Chapter 64: Landmarks of the Apocalypse
A qi-powered beam of crimson light blazed from the Eiffel Tower and hit the ghost ship.
The ray pierced the floating vessel from one side and burst out from the other, ripping a hole in its skeletal structure. The ship wailed like a living being suffering a terrible wound, as did its ghostly crew. Its rotting sails evaporated in an instant and it swiftly began to lose altitude. Yuan watched it crash into the wasteland with a whimper.
The tower continued to glow as the spirit-train sped between its four legs. Yuan and the rest of the crew tensed up in anticipation. The sheer concentration of qi in the air produced crackling bolts of lightning surging between the metal trusses above their heads. Everyone held their breath when the spirit-train emerged out the other side of the structure in fear of suffering the same fate as the ghost ship.
The tower stopped glowing.
No giant laser wiped out the spirit-train from the race, much to Yuan’s relief.
“It appears we must pass through the landmarks or suffer a penalty, Honored Conductor Yuan,” Orient’s voice warned him. “Not simply be near them.”
“Yeah,” Yuan conceded, though a detail bothered him. “Shouldn’t that ship’s crew have known that? It’s not the race’s first year.”
“I suspect that the Khan changes the rules as it suits him.”
Yuan’s jaw clenched in frustration. He wouldn’t put it past the Yinyang Khan to play fast and loose with his competition’s rules in order to maximize carnage and chaos. It also disgusted him to know that the Hitobashira children buried beneath the landmark’s foundation probably powered its security system. Their souls deserved better than to fuel a glorified booby trap.