Monaco, Monte Carlo.
Lin Xiao and Tony spent three whole days at the casino. This time, Tony didn't bring Pepper Potts and Happy; he just wanted to have a wild time with his best buddy in his final days. During the day, the two watched racing preliminary rounds together, and at night they drank champagne like water at a private party. Tony was on the rooftop with two unnamed young models, while Lin Xiao monopolized the jacuzzi in the hotel suite, which he described as "getting used to the decadent life of high society in advance."
After three days, both of them had gotten a tan, Tony's wallet had shrunk considerably, and Lin Xiao's belly had gotten half a size bigger.
On the day of the race, Tony started fiddling with his racing suit early in the morning. It was a custom-made one, red and gold, with the Stark Industries logo embroidered on the chest—it was incredibly flashy. He looked at himself in the mirror again and again, then turned around and saw Lin Xiao putting on an oversized racing suit.
"You're going to participate in the competition too?" Tony raised his eyebrows high.
"What, you think you can race but I can't?" Lin Xiao zipped his shirt up to his chest, making it look like he was having an enema, but he didn't care. "Look how well I drive a Hummer, your car has never been able to catch me."
"How can they be the same? A Hummer is an off-road vehicle, this is an F1 race car. If someone your size sits in it, the chassis of the race car has to be lowered by three inches."
"That's perfect, it makes the center of gravity more stable."
Tony opened his mouth, only to find himself unable to refute. He paused for a moment, then said in a resigned tone, "Fine, you drive this time. It's just a recreational race anyway, so just drive slowly."
"Don't worry, I'm a very steady driver."
On the starting grid, Lin Xiao struggled to squeeze himself into the driver's seat. The inspector noticed the car's suspension had sagged a bit, hesitated for a moment, then looked at the logo on the exterior and realized it was Tony's car. In the end, he just silently ticked a few more boxes on the inspection form.
Tony sat in the passenger seat—or rather, the modified passenger seat, since all the back seats had been removed to fit him, an adult. He fastened his seatbelt and, looking at Lin Xiao's eager expression, suddenly realized that bringing Lin Xiao along had been a mistake.
"Let me tell you, racing isn't about who's the strongest, it's about who's the most precise in their line. Brake early when entering a corner, and accelerate slowly when exiting a corner; don't floor the accelerator."
"Okay, okay, you're even more long-winded than Mei."
Five red lights lit up one after another and then went out. The roar of engines exploded, and twenty race cars launched simultaneously.
Lin Xiao's car was a beat slower, not because he was slow to react, but because he pressed the accelerator too hard when starting, causing the rear wheels to spin for half a second. By the time he regained traction, five or six cars had already surged ahead. Lin Xiao wasn't in a hurry, and steadily chased after them. His driving was indeed rough, but he was daring. When others braked, he would release the accelerator; when others released the accelerator, he would press the accelerator. He relied on his reckless spirit to chase from the back of the line all the way to the middle.
Tony was being tossed around in the passenger seat, completely disoriented. He gripped the handrail tightly with one hand and gestured wildly in the air with the other. "Slow down! Slow down! Slow down on that turn! You need to slow down on that turn!"
"Why slow down? We're here now, aren't we?"
You almost crashed!
"It almost didn't flip."
By the fourth lap, Lin Xiao had already squeezed into the top ten. A piece of the right front wing of the car had been scraped off at some point, but it didn't stop him from continuing to push forward.
On the fifth lap, he overtook the third-place player. On the sixth lap, he caught up with the leader.
The driver of the black race car in front was a black man with a shaved head and fluorescent green earplugs. He drove really well, with clean and crisp lines, and guarded every corner flawlessly. Lin Xiao followed him for a whole lap but couldn't find an opportunity to overtake him.
Lin Xiao decided to change his strategy. He cut close to the taillights of the car in front, intending to use the airflow to overtake from the outside at the next corner. But he cut too close, so close that the driver in front could see his face in the rearview mirror.
The black driver stared at Lin Xiao in the rearview mirror for two seconds, then made a gesture.
He raised his right hand, extended his middle finger, and waved it in the rearview mirror.
