Chapter 86: An Accident
Even though the Heaven Execution Training Camp’s extreme hovercar race was not considered as a first-class racing event, it was still able to draw the attention of quite a sizable crowd to cheer and support for their favorite teams.
Most of them came due to the name of the well-known Adjudicators; after all, they were one of the largest elite warrior organizations across the universe. With such high appeal to the masses, they were respected anywhere they went.
Various TV stations on Planet Hek were broadcasting the race live, with plenty of broadcasting agencies fitting it into their schedule to show the entire event. The most-renowned motor team, Twin Dragons, even volunteered to participate in the race, not charging a cent from the Adjudicator Union. To them, being able to race with future Adjudicators was a great honor in itself.
The title ‘Adjudicator’ was like a golden nameplate. As long as anything bore that title, even a common confectionery could become a booming business overnight.
The Adjudicator Union relied on their name to gain astronomical revenue and sponsors every year. All the profits would then be invested in the continuous operations and expansion of the organization, turning it into a virtuous cycle.
The Monastic Order was the other elite warrior organization that was of equal renown, but that was where their similarity ended. They stayed true to the old way of obtaining funds, focusing mainly on completing assignments and missions.
The Monastic Order’s main source of income was the remuneration they got after completing their missions and assignments, but they were of course running a few mines, businesses and other such ventures on the downlow, though they would never attach their organization’s name to any of those.
From a certain point of view, the Adjudicators were like swaggering warriors, possessing honor, money, beautiful women, et cetera—all the things the strong ought to own.
Meanwhile, Monastics were like knights-errant, living a life of poverty while devoting their time and effort toward the pursuit of martial arts, warding off evil and protecting the weak, but never leaving their name behind.
Within the most luxurious private suite in the east stand of Moonlit Bay Circuit, Ye Jingshan and the branch president Robert were sitting by a window, enjoying the free fruit and light refreshments available in the venue.
“This time, who do you think will win?” asked Robert with a smile.
Ye Jingshan thought about it. “Last year’s champion, Nie Wei’s team, had a lot of hope, but if you’re talking about coming in first, I’m certain it’ll be the five-time extreme racing champion Twin Dragons.
Robert nodded. “Xia Fei got the fourth placement for his team. That’s a very decent result; do you think he’s got a chance?”
“Nope,” replied Ye Jingshan confidently.
“Oh?” Robert suddenly got interested. “Why would you say that? That young man is in the limelight right now, and I heard that five of your supervisors are almost fighting over getting him to join their divisions.”
Ye Jingshan sighed. He took a sip of the tea in his hand. “Xia Fei is indeed quite smart and possesses an outstanding tenacity, but that young man is simply too fond of taking the side road; he’s not the sort who plays by the rules.”
“What’s so bad about winning through unconventional means?” asked Robert.
Ye Jingshan was quiet for a good while before answering, “He gives me this indescribable feeling of someone who is both good and bad; someone like him can become a peak expert, but he will never be the heroic sort who can sacrifice himself for justice or a righteous ideal.”
Robert rumbled with laughter. “Oh, Chief Ye… I truly admire you for your principles, but you should keep in mind that not everyone is like you, someone willing to lay down their life for the sake of justice.”
Ye Jingshan became silent. He was an extremely principled person, and he had been in many situations throughout his life where his righteousness ended up putting him at a disadvantage, so he knew perfectly well what Robert was saying.
“You were once the youngest Gold Adjudicator in Endaro Star Region and the first in the history of this star region to hold the position of a deputy department chief at the headquarters. How could you not see that after all that you’ve been through?” commented Robert half-jokingly.
Ye Jingshan furrowed his brows and sighed. “Forget it; let’s not talk about the past anymore. Let’s talk about the future, instead. Your apprentice Xiao Haili is only twenty-five years old, yet he’s already achieved a five-star silver badge. Looks like he has a high chance of breaking my record by getting promoted to gold before the age of twenty-seven.”
Robert chuckled bitterly. “Even if you don’t mention it, I am indeed thinking of this matter. Do you know why I sent Team 13 to the training camp?”
Ye Jingshan shook his head. “Team 13 of the Executive department is your most important chess piece, assigning that group to the training camp will just leave its members idle… Is there something wrong with that team?”
Robert stared at Ye Jingshan. “You’re spot on, and it’s not just a slight problem but a big one.”
