F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 10 I am the villain in the story, burdened only with hatred, not by any constraints.
He was inexplicably yelled at by someone he didn't know, and missed his first chance to talk back. Even Shu Long himself would feel that shouting again would be beneath him.

But it's different on the track. Once Gao Yang and Li Zixu's usefulness has been completely exhausted, Shu Long is willing to take some risks and forcefully overtake them in this almost humiliating way!

Unfortunately, neither Gao Yang nor Li Zixu demonstrated many defensive skills to Shu Long. They mostly relied on brute force, saying "If I'm not good, neither are you." They held their positions, but then what?
In a real race, there aren't only three cars on the field like there are now. If you sacrifice your line and speed to defend against someone, what will you do about those who are watching from behind?

Shu Long himself wasn't quite sure either; it involved a lot of strategic thinking, and it was too early for him to figure out, as he was currently just a ruthless lap-running machine.

Of course, there's not much point in Shulong paying attention to the cars that have been left behind.

As for convergent lap speed as Dad suggested?
Ha~ What race car driver would ever feel wronged on the track!

After successfully overtaking, Shu Long's driving style suddenly changed. In just three turns, he left Gao Yang behind him at a safe distance that could have been closed by braking on the straightaway.

The parents on the sidelines looked rather grim. Shu Xiong, who wasn't very good at dealing with strangers, seemed a little uneasy. But seeing his son rapidly widening the gap by more than half a second per lap, and even getting bigger and bigger, he felt a secret thrill.

Out of consideration for the other two clients, Han Li didn't go to Shu Xiong to whisper among himself.

He didn't follow up for just one day, and it felt like Shulong's driving skills had undergone a significant transformation.
Rainy day? Yes, rainy day!

Rainy days are no-go zones for most ordinary people when it comes to driving, but for a very small number of geniuses, once they get used to the nightmarish grip in wet conditions, they often experience a complete transformation in their driving skills.

To paraphrase a saying in the racing world, rain is the only true test of talent.

Seeing that the gap between the cars could not be closed in the remaining time, Coach Han simply stopped the race early.

There's no way around it; they're all clients. As a coach, he has to at least be fair to everyone on the surface, otherwise, his own performance will ultimately suffer.

However, Han Li kept his word and immediately fulfilled his previous promise by providing a brand new set of tires.

I think I'll probably never forget that insignificant victory from that day.

[This has nothing to do with seeing a defeated opponent crying and complaining to their parents, okay? Maybe it's somewhat related.]

The key issue is that, aside from Gao Yang's unappealing attitude, Li Zixu, who came to the track alone to practice, could only bitterly bear the consequences of his failures, sighing and stroking his badly worn tires.

I must admit that seeing this made me very uncomfortable. The disparity in external circumstances made this match unfair to him.

I don't know his exact talent, but given sufficient resources, he might have performed even better than Gao Yang, thus building his confidence instead of succumbing to reality and remaining unknown.

Before that, I always thought I had the protagonist's script. But at that moment, I felt more like a dark villain blocking others' path to achieving their dreams, enjoying the praise while inevitably bearing the corresponding disgust and even hatred.

But that's the reality. The world of racing is cruel; for every rise, there's a fall. The top table in the world can't accommodate more riders.

This world can never be fair to everyone. There will always be richer people above the rich, and more geniuses than geniuses. Even this thing in my mind—is it fair to others?

I don't think so.

Of course, the new Optimus Prime did make me happy for a while, but unlike the 'Autobot leader' who was torn to pieces by my classmates during the autumn outing, the tire Coach Han gave me that day is still safely kept on top of my bookshelf in my bedroom.

Like the grilled sausages I got after my daily ping-pong class, this was the first thing I truly earned through racing, instead of continuing to ask my parents for anything.

After that day, Shu Long was completely isolated by himself, and even if Coach Han wanted to, he couldn't find other training partners for Shu Long.

