Chapter 2: I drove a KartRider.
Wu Zhenlin suspected that his son had understood Louise's words, but how could that be?
Even though this guy went to a bilingual school from a young age, given the pace of teaching in kindergarten and primary school, it would be impossible for him to understand slightly more complex English.
He could only brush it off, saying gently, "Louise wants to go go-karting with you."
Wu Shi blinked twice, realizing that he had overreacted. Why was he arguing with a child?
It's only 2007, and foreigners generally don't have a very good attitude towards Chinese people.
Even in the past, when the motherland became prosperous and strong, many foreigners remained arrogant as before.
This is why he wants to fight for everything, and it has even become a kind of obsession.
But he has already given his life for this, and his reaction now only shows that he is still trapped in those 58 laps.
Perhaps, as my father said, we should go out and see more of the world. There are so many beautiful sights and things in this world, why be so attached to this?
He smiled with some relief; he had been too easily fooled.
"Huh? What's wrong?" Wu Zhenlin was completely bewildered when he saw the child suddenly laugh.
"nothing."
Wu Shi turned around and looked at the racetrack. Standing outside the track, the shadow in his heart seemed to have finally been broken by the light.
We've been tricked, completely tricked.
He's been through serious accidents throughout his career, it's just that he died the last time.
Thinking of this remark, which had a somewhat hellish, humorous feel to it, his smile deepened.
"Want to give it a try?" Wu Zhenlin stepped forward, and several go-karts sped past on the field from time to time.
"You've never been one to smile much since you were little, and you're too mature for your age. I'm worried that you'll shut yourself off. So, whatever you're thinking, you can talk to me about it."
Upon hearing his father's words, Wu Shi realized just how much pain he had caused those around him by dwelling on the past.
Perhaps his mother's departure was also related to him.
Wu Shi's heart remained unsettled, whether because of his death in his previous life or because of his family in this life.
But now that you've figured it out, there's no need to dwell on it anymore.
The best times to make a change are the past and the present.
So, let's start over.
Wu Shi turned his head and smiled at Wu Zhenlin, saying, "Thank you, Dad."
"Father and son, there's no need for thanks. I just hope you can grow up safely and be happy every day." Wu Zhenlin patted the child's head.
"Hey! Uncle Wu Zhenlin, is he going to run away? I saw him nod." Little Louise skipped over.
"Want to play?" Wu Zhenlin tilted his head down and raised an eyebrow.
"Let's have some fun," Wu Shi nodded.
Since Wu Zhenlin had come to discuss racetrack business, he had contacted Mr. Chen, the racetrack operator, several times. Preparing cars and racing suits for the two children was not a difficult task.
"Is this your first time playing?" the staff member asked.
"I suppose so," Wu Shi nodded.
"Oh, please be careful and don't drive too fast," the staff member reminded.
Wu Zhenlin walked over and said, "Right foot on the gas, left foot on the brake. Let me have the coach take you for a couple of laps first."
"I can drive," Wu Shi said.
"No, let's try it on a smaller field first," Wu Zhenlin said firmly.
Helpless, Wu Shi got into the Type I go-kart and demonstrated on the back track that he could indeed drive it.
But his father was still not entirely at ease, which left Wu Shi speechless. If he had thought it wouldn't work out, why didn't he just reject that foreign brat Louise outright?
I was so annoyed by the delay that I didn't want to leave, but then Mr. Chen waved his hand and told me to clear the area first so the two kids could run around and play for a bit.
Wu Shi blinked. Oh right, his family seemed to be quite wealthy, and the foreign auntie also seemed quite extraordinary.
"Hmph! This is your first time driving, isn't it? I'll let you have your way!" Before putting on her helmet, Louise jumped up and down twice.
"Thank you." Wu Shi nodded with a smile.
Seeing how cooperative he was, Louise felt a pang of shame for bullying an honest child out of vanity, so she put on a friendly smile: "Hehe, I can teach you how to drive a go-kart after we finish! I'm a genius girl!"
Wu Shi pretended not to understand these words that would definitely become a black mark on his past when he grew up, and pushed the go-karts onto the starting grid with the staff.
"What's going on! These two kids are taking up our time just to play this game!" one child complained.
"Yeah! Pshaw, I heard they were two newbies, so they cleared the area for safety reasons." Another older person chimed in.
The two players on the field paid no attention to any of this.
"Son, drive slowly. Louise has participated in many races in Italie and can be considered a junior professional driver." Wu Zhenlin patted his son's shoulder.
"Yeah, I just drive it around for fun." Wu Shi nodded.
On the other side, Martina said to Louise, "Be careful."
"Don't worry, Mom! I'll definitely be five seconds ahead of him, no! Ten seconds!"
"Being competitive is good, but competing with a kid who's never driven a go-kart before, how can you even be so shameless?" Martina rolled her eyes; she knew her daughter's personality quite well.
"Hehe~" Louise put on her helmet. It wasn't because the opponents on Italie's side were too freakish, but she also wanted to experience the feeling of easily taking the lead!
