F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 56: The Substitute Mercenary Shu Long Goes Online (4K)

When your life suddenly becomes much better, don't get too cocky; it might just be that someone is carrying the burden for you.

Unlike Ricciardo's disappointing exit at the end of Q2, Toro Rosso, who had been tormented all year, relied on Honda's engine upgrade at the end of the season to make it into Q3 with two cars, and even started from 6th and 7th place respectively.

Ricardo will be investing in Renault next year, one 13 and one 16.

The differences and comparisons between the two sides seem to have, to some extent, predicted the outcome of Da Ya's choice this time.

Fortunately, there was our thoughtful Prancing Horse Circus on the field. Their amazing performance in qualifying made Ricardo seem less tragic.

Have you ever seen a team where others are still using dry tires to set lap times, but someone else is entering the track on two cars with half-wet tires?

While the track was still dry, the two cars used rain tires, which delayed their progress by at least two laps. By the time they changed to dry tires and warmed them up again, the track was already as wet as ice skating.

Vettel, who already frequently struggled to control the rear of his car, made a series of mistakes, spinning on two consecutive push laps and ultimately finishing only ninth.

If it weren't for Kimi's incredible performance on the wetlands, where he miraculously finished fourth, the heartbroken fans of the Iron Buddha Temple might have had to consider wearing a different color outfit the next time they came to the race.

Hamilton ultimately secured pole position with a lap time of 1 minute 27.760 seconds, stealing all the limelight from Shu Long in the previous two days. Red Bull's Verstappen also qualified for third place on the grid after readjusting to the car's characteristics.

The only thing that bothered Max was that, until the last lap of Q3, he hadn't managed a faster lap time than the one he achieved on the first day of his purple run in Shulong.

Even if the weather played a role, it was not an excuse he felt he could use to defend himself. Otherwise, why would both Mercedes cars be running faster than they had the previous two days?

Fortunately, the results of the subsequent main competition were good.

Verstappen started third and finished third, securing a podium finish after a close battle with Ferrari's Kimi and Vettel.

Max was primarily responsible for the two collisions. After going off the track, he also forced Kimi, who was on the right track, off the track during the return process, directly destroying Kimi's left front wing, thus incurring a five-second penalty.

Seeing his teammate, the veteran Lay, being wronged, Red Bull's former crown prince, Vettel, immediately decided to teach the Red Bull junior a lesson, using a very Red Bull-style hard drive into the paint to directly tackle Verstappen, who was on the normal route, and send him flying.

As it turned out, Max's car in this race seemed to be made of vibranium. Not only was he undamaged, but he also destroyed Vettel's right front wing and part of the floor.

In the end, Vettel dropped directly to nineteenth place, while Verstappen left unscathed and gracefully, fully demonstrating his Ferrari killer instinct, which had been evident since the 17 Singapore Grand Prix.

Ricciardo also shook off his earlier slump in the main race, starting from fifteenth and eventually overtaking others to finish in fourth place.

In some ways, Ricardo's two biggest obstacles in this competition were actually eliminated by Verstappen.

Of course, none of this has much to do with Shu Long anymore. All his tasks were completed after the first practice session ended, and now there are other things waiting for him to worry about.

First, there's the familiar pressure from Marco.

I thought my performance on the first day would be enough to give my ears some peace and quiet for two days, but I never expected that old man Marco would be so annoyed by old man Piquet that he would decisively shift the focus of the conflict to Shulong.

Kvyat was originally a piece of junk that Marco had personally eliminated, and unlike Albon, he didn't have the strong support of Thai beef. No matter what, Marco couldn't bring himself to drink this dregs of oil.

Therefore, he is quite determined to keep Shu Long's place. In fact, in order to shut Piquet up, Marko now feels that he has no patience to wait until next year and is preparing to find a race this year to have Shu Long play a substitute race.

The specific station to choose needs to be discussed in a team meeting.

As for the other matter, it's somewhat taboo, but the level of annoyance it causes is no less than the pressure Marco puts on him.

Having been interrupted by Ricardo in the bathroom earlier, Shu Long's carefully prepared emotions were disrupted, and he still hadn't figured out how to reply to Gan Mengning by the start of the main competition the next day.