…….
Xia Fei wore the Windshade IV combat suit inside the red protective outfit that racers would wear, looking like he was raring to go.
This customized outfit for a racer was not only made of strong fabric but also fire-resistant and impact absorbent; more importantly, it had a special belt around the waistband.
If any accident were to happen during the race, the belt would be passively activated to protect the wearer, wrapping them in a white energy bubble in the first instance of trouble.
Wedging the ultra-lightweight helmet under his arm, Xia Fei lit a cigarette and strode out of the changing room.
Moon Song had been waiting outside, and when she saw Xia Fei, her two eyes glistened as she circled around him a few times, excitedly saying, “Not bad; you’re pretty cool in that racer attire.”
Xia Fei nodded nonchalantly, turning on his microcomputer to establish communication with Avril.
Because there were quite a lot of people in the logistics area, Xia Fei adjusted the screen smaller; Avril appeared on screen in her pink dress while hugging a teddy bear. She was all smiles.
Avril was young, and adding the fact that the screen had been adjusted to just a narrow window, Xia Fei suddenly felt that she looked very much like Thumbelina from a certain fable.
Walking over to the side of his automotive, Xia Fei made sure he got himself and his red extreme racing hovercar in the frame. “Didn’t you ask to see my racing hovercar? Here you go. As I said, it’s nothing special.”
“Hehe! I just wanna see how the racing hovercar driver Xia Fei looked like,” chimed in Avril somewhat mischievously.
“The race is about to start; I’ll talk to you later,” said Xia Fei.
Avril very obediently nodded her head repeatedly. “Yes, go finish the race. I’ll wait for you here. This time, I’m sure you’ll come in first.”
Xia Fei laughed as he turned off the microcomputer.
Moon Song’s eyes flashed, cheekily pulling right up to Xia Fei’s side as she interrogated, “Was that your girlfriend? What’s her name? Where does she live? How old is she? Who’s in her family?”
Xia Fei was dumbfounded. “What are you probing me so thoroughly for? Avril and I are merely friends who occasionally exchange a few words here and there.”
Moon Song very uncharacteristically hugged his arm and quietly asked, “That little lady looks very pretty. Does she have a sister? Introduce me to one if she has.”
Xia Fei hurriedly extricated his arm from Moon Song’s clutches. “Stop dreaming. Introducing her to you will be a waste of a good lady; it’s best that you give up.”
Moon Song’s words did remind Xia Fei that he knew nothing of Avril’s background aside from her name. Every time he asked about such matters, that girl would always find some excuses to change the topic, almost as if the subject was a taboo.
Shaking his head, Xia Fei shoved all these random thoughts at the back of his mind as he told Moon Song, “Okay, go to Chen Dong and get them all ready. I’ll settle the things here myself.”
Moon Song pulled a funny face at him. “Understood, master. Your wish is my command.”
With that, she turned to leave the logistics area. The expression on her face suddenly changed to worry as she lightly bit her lower lip, that jovial and happy-go-lucky personality of hers melting away in the blink of an eye.
A member of the race track staff approached Xia Fei with a microcomputer, taking a look at the number on the hovercar before saying, “99’s up for departure. Head over to the inspection zone for testing; someone will lead you to your position once you pass.”
Xia Fei nodded and hopped into the cockpit, driving the hovercar over to the inspection zone. The staff in that zone used a large scanner on the hovercar to confirm Xia Fei’s identity and the vehicle before guiding him to the fourth position in the starting grid.
Already parked in place were 0, 73, and Bai Ye’s 201. They had all ranked better during the qualifying session, so they were closer to the inside, making it more convenient for them to enter the first bend.
Bai Ye slightly nodded his head in greeting while seated in his cockpit, which Xia Fei responded to by smiling and waving his hand.
Over three hundred cars were needed to be inspected and moved in place, so that would take quite some time.
Having nothing to do in the meantime, Xia Fei turned to look at the closest viewing platform and saw Xiaohan and Xiao Haili seated together.
Xiao Haili was very diligently talking to Ye Xiaohan, while the lady was as indifferent as ever, occasionally responding with a statement or two; her gaze spent more time looking at that red hovercar on the race track than on the man beside her.
Xia Fei was trained in ocular cognition, so his vision was slightly better than the average individual. His eyes were trained onto Xiao Haili the entire time, hoping to pick up some clues this way.
