Lu Mingfei, who had read Dragon Clan before slaying the dragon

Lu Mingfei remained silent and did not comment.

"One day after you graduated from junior high school, you suddenly changed. I don't know what prompted you to change, but it was a complete transformation." Herzog slowly recounted Lu Mingfei's past. "It was like you had completely changed. From a useless loser who could never be helped, you became a hardworking and promising child. You began to shine, and this radiance continued from your junior high school to Kassel Academy. In everyone's eyes, you were incomparably outstanding, a role model. You were surrounded by praise and admiration, and your every move was admired by countless people. You were shining brightly, right?"

Lu Mingfei still didn't say anything, but at this moment silence actually meant consent.

"Actually, I'm more curious about the timid kid from five years ago than the Lu Jun of today. What made you go from a loser back then to the elite you are today?" Herzog seemed to be talking to himself, but also as if he was tirelessly studying Lu Mingfei. "You are shrouded in a thousand-foot-high light. Everyone who looks at you can only see your brilliance, but what about your inner self? Lu Jun, has anyone really seen the real you?"

At this moment, Herzog's tone didn't sound like a charlatan, nor like a scientist, nor even like a conspirator... Unbelievably, the old man's tone sounded to Lu Mingfei like that of a... teacher.

Lu Mingfei was silent. At this moment, he finally understood why the brothers Yuan Zhisheng and Yuan Zhinu were deceived by the man in front of him. If he had not known Herzog's nature in advance, he would have been deceived by the man's persuasive words. Perhaps Herzog would stop doing scientific research one day and become a psychologist or private detective. This old guy is really good at analyzing and understanding people's hearts.

"Tear off your disguise, Lu Jun, and don't run away from the child inside you," Herzog said loudly. "You are extremely insecure. You have lacked the thing called 'love' since childhood, so you chase after love. You think love is a blazing fire, and for that warm flame, it doesn't matter if you burn everything you have."

"Do you know me well?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"Of course, Lu Jun," Herzog said affirmatively. "Although I can't say we are the same type of people, we are extremely similar. We both lack a sense of security and want to hold something tightly in our hands. That's why you spent five years completely transforming yourself, while I spent a full twenty years preparing. You want to realize your ambitions, and I want to realize mine... What similarities, what identical experiences!"

"So what does what you said have to do with Eiry?" Lu Mingfei asked in confusion.

"Of course it matters. We all have things we pursue, and you have things you're willing to sacrifice for... but that shouldn't be love," Herzog said in a negative tone. "The scope of love is too narrow."

"Then what do you think is big enough?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"The evolution of life." Herzog uttered these words slowly. Just a few words seemed to carry a thousand pounds of weight.

"Yes, the dimensions of life, the changes in species... these are the truly meaningful things. Money is illusory, status is illusory, and love is also illusory..." Herzog said. "These are all meanings that humans have forcibly assigned to certain things. Only by assuming that these things exist objectively can human society continue stably."

"You mean, money, status, love... these things are meaningless?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"It's not that they have no meaning, but that their meaning is too limited." Herzog gave an example, "Would you talk about money with a wealthy businessman? Would you talk about status with a prime minister? Would you discuss love with a playboy? If someone did that, it would be foolish, because when you reach a certain level in a certain field, no matter how valuable things in that field are in the eyes of others, they will no longer be attractive to you."

"Lu Jun, although I'm only a human now, I've forced myself to think like a dragon since twenty years ago." Herzog tapped Lu Mingfei's head with his finger and said softly, "In the eyes of dragons, money, status, love...all of it is bullshit. These external things will eventually leave you. Only your own strength is absolute."

"Once you hold power, you hold the authority and power that belong to you. Thoughts, bloodlines, races... only these things are eternal!" Herzog's voice rose, and his tone gradually became frantic. "Don't dragons view humans the same way humans view ants? Mr. Lu, how do you view those sesame-sized ants on the roadside? They fight desperately to survive, they learn to divide labor and cooperate for food, they compete for the favor of the queen ant to reproduce... But one day, if you suddenly feel bad and displease them, you can destroy all the fruits of their hard work with a pee, and you can easily crush them all to death with a single foot!"

"Lu Jun, do you think it's fair? Of course not. Between humans and humans, between species and species... there is no real fairness in this world." Herzog's tone returned to calmness. "This is the sad and cruel truth of this world!"

