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Chapter 22: True Driverless Mode?
The lioness, which had been chasing them, suddenly stopped mid-pursuit as if someone had stepped on her tail. She stormed off angrily, leaving Wang Ping breathing a sigh of relief.
If a fight could be avoided, it was undoubtedly better not to fight.
After all, he had only inherited the honey badger's body—not its brain. If people claimed honey badgers were unmatched warriors, Wang Ping was the first to doubt it.
If they were truly that strong, they would have long climbed to the top of the food chain and ruled supreme. Instead, they earned the dubious title of “the most reckless daredevils of the wild.”
Wang Ping had witnessed honey badgers fighting firsthand during his time in Africa. To be honest, while the honey badger often initiated fights, it rarely managed to win battles against larger animals. The fact that they hadn't yet fought themselves onto the endangered species list was more a testament to the leniency and broad-mindedness of the animals on the savanna.
Now that the threat had passed, Rosette let out a groggy grunt, turned around, and flopped back onto the rear seat for a nap, conserving her energy. Meanwhile, Wang Ping finally shifted his focus back to himself—and realized something was very wrong.
"Wait a second! Where the heck are we?!"
The off-road vehicle was barreling across the savanna at a steady speed of 80 km/h. Although it wasn’t particularly fast, they'd long since gone beyond the area Wang Ping had initially mapped out.
The lioness had abandoned the chase, partly because of the commotion behind them, but primarily because she knew she couldn't catch the car. It had also exceeded her territorial boundaries and wasn't worth the energy to continue.
What worried Wang Ping more was Gu Lang’s state—he was practically driving on autopilot, with no semblance of direction or route planning. By the time Wang Ping noticed, their sense of direction was already lost somewhere in oblivion.
Leaping back into the passenger seat, Wang Ping knocked on the dashboard with his paw, signaling for Gu Lang to stop the car.
No response.
Turning to look at Gu Lang, Wang Ping saw his expression was eerily vacant, as if his mind had wandered off to another world. Though his initial panic had faded, he remained in a dazed, zombie-like state, showing no signs of snapping out of it.
"Bang!"
The car's left front wheel hit a shallow pit, jolting the vehicle violently and nearly sending Wang Ping tumbling to the floor.
Rosette was startled awake, lifted her head to glance around, saw nothing unusual, and promptly curled back up to sleep.
Before Wang Ping could react, the car brushed past a low tree. Its branches scraped dangerously close to the left side, where the windshield was missing. One of the branches snapped inside, smacking Wang Ping squarely across the face.
"Smack!"
"Hiss—!"
The branch hit him so hard that tears nearly streamed from his eyes. But what scared him more was that even after this, Gu Lang showed no intention of stopping the car.
“Stop the car already, dammit!” Wang Ping panicked. He lifted his paw and smacked Gu Lang’s arm hard. “If you’re not going to stop, at least let me get to the brake pedal!”
Still, Gu Lang showed zero reaction.
"Awwooo!" Wang Ping resorted to a mix of smacking, shouting, and even an embarrassing howl. Yet Gu Lang remained stiff, his hands clutching the steering wheel like he had a muscle cramp. Wang Ping’s strength wasn’t enough to move him even an inch.
Rosette lifted her head curiously, glancing at Wang Ping with a dissatisfied grumble, as if complaining that he was disturbing her nap.
Wang Ping was livid.
How could she sleep at a time like this? Didn’t she realize that at any second, the three of them might end up dead in a crash?!
Maybe it was Rosette's irritation, or maybe some divine inspiration hit her. While Wang Ping kept pounding on Gu Lang’s arm, Rosette finally couldn’t take the noise anymore. She raised her fuzzy paw, imitated Wang Ping, and swung a smack at Gu Lang.
With the back seat blocking her, Rosette's paw didn’t hit Gu Lang but landed on the seat instead.
"Bang!" The loud noise startled Rosette. She jumped back, slammed her head against the car roof, and bounced back down onto the seat in a daze.
“Ah?” The slap and bang finally jolted Gu Lang awake. He let out a startled yelp, then turned to Wang Ping and Rosette with a dazed expression.
“What’s going on?” Gu Lang’s voice was hoarse, his confusion written all over his face.
“Stop the car! Stop it now!” Seeing Gu Lang let go of the steering wheel and turn around in a daze, Wang Ping screamed internally. His paws slapped the dashboard frantically.
“Crap! Oh shit!” Fortunately, Gu Lang only needed a few seconds to gather his wits. He quickly hit the brakes.
"Bang!" The abrupt stop sent Wang Ping flying out of the car, landing face-first on the grass in front of the vehicle.
Rosette, on the other hand, fared better this time. Having already been flung off earlier, she had landed under the seats and was barely affected by the sudden stop.
“Oh my God…” Lying on the grass, Wang Ping no longer cared about his ungraceful tumble. He stared up at the sky, utterly drained, overcome by the sheer relief of surviving.
While obstacles on the savanna were sparse, the tension of a truly driverless vehicle was indescribable for those who hadn’t experienced it.
It was like riding on a motorcycle with a friend, debating whether to grab onto the backseat or hug their waist, only to realize mid-ride that your friend wasn’t holding the handlebars. The feeling was soul-crushing, as if handlebars weren't the only thing being let go—it was your very existence.
“Whew…” Inside the now-quiet car, the only sounds left were Gu Lang’s heavy, belated breaths and the wind blowing through the open windshield.
In less than an hour, Gu Lang had broken into cold sweats several times. His lips were cracked and parched. He felt physically drained, as if escaping danger had sucked out all his energy.
“I can’t let this guy drive again anytime soon!” That was Wang Ping’s first conclusion.
Jumping onto the hood of the car, he stretched his neck to scan the surroundings. Using the position of the sun and the time, he roughly estimated their location.
If Gu Lang had stayed in that state throughout, it would mean the vehicle had been moving in a straight line the entire time. However, the direction was no longer directly west as it was at the start but had veered slightly south. The exact degree of deviation was unclear.
Judging by the speed the car was traveling earlier, they had likely left the lion pride's territory. Furthermore, the terrain was beginning to rise, and faint silhouettes of mountain peaks could be seen in the distance—likely indicating they were nearing the edge of the Maasai Mara grasslands.
The Maasai Mara grasslands are roughly shaped like a basin. The southeast consists of open plains, while the northwest is bordered by a semicircular arc of mountain ranges. The famous Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in East Africa, is located at the northern tip of this arc. Beyond these mountains lies the East African Rift Valley.
Wang Ping wasn’t worried about being off-course. At the foot of these mountains ran a north-south highway, passing through Makuyuni and leading to Highway 144, which crossed the Rift Valley. As long as they found the road, they wouldn’t get lost.
But even though the mountains were visible, they were still a long way off. Given Gu Lang’s current condition, Wang Ping wouldn’t dream of letting him drive again.
Tapping the hood, Wang Ping gestured to Gu Lang, suggesting they set up camp and rest for the night.
Gu Lang remained unusually quiet.
Ever since snapping out of his daze, Gu Lang had alternated between silence and absentmindedness. Normally, if there was nothing to do, he’d chatter away nonstop, making conversation out of thin air. But now, he simply glanced at Wang Ping, climbed out of the car, and began unloading the tent from the roof.
“Was he traumatised?” Wang Ping was puzzled but didn’t dwell on it. Escaping a lion’s jaws and surviving was enough to leave anyone shaken. Even Wang Ping, after his own rollercoaster of emotions, felt drained and listless.
Unknowingly, Wang Ping realized he hadn’t internally complained about Gu Lang this time—a rare occurrence indeed.
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