This completely deviates from Han Li's original intention as coach to have the kids compete in a match.

According to Han Li's original plan, shouldn't the script have been that Gao Yang and Li Zixu were impressed by the real speed, and then the three kids would obediently follow his arrangements and work together to help him stand up for himself in the monthly competition?
The scenes in TV dramas are definitely fake!
Fortunately, Shu Long has an advantage that no one else has: he has his father.

Although Shu Xiong's confidence was repeatedly crushed in various competitions, he was at least not lacking in driving experience and related theoretical knowledge. Thus, a father and son, who were chasing each other, appeared on the track in a very rare way.

Just before the start of the monthly competition, a brand new entry appeared on Shulong's panel without his knowledge.

[God's Eye: 28%]

The meaning of the term is unclear, and the conditions for its appearance are unknown, but judging from the words, it should be a skill-related term like "photographic memory," "friction control," and "language proficiency."

But ['I remember God isn't a foreign god?' Yes, I clearly remember thinking that back then, so now that entry has become—]

【Sharp Eyes】: Even at high speeds, it possesses an extremely clear and wide field of vision, instantly integrating surrounding information and movements (What? You don't expect this name to help you fight monsters, do you?).

After triggering and expanding the entries for so many days, Shu Long has finally figured out some patterns.

Aside from basic physical attribute entries, the appearance of these skill-like entries doesn't seem like simply granting him a unique talent. Rather, it's more like a state of being solidified by terms after continuous training in a certain direction.

These terms are not entirely isolated. For example, "language proficiency," "eagle eyes," and "photographic memory" can all represent improvements in thinking efficiency and reaction speed to some extent. However, while their focuses differ, their functions can also complement each other.

The foundation supporting these skill-related attributes is none other than the three basic physical attribute attributes that Shulong is gradually unlocking as his body develops and he trains.

The advantage is that, at least on top of Shulong's already decent talent, this stat panel gives it a higher and more stable ceiling. The disadvantage is, well, there isn't one. You can't expect this outsider to handle everything, from driving skills and track strategy, right? What's the point of having Shulong then? The system can just go and drive itself!

As the date of the monthly competition drew closer, Shu Long couldn't help but feel anxious.

It wasn't because of the two very skilled foreign players in the clubs that Coach Han mentioned, but because as the competition approached, Shu Long's summer vacation was also coming to an end, and he hadn't even touched a single word of his huge stack of Chinese, math, and English "Happy Summer Vacation" books!

I really don't know where these publishers get the audacity to put the word "happiness" before "summer vacation," making happiness completely unrelated to the concept of summer vacation.
-
"Don't be so distracted. After the race, we'll have dinner and then take a flight tonight. You'll have at least five days to catch up on your homework."

"You're so good at comforting people, I feel much better now!"

"Really?" Shu Xiong was about to add a few more words when Zhang Xin glared at him and shut him up.

Whether other parents urge their children to finish their summer homework for the sake of studying hard is another matter, but Shu Xiong is definitely one of those who are gloating. Who hasn't been tormented by cruel holiday garbage when they were a child? Watching his son suffer the same torment he suffered as a child is just too much to bear.

Zhang Xin took a slightly more tactful approach, pretending to scold both father and son for forgetting to bring their homework and being obsessed with driving every day. But who hasn't been a student before?

As the most educated person in the Shu family, Zhang Xin felt that this kind of perfunctory learning, where most people just frantically copy answers in the last few days of the holiday, had little practical value other than dealing with the teacher's checks.

For this family of three, the gains from this trip were far more important than the holiday homework. At least the couple had reached a basic consensus on the direction of their child's future development.

As for the final result of today's competition? I can only say that I did my best and left it to fate.

There are also a few foreign students in the club. They are the little monsters that Coach Han mentioned, who started karting at the age of four or five. Although they are not considered very competitive geniuses in their respective countries, they are good enough to be the face of a club in China.