It was such an impassioned and wonderful speech. I have to say that Herzog's tone was very contagious. Lu Mingfei felt that if Herzog became an educator, his achievements would probably be comparable to Principal Angers... provided that the things he spread had normal values.

Considering how crazy this old guy is now...it would be more appropriate for him to be a preacher for a pyramid scheme organization or the leader of an evil church.

"So you told me all this just to convince me to call Eri out, right?" Lu Mingfei asked calmly, "Why did it have to be Eri?"

"It's not the time to explain all this to you yet, but there are some things I can tell you to show my sincerity," Herzog said generously. "That girl is a wedge, a stepping stone... the final material and necessary condition for embarking on biological evolution."

What Herzog couldn't see was that Lu Mingfei's expression gradually became gloomy behind the mask.

"To you, Lu Jun, Uesugi Eri is just the woman you love, but to me, she is the key to unlocking the door to evolution." Herzog said to Lu Mingfei with great sincerity, "You can have many beloved women, but there is only one key. Personal love and the evolution of species... there is no need to choose. The two are simply incomparable."

"I promise, Lu Jun, when I ascend the throne of the world, I will remember your contributions. I will spare the lives of your family, your friends, those close to you... everyone you care about." Herzog said, leaning close to Lu Mingfei. "This is my most sincere invitation, Lu Jun. Join me in opening the door to a new era. In this new era, there will be no more corrupt humans. You will be the absolute aristocrats of the future world!"

"One person... all I need is for you to hand over one person, just sacrifice one girl." Herzog's voice was full of devilish temptation. "You can have many women. I can find any woman you want for you! Or if you have anything else you want, I can give it to you. When I ascend the new throne, everything in the world will be mine, and I can share it with you!"

Lu Mingfei took several deep breaths and forced himself to suppress the anger in his heart. Lu Mingfei knew that Herzog was lying to him. This was the trick this man was best at. He would paint a beautiful blueprint for the future for you and make all kinds of unfounded promises to you... But when everything really came true, he would quickly turn against you and reveal his sinister minions. The person who had helped him realize his ambition would be the first one to be thrown into the abyss.

Aren’t the Snake Eight Families, the Oni Shu, and the Genji brothers living examples?

But this wasn't what infuriated Lu Mingfei the most. The thing he couldn't forgive Herzog for was...handing over a girl? Just sacrificing a girl? How could this bastard make such shameless words sound so right and righteous?

Everyone has his or her own life, and no one is born to be sacrificed. To climb up on the corpses of others for the sake of his own ambition, Herzog is a villain with no bottom line, which makes Lu Mingfei feel sick!

Lu Mingfei was silent for a long time, and Herzog did not urge him. After all, such a large amount of information really required a lot of digestion for a young man. Herzog gave Lu Mingfei enough time to weigh the pros and cons.

"You can give me whatever I want, right?" Lu Mingfei asked Herzog after a moment.

"Of course, as long as I can do it." Herzog's voice was full of laughter. "But when I ascend to the throne of the world, there will be almost nothing in this world that I can't do. Whatever you want, just tell me."

"Your head." Lu Mingfei whispered.

"What?" Herzog was stunned. Lu Mingfei's voice was too soft and he wondered if he had heard it wrong.

"I'm talking about...your head." Lu Mingfei said calmly, "Didn't you say you could give me anything I wanted? Then why don't you give me your head if I want it?"

"Give me your head and I'll tell you where Eri is. It turns out Eri is the key to a new era. I never thought that girl could be such a great thing!" Lu Mingfei also smiled. "But now, Mr. Wang, your head is like a treasure map to the key. It's also a great thing. For the sake of a new era and the evolution of species, are you still stingy with your head that even dogs won't chew on?"

Lu Mingfei's words were not only vicious but also extremely sarcastic.

Lu Mingfei was originally the king of trash talk in Shilan Middle School. Even Angers claimed that he could not compare with his student in terms of trash talk. After changing his personality, Lu Mingfei talked less and less, and only occasionally said a few words when sparring with Finkel, but his basic skills were still there.

Chapter 582 Lu Mingfei's Blood

Herzog provoked Lu Mingfei, so of course Lu Mingfei would fight back. Although he had lost his strength and was imprisoned and unable to move, his mouth was not restrained. Words were very powerful, and vicious words spoken were like a knife stabbing into the heart.

