Chapter 785: You Can Run, I Can Fly
Seeing that Johnny insisted on saving his girlfriend, the old man sighed, picked up the shovel next to him, and smashed it.
Only then did Johnny realize that the shovel was hollow.
The old man took out a thin scroll from inside. “The San Venganza contract.”
Johnny reached for it.
The old man dodged his hand. “Can I trust you?”
After a brief silence, Johnny said, “They took my soul, but can’t move my heart.”
The old man smiled. “Anyone who dares to sell their soul for love has the power to change the world. Remember what you said!”
With that, he handed the scroll to Johnny.
Johnny took out the scroll. “Uh, where’s San Venganza?”
The old man said, “About two hundred kilometers southwest. We need to set off quickly.” He then walked out of the cemetery.
Johnny put the scroll away and followed the old man. “We?”
On the way to the cemetery, the old man stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled.
A horse suddenly whinnied not far away, and the sound of horse hooves on the ground rang out as it swiftly approached them.
A black horse suddenly galloped out of the hazy night and stopped in front of the old man. It rubbed its big head against the old man affectionately.
The old man mounted his horse. “I think I can ride it one last time.”
As he spoke, flames burst out of his head and spread downward.
A Ghost Rider appeared in front of Johnny.
Johnny looked at the scene in shock and was suddenly enlightened. “Carter Slade?”
The Ghost Rider nodded slightly.
Luke wasn’t too surprised.
Carter Slade was the last Ghost Rider that the old man had mentioned.
In order to prevent Mephisto from obtaining the powerful San Venganza contract, Carter had betrayed him and disappeared with the contract.
On one hand, the Ghost Riders whom Mephistos had working for him weren’t very obedient.
On the other hand, the Ghost Riders also had to have the “qualifications.”
If just anyone could unleash the power of a Ghost Rider, Mephistos wouldn’t have to be picky about the people who accepted this power.
But it wasn’t easy for Mephistos to control the people who obtained this power.
Johnny looked at the horse suspiciously. “Can it keep up?”
Carter’s skull grinned, and the flames on its body suddenly spread to the black horse.
The hooves and eyes of the originally unremarkable black horse were now ablaze, and sparks spurted out of its nostrils and mouth. It pawed the ground and tilted its head, as if in disdain at Johnny’s question.
Johnny said, “…Okay, let’s go.” As he spoke, flames rose from his body and he turned into Ghost Rider.
The next moment, there was the rumble of an engine and the crisp sound of horse hooves as the motorcycle and horse sped off.
Luke sighed. “Are you kidding me?”
It was one thing for these two guys themselves to transform, but they could also use this fire to change the nature of their mounts. That was really cheating.
Both the black horse and the vintage motorcycle immediately turned into super strong means of transport after they were consumed by the flames, and they traveled three hundred kilometers in a short period of time.
Furthermore, the two of them headed west right through the wilderness and didn’t take the road at all.
It was hard for the Triumph motorcycle to go at that speed on the highway. Luke snorted, put the motorcycle away, and released a small plane in an open space. He mumbled, “I can’t run, but I can fly.”
From the night sky, he could see a line of fire and a trail of flaming hoofprints on the ground. He wouldn’t lose them.
Looking at the two people in front of him, especially the handsome skeleton horse, Luke was a little jealous. However, he could only look at the motorcycle and horse down below and drool.
Additionally, although Ghost Rider’s transformation was too flashy, it was indeed very cool and could conceal its identity.
When Ghost Rider appeared, he was just a skeleton, and trying to figure out his build based on that wasn’t easy.
Luke had even reconstructed a face from Johnny’s skull when he was bored. In the end, the face composite he came up with didn’t belong to Johnny, but to a stranger.
Clearly, this skeleton wasn’t Johnny’s.
But Johnny had transformed in the detention center. There was no way he could hide his identity anymore. He had wasted such a good disguise.
On the other hand, Ghost Rider’s transformation was something bestowed by Mephisto.
Luke had never thought of selling his soul.
Even if they had no grudge and Mephisto was willing to sign a contract with him, Luke wouldn’t be able to sell his soul.
Before this bigshot was sent back to hell by the system, he had inadvertently mentioned that Luke’s soul had already signed a contract with “someone.”
Now that Luke thought about it, that should be referring to the system.
It was also because of this that the system, which usually didn’t take the initiative, stopped Mephisto trying to invade its “territory” (rejecting Mephisto’s mental connection) and even attacked him.
In other words, as long as the enemy didn’t do anything to Luke’s soul or mind, the system wouldn’t react.
Just like that, Luke, who was deep in thought as he flew along, tailed the two Ghost Riders down below and arrived at the ruins of San Venganza.
Looking at the dark ruins of the small town not far away, the flames on Carter’s body went out, and he returned to his old appearance. “I’ll see you off here.”
Johnny was stunned. “You’re not coming with me?”
He thought that Carter had come to help him save Roxanne. How could he be done after just running over?
Cattley said helplessly, “I’m too old, and my Ghost Rider energy is almost depleted. I only came with you to fulfill my wish.”
Johnny asked, “What wish?”
Carter said, “I want to be sure that someone will continue fighting demons after I die.”
From his horse, he tossed a Winchester shotgun at Johnny. “Go, kid.”
Johnny caught the gun, and Carter pulled on the reins. The black horse neighed and reared before it turned around and went back the way it had come.
They soon disappeared into the deep night.
Johnny was speechless.
Carter was a Ghost Rider from 150 years ago. He had survived until now all thanks to the Ghost Rider energy.
But this support was limited, and wasn’t enough to make a person immortal.
Carter had already given Johnny the San Venganza contract which he had guarded for more than a hundred years.
This meant that his only concern and responsibility was now in the hands of Johnny, the new Ghost Rider.
Having lived for almost two hundred years, there wasn’t anything he was reluctant to part with. After accompanying Johnny on this final journey, it also meant that the story of the previous Ghost Rider had come to an end.
From now on, Johnny would be the new Ghost Rider who would travel alone.
After watching Carter disappear over a small slope, Johnny put away his melancholy and continued on toward the ruins of San Venganza.