The gluttonous little boy is four and a half years old, and even the wealthy family kneels down and

At the starting line of the track, ten sports cars were lined up in a row.

The loudspeaker began announcing the departure order, and Qiu was arranged to be fourth.

As he put on his helmet and sat in the driver's seat, he vaguely felt eyes glued to his back.

He glanced discreetly at the rearview mirror. In the corner of the repair area, a young technician wearing thin-rimmed glasses was looking in his direction. When their eyes met, the technician quickly lowered his head, pretending to be organizing his tools.

Ma Xiao, track maintenance technician.

He had been with the company for three and a half years and was not the person marked in red on his list.

Qiu An withdrew his gaze and started the engine. The instrument panel lit up, and all indicators were normal.

He rolled down the window, checked the tire pressure, then opened the door and bent down to inspect the undercarriage.

A staff member walked over and asked, "Brother Yun, do you need any help?"

Qiu An looked up and saw the young man who had been at the registration desk earlier.

"No need," he said, closing the car door. "I'll take a look myself."

He walked around the car, checking the tires, brake discs, exhaust pipe, and even squatted down to look under the car.

Everything seems normal.

However, his gaze paused for a moment when it swept over the connection point of the steering tie rod under the car.

There was a very fine wear mark there, not a new one, but an old mark left by repeated friction. Not fatal, but something was off.

Qiu An straightened up without making a sound.

He kept this detail in mind, then sat back in the driver's seat and fastened his seatbelt.

The starting flag was raised high.

Yun Ziang unconsciously held his breath in the stands.

The flag fell, and the engines roared.

Ten sports cars sped off the starting line, their exhaust pipes roaring and echoing across the track, mingling with the acrid smell of tires rubbing against the pavement, like a meticulously choreographed symphony.

—It wasn't until after two laps that some drivers started to realize something was wrong.

Qiu An gripped the steering wheel tightly, then loosened his grip.

The road surface had more gravel than usual, and the tires made a soft bouncing sound when they rolled over it as they went around the bends.

"Command post, vehicle number six reports: there are loose stones at the third bend and a slight road subsidence. We recommend slowing down before proceeding." It was Lin Tao's voice. He was a long-time member of the club, had been driving the Nanshan road for five years, and knew it so well he could drive it with his eyes closed.

The command center quickly replied: "Received, the patrol post has been notified. All vehicles should slow down and proceed with caution."

Qiu An slowed down and deliberately moved to the outside when approaching the third bend.

He keenly sensed something; out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the embankment and saw several small stones rolling down from the concrete gaps, hitting the edge of the track and bouncing off, as if squeezed out from the inside by some force.

The race announcement came over the walkie-talkie: "Inspector Duan Peng, please proceed to the third bend to check the condition of the slope."

After a burst of static, a lazy voice replied, "Received, will check it right away."

Qiu An had heard of this name before. Duan Peng, a track maintenance worker, had been with the company for five years.

On the fourth lap, Qiu An began to focus his attention on the traffic behind him, but he didn't know that right after he passed, a black SUV had stopped on the dirt slope outside the track.

The car wasn't on the race list, nor was it parked in the spectator parking area. It was just sitting there quietly, the engine off, with its front facing the track.

Some viewers glanced over there curiously, but no one went over or asked anything; they all assumed it was one of the staff's cars.

On the fifth lap, we entered a downhill section with continuous S-curves.

The vehicle's walkie-talkie suddenly crackled to life: "Car number four, your brake lights flashed once."

Qiu An immediately looked down at the dial; everything was normal.

He tried tapping the brakes.

Without warning, the steering wheel suddenly sank, as if an invisible hand was pressing down on the front wheels, and the entire front of the car veered towards the right guardrail.

The power steering was failing, the steering wheel felt like a rusty iron disc, and his arm muscles tensed to their limit instantly.

In the rearview mirror, car number five was accelerating closer.

Qiu An gritted his teeth, tapped the brakes with his right foot to slow down, and gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands, slowly turning the car back from the brink of losing control.

The car scraped against the guardrail, sending sparks flying. The screeching sound of metal scraping against metal rang out for two seconds. He alternated between pressing the accelerator and the brake four or five times, and the car swerved along the edge of the track before finally coming to a stop in the run-off area.

He didn't overturn or crash into a mountain; he just scraped it.

An urgent inquiry came through the walkie-talkie from the command center: "Vehicle number four has been involved in a minor collision. Do you need assistance?"

Qiu An leaned back in his seat, his chest heaving for two seconds before pressing the call button and calmly saying, "Minor scratches, no one's hurt. Withdraw from the competition."

Then he looked down at the spot on his chest where the straw figure was pressed against.