Lu Mingfei was certain that Herzog would not dare to kill him. Once he died, Herzog would completely lose the key to open the door to a new era. This was why the conspirator's efforts over the past 20 years had all come to nothing.

For Herzog, now is not the time to reveal everything to Lu Mingfei, and the same goes for Lu Mingfei... Although he cannot expose Herzog's tricks to his face at the moment, scolding him can make him feel a little relieved. This old guy keeps talking about "the evolution of species", "a new throne" and "the truth of the world"... but the premise of these things is to sacrifice others, and in the end it will fulfill himself.

It was like watching a person eating another person's flesh alive, smiling with blood on his mouth, saying that this was right, this was right, and that the essence of the world was cannibalism... This beast-like behavior made Lu Mingfei feel sick.

In fact, when Herzog mentioned the word "lack of love", the first person that flashed through Lu Mingfei's mind was Eiry, rather than his childhood self.

Did he lack love before? Perhaps, but in fact, he was more unlucky... He was really unlucky, unlucky enough to become a dead child, unable to speak nicely and did not know how to behave in society. As a result, his aunt disliked him, his cousin did not like him, and his classmates did not like to play with him.

But when you think about it carefully, did Lu Mingfei really not receive any love at all in the past?

At least he still has his parents. Although they haven't seen each other for many years, they would send child support to his aunt's family every year and write to him occasionally. There is also Shushu. Although his uncle is always under the pressure of his aunt and dares not take too much care of Lu Mingfei, he is actually very good to him and always regards him as a descendant of the old Lu family. Not to mention Professor Guderian who favors him, his protective senior sister Nono, his gossipy senior brother Chu Zihang, the loyal boss Caesar, and his useless but clever senior brother Fingel... Loneliness is no longer the main theme of Lu Mingfei's life. Even if he had not had that predictive dream five years ago, his life was destined to have all these.

Eri is the one who truly lacks love... Living in a cramped space, the girl's world is just a square of a fixed size, with Hello Kitty, the little yellow duck and Rilakkuma. The girl's friends are just some dolls that can't talk or communicate. Eri knows that her physical condition is very poor, so she has always been very sensible, and her only wish is to see the world. The girl has no parents or relatives since she was a child, and her only blood-related brother doesn't even know each other's identity.

But Herzog... this old guy wanted to deprive the girl of even such a tiny wish. How could Lu Mingfei not be furious?

Lu Mingfei didn’t care whether Herzog would be angered by him. He said this to tell him that this old guy wanted to convince him to become a man-eating “evil ghost”, but he couldn’t do it... The old guy chose the wrong person as his partner!

After Lu Mingfei's vicious curse, Herzog did not fight back immediately, nor did he get angry immediately. Instead, he fell into a long silence.

Of course, it is impossible that he was humiliated for a moment and didn't know how to fight back, nor was he stupid because of being scolded. An old man like Herzog, who has lived and worked in Germany, the former Soviet Union, the Third Reich and Japan, has definitely seen the world and has a strong psychological endurance. When it comes to scolding, this guy can definitely say more dirty words than Lu Mingfei.

Lu Mingfei didn't know why the old man suddenly became mute. The black mask blocked his vision. The only sound in the whole space was the ticking of some instrument echoing in his ears. Herzog fell into a long silence, giving people the feeling that this person suddenly disappeared from the room out of thin air.

“Hahahahahahahahahaha…hahahahahahahaha!”

Suddenly, a burst of laughter broke out, and the quiet atmosphere was broken in an instant. The laughter was unrestrained and old, and it was obviously Herzog who was laughing... This old guy seemed to be crazy. After a series of humiliating insults, he laughed instead of getting angry, which made people wonder if he was suffering from some kind of mental illness.

"Is that the answer? Is that the answer?" Herzog stopped laughing and his tone became extremely calm. "How should I face you next, Lu Jun? Because I guessed your answer a long time ago."

"Did you guess it?" Lu Mingfei said.

"Yes, I guessed it." Herzog's tone remained calm, without any anger or resentment. "I've said it before, you and the brothers of the Yuan family are exactly the same in this regard. You young people are inflexible and stubborn to death. You always insist on some insignificant things, which is completely unreasonable."

