CHAPTER 53: CHAPTER 50: THE RIDICULED PICKUP TRUCK

The sun hung high, and at the test site behind the Automobile Guild, at the starting point of the first spiraling track event, stood two McLaren 570S cars of the same model, one yellow and one blue. Aside from their different colors, everything else about the cars was almost identical.

Even the drivers in these two cars bore a resemblance. Naturally, they were Ye Yu and Ye Lei, personally mentored by Situ Yang and trained since childhood. They’ve already been spotted by the Celestial Dragon Racing Team of the Huaxia Celestial Dragon Alliance and are about to join for training.

Ye Yu and Ye Lei are both in their twenties. They look almost identical, with long, messy hair. Their faces are ordinary and they are quite thin.

Yet, despite their ordinary appearance, these two young men have caused quite a stir in H City over the past few years. Even in Huaxia’s professional racing circles, they have begun to show their mettle.

Due to their talent and hard work, some racing fans in Huaxia have dubbed them the future Gemini Stars of Huaxia, predicting that they will bring honors to Huaxia when they grow up.

Sitting in the blue McLaren, Ye Yu nodded to Ye Lei beside him and said, "Lei, let’s follow the master’s orders and force Ye Qiu to give it his all."

Ye Lei, in the yellow McLaren, nodded and said calmly, "Understood, but brother, I have a question. Why does the master want us to push this Ye Qiu to show his true strength?"

Ye Yu replied, "Not sure. Anyway, the master asked us to do something, just do it without asking, got it? Also, I want to remind you, pushing Ye Qiu to show his all is one thing, but don’t forget we have an assessment to pass. It’s fine if we embarrass ourselves, but I won’t let you off if you make the master lose face."

Ye Lei laughed, "Rest assured, brother, although this Ye Qiu is named to be tested by the master, he must have some skills. But we’re just pushing him a bit, it’s not that hard. And with this A-level assessment, with both our skills already at S-level, how difficult can it be?"

"Never underestimate an opponent, that’s the first lesson from our master, don’t forget. And I always felt this Ye Qiu isn’t simple, I can’t see through him," Ye Yu said.

Ye Lei nodded, evidently agreeing with Ye Yu’s words, "In that case, I’ll give it my all. I want to see what’s so special about Ye Qiu, who’s specially named by the master and noticed by my brother. I hope he doesn’t disappoint me."

As Ye Yu and Ye Lei were talking, a pure gold Lexus LF-A arrived at the starting point of the spiraling track amidst the exclamations and admiration from onlookers. Under the sunlight, the Lexus LF-A shined brilliantly, dazzling all around.

Its arrival immediately dimmed the presence of the two equally valuable McLarens beside it. For a moment, the drivers who came to watch the excitement, and all the original staff of the Automobile Guild, were all exclaiming in awe.

"This Lexus LF-A is too flashy, and it’s obviously modified to the extreme. Listening to its engine sound, it’s at least a Level 3 engine, and other parts are at least at the peak of Level 2. This Lexus LF-A is now at least a Level 3 race car, with a maximum horsepower of 420KM per second. It’s simply terrifying."

"Tsk tsk, with this Lexus LF-A joining, how can the competition go on? The two McLarens beside it are also Level 2 cars, but they lag far behind this Lexus LF-A. And most importantly, the driver of this Lexus LF-A is Situ Xin, a SS license holder from the Fiery Sun Team. Looks like Situ Xin will eventually win this competition."

"Hey, right, where did Ye Qiu go? Could it be that he fled the battle?"

While people were still in shock over the appearance of the Lexus LF-A and seemingly determined the result, suddenly someone remembered that Ye Qiu had not appeared. Various opinions surfaced, and they began speculating what kind of car Ye Qiu might drive.

"Where did that Ye Qiu go? I heard he dared to challenge Situ Xin, and during his first assessment, he dared to directly assess for an A-level license. Where is such a daring person now?"

"Where is Ye Qiu? Didn’t he boast fiercely before the match? Why isn’t he showing up now? Did he get scared and run away?"

"Humph, even if you ran, I’ll catch you to make you eat shit," Xiao Wei said.

"Where is Ye Qiu?" Wang Xinrui also wondered.

Situ Yang and Luo Yun also frowned. Luo Yun asked Situ Yang, "Do you think Ye Qiu will ultimately win against Situ Xin and those three?"

Situ Yang smiled and shook his head, "It’s hard to say. Everything will only be clear after the match."

Luo Yun nodded, looking at Ye Qiu who had yet to appear on the scene, secretly contemplating, "His son shouldn’t be that bad..."

...

"Hahaha, I think that kid ran away. So the upcoming competition is just between the three of us?"

Sitting in the Lexus LF-A, Situ Xin, after seeing Ye Qiu’s delay, said to Ye Yu and Ye Lei in the two McLarens beside him.

