Chapter 3 The Desert Bus

Li Ang thought for a moment, "What does the rulebook say? Are there restrictions on forming teams?"

"It doesn't say anything."

Sunset Melting Gold spread his hands. "Besides, that wouldn't stop those who are determined.

This rulebook is very brief, after all.

Players who want to cooperate can just communicate with glances and cooperate secretly without violating any of the rules.

Also, I consulted with the guide just now, and she said that the act of teams slaughtering other teams has happened in the past history of Death Race.

It happened in the penultimate and previous sessions."

"This is troublesome."

The witch curled her lips. "No wonder the leading teams in the first echelon are deliberately hanging behind Kratos with tacit understanding, and haven't attacked each other. They almost entered the repair area at the same time.

Are they afraid of being slaughtered by Kratos if they go out alone?"

"That's possible."

Sunset Melting Gold frowned and sighed. "The best outcome would be for those teams to engage in a protracted battle with Kratos, delaying each other at the exit for a while.

Just enough for us to drive out of the repair area and escape the blockade while the chaos is happening,

Step on the accelerator and rush to the finish line.

But that's too idealistic.

The worst outcome is that Kratos alone slaughters those teams, and then it's our turn to be kicked out of the repair area and face Kratos alone."

At this point, the three players fell silent. They are considered strong experts and dragons among men within the player community,

But knowing that they might face Kratos, who slaughters gods like chickens—even a weakened, restricted, youth low-profile version of Kratos—they were still a little daunted.

"Don't be so pessimistic."

Seeing his companions' gloomy and depressed appearance, Li Ang said with a smile: "There is another possibility, that is, among the first few teams,

One car manages to escape Kratos' encirclement during the stalemate. In that case,

In order to ensure that his first place is not taken away, Kratos must give up slaughtering other teams and drive after it,

In that case, other teams, including us, will have a glimmer of hope."

"...That's possible."

Sunset Melting Gold frowned slightly, looked up at the front of the repair area, and murmured, "I hope the other teams can give it their all..."

While they were talking, their rest time was almost over,

And the vehicles in front of the first echelon, which entered the repair area before them, were also driving out of the repair area and onto the track.

The third track is different from the previous two.

According to the rulebook, the road surface of the bloody track changes greatly every year. The only thing that remains unchanged is that the bloody track will set up some terrain with great limitations,

So that teams with weaker individual combat power can use the terrain to gain a speed advantage.

The entrance to this year's bloody track is a flat and vast desert,

Yellow sand, gravel, tumbleweeds occasionally rolling across the road, a monotonous and strange blue sky, huge cacti standing silently under the scorching sun, and a straight road running through the desert.

Sunset Melting Gold looked at the road ahead and muttered to himself, "This road... looks like *Desert Bus*."

"Uh, what bus?"

The witch raised an eyebrow. "Is this also the name of a game?"

"Yeah."

Li Ang nodded and said, "This is one of the most boring games in the world. Players need to drive a bus from Tucson, Arizona, across the desert to their home in Las Vegas."

"Sounds normal, how can it be boring?"

The witch felt a little baffled. "It's better than something like *Mountain Simulator* or *Stone Simulator*, right?"

"...You may not know,"

Speaking of this, Sunset Melting Gold's tone was a little subtle. "This game emphasizes complete realism, that is, the time in the game flows at the same rate as the real world. Players really need to drive for 8 hours in the real world to complete 600 kilometers of driving.

And the scenery in this game is almost completely the same, without any changes, no scenery to admire, no vehicles passing by, and no passengers getting on or off.

In addition, its handling is so bad that it will automatically drift to the right, and if you are not careful, you will drive into the desert next to it and get stuck. The game can only be restarted."

"That's not the most perverted thing."

Li Ang added, "This game can't be paused, can't be saved,

Once you stop, the car will overheat, causing the game to have to be restarted and the car driven again.

After driving is completed, players cannot get any rewards, only one point on the settlement page,

And a prompt to restart the game."

The witch's mouth twitched. "...Then what's the point of this game?"

"Satire, ridicule, mockery,"

Sunset Melting Gold spread his hands and sighed, "Because this game is so boring, it has a touch of magical realism and black humor.

Most workers in the real world are engaged in boring work like *Desert Bus*,

Mechanical, numb, uncreative, unpassionate, unfulfilling, meaningless except for obtaining money for food,

Completely incomparable to those high-end people who exploit and possess a large amount of wealth and use their wealth to live a so-called "rich and colorful, self-realizing life."

While playing,

It can make players start thinking about life, reality, family, work, and the meaning of life.

It can be called a performance art that awakens human beings from numbness in modern society."

The Golden Ge Tie Ma Four-Man Squad, including him, had actually played through *Desert Bus* together when they were gathering,

And after completing the game, they strongly suggested to their superiors that "playing through the entire *Desert Bus*" be included as one of the mandatory requirements for joining the Whale Song organization,

In order to prove that those who want to join the organization can recognize the sacred responsibility of the Whale Song organization to liberate the broad masses of workers from exploitation.

And Li Ang once played this game... to compete with the class monitor, to prove who was more boring,

The loser needed to bear the cost of seaweed rice balls for breakfast at the school gate for a week.

The result was obvious. Li Ang, who was so bored that he could name each of his leg hairs and compose epic stories for them, won.

Under the complicated gazes of the drivers, Kratos drove his flat vehicle into the desert road, drove a distance, and then slowly stopped.

This pale-skinned, bald strong man parked the vehicle in the middle of the road, stood on the car himself, looked at all the drivers in the repair area, and silently took out the Chaos Blades.

"No passage allowed here."

Kratos raised his blades and said slowly: "Either surrender and give up the competition,

Or try to charge here and be killed by me,

You have a choice."