Ahead, the road split in two — straight ahead led into the city, and the left turn curved toward the outskirts.
A set of train tracks crossed there — a railway junction where the trains had to skirt the city before heading out toward the open countryside.
Normally, the crossing gates were raised. But when a train approached, they'd come down, cutting off traffic for at least a full minute.
And in racing, one minute was an eternity.
For hypercars like Leon's Diomas Nilo, a single minute meant losing kilometers of distance — and any chance of victory.
Leon's eyes flashed.
"Punch it!"
He slammed the gear and floored the throttle.
The Diomas Nilo's tires shrieked, biting the asphalt so violently it sounded like magnetic tearing — sharp, electric, and wild.
Spectators on the roadside went berserk, the sound hitting like adrenaline straight to the chest.
Some fans started yelling, waving their arms in excitement.
Under Leon's brutal driving, Diomas Nilo surged forward again, hitting a new speed tier — it was as if the car no longer touched the ground.
The sound barrier trembled, wind ripping through the street.
A blast of air lifted the skirts of women on the sidewalks, making them scream and laugh while clutching them down.
Men stared wide-eyed.
Behind Leon, Tobey Marshall the NFS prodigy grinned. His eyes burned with determination.
"Alright, Leon... let's see how far this beast can go."
He flicked the gear paddle — the SSC Tuátara's engine roared, spitting thunder.
Now, two titans of speed — Leon's Diomas Nilo and Tobey's SSC — broke away from the pack, accelerating hard toward the crossing.
Inside the approaching train, the conductor heard a strange thunder outside.
When he looked out the window, his eyes went wide —
"What the hell—?!"
Two cars were racing alongside the train, their speeds unimaginable.
Behind them, more than a dozen racers followed, pushing their limits.
Even though the train had already slowed near the city, the cars were catching up — overtaking it, in fact.
Then — it happened.
A strange magnetic surge rippled through the air near the railway crossing.
Unseen, but terrifying — a wave that made everyone's hair stand on end.
The crossing guard's booth — a small structure beside the tracks — suddenly cracked apart with a violent CRUNCH!
The guard inside screamed, unable to escape as the entire booth collapsed, burying him beneath rubble.
The steel crossing gate shattered.
Worse — the rail tracks warped and twisted under the unseen magnetic pressure.
The train driver's heart dropped.
"No! Brakes! Brakes, damn it!!"
He pulled the emergency lever — but it was too late.
Sparks exploded from the tracks.
Fans on the roadside gasped as they saw the rails buckle, then—
BOOM!
A thunderous crash.
The train derailed.
A massive freight car tilted, screeching as it toppled toward the road — directly toward the racers.
Metal screamed. Sparks lit the sky.
"Ahhh!!"
Racers shouted as the collapsing train bore down on them.
One by one, the closest cars were crushed flat — turned into paper-thin wrecks under the weight of the collapsing carriages.
The ground trembled. Power poles snapped. Electric cables whipped loose, sizzling and sparking as they fell across the road.
Zzzzzttt!
Electric arcs danced violently across the debris field, lighting up the smoke like lightning in a storm.
A racer named Dino barely reversed in time. His car scraped backward, inches away from being obliterated by the derailed freight car.
He gasped for air, trembling.
"God... it stopped... it actually stopped..."
The disaster left him pale, drenched in cold sweat, hands shaking on the wheel.
Dozens of elite racers were dead — crushed under tons of metal.
The crowd fell silent, numb with disbelief.
Even the helicopters above stopped narrating — their cameras zooming in on the apocalyptic wreckage below.
The entire derailment — the explosion of dust, the crashing cars, the twisted steel — had been broadcast live.
Millions of viewers watching the race from home sat frozen, their skin crawling.
"No effects… no CGI… this is real."
Even the cameraman's voice shook:
"Just hearing it... makes my legs weak."
Ten racers gone in seconds.
Power poles toppled. Hundreds of homes lost electricity.
And the race had barely started.
The commentators' voices trembled:
"If this is just the beginning... how many more will survive to the end?"
The world had just witnessed the most dangerous race in history.
And Leon — at the front of it all — had no idea that this disaster was only the start of something far greater.
~~----------------------
Patreon Advance Chapters:
[email protected] / Dreamer20