The plunder of the heavens begins with the Spirit Cage.

He had played racing games before the apocalypse, and Ling Cage was more comprehensive in terms of physics, collision engine, and even virtual equipment. After the apocalypse, he played countless real-life bumper cars.

Even if Qianwei isn't considered a top player, he should at least get a good ranking.

After leaving the modification workshop, Lu Qianwei followed the navigation and headed straight for the vehicle trading hall on the west side of the central square.

The bright showroom is filled with everything from entry-level cars costing a few hundred credits to custom-built racing cars worth tens of millions of dollars, arranged in a neat and organized manner.

Oasis racing is a chaotic free-for-all where the stronger the firepower, the faster the speed, and the more aggressive the collisions, the better.

Of course, the prices of these armed vehicles have skyrocketed, and only large corporations and gamblers are willing to spend the money.

Ultimately, it's due to the game mechanics that death results in the loss of gold coins and assets.

It involves spending real money; without some capital, one is either a gambler or someone blinded by the naive confidence that "I can reach the finish line."

Lu Qianwei glanced at the rows of vehicles with different performance characteristics without blinking, and directly asked the reception NPC for the most expensive and best-armed one.

"Honorable guest, this way please!" The NPC beamed with joy and quickly dragged out several high-end vehicles.

"No need to look anymore, just take the most expensive one!" Interrupting the sales NPC's chatter, Lu Qianwei pointed directly to a "Mad Bear" armored racing car with a matte black finish.

His vehicle had an inch-thick alloy ram welded to the front, the body was covered with a double-layer energy explosion-proof coating, the two side hatches concealed four-barreled pulse cannons, and the roof was pre-loaded with three high-energy explosive rounds. The liquid nitrogen propulsion tank in the rear compartment was pushed to the vehicle's maximum capacity.

It even has an additional miniature quantum shield to block those with ill intentions.

The entire set was priced at 8.7 million Oasis Coins, which is almost two million in real-world currency—enough for an average family to live on for over a decade. Lu Qianwei glanced at the price, clicked "pay," and added it to his game inventory.

Twelve o'clock.

Lu Qianwei followed the massive crowd into the glowing oval portal at the front of the track.

In less than two seconds, Lu Qianwei stepped onto the starting line of the first stage, the New York track.

The wide starting line stretches along the main thoroughfare of Manhattan’s Old Town, big enough to accommodate a hundred race cars side by side.

Here, there are no rules for the car's position; it's all about first come, first served.

Lu Qianwei glanced around and saw that many of the front positions were already occupied by IOI's bulls and horses.

Besides these, there are individual players and some well-known guild players.

Looking at the race cars that everyone pulled out, well, they were all cyberpunk modified versions!

None of them are normal; you can tell several different models just by looking at them.

It has a rugged style, with the body covered by old steel plates with peeling paint, the welds clearly exposed, and two armor plates nailed to the front as ramming corners.

Some pickup trucks have been modified into racing cars, with a waist-high iron fence welded to the back bed and two sharpened armor-piercing knives stuck in the side, the blades still bearing the marks of old rust, exuding a rough and savage feel.

The massive ones are even more eye-catching. The modified heavy truck at the front has a solid steel plate welded to the front and reinforced with steel bars. From a distance, it looks like a mobile bunker lying across the starting line.

Those who take the refined route are completely different. IOI uses regular racing cars. As for whether there are weapons hidden under the hood... well, that depends on how shameless their company is.

Almost everyone around him had brought out their vehicles, and seeing that the race was about to begin, Lu Qianwei also brought out his own vehicle.

A sliver of light fell, drawing gasps and surprised glances from those around them.

While many players admired his strangely designed alien skins, they scoffed and dismissed him as a fool with too much money.

"Do you really think you can win by throwing money at it?"

"Those corporate idiots have been grinding away at IOI for years and still can't pass it~"

"Hehe, where did this guy come from?"

"Aren't they just giving us gold coins?"

"I think he's never played Oasis Racing before. No matter how good the car is, it can't withstand a bunch of people surrounding and bombing it..."

The crowd murmured amongst themselves, turning back frequently, their eyes filled with the greed of the vegetable delivery tycoon.

Lu Qianwei didn't care what they were thinking. He opened the car door, bent down and sat in the driver's seat. The adaptive seat immediately conformed to his back and waist. All systems completed their self-checks, and the green indicators on the head-up HUD were bright and clear.

He gently turned the steering wheel and stepped on the accelerator. The engine of the Mad Bear roared with a deep, heavy sound, which made the ground around it tremble slightly.

Before long, the red light projected on the virtual screen began to count down, the dull counting sound hitting the ground: "Ten, nine, eight... three, two, one!"

The moment the green light came on, hundreds of engines roared to life, and hundreds of race cars shot off like cannonballs. The chaotic, unregulated battle started with a bloodthirsty frenzy.

It had only gone less than a hundred meters when several cars were squeezed off the roadside ruins and broken walls by the giant heavy truck. With a loud explosion, people and vehicles were instantly turned into gold coins and eliminated!

Some crazy guys even started indiscriminately bombarding any vehicles in their way from halfway across the track.

Those without skill and ability will be caught in a chain reaction along with the flying car.

Lu Qianwei dodged left and right, watching as the pickup truck in the distance spun its wheel and sliced ​​off the car next to it. He then saw the expert player use his agile movement to overtake in the blink of an eye and rush into the first group.

Well, he had to admit that he hadn't played games for many years and was a bit rusty.

