Chapter 1715: Chapter 31: Full-Speed Pursuit

As the cruise ship sank, the contestants jumped into the ocean from the deck, much like boiling dumplings, and seeing their disheveled state, Jiang Xiuming laughed heartily, but quickly shut his mouth.

In the basket, Dantai braced against the storm as he dismantled a fuel canister.

“Eh, what’s he up to? Is the hot air balloon broken?” Dong Zixuan’s words made the Warhammer team’s atmosphere tense again.

“Impossible, I’ve checked it repeatedly.” Mu Nianqi frowned slightly, having some confidence, and soon realized Dantai’s intent, “This guy is really crazy, trying to lighten the load to accelerate out of the storm’s range.”

“What if the fuel runs out?” Bai Guo was worried to death, “Even if it flies, it will take several days to reach San Francisco, won’t it?”

“Dantai is not reckless, he must have calculated it. After all, it’s over half a day later than the original take-off time, and although this storm seems threatening, if he pilots well, he can totally use the wind speed to accelerate and save fuel!” Tang Zheng noticed Dantai had turned the flamethrower down to a very low setting.

In such wild winds, speed is not really a problem, the most important thing is to maintain balance and course.

As Dantai threw down the fuel canister into the ocean, Gu Xueqi clenched her fist, overwhelmed with admiration.

The Special Agent’s courage and confidence were truly astonishing, leaving no fallback plan; few would dare to discard a fuel canister under the risk of running out halfway.

In the fierce storm, the hot air balloon shook like an elderly person with faltering steps, causing everyone’s hearts to sway with the wind and rain.

Dark clouds gathered, with flashes of lightning and thunder.

Squatting in the basket, Dantai kept as low as possible, hardly daring to lift his head, lest he’d likely be hit by lightning.

Unsatisfied with just ditching the hydrogen canister, Dantai also untied and discarded a third of the ballast sandbags hanging around the basket.

The hot air balloon suddenly lightened its weight, climbing rapidly again and gaining quite some speed.

“Luckily, that guy is acting impulsively, he even threw away the inflatable boat!” Mu Nianqi breathed a sigh of relief watching Dantai playing the game, truly a thrill; for an ordinary person, it’d be enough to induce a heart attack.

“Inflatable boat?” Bai Guo was puzzled.

“Yes, I prepared him a quick-inflatable boat in case he fell early, he could save himself without waiting to die at sea.” Mu Nianqi was too lazy to explain further, not just an inflatable boat, there’s the compass, map, signal flame, an unlimited emergency signal transmitter, a small propeller, and a pair of plastic boat paddles, aside from food, everything was prepared for the Special Agent.

“Even a propeller is available; with such a small amount of diesel, the max run is thirty kilometers, not much faster than my swimming.” Dantai cut the rope binding the oil barrel and threw the five-liter diesel canister out of the hot air balloon.

The propeller also didn’t need to be kept, as carrying it would waste quite some fuel, not worth it.

“Ungrateful!” Watching Dantai discard items she prepared one by one, Mu Nianqi pursed her lips, though she knew, she wouldn’t be able to be so decisive if she were in Dantai’s position.

The azure sky stretched limitless and clear, dotted with cloud-like cotton candy in the distance, a sight to soothe one’s heart.

With the warm and sunny Pacific trade winds, the hot air balloon flew rapidly.

After spending twenty-eight hours, the American continent appeared in view.

With experience operating a hot air balloon, along with a compass and detailed map of America, the Special Agent adjusted the course and easily found San Francisco.

As the hot air balloon floated above the city, it drew countless gazes; in an era without airplanes, a hot air balloon was high technology, and such an act of drifting from the Pacific was quite a feat.

Several reporters, with their old cameras, started chasing the Special Agent’s landing point, eager to obtain first-hand information.

“The fifth stop of the Warhammer team is about to end; please prepare for the sixth baton.”

The Trojan announcement suddenly echoed in the lobby, making the noisy sound disappear instantly, with everyone’s eyes focused.

Though they already guessed the team would send the strongest person for the sixth baton, seeing Tang Zheng not rise gave the trailing teams false hope.

Tang Zheng wouldn’t let these people get their wish and raised his right hand.

“If only this guy could die in the rally!”

“It’s over; now it’s definitely difficult to catch up!”

“Now comes the show; let’s see how he manages, though the hot air balloon tactics exist, the first group still leaves them about a week’s journey behind.”

At this moment, everyone was cursing Tang Zheng, wishing him to fail in the game.

“Take care!” Several women rose with faces full of concern, reminding Tang Zheng.

Pang Meiqin was bolder, directly hugged Tang Zheng and kissed him, Li Xinlan hesitated before also giving him a kiss, Tao Ran was too shy to utter a single word.

“Wait for my good news!” As the Group Leader, he should give the Group Members confidence.

Tang Zheng entered the game and within less than a minute, saw Dantai sprinting over at full speed.