The middle finger reflected a blinding light in the sunlight, piercing Lin Xiao's eyes like a needle.
Tony, in the passenger seat, also saw the gesture. He turned his head and saw Lin Xiao's expression change from focused to furious in a fraction of a second, his entire being radiating an extremely dangerous, suppressed killing intent.
" Lin Xiao, calm down--"
"Damn it, I can't calm down at all. I got looked down upon by a black guy, how can I stand it?"
He slammed on the gas, the race car roared, and nearly collided with the rear of the black race car in front. The black driver was startled by this and scrambled to his feet, the car wobbling twice before regaining its balance. Then, another middle finger stuck out of the car window.
Lin Xiao's eyes turned completely red.
In that instant, only one thought remained in his mind—to surpass, he had to surpass, at all costs.
The corners of the Monza Circuit appeared as blurry blocks of color to him. The cheers of the crowd were swallowed up by the roar of the engines. He didn't hear a word Tony was shouting from the passenger seat. All his attention was fixed on the black race car in front of him, on the shiny bald head and the arrogant middle finger.
Suddenly, two blue and white arcs of electricity struck from the pit lane exit on the outside of the track, hitting the center of the track and shattering the asphalt into pieces, sending gravel flying in all directions. A race car couldn't avoid it, its tires ran over the gravel, and the car veered off course and crashed into the guardrail. A scream erupted from the stands.
Tony jerked his head around and, through the wire fence on the outside of the track, saw a man. The man stood in the shadows of the pit lane exit, dressed in dirty work clothes, with a rudimentary mechanical exoskeleton hanging from his chest. Thick cables were wrapped around his arms, the ends of which dragged on the ground, flashing blinding blue-white electricity. Tony's eyes widened. Who was this man? What did he want?
Tony opened his mouth as if to tell Lin Xiao that a strange person had appeared off the track, but he found that Lin Xiao was focused on the race and didn't even look in that direction. The other drivers on the track had all noticed the madman with the whip and slowed down to avoid him. Only Lin Xiao didn't slow down. Instead, he stepped on the gas again.
The black driver in front was terrified by the Electric Whip that suddenly appeared from the sky. His car lurched on the track and his speed dropped sharply. Lin Xiao seized the opportunity, overtook him from the inside in one go, leaving the black driver behind. He also stuck a middle finger out of the car window, along with a giant middle finger formed from Blue Silver Grass.
" Lin Xiao, you fucking—" Tony's words were stuck in his throat.
Lin Xiao saw the black race car getting smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror. The black driver was leaning halfway out of the window, waving his fist at him, cursing something he couldn't hear but could guess. Lin Xiao grinned, a very bright and cheerful smile.
Suddenly, the whip lashed out again, this time with two arcs of electricity striking down simultaneously. One struck the track, while the other headed straight for his car! Lin Xiao jerked the steering wheel, narrowly avoiding the attack. Half of his right rearview mirror was grazed by the electric arc, and shards of glass flew into his face.
Tony glanced back and saw that the madman had already rushed from the pit lane onto the track, whipping his whip as he ran. The two cables drew blue and white arcs in the air, and each lash left a scorched groove in the ground. His target was his car! But he realized that the madman had whipped his car several times, but hadn't hit it once.
It's not that his aim is bad. It's that Lin Xiao is driving way too damn flashy.
The red and gold racing car swerved left and right on the track, sometimes accelerating and sometimes decelerating, perfectly dodging the madman's attacks. Lin Xiao even hummed a little tune.
Tony was pale.
"Can you slow down!"
"Slow down for no reason! The finish line is right ahead!" Lin Xiao's voice was filled with a frenzied excitement. He floored the accelerator, and the race car sped toward the finish line. The madman behind him was still chasing, whipping the track into a giant chessboard pattern. But he managed not to get hit even once.
With less than a hundred meters to go, Lin Xiao's eyes lit up. He saw the checkered flag fluttering above the finish line, and a smile curved his lips. He was finally going to win.
Just as Lin Xiao relaxed, the whip came crashing down from directly above, two arcs of electricity striking the roof of the race car. The roof was ripped off, flipped twice in the air, and slammed into the tire wall on the outside of the track. Lin Xiao looked up and saw the sky above him, which was glowing blue from the electric arcs. He turned to look at the Russian guy grinning at him.