By eliminating a group of greedy hunters who wanted to steal his gold coins, Lu Qianwei managed to catch up with the top tier by taking down various traps and obstacles on the track, as well as controlling dragons and fighting off wolves.

However, when a roar echoed from the top of the Empire State Building, Lu Qianwei glanced at the distance between himself and the first-place finisher—more than a hundred meters away…

Well, he still had a chance to make a run at the Jin Gang Broken Bridge, but at such a distance, let's just forget about it.

Unless he uses cheats, he can forget about beating the game mechanics.

As for why they didn't reverse into the parking space and instead went straight down the protagonist's path to win the game?

He naturally wanted to see if Bai Yuekui could win the match head-on.

Now, he's reversing into the finish line. With so many people around, anyone who isn't blind will notice his actions.

Besides, he's driving such a luxurious car now; it's impossible for him not to attract attention.

"Roar--!!"

With an even more furious roar, King Kong's gray-black figure, several meters tall, leaped from the top of the Empire State Building to the other end of the building to chase the race car.

At the same time, those fan-sized claws didn't forget to pry and demolish the walls and glass of the skyscrapers, and then smash them all onto the race track!

A shower of shards of glass and other debris rained down, instantly afflicting drivers who couldn't dodge in time.

Either the front of the car was crushed by a whole piece of collapsed wall, or the engine was pierced by flying steel bars. Fireballs exploded one after another on the track, and white light flashed continuously. In just a few dozen seconds, they all exploded into gold coins, and the originally crowded track became much sparser.

But King Kong wasn't satisfied. He grabbed a giant billboard hanging from the side of the building and a half-ton concrete block, and threw them into the racing car group below.

Half-ton concrete blocks and several-meter-long giant billboards crashed into the racing car group one after another with the force of nature.

The impact of the explosion was immense; after the smoke cleared, the track was crooked and littered with debris.

Cars that went to the wrong spot either plunged into the ruins or were unlucky enough to be completely covered by fallen billboards, without even giving anyone a chance to pick up the gold coins...

"Boom!"

A stone the size of a millstone grazed Lu Qianwei's hood and hit a guy on his right rear, who was riding an electric motorcycle, causing it to overturn.

In the chain reaction of the car accident, several more unlucky souls were also turned into scattered gold coins, enriching the players behind them.

Three minutes later, the Vajra, which swung like Mount Tai, caught up with the group.

Even from a distance, Lu Qianwei knew exactly what Jin Gang was going to do next.

Sure enough, after a roar, it pushed off with its hind legs, and the entire beast soared into the air before crashing heavily onto the racetrack bridge.

After a deafening, earth-shattering thud, the solid reinforced concrete bridge deck snapped in two.

Some of the cars that had been rushing forward stopped a few meters away from the broken bridge, filled with regret and curses; no one dared to take another step forward.

Everyone knows that this evil spirit standing on the broken bridge is an unsolvable bug.

But then again, those gamblers whose eyes were already bloodshot didn't have much to say.

Seeing that others had stopped, he stepped on the gas and tried to use the speed to jump to another section of the bridge.

The first car to rush out was an IOI lightweight supercar.

She had just flown to mid-air above the gap when Vajra's fan-sized palm slammed down directly.

With a loud "bang," the entire car turned into a pile of scrap metal, and the owner was thrown into the river along with it. Only a bunch of glittering pieces floated to the surface.

The second one was a reckless individual who had just barely made it to the other side of the bridge in his modified off-road vehicle when King Kong bit off half of it and threw it into the water.

In just half a minute, seven cars rushed out, but all of them were ruthlessly stopped by this terrifying upright ape.

Damn it, someone unleashed a burst of top-tier nitrogen, trying to fly over King Kong's head amidst the chaos. But the chimpanzee somehow managed to pull out a thick stone shovel and swung it away on the spot!

Lu Qianwei stepped on the brakes and stopped the car at the end of the traffic flow, a few dozen meters away from the broken bridge. He rested his elbow on the car window and looked at Jin Gang, who was stuck in the traffic jam in front of the broken bridge.

Suddenly, he inexplicably wondered what it would be like if the real King Kong came here.

Hmm~ that would be really interesting.

It seems that old man King Kong should have a third child by now, after all these years.

Wow, they really live a comfortable life. I'm suddenly a little envious.

As the traffic became increasingly congested, the game became a foregone conclusion that no one could complete it, and people gradually logged out.

Sure enough, a novice like him shouldn't have the same illusion that "I can reach the finish line," and should just honestly take the shortcut.

But it's not the right time for the New York circuit key yet; the main character hasn't shown up yet, so there's still plenty of time.

But then again, if he can't get the first key, how can he not get the second one that's dancing in Shining?

The third one...emm~

Despite his clumsy hands, he decided to leave it to Bai Yuekui.

So he should go to the narcissistic life museum of the game's creator and pretend to watch a video.

Everyone who gets a key in this game will be monitored by the author's AI data.

If he gets all the keys and thinks he's cheating, and the old man denies it, he'll cry and we'll have to resort to violence =?ω?=.

Follow the navigation to the Halliday Log Museum.

Lu Qianwei's eyes immediately fell upon the old robot disguised as an NPC standing at the front desk.

Tsk, this middle-aged man is really idle. How does he manage to stand there for more than 10 hours a day?

Oh, if you're just lying down in real life, then nothing's wrong~

Hello, new guest. How can I help you?

The smartly dressed robot butler approached Lu Qianwei and bowed politely. Looking at his rigid and mechanical appearance, one could not see any human side to him.

Tsk, Old Deng really loves to act.