Chapter 752: Rebirth

"Doesn't that mean Old Lu is in danger?" Yang Xiao frowned. "Are we still letting him go?"

"We don't know the other party's full details yet. Acting rashly isn't wise... And didn't you hear? Someone else is watching Lu Xun from behind him."

"At least we shouldn't have given him the car, right? What if he gets there faster than us?"

"Even if we didn't give him the car, he'd just buy one from someone else. Besides..."

Chen Ling's lips curved into a slight smile. He looked at the vehicles approaching from behind and said calmly, "There's no way he can drive this car faster than us."

"Alright, I'm hanging up now. I'll contact you when we get there."

The young man hung up the phone while driving, focusing entirely on the road, with the accelerator pressed firmly to the floor. But to his surprise, even then, the car wouldn't pick up speed, topping out at only 150 mph. He frowned and stomped on the pedal a few more times, but only heard strange noises from under the hood.

"That shouldn't be happening... This car looks new, it shouldn't have been driven much... Is Mercedes-Benz really that bad now?" the young man muttered to himself.

He regretted choosing this car, but having spent 650,000, he certainly couldn't abandon it halfway. He wasn't wealthy enough to just abandon it. At least this speed was enough for now, as he wouldn't be able to drive this fast once he entered the city.

But he soon realized he had been too optimistic.

Five kilometers later, the maximum speed of 150 mph had dropped to 130. Another five kilometers, and it was down to just 100 mph. The young man was baffled, but he gritted his teeth and kept driving, though the car was getting slower and slower, even creaking as if it were about to fall apart.

"This shouldn't be happening! It makes no sense!"

The young man was both anxious and angry, and the incessant honking from behind made him incredibly irritated. Eventually, even an old woman on an electric tricycle selling oranges could keep pace with him.

Seeing the car moving so slowly, the old woman hesitated for a moment, then pulled a fresh, plump orange from behind her and tapped on the car window. "Boss, want some oranges?"

Just as the young man was about to curse, a loud bang erupted from beneath the car.

*Thump-thump-thump-thump—* Thick black smoke billowed from under the hood. Even with the accelerator floored, the car slowly came to a halt in the middle of the road, to his despair.

"What the hell is this car?!" The young man couldn't take it anymore. He swore loudly, unbuckled his seatbelt, and reached for the door handle.

But as soon as he touched the door handle, the entire driver's side door detached and crashed to the ground with a bang. This seemed to be a signal, because in the next moment, the tires, the undercarriage, the front and rear bodywork, and even the windshield wipers all came loose and fell off. All sorts of parts exploded onto the road!

"Hey, look, what's going on over there?"

"I don't know, I just saw that car fall apart... Is it a movie prop?"

Meanwhile, passersby stopped, unable to resist pulling out their phones to frantically record the scene, while stifling laughs.

Inside the remaining car frame, the young man stared at the wreckage on the ground with a ghost-struck expression. At that moment, even he, slow as he was, realized he had been played. He couldn't help but pull the steering wheel off and smash it onto the ground, where it instantly shattered like a biscuit!

"You motherf***er!!"

Meanwhile.

In the passenger seat of a brand-new car, Yang Xiao was bored, scrolling on his phone. When a trending video from nearby popped up on his screen, Yang Xiao's expression suddenly turned strange. He looked at the car frame surrounded by scattered parts, set to comical background music, and the familiar, bewildered figure inside the car. He couldn't help but turn to look at Chen Ling, who was calmly driving.

"...How did you do that?"

Chen Ling smiled faintly. "Just a little trick."

The "Material Reshaping" and "Material Ultimate Strength" abilities extracted from Lou Yu were even more powerful than Chen Ling had anticipated. When he had touched that car earlier, he had silently altered the ultimate strength of the internal parts. Material ultimate strength refers to the maximum stress a material can withstand when under load. It's a threshold: the higher the value, the tougher the material; the lower the value, the easier it is to be damaged. Of course, Chen Ling's control over this threshold was still limited, but even so, destroying an ordinary sedan was simple.

"So, that bought us about twenty minutes," Yang Xiao couldn't help but remark. "The gap has widened."

"Twenty minutes?" Chen Ling raised an eyebrow. "...It's more than that."

As he spoke, after confirming no other vehicles were around, Chen Ling slowly extended his hand out the window, pressing his palm against the top of the door frame. Wisps of electric light swiftly coursed along the car's body, and an indescribable power flowed from Chen Ling's palm into the vehicle.

"Reshape," Chen Ling stated softly.

In the next moment, the entire vehicle's appearance began to change. From a regular family sedan, its shell transformed into a low-slung, streamlined exterior, minimizing wind resistance. At the same time, the silver paint converted into fiery red! The original engine was continuously strengthened by Chen Ling's skill, its material ultimate strength rapidly increasing. After breaking through its limits, it roared with a sound no less powerful than that of any world-class supercar engine! In mere seconds, an ordinary Volkswagen had been transformed into a supercar capable of breaking world records!

*Audience Expectation 3*

Yang Xiao stared at all this in astonishment. The terrifying g-force pushed him back into his seat, and his heart pounded faster and faster with the accelerating speed. He gripped the handle tightly and couldn't help but ask, "Are you... a Transformer?!"

"Dr. Yang Xiao, things are different now," Chen Ling said with a slight smile, feeling the immense speed this ability brought. "From now on, I won't have to squeeze onto the subway anymore."

Yang Xiao didn't know about Chen Ling's experiences during his first return, nor could he understand Chen Ling's thought process. He only knew he was very nervous right now. After much internal debate, he decided against telling Chen Ling to slow down. He silently closed his eyes, choosing to leave it to fate.

*Vroom—!!*

A red flash of lightning streaked across the road, heading straight for the distant, neon-lit city.

Shanghai.

At a bustling intersection, a figure leaned against a lamppost, remaining motionless like a statue amidst the flow of pedestrians. His gaze scanned his surroundings, as if searching for something. The next moment, a vibration came from his pocket. He took out his phone and pressed the call button.

"Hello?"

"You found Dr. Lu's whereabouts? Where is he?"