Chapter 10 Risking Death Is Extreme

• “James, you mustn’t jump! You can’t jump down from here. He’s poor, and his life is worthless, so it doesn’t matter if he risks his life, but we’re fine china, so you can’t go head-to-head with a rough brick like him!”
• “James, we don’t know his skills, so we can’t defeat his strength with our shortcoming. In my opinion, you should just give him a sum of money, and the matter will then be resolved.”
• “James…”
• A group of people who were close to James was dissuading him, but I merely looked on coldly, watching him hesitate over whether he should jump while standing on the sky deck, or perhaps more accurately, racking his brains to figure out an excuse to not jump.
• After a long while, he climbed down the sky deck and walked over to me with a domineering air, acting all pompous as though he had all the authority in the world. “You’re cheating. Drag racing is my specialty, while BASE jumping is yours. You’re using a method familiar to you to challenge me to a game I’ve never tried, so this is clearly an act of cheating! I can’t accept it, so this is not me admitting defeat!” Just when I was about to say something, James waved a hand, and someone handed him a black plastic bag. “Here’s 100,000. Take it all, but remember, this doesn’t mean that I’m admitting defeat. This money is just for you to go and seek treatment at the hospital since you’re destitute. I don’t wish to see you fall to your death, after all!”
• No one within this circle said another word. I knew that half of them were siding with James and awaiting my reaction, while the other half detested his attitude, for it was glaringly obvious from their contemptuous gaze.
• Throwing the black plastic bag with 100,000 in it at my feet, James then proposed to have another competition, in which he’d determine the rules.
• Scorn was written all over Elizabeth’s face. While others dared not speak up and contradict James, she was fearless. However, when I saw that she was about to speak, I stopped her. “Have you forgotten the rules in this village?”
• “I’m not a resident of this village…” Elizabeth muttered, but in the end, she didn’t say anything else, merely shooting a glare at James.
• Subsequently, James put forth his rules that were inherently linked to his so-called extreme game that belonged to men. I agreed.
• The venue was cleared. James and I were three meters apart, both standing in the middle of the road. Meanwhile, across us were two sports cars of the same model at 100 meters away, their engines roaring lowly like a fierce beast that was about to pounce on its prey. This was the game James wanted to play; the two of us were to stand in the middle of the road with a car across us respectively, whose driver would be stepping on the gas pedal all the way and charging at us head-on. The person who dodged or hunkered down would be the person who admitted to cowardice. However, I’d never been afraid of putting my life on the line.
• With the illumination of the streetlights, I glimpsed Elizabeth’s exquisite face in the car across from me; her face was etched with intense worry. She’d volunteered to drive the car that was to mow me down. I gave her a thumbs-up, signaling her that she needn’t worry.
• In the next instance, as the interim referee in the middle spoke, the two cars roared at the same time, barrelling toward me and James. As the headlights drew closer, the light became all the more clearer and glaring. At this moment, the sports car was tantamount to a grim reaper from hell, rapidly bearing down on me. I could even sense a counting down of my life. It’d be a lie to say that I had no fear within me, for no one would be truly willing to die, but as a man, some things couldn’t be tolerated, even at the risk of my life! Furthermore, my life wasn’t worth much, while Zhang James still had a bright future ahead of him and a resplendent family background, so the one who'd truly be afraid of death was him.
• The sports car sped at me, but I turned my head and looked at James who had self-proclaimed as James the Great. James the Great! How arrogant and egotistical! However, when I noticed his tightly clenched fists and trembling body, I knew that he could only be called James, for he wasn’t worthy to be called James the Great considering his puny courage, nor was he deserving of that moniker! As I was looking at James, he was likewise looking at me. My lips curved, and I smiled at him. Then, I abruptly shouted, scaring him so much that his body shook, and he almost collapsed to the ground.
• Roar! The two sports cars came hurtling down. In the next second, when the bright yellow sports car swiftly approached, James the Great could no longer stand his ground and leaped to the side. Immediately after, the sports car mowed down the spot he was standing in earlier, whizzing past like a streak of yellow meteor. Nonetheless, I didn’t move at all, not even looking at the red sports car Elizabeth was driving but kept my attention firmly on James. The moment James dodged, the screech of tires sounded from the friction between the tires and the ground. A dense cloud of smoke rose, the smell of rubber suffocating. Amidst the hazy smoke, the red sports car made a perfect drift beside me and successfully circumvented me.
• The second the car drifted past me, I saw Elizabeth’s flowing long hair, her focused expression, and the faint smile on her exquisite face through the car window. At that moment, time seemed to freeze. She was truly stunning, as beautiful as a goddess, so breathtaking that even time stopped ticking. In the entire world, she was the only one who was even more dazzling than the sun.
• Screech… After drifting, the red car then stabilized itself before coming to a stop. I stretched out a hand. Swinging open the car door, Elizabeth climbed out of the car and walked over to my side gracefully before taking my hand right away. “You trusted my driving skills so much, but weren’t you afraid that I’d hit you?” Elizabeth held my hand tightly. From the dampness of her palm, it wasn’t difficult to tell how nervous she was earlier.
• “I didn’t think so much. I was just thinking that if you truly dared to hit me, that’d be the perfect excuse for me to stay with you my entire life, for you wouldn’t even be able to shake me off.”
• Elizabeth smiled, her smile incredibly sweet. She then rested her head against my shoulder.
• Then, I shifted my gaze on James who was sprawled on the ground a near distance away. “You determined both the location and the rules. I just want to see if you’d truly squat and take a piss!”
• Clenching his fists, James slammed his fists on the ground before he stood up and strode toward me ferociously, his bearing appearing as though he wanted to hit me. “You cheated again! You had Elizabeth deliberately drifting and circumventing you!”
• I spread a hand in exasperation and gazed at the crowd around us. “All of you are from rich families, and I know many among you are close to James, but I think even if his father were here, even he couldn’t deny that I’d never interacted with Elizabeth after the rules were set. Since the rules were decided by him, and I didn’t interact with Elizabeth either, how could I have cheated?”
• Everyone was silent; even those siding with James had no comeback.
• Then, I pointed at James. “You could’ve tried standing your ground without moving an inch and see whether the person you assigned as your driver would’ve drifted to circumvent you. But I think you’d still dodge no matter what, so please don’t simply mention that a game of courage is extreme. Drag racing isn’t extreme. Risking death is extreme. If you’re not satisfied, let’s do something even more extreme. Let’s each hold a knife, and I’ll even allow you to stab me first before I then stab you. We’ll both suffer a stab and see who collapses first!”
• James went speechless. After a long time, he then walked over to the driver who’d driven the bright yellow sports car earlier. Swinging his hand, he landed a vicious slap on the driver’s face. “You’re useless!” After slapping the driver, he then went back to his own car and took out a bank card from his wallet. “I’m not going to bother with a nutjob! There’s 1,000,000 in here, and no pin is needed. Don’t ever appear in front of me again!” Subsequently, he drove off quickly and soon vanished from sight.
• However, James the Great forgot that the person who’d wanted to bother with all this trouble was him, not me!