Doomsday Cruise

Chapter 4: Misty Track (4) 

    "Be careful!"

    Mo Xiaoyao's pupils shrank, her hands did not dare to stop playing, and hurriedly turned the handle sideways, and only then did they escape the monster.

    Her heart was beating violently in her chest. Just like the rhythm of a musical drum, Mo Xiaoyao's nerves were tense like the strings in her hand. Her eyes were fixed on the monster without blinking, waiting for its next attack.

    "What the hell is this!" Yue Yin couldn't help swearing. He was standing with his back to the back (of the vehicle). If it wasn't for Mo Xiaoyao turning around, he wouldn't even know what happened.

    At this time, seeing the appearance of the little monster, he was so frightened that he almost threw the drumstick in his hand. If it wasn't for Jiang Yan who was next to him and grabbed him with a quick hand, he would have really done that.

    "Concentrate!" Jiang Yan pulled the person with one hand, and the other hand was still flying up and down the keyboard like clouds and water, as if using two hands for such a simple song to him was a waste.

    "Thank you, thank you." Yue Yin calmed down and rejoined the rhythm with his neck shrunk. He didn't dare to look back, he just hoped that the small stage he was on would get faster and faster so that they could get rid of the monster behind him.

    It was a good idea, but the reality was not.

    The little monster with metal skin is surprisingly nimble. It didn't run on the ground like a normal four-legged mammal, but from time to time jumps into the fog on the outer edge of the track, and a pair of sharp claws penetrates deep into the mist.

    At this moment, it made a sharp hissing sound. The mist seems to have substance, and could become a temporary foothold for the little monster.

    The little monster's claws seemed to grab something in the fog, and that became its leverage point. When the two strong hind legs also stepped on it, the next second, it jumped into the air. With a nearly 20 meter's jump, it quickly shortened the distance between it and its target.

    "It's catching up!" Mo Xiaoyao turned her head to look back at the little monster, but she didn't dare to keep looking back. The road in front of her had begun to curve, and she predicted that there would be more (curves) in the future.

    She couldn't let the small stage crash into the mist! Although she couldn't see what was inside, her intuition told her that the consequences of going in must be miserable.

    Yue Yin hurriedly repeating the rhythm of "Let's Swing the Oars". While thinking of something, he hurriedly asked, "Doesn't our car have a protective cover? The woman couldn't get on just now, did she—"

    "Zla!"*

*I'm not quite sure, but I think it's a sound? The original hanzi was 兹拉 aka Zī lā, somehow it means 'here pull' but it did not make sense, so I think it represent a sound.

    A jet of blue saliva spurted out of the monster's open mouthparts and landed on the floor of the small stage, corroding a small hole.

    Yue Yin's face was ugly. It was originally aimed at him. Thankfully, Mo Xiaoyao happened to turn her head and use a posture that almost strain her waist* to control the small stage to change positions flexibly. If it wasn't for her, even if Yue Yin didn't die, he wouldn't be much better off.

*闪腰 somehow got translated into 'flashed waist'. Scientifically it is known as acute lumbar sprain, mainly caused by excessive weight-bearing of the limbs, incorrect posture, etc.

    "We can't just dodge, we have to fight back." Jiang Yan kept going, making up for the mistakes made by Yue Yin because of the fright.

    With Jiang Yan's reminder, the flustered Mo Xiaoyao gradually calmed down, and immediately remembered the attack method the system told her.

    "Microphone!"

    The small stage during high-speed driving was not so stable. In addition, Mo Xiaoyao had to pay attention to control the direction and pay attention to whether the curve was coming in advance. She was almost focused on three purposes, and quickly approached the microphone in front of the stage.

    "Ooooooooo!!" She tentatively shouted into the microphone to see if it was a sonic attack as she imagined.

    The attempt worked, a circle of wind blade-like things common in anime spread out with the small stage as the center. One of them happened to be swept to the little monster who was chasing after him.

    Beneath Jiang Yan's expectant gaze, the little monster just stumbled and slowed down a little, but there was no substantial damage. On the contrary, this painless attack irritated it even more.

    The little monster hissed loudly, with a different frequency than before. It sounded a bit like the howls used by wolves to find partners. Immediately afterwards, its speed increased again, and its claws scratched the stage several times, leaving terrifying scratches on the edges.

