CHAPTER 49: CHAPTER 46: YE QIU’S WORRIES

"Jumping-style Nine-Section Technical Track."

Ye Qiu shifted his gaze from the spiral track and saw the adjacent section with nine tracks of varying heights. He frowned slightly: "This track’s difficulty is clearly lower than the American Alliance’s standards. The discrepancy between each of the nine sections is too small.

Starting from the beginning, the nine-section track has intervals like a broken bridge. This interval includes an uphill and a downhill, linking to the second track.

In the Nine-Section Jumping Track, the first section connects to the second section with an upward leap. The driver needs to precisely control the car’s lift-off timing and ensure a stable landing on the second track.

At the same time, they need to handle the 10-meter gap between the first and second sections. If the horsepower isn’t enough and the car falls through, it’s fine if it lands in the middle since there’s a lawn below. Despite the section being 5 meters high, it doesn’t matter.

But if the car just barely makes it to the second track and gets stuck halfway, that’s embarrassing... At best, the vehicle gets damaged, at worst, it could lead to accidents, injuries, or worse...

The next set of tracks is also like broken bridges, but now the jump is from a downhill to an uphill, and the gap in between is 5 meters longer than that between the first section.

The third section introduces curves, testing the drift skills, and so on...

"There’s too much of a gap compared to America’s standards!"

Ye Qiu shook his head as he looked at the Nine-Section Jumping Track.

In Huaxia, the gap between the first and second sections is 10 meters, but in the United States, it’s 17 meters; Huaxia’s second section is 15 meters, while America’s is 24 meters.

Seeing how simple Huaxia’s assessment track was, Ye Qiu momentarily lost interest.

Having experienced driver assessments, Ye Qiu knew that to pass the A-level driver test, one needed to complete five sections of the Nine-Section Jumping Track within 40 minutes.

It’s also necessary to finish the Fifth Floor challenge of the spiral track with continuous drifting within 40 minutes.

After completing these two tasks, the final challenge is to drive a personal vehicle on a 1900-meter-long track, with 10 turns, including 3 high-difficulty technical turns, within 40 minutes for the Automobile Guild’s assessment.

Those who complete all these tasks are deemed to have passed. Of course, for S-level, SS-level, and even SSS-level, these three tasks must be completed, but with varying speeds.

For example, each task in the SSS-level assessment must be completed within 18 minutes, and one must reach the highest level. For the spiral track, completing it with continuous drifting within 18 minutes counts as success for the SSS-level.

"Alas, the Huaxia Professional Racing Alliance’s assessment standards are truly far behind those in America. Even the professional racing league standards in RB or HG are likely higher than this."

Ye Qiu sat in his pickup, pondering the Huaxia Professional Racing Driver assessment standards, frowning as he thought about how Huaxia’s professional racing might fall further behind the strong countries like America in the future.

While Ye Qiu was concerned, a man dressed as part of the Automobile Guild, about 40 years old, knocked on his window. Ye Qiu lowered the window, and the man frowned and said, "What are you doing here?"

Ye Qiu handed over the assessment documents he had just completed and said: "I’m here for the assessment."

"Assessment for an A-level driver’s license? You?"

The staff member looked Ye Qiu up and down, then glanced at his dilapidated pickup and said: "Did you bring the wrong car?"

Ye Qiu shook his head: "I’m taking the test with this vehicle."

The staff returned the assessment documents to Ye Qiu and said: "Alright then, drive your car to the waiting area and wait for your group’s assessment."

Ye Qiu nodded and drove towards the waiting area.

"What an oddball, trying to take the A-level driver test in a nearly scrapped pickup? Does he think this is bumper cars at a kindergarten?"

The staff shook his head at Ye Qiu’s departing pickup, then seemed to remember something. Who was the introducer on those documents?

Wang Xinrui?

He shook his head, impossible, must have been seeing things...

...

In the waiting area next to the two tracks, a vast field was lined with expensive sports cars. On the special seats for the assessed drivers, candidates who had registered were waiting for their assessment.

"What’s that thing? Is that even a car?"

"No way, what era is that car from? Is it here to collect trash?"

"Must be here for trash collection. Otherwise, there’s no way such an outdated car could be here for an assessment, right? If it had to run the Nine-Section Jumping Track, it probably couldn’t even get past the first section... hahaha..."

"Hahaha, hey, hey, look, look, that trash collection car is heading our way..."

As these people ridiculed the old, nearly scrapped pickup approaching, they were dumbfounded when it parked among the luxury sports cars.

Suddenly, a dilapidated pickup was parked amidst Lamborghinis and Ferraris, looking so out of place it was almost comical.

"Oh no! The trash pickup parked next to our cars?"

What is that vehicle doing in our waiting area, is it really here for the assessment?

Who’d use such a broken car for an assessment? Even for a G-level driver’s license test, it wouldn’t pass, would it?

While everyone was wondering why the pickup was there and who was driving it, inside the pickup, Ye Qiu was talking to Fle: "Do I have 120,000 Popularity Points now?"

Fle said, "Yes."

