Chapter 85: Trial Run
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
The Moonlit Bay Race Circuit by the sea was around one hundred eighty miles away from the training camp. This was a popular holiday destination on Hek, and there would be a large throng of tourists staying there to sightsee every year. Whether they were there looking for a night of pa.s.sion or wanted to lie on the beach and bask in the sun, anything could be sought and satisfied here.
The race track was split into three levels, covering a wide area of eight hundred fifty miles. It was a circuit of first-cla.s.s standards in the star region, like a majestic dragon that occupied the s.p.a.ce between the beach and the sea.
The race would begin tomorrow, and today was for the motor teams to test their hovercars. Xia Fei and the rest of his motor team made their way along the path of the race track.
Xia Fei was deeply shocked the first time he had laid eyes on this extreme race track.
The widest part of this concrete-paved track was over a hundred meters, while the narrowest was no more than thirty meters. Criss-crossing vertically and horizontally and interweaving like a huge spider web, he was truly amazed at how ma.s.sive the constructed race track was.
Xia Fei located his red hovercar from the logistics area. In order to prevent people from cheating, the transportation of the racing hovercars had all been done by the training camp personnel sans the involvement of the various motor teams.
This fiery-red hovercar was spindle-shaped, looking like a sharp sword from afar. The body itself was thin, with its head being pointed. The number ’99’ was printed on either side of the car.
Xia Fei went over and opened the hood to check its mechanical wiring for anything out of order before he put on his equipment and entered the c.o.c.kpit.
The c.o.c.kpit of this hovercar was similar to that of a fighter jet; it was really cramped inside, only able to fit in a single occupant, and the dashboard was crammed full of b.u.t.tons and dials.
Xia Fei gestured at Chen Dong and the others then pressed a b.u.t.ton and activated the ion thrusters, which provided the vehicle with powerful propulsion.
A deafening roar sounded, then something metallic filled the air. The people nearby hurriedly covered their ears.
“Why is that hovercar making such a loud noise? It nearly burst my eardrums.”
“Did it not have any sound deadening parts?”
The other motor teams were all complaining about the racket this racing hovercar 99 was making; in fact, Xia Fei did install a sound deadening device, but because he wanted to save s.p.a.ce for other parts, he decreased its size by half, which greatly reduced its effect.
Steering the hovercar into the departure grid, a race track staff member came over to Xia Fei’s side and said, “You have a total of three trial laps. We’ll be using your fastest lap as your final placing result; understood?”
Xia Fei nodded, and that worker guided him to the departure sequence.
As this was just a test run, not all of the three hundred plus racing hovercars would be starting at the same time; instead, the staff let one go at it every fifteen seconds.
Xia Fei lightly touched the controller and the hovercar went barreling past the grid, leaving a long trail of flames from its ion thrusters.
The roar of the engine filled the ears of everyone nearby. The surrounding scenery was very quickly left behind as Xia Fei’s vision narrowed to just what was in front of him, going ever on forward. Though there was no one on the viewing platform, without any fresh flowers being tossed out by the cheering crowd, Xia Fei could still feel his blood pumping from the adrenaline.
This sort of extreme speed gave him indescribable exhilaration. It was like a person who traveled by bus every day suddenly riding a motorbike and feeling the wind whipping past their face. Though both vehicles served the same purpose, the pleasure they brought was simply incomparable.
Xia Fei intentionally suppressed the thrill he was feeling inside him, then used a speed that was roughly clearing 1000m/s to move forward. The first thing he would do was find the feel for this race, familiarize himself with every turn in the track, and note even the tiniest crack on the ground.
Xia Fei tapped on a microcomputer to activate its record function even as he observed and took note of every detail around him while he continued along the track. A racing hovercar sped past Xia Fei, leaving him behind, but he did not even spare a moment of attention to these people attempting to show off and just executed what he had planned while maintaining a decent speed on the course.
Xia Fei believed that showing off at this time, demonstrating just how exceptional their driving skills were, was meaningless. Real strength ought to be saved and only unleashed during the race.
“How is Xia Fei driving so slowly that a dozen cars can easily pa.s.s him?” Moon Song pursed her lips in dissatisfaction.
Chen Dong pointed to the red racing hovercar and asked, “What are you being anxious for? Xia Fei’s there charting his path. He’ll surely pick up his speed come the second lap.”
Soon, Xia Fei was on the third level of the race track. The first and second levels of the track were around two hundred fifty miles, while the third level was about three hundred fifty long. The third level of the track was the longest stretch, and it was also the toughest.
It was a series of S-bends called the Star Region’s First Devil’s Bend.
