan. I haven’t caught your name yet, Brother Bird. How about we add each other as friends?”
