48 Hours a Day

Mei Nan wasn’t convinced, though. “Ignore him. He’s far from doomed – we still have about seven minutes. Even though they said we could build anything, it’s useless to build weapons right now. The Evil Scientist has taken complete control of the city, and his minions are everywhere. More bionics attack us if the battle continues, which is why we need to leave here as soon as possible,” she said.

“A vehicle?”

“That’s right. We need to build a vehicle.” “Can’t we just use the existing vehicles?”

“I thought about it, but unfortunately, have you seen any reliable means of transport on your way here?”

Zhang Heng looked around. Not a single bicycle could be seen in the entire community, much less a car. The only transport available was probably that wheelchair next to the old man with a terrified look on his face. Obviously, that wasn’t the most reliable means to help them fight their way out.

Mei Nan said, “I only know how to build a Smart Fortwo. Because of its compact body, it will require the least amount of blocks, and it’s relatively simple. But even so, it took me more than half a month of practice – seven minutes is just enough for me to build one Smart Fortwo or two motorcycles... but then we’ll have a problem.” Zhang Heng understood what the problem was. The Smart Fortwo only had two seats; one for the driver and the other for the passenger. Even if there was space in the trunk, it could only fit a maximum of four people at its very limit.

Earlier on, there was only Mei Nan, the messenger, the bald man, and the waiter, which would have been just right. Right now, they had one more person – Zhang Heng. Even if they switched to making the motorcycles, they would still face the same dilemma.

“Go ahead and build that Smart Fortwo. I’ll think about how to solve the problem of the extra person.”

They were running out of time, so Zhang Heng and Mei Nan divided the work. The latter nodded and immediately dove into the intense process of constructing the vehicle, while Zhang Heng tried to come up with more solutions.

He had watched the entire process of Mei Nan building the motorcycle, and it didn’t look too complicated – but understanding it and being able to do it were two very different things.

Right now, judging by his skills, he couldn’t even build the simplest sword. The waiter even commented unsparingly that Zhang Heng’s sword looked like a French baguette with a fishtail. For Zhang Heng, building a motorcycle would be harder than scaling the Himalayas.

As the seconds and minutes trickled by, more and more men in black began to appear. The bald man’s cries got even more desperate, and although he was doing nothing to help ease the situation, it didn’t stop him from bugging Zhang Heng and Mei Nan. “Are you done? When will you be done? Is it not done yet? If it’s not done soon, our ass will be on the line!!!”

Fortunately, Mei Nan was immune to the constant urging, and she was nearly finished with the construction of her Smart Fortwo. She was now assembling the car’s exhaust pipe.

On the other side, after six long minutes, all Zhang Heng had managed to build was a rope.

He was supposed to make a bicycle since it had a much simpler structure than a motorcycle, but somehow, a few joints must have been wrongly assembled, or perhaps it was all wrong that at the end, he had accidentally created a nylon rope.

The waiter did not waste the opportunity to say something mean. “Heavens! Is your plan for us to end our own lives with that rope?”.

By that time, Mei Nan had already completed the Smart Fortwo, taking her a total of six minutes and twenty-three seconds. She did pretty well this time, much faster than her usual. Mei Nan slid into the driver’s seat, started up the engine, and called out to her group, “Hurry up and get in the car! At the very worst, we’ll have to abandon one person.”

The bald man and the waiter gasped sharply as soon as she said that. Not Zhang Heng, though. “No need for that. I have an idea!” he said.

He then opened the trunk of the car and said to the waiter and the messenger, “Get inside first, and hold on to this nylon rope.”

There was no time for questions, so the two did as they were told and climbed into the trunk.

The bald man opened fire at the enemy as he retreated to the passenger seat. But halfway there, Zhang Heng blocked his path. “This is not your seat.”

Zhang Heng moved the wheelchair next to the old man and then tied the other end of the nylon rope onto it. “Are you kidding? I’d rather kill myself with that rope.” Even though he said that, when he saw the throng of enemies pouring in from all directions, the bald man reluctantly but obediently settled down in the wheelchair. “You should’ve made me a seat belt,” he was complaining.

When Zhang Heng hopped into the car, Mei Nan said, “Sit tight, everyone. This trip might get a little bumpy.”

“Oh, that’s just great! There’re bumps. Seriously, has no one noticed that I am in urgent need of a seatbelt?” The only answer to his question, however, was the roar of the Smart Fortwo’s engine. Mei Nan stepped on the gas pedal and the car charged out of the gate like a wild horse.

Almost at the same time, two bionics rushed out from the front corner in an attempt to stop the car. However, the Smart Fortwo didn’t slow down and rammed right into them, sending them slamming into a wall.

The bald man behind the car did not keep himself unoccupied. He had the Gatling gun with him, and as he rode the high-speed wheelchair, he sent a rain of bullets flying at whoever was giving chase.

Once they entered a narrower area, Mei Nan ignored the red light and drove straight into the intersection. However, when she saw a large truck coming from the left, honking incessantly at them, she immediately took a sharp right.

The bald man’s face turned a sickly green. He grabbed the rope, desperately trying to shorten the distance between the wheelchair and the car. The messenger and the waiter pitched in, and in the end, they managed to catch the wheelchair. The sad tragedy of having a person flinging off a wheelchair while drifting was thereby avoided.

“So, what use is the rope?!” The bald man gasped, clutching his chest. “We should’ve just had the Demon Butcher and the Messenger grab the wheelchair. Wouldn’t that have been better?”

“I’m sorry... that’s the first object I actually made. It would be a pity not to use it.”

“Where are we going now?” Demon Butcher asked.

The Smart Fortwo running the red light caused a series of traffic accidents, and the resulting pileup happened to block the road. Unable to get through the blockade, the bionics chasing after the car could only stand and watch as the car drove away.

“I know a place where you can avoid these annoying little tails,” the bald man said, disassembling the useless Gatling in his hand and fashioned himself the seat belt he had been thinking about the whole time.