The roar of a more powerful engine echoed from behind — the black armored vehicles of the Nightfall Guards!
“Vroom — vroom!”
They were like dormant beasts that had finally bared their fangs, breaking through the city gates and giving chase.
Mu Xi’s heart pounded wildly, nearly smashing through her ribcage.
She gripped the steering wheel tightly, her palms slick with sweat. She didn’t dare look back. She could only press the accelerator harder.
The beat-up wasteland car let out a strained roar, bouncing violently across the potholed, rubble-strewn edge of the desert.
Every jolt pulled at the wounds on her arms and legs, sending sharp currents of pain shooting through her body.
But she couldn’t afford to care. There was only one thought in her mind — run! Get away from here!
Bang!
A gunshot tore through the silent desert. The bullet grazed the rear of the wasteland car, kicking up a small puff of dust on the sand not far away. A warning shot.
Mu Xi’s body went stiff. Cold sweat instantly soaked her back.
They were warning her. They were shrouding her in the shadow of death, trying to make her afraid, trying to make her surrender.
This was the Nightfall classic.
She knew that person too well. They always liked to destroy a person’s will this way.
But this time, she wouldn’t be pushed around anymore.
Thinking of Ye Lan’s beautiful but icy face, thinking of the days she was imprisoned, tortured, and treated like a doll, thinking of Li Xin and Little An still trapped in that mire, a surge of power — a mix of hatred and resolve — welled up from the bottom of her heart.
The car tilted sharply, nearly flipping over. She wrenched the steering wheel, the wheels grinding over a protruding rock, and she charged towards a more rugged area full of weathered boulders. Mu Xi held the car steady, using the momentum to veer into a terrain even more treacherous, covered in wind-eroded rocks.
Two more shots rang out. The bullets hit the car’s side with a dull metallic thud, leaving two shallow dents. They were trying to pressure her, to make her make a mistake out of fear, or simply give up resistance.
The armored vehicles were incredibly fast, their performance far surpassing this wasteland car that could fall apart at any moment.
The distance was closing, inch by inch.
Mu Xi could even see the front of the black armored vehicle in her rearview mirror, along with the faint outline of a heavy machine gun on its roof.
Inside the Guards’ car, the comms channel was bustling.
“Target speed is constant! Entering the rocky area!”
“Captain, she’s too fast, and she’s reckless! At this rate—”
“Shut it! Follow orders! Lady Ye Lan wants her alive, in one piece! Use non-lethal methods to stop her! Watch your aim!”
The captain’s icy voice came through the radio, with a hint of barely concealed irritation.
They didn’t dare shoot at the tires directly, fearing a blowout at high speed would cause the car to roll, resulting in serious injury or death for Mu Xi.
Ye Lan’s orders were absolute. They couldn’t afford to fail.
That restraint, once again, became Mu Xi’s only chance at survival.
She forced herself to calm down, her mind racing at full speed.
Fragments of knowledge she had read in books — about vehicle handling, about using terrain — flashed and reassembled in her mind.
Clutch, accelerator, steering… She started trying to make more precise maneuvers.
Ahead, a field of low but densely packed wind-carved stone pillars appeared, like a long-dead stone forest.
Mu Xi’s eyes sharpened. She judged almost instinctually.
She drifted at a dangerous angle, narrowly scraping past a stone pillar as she plunged into the stone forest. She wrenched the wheel sharply to the right while stepping on the clutch, using the brief power interruption and inertia to swing the car’s tail to the left! The tires screeched against the sandy ground as the car, groaning with creaks and groans, wormed its way into the stone forest.
The armored vehicle behind clearly hadn’t expected her to pull something so insane.
The bulky armored vehicle tried to turn immediately, but its speed and size made it sluggish at the narrow entrance to the stone forest.
Crash! The armored vehicle’s front bumper slammed into a thicker stone pillar, making a huge noise as its speed dropped drastically.
“Damn it! She’s inside!”
“Car Two! Circle around! Flank her! Car One, stay close! Watch those pillars!”
Mu Xi didn’t pause. She drove the wasteland car haphazardly through the stone forest.
This terrain was more advantageous for her relatively smaller vehicle.
She kept changing direction, using the stone pillars as cover to block the pursuers’ line of sight.
The roar of the engine reverberated through the stone forest, mixing with the sound of stones being crushed under the wheels.
She was completely focused. Sweat dripped down her temples, falling into her eyes, causing a sharp sting, but she didn’t even have time to wipe it away.
Every turn, every acceleration, felt like dancing on the edge of a knife. The exhaustion in her body and the pain of her wounds gradually numbed, leaving only the instinct to survive and the longing for freedom to support her.
She glanced at the gun lying on the passenger seat.
It was her only weapon, but in this chase, it was almost useless.
What she needed was speed, skill, and luck.
Suddenly, the area ahead opened up.
She burst out of the stone forest to find a relatively flat stretch of sand ahead. But in the distance, a series of rolling sand dunes appeared on the horizon, like the spines of sleeping giants.
The engine sound of the armored vehicles came from behind again, and it was more than one. Another armored vehicle had successfully circled around to her side front, forming a pincer attack.
Two black steel beasts, like the opening jaws of a predator, were slowly closing in.
A dead end.
Mu Xi’s heart sank.
The flat terrain meant she had no more cover. The absolute disadvantage in speed would leave her with no escape.
Was she doomed to fail after all? Ye Lan… that name was like a curse, squeezing her throat tight.
No!
She bit her lip hard, tasting blood.
She looked at the sand dunes.
Sand dunes meant more complex terrain, but they also meant soft sand. The wasteland car could easily get stuck.
But it was also the only variable.
Time to gamble!
Mu Xi floored the accelerator again. The battered engine let out a dying wail as the car made a final sprint toward the sand dunes.
“Target is heading for the dune zone! Repeat, target is heading for the dune zone!”
“Warning! The dune zone might cause the vehicle to get stuck! Should we shoot the tires?”
“Wait! Keep the distance! Try to force her to turn!”
The captain’s voice was hesitant.
Bullets whizzed by again. This time, they were closer, hitting the metal near the window with a grating sound.
The glass didn’t shatter — probably some kind of reinforced material — but it was covered in a spiderweb of cracks.
Mu Xi could feel the Guards’ patience running out.
She stared at the sand dunes getting closer, their massive shadows casting an inexplicable sense of pressure.
Just when she was less than a hundred meters from the dunes, Mu Xi suddenly yanked the steering wheel again. Instead of heading up the dunes, she followed the edge and veered into a narrow crevice sandwiched between a huge rock and the dune’s side wall!
It was an extremely hidden entrance, impossible to spot from a distance.
It looked like a scar torn into the earth.
“She turned! She’s entering the rock crevice on the west side!”
“Follow her! Watch for an ambush!”
The wasteland car charged into the rock crevice. The light suddenly dimmed.
It was a naturally formed passage, twisting and turning. The ground was relatively hard rock mixed with a thin layer of wind-blown sand.
The width was just enough to fit the wasteland car.
Mu Xi slowed down a little, carefully navigating the narrow passage.
The rock walls were cold, and the air was filled with the smell of dust and stone.
She didn’t know how long she drove, but ahead, she saw a slightly wider hollow area, like a small, natural cave.
Next to it was an even smaller fork in the road, too narrow for a vehicle.
This was it!