Ichiro drove through the city in the southern direction, to one of the prefecture’s ports. The ‘rubble,’ as Kagesada put it, was on the Murasama-class destroyer. He read in the forum briefly that they discovered something ancient while conducting an unplanned naval exercise. The leaker stated it was planned in some ways, but he has no proof of it. He could have been lying, or maybe he’s just mistaken.

That appeared to be something he would transport to the research facility. Ichiro figured it out by adding 2+2 to the information he had in his hands. Why didn’t they want to transport via ships or planes? Wasn’t it easier than sending a truck full of cargo across hundreds or thousands of kilometers? Whatever. Maybe it’s because it’s not a top priority or a secret. That could be possible.

Ichiro arrived at his destination an hour afterward. He easily entered the port because he had a permit to enter with a vehicle. He drove inside to the more fortified section of the port. Military soldiers armed with Howa Type 20 stood at the barbed gates as he came to a stop. They stopped him and demanded identification. He handed them the stack of documents prepared by the Kagesada. The soldier scanned each document with his tablet.

After the verification process was done, the soldier signaled for Ichiro to drive inside. The gate was unlocked, and he drove inside, past the gatekeepers. They’ve shown a path to where the cargo was.

Ichiro entered inside a military section of a port and drove through the rows of hangars. He arrived at the cleared area where the sailors were frantically loading and unloading equipment from a ship.

A large wooden box stood in the center, fortified with metal inserts. A middle-aged man who appeared to be a captain stood nearby. Ichiro drove past it, sensing it was his cargo, only to reverse the truck so they could transport the box inside more quickly. They didn’t stop him. He got out of the truck with the engine running. The captain opened his mouth after Ichiro walked to him.

“It’s just in time. You got here in time. Thank you.”

Captain spoke politely and professionally. He was wearing a sailor uniform, but didn’t seem like one. He was clean shaven, but wore a crew cut hairstyle.

The captain continued talking without Ichiro responding.

“I see you are assigned to deliver this... thing to the lab in Tokyo. What’s your name, boy?”

“Yamashita Ichiro, sir.”

“Okay, Yamashita-san. You know what’s inside, don’t you?”

“An ancient stone of unidentified kind was fished out during the night during naval training. It is to be transported to Tokyo for further investigation and study. It wasn’t discovered by this ship. This ship took it because it needed to resupply.”

The captain was calm as ever when Ichiro told that. He opened his mouth when Ichiro finished what he read online.

“Right. You have come prepared, I see. I don’t need to say anything else.”

“I’ve got my sources besides my employer, sir.”

“I appreciate it. Please make sure it reaches its final destination. I will leave it at your discretion. I hope you won’t get into any trouble along the way.”

The captain walked away from Ichiro to the sailors and screamed.

“Men! Drop whatever you’re doing and load that box into this truck!”

The men hurried to the crate. Over ten sailors surrounded the 1.5-meter cube box and pushed it into the black armored truck. They loaded everything into the back and placed a tarpaulin over it. Ichiro then thoroughly secured it with locking bars and straps, just to keep it from moving while he was driving or turning. He then wore his armor, because he felt he will need it, even if just for show. When everything was ready, Ichiro closed the door and secured the lock.

He then bid them farewell and drove away to the gatekeeper checkpoint.

***

In the alleyway in front of the port, a black expensive Mercydes stood hidden. It looked at the gates, where the black armored truck drove away just now. Inside were two foreign men dressed in black suits. The man in the driver’s seat started the car, while the man next to him dialed a phone number.

“Bird exited the nest. Repeating, Bird exited the nest.”

“Acknowledged. Keep following, while others arrive. Don’t get caught. We must get it by any means possible. The cage will be ready soon.”

The man on the left was the first to hang up the phone. He turned to face the driver and opened his mouth.

“All right, let’s go.”

The wheels screeched, and they followed the truck at a safe distance, taking care not to be seen. When they reached the expressway, four more identical cars arrived shortly after.

***

[3 hours later]

A black armored truck with the white logo on the front drove through the hilly terrain. The sun was glaring at the clear azure sky. Because the expressway was sufficiently flattened, the elevation remained constant. The environment was changing quickly, however, blurring because of speed. There were occasional semi-trucks driving that the smaller black truck easily overtakes. It was easy because the expressway had two lanes.