“Great job!” Tang Zheng punched the chest of the special agent.

“It’s up to you now!” Dantai handed the backpack to Tang Zheng, removed the weapons from his belt, and quickly relayed the plans he had been pondering over the past few days, but before he could finish, they were teleported.

“Attention all teams, to enhance the excitement of the game, in the sixth station, the coordinates of every contestant will be displayed on their wristwatch.”

“What? There’s no secret at all; it’s practically exposing them to danger!” someone immediately shouted.

“Haha, actually it’s not so bad. Most vengeful group leaders will surely fight to the end!” Many were gloating, as these survivors fervently believed that their group leader could crush all enemies.

“The final station is almost entirely group leaders participating, don’t you all want the game to be even more explosive?” The Trojan announcement ignored any objections.

“Rest assured, you won’t be engaging in meaningless slaughter. In the sixth station, every contestant’s value will be marked, and killing them will reduce the corresponding number of days.”

This rule announcement caused an uproar in the lobby. If earlier, everyone intended to avoid each other upon encounter, now this has turned into a fight to the death.

The laggards who thought they were surely doomed heard this rule and their spirits were immediately lifted, all hoping for the fifth baton to quickly reach the finish line.

“Contestants, please note, the sixth station is a free route, the finish line is London, UK. Please arrive within a total of eighty days, or you will face annihilation punishment!”

Tang Zheng looked at the map, asked passersby about the location of the train station, and hurriedly set off. On the way, he robbed a white man with a pipe, acquiring a suit and a few hundred US dollars.

Although it was a free route, having arrived in San Francisco, Tang Zheng essentially had no choice. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. He had to cross the entire America, reach New York, and then take a ship to London.

“Is there really no direct train to New York?” Despite being prepared, Tang Zheng was still disappointed to hear the employee’s answer.

“Didn’t I already tell you?” The employee was clearly a bit racist, combined with the Chinese Exclusion Act of this period, he was displeased with Tang Zheng.

“The optimal journey is to first go to the capital of Utah, Salt Lake City, and then transfer.” Tang Zheng flipped through the purchased timetable and asked the employee, “Is this train on time?”

The employee was absent-minded, completely ignoring Tang Zheng.

Tang Zheng was no longer the kind young man he once was. He grabbed the employee’s hair and slammed it hard onto the desk, causing a loud bang that drew the attention of passing travelers.

“Call the police!” Another employee was startled and shouted for his colleague to dial the police station.

“This is a private matter, I don’t think we need to disturb the police, right?” Tang Zheng picked up the employee’s head.

“Bah!” The employee spat towards Tang Zheng.

Tang Zheng dodged and, using all his strength, slammed his forehead onto the desk.

Fortunately, the table was wooden, or else this bastard’s head would have definitely turned into a rotten watermelon.

“Why is he so reckless now?” Jiang Xiuming was puzzled.

“Uncle is so domineering!” Lu Fan’s big eyes were all shining with little stars of admiration.

“As fearless ones, why should we suffer from the NPCs’ bad attitude? We might as well die!” Chu Baichuan firmly believed in avenging any grudges.

“The train to Salt Lake City doesn’t leave until 2 PM, and I still have four hours left. I can’t afford to waste that time.” Tang Zheng wasn’t hitting people rashly. If it was only an hour, he could completely wait and take the opportunity to prepare some work for the upcoming journey, but four hours were simply too long.

After confirming there was no place for hot air balloons in San Francisco, Tang Zheng stopped a carriage.

“To the nearest horse ranch!”

At the suburb’s horse ranch, the fat owner eyed Tang Zheng with quite a bit of disdain, but after hearing his words, his attitude changed.

“You want all these horses? What a joke, that would cost over thirty thousand US dollars, do you have that?” The owner’s eyes widened in disbelief while scrutinizing Tang Zheng, who, despite his good English, didn’t look like a rich man.

“I don’t have money, but I have this!” Tang Zheng pulled out a handgun, pressing it against the owner’s waist.

“Don’t kill me!” The owner was perceptive and raised his hands immediately, “You can have all the horses!”

“Very good, have your employees tie these horses with ropes!” Tang Zheng ordered. Cars would only begin to gradually become popular after World War I, even in America, carriages were still the main mode of transportation, “By the way, make ready ten thousand US dollars, or else your life is over!”

Threatened with death, the owner’s employees swiftly prepared everything Tang Zheng needed.

“Well then, generous owner, until we meet again!” Tang Zheng took the bag of money, hung it on the horse’s back, then removed his hat and bowed slightly as a gesture, before clasping the horse’s flanks with his legs, “Yah!”

Eighteen strong horses galloped, raising a cloud of dust on the dirt road.

“Go find Sheriff John, I want that young man dead!” The owner watched his property disappear in the distance, howling in rage, and as for his urine-soaked pants, he couldn’t care less; he wanted to make a phone call, hire some cowboys, and have that Chinese boy killed. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets on Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read on m.qidian.com.)