Competition

The track in the brick-and-mortar store began behind the counter by the entrance.

The starting point was a straight stretch nearly ten meters long. At its end, the track narrowed toward the center for nearly three meters before climbing straight up toward the ceiling, forming a graceful aerial Loop-the-Loop.

At the very top, it gave the exact sensation of being upside down on a roller coaster.

The downhill section of the Loop-the-Loop led into a sharp turn. The track was slightly banked before gradually leveling out into another straight stretch nearly ten meters long, ending in another sharp turn that led into the longest section of consecutive hills.

It stretched nearly twenty meters horizontally, with three consecutive rises and drops. It ended on an uphill slope before making a sharp turn into a nearly ten-meter-long, three-tier switchback track.

The entire switchback section sloped downward, with the track slightly banked at each turn, resembling three consecutive hairpin bends.

Finally, a sharp turn led into the sprint phase.

Under normal circumstances, the cars could be collected once they reached this point.

If they wanted to continue, the cars could climb another slope after crossing the finish line, pass along the track above the entrance, then rush downhill back to the starting point.

But Qi Tian and A Lie's race was only one lap, so there was no need to consider that for now.

"Ready? I'll count down from three, and you let go when I say start."

The hum of the motors was especially distinct at that moment. The spectators held their breath, with only Liang Xing's countdown punctuating the sound.

"3!

2!

1!

Start!"

"Go! Charge Horn!"

A Lie's Charge Horn took the lead. This time, he was as reckless as ever.

Although running it this way would cause some damage to the motor, the track was only around a hundred meters in total. The motor definitely would not die halfway through.

That was enough!

He could tell that little Qi Tian was taking this seriously.

Besides, everyone was only making minor adjustments to basic models. Strictly speaking, there was not much difference between them.

Qi Tian's War God was clearly a size larger than A Lie's Charge Horn. Yet the track narrowed before the Loop-the-Loop, so if he did not want a collision, he could only take the initiative to widen the distance.

A Lie was livestreaming, after all. He could not lose to an elementary school kid!

Whoosh!

Charge Horn was the first to shoot into the Loop-the-Loop.

War God also boosted its motor performance under Qi Tian's command to charge.

Unlike Charge Horn's reckless sprint, War God had used that stretch to warm up. There was no need to worry about damaging its motor.

The little guy was naturally more protective of the toy he had assembled with his own hands.

"Charge, charge! Charge Horn, go, go, go!" A Lie had no such concerns. At worst, he could replace the motor after the race.

But clearly, speed had never been everything in GD Racers competitions.

Liang Xing had emphasized it over and over while giving pointers just now—pay attention to balance!

A Lie had listened, but he had not expected there to be a problem with his modifications.

The track at the first sharp turn was slightly banked. Charge Horn hugged the wall of the track and barely managed to maintain its balance.

By the second sharp turn, the drawbacks of blindly charging ahead became obvious.

The GD Chip poured most of its performance into acceleration, naturally sacrificing fine balance adjustments.

Halfway through the second sharp turn, Charge Horn successfully flew off the track.

The tumbling Charge Horn slammed straight into the wall. Though its body did not fall apart, its tires slowly came to a stop.

War God took the opportunity to clear the turn smoothly.

I told you that assembly was unreasonable! See? You crashed!

Shocking! Are you really going to lose to an elementary school kid? Leave the group chat—don't say you're part of our Mini 4WD community.

"Quick, quick, quick! There's still a chance!"

A Lie had no time to deal with his livestream viewers. With quick hands and sharp eyes, he picked up Charge Horn, reinstalled the battery in a few swift motions, and sent it back onto the track.

GD Racers competitions allowed drivers to replace parts mid-race. That was also part of the competition.

Of course, the store's track was too short for this targeted modification stage to be particularly necessary.

Unless someone flew off the track like A Lie and had no choice but to inspect their car, a normal race should be completed in one go.

Fortunately, Qi Tian had not replaced his motor. His bulky car body inevitably affected its speed, leaving A Lie with a sliver of hope.

"He won't catch up."

Most of the customers in the store were watching the race, but Liang Xing had special privileges and was watching the surveillance feed from behind the counter.

Time constraints had prevented Liang Xing from teaching Qi Tian how to replace a motor.

But after A Lie's mistake, Qi Tian would never allow him to overtake again.

That bulky car body was not just for show. A Lie would find out soon enough.

"Charge Horn! Charge! Pass him!"

Perhaps all streamers suffered from Social Cow Disease. A Lie shouted as though the surrounding spectators did not exist.

Influenced by A Lie, little Qi Tian was especially excited today too.

"No way! War God, slow down! Knock it flying!"

"Fuck!"

One accelerated while the other slowed down. War God's Wind-Resistant Cowl took effect, causing it to deviate from its route and successfully get rear-ended.

Charge Horn took flight again, while War God merely shook. After hitting the wall, it quickly stabilized itself.

Fuck!

A Lie froze, and so did the viewers in the livestream.

In a Parallel World without Let's & Go, nothing like this had ever happened.

Victory for the brat!

Cruise Ship x1 sent

The livestream instantly erupted as if it were New Year's.

In truth, Liang Xing had known the little guy was up to no good the moment Qi Tian asked for impact resistance.

The instant A Lie fell behind due to his mistake, the winner had effectively been decided.

"Sorry... Mister, I didn't mean to break it."

A hundred-meter track did not take long to complete. Holding War God, which had safely finished the entire course, Qi Tian apologized to A Lie awkwardly.

He truly had not intended to damage A Lie's racer, but once Charge Horn took flight, it was beyond anyone's control.

It ended up diving headfirst into the floor, breaking both its cowl and body shell.

"It's fine. It's not your fault. You're really good." A Lie smiled and rubbed the little guy's head.

He had indeed been outclassed this time. He had played with Mini 4WD for so long that his thinking had become somewhat rigid.

They had become friends through racing, and their relationship suddenly grew much closer.

"I wouldn't recommend copying his approach. Bulky models are at a major disadvantage on many tracks."

Seeing the eyes of many spectators light up, Liang Xing guessed they were preparing to imitate Qi Tian's model.

But if A Lie had not made his own mistake, Qi Tian would never have had a chance to ram into him.

Liang Xing's reminder was also meant to make them think for themselves.

If they still insisted on taking this path, that was fine too. After all, wrecking other people's cars would bring the store more business.

"Xing, can I add you on Feige? If I get the chance, I'd like to challenge Tiantian again."

A Lie bought quite a few more parts, then asked Liang Xing before leaving.

Feige was short for the Flying Pigeon Messenger App, an instant messaging app similar to Earth's WeChat or QQ.

"Handsome boy, race me too! Let's see if you can knock my car around!"

"Yeah, yeah! I haven't tested mine since putting it together! Let's crash them together!"

Qi Tian looked eagerly at Liang Xing. Only after receiving permission did he excitedly prepare for the next race.

But—

These uncles were so strange! They actually wanted War God to knock them flying?

A tiny head full of huge confusion.

The recommendation votes reached double digits for the first time, so let's celebrate together with Teachers' Day!

Also, can any expert help me calculate how fast a racer needs to go to make it through a vertical Loop-the-Loop without falling halfway? A basic model weighs around 150 grams.