Chapter 417: Devil’s Corner
“Oh, wow, the compet.i.tion between Queen and Wolf King is way too intense. Look at those two supercars—well, the Maserati is still leading right now, but the Porsche is following closely behind it, trying to put it under pressure. Look at them go, they are streaking through the track at high speed, just like two phantoms in the middle of the night. These two drivers are showcasing the best of Wild Wolf Mountain racing— what a race! And, don’t forget that on one side is the cliff, and the other side is a mountain wall. This is incredibly thrilling, and every minute, every second of it keeps you on edge!”
The commentator, a tall and skinny young man, spoke with pa.s.sion, and he had an intimate knowledge of the circuit. His high-pitched voice was amplified through the speakers, and it echoed across the Wild Wolf Mountain valley. And on a silent night such as this, the sound traveled far and wide.
“Do your best, Queen, keep this lead till the very end!”
“Do your best, Wolf King, defeat Queen tonight and conquer the queen, haha, haha…”
At the foot of the mountain and in the online forum, fans of Shen Qingyan and Lei s.h.i.+jian were cheering them on.
Everyone had already forgotten about the Trumpchi, the third compet.i.tor in this race, for it was nowhere to be seen.
Even the video team did not take the trouble to get a single shot of the Trumpchi from the start. As far as they were concerned, a car that was trailing behind by several hundreds of meters was not worth recording. Giving it screen time would not change its fate in any way, so they focused all their attention on the exciting head-to-head between Queen and Wolf King.
VROOM~
The red Maserati streaked along the Wild Wolf Mountain’s winding roads like a red flash; its low cha.s.sis meant that it had extremely strong traction and hugged on to the road as it surged forward at top speed. Lei s.h.i.+jian’s Porsche refused to give up, and he stayed close, keeping the pressure on and waiting for the moment to s.n.a.t.c.h her lead. Barely a meter apart, the two supercars resembled two parts of the same serpent, as they snaked through the winding circuit at full speed.
Just as they were about to approach a sharp bend, the commentator got on the mic again. “We’re about to approach the Devil’s Corner of the Wild Wolf Mountain in just a bit! This is the nightmare of countless racers and has already claimed the lives of three of our racers. It really is the Devil’s Corner"” he screamed, “If Wolf King intends to overtake Queen, the Devil’s Corner will be the perfect opportunity to do so. But it will be extremely dangerous. Can Wolf King overcome his fear and overtake Queen? Let us wait and see!”
…
Lei s.h.i.+jian smirked as they came into the Devil’s Corner; this was the tenth corner he had been waiting for. “Queen, my baby, I’m coming for you!” he said, with a sly leer.
Then, he immediately turned his steering wheel sharply, and the Porsche swung from the outer into the inner lane. The usual approach going into such a tight turn would be to keep to the outer lane working with the oversteer, and this line provided for better drift control due to the centripetal force.
“What is he trying to do? Is he planning to take the inner lane and overtake me from there? He is courting death!”
Shen Qingyan checked on the Porsche behind her from the rear-view mirror, and she was perturbed by the risk he was taking. As a veteran racer, she understood that when taking the turn in this particular corner, one had to take the outer lane; otherwise, the car would lose traction, roll out of control, and fly off the cliff. A driver could avoid losing control only by slowing down, but that effectively negated the reason for taking the inside lane, to begin with, as precious seconds would then be added to make the corner. It was precisely for that reason that she had chosen to take the outer lane. Taking unnecessary risks just wasn’t her style at all.
“Perhaps he has other ways to prevent from rolling out of control,” Su Li said, looking paler than ever.
“Frankly, I couldn’t care less. Lei s.h.i.+jian can’t solely rely on this corner if he wants to defeat me.”
Shen Qingyan put aside her thoughts, and her mind went back to winning the race.
