“Over there!!”
“Drag Dichu De and that other guy out of the car!”
“Dichu De!
You can’t escape!!”
At midnight, the Wildfire Team’s thugs still hadn’t left the factory district.
They spotted Dichu De and Hirata Shun hiding in a narrow alley and charged over menacingly, wielding their weapons!
The two men, who had been smoking in the car, were startled.
Their half-smoked cigarettes fell to the ground.
“Damn it!
We were still found?” Dichu De hastily bit down on the remaining cigarette butt and frantically floored the accelerator.
However, the decrepit old car only moved a few meters forward before slowly grinding to a halt.
“What’s going on?!” Hirata Shun exclaimed, seeing the Wildfire Team closing in from behind.
“If we don’t run now, it’ll be too late!”
Dichu De gritted his teeth.
“What else could it be?
We’re out of gas!”
Hearing this, Hirata Shun didn’t say another word.
He pushed open the car door and ran out.
Seeing that group of thugs about to close in, Dichu De could only abandon his beloved car and flee for his life.
But just as he got out, he noticed a bundle of clothes on the passenger seat—Youye’s racing suit, which had been temporarily entrusted to him because there wasn’t time to change.
“Tch!”
Dichu De steeled himself, jumped back into the car, and snatched the suit into his arms.
But it was precisely this delay that allowed the Wildfire Team to completely surround him.
A wooden baseball bat smashed fiercely onto Dichu De’s back, followed by a rain of fists, kicks, and spit.
Hirata Shun, who had already fled a few steps away, turned back in surprise.
He couldn’t understand why Dichu De hadn’t escaped, but when he saw the racing suit in Dichu De’s arms, he sighed in a mixture of anxiety and helplessness.
“He really doesn’t care about his life…” Hirata Shun spat, then casually picked up a wooden stick from the ground, wrapped a rag around it, lit it with a lighter, and charged back.
“Everyone, get lost!!”
The flaming stick cast an arc of fire.
The Wildfire Team’s thugs initially retreated a few steps, then immediately surrounded him again.
“Damn it!
You scared the hell out of me!”
“Using fire against us, the Wildfire Team?
Go eat shit, you trash!”
“Hahaha!
Boss Ling Shi must be thrilled now!”
On the wasteland a few hundred meters outside the factory, curses and sounds of fighting echoed through the dark night.
Several stray dogs circled nearby, seemingly enjoying the commotion like humans.
Suddenly, a sharp whistle sounded from the side.
A D-Wheel stopped with a screech of brakes, its glaring headlights flashing.
The Wildfire Team members raised their arms and turned around, all with expressions of smug satisfaction.
They were certain that their boss—Akagi Ryoji—had returned!
Now Dichu De and his group were completely screwed!
However, when they squinted through the blinding headlights, they found it was a blue and white painted D-Wheel, and the one sitting on it wasn’t Akagi Ryoji, but the guy who had just fled with Dichu De!
“Nani?!”
“Whoosh—”
Amidst their astonished gazes, Youye pulled out the item Akagi Ryoji had entrusted to him—that ancient Spell Card, “Fire Star”!
“Your boss’s D-Wheel stopped.
If you want to pick him up, go to the F15 Old Ironworks,” Youye said coldly, tossing the Card in his hand to one of the men.
“This is his Card.
I’m returning it to you now.”
Hearing this, not a single person in the Wildfire Team wasn’t stunned.
His D-Wheel…
stopped?!
So the boss lost in a Turbo Duel?!
Their boss—Akagi Ryoji—was considered a top-tier Turbo Duelist in the entire F-Zone, yet he actually lost to this guy who appeared out of nowhere and didn’t even have a name?!
They found it hard to believe, but that Spell Card—”Fire Star”—forced them to accept this reality.
After a long while, one of them, who seemed to be in charge, stepped forward.
With a grim expression, he placed the Card Youye had tossed back onto the D-Wheel’s front.
“Since that’s the case, we’ll let today’s incident slide.”
“However, a Card given by Boss Ling Shi is never taken back.”
“Treat this Card with respect, and the Wildfire Team will treat you with respect.”
“Also, who are you?
What’s your name?”
As he spoke, the Wildfire Team members behind him left, heads bowed and dejected, as if they hadn’t had their fill, or as if they had just lost a battle.
The thuggish wastelanders, carrying various weapons, passed by Youye, measuring this stranger with complex expressions as they walked.
Youye didn’t reply, simply saying, “Want to know?
Go ask your boss.”
The man’s face darkened.
Youye’s reply clearly showed he didn’t put the man in his eyes.
In other words, Youye didn’t think he had the qualifications to ask such questions.
He was frustrated, but what could he do?
Heaven knew what his background was; he had just appeared in Sector F17 and immediately put the Wildfire Team in their place.
When all the thugs had dispersed, Dichu De and Hirata Shun, covered in bruises, slowly climbed to their feet.
Hirata Shun vigorously stretched his aching body with a grimace, while Dichu De lightly wiped away the bloodstain from the corner of his mouth, brushed the dust off the racing suit, and handed it to Youye.
“You actually won, kid!
Shun and I really didn’t misjudge you~” Dichu De chuckled easily, the beating he’d just received seemingly a common occurrence for him.
Youye paused, looking at the suit, then immediately asked with concern, “Are you two…
alright?
Do you need to go to the hospital?”
Hirata Shun lit another cigarette and smiled.
“Hospital?
Youye, it seems you really are an outsider.
Hospitals in the Satellite, how could people like us go there?”
Dichu De moved his shoulders, a similarly satisfied expression on his face.
“It’s nothing.
We’ve been getting beatings since before our teeth were fully grown; these minor injuries are nothing.”
Youye fell silent for a moment, then said, “It’s just…
there was no need to go to such lengths for this suit…
you could have just run.”
“I don’t think so, Youye,” Dichu De said with a slight smile.
“A racing suit is the third most important thing for a D-Wheeler.
Besides, your suit has so many medals on it.
I imagine these are all precious memories for you, right~”
The third most important thing…
Is it only second to the Deck and the D-Wheel?
Youye looked at the racing suit, still stained with dirt.
The emblems Dichu De referred to were just sponsor logos from his previous life, but this guy took them as badges of honor?
To get beaten up for sponsor logos—no matter how he thought about it, it seemed a bit ridiculous.
But Youye ultimately didn’t laugh.
He took the Deck from his D-Wheel, picked out each of Dichu De’s Cards, preparing to return the Deck.
But when he saw a certain Card with a signature on it, Youye paused.
That Card seemed to be the very one Dichu De had given Rally earlier.
Hirata Shun had said that this Card held special meaning for Dichu De.
But just half an hour ago, he had actually lent this Card to himself for a duel?
Dichu De noticed that Card.
He chuckled easily, saying, “Ah, so it was here!
It seems I was too rushed back then and just lumped it in with the rest to you.
But Youye, this kind of thing won’t happen a second time!
This Card is even more precious to me than this broken-down D-Wheel~”
(end of chapter)