"Eri is not an insignificant person..." Lu Mingfei was interrupted by Herzog before he could finish his words.

"That's enough! Don't refute me!" Herzog roared angrily, "Who do you think you are? What kind of person are you? What qualifications do you have... What qualifications do you have to refute me?"

Herzog, who had originally been very calm in tone and emotion, suddenly became extremely manic, like a schizophrenic patient who suddenly switched to a second personality. He roared at Lu Mingfei furiously. Lu Mingfei's vision was blocked by the mask and he could not see anything, but he could imagine the old man's ferocious expression through his tone.

"Who do you think you are... Who do you think you are... Who do you think you are..." Herzog kept repeating this sentence, growling in a hoarse voice.

While Herzog was cursing under his breath, Lu Mingfei heard a burst of hurried footsteps. Herzog left him at a rapid speed and then walked back at a rapid speed, as if he was going to get something.

Then there was a shrill scream, the sound of something sharp cutting through the air.

Snapped!

There was a fierce whipping sound, followed by severe pain. Lu Mingfei couldn't help but frown under the mask. He could feel something hitting his chest. It should be a sharp whip with great force.

The resurrection of "God", the loss of Eiry and his own attitude finally made Herzog lose his composure. Presumably, the old guy's mentality was about to collapse, so he finally couldn't help but attack Lu Mingfei.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

Herzog cursed viciously, and every time he cursed, he would swing the whip and hit Lu Mingfei's skin hard. Every time Herzog whipped, a new wound would appear on Lu Mingfei's skin, and blood would splatter.

One, two, three... at least more than thirty times in a row. Herzog whipped with all his strength, which was enough to show how aggrieved he had been these days and how much anger he had accumulated in his heart.

Lu Mingfei's body was already covered in wounds, with sharp wounds crisscrossing the skin on his chest and abdomen. The blood transfusion had made Lu Mingfei very weak. Logically, he should not be able to endure such pain at the moment, but Lu Mingfei still gritted his teeth and said nothing.

Herzog, Herzog, Herzog... Every time he was whipped, Lu Mingfei would silently repeat the name of the old man wielding the whip in his heart, as if he wanted to brandish this name firmly in his heart. Under the mask, Lu Mingfei's eyes were as cold as iron.

"Twenty years! A full twenty years! I spent a full twenty years preparing for all this, you know!" Herzog roared, waving the whip non-stop. "And you, a mere kid not even twenty years old! What qualifications do you have to suddenly show up and ruin all this? What qualifications do you have!"

Herzog's strength gradually eased, but he would never let Lu Mingfei feel good. He suddenly stopped whipping Lu Mingfei. Herzog took a bottle of chemical reagent from the table beside him, poured it on the whip, and continued to whip Lu Mingfei's body.

"Hiss!" Lu Mingfei finally couldn't help but gasp, and fine beads of cold sweat covered his forehead.

Lu Mingfei cursed in his heart that this old man was so cruel. He didn't know what Herzog had added to the whip, but the touch of this liquid on his wounds felt like alcohol, pepper spray, or even concentrated sulfuric acid... Lu Mingfei felt that his skin and flesh were about to be corroded through, and the pain penetrated into his bones.

"Does it hurt? Does it hurt a lot? It's right that it hurts!" Herzog roared at Lu Mingfei angrily, whipping him again and again. "Do you know what you've done? Do you know what you've done?"

"You think Uesugi Eri is yours? You think that girl is yours?" Herzog's voice rose to a pitch that broke. "No! She is mine! I prepared that girl twenty years ago! That is what I want to prepare for the supreme 'God'! That is my sacrifice! My sacrifice, do you understand?"

"You stole my sacrifice, give it back to me! Give that girl back to me! That's mine!" Herzog was already speaking incoherently, "You thief! You shameless thief!"

Herzog no longer had the strength to whip Lu Mingfei. He whipped him nearly a hundred times. Lu Mingfei's body was covered in blood and there was almost no good flesh. Herzog was old after all. He did not have the physical strength of a young man. The venting of his anger made his already decayed body feel even more exhausted. At this moment, he was coughing and gasping for breath.

Herzog was obviously not satisfied yet. Just a beating was far from enough to dispel the anger in his heart, but he did not have the strength to swing the whip anymore. So Herzog pounced on Lu Mingfei, scratched Lu Mingfei's skin with his fingers, tore Lu Mingfei's wound with his teeth, and then sucked his blood, like a demon coughing up blood.