Han Li originally hoped that Shu Long would make a name for himself and bring him great honor, but Shu Xiong, who already had a basic understanding of his son's talent, felt that instead of competing for a useless first place, it would be better to seize this opportunity to hone Shu Long's racing skills.

As a result, Shu Long didn't even participate in yesterday's qualifying race, and today he can only start from the back row. How many positions he can get depends on luck.

The monthly race at the end of summer was more lively than expected. Most members who usually only come to the track once a week choose to use up the race attempts they received as a bonus when they recharge.

The usually empty starting grid was filled with more than twenty go-karts today, which shows that the skill levels were bound to be uneven. However, the large number of novices also meant that the track would be far more chaotic and crowded than expected. It was both easy and difficult for Shulong to overtake the front row.

Since there were several other competitions to come, the club didn't delay. Seeing that all the participating children had arrived, they simply started the warm-up tire exercise 15 minutes early.

Shu Long followed at the back of the queue at a leisurely pace. He anticipated that there might be a large-scale collision and chaos in the car formation ahead during the start phase, and he could easily filter out a large number of "roadblocks" by seizing the gaps in the gaps.

These past few days, he's been practicing offensive and defensive transitions on the track with Shu Xiong. His progress on the "Eagle Eyes" skill has reached about halfway, and he's really looking forward to this competition.

As Louis and Hideyasu Tange, who had secured an undisputed lead at the start yesterday, crossed the yellow line, the referees on the sidelines began waving green flags, and the cars behind them simultaneously increased their throttle output.

The expected accident did not occur, but Shu Long, who had been keeping a close eye on the car formation, passed the car in front of him as soon as he started moving. It was unclear whether the car in front of him was in a daze or had an engine problem. At Turn 1, he relied on extremely strong and domineering late braking to force his way into the inside line, passing six cars in one go and rising to 12th place.

terribly sorry.

But the main race is only 20 laps, and Shu Long simply doesn't have the patience to drive politely and courteously with these opponents who have no value in competing with him. It would be a complete waste of time.

Soon, the parents watching the race noticed a reckless young man who seemed to be moving through the traffic like a whirlwind, as if there was no place on the track that wasn't an overtaking spot for him, and he managed to make his opponents look foolish at every turn.

"Whose child is that? This is too dangerous!"

"Exactly! Look at that! He almost pushed my child onto the grass!"

The audience was gradually drowned out by shouts of condemnation, simply because they had seen their own child being taken down in the blink of an eye without any chance to fight back. Unwilling to admit that they were outmatched, they could only turn their anger towards Shu Long on the field.

Shu Xiong and Zhang Xin huddled in a corner of the stands like two quails, not daring to voice their support or refute. Putting themselves in the parents' shoes, they felt they wouldn't perform much better than them.

Weak, pitiful and helpless.

It feels good, but I'm afraid of getting beaten up.

The gap is simply too large. After only a month and a half of learning, a despairing chasm has already formed between Shulong and the fruits and vegetables on the field.

If Shu Long's original driving style, which was focused on setting lap records, was somewhat unassuming, then now, with each overtaking maneuver, his race car has unknowingly acquired a highly aggressive, domineering, and decisive quality, along with a hint of disdain.

Was it against the rules? Actually, no.

Strictly speaking, Shu Long actually left his opponents with ample track space, but the narrow passage, which was only about the width of one car, coupled with Shu Long's terrifying "I'll beat you if you don't give way" attitude, made it really hard for the young drivers, whose average age was not very high, not to feel fear from the bottom of their hearts towards this madman.

Among them were Gao Yang and Li Zixu, who had already witnessed this scene before. Even though they were determined to make that loser look bad in this race, Shu Long was so nonchalant when he passed them that he didn't even recognize these two former opponents on the track.

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　　Niche themes are not easy to come by; young seedlings need nurturing. Thank you for your support!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)