"Um..." 007's voice ca from the side.
Gu Mian turned his head and saw 007's familiar face. She hadn't drawn the lottery yet and was looking sowhat awkwardly at Gu Mian and Fatty.
While looking at her, Gu Mian glanced at 007's boat and noticed a series of numbers on its bow. It seed 007 wasn't in the mood to na her boat.
"Hello there," Gu Mian greeted her enthusiastically. "Have you found your family yet?"
Fatty then saw a hand reach out from Gu Mian's lab coat pocket, followed by a head... Over the next ten or so seconds, Fatty witnessed a full-grown man climb out of Gu Mian's tiny pocket. It was the relative abandoned by the Holy Daughter.
After erging, the man squatted quietly at the bow of the boat, apparently looking at the text reading "Absolute Beauty Fan Club."
"I haven't..." 007 also saw the man climb out of Gu Mian's pocket and couldn't help but swallow.
"Wait, Doctor," Fatty tugged at Gu Mian's sleeve. "This isn't the ti to listen to 007's story! I paddled backward at the start, so we've already fallen a long way behind the others!"
Gu Mian couldn't help but look down at his clothes. "That's right. The school emblem's half-hour disguise effect has already expired."
He had used the blood-stained school emblem to disguise himself as the Holy Daughter's brother one minute before the event started. He hadn't expected the event to scatter them imdiately. Gu Mian had been alone for over half an hour before Fatty drew him. Now, the disguise effect had worn off.
Luckily, there was no one around.
007 spoke up, "You guys go ahead. I'm going to draw for my teammates."
She hadn't started the lottery yet, concerned that soone on her team might recognize Gu Mian. Looking at the lottery wheel before her, 007 frowned. Her teammates didn't seem like pushovers, but she'd had a hard ti assembling the team in the first place.
"Alright, we'll head off then," Gu Mian said to 007, then casually pushed the man squatting at the bow of the boat into the water.
Caught off guard, the man hit the water with a huge splash, drenching Fatty's face.
"Is this really okay?" Fatty swallowed. "He won't start a fight with the other ghosts in the water, will he?"
Luckily, the man didn't try to cause trouble. Instead, he went to the stern and began acting as a propeller.
With its new propeller, the "Absolute Beauty Fan Club" shot forward as if injected with chicken blood, causing Fatty, still holding his oar, to exclaim, "Holy shit!"
At that mont, so players diligently paddling their dragon boats happened to glance up. They saw a boat with an incredibly bizarre na, which had been lagging at the very back, now rushing forward at an astonishing speed.
So players possessed unusual special items that could temporarily enhance their physique, significantly increasing their rowing speed. Others had component-type special items that could give their vehicles a temporary speed boost.
So, even if there were so dragon boats moving at speeds that defied common sense, other players could accept it. However, the dragon boat now catching up from the rear was simply too outrageous.
It was fast and sustained, showing no signs of stopping. It didn't seem like a special item was in use; rather, it was as if so skilled craftsman had installed an engine on the dragon boat.
The dragon boats on the river were now scattered, and this seemingly out-of-control vessel quickly attracted the attention of several people.
"What the hell is that? Can you even cheat in this event?"
"The Doctor's... 'Absolute Beauty Fan Club'?"
"Are they driving that dragon boat like it's a speedboat?"
By now, Fatty's face was contorted by the fierce river wind. He struggled to shout over it, "Doctor, Xiao Hong didn't co this ti?"
Gu Mian pressed down his wind-tousled hair and nodded. "Well, she isn't inhabiting a special item, nor is she a player. It's perfectly normal that she couldn't get in even if she had a ticket."
He guessed Xiao Hong was probably having fun in the house where they were temporarily staying.
"Thank goodness she didn't co," Fatty sighed in relief amidst the gale. "Otherwise, if two ghosts pushed the boat together, they'd probably push it to pieces!"
Gu Mian held down his fluttering hair with one hand, the other symbolically gripping an oar. "Even though I wasn't there when the event started, I know the rules. The First Stage has four checkpoints, and we get one teammate at each, right?"
Fatty nodded. "But Doctor, you were a freebie."
Gu Mian: "..."
He continued, "After the First Stage is the second stage: minesweeping on the water. Hmm, as long as we go fast enough, the mines can't hit us, right? Never mind that for now. After clearing the second stage, we can head straight for the finish line... Speed-wise, with this propeller, we should be the champions, shouldn't we? Assuming there aren't other race divisions."
Just then, their dragon boat swerved sharply, and Fatty, who had been about to nod in agreent, nearly pitched into the water.
Gu Mian looked up. On the overhead screen, "The Doctor's 'Absolute Beauty Fan Club'" indeed traced a wide arc on the river, thoughtfully avoiding the areas dense with other dragon boats. Quite intelligent.
The players desperately paddling their own boats saw the bizarrely nad dragon boat not only speeding but also carving a graceful S-curve on the river. Then, it effortlessly overtook the tail end of the main pack—though this part happened out of the other players' sight.
Fatty was looking up at the translucent screen in the sky. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but as they passed the main group of boats, so of the vessels on the river seed to slow down slightly.
He gave a silly chuckle. "Doctor, look! Those other boats seed to pause for a second when they saw us overtaking them. I know that feeling. It's like when you're playing a video ga, glance at the TV screen, and get captivated by a stunning beauty.
But I'm self-aware. Even though I nad the dragon boat 'Absolute Beauty,' I know I'm still a little bit shy of being an absolute beauty myself, hehehe."
Gu Mian couldn't help but study Fatty's face. "Just 'a little bit' short, indeed..."
Just as the two of them had overtaken half the dragon boats ahead, a bamboo tube suddenly fell from the sky, landing precisely where the lottery machine had been.
Simultaneously, Gu Mian saw a warning appear on the water surface three ters ahead: [Approaching Second Checkpoint: Borrowing Challenge]
[Please borrow the item drawn from the bamboo tube within five minutes. If you fail to borrow the item within five minutes, you will lose the qualification to gain a teammate at this checkpoint.]
"A borrowing challenge?" Fatty's eyes widened. "This is totally set up to screw us over! We have to borrow things from other players."
As he spoke, he glanced up at the live event broadcast in the sky. Their current area was sparsely populated. Even if they asked other players, those players might not have the required item, or might not be willing to lend it.
"If we draw sothing like glasses or a coat, it wouldn't be too bad. But if we draw an aircraft carrier, we're screwed."
"Let's draw first," Gu Mian said. He had always had faith in his luck—or rather, his consistent bad luck. Ever since he was young, he'd never drawn anything valuable from a lottery. In fact, he almost always got the equivalent of "Thank You for Your Patronage."
Even from lottery boxes marked "100% Win Rate," Gu Mian had sohow managed to draw the miraculous "Thank You for Your Patronage."
He later heard that particular store went bankrupt due to dishonest business practices.
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