"Then can you please open the modification factory for me and help modify this car?"

"No."

"Can’t I give you some extra Popularity Points?"

"No!"

"So how can I open the modification factory?"

Fle said, "Find an Energy Crystal Chip, and naturally the Car God System can be upgraded to Level 5, allowing it to be opened."

"..." Ye Qiu was speechless, as if Fle hadn’t even spoken. He hadn’t found a single Energy Crystal Chip yet, let alone enough to upgrade the Car God System to Level 5.

Ye Qiu wanted Fle to forcefully open the modification factory again because he wanted to exchange some parts to modify his car.

But it’s not like he’s worried about failing the test. For Ye Qiu, who has already passed tests with difficulty higher than those in Huaxia, he’s not worried about this simple test.

To put it bluntly, he could pass with his eyes closed.

He was asking Fle about opening the modification factory because he wanted to modify his car after the race. All those Popularity Points lying around could be better used for car modifications.

But upon hearing Fle’s refusal, Ye Qiu didn’t insist and thought of going back to Cheng Jie, that chubby guy, for modifications after the test. As for how he’d explain the parts, he hadn’t thought about it yet.

"My car is now at about Level 1 Advanced due to having a Level 4 engine. Other parts are too low-level, so once acquired and exchanged for Level 1 components from the system, the car’s performance can reach Level 1 peak, even Level 2..."

Ye Qiu thought, noticing those exam-takers pointing at his pickup truck from afar, he smiled faintly and stepped out of the car.

"Isn’t that the reckless guy claiming to take the A-level driver’s test?"

"What? This kid is taking the A-level driver’s test on his first try? Is he crazy? I’ve practiced for seven or eight years just to take the D-level test, and he really overestimates himself."

"No way, this kid is taking the A-level test? With what? Using that almost-trashed pickup truck? Is he here to make us laugh, hahaha..."

Upon recognizing Ye Qiu, someone informed the people nearby that he’s taking the A-level test, which made everyone laugh mockingly.

When Ye Qiu walked up, a young man named Xiaowei, around twenty-seven or twenty-eight, exchanged glances with those around him and blocked Ye Qiu from sitting down.

Ye Qiu was slightly confused, "What’s up?"

Xiaowei laughed, "Hello, I heard you’re taking the A-level driver’s test?"

Ye Qiu nodded.

Xiaowei said, "Wow, you’re amazing! You’re taking the A-level test on your first try, that’s really impressive. May I ask what car you’re using?"

Ye Qiu frowned slightly, looking at Xiaowei and the exam-takers behind him, who had slightly mockingly looks. He smiled faintly, ignoring Xiaowei who was speaking with him but clearly had no good intentions.

Seeing Ye Qiu remain silent, Xiaowei shrugged. Having heard Ye Qiu had been in a scuffle with Situ Xin, he dared not continue mocking but instead cast a disdainful glance at Ye Qiu before leaving with the others to sit on a nearby chair.

However, Ye Qiu could still hear them mocking him, but he didn’t care, leaning back in his chair watching the candidates being tested.

The Automobile Guild’s drivers’ test proceeds batch by batch from G to SSS levels.

Every year, there are the most G-level candidates, so they’re tested first, and now it’s almost done, with some passing and some failing.

Next is the D-level test, with around a hundred participants. Among them, Lin Feng driving a red Ferrari California T caught Ye Qiu’s attention.

Being Ye Qiu’s classmate, and having kindly advised him many times prior, Ye Qiu felt goodwill towards him. So during Lin Feng’s test, he silently cheered him on.

Perhaps due to Ye Qiu’s blessings, and certainly also thanks to Lin Feng’s own driving skill, he successfully became one of the 15 drivers passing the D-level test.

"He used 54 minutes on the Spiral Track, drifted continuously across two tiers, collided with the guard rail 13 times. Failed the Nine-Section Jumping Challenge, ultimately took 1 hour 12 minutes on the test track, bumped thrice at the advanced corner."

Before the staff calculated, Ye Qiu, just from observing live and watching the test track’s LED display screen, had already figured it out.

"Yeah, Lin Feng’s driving skill is quite good for his age. If he joins a professional racing team and trains for a few years, he could become an SSS driver before 28. But becoming a Bronze Car King would still be difficult."

Ye Qiu quietly planned Lin Feng’s future path.

Of course, this wasn’t an arbitrary calculation; it was based on his expertise since he started racing at 8, joined the world’s most professional team at 10, competed in various world-class races, and interacted with various world-class super drivers.

"Next up are the C-level and B-level tests. It should take about an hour until the A-level driver’s test."

Ye Qiu briefly looked at the C-level and B-level tests, lacking acquaintances among them, and saw the drivers’ strength as somewhat weak, so he didn’t continue watching, choosing instead to lean back and nap for a bit.

Having slept a bit less today, he felt quite tired.

"Ye Qiu, why didn’t you wait for me..."

Just as Ye Qiu was about to fall asleep, Wang Xinrui’s gentle voice startled him awake, and upon opening his eyes, he found Wang Xinrui already seated beside him.