Xia Fei discovered that Xiao Haili had a very weird habit of using his hand to touch his face. In terms of body language, humans would always have a reason for forming habits, and for someone who often touched their face as the guy did, there could only be two possibilities.
One was of the person in question experiencing major fluctuations of the heart; therefore, such an involuntary movement would be done to alleviate the pressure they were currently under. Two was of the person feeling very self-conscious; they would use their hand to cover a portion of their face to prevent others from seeing the micro-changes on it.
Very soon, the over three hundred racing hovercars all got into the starting grid. Xia Fei took a deep breath and focused his attention on that long race track ahead.
The red ready light suddenly lit up, and all the racing hovercars’ ion thrusters blared upon the engine activation, a combined effort from all the racers that created a sound so thunderous that the ground shook.
The light turned from red to green, and the race officially commenced.
Racing hovercar 0, the one in pole position, was the first to speed off. The professional racing hovercar was built differently from the average racing hovercars, and it was better in terms of starting speed or steering.
Xia Fei’s 99, Bai Ye’s 201, and Nie Wei’s 73 were all neck in neck, almost as if they had all started at the same speed, pulling ahead from the rest of the pack almost instantly.
Several dozens of meters later, Xia Fei’s racing hovercar began to demonstrate the advantage it had in its acceleration over the other cars, and by the time he reached the end of the straight stretch, he had managed to pull ahead by a whole hovercar length.
Coming up to the first turn, Xia Fei saw the opportunity and promptly released the accelerator, steering to the left ever so slightly at the same time. The red racing hovercar let loose a powerful roar and drew a weird arc as it careened along, almost scraping the concrete protection barricade as he drifted past.
The closest point was mere centimeters away from the barricade, and after clearing this turn, Xia Fei managed to snatch the second place.
The racing hovercar that Xia Fei was in had already been carefully modified and tuned to insane levels of abnormality, so it could pretty much be considered an extreme racing hovercar that had been pushed to unleash its greatest potential.
Xia Fei was a Speed Ability user, possessing a crazy reaction time that let him make up for his hovercar’s shortcomings through his agility.
In the blink of an eye, Xia Fei had already made it to the second level, and racing hovercar 0 was still a good distance away from his. After all, Twin Dragons was a professional motor team, so Xia Fei had no intention of competing with it. All he had to do was come out ahead of all the other cadets, and it would be considered his win.
The race would go for a full thirty laps, and that was a huge challenge to every driver, requiring them to hang in there and remain calm throughout. They were not allowed to make a mistake, much less panic, the entire time.
“At the moment, Twin Dragons is in the lead, following closely behind is the freshman from the Heaven Execution Training Camp, Xia Fei, whose racing hovercar appears to be better than any of the other cadets, clocking an average speed of 3200m/s, which is already close to racing hovercar 0’s speed.” On the projection screen, a young red-haired commentator very passionately detailed what was happening on the race track to everyone.
“Behind Xia Fei’s racing hovercar 99 is 201. Its driver is also another freshman who goes by the name of Bai Ye. How truly interesting for us to have two freshmen taking up the top spots. As for the previous champion of this race, Nie Wei, he’s already been left behind in the fourth position by a gap of ten miles from the third place.
“That’s truly unbelievable! Is there a possibility of this year’s number-one spot being taken by a freshman?”
A middle-aged, bespectacled man, who was the red-haired youth’s colleague, appeared to be more composed as he shook his head and said, “This race will go on for a whole thirty laps; we can only be certain about the results of the race at the last second.”
The red-haired chap suddenly yelled, “According to the information we’ve just gotten, racing hovercar 99’s driver is the very same Xia Fei who became a sensation across the entire Endaro Star Region three months ago for his twenty-one days of non-stop fight with Chen Dong!”
“Senior, do you still insist that this race will be won by Nie Wei?”
The middle-aged man was surprised. “If that’s the same Xia Fei, then we have a race worth looking forward to. After all, the tenacity and composure he demonstrated during the Crisis grade assessment were well beyond the average individual, though I can only look forward to it. This is an extreme race, after all. Tenacity alone won’t do; composure and experience factor in, too.”
Avril was anxiously watching the race on the screen as she tore the teddy bear in her hand. However, this stuffed bear seemed to be very durable, and just could not be torn apart.
