Chapter 433: The Great Race (Part 1)
[Aside from the five seeded riders mentioned before, there were several other notable favorites — such as Diana Hawk, a female warrior from an ancient Amazonian tribe, and George Washington, a farmer from Virginia. Both were formidable contenders.]
Reading this, Zhou Ning couldn't help but sigh helplessly at how outrageous this world was. Just as he'd suspected, this truly was a parallel world running on overdrive — a place where even an unprecedented horse race straight out of Steel Ball Run existed.
Thanks to the effects of the Perfect Explorer and Savior titles, the Lanling Prince naturally stumbled into this key storyline. And the participants already introduced were absurd enough — never mind Joker turning into a "Joker-Man," even the parallel-world Bruce Wayne was a rock star. Barrett Allen and Jonathan Brook were clearly counterparts of The Flash's Barry Allen and the villain Scarecrow Jonathan Crane.
The Amazon warrior Diana Hawk was likely this world's version of Wonder Woman — though whether she still possessed divine power was uncertain. And George Washington… could that actually be the founding father of America? This parallel world really had no limits.
In a previous simulation, Zhou Ning had seen the term Devil's Palm. He believed the race route most likely circled around that area.
The Devil's Palm was said to have been formed from the remains of a buried Saint — meaning that as long as the race progressed as expected, Lanling Prince Zhou Ning could likely pass through the Devil's Palm, or even acquire a fragment of the Saint's body to gain a Stand ability.
Judging from everything so far, choosing Lanling Prince Zhou Ning had clearly been the right move. This world held enormous potential.
Continue simulation.
[January 1, 1973 — 10 a.m. The race was set to begin in two hours. All contestants had already gathered on the beach, waiting for the starting signal. Like most sporting events, each participant was assigned a number — yours was 2395. Before the race, you met the event sponsor: billionaire Lex Luthor.]
[He was a middle-aged man with flowing hair and a kind face. You instinctively felt he didn't look like a bad person, and his speech was refreshingly concise.]
[Among the other contestants, you spotted plenty of oddballs. The green-haired, chalk-faced Joker-Man had chosen a mountain bike as his "steed." With his strength and stamina, as long as the bike didn't fall apart, he was genuinely a contender.]
[Popular contestant Diana Hawk was a beautiful, passionate woman who boldly told you she wouldn't ride a horse at all — she intended to run the entire race on her own two feet. Others arrived in cars — the worst possible choice. More than half the route ran through uninhabited terrain full of dunes, swamps, grasslands, rocks, and desert. A car could barely make fifty to a hundred kilometers per day; covering six thousand kilometers would take over two months. If the vehicle broke down or blew a tire midway, there'd be no one to help — and since weapons were allowed, you seriously doubted anyone would resist the temptation to shoot out someone's tires.]
[When you appeared on the course, every horse present immediately bowed its head and knelt down, taking a long moment before their riders could calm them. Such was the aura of a legendary rider.]
[All 8,753 contestants lined up in a single massive row across the beach — a sight beyond words. At noon on January 1, 1973, as the signal gun fired, the grand transcontinental race of the century officially began.]
[As mentioned before, the 6,000-kilometer course was divided into nine segments of varying length, each ending with a checkpoint. The stretch between checkpoints was called a Stage. The first Stage was a short 25-kilometer sprint ending at a small Catholic church.]
[Though your steed, Snowstep, possessed astonishing endurance, you decided to conserve its strength at the start. As the saying goes: "A fine steed leaps but once and cannot run ten steps; a slow horse may travel far by persistence." No matter how strong your mount was, the real sprint belonged in the latter half. Meanwhile, in the crowd of eight thousand horses, Joker-Man Jackie pedaled furiously ahead on his bicycle — and shockingly, his speed kept increasing.]
[So this was the power of a superhero? you thought, astonished. Soon, two of the favorites — Jonathan Joestar on his white horse and Dio Brando on his black one — broke away from the starting pack, gradually closing in on Joker-Man. Diana Hawk, who vowed to win on foot, and Bruce Wayne, riding a mechanical horse, followed your own approach — conserving their energy rather than rushing ahead.]
[Unexpectedly, the white-haired old cowboy George Washington held third place, while the lightning-fast rancher Barrett Allen was fourth.]
[Jonathan Joestar and Dio, both British riders, seemed destined rivals. Under your watch, they clashed four or five times until a fork in the path finally forced them apart.]
[The left fork led uphill; the right descended into a valley. Judging by terrain, the correct route lay to the right — the path ahead looked flat and open. Yet Dio decisively steered left, charging up the hill and disappearing from view.]
[As the race continued, the adaptation phase ended, and the nearby riders began attacking each other — using their horses to ram opponents. You quickly became a target too, but your masterful horsemanship let you weave and dodge with ease, leaving less skilled riders behind in a pile of bodies and dust.]
[As expected, nearly all those who'd chosen cars were now out — their tires shredded, some vehicles flipped over completely. Someone was using a subtle, almost invisible method to puncture the tires, even wounding nearby horses — though you couldn't see exactly how.]
[Racing like the wind, you soon reached the fork. As Diana and Bruce Wayne veered left, Washington and Barrett Allen took the right — and you followed them, spurring Snowstep to full speed!]
[Your loyal warhorse, unmatched through countless battles, easily widened the gap from the pack. But then, out of nowhere, you were struck by a hidden attack!]
[The area around San Diego was barren desert — no cover in sight. You quickly spotted the source: small, sharp projectiles flying toward you. The attacker was none other than the dentist Jonathan Brook behind you. On closer inspection, you realized — those projectiles were his fingernails!]
[He had somehow detached and launched his nails as deadly weapons!]
[Once you understood his method, he was easy to handle. With several precise bursts of speed and a flash of swordlight — the blade returned to its sheath — you forced his horse to stumble, crashing into a rock wall. Eliminated. You then urged Snowstep forward again, swiftly overtaking both Washington and Barrett Allen, determined to claim the first Time Bonus.]
[But just then, you saw Bruce Wayne's black horse spread a pair of glider wings, soaring through the air and landing several hundred meters ahead. Meanwhile, Diana leapt straight off a cliff and landed effortlessly. You remained in fifth place.]
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