Chapter Forty-Eight: The Long Blog Post

Ever since their withdrawal from the Stellar Racing Team was announced, Mo Shu and his companions had vanished from the public eye for quite some time. Whether former partners or resourceful journalists, no one could reach them, nor did anyone catch a glimpse of any of them in daily life.

Just as the public was on the verge of forgetting them, a long Weibo post with over a million shares once again surged to the top of the trending charts. The author of the post was none other than the long-awaited "Protector of the Gods," Wang Yu.

The content of the post was roughly as follows:

"Dear racing fans, I am your old friend Wang Yu. Today, I am publishing a statement as follows...

After a period of planning and preparation, a few friends and I are forming a new team to compete in the Global Rally Championship. We have named the team 'Deities,' reflecting our desire to create new miracles.

The Deities Racing Team will break convention by having four drivers, namely:
— Mo Shen, the God of Speed!
— Wang Yining, the Guardian God!
— Geng Hua, the Almighty God!
— Wang Qing, the God of Control!

All four of our drivers share a collective title: The Four Major Deities!"

It turned out that Wang Qing, who had left a note for Mo Shu before returning to England, had gone there to study racing. No wonder she had said that Mo Shu might grow fond of her when she returned; the young woman was quite perceptive, knowing that appealing to his interests was the perfect way to win Mo Shu's favor.

Geng Hua had also officially left the Jiangbei Civic Racing Team. As for his reasons, rumor had it in many versions.

Some said he wasn't valued by the team.
Some claimed the team's cars were so poor that Geng Hua had long harbored dissatisfaction.
Of course, others accused him of betrayal, abandoning his team in favor of joining his rivals.

Clearly, such rumors were nonsense. Everyone knew Mo Shu and his group had no team at all for a while; there was no one for Geng Hua to cling to. Rumors remained rumors, and sensible people paid them little mind. However, the true reason for Geng Hua's decision to leave his position as the top driver of the Civic team and join the Deities Racing Team as their third driver was known to very few—even Mo Shu was astonished when he learned it.

Geng Hua had done it for Wang Qing!

Geng Hua and Wang Qing had actually been classmates for over a decade. Back when they were together in junior high in England, Geng Hua was inseparable from Wang Qing; as time passed and their friendship deepened, Geng Hua naturally developed feelings for her.

Yet Wang Qing had always admired and liked Mo Shu since childhood. She had always declined Geng Hua's advances gently, leaving him at a loss.

Fortunately, Wang Yining appeared at a crucial moment—like a godsend—giving hope that the bond between Geng Hua and Wang Qing might not be doomed after all, rekindling Geng Hua’s optimism about their relationship.

Although Geng Hua was not as gifted as Mo Shu, he was still one of the few genius drivers in the country. Now, for the sake of the girl, he was even willing to invest his own money and seek new opportunities, which speaks volumes about what Wang Qing meant to him.

Wang Yu’s long post sent shockwaves through the domestic racing scene, and even abroad it had considerable impact. The ERC responded promptly on its global official account:

“ERC may not know the Deities Racing Team, but we are fans of the Chinese driver Mo Shu. We are eagerly looking forward to seeing the Deities team on the ERC circuit!”

“Wow! Even ERC’s official account is a fan of Mo Shu, but who is he?” Many foreign netizens commented.

“You don’t know Mo Shen? Do you know 503? Go look it up!” Mo Shu’s fan club had begun to invade foreign social networks.

The former “Stellar Racing Team Supporters” had now changed their name to “Disciples of the Deities,” with loyal fans like the Deities Bunny and Deities Carrot still unwavering in their support.

Upon hearing that foreign netizens didn’t know Mo Shu, the “Disciples” launched a massive information campaign. Suddenly, social networks abroad were flooded with video links, biographies, fan-made top ten highlights of Mo Shu’s career, fifty spectacular overtakes, and even a masterfully edited documentary titled “Divinity Descends—Mo Shen.”

The power of netizens is impossible to estimate; the number of talented people is beyond imagining! The next day, multilingual versions of all sorts of materials about Mo Shu appeared online—especially in the sixteen languages of the countries hosting this ERC, each translated word for word from Chinese. Mo Shu was astonished when he saw it; there was even a Swahili version for Africa, though he had not yet realized this ERC included an African stage. His fans were clearly more diligent than he was.

However, there were also trolls and regional haters abroad, and no one can please everyone. The opposition was even stronger than at home.

“So what if you reached 503 km/h? We didn’t see it ourselves. Besides, touring car drivers coming to rally racing for a piece of the pie—it’s not that easy.”

“There are plenty of European drivers who could wipe the floor with yours. Stop boasting and let’s see what happens when it comes down to the real thing!”

“Naive Chinese teams, ignorant Chinese fans—racing belongs to us.”

“Yes, I agree with the above. Racing belongs to us!”

“From a historical perspective, China’s racing started decades later than ours. Although they’ve made some progress in recent years, I believe Chinese teams are still far behind European manufacturers.”

“Go home, don’t embarrass yourselves on the international stage.”

Anyone else reading these comments would either feel uneasy and doubt themselves, or become furious and fight back.

Yet Mo Shu was a seasoned veteran; he had faced skepticism all along his journey. This little bit of pressure was nothing to him.

Of course, he had to admit that many foreign netizens made valid points. Racing originated and flourished in the West—it was utterly a Western creation. Many Westerners started racing at a young age, and their innate understanding of the sport put Chinese drivers at a disadvantage from the outset.

Looking back at ERC’s history, Eastern faces were rarely seen. So it was natural that many foreign netizens at first neither believed nor accepted them.

Mo Shu was a relatively reserved and introverted person. He rarely made grand statements before achieving his goals.

But sometimes Mo Shu was too modest—even Wang Yu found it frustrating, urging him to at least showcase his strengths, otherwise people would really think Mo Shu was timid and unwilling to speak up.

Alas, Mo Shu remained silent, making no comment. He simply closed his laptop and walked toward the assembly workshop of the new team.