S-bends were also called hairpin turns, and it was already fine for most race tracks to have a few hairpin turns, but Moonlit Bay’s third level actually had one hundred twenty-eight consecutive bends—hence, the name Demonic 128.
Almost every half a mile had a hairpin turn, and the consecutive turning was not only a test to a racing hovercar overall performance but also a test of a racer’s stability and adaptability.
After all, such consecutive bends would require a high-level of attentiveness, pus.h.i.+ng both the driver and the hovercar to their extremes. As long as they were a little careless, even just the slightest loss of control could result in a disastrous wreck. After all, this was no normal race but an extreme one, which could reach the speeds of over 3000m/s.
It was simply depraved to design an extreme race track with one hundred twenty-eight hairpin turns.
Xia Fei lowered the speed of his hovercar and very calmly cleared the one hundred twenty-eight hairpin turns, getting through a long gangway before returning to the first level, ready to start his second test run.
Chen Dong, Moon Song, Beihai, and Manjun were waiting excitedly, for they all believed that Xia Fei’s first lap had only been to get used to the route. He ought to shoot up through the ranks with this second lap, right?
Just as they expected, Xia Fei did indeed speed up, but he did not increase his speed by much. Now going at about 1500m/s, he could be said to be going at half speed, and it was still quite a distance away from the limit an extreme racing hovercar could reach.
Moon Song pulled out a cuc.u.mber, took a vicious bite at it, and glared at Chen Dong. “Didn’t you say that Xia Fei would surely increase his speed on the second lap?”
Chen Dong was helpless. “How would I know? Perhaps he hasn’t familiarized himself enough with the track?”
Bai Ye’s racing hovercar 201 zipped past Xia Fei, and when he did, he suddenly did an emergency break just ahead of Xia Fei’s hovercar, then Bai Ye waited for the latter to go past him before starting his engine again and driving past the other once more.
This was simply a naked provocation, but Xia Fei continued to drive at that constant speed, completely ignoring that white racing hovercar.
Moon Song could not rein in her anger, and she grabbed a communicator to yell at Xia Fei directly. “Mister Xia, I order you to overtake Bai Ye’s car. Leave that b.a.s.t.a.r.d in the dust, or I will not be done with you when you get back!”
Very quickly, Xia Fei gave his simple reply to her.
When the communicator’s red light lit up, Xia Fei immediately turned it off, not even giving Moon Song a chance to complain.
Moon Song’s expression became really ugly, and she started hurling expletives at Xia Fei on the display screen.
Everybody could not understand why Moon Song seemed to dislike Bai Ye to the point where just seeing him was enough to rile her up endlessly.
When Bai Ye saw that Xia Fei had no intention of accepting his challenge, he raced off down the track, holding in his delight inside. ‘They say Xia Fei’s a madman, but I don’t see it. He doesn’t even dare to take me on despite me throwing down the gauntlet.’
Beihai pulled out the rankings for the test runs from another console. Presently, it was the racing hovercar 63 driven by Nie Wei, someone from the mechatronics division, that ranked first. His fastest lap split was eight minutes two seconds, with an average speed of almost 3000m/s.
The second and third ranks were racing hovercars 21 and 194, also from the mechatronics division, with both finis.h.i.+ng their laps under eight minutes thirty seconds.
Racing hovercar 33 from the vanguard division had shocked everyone by taking twenty-first place with only an eight minutes fifty-seven seconds split.
As for Xia Fei’s racing hovercar 99, he had very tragically come in last, more than three minutes over that of the next in rank.
Everyone was unimpressed. The pole position was very important, and being in the front meant that they could lead the pack, quickly pulling ahead from the majority. It was an opportunity that the racing hovercars behind would not get.
That was when a deafening engine roar could be heard from the starting grid, which was even louder than Xia Fei’s racing hovercar 99.
Everyone looked over and saw a black racing hovercar revving up with reckless abandon, ready to charge down the race track at any time.
“Racing hovercar 0 belongs to the Twin Dragon motor team,” mumbled Manjun, recognizing that racing hovercar at a glance.
The said hovercar was not using a stock body configuration; instead, it was using an exaggerated, double-streamlined body configuration. Just hearing that engine roar, and he could tell that the hovercar had undergone an even greater degree of modification than what Xia Fei had done.
The racing hovercar burst through the starting line and disappeared without a trace at a speed, which left everyone tongue-tied.
Beihai swallowed his saliva as he marveled, “They sure do live up to the name as the top motor team in Endaro Star Region; that’s what I call speed.”
Chen Dong nodded. “Their hovercar doesn’t have the stock configuration but one used for Grand Prix motor racing, instead, so it’s only natural for it to be much faster than the average extreme racing automotives.”