As the Maserati came screaming into Devil’s corner, she threw the car into a power slide, controlling the steering wheel in a sustained drift, and positioning its nose into the bend. The Maserati was a joy to watch and looked in total control as if it were sliding on ice. At that point, Lei s.h.i.+jian’s Porsche was trying to overtake from the inner lane, but due to the lack of centripetal force, the left wheels lifted off the ground, and the car was about to roll over.
Suddenly, the Porsche’s tailpipe emitted a blue-colored flame that looked just like a blast from a rocket, creating a strong torque on the Porsche that provided sufficient traction to keep the car stable through its inside drift.
Shen Qingyan was shocked, and she couldn’t believe that she had underestimated Lei s.h.i.+jian and allowed him to pa.s.s her. “That b*stard actually installed a nitrous oxide injection system for his car. No wonder he had the nerve to overtake me from the inner lane!” she cried.
The commentator saw the pa.s.s from the screen and shouted excitedly, “He’s done it! Wolf King has overtaken Queen with a hair-raising maneuver at the Devil’s Corner! Oh, my, this is way too awesome, simply crazy!”
“Do your best, Wolf King, you’re the best Wolf King!”
“Overtaking Queen from the inner lane and stabilizing the car using the NOX injection—it seems like Wolf King had been planning to overtake Queen at the devil’s corner right from the start.”
“Wolf King is well-prepared this time, it looks like the winner of this match is going to be no one else but him, hahaha…”
The audience at the foot of the mountain and online forum became excited and fired up as if they had just been injected with adrenalin.
As the Porsche was overtaking the Maserati, Lei s.h.i.+jian turned to Shen Qingyan and smile lewdly at her through the window. No matter how anyone looked at it, the smile was nothing less than creepy—like telling Shen Qingyan to be obedient and wait to be conquered tonight.
All of a sudden, a fierce din of screeching tires and tortured suspensions came from behind the two supercars…
When Lei s.h.i.+jian and Shen Qingyan looked through their rear mirrors, they were both shocked beyond words.
“What the h.e.l.l! Are my eyes playing tricks on me? Is that the… what is the Trumpchi doing here?” Lei s.h.i.+jian screamed.
Shen Qingyan was in absolute bewilderment because, in her mind, Xiao Luo’s Trumpchi had long been out of the race. How was it possible for him to still catch up? What was happening here?
Could it just have materialized out of thin air?
Shen Qingyan was bamboozled, and she simply couldn’t think of any other possibility.
Back at the foot of the mountain, the commentator was equally shocked and looked as if he had just seen a ghost in broad daylight. Quivering as he held on to his microphone, he screamed, “Oh… oh, my G.o.d! What did I just witness, is that… is that the Trumpchi?!! How… how did it catch up? It’s doing precisely what the Wolf King did, it’s drifting in the inner lane at the Devil’s Corner! But Wolf King had a NOx injection system, so did he install it as well? If not, how could he have the nerve to drift in the inner lane without decreasing his speed? That is equivalent to committing suicide!”
It wasn’t just the tall and skinny young commentator who was stunned; the entire crowd at the foot of the mountain and the fans following closely through the forum were all in a stupor. The Trumpchi that they all had given up on was now catching up like a ghost—it was plain eerie, and this almost seemed supernatural!
“How in the world did he manage to catch up?”
“No, it’s more like, how is it even possible for him to catch up!”
“Don’t tell me that Trumpchi is also a modified supercar? Perhaps, it’s only the sh.e.l.l of the Trumpchi on the outside, but underneath, it’s a suped-up race engine!”
“That’s not possible, just from the sound of the engine, you can tell that it’s a production car. And, besides, it had a very slow start, so there’s no way that it’s a modified car.”
“Then explain to me how in the h.e.l.l it can catch up with Wolf King and Queen?”
“Absurd, this is absolutely absurd!”
It was explosive! Everyone at the foot of the mountain and the fans who had been following through the forum was amazed. They were all trying to figure out what happened. How was it possible for the Trumpchi to catch up? Could it have received help from the spirits, and did the Devil’s Corner finally live up to its name?
…