Ichiro was driving down the expressway while listening to metal music from speakers. He was enjoying the scenery outside while he was driving. The road was paved with smooth asphalt and well maintained. The view of mountains and the sea was magnificent.

Nagoya was one of the larger cities that he had already passed. He was now heading toward Hamamatsu. He’d taken this route to Tokyo many times before; this wasn’t his first time. He enjoyed his job, especially when he was delivering something that interested him. In that case, the cargo he delivering today was one of those rare cases.

And looked like he wasn’t the only one interested in it, either.

Few minutes later, similar black cars were neatly following behind him, but not too closely. They didn’t hide their presence, but they weren’t trying to be conspicuous, either. The cars stayed at a safe distance. They had no intention of interfering. They were merely observing, just as their orders instructed.

Ichiro didn’t notice them because he was focused on the road. But when there he saw no more cars in both ways ahead of him, he averted his gaze to check his rearview mirror. The cars behind him looked suspicious. They didn’t look like normal civilians. He examined the cars, and saw that they didn’t have license plates, and it alerted Ichiro.

So he took up the simple phone that was lying around uselessly and dialed Kagesada. His phone number, along with a few others, was on the contact list. He didn’t want to bother his boss, so he chose second. The call was connected after a few beeps. Ichiro greeted him, and Kagesada returned the greeting.

“So, why are you calling?”

“There are five black cars following me behind right now. They don’t appear to be normal civilians. I think they’re tailing me. I’m guessing they want the cargo inside. Can I truly break the law if I’m being pursued, like in manual?”

“... Of course, yes. The government has made some... exceptions for this truck. Smaller violations are permissible, but larger ones are not.”

“Understood. Could you please send help? While we’re talking, I believe they’re getting closer. I’ll try to lose them for now.”

“I understand. Don’t let anyone catch you.”

Ichiro was the first to hang up the phone. He changed the track to the one that would fit the situation most.

LORD, I CAN’T CHANGE~ WON’T YOU FLY HIGH, FREE BIRD, YEAH~

Ichiro knew that if you violate speed regulations with this song, it wouldn't count. Just don't be catched by the police officer.

Ichiro took off his glasses, placed them in the compartment, and looked in the mirror at the approaching cars. They were getting closer and closer. Ichiro’s eyes flashed with a golden hue as he grinned hard. He excluded a terrifying aura from his body.

“Let’s do this.”

He muttered it as he stared at them. Ichiro looked at the last switch on his gear, ‘Overdrive’ and moved the lever. Down, down, left, right, left, right, down. As soon as he stopped at ‘O’, the red button near his turning wheel glowed, and he opened the acrylic glass, pressed it with his thumb. The solo started as soon as he did that.

The engine inside roared much more loudly than it had before. Ichiro’s truck sped up to a higher gear and sped forward at a faster rate. The engine of his plane sounded like a jet plane to him. He then pushed down hard on the accelerator pedal. The RPM meter, which was averaging 2000-3000, rose in numbers, eventually reaching 10000-11000. He felt the engine vibrate in its frame as he pushed down even harder on the pedal.

His speed increased more rapidly than expected. It was beyond what he had thought. This vehicle was built for long distance, but it wasn’t built for high-speed acceleration. Ichiro cackled evilly in delight, feeling exhilarated from pushing his truck to the limit.

While Ichiro was doing this, the men chasing him remained calm. It was intentional, so the target could easily fall into the trap. However, the target differed from what they expected. He was driving an armored truck, but it was much faster speed than what they expected. The armored truck could travel over 250 km/h, but the ordinary trucks weren’t designed for such speeds. They, too, accelerated in tandem with him. Just so that if it doesn’t work, they can fall back on Plan B. They sensed the powerful fighting aura that was excluding the target and became extremely cautious.

They sped through the empty expressway at breakneck speeds. The scenery changed even more quickly. Although with the monster engine, the truck could not escape the pursuers’ expensive cars because of all the weight the truck had. They drove behind it, but they didn’t want to get too close to the truck for fear of falling into the trap their leader was setting for them. Ichiro was enjoying the moment with all of this. He knew they couldn’t catch up. His heart was racing, and dopamine was coursing through his mind. He was even more focused on the road.

