Chapter 818: Individual and Team

A loud roar came from the track, interrupting Yang Tao’s thoughts.

He looked at the field again.

This time, his eyes were more focused on the pure black racing car, but his mind kept recalling Lu Huaiyu’s words and just now.

Wen Xiao.

This was a legendary name.

He was the only person in the country who had ever topped the world’s top driver rankings.

After debuting for a year, he had gone from being an unknown to the world’s top professional racing driver.

He had a brilliant record and a great reputation.

Unfortunately, he had announced his retirement after winning the World Champions.h.i.+p Driver of the Year Award.

There was only one reason for this decision. He had gotten injured in an accident while training. If he had continued to partic.i.p.ate in professional races, he could not be sure that he could continue to win first place, so he had simply retired.

…

Yes, he had simply said goodbye to racing compet.i.tions just because he could not be sure that he would ever be able to take first place again.

He absolutely refused to accept second place.

As simple as this reasoning was, it was also quite absurd.

The outside world was divided in their opinions about this, not entirely convinced by this statement.

However, no matter what other people said, Wen Xiao did not care at all. He retreated as he wished, and from then on, he completely disappeared from the media’s view.

No one knew whether he could be called too weak or too proud.

At that time, many people had called him a coward. Many of his fans who had supported him initially had also thought that he was running away, and had turned against him.

The insults and criticisms thrown at him were overwhelming.

However, Wen Xiao had remained unmoved and he never appeared in public again.

As time pa.s.sed, the public gradually forgot about this matter until even the name “Wen Xiao” had become a distant memory.

If Lu Huaiyu had not suddenly mentioned it, Yang Tao would not have even remembered that there was such a person.

He stared at the field for a while and nodded thoughtfully.

“It seems like… It does look like…”

He had seen the videos of Wen Xiao’s previous races.

He had not been the only one. Everyone in the industry had probably seen it as well.

After all, for so many years after Wen Xiao, no other driver in the country had ever become the overall champion in an international professional car race like him.

In a way, this name had become a benchmark.

He suddenly thought of something, frowned slightly, and asked, “Wait, why do I feel like you already know this?”

It was true that Lu Huaiyu knew all these things about the racing circle like the back of his hand. However, after watching only half of the race, he had been able to so directly and accurately point out that Shen Li’s driving style was like Wen Xiao’s. It was really too…

Who would have randomly linked these two people together?

Lu Huaiyu lazily leaned against the back of the chair.

Hearing this, he only raised his eyebrows slightly and smiled casually.

“I accompanied her when she raced on Xiaosong Hill.”

Yang Tao was stunned, but immediately understood.

“So… Wait, but I saw that video too. She drove well back then, but not as well as this.” Yang Tao recalled, “Anyway, I hadn’t really noticed a resemblance between her and Wen Xiao.”

Lu Huaiyu did not say anything.

Yang Tao smiled again.

“However, my eyesight can’t be compared to yours. Besides, when I watched the video, I saw that you were in the pa.s.senger seat then.”

The personal experience from that perspective should have been the clearest.

With Lu Huaiyu’s strength, it was not surprising that he could judge this.

Lu Huaiyu’s lips curved into an unclear arc as he responded faintly.

“Mm.”

His long legs were crossed, as his slender fingers tapped lightly on his knees twice. There seemed to be a surge of emotions in his eyes.

Actually, he had not noticed this from his experience then.

That was because she had indeed been very restrained when she had driven at Xiaosong Hill.

He had already known that she drove like Wen Xiao much earlier.

After a long while, Yang Tao could not help but laugh.

“I have to say, this girl of yours is better than I imagined.”

Lu Huaiyu’s smile deepened when he heard this, and the joy in his voice was not concealed.

“You have good taste.”

…

The entire race consisted of a total of five laps.

During the first three laps, Yu Cheng had been suppressed by Shen Li. The drivers behind him could obviously see that Shen Li was targetting Yu Cheng on purpose, so they all rushed forward.

Who would not take advantage of such a great opportunity to overtake?!

Thus, Yu Cheng fell from fifth place to sixth place, and eventually to seventh place.

By the time he entered the fourth lap, he had already been forced to eighth place by Shen Li.

Eighth!

In the previous races, Yu Cheng had never ended up in such a poor position!

Yu Cheng was filled with anger, but there was nothing he could do to Shen Li!

Every single one of her actions was in accordance with the rules. Even though everyone could see that she was deliberately targeting him, there was nothing he could say to refute it!

No one could stop her, so Yu Cheng could only continue to suffer!

The situation would not change unless he was not afraid of dying and went all out to collide with Shen Li. He was here to compete, not to court death!

Moreover, Shen Li had stayed in front of him the whole time. If he forcefully caused an accident, he would have to take full responsibility for it because it was his car that was in the back!

If it had been anyone else, Yu Cheng might not have had so many concerns, but it was because this person was Shen Li.

She had the support of LY, the Gu family, and even the Lu family!

Thus, Yu Cheng could only force himself to endure the situation.

While rounding the last corner of the fourth lap, Yu Cheng finally fell to ninth place and was completely squeezed out of the points ranking!

…

The whole compet.i.tion seemed to have been split into two parts.

On one side, everyone wanted to see Ji Shu, who was ranked first, charge forward at high speed. On the other hand, they wanted to see Shen Li suppress and gradually force Yu Cheng back.

Their eyes could not even keep up.

Just then, Ji Shu was the first to enter the fifth lap!

This was also the final stretch of the rally!

Everyone’s hearts lifted.

“It’s the last lap. Can Ji Shu hold on to his position in first place until the end?”

“That definitely won’t be a problem! He’s been in first position the whole way! Don’t you guys think that his condition today is especially good?”

“However, even if he can get first place, with the current ranking, LY still won’t be able to turn the tables!”

At the moment, Ji Shu was in first place, Lu Siyu was in seventh place, and Shen Li was in eighth place.

Among the top eight, the only person from FN was Yu Pan who was in second place.

The rest were all from the other teams.

If he maintained this ranking until the end of the race, Ji Shu would be able to overcome Yu Pan and take the overall champion t.i.tle.

However, that would still not be enough for LY to also take the team champions.h.i.+p t.i.tle.

The countless viewers in the live broadcast room were also nervous.

“Shen Li! Hurry up!”

[ Please, please, please! LY can only win if it gets first and second place at the same time! Ahhhhh! ]

[ Sister, hurry up! ]

Seeing that the first-tier team had all entered the fifth lap, the audience gradually became restless.

“What’s going on with Shen Li?”

“I think that Shen Li only took part in this compet.i.tion today just to target Yu Cheng. She’s not even thinking about LY at all. Look, just to force Yu Cheng out of the top eight, she had deliberately slowed down and even allowed herself to be overtaken by the other drivers! If she thought more about LY, then she would be putting her focus on the race!”

“Is she being so willful just because she has some ability? Does she even know the severity of the situation? She’s so far away from Ji Shu who is in first place! There’s only one lap left… No! There’s only half a lap left! Can she still be counted on to catch up in the last lap?”

“There are many LY fans here today. Even if she’s only a subst.i.tute driver for LY, she’s also a member of LY. How can she place her personal grudges above the team’s honor?”

“There’s only one straight line and three S bends left. I don’t think it’s going to work–”

“Wait! Look! Shen Li is starting to overtake!”

Someone exclaimed and instantly attracted everyone’s attention.

Numerous pairs of eyes turned to look at the pure black racing car!

Current ranking: Eighth!

Then, that streak of black quickly pa.s.sed two cars on the first corner and jumped to sixth position!