The day before yesterday, I was typing half a message when my parents interrupted me. I finished the rest in the bathroom, but then I felt that I had missed the best time to send it and it seemed a bit strange.

Furthermore, Ricardo ruthlessly exposed his innermost feelings, and now even he himself is finding it difficult to face himself.

He hesitated and kept making changes, but never had the courage to press send. Even now, his status on Gan Mengning's end is still "The other party is typing."

It's all because of those two rows of big white teeth! They're ruining our morale!

However, while Shu Long was panicking, Gan Mengning was even more panicked.

The last sentence she left on the chat interface didn't sound like something to make anyone happy. Even though it was a joke, it was like pouring cold water on someone who was getting excited.

Put yourself in her shoes: what if she told Shu Long that she could voice a game character, and he just gave her a curt "That's it?"

Just thinking about it makes me realize that the pillow on the bed is going to get punched at least ten times!

He shouldn't be that stingy, right?

Gan Mengning, who had just come to her senses, wanted to explain on the spot, but just then He Xuanyi finished watching the videos about Shulong and, seeing the time, dragged Gan Mengning away, insisting on leaving.

The video edited by the UP (uploader) named "Old Man Who Met a Friend in the Mountains" is really addictive. In the past two days, under the bombardment of news about the training in Shulong, the number of views has soared from less than 80,000 to more than 700,000.

Of course, Amway's products are very effective, but that doesn't stop He Xuanyi from sticking to their grain-buying plan. They can talk about anything on the way.

This is just great.

They had bought anime merchandise, but the two young girls ended up talking about some Mr. Racer who had absolutely nothing to do with them the whole way. It wasn't until the evening, when their conversation finally cooled down a bit, that Gan Mengning realized that she had been ignoring the central figure in their conversation for quite some time on the other end of the phone.

"Cough cough!"

"what?"

The other party replied almost instantly, which made Gan Mengning's tense heart relax a little.

But how should I reply afterwards?
Should we just admit our mistake?

No, no! I feel too embarrassed to admit it!

How about saying a few sweet words and praising me a little?

Ugh~ Am I really that sentimental? Just thinking about that scene gives me goosebumps! After much thought, Gan Mengning finally came up with a compromise: she sent over a screenshot of Shu Long being ranked first on the lap time leaderboard this morning, along with a thumbs-up emoji.

Shu Long was a little slow to reply this time, mainly because he was still upset about the long message in the chat that had been deleted earlier in order to reply with "What?".

Why didn't you think to copy it first? He painstakingly revised several versions over and over again!
Upon seeing the screenshot sent from the other side, Shu Long immediately felt a bit irritated.

What do you mean? You've offended someone and only now you're trying to make amends? Where were you before?
But looking at the timestamp in the top left corner of the screenshot, this girl clearly watched the live stream right then and there. Was she just deliberately trying to annoy me?!

Before Shu Long could figure out how to reply, the other end sent a series of photos, all of them cartoon standees and keychains, with two figurines that didn't look cheap mixed in.

"I just bought these the other day. Here's a reward for you to pick one out. It'll be a present for your good behavior today."

"Only one? So stingy!"

"Wow! These are all my favorite things, and you still say I'm stingy! You've never given me anything!"

"How about I give you a tire later? They cost tens of thousands, am I generous?"

"Get lost! Hurry up, or I'll change my mind."

Shu Long chuckled to himself as he watched the screen, until Elena, who had been reminding him for a while but hadn't responded, slapped him on the back. Only then did the big boy, whose forehead was practically bubbling with pink bubbles, remember that he was wearing a neck and shoulder strength resistance training cap.

"I'm really impressed with you. Who were you chatting with so engrossed in that you didn't even notice that I've increased my weight to 70?"

"Oh, it's nothing, it's time to switch sides, right?"

As if he hadn't heard a word his strength and conditioning coach had said, Shu Long casually relaxed his neck, letting the weight attached to the rope fall gently. He turned around without changing his expression, raised his head, and lifted the seventy-kilogram weight with his neck.

