Chapter Ninety: A Victory in Seconds

“Come on, come on, move your cars and clear a stretch of ground!” someone in the jeering crowd shouted.

With a rush and a clatter, the people who had just gathered scattered at once, hurrying back to their luxury cars. Moving a car for the sake of a spectacle was nothing at all.

Mo Shu, left standing where he was, was stunned by this sudden show of unity. If the racing world could one day possess such speed of action and cohesion, then to dream of ruling the world would no longer be a helpless fantasy.

The course was quickly cleared, and the young man drove his prized machine up to the start.

Truth be told, the young man was no good as a person, but his car was truly exceptional.

The onlookers all praised it in one voice.

It was an imported ice-blue Sihuan GTS, its entire design inheriting the steady style long associated with German automakers.

Its lines were not overly flamboyant, nor were its body edges aggressively sharp, yet from afar it seemed dreamlike and sensual.

The factory matte finish showed the refined taste of the Sihuan brand.

And the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 beneath the hood made one thing abundantly clear:

“Sure, I may look smooth and rounded, but my temper is not at all gentle!”

A glance at the figures made it even more impressive: 535.9 horsepower at the wheels and 680.7 newton-meters of torque, all of which gave the driver of this GTS an unparalleled sense of speed.

Its astonishing 3.64-second sprint from zero to sixty-two miles per hour was enough to place it among the world’s top ten mass-produced sports cars.

Even Mo Shu, who had long grown used to racing, could not help but exclaim:

“Good car!”

“Too bad... the owner is just a little... short on brains...”

“What did you say?” The young man nearly spat out another string of curses.

“Bring your car over here and show us what it can do!” Seeing everyone praise his pride and joy, the young man grew smug again. It seemed he had forgotten the promise to smash the loser’s car, and once more he could not resist challenging Mo Shu.

Mo Shu smiled faintly and turned to fetch his own car.

Although the vehicle he had given his father was a luxury SUV, and in a straight-line sprint it was by no means a match for a sports car, Mo Shu had his system, and so many skills at his disposal.

With a sharp hiss, Mo Shu parked neatly, hopped out, and gave a chuckle, signaling that the race could begin whenever they liked.

Hahahahahaha!

The crowd erupted in laughter at once, and the young man laughed so hard his stomach began to hurt.

Mo Shu did not mind. He had long anticipated such a reaction. A stock SUV against a supercar? To anyone hearing it, that would sound like a fool’s tale.

But was that not exactly what he wanted?

If he were to win today with Rustline’s “alien battle car,” how could there be any sense of accomplishment in that?

Mo Shu stood there calm and composed, already imagining the faces these people would make when they could no longer laugh. Just thinking of it was exhilarating.

“Oh my, little Mo Shu, what are you doing? They’re all my guests!”

No one expected Tang Leisure to suddenly appear, with Mo Mountain River and Zhang Aimin following behind him.

“Good heavens, a great one has descended!” None of them knew the other two, but everyone knew Tang Leisure. The crowd immediately declared that they should first pay homage before watching the race.

“No, no, not at all,” Tang Leisure said without the slightest air of superiority. “You came all this way to have me modify your cars and support my business, and I’m already deeply grateful. But is this a race you’re planning? My little Mo Shu, why waste your energy quarreling with ordinary road cars?”

Mo Shu gave a wry smile and shook his head. He leaned in to murmur a few words to Tang Leisure, then reassured his father and Zhang Aimin as well before turning back and saying, “Brother, how about we just let it go?”

To his surprise, the young man would not have it. He raised his voice and shouted, “You say let it go and it’s over? No way. You’re the one who wants to race, and now you’re the one who doesn’t? Who do you think you are?”

“Exactly. And he knocked me down too. Today I’m going to see him smash his own car, no matter what,” the young man’s girlfriend chimed in.

The crowd that had been egging them on fell quiet now. A few sharp-eyed people had already seen it: this white-haired boy and that legendary Tang Leisure clearly had a deep connection.

Otherwise, if he had just been calling him “little Mo Shu” a moment ago, why sound so affectionate? If they were not close, why be so intimate?

A few softer-hearted spectators had already begun to urge reconciliation.

“Brother, don’t race. If you lose, the car you smash will be your own.”

“Exactly. Why lose your temper over a moment? Let’s just shake hands and be done with it.”

“Right, it’s still a sports car worth over a million. Won’t it hurt to smash it?”

But the young man seemed to believe victory was certain. No matter how many people pleaded with him, he only answered with two words: “No way.”

Very well. Stubborn as an ox, Mo Shu had no choice but to prepare for battle.

Still, the young man’s insistence was understandable. How could a Sihuan GTS lose to an SUV? A joke!

A zero-to-sixty sprint required nothing more than gripping the wheel and flooring the accelerator; for skilled drivers, perhaps a launch start as well. The technical demands on the driver were minimal. In truth, it was the car that mattered, not the person behind the wheel, and this much at least the young man understood.

When it came to the cars, he was brimming with confidence.

“All right! You go first!” Seeing persuasion had failed, Mo Shu raised a hand. He wanted to let the young man enjoy a few more illusions, and to savor his own triumph a little longer.

“Think you’re looking down on me, huh? No way. You go first!” The young man believed he was no pushover; why should he obey the arrangement of his opponent?

“All right, all right...” Mo Shu sighed helplessly, opened the door, and climbed into the SUV.

Before setting off, he glanced at the elders. Zhang Aimin’s expectant face stood in stark contrast to his father’s deeply worried expression.

That was hardly surprising. His father did not know his son possessed such a miraculous thing as the system, nor had he ever seen a contest so evenly matched.

Mo Shu made a calming gesture with his palm, then shifted into drive. He could not even be bothered to switch to manual mode. After that, he nodded toward the enthusiast seated in the passenger seat, who had volunteered to time the run, signaling that he was ready. The race was about to begin.

“Three, two, one...” For amateur street races, the start signal was usually shouted and accompanied by hand gestures.

“Go!” the beautiful woman stationed at the front-right side of the vehicles shouted.

Although Mo Shu did not use the driving techniques of formal competition, his reaction the moment he pressed the accelerator was extremely quick.

Oh!

The front wheels did not slip at all. The onboard computer controlled output with pinpoint accuracy, which even surprised Mo Shu. He had not expected this SUV to perform so much better than he had imagined.

Of course, Mo Shu’s system skill also played a huge role in the acceleration. The SUV’s burst of speed was clearly stronger, and the power delivery felt much quicker than before.

With an easy expression but fierce momentum, Mo Shu brought the speed up to sixty-two miles per hour and immediately braked hard to turn around and head back toward the starting line, where everyone was still waiting to see his result.

Besides, this was Tang Leisure’s private ground. Even though everyone was familiar with one another, he would still avoid showing off too recklessly.

The young man and the others waited anxiously for the result in the rear, but the first thing they saw was the pale face of the timer seated in the passenger seat. How could it be that white? It looked as though he had been dusted with flour.

“Quick, what’s the time? Let me see!” The young man was absolutely certain he could defeat Mo Shu.

But when he snatched the stopwatch and looked at the result, he froze. In an instant he understood why the passenger’s face had gone so pale.

The others were displeased by the young man’s slow movements. Someone reached out and seized the stopwatch, and after looking at it, they too fell silent.

The young man’s girlfriend twisted her mouth, cursed under her breath, and spat a thick gob of saliva before grabbing the stopwatch from them with an air of disgust. Yet the next second she let out a shrill cry of disbelief.

“3.03 seconds?!”

“Give it up, husband! Even if you strain yourself to the breaking point, you still can’t run that fast!”