The straw figure was still there, not broken, but he could feel it was burning hot, like a small piece of charcoal just taken out of the fire, and he could feel the unusual heat even through his clothes.

Is this the heavens starting to exert their power?

Qiu An thought with some doubt.

In the stands, Yun Ziang stood up the instant he saw the silver-gray sports car crash into the guardrail.

Then he saw "his" car scrape against the guardrail, leaving a trail of sparks, saw the car stop in the buffer zone, and saw "himself" get out of the car, completely undamaged.

He let out a long breath and prepared to sit down again, only to find that Xiao Jin had grabbed his wrist.

"Grand-nephew, it's not over yet." Xiao Jin's voice was soft, but firm.

Yun Ziang looked down at her.

Xiao Jin didn't look at her; her little face was serious, and her eyes were fixed far ahead.

The malevolent aura emanating from his great-nephew had not yet dissipated.

The ordeal is not over yet.

Qiu An pushed open the car door and stood on the concrete ground of the buffer zone.

He took off his helmet, unscrewed a bottle of water, took a sip, and looked up at the embankment above him.

The Nanshan race track is flanked by mountain slopes reinforced with concrete, and crooked pine trees grow on the top of the slopes with their roots embedded in the concrete cracks.

There are more than a dozen of these slope protection sections along the entire track, and no one ever thought they would cause any problems.

Behind them, a rescue vehicle was slowly approaching.

On the opposite hilltop, the roots of that pine tree are silently cracking open.

Tiny debris fell from the concrete cracks, swallowed up by the roar of the track.

Gravel tumbled down. First came the small pieces, like hailstones hitting the windshield, which pattered and fell onto the track.

A driver warned the car behind over the radio to be careful, and the control tower called Duan Peng again to check the situation regarding the gravel.

Duan Peng's voice came through the walkie-talkie, still languid: "I saw it, it's just weathered gravel, nothing special."

Qiu An also heard the sound of the rubble.

He glanced instinctively at the top of the slope and saw only the pine branches swaying slightly.

There is no wind; there is no wind today.

Qiu An suddenly realized something and moved half a step to the side, but remained in the buffer zone.

According to the rules, disabled vehicles and drivers must remain in the nearest buffer zone and await rescue; they are not allowed to return to the track without authorization.

Suddenly, the roots of the pine tree began to slip out of the concrete cracks, like a hand that had been clenched for too long finally letting go.

Immediately afterwards, the slope protection collapsed.

A concrete block, roughly 80 centimeters square, carrying mud and broken tree roots, crashed down from the top of a six-meter-high slope.

It crashed into the guardrail at the edge of the track, shattered the guardrail, bounced up, and continued to fall with even greater kinetic energy.

Its shadow covered the sky above Qiu An's head.

Qiu An only saw a rapidly expanding gray shadow.

He didn't even have time to react.

"boom--"

Concrete blocks crashed onto the concrete floor of the buffer zone, sending debris flying and dust billowing up.

The shockwave cracked the windows of the rescue vehicle, and several staff members who had just gotten out of the vehicle were thrown to the ground by the blast wave.

Screams erupted from the stands.

Yun Zi'ang stood frozen in place.

His mind went blank; all he could see was smoke and dust, the rising gray plume of dust. The concrete block slammed into the center of the buffer zone, creating a shallow crater, and debris littered the ground.

Qiu An fell sideways onto the edge of the concrete block, his helmet rolling two meters away.

Blood flowed down his forehead, staining half of his face red.

But he was still moving; he was trying to prop himself up with one hand, his fingers groping for something in the pile of debris.

Yun Ziang didn't know how he started breathing again.

His hand was held by Xiao Jin, and the warmth of her small hands was transmitted through his palm, pulling him back little by little from the brink of emotional collapse.

Xiao Jin's gaze passed over the smoke and dust, landing on the opposite side. She let out a soft "Ah," and said, "The little straw man is broken."

The ordeal should be over.

At this moment, Yun Zi'ang was pale, staring blankly at the broken embankment, watching the rescuers rush up, and watching the person lying on the ground.

It felt like I had died once.

He knew the person on the ground was Qiu An, but the face that looked exactly like his gave him the feeling of looking at his own corpse.

Xiao Jin frowned, scanning back and forth as if searching for something.

Her gaze quickly settled on a man wearing thin-rimmed glasses and a staff uniform.

At that moment, the man's face was pale, as if he had been frightened into a daze, as he stared at the accident scene from afar.

Xiao Jin's gaze lingered on him for a few seconds before shifting away.

It's not this person.

She started searching again and soon spotted a figure moving quietly away from the panicked crowd towards the parking lot.

The man walked steadily and calmly, standing out from the panicked and surprised audience around him.

"That person is weird," Xiao Jin said seriously, staring intently at him.