After three days of Preliminary Rounds, Baisha County's tourism revenue had surged far beyond previous years.
Nearly 8,000 contestants needed lodging and meals, and it was national day—what part of that didn't cost money?
Liang Xing felt a little pained covering the expenses for all sixty-four contestants who had passed the Preliminary Round, while the contestants who had failed to qualify were happily playing with their Commemorative Badges.
Contestants who failed to pass the Preliminary Round were not entitled to a Participation Prize. A Special GD Racing Badge served as a Consolation Prize and sent them on their way.
The Special GD Racing Badge, otherwise known as the Commemorative Badge, used the projection technology that would be included in the new toys.
As long as the Commemorative Badge was laid flat, sunlight would reveal the contestant's GD Racer racing vividly above it.
During registration, contestants had been required to submit three-view images of their racing vehicles. The Commemorative Badges were made according to contestant numbers and their respective GD Racers.
That was why so many people deeply regretted entering the competition with half-baked basic models!
Still, everyone approved of the Toy Factory's arrangement. This truly was the most commemorative badge possible.
After the three-day Preliminary Round ended, the GD Racing Tournament also took a day off.
Liang Xing had originally planned to randomly assign matchups according to the Preliminary Round rules, but discussions about the championship had been particularly heated on the Good Conscience Community these past three days.
Many people believed Seed Players should be selected to ensure an exciting enough final and plenty to watch in the semifinals.
Liang Xing had seen those posts as well. The discussion was indeed extremely popular.
Since that was the case, why not fulfill everyone's wishes?
The original purpose of holding the racing tournament had not been to rake in money. Naturally, Liang Xing also wanted to see the most exciting races!
As the manufacturer, he understood GD Racers far better than the natives of this Parallel World. He could not bring himself to personally enter the competition and crush beginners.
But the racers from his childhood memories were only truly fun when they raced!
Liang Xing was too embarrassed to go out there and bully people himself, so all he could do was watch.
This rest day was actually the solution Liang Xing had come up with at the last minute.
There would be sixty-four contestants in the semifinals, and viewers could vote for eight of them.
Because the Parallel World's internet used real-name registration, setting up the vote was incredibly easy for Liang Xing.
Voting was free, with one vote per person.
The official website displayed contestants' vote totals in real time. Voting would officially end at ten that night.
Liang Xing would separate the eight contestants with the highest vote totals across the semifinal groups. They were the so-called Seed Players.
Eight people per race made exactly eight races, and there were exactly eight Seed Players.
The top vote-getter was, unsurprisingly, Qi Tian.
Although he had failed to take first place in the first stage of the Preliminary Round, he had switched to Sand Tires in the second stage and easily claimed first place to advance into the semifinals.
Thanks to A Lie's promotion, the little guy had stopped being mischievous after becoming obsessed with GD Racers. Naturally, he had earned everyone's recognition.
Even though quite a few people had hidden their true abilities and believed they would not lose easily, they had to admit that the little guy was undeniably in the top tier of this circle.
Wind God's use of the wind gave it a straight-line speed that left many people far behind.
Besides, everyone had hidden their strength. Who knew whether Qi Tian had concealed any of his own?
Second place went to Zhou Chi, who had surpassed Qi Tian in the first stage. His unconventional racer had shocked many viewers seeing it for the first time.
Anyone who knew even a little about racing understood how much time could be saved in an official match by not needing to change to Sand Tires.
That made Zhou Chi a major favorite for the championship as well. Many believed he could restore some dignity to the adults.
—So many adults had entered the competition, yet they could not outrun a child. What kind of disgrace was that?
Third place went to A Lie.
Streamers did have a considerable advantage when it came to voting, especially a comedic streamer like A Lie, whose values were particularly sound.
Though he had become famous for being worse than an elementary school student, anyone who had actually watched the race knew his skills were not weak.
His Anti-Collision Mode had never been revealed in previous races. Considering how many turns this track had, A Lie was no less competitive than the two ahead of him.
Fourth place went to a girl named Luo Dani. She was quite beautiful, and her racer was pink and adorable as well.
Her racer had no obvious weaknesses. It was average on both straightaways and turns, but she was especially skilled at handling attacks from other racers.
During the second stage of the Preliminary Round, someone had tried to ram her racer. Without Luo Dani saying a word, her racer suddenly accelerated.
The other racer struck the guide wheel on her rear wing. Luo Dani's racer only swayed slightly before stabilizing, while the other racer flipped over.
Ramming other racers was an allowed tactic, sure, but failing to win the collision was truly awkward.
Fifth place went to Wang Bowen, A Lie's opponent from the first stage and a specialist in turns.
In truth, specialized racers did not have much of an advantage in long-distance races.
After all, he was not like A Lie, who directly forced others out of the competition—though that had not actually been A Lie's intention.
If he could only create distance through turns but could not maintain his advantage on other terrain, then he still had no way to claim the final victory.
So far, everyone had only experienced a short section of the track. The full course would only officially be run once the semifinals began.
Based on the strength Wang Bowen had shown so far, it did not seem sufficient to support a bid for the championship.
Sixth and seventh place went to a pair of brothers. The elder brother was Liu Wen, and the younger brother was Liu Wu.
Compared to the Show-Off Team, these two brothers coordinated far better!
They did not merely adjust their speeds to accommodate one another. They helped each other accelerate.
When the two worked together during the first stage of the Preliminary Round, their straight-line speed had clearly exceeded what they achieved alone in the second stage.
Yet racing alone did not show any obvious weaknesses either. They would even deliberately approach other racers and somehow achieve part of the effect of two-car cooperation.
Then, when the other racer's battery was about to run dry, they would abandon it and easily advance.
Eighth place went to Qian Lai, known as the perennial runner-up.
He was a rich second-generation heir, and his racer was rather unusual. He liked following directly behind other racers.
By borrowing the wind from the racer ahead, his racer excelled at conserving battery power.
During the second stage of the Preliminary Round, he had relied on that technique. The leading racer's battery had run out, while he had remained completely unfazed and easily overtaken it.
Those were the eight Seed Players chosen through voting, as well as the eight contestants everyone believed had the best chance of advancing to the final.
On October 5, the semifinals officially began.
There would only be four races today, with each race lasting two hours.
This was the true time required to complete the entire track!
Of course, contestants who could make it into the final would most likely not need the full two hours.
But without a doubt, this was also the first time racers of the Parallel World truly witnessed a proper GD Racer track.
It was likewise a dual test for both the racers and their GD Racers.
"Son! Go for it!"
Qi Ren had actually entered the competition too, but his luck had not been very good. He had been eliminated in the first stage of the Preliminary Round.
"Hmmph! Star Uncle! I'll win the championship with my own strength soon! If I win, can you play with me?"
GD Racers had indeed changed Qi Tian quite a bit, but because of GD Racers, Liang Xing had not played around with Qi Tian for a long time.
"Sure. Once you win, Star Uncle will play with you."
"Promise?"
"Promise!"
The little guy hooked pinkies with Liang Xing, then hurried happily toward the racetrack.
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