Lu Mingfei, under the mask, endured all this silently. The damage Herzog caused to him was nothing, because the old man's reaction brought Lu Mingfei even greater mental pleasure.

As Lu Mingfei had expected, the plan that Herzog had prepared and planned for twenty years was interrupted, and the "God" was resurrected ahead of time, but Eiry, who served as the "container", disappeared. The situation was completely out of control, just like a scientist who had spent decades working on his research results and had them stolen by others. He had given his youth, energy, and everything, but in the end all his fantasies and ambitions became nothing. Of course he was angry, of course he collapsed, and of course... he wanted to kill Lu Mingfei!

But Herzog cannot and dare not actually kill anyone, because once Lu Mingfei is really dead, Eiry's trace will be nowhere to be found, which also means that Herzog will completely lose the way to obtain the power of "God".

Herzog, who was lying on Lu Mingfei, seemed to have sensed something unusual. He stood up suddenly, and then Lu Mingfei heard a smacking sound coming from the front, as if Herzog was tasting some delicious food.

"No... No!" Herzog's voice was filled with surprise. "What's that smell? What's that smell? Why does your blood smell like that?"

Under the mask, Herzog could not see Lu Mingfei's expression. At this moment, the corner of Lu Mingfei's mouth was raised in a strange arc... Herzog, the conspirator who claimed to be in control of everything, was slowly approaching the trap set for him by Lu Mingfei step by step.

"You've held me captive for so long, and yet you haven't done any research on my body?" Lu Mingfei asked, "Could the General be so careless one day? Or am I simply not interested in the General?"

"How long do you think you've been here? Not counting the time we talked, you've only been in my lab for less than five minutes." Herzog suddenly clapped his hands. "You reminded me that there are indeed several things about you that I'm curious about. For a while, I was so caught up in the conversation with you and the matter of Uesugi Eri that I forgot to ask."

"I actually lost my composure. I was too impatient. If you're in my hands, then the situation in Japan is still under my control." Herzog muttered to himself, "Yes, there's no need to rush. Everything is still in time. The Snake Eight Families and Kassel Academy pose no threat to me. I will still be the final winner."

"I'm growing increasingly curious about you, Lu Jun. You truly are full of surprises. I have so many questions for you." Herzog's voice regained its usual commanding presence, but he suddenly changed the subject. "But there's no rush yet. What I want to know most is, what are all those bulging veins all over your body? And why does your blood have such a familiar, sweet, and spicy smell?"

Herzog took out a needle, pierced Lu Mingfei's skin, and took out a full tube of blood.

"Give me three minutes." Herzog walked away quickly. "Give me three minutes."

Chapter 583 The Brothers’ Mission

Caesar and Chu Zihang were speeding through the flooded streets of Tokyo. Incredibly, they were riding on a speedboat.

They discovered this speedboat shortly after leaving Takama-ga-hara. At that time, Caesar, Chu Zihang, Fuma Kotaro, the three heads of the Snake Eight Families, were together. A small group of demons were wandering on the streets on the west side of Kabukicho and happened to be discovered by these strong men from Kassel Academy and the Snake Eight Families... So what happened next was a natural progression. Unfortunately, the demon group lost their means of transportation, was tied to a heavy object, and sank into several meters of water.

Caesar and Chu Zihang were preparing to go to the location indicated by Lu Mingfei. Since such a big thing had happened in Tokyo, the three heads of the Eight Sheqi Families naturally had to return to their families first to appease the people and then gather people to regroup before setting out again.

Fuma Kotaro and his companions have been won over by Lu Mingfei, and Kassel Academy and the Eight Snake Families have officially formed an alliance. Originally, adhering to the principle of respecting the elderly and loving the young, Caesar and Chu Zihang were ready to give the speedboat to the heads of the Eight Snake Families... After all, the heads of the families were wearing cumbersome kimonos, and among them were two elderly men and a beautiful woman. It seemed too ungraceful to let these three respected heads of the families show off their swimming skills in the flooded streets of Tokyo.