8 kilometers away, at the tunnel entrance, a group of men dressed in formal suits were chanting something in Latin while channeling spiritual energy. They were almost done, as evidenced by the one-way portal that was forming right in front of the expressway. They had diverted all cars in a ten kilometers in both directions, using suggestion magic on ordinary drivers. Either they came to a halt or changed course. It took a significant amount of effort and energy on their part. However, if they gained the thing that was inside, it would cover it in all ways.

It was ready in a matter of minutes. The one-way, one-use portal to the realm of ‘Inventory.’ The spell was created recently by one of the other world’s returnees, and was the pinnacle of time and space magic. It slowed down time inside and made the items accessible from anywhere. Just like in those RPG games. The only drawback was that creating a portal of this size required a significant amount of energy and time. It would close after the object or subject was inside, but they could open it anywhere if the same people chanted. It ‘should’ open back the portal to that realm where the thing was located.

The target was approaching it at high speeds at the tunnel’s entrance. Sound of the engine could be heard from a long distance away. The men sat there, hiding in the bushes near the portal and staring at the fast truck. Target appeared to be unaware of the portal and was speeding up. The other pursuers in the expensive cars were speeding up as well. They didn’t seem to know where the trap was, so they did the same thing as the truck. The truck was now at the tunnel’s entrance, and the moment had come...

.

.

.

The truck had driven inside! Or so it appeared for the hiding pursuers, but in reality, Ichiro’s godly aura caused to open enough hole inside of a portal to truck pass through, and he drove inside of it. He was perplexed at first why there were no lights in the tunnel, but after driving inside, he could see them, so he calmed down. However, the cars that were following him entered inside instead of him, trapping them. The portal was closed after that.

The robbers were perplexed. Did they capture him or not? They did not know. As a result, they assumed they were. They recalled everyone and fled to their hideout, but they were apprehended by nearby Association agents who had been alerted to the need for help by Ichiro. They were arrested immediately.

Ichiro thought he had somehow escaped them when they didn’t appear at the end of the tunnel, so he called the Kagesada again and told him. Ichiro then slowed to the maximum permitted speed and continued driving to Tokyo. He stopped once at a gas station and bought some food for his stomach to fill up his hunger. He refilled the tank, paying the 20000 yen again, and kept on driving toward Tokyo.

***

A lone man in mechanic suit sat in the dark, with only light being the PC he was working on. He was furiously typing something on the keyboard, until something flashed on the screen. He looked at it, and muttered with the grin on his face.

"Someone activated Blackey's Overdrive Mode? Interesting."

He then opened the program that was recording all data from that truck, and looked at it. Slowly, his eyes widened, and became more in shock.

"What in the world am I looking at?"

What he saw was an graph that showed performance in Overdrive Mode. It was negligible at the start, but at the end, it went through the roof.

"My engine is not capable of this!"

He looked at the previous test's stats, and there was a huge difference. His engine could really use any fuel... including spiritual energy. The turning wheel is connected spiritually to the engine itself, and the Overdrive Mode was designed to suck spiritual energy from the driver, making the engine perform better than ever before!

The downside was... if you ran out of spirit energy while driving, the engine would stop functioning entirely, or even explode. And this driver used it for 10 minutes before turining off the mode...

In the last test before shipping, he could only be in that mode for a minute maximum, since he has a small amount spiritual energy in him. That question made his mind race faster than ever as he thought about the powerful driver who might have been using it without knowing how dangerous it can get.

His fingers flew across the keyboard again, and another tab appeared on the screen. He sent a message to his friend that bought that truck, informing to look into this immediately. After that, he shut down his computer, and left the garage. He had inspiration from the data he just has seen.

Tempokai

100 words away from 2000 words mark. I couldn't come up with any more ideas to fill it. Whatever.

Rewriten 26/11/2022: Well, now it passed it.

Spoiler

Another very good chapter I had written. I simply increased the depth of details.

Replaced the "SUPER EUROBEAT for maximum speed violation" video that was removed (press F), with a fresh song from Vikas. FREE BIRD, YEAH!

Here's extra for opening the spoiler:

Spoiler

Association's Research Facility

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