“HMPH!” Avril pouted, taking out a pair of scissors from the drawer she used for art and began cutting that innocent plushie.
No matter how durable the toy was, it was ultimately made of fabric and was hardly a match for a pair of sharp scissors. Moments later, the stuffed teddy bear was turned into a pile of cotton and scrap.
Avril’s old butler, who was peeking through the gap in the door at this moment, shook his head, muttering to himself, “D*mm*t! Failed again.”
The race was on the third lap by now, and Xia Fei was still maintaining his lead over Bai Ye, and it was steadily increasing over time.
He drove toward the one hundred twenty-eight consecutive turns on the third level and was on the gangway leading back to the first level when, suddenly, a dull sound came from his engine; he then began to lose control of his racing hovercar.
Xia Fei’s heart seized as his two hands tightly gripped the steering wheel, doing his best to stabilize the hovercar and prevent it from spinning out of control.
The hovercar floated a few more miles before it came to halt at the end of the gangway.
The part of this track was not wide, so if a racing hovercar behind did not evade in time, they might very well end up crashing right into his racing hovercar.
Xia Fei leaped out from the cockpit as he tossed his helmet into the automotive; he then exerted all his strength to push the hovercar forward.
Bai Ye seemed to have intentionally stuck close and brushed by Xia Fei’s side.
The gale that the other racing hovercar brought with it almost sent Xia Fei tumbling on the ground; fortunately, he had worn his Windshade IV combat suit underneath, or else, the consequences could have been disastrous.
Soon after, Nie Wei arrived at where Xia Fei was from afar and slowed down his speed ever so slightly to avoid producing excessive wind, which could potentially injure Xia Fei.
Xia Fei knew this in his heart and planted his two firmly feet to the ground, exerting all his strength in both arms to push his hovercar over to a much safer edge of the track.
“Quickly look! Xia Fei’s 99 appears to have run into some trouble, and now he’s pushing his hovercar to the seclusion zone. What’s he going to do now? Quit the race?” said the red-haired commentator anxiously.
“What a pity; he was in an advantageous position just then, so it’s truly unfortunate that his vehicle has chosen to malfunction at this time. According to the data of the betting companies before the race, they seem to have reservations regarding Xia Fei’s racing hovercar, so perhaps there’s truly some defects to his vehicle,” said the middle-aged commentator.
“That’s not right. Why is Xia Fei taking out a pair of universal modification pliers? Is he perhaps attempting to remain in the race by repairing his vehicle right there on the track?!” exclaimed the red-haired commentator in shock.
Doing last-minute repairs while the race was ongoing was an extremely rare sight. Forget the fact that the racing hovercar might not even be repairable; even if the defect was fixed, he would be left in the dust by all the other competitors. Winning the race from such a circumstance was essentially impossible.
Xia Fei had plenty of doubts. For a mechanical component to suddenly encounter a malfunction without a reason, just what exactly was going on here?
The moment he cracked open the hood, he could tell through his understanding of this racing hovercar, which he had personally assembled, that the problem was not mechanical but artificial, instead.
He did not have any time to consider who the culprit was. Right now, the most important matter at hand was to repair the racing hovercar and get back into the race.
Xia Fei did not consider uttering the two words ‘give up’. As long as the race was still ongoing, he would most definitely not give up.
The damage was located somewhere between the no. 2 suspension plate and the pressure pipe. It was a good thing that the damage had not been to the important energy converter or the stability systems. Damage in those critical areas might very well cause a fatal accident.
In just a few seconds, Xia Fei determined that the hovercar could be fixed. How would he make up for the lost time, though?
Now that it had gotten to this point, there could only be one solution, and that was to completely unleash every ounce of performance in this car.
This was the only way for him to catch up to the hovercars racing ahead.
There was a small controller under the ion thrusters of this red racing hovercar. The moment he flicked the switch, the racing hovercar would exert one hundred ten percent of its ultimate power, but the drawback was the hovercar becoming more unstable and unbridled.
The danger of this far outstripped what he had been risking thus far.
Xia Fei had not thought to use this unless it was a last resort, but with how things had turned out for him, he could only go ahead and take the risk. If he did not flick this switch, he would most definitely lose.
Losing was never a problem. No one could win forever.
Still, no matter what, Xia Fei did not wish to lose in a cowardly fashion or without a full understanding of why.
He was not reconciled with this.
He refused to resign himself to this situation.
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