The roof is missing and the body is severely damaged, so even if the car crosses the finish line now, its time will be invalid.
Lin Xiao slowly parked the race car at the edge of the track and turned off the engine. Tony watched him cautiously from the side, wanting to say something to ease the tension, but Lin Xiao's sinister smile made him swallow back the words he was about to say.
Lin Xiao unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the car door, and got out. "You just wait in the car, don't move." Lin Xiao patted Tony on the shoulder. "I'm going to give that Russian a lesson on how to use a whip." He then strode towards Ivan Vanko, who was still cracking a whip.
Ivan Vanko grinned as he saw Lin Xiao approaching. He crossed two Electric Whip in front of his chest, the electric arcs crackling on the whips, making him look like a Christmas tree flashing blue light. He didn't know who this big guy was, nor did he need to. He was here to cause trouble for Tony Stark; everyone else was just an appetizer.
"Who are you? Tell Stark to get out here," Ivan Vanko said in English with a heavy Russian accent.
"He's in the car." Lin Xiao gestured towards the race car behind him, not stopping. "I'm his good brother. If you want to see him, you'll have to get past me first."
As Lin Xiao spoke, Ivan's whip lashed out. Two arcs of electricity drew blinding curves in the air, striking Lin Xiao precisely in the chest. The arc exploded, and a blue-white light completely engulfed his upper body. A cruel smile curled at the corner of Ivan's lips as he waited to see this man cut in half at the waist.
The electric arc dissipated.
Lin Xiao stood still, looked down at the two still-smoking scorch marks on his chest, then looked up at Ivan. He patted his chest, extinguishing the still-crackling residual arcs of electricity, then reached out and grabbed the tip of one of the Electric Whip.
Ivan's pupils suddenly contracted. This was impossible. His Electric Whip could melt steel instantly, tear apart the shell of an armored vehicle, and cleave a racetrack in two with a single lash. But this person in front of him hadn't been sent flying; instead, he had caught the whip with his bare hands. The movement was as casual as if he were pinching a dangling shoelace.
Lin Xiao pulled the whip back, lifting Ivan off the ground like a fish hooked on a fishing rod, his feet leaving the ground as he flew towards Lin Xiao. Instinctively, Ivan tried to release the whip to escape, but before he could even open his fingers, Lin Xiao's wrist flicked again. A wave of energy emanated from the middle of the whip, which snapped sharply in the opposite direction, sending Ivan tumbling 180 degrees, like a Slingshot launched into the air, hurtling back to where he had just been standing.
Two Electric Whip tumbled through the air, one wrapping around Ivan's left leg and the other around his right arm. Arcs of electricity exploded on his mechanical exoskeleton, enveloping his body in a cocoon of light that convulsed wildly. He let out a very short scream, which was then swallowed by the crackling of the electric arcs.
Ivan Vanko fell from mid-air, crashing onto the concrete of the track, bouncing once, and then lying still. His two Electric Whip were still wrapped around his body, the arcs extinguished, with only wisps of smoke rising from his work clothes collar. He lay there, face down, back up, emanating a burnt, roasted meat smell.
Lin Xiao walked over and flipped him over with his toe. Ivan's face was charred black from the electric shock, his hair stood on end, and his lips were twitching very slightly, but his eyes had completely rolled back.
The system's voice rang in his mind.
"Ding-- Whiplash, the key villain in Iron Man 2, has lost his mobility. Plot assessment: D-. Unable to participate in subsequent plot developments."
Lin Xiao's smile froze on his face. D-. He couldn't participate in the subsequent plot. Did that mean the reward was gone? He looked down at the still-smoking Ivan Vanko on the ground and began frantically calculating how to salvage the situation. Hammer Industries? Justin Hammer would indeed reappear, but without Ivan Vanko building his Iron Soldier, what kind of trouble could that smooth-talking arms dealer Justin Hammer cause?
Tony had somehow appeared behind him, looking down at the still-smoking Russian man on the ground, his expression extremely complicated. " Lin Xiao, do you know who this guy is?"