21st Century Necromancer
Chapter 870 - 864: Victory and Defeat

The fact that the Seer would declare something "absolutely impossible" naturally meant reality had diverged entirely from the future he had foreseen.

In Cooper's view, he was a prophet capable of peering into fate; everything in this world followed the tracks of destiny, and all these tracks should align with his predictions.

Everyone else were merely ants and pawns under the trajectory of fate, while he was the unique existence able to perceive those trajectories. Nothing could fall outside the scope of his foresight.

But now, the chance for victory he had predicted did not come to pass. Instead, Chen Yu had locked down any possibility for them to secure the victory that should have been theirs in this race.

This wasn't right! Something must have gone wrong somewhere!

Fate's trajectory is immutable! His predictions are absolutely accurate! There must be some deviation that occurred in this!

Cooper kept telling himself this, trying to persuade himself that something was amiss—not that his prophecy was incorrect.

But as this was the first time he faced such a situation, Cooper couldn't help but fall into panic. Though he tried hard to calm himself down, his face still betrayed his uncontainable distress.

Becky looked at Cooper in such a state of disorientation, and was deeply shocked as well. It was his first time seeing this companion, normally so composed no matter what happened, behaving as if the sky had fallen.

However, Becky wasn't like Cooper. While he trusted Cooper's prophecy, when the predictions went awry, he wouldn't immediately collapse into chaos and panic. Instead, he focused on finding ways to remedy the mistake as much as possible.

So when Chen Yu blocked his path, preventing him from overtaking, even as Cooper's prophecy indicated that a car would merge onto the lane from the side road, Becky pressed up tightly behind Chen Yu's vehicle, using all his driving skills to ensure he didn't fall behind.

And when Chen Yu switched lanes, Becky closely shadowed him. Their movements quickly drew the attention of the street racers following behind.

Being regular runners on this route, the street racers naturally knew there would be a nearby junction ahead. For safety's sake, they also opted to switch lanes, falling in line behind Becky.

As a vehicle sped aggressively out of the side junction and merged onto the road, it was greeted by the sight of three sports cars nearly bumper to bumper, forming a tightly packed line, all in full throttle. Behind them, a few more cars were catching up.

The newcomer was another street racer. Seeing this kind of spectacle, he immediately recognized it was a competition. Without hesitation, he shifted gears and hit the gas, charging forward.

But this car, whether due to its performance or the skill of its driver, clearly couldn't keep pace with the leading three. Soon, it fell behind, joining the ranks of other trailing street racers pursuing the taillights of the leading trio as best they could.

Ultimately, witnessed by a crowd of street racers, Chen Yu was the first to pass through the Bayshore Route exit into the Tokyo city district, where he gradually brought his car to a stop.

What followed was not Becky's car but that of the middle-aged man, who arrived only a car length behind Chen Yu, with less than a second's difference.

As for Becky, his car lagged behind the middle-aged street racer by approximately two to three seconds, finishing last.

However, before Becky could park his car at the roadside, Cooper had already flung open the door and dashed out, prompting Becky to quickly engage the handbrake and follow.

"This is not how it's supposed to be! You weren't supposed to win!" Cooper stormed over to Chen Yu's car, shouting at Chen Yu as he stepped out, flailing his arms in a desperate attempt to grasp something.

Chen Yu looked at him with a mix of pity and disdain, replying tersely, "You think you've seen the future, yet you fail to realize the future is merely a possibility, a reflection of the present. I changed the present, and the future naturally changed with it. Anyone who believes the future is set in stone is a pathetic fool."

After speaking, Chen Yu couldn't be bothered to deal with the broken-down Seer any longer. He turned and walked toward the middle-aged man he had been racing against.

The man had only trailed by a single car length and ultimately overtaken the racer from the United States. His driving skills were truly impressive, and Chen Yu deeply admired that.

"I lost." The middle-aged man, who couldn't quite understand why Cooper was so crushed, showed no dissatisfaction over losing. He simply said regretfully, "Though I shouldn't say this, if my car were a bit better, I probably could've won."

Chen Yu didn't disagree, smiling as he replied, "If you had gone faster at the bends or had nitrous boosters on the straightaways, you might've outpaced me."

"Nitrous boosters? No thanks—they'd have me replacing my engine after only a few uses." The middle-aged man evidently wasn't a fan, shaking his head with a wry smile as he pulled out his wallet, extracted a ten thousand yen bill, and handed it to Chen Yu, reluctantly saying, "I was hoping to earn some pocket money tonight, but now it looks like I'll have to tighten my spending this month."

Seeing him like this, Chen Yu couldn't help but laugh. He reached out and pushed the ten thousand yen back, saying, "You lost to me by less than a second; no need to pay up. Let's just call it making a friend."

The middle-aged man was momentarily stunned by Chen Yu's refusal to accept the wager but didn't insist. Soon, he tucked the money back into his wallet.

To street racers like them, money wasn't the important thing. Wins and losses were merely a reflection of competitive drive; what truly mattered was the joy of racing itself.

This middle-aged man was clearly someone who relished the experience. After pocketing his wallet, he told Chen Yu, "Will you show up here again? If I get the chance, I'd love to win back my pride!"

"If there's an opportunity, I'll probably be back. Leave me your contact info. If I decide to come race again, I'll let you know in advance." Chen Yu didn't reject the man's challenge. After leaving his phone number, he added, "This car I'm using today was borrowed temporarily. It's excellent, but next time I might not be driving this same vehicle—so keep improving!"

Saying this, Chen Yu waved farewell to the street racers and climbed back into his car, his departure watched by Jounouchi Hiromi, whose smile radiated warmth.

As Chen Yu glanced at the defeated and utterly crestfallen Cooper kneeling on the ground, alongside the bewildered Becky who had rushed over but didn't know what to do, his earlier smile froze into an icy expression. He said coldly to them, "If this is the attitude the Freemasons take when conducting negotiations, then we have nothing to discuss."

With that, he started the car and left, leaving behind Cooper, still broken, and Becky, who realized the gravity of the situation.