Qi Tian's race was the first semifinal match, and also his only chance to experience the full track before the finals.
"Kid, can you keep up with the speed?" The burly man had no confidence he could outrun Qi Tian, so he could only think of other ways.
"Contestant 3201! You may not intimidate other contestants!" Zhou Shuya had been watching her stopwatch. Hearing the voice, she looked up to see Qi Tian staring at the burly man speaking to him.
"One warning!" The burly man was about to speak again when Zhou Shuya gave him a warning without another word.
She knew exactly how much Liang Xing doted on his little nephew. She could not let the kid get scared before he even started running.
"Uncle, don't you know how to skate?" Qi Tian showed no fear at all. He glanced at the burly man's feet and asked curiously.
"Take your positions! 3--2--1--Start!"
The little guy might not understand how treacherous people could be, but Zhou Shuya could not let them keep talking.
"A real man's romance doesn't need skates!" The burly man charged ahead, sprinting with all his might.
Qi Tian's Wind God caught up from behind.
Though the burly man's shout had startled him and slowed him by half a beat, Wind God truly lived up to everyone's recognition.
It was clearly in a completely different league from the other racers on the track.
The disruptive winds became tame before Wind God. Before reaching the corner, it had already taken first place.
"There isn't any suspense."
Liang Xing was also watching the live broadcast. His powers of observation were beyond ordinary people's comprehension.
Speed, acceleration, even the racers' commands—the data of all eight contestants was clear at a glance.
The only thing worth watching in this semifinal was how Qi Tian would complete the whole track and what his time would be.
That was what the audience cared about most.
The semifinal qualifiers were basically beyond doubt. At least in the first match, Qi Tian had not disappointed anyone.
He took the turns skillfully and smoothly caught the car to swap its tires.
Unlike in the Preliminary Round, Qi Tian did not put on Sand Tires at the start of the semifinal. Instead, he changed tires before reaching the sand.
He also needed to test which of the two different approaches would be faster.
GD Racers improved through repeated practice. Though Qi Tian was young, he had already grasped its essence.
"Changing tires is faster!"
There were two consecutive Sand Track sections with only a single turn between them. Comparing the time on his watch, the little guy understood.
Sand Tires were too slow through the Five Consecutive Hairpin Turns, and the wear from the earlier stretch also somewhat reduced their effectiveness across the two sand sections.
For the first time in an eight-person race, Wind God had pulled far ahead of everyone else.
"As we can see, young contestant Qi Tian has already left the second sand section and is changing tires and batteries, while the nearest contestant, 3201, has only just left the first sand section!"
Zhou Shuya sat on a Flying Broomstick, reporting on Qi Tian's car from the side. Such an enormous lead had basically secured victory.
Outside the track, the other seven Seed Players were also watching the match.
"That little brat Qi Tian is seriously fierce! He's definitely still got a trump card he hasn't used! He told me before that he hadn't finished it yet, but it's been over a month now, so it should be about done." A Lie watched the broadcast on his livestream while chatting with his viewers.
After losing again and again, fighting again and again, then losing again and again, A Lie and Qi Tian had long since become good friends.
The others paid more attention to how the terrain favored or disadvantaged their own car designs.
For example, Zhou Chi was studying where he should replace parts and where he could take shortcuts.
At least he would not need to switch anything out for the sand section. His racer could run along the walls, saving him a lot of trouble.
"1 hour, 17 minutes, and 3 seconds! Young contestant Qi Tian has completed the full track!"
It had to be admitted that the gap in strength was far too great. The second-place racer could not even see Qi Tian's back.
"Too weak."
Those racers were not even qualified to give him something to draft off. Qian Lai shook his head inside his luxurious RV.
He was very interested in Qi Tian.
The little guy had a decent image. With the right packaging, he might make even more money than many celebrities.
Qian Lai had played with all kinds of things before, but he was most interested in high-tech toys.
He had played with drones and robots, but the thing that interested him most was GD Racers, which he had only encountered recently.
Robot battles were actually fun too.
Each team designed robots—though they were really more like vehicles. Robots with different roles used different weapons, mainly balls with different damage values. They fired different balls at designated spots to reduce health. A side lost when all its robots were destroyed or its base was demolished.
When there was an actual match, robot battles were even more exciting than GD Racers.
But it was hard to gather enough people, and even harder to popularize, so naturally it could not become an everyday gaming option.
GD Racers was different.
Physical stores had tracks, and the officials also held formal competitions.
If people did not want to squeeze onto a track with others, they could simply race outdoors.
The adaptive terrain satisfied many of a racer's ideas. They could take it out anytime, anywhere, and race a round with friends.
Qian Lai had also been designing tracks himself. He had come to this competition specifically to personally experience an officially designed professional track.
The facts proved that he had enjoyed himself immensely.
The semifinals lasted two days. Compared with the Preliminary Round, where problems kept cropping up, the semifinals were basically solo showcases.
The only one who crashed and burned was Liu Wen, the older of the Liu Brothers.
His racer was burned out. Fortunately, the chip was salvaged, or he might really have fought the other contestant to the death.
This was also a match Liang Xing had paid close attention to.
If Qi Tian's Wind God relied on using the wind, then this contestant specialized in using fire.
He had tampered with his Guide Wheel, and both the shell and body of his car were coated in Fireproof Coating. By scraping against something, he ignited the Guide Wheel's casing, then rubbed it against other cars.
Liu Wen had suffered because he did not understand this trick. He had tried to use his old tactic and catch a ride in the slipstream, only to be ignited in one hit and nearly have his entire car burned down.
As expected, Liu Wen became the only Seed Player among the eight to be eliminated.
"The semifinals have now concluded successfully! Congratulations to the eight contestants who have advanced, and congratulations as well to the other fifty-four contestants for receiving our Participation Prize."
Unlike the general reward of a Consolation Prize, the Participation Prize was rather special: a one-year pass with unlimited entries.
—An experience ticket for White Stone Mountain Track!
After the competition and a period of renovation, Baishi Mountain would become a tourist attraction open to the public.
Liang Xing had even built the Signal Tower. He was not about to let it go to waste after holding just one competition!
This modest hill would become a landmark attraction of Baisha County and contribute to its tourism industry.
For the contestants, this was also good news.
After all, many of them had not been able to finish the full track. They could try again later at their own expense.
Thinking of everyone, Liang Xing had specially prepared the related facilities and was only waiting to officially begin construction after the competition.
The satellites in the sky were depending on these toys.
Liang Xing's original intention was not to make money, but developing new toys required funding.
Fortunately, when a toy was good, people were more than willing to spend their money on it.
Clearly, GD Racers met that condition.
Everyone eagerly awaited the start of the finals, not caring in the slightest how much money this toy would take from them.
The first donation still deserved a celebration! Thanks again for the support!
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