Chapter 60: The Fourth Coil
Yuan threw himself into his training after his encounter with LaChair.
Both his and Bucket’s attempts at gathering information or approaching their fellow contestants yielded little results so far: Orient was nowhere near the fastest vehicle in the competition, and few competitors appeared interested in an alliance besides Mel and Hardy. Rampant paranoia and the fact Yuan openly challenged the Khan’s right-hand man made many wary of him.
And most worrying of all, they hadn’t found a single sign of Manhattan’s presence yet.
The nuclear cultivator should be somewhere in the city. He knew that the Khan had the cube and left Fleshmarket long before Yuan’s crew. He should have arrived earlier. Yuan suspected he was likely biding his time until the victory celebration. If so, they would have to plan for his inevitable interference.
Yuan would have to fight many powerful enemies very soon, and crossing the Fourth Coil would help with that. Moreover, it would also provide a good bargaining chip to form alliances with other racers. The stronger Yuan became, the more attractive a partner he would become in their eyes.
Hence he decided to spend the days and nights preceding the race training nonstop. He had completed his soul sutra circuit by the second day, a swift progress that pleased Arc.
“You’re almost there,” Arc told him once he finished. She sounded halfway enthusiastic for once. “Now comes the hard part. You’ll need to cycle nonstop until your bullet-core fully aligns with the sutra script and thus perfects the circuit. That step will permanently bind you to the Gun Path, so here’s your last chance to quit.”
“You already know my answer,” Yuan replied with a grunt. “Will it compel me to shoot Slash on sight though?”
“Still sulking over that?” Arc snorted. “I told you, the Gun feeds on the cycle of revenge. Your desire for payback is the very thing that fueled your resurrection.”