Because in the eyes of everyone except Louise, this lap was just for fun, so there was no such thing as a warm-up lap or a tire warming lap.
When he sat down again and faced the track, Wu Shi felt a little thirsty.
Sure enough, despite the constant fear, I still longed for it in the end.
Like a bird, even if it falls to its death, it will still yearn for the sky after being reborn.
The two are ready, the match begins!
Buzz!
The engine roared to life, and the car sped off.
On the straight road, the two were almost neck and neck.
Louise glanced at it subconsciously. Speed on the corners is what matters, speed on the straights doesn't matter. Just wait until turn one, and you'll see!
As the vehicle accelerated, Wu Shi experienced a strange sensation; he seemed to become one with the vehicle, as if the wheels were his own hands and feet.
This strange feeling was extremely pronounced during the last bend in his previous life; when he even had a tire blowout, he felt as if his hand had exploded.
He didn't know why he felt this way, but it wasn't bad.
Approaching Turn 1, because Louise was on the left, he didn't squeeze to the left edge line. After all, it was just kids playing around, and doing so could easily cause an unnecessary accident.
Even without using the entire track, he still managed to corner by stepping on the kerb with minimal loss of speed thanks to his car control skills.
sieve!
After one right turn, there is another right turn. You only need to make slight adjustments to the steering to navigate the turn smoothly.
Then came a left turn followed by an S-curve. At this speed, Wu Shi's every turn was extremely precise, requiring no corrections whatsoever.
"The line control is so smooth!" Boss Chen was somewhat surprised and looked at Wu Zhenlin: "Is this really Mr. Wu's first time driving a go-kart?"
"Uh, yes." Wu Zhenlin was also somewhat shocked.
"Wu, are you sure he's never driven a go-kart before? No, he's never driven on this track?!"
Martina pushed up her sunglasses and became serious. In her opinion, this kid was not honest and must have driven go-karts before, and practiced on this track.
As we all know, to drive a race car, you need to be familiar with the track and the vehicle first, otherwise you will definitely not be able to accurately grasp the braking point and the cornering angle.
But Wu Shi's smooth and effortless maneuvering was like that of a seasoned driver who had been lapping the track for years.
"So smooth!" A child rubbed his eyes.
"No, how can he turn so fast? Isn't he afraid of slipping?" a child asked incredulously.
"Tch, he's driving a lower-class car, so it's naturally easier for him to control, since he's slower." Some people were still dismissive and dissatisfied with Wu Shi and his companion dominating the track.
Whew!
The wind howled, and each turn brought a little bit of G-force, which made Wu Shi feel a long-lost sense of comfort.
He paid no attention to Louise, who was left behind, and drove with a rather enjoyable attitude.
The friction between the wheels and the ground, the lateral sliding friction and the traction force when exiting the corner, all made Wu Shi's perception of the car clearer.
This wonderful feeling made him subconsciously try to push his limits, to see if he could enter corners faster, brake later, and accelerate earlier.
But the Pengcheng Speed Circuit isn't very long, so before he could even properly test it out, the car had already crossed the race line.
When he saw the checkered flag being waved by Mr. Chen, he snapped out of his daze, slowed down, and slowly drove around the shop back to the repair shop.
On the way back, he still felt great, but because he was going slowly, he didn't need to pay attention to the tires at all, which instead drew his attention to the engine.
'You can even sense that?'
Wu Shi was shocked. This had gone beyond the realm of car enthusiasts, had it?
He's more ruthless than the go-kart's monitoring system; it's as if all the data has been collected into his brain.
If he can do dozens or even hundreds of laps and become completely familiar with the car and the track, he might be able to set a terrifying lap time.
As soon as the car was parked, before Wu Shi could recover from his wild fantasies, Wu Zhenlin jogged over and hurriedly asked, "Son! You've really never driven a go-kart before? You've never played one on the computer either?"
Taking off his helmet, Wu Shi realized he might have been driving too fast by accident. He blinked and asked, "Does go-karting count?"
"What's Karting?" Wu Zhenlin asked, puzzled.
"It's a game that just came out last year, but it's an entertainment-oriented racing game, it has nothing to do with reality." Boss Chen walked over, looked Wu Shi up and down, and continued, "Kid, want to try racing?"
After looking through everything, Mr. Chen had only one thought in his mind: This is a genius! An absolute genius!
Martina was also extremely shocked. She quickly glanced at her watch: 45.101 seconds. Keep in mind that this was the lap time from a standstill! If it were in the fastest lap of qualifying, it would easily be under 44 seconds!
She glanced at Wu Zhenlin with some doubt; she didn't believe that Wu Shi had never driven a go-kart before.
Even in Europe, I have never seen a child with such talent.
How could someone who's never even touched a car or driven on this track achieve this level of performance?!
However, she couldn't communicate with this seemingly gifted child for the time being, because she felt it would be best to take this opportunity to educate her own daughter.