God Of Racing

"You don't know about this?" Yang Jun looked surprised. "It's the talk of the town right now. The Oriental Group is going to organize an international racing league for Chinese people in our country."

Sheesh, it seemed everyone was taking this unconfirmed news seriously. "...Oh, I see," Zhuifeng replied.

"...Look, it's Teacher Liu! Teacher Liu and the others are on TV!" With this shout, everyone was stirred up.

Zhuifeng looked and couldn't help but chuckle. The camera had merely panned past him... Wait, he tensed up: "Classmate... is this broadcast from Chongqing?"

"Yeah, it's China's Wind God versus Japan's Yamamoto, its a live broadcast!"

Damn! This joke had gone too far. "So, which car belongs to Wind God?"

"Are you kidding, Zhuifeng? Wind God is... well... Wind God! He's a big name. Do you think he'd show up this early?"

Zhuifeng felt like coughing up blood. Seeing his classmate was about to lose it, he could only nod: "You're right, you're right. So what's happening now?"

"It's a charity race. I had no idea until I saw it, but our racing level is surprisingly high. Hey... Zhuifeng, where are you running off to?"

How could I not run? If I let you keep talking, all the readers will run away.

Zhuifeng ran to the back row and sat down, frustrated. They were all such newbies. Looking at his cheering classmates, he was on the verge of tears from laughter.

....

"Zhuifeng, how can you laugh when you see all those cars losing to that BMW?"

Zhuifeng didn't mind the interruption now, since there was no peace and quiet anyway: "Well, why are you all cheering?"

"...Because they're driving well, so why shouldn't we cheer them on?"

"But if they're driving well, why are they losing?" They were truly clueless. If it weren't for saving face, Zhuifeng would have been rolling on the floor laughing.

"Well..." The classmate scratched his head. "I don't know. It's strange, they're always in the lead, but why do they all fail near the finish line?"

Zhuifeng shook his head: "Do you know what kind of race this is?"

"Isn't it just street racing?" Come on, do you think I'm an idiot? How frustrating!

"Of course it's a type of street racing, but it has four names: Foreigners like to call it quarter-mile racing or drag racing; it's also called zero to 400-meter racing; while we generally call it lightning racing or D4. The charm of this zero to 400-meter straight-line competitive race comes from satisfying the audience's primal joy and need for speed."

"But, isn't it all just racing? Why make it so complicated? It's all the same."

"You say it's the same as other racing?" Zhuifeng was about to lose it. "Then let me ask you, do you shout like this when watching other races? Do you get this nervous watching other races? Do you get this emotional watching other races?"

"Well..."

"No, absolutely not! And this is exactly where the charm of D4 lies. It can bring your emotions to a peak in the shortest time, making you scream irrationally from the moment the vehicles start to when they cross the finish line!"

Seeing his classmate nodding in understanding, Zhuifeng's enthusiasm grew. It seemed he was also the type who couldn't stop talking once he started.

"Did you notice that the BMW's start is always slower than the other cars? That's because his reaction time to the start signal is poor. He seems to be a novice, but his car makes up for his shortcomings. He can actually drag in fourth gear for no less than 400 meters, so his fourth gear ratio must be very wide. If those other cars want to beat him, hehe, they'd have to disrupt his gear-shift timing first, make him nervous..."

"Great, that's so well explained! Hehe, but we still don't understand..."

What? We? Zhuifeng looked up and around, feeling dizzy. It turned out that in this short time, almost all the classmates had gathered around. He broke out in a cold sweat: "You guys..."

"Armchair strategist!"

Zhuifeng was startled and looked towards the voice: "Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter who I am. What matters is that everything you said is nonsense."

"Zhuifeng, his name is Cheng He."

"Nonsense." Zhuifeng sniffed dismissively. "Then you explain it."

Cheng He's face reddened slightly: "I don't understand..."

Everyone fell to the ground!

"But I believe all of this can be found in professional racing books."

Zhuifeng nodded: "That's true..."

"So, if you want to prove you're better than them, the best way is to go and beat that BMW."

When did I say I was better than them? "I won't go, because that venue isn't suitable for D4 racing. Racing there would be completely insane."

"Why?" Everyone found it strange, and Cheng He was even more disdainful: "Aren't they racing fine there?"

"D4 racing must..."

"Ah, look..." At this moment, the few classmates still watching TV suddenly cried out in panic. They saw a white Buick sedan that had just finished racing still speeding forward after crossing the finish line. As the camera followed, everyone could see clearly that there was a sharp turn ahead, and on one side of the turn was a cliff!

Fortunately, the car's rear seemed to have started to drift, it looked like the driver was trying to slide around the curve...

"It's okay." The classmates all breathed a sigh of relief.

"This is bad!" But as an insider, Zhuifeng didn't think he was out of danger. He suddenly stood up and shouted: "Brake, brake, brake quickly... He's... done for..." Zhuifeng collapsed back into his seat.

As he predicted, although the car body had aligned into a straight line, due to the huge inertia generated by the previous speed, the car became airborne and disappeared from the camera's view in an instant. After a few seconds, a plume of smoke rose...

Silence. Except for the harsh siren sound coming from the TV, there wasn't a sound in the entire hall. Everyone stared at the screen, knowing hope was slim, but still praying for a bit of mercy from heaven...

....

"...Dear viewers, I am Mu Xin, the host of this live broadcast. I believe everyone has witnessed the accident that just occurred. I am very sorry to report that, according to the emergency rescue team, the driver has unfortunately passed away..."

"Oh my God..." The emotional female students had already started sobbing, and even Zhuifeng's eyes were misty.

"This... how is this possible?" Cheng He cried out to the sky as if collapsing, and... he was actually crying too...

This was perhaps the first freshman dance at Chongqing University that was filled with sorrow instead of joy...

"...Students, there's nothing we can do now... Let's observe a minute of silence for the driver..." The teacher, also human, sobbed out a sentence and then fainted.

"Mom..." Cheng He cried out loudly, breaking into tears: "Mom, get up, get up! I don't believe it, Dad will be fine, get up, let's go find him..."

"So that's how it is." The classmates suddenly understood. That driver was actually the husband of their counselor Chen Rong, who was also Cheng He's father. But what good did understanding do? All they could do was help Counselor Chen up from the ground...

The already sorrowful evening became even more gloomy...

"Mmm... What... what are you doing?"

"Counselor Chen, we... we're taking you to the infirmary, you..."

"I won't go, I won't go anywhere... He'er, He'er, we won't go anywhere, okay? I want to watch TV, I want to see him get defeated..."

Cheng He wiped his tears and forced a smile: "Okay, Mom, I'll stay with you..."

Looking at the mother and son crying in each other's arms, there wasn't a dry eye in the room. After all, humans are emotional creatures...

"Ladies and gentlemen, standing next to me now is the undefeated champion so far, a D4 racer from Japan: Koizumi Junichiro..."

Zhuifeng finally understood what his classmates had been talking about earlier and why they had those expressions. So the BMW driver was Japanese? But was he the one who had challenged him? Using a D4 car for street racing didn't seem very likely, did it?