Meanwhile, silently thinking disdainfully, "Humph, even if you escape the battle, I’ll certainly settle accounts with you later, make you kneel and apologize, I’m going to thoroughly humiliate you."

"Brother, could it be that Ye Qiu really doesn’t dare to come?" Ye Lei saw Ye Qiu still hasn’t appeared and said with a frown and incomprehension, while secretly thinking, "Seems like the master and brother misjudged this time, this Ye Qiu isn’t so impressive after all."

"Where did this guy go?" Ye Yu frowned, wondering. Just then, he suddenly heard a burst of surprised gasps from the surrounding audience, which made him quickly turn his head to look.

Meanwhile, Ye Lei, Situ Xin, and others also turned around to see.

When they saw an old pickup truck on the verge of being scrapped, with black smoke billowing from the exhaust pipe as it slowly drove towards them, they were stunned.

Then, like the surrounding spectators, they erupted into deafening laughter.

"Ah, hahaha, what is this thing? Is this a car? And who is sitting in that car? Is Ye Qiu seriously going to race us in that?"

Situ Xin sneered.

Ye Yu frowned, feeling that there was something odd about Ye Qiu’s pickup truck, while Ye Lei looked at the seemingly disposable pickup truck with a hint of disappointment flashing in his heart: "What? Is this the opponent? How could Master think of having me test him? And what is Brother thinking, taking such an opponent seriously, ugh, so boring."

...

Listening to the spectators’ mocking laughter, Wang Xinrui watched as the pickup truck slowly drove to the starting point, her eyebrows knitted, pondering: "Ye Qiu’s car seems a bit different, it feels stronger than when I raced against it earlier."

"Xiaoyang, could you ask someone to get Ye Qiu a new car? Look, the exhaust is smoking." Luo Yun, seeing that Ye Qiu was driving such a nearly scrapped pickup, said worriedly to Situ Yang beside him.

At the same time, he sighed inwardly: "Are you living this hard? If those people knew that Ye Xiong’s son is driving something worse than a pile of junk, what would they think?"

"That’s up to Ye Qiu himself." Situ Yang stared at the pickup being ridiculed by everyone, speaking to Luo Yun while a glint flashed in his eyes as he murmured to himself: "Why do I feel this pickup is strong, listen, isn’t that engine sound... Level 4?"

...

The old pickup, amidst mocking laughter, slowly arrived at the starting point of the spiral track as the exam proctor, Huang Feng, approached Ye Qiu’s vehicle. He tapped on the window of the bizarre-looking pickup he had just seen.

The window rolled down to reveal Ye Qiu’s handsome face, and at that moment, looking at Huang Feng, Ye Qiu asked, "What’s up?"

"Do you... want to consider changing cars?"

Huang Feng, nearing 40, also had a son about Ye Qiu’s age, so seeing Ye Qiu reminded him of his own son, and seeing Ye Qiu’s difficult circumstances, he felt sympathy and wanted to help him a little.

"Change cars?" Ye Qiu was taken aback.

The reason he arrived a bit late was that, on the way, he had Fle help boost the original engine power from Level 2 peak to Level 4 performance.

However, Fle demanded 5,000 Popularity Points in exchange and told him that although the engine was upgraded to Level 4 and the power greatly enhanced, due to lower grade parts, he should try not to exceed 420 km/h in the race and not to push the limits.

Otherwise, problems might occur.

Ye Qiu understood this, so he didn’t say anything and only came over once Fle had released the engine’s full performance.

Hearing Huang Feng suggest he change cars, he found it amusing for a moment.

Although his car looked like a pile of junk on the surface compared to Situ Xin’s Lexus LF-A and Ye Yu’s McLaren,

In terms of actual performance, his car was currently at the peak of Level 3 with a maximum power of 480 km/h, and if he pushed it to the limit, it could reach 520 km/h.

As for Situ Xin’s Lexus LF-A, despite being a supercar and modified, it could only reach 420 km/h, with a maximum of 450 km/h.

As for the McLaren, with 400 km/h and a limit of 430, it couldn’t even compare to his car.

And in the whole of H City, besides Situ Yang’s Wiesmann GT, probably no other car could go as fast as Ye Qiu’s pickup.

"No need, thank you." However, seeing no disdain or contempt in Huang Feng’s eyes, but rather a trace of concern and care, Ye Qiu smiled as he replied.

"Are you sure? The gap between your car and theirs is quite large." Huang Feng wanted to make a final effort.

Ye Qiu shook his head and stopped speaking.

Seeing Ye Qiu’s persistence, Huang Feng sighed helplessly. He had done what he could; since Ye Qiu was so stubborn, he said no more.

He then returned to the examination area, after consulting with Luo Yun and others, and looked at the four cars lined up at the spiral track starting point, saying, "The rules have been made very clear. I’ll give you all 30 seconds to prepare, and the race will officially start in 30 seconds."