    According to Murphy's Law, if there was a chance that things would go bad, no matter how small the chance, it would always happen.

    Within a few seconds after the howling of the little monster, responses came one after another from the fog. For some reason, the fog seemed to be thinner at this time, and they could see several shadow figures that were the same as the little monster.

    "Sing again!"

    Jiang Yan's expression also changed. He got the exact time of death notice from the doctor half a year ago. He wanted to take a look at the great rivers and mountains of this world while he could still walk...

    Who knew that the earth would suddenly explode?

    Just before he died, he grabbed a piece of debris that he thought was amusing, and then entered such a place - it doesn't matter if he died, but a tragic death? Just forget it.

    In fact, before Jiang Yan could speak, Mo Xiaoyao was already shouting in front of the microphone.

    "Oooooooooo!"

*from here there on, there will be a bunch of power shouting from anime, games, novels, and other works. I tried editing it as best as I could, but there are many references that I don't get, so I'm just going to cite where it's from... Consecutively, it's from: Saint Seiya, martial arts novel, Giant of the Universe Seaman, Dinosaur Corps Koseidon, Crayon Shinchan/World of Warcraft, Tang Bohu's Autumn Fragrance, Mashin Hero Wataru, Game for Peace, Calabash Brothers, and Journey to the West.

    "Perish together!"

    "Flick of the finger!"

    "Give me strength, I'm Seaman!"

    "Human cannon, fire!"

    "Dynamic light wave!"

    "Give me back my fist!"

    "Dragon warrior!"

    "One ear, where to run!"

    "Goblin! Return my grandfather!"

    "I'll call you, do you dare to agree!"

    ...

    Mo Xiaoyao shouted whatever came out of her mind, but with little effect. The wind blade was still fired according to the voice she made, shouting once and making a circle, the power was similar to before, and it did not change because of the volume of her voice.

    Jiang Yan was speechless. If it weren't for the time crunch, he would have rushed over to pry open the girl's brain to see what was inside.

    However...

    Looking down at his own hands, who were still subconsciously playing "Let's Swing the Oars", Jiang Yan suddenly felt that he didn't seem to have any position to call others naive.

    The nimble, ugly, and chasing deadly killer was confronted by the Chuunibyou* girl who shouted "Pikachu, it's up to you!". The drummer over there began to learn to use drumsticks to hit the skulls of the enemies while beating the drums—all of which seems so harmonious to the lively accompaniment of "Let's Swing the Oars".

*I don't think I need to explain this, but just in case. The original words should be translated as 'second-grade syndrome', but it's  more commonly known as 'chuunibyou'. To quote Wikipedia, it's a Japanese colloquial term typically used to describe early teens who have grandiose delusions, who desperately want to stand out, and who have convinced themselves that they have hidden knowledge or secret powers. 

    ——Jiang Yan's conscience hurt so much that he couldn't make it up anymore.

    Yue Yin had been relieved from the initial tension, especially when he subconsciously tapped the little monster's outstretched claws with a drumstick at a certain emergency, and successfully hurt it, it was like opening a new door. The drumstick in his hand was no longer an ordinary drumstick, but a Frostmourne* drumstick from the distant icy land.

*The original words were 霜鼓槌哀伤, literally 'frost drumstick sorrow'. Not sure, but it's most likely a weapon from the game World of Warcraft, Frostmourne (in Chinese 霜之哀伤).

    Mo Xiaoyao already felt that she was crying from the lack of oxygen, but the power of the wind blade sent out was still scum*.

*战五渣, the scum with only five combat power, a quote from Dragon Ball that's now used as slang that just means it sucks. Badly.

    She even felt that the two high-heeled shoes she threw out just now were more lethal than the wind blade. At least when the money-losing shoes hit the little monster's head, it staggered.

    Jiang Yan looked at the little monster chaser who had turned into three, and then looked at the more and more scratches on the back of the small stage. He suddenly had an idea and said to Mo Xiaoyao: "Try to sing a song, after all we are a band."

    Mo Xiaoyao was refreshed and felt that Jiang Yan's words were very reasonable, and hoped that it gave her great strength, cleared her throat, and moved to the microphone to start a new round of her performance.

