Chapter 385: Saving Lives and Gambling with Death

Two days later, a blizzard was raging.

Gu Heng drove his Maybach GLS 600 alone from his mountaintop villa toward Celestial Bath Spring at a steady, unhurried pace.

Ever since Gu Heng decided to activate the first-tier reward of the Scepter of Momentum two days ago, the system had quickly fallen silent. Only the radiant, spectral image of the scepter remained, flickering faintly in the darkness.

Then, at noon today, while Gu Heng was lifting weights in his home gym, the system had suddenly sent a notification. It ordered him to immediately drive to Celestial Bath Spring alone—no bodyguards allowed. The system provided a route map and even imposed a strict speed limit.

Faced with the system’s continuous prompts and reminders, Gu Heng didn’t dare to delay. He grabbed a shirt, threw it on, and rushed to the garage. He got into his Maybach GLS 600 and set off toward Celestial Bath Spring, following the route provided by the system.

Since it was a Sunday with heavy snow, the roads were much less crowded than usual, and traffic was moving slowly.

Gu Heng drove with a gnawing sense of dread.

He had been in too much of a hurry to think clearly when he left the house. Now that he had calmed down, he couldn’t help but recall the system’s warning from two days ago.

Extremely high risk!

Risk of death!

Clearly, the process of receiving the first-tier reward for the Scepter of Momentum was beginning.

‘This reward…’

‘What on earth could it be?’

He pulled up to an intersection, stopping at the front of the line for a red light.

‘Based on my past experiences with Father Tongzi, the difficulty of its challenges is always directly proportional to the value of its rewards.’

‘I’ve spent nearly four months doing an in-depth study of those fifty history books, and now I have to risk my life just to claim the prize. One can only imagine how incredible the reward must be.’

CRASH!!!

The deafening sound erupted from just ahead, jolting Gu Heng from his thoughts.

He watched as a fully loaded heavy-duty truck, moving with unstoppable force, slammed violently into a Li Auto L9 that had been driving normally.

In theory, the heavy-duty truck should have been the one sent flying.

But in reality, the Li Auto L9, despite weighing several tons, was tossed aside like a rag doll. It was sent flying more than ten meters, tumbling end over end until it finally smashed into a large tree, which barely managed to halt its violent roll.

The heavy-duty truck, however, had run the red light at high speed. After sending the Li Auto L9 flying, it didn’t slow down one bit, vanishing at the end of the road in the blink of an eye.

The light had turned green, but not a single car at the intersection moved. Every driver was staring at the overturned Li Auto L9, which had come to a rest against the large tree.

Barely a dozen seconds had passed from the moment it stopped tumbling, yet flames were already starting to lick at the vehicle.

The Li Auto L9 was a range-extended electric vehicle, meaning it had both a battery pack and a gas tank for its engine. Judging by the faintness of the fire, it had likely originated from the gas tank. If the battery pack had ignited, the flames would have spread far more rapidly.

[Save them!]

[Save them!]

[Save them!]

Immediately after the accident, the border of the system’s virtual screen turned dark red. The words “Save them!” flashed repeatedly before Gu Heng’s eyes.

Seeing this, Gu Heng acted without a moment’s hesitation.

He cranked the steering wheel and slammed on the accelerator. The Maybach GLS 600 roared like a beast across the snow, reaching the burning Li Auto L9 in the blink of an eye.

Gu Heng stopped the car about ten meters away from the Li Auto L9 and leaped out.

The temperature was well below freezing, and the blizzard continued to rage, yet Gu Heng was wearing only a thin shirt. No matter how fit he was, he couldn’t help but shiver violently.

But with lives on the line and time running out, Gu Heng grabbed the fire extinguisher from his trunk and sprinted toward the burning Li Auto L9. As soon as he reached it, he aimed the extinguisher at the source of the flames and began to spray furiously.

However, it had little effect.

Though the visible flames weren’t large, the entire area under the hood was already engulfed in fire.

Without the fire department, even a dozen more extinguishers would be useless.

His attempt to extinguish the fire proving fruitless, Gu Heng tossed the extinguisher aside. Forgetting his image completely, he dropped to his stomach in the snow.

“Wake up!”

“Hey, wake up!”

Gu Heng shouted into the car while quickly assessing the situation inside.

The heavy-duty truck had T-boned the driver’s side of the Li Auto L9, and as a result, both doors on that side were severely damaged.

From what Gu Heng could see, there were four people inside.

A young man was in the driver’s seat. In the back, there was a young woman, an elderly woman with white hair, and a toddler who looked to be about two, strapped into a car seat.

Gu Heng shouted again, but there was still no response from inside.

He had to admit, the Li Auto L9’s safety features were impressive.

All of the airbags had deployed, protecting everyone inside.

Gu Heng picked up a shard of broken glass and used it to puncture the driver’s airbag. Then, he reached in and placed his hand under the young man’s nose.