Besides, Caesar is a famous swimmer at Kassel College. He has won prizes in international freestyle competitions. Chu Zihang also does well in swimming classes. When he was a freshman, Chu Zihang had specially trained his swimming skills in order to carry out underwater missions in the Three Gorges with Lu Mingfei. So Caesar and Chu Zihang didn't think there was anything wrong with letting the two of them use their swimming skills to conquer Tokyo, which was ravaged by the tsunami.

But their polite offer was declined by Fuma Kotaro, who said that the speedboat should be left to Caesar and Chu Zihang, as they did not need it. Just as Caesar was marveling at the fact that the old patriarch still had so much strength and such unyielding ambition at his age, a whistling sound of wind came from above their heads.

Caesar and Chu Zihang looked up at the same time, and were stunned at the same time... A black helicopter approached their coordinates like a big black bird, hovering above their heads. The helicopter threw ropes and ladders in front of them. After Fuma Kotaro and the other two climbed onto the plane along the ladder, the helicopter took away with the three family heads, and no one even waved goodbye to them.

Caesar and Chu Zihang, who were left behind, stared at the speedboat under their feet in a daze for a long time. Then they remembered... those three people were not old men and women who needed to be given way to. The whole country was their territory!

After waiting for the three heads of the Sheqi Eight Families to leave, Caesar drove his speedboat across the accumulated water on the street. In fact, the narrow commercial street was not suitable for speedboats sailing on wide water, but Caesar was an expert at both sailboats and speedboats. These were things he had been playing with since he was a child, and narrow roads or obstacles in the water could not stop him at all.

"Is this the power of dragons?" Caesar looked at the devastated buildings and streets. "This city has truly suffered considerable damage."

"That's not an ordinary dragon. That's an emperor." Chu Zihang corrected, "But this is just the power that the emperor has just awakened. It's hard to imagine how powerful she was at her peak."

"Perhaps we can easily wipe half of Japan off satellite maps," Caesar couldn't help but sigh. "It's only a palm-sized country, yet it hides so many monsters. I thought that girl Uesugi Erie's power was already out of this world, but I didn't expect we'd actually encounter something a hundred times more troublesome than that... I think this kind of power is already mythical, right?"

It was indeed a mythical power. In a short period of time, the geological and climatic environment of Tokyo and even the entire Japan had undergone drastic changes. Unprecedented elemental turbulence enveloped the entire sky of Japan, and the air was filled with a chilling and solemn atmosphere. Every half-blood could feel it... It was the pressure of "God".

The ancient and noble creature that has been sealed for thousands of years is slowly awakening.

"It's not that I don't trust Lu Mingfei. I've witnessed him perform countless miracles before... But you're asking for something on this level again. Is Lu Mingfei really sure he can handle such a difficult creature?" Caesar whispered. "Even if he has a 70% chance of killing 'God', if the remaining 30% comes true, and 'God' isn't completely killed... the probability of Japan being destroyed is 100%!"

"Success or failure, leave it all to Lu Mingfei. 'God' has been resurrected. Now that we've reached this point, there's no turning back." After a moment's silence, Chu Zihang slowly shook his head. "Lu Mingfei has his work to do, and we have ours to do. 'God' is not a target we need to worry about. Now we need to complete our own mission."

"Just go to the location Lu Mingfei specified, right?" Caesar asked. "Did Lu Mingfei have any further instructions for what to do next?"

"No, he just told us the destination we needed to reach. We'll figure out the rest once we get there." Chu Zihang said, "Caesar, is your 'Sickle-weasel' okay?"

"It's already on," Caesar replied calmly. "When I'm playing gigolo, it's work, but once I leave Takama-ga-hara, I won't let my guard down."

Before Chu Zihang reminded him, Caesar's "Kamaitachi" domain had already been deployed when he parted with Fuma Kotaro and the other two.

In fact, it would not be pleasant to use the ability of "Kamaitachi" in this situation, because when Caesar opened the "Kamaitachi", his hearing was as sharp as Eri's, and now there were the sounds of waves and people crying on all sides, and snakes, insects, rats and ants clinging to the ruins of high-rise buildings, making sounds of frequencies that were imperceptible to human hearing. However, these sounds were clearly audible in Caesar's ears, like a group of frightened beasts fleeing in the wilderness, or like the roar of a devil coming from the abyss.

Thunderous sounds came from the intersections in front and behind them. They were speedboats like theirs, with large displacement and full horsepower, approaching them rapidly.