This is not how you drive a machine!

Chapter 289 Departure (Part Two)

As time went on, the popularity of drifting did not fade; on the contrary, it became increasingly popular due to videos from various drivers and the trial implementation of new traffic regulations in various regions.

Along with the buzz, there were other news items about the Nimbus.

Chen Shuo confessed to the details of Ye Qinghe's embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds over the years, proving that there were improper exchanges of interests between Qinghe Group and Guanglun Club...

Furthermore, the investigation into Ye Qinghe revealed serious signs of corruption within the Qinghe Group, and the police have opened a case for investigation...

[Furthermore, based on Chen Shuo's confession, the audit bureau also identified financial irregularities in a series of companies that cooperated with Guanglun, including Linjiedian Media Co., Ltd., Xinghe Boundary Investment, and Liuyu MCN.]

The investigation into Chen Shuo is still ongoing; however, Ye Qing, the