    Before the phone booth-like mini KTV on the street came out, she had a glorious record of 4 hours of solo singing in a small private room.

    But what should she sing now? The gentle and lyrical estimation was not applicable, so a rough one had to come. Mo Xiaoyao quickly selected the first eligible song that popped up in her mind, and shouted into the microphone again.

    "The river flows eastward!! Stars in the sky are in the north!!"

    "Say, go, let's go. You have I have it all, wow!!"

    "See injustice on the road and roar! Just shoot wow!!"

    "When it's time to shoot, shoot wow!!"

    "Wind and fire into Jiuzhou wow!!"*

*Hao Han Ge 好汉歌, translated to Heroes Song, made popular by Liu Huan. 

    …

    This time, the strength of the wind blade launched by the small stage has indeed increased, and the speed has become a bit faster. If it was a scum with combat power of 5* just now, then at least the combat power had increased to 15.

*refers to earlier slang, a scum with only five combat power.

    Of course, it was still useless.

    There were more and more curves on the road ahead, more terrifying than the ultimate track of any racing game she had ever played. Just a few seconds ago, she was screaming "Heroes Song" while seeing with her own eyes that a car veered off the track because it was going too fast and rushed into the fog on the side of the road.

    A few seconds later, short and shrill screams came from the fog, and after two or three sounds, it stopped abruptly, perhaps because the monster strangled the throat, or maybe they lost their lives.

    No matter what it was, Mo Xiaoyao didn't want to experience it for herself, her curiosity was not that heavy, really.

    The pedestrians who didn't grab the car were completely invisible. She didn't know if they were left behind because the speed was too fast, or were these eaten by little monsters rushing out of the fog as their meal. Even if they were lucky enough to survive, it would be useless. After 20 groups, they would all be wiped out. From the very beginning, those who did not grab the car were destined to be eliminated.

    Unless, this person miraculously made it to the end, and the remaining number of the car in front was less than 20. But this probability was not much different from the winning a 5 million yuan jackpot*.

*跟中500w. I can't find what it actually means, but there are several articles related to winning a lottery, so that's what I assume it means. It's an amount around 745,000 USD.

    Mo Xiaoyao had been unable to sing for several times. She was engrossed in staring at the bend of the road in front of her, and adjusted the position of the handle in time. The strings are already being pulled randomly, and it was completely out of tune. If it was not necessary to play something so she could steer more flexibly, she would long since stop playing.

    Jiang Yan saw all of this in his eyes. He was now the most leisurely person in the entire team, and the one who had the most time to think about countermeasures.

    He analyzed the current situation very clearly. Without getting rid of the three little monsters behind them, they would never reach the finish line smoothly. Looking around, behind each car, there were little monsters chasing after them, and the number is distributed extremely fairly, no more and no less, three behind one car.

    This should be one of the conditions for passing the level. Either get rid of it or kill it. In short, it was impossible to reach the end with it. Just now, another car crashed and died. This time, instead of rushing into the fog, it was overtaken by monsters and got attacked.

    When the small stage passed them, Jiang Yan glanced at them. The people in the car were already bloody, and he couldn't even see where their heads and limbs were. And the three little monsters just enjoy their delicious meal, not chasing other contestants.

    This made Jiang Yan more certain of his thoughts, and he preferred a once-and-for-all approach rather than just throwing off the enemy.

    "Get the microphone to my side!" Jiang Yan shouted to Mo Xiaoyao.

    Since Mo Xiaoyao couldn't sing anymore, and her power was just that big, he might as well try it himself.

    Mo Xiaoyao heard his call. Seeing that the track in front of her was relatively stable, she then turned around and kicked the stand with the microphone plugged in towards Jiang Yan.

    Jiang Yan freed one hand to catch the microphone firmly, and then he sang the sentence "The river flows eastward", which was out of tune to the south pole.*

*the tune just... run from north pole all the way to south pole, I guess. I can't find the exact explanation.

    The small stage trembled for a while, and then used a kind of "fruit ninja" speed frenzy effect to both sides, firing colorful wind blades in all directions.

    The knife sees blood*, the power is MAX!

*刀刀见血: a Chinese idiom, a metaphor for great, ferocious, intense.