Moon Song slammed her two fists on Beihai and Chen Dong’s backs. “You two aren’t allowed to let your enemies’ ambitions extinguish our team’s prestige. We will definitely win this race.”
Though what Moon Song had said sounded nice and encouraging, the reality was that Xia Fei was still going along the track at an agonizingly slow speed as if he was taking his hovercar out for a leisure spin.
Xia Fei made it through the one hundred twenty-eight hairpin turns and was on his way through to the first level.
Shaking his head, he relaxed the muscles in his body as Xia Fei prepared to begin his sprint through the starting grid.
There was a yellow horizontal line in front. Crossing it would signify the start of his third lap.
Xia Fei pressed the pedal to metal and his red racing hovercar shot ahead with a roar.
1800m/s
2100m/s
2400m/s
2700m/s
3000m/s
In just 1.21 seconds, his speed abruptly surged from 1500 to 3000m/s!
After Xia Fei’s modification of this racing automotive, its acceleration was many times faster than the average extreme racing hovercar.
“Xia Fei is finally rus.h.i.+ng through the rankings.” Moon Song happily jumped to her feet, her eyes fixed on the screen. She became more excited as the hovercar steadily picked up speed.
“Oh, my heavens! 3400m/s, quickly look! That racing hovercar 99 has achieved a speed of 3400m/s at once,” shouted a member of another motor team.
“Racing hovercar 0 has already achieved a speed of 3900m/s. Could it be attempting to break the 4000m/s threshold?” Almost at the same time, another short-haired man exclaimed.
Everyone quickly adjusted their frequency to Twin Dragon’s racing hovercar 0 as if Xia Fei’s hovercar going at a speed of 3400m/s was very unremarkable.
Moon Song coldly harrumphed. She focused on cheering for Xia Fei, while Chen Dong, Beihai, and Manjun were also beside themselves with excitement.
After all, they had been keeping their emotions bottled up for quite some time already. They had long wished to see Xia Fei go all out and run a lap properly.
…
After a short time, Xia Fei drove his red racing hovercar 99 back to the logistics area. In the end, he came in fourth for the test run, behind Twin Dragon’s 0, Nie Wei’s 73, and Bai Ye’s 201.
Moon Song was evidently unhappy with this result, pouting as she asked, “Mister Xia, why couldn’t you even outspeed that b.a.s.t.a.r.d? How humiliating.”
Xia Fei got out of the c.o.c.kpit and furrowed his brows. “This is but the trial run. What’s the point of going all out just for a moment of glory?”
Chen Dong agreed with Xia Fei’s a.s.sessment. He came over with a gla.s.s of juice and used his two fingers to form a few ice cubes with his Ice Special Ability, tossed them into the gla.s.s thereafter.
He handed the gla.s.s to Xia Fei as he gave his two cents. “I support you; going too hard during the trial run isn’t good. Those with actual strength are sure to save it for the actual race.”
Xia Fei took a few gulps of the juice and flashed them all a very somber expression. “Chen Dong, cool the engine down immediately; I need to do another round of adjustment to the systems.”
“Roger that.” Chen Don nodded, opening the hood and reaching out with one hand inside. Soon, a cold white fog enveloped the engine, and the slightly red engine sh.e.l.l hissed, its temperature dropping rapidly.
Moon Song was fl.u.s.tered, asking, “What’s the matter? Did something go wrong?”
Xia Fei nodded. “The one hundred twenty-eight consecutive turns on the third level are a bit of a problem. The wind might become turbulent when I am around those turns and bends, so I need to make the necessary adjustments to the stabilizers for that.
“About seventy meters of the track on the second level has recently been repaired, creating a roughly 0.1-centimeter difference from the rest of the track. Furthermore, the standard of the track there isn’t too great, so I’ll have to modify the hovercar’s suspension accordingly…”
Xia Fei listed off several details that most would not notice, and his four teammates were all dumbfounded. None of them expected for Xia Fei’s understanding of the race track to reach a degree of precision where even a 0.1-centimeter difference or the interference of wind movement would be given due consideration.
After all, a hovercar would not be rolling along the track but would be floating in the air, instead, so even the slightest discrepancy in the ground’s condition would cause a hovercar to shake a little.
There was no need to mention the wind turbulence here, either; a racing hovercar was designed to travel at high speeds, so it could of course withstand a bit of wind.
Moon Song placed one hand on Xia Fei’s shoulder and flashed him a thumbs-up with the other. “Bro, you’re really something else. To actually notice a 0.1-centimeter difference inside your c.o.c.kpit.”
Xia Fei lit a cigarette and did not respond.
After a moment of thought, he pulled out a pair of small universal modification pliers from his toolbox and slid up to the side of the car; his hands moved swiftly as he began to make the necessary adjustments.