Elena rolled her eyes. Even if she couldn't understand the Chinese on the screen, she could guess with her toes that the person on the other end must have a close relationship with this kid.

Who hasn't been through it all?

Human civilization has developed into a diverse world, but emotional resonance remains universal. Just as good music transcends nationality, sincere and passionate emotions are always the most touching.

But it has to be said that this kid's physique is truly abnormal. Whether there are any faster drivers within Red Bull is another matter, but at least in terms of physical fitness, he is absolutely superior to everyone else.

Like the F1 drivers within Red Bull, each of their necks can withstand peak forces exceeding 80 kilograms for a short period of time.

Note that this is only for a short period of time.

On the other hand, the maximum weight on the equipment for training the neck in Shulong is only 80 pounds. It's not easy to find such professional equipment everywhere when the team is competing. Usually, Elena would ask her husband, who works in the fitness industry and is very muscular, to help Shulong with his daily training.

However, a burly man over 1.8 meters tall couldn't win a tug-of-war using a rope and a rope around the dragon's neck! Can you believe it?

Although I don't know the person on the other side of the screen, that doesn't stop Aunt Elena and Sister Elena from expressing their sincerest sympathy to you first.

And envy.

Shu Long was completely absorbed in the pictures Gan Mengning had sent him, licking his canine teeth as he slowly flipped through them. It felt like a balloon was slowly being inflated in his chest, making him feel a little lightheaded.

"Then I want that Rei Ayanami; this school swimsuit looks pretty good."

"What Rei Ayanami?"

Gan Mengning glanced at the small pile of things in front of her with some confusion. She didn't remember buying any EVA merchandise today. The only other figurine she had was a chuunibyou girl named Rikka, and the other one was a Dragon Ball figurine she had specially picked out for Shu Long—a Super Saiyan 3 Goku charging up his Kamehameha.

To be honest, Gan Mengning didn't really know what Shu Long liked, but she vaguely remembered that Shu Long's schoolbag when he was a child seemed to have a lot of Dragon Ball stickers on it.

I went through the pictures I had just posted again, and after searching for a while, I finally found that slightly risqué, eccentric girl in the corner.

"Oh, that won't do!"

Her little face turned bright red as she tried in vain to recall the pictures, only to find that the time limit had already expired.

Someone casually clicked on the item and selected the one that looked the most expensive among the items.

It wasn't that Gan Mengning put it on the desk for Shu Long to choose; it was just placed in the figurine cabinet in the background of the photo, but it accidentally appeared in the shot and was then found by Shu Long.

Actually, it's not just Rei Ayanami in a school swimsuit; this whole cabinet is almost entirely filled with anime character figurines posing provocatively, in swimsuits, bunny girls, and all dressed more revealingly than the last.

Gan Mengning, who looks like a typical beautiful girl, actually has the same hobby as Shu Long.

Compared to handsome men and pretty boys, she also likes beautiful girls in anime and games. Although she doesn't go to anime conventions to cosplay because of social anxiety and embarrassment, she has secretly collected a lot of cosplay outfits of her favorite characters in her closet.

And what's with this "school swimsuit" thing? This guy is totally a pervert!

[You can't call others perverts if you're a pervert! Otherwise, explain what's going on with this cabinet?]

She had no intention of letting anyone else know in the first place, and now that Shu Long had said that, she was even less likely to let him know. What would happen if he found out?

"No, absolutely not! I'm afraid you might do something strange to her! Find someone else, or you'll miss your chance."

"Then let's go with Son Goku. I didn't know you liked watching Dragon Ball."

What he wanted didn't really matter. Shu Long mainly found it interesting to tease this little girl. He had never interacted with any girl his age in this way before, and the dopamine made him feel particularly excited about it.

Why are you doing such strange things? Fake stuff never smells as good as real stuff.
Shulong's peaceful days didn't last long, and the team's final decision, made through a meeting, was finally made.

After two races, he will replace Brandon Hartley in the entire Grand Prix in Brazil.

Even the press release explaining this to the public has been prepared, stating that Hartley will experience a sudden physical discomfort before the race, and will be replaced by Shu Long, who has just become a Red Bull reserve driver.

(End of this chapter)