God Of Racing

"Ladies and gentlemen, standing next to me now is the undefeated champion so far, a D4 racer from Japan: Koizumi Junichiro..." the announcer said. "Mr. Koizumi, what are your thoughts on the recent incident? Do you have anything to say?"

Koizumi, looking rather diminutive, smiled nonchalantly. "I have no comment. He fell on his own; It's extremely tragic but I didn't push him! Besides, I didn't ask you all to race me. I said before, I want to race your so-called 'Wind God.'"

As soon as the translator finished speaking, the entire crowd erupted in anger. The cameraman, sensing the mood, gave a close-up of the spectators. The screen showed a chaotic scene: people surging forward, spitting and throwing cigarette packs. That was just the beginning. Soon, shoes, socks, and even small stones from the roadside were flying towards Koizumi like an avalanche.

"Damn it, how can he say such things?" Even Zhuifeng, who rarely used coarse language, started cursing. The other students were even more enraged. The teachers surrounding Chen Rong could only lament silently, fearing the situation was about to escalate.

Mu Xin, the reporter, felt indignant too, but had to maintain professionalism. He briefly commented before returning to the studio: "Dear viewers, the atmosphere at the scene is incredibly tense. Koizumi Junichiro has not commented on the incident, only stating that he wants to challenge Wind God..."

Reminded by Mu Xin, the crowd outside began chanting in unison: "Wind God! Wind God! Wind God!"

"Wind God, you fucking coward!" Just as the students joined in the chanting, Cheng He, who had been silent until now, suddenly rushed to the TV and started yelling: "The Japanese racer came for you! Why are you hiding? Playing hard to get? So many Chinese people have been humiliated trying to buy you time, and you're still nowhere to be seen. My father... my father... Ah... You bastard, Wind God, come out and face me!"

Watching Cheng He cry bitterly, Zhuifeng felt as if his heart was being cut by a knife. For a racer, the most brutal thing wasn't losing a championship, but witnessing a fellow racer's accident. This kind of shock was something only racers could truly understand.

"I..." Just then, Zhuifeng's phone, which had been off all day, suddenly rang. He must have accidentally pressed the power button when he sat down earlier. "Hello, who is this?"

"Hello, I'm Gu Deping. We've met before, but you don't know my name. Remember the 'beggar' you met recently? That was me. I followed your advice and found a job with the Zhongshen racing team."

"Congratulations," Zhuifeng replied flatly, watching the tearful Cheng He. He was about to hang up when Gu Deping's next words stopped him.

"You've seen the TV, right? Want to become famous? I can help you. I can definitely help you defeat that Japanese guy. What do you say?"

"What... what did you say?" Zhuifeng was stunned.

"Long story short, I have a car specially built for zero-four racing. If you want to go, I can send it to you at the mountaintop right away."

After Koizumi's provocative words, even a saint would feel compelled to fight, let alone Zhuifeng, who was far from being a saint. "Alright, but wait a moment. I need to check some information first. I'll call you back later, okay?"

"Yang Jun, come here for a sec. Can you help me? Go get my computer from my dorm room. Thanks."

Taking a deep breath, Zhuifeng walked over to Cheng He and his mother, bowing deeply. "Teacher Chen, Cheng He, I'm very sorry."

"You're Zhuifeng, right?" Wiping away her tears, Chen Rong forced a smile. "Child, it's kind of you, but this isn't your fault. It's all because of... our family... my husband..." The pain of losing a loved one was an irreparable wound, and she broke down crying again.

If it were someone else, they might not have admitted to being the person everyone was waiting for. But this was Zhuifeng, who had never experienced a mother's love. Seeing the tear-stained face of his teacher, that word 'child' made Zhuifeng's already heavy heart fill with even more guilt. "Teacher... Teacher Chen, you can scold me or hit me as you wish, but please, after tonight. Because... because I am the one you all call Wind God!"

Although Zhuifeng's voice was very low, the entire room fell silent. Whether from shock or some other reason, everyone stared at him with their mouths agape, expressions of disbelief on their faces.

"What... what did you say?" It was hard to accept that the idol everyone admired and talked about, Wind God, was actually her own student, a classmate who had been quiet and unremarkable since the beginning of the school year.

"Teacher Chen, I'm truly sorry." Thinking she hadn't heard clearly, Zhuifeng gathered his courage and repeated, "If it weren't for Teacher Cheng and the others trying to buy me time, Teacher Cheng wouldn't have... But I hope you can let me off the hook tonight. After that, you can do whatever you want with me. Is that okay?"

"Zhui... feng..."

Before he could turn around or react, a sharp pain shot through his stomach. "Ugh..." With a groan, he collapsed to the ground.

Cheng He looked at the sweating Zhuifeng with a hint of regret. For days, he had heard his father constantly mentioning 'Wind God,' and somehow, despite knowing nothing about cars, he had come to idolize him too. But today, his father had fallen off a cliff because of this very idol. And now, this Wind God turned out to be his unremarkable classmate. Cheng He felt he had to punch him, though he wasn't sure if it was to avenge his father or because his image of his idol had been shattered.

"He'er, what are you doing?" Seeing her usually well-behaved son suddenly hit someone, Chen Rong was horrified. Despite her weakness, she rushed over to help Zhuifeng up. "Child, are you in a lot of pain?"

"It's... it's nothing," Zhuifeng smiled weakly. "Teacher Chen, do you agree to my request?"

Chen Rong hadn't expected him to still be fixated on this. She sighed, "Well... what do you want to do?"

"I want to avenge Teacher Cheng!" Zhuifeng said through gritted teeth, his fists clenched tight.

"Child..." Hearing her husband mentioned, Chen Rong's tears started flowing again. "Child, if he could hear you say that, his spirit would surely rest in peace. But you don't have to do this. None of this is really your fault. Don't be so stubborn..."

Hearing Chen Rong say this only strengthened Zhuifeng's resolve. "Teacher Chen, don't you remember I was going to race anyway?"

"But you..."

"Zhuifeng, I've brought your computer," Yang Jun interrupted.

"Thanks." Zhuifeng took the computer and immediately began searching for information.

Yang Jun found the situation strange. Why was everyone staring at Zhuifeng as if he were an alien? He looked the same as always. "Uh... what's going on?"

"Shh, don't disturb Wind God while he's researching."

"What? Zhuifeng is Wind God?" Yang Jun's expression quickly matched everyone else's – utterly dumbfounded. Wow, Wind God had just asked him for help. What an honor, even if it was just to fetch a computer.

"Damn it, pretending to be weak to catch us off guard!" Zhuifeng cursed as he looked at the information he found.

Everyone was startled. "What's wrong, Wind God?"

"Koizumi Junichiro, I won't let you get away with this! I said earlier he was a novice because he always started slower than us. I thought he was just slow to react to the starting signal. But how could the runner-up in Japan's zero-four racing scene be like that? Damn him!"

"But why would he do that?" Yang Jun still didn't understand.

"It's because he wanted to humiliate us, humiliate our racers. It's called contempt. What does it matter if he lets us lead at first? We still can't beat him in the end." Chen Rong said calmly. "But Feng, please don't take it out on him. It's not worth dying alongside someone like that over this kind of thing."

"Teacher Chen..." Zhuifeng's eyes moistened. He had indeed been thinking of pushing Koizumi off at the same spot where Teacher Cheng had fallen, even if it meant spending the rest of his life in prison. Of course, this was just a thought. In reality, given Zhuifeng's background, no one would dare imprison him unless he committed an unforgivable crime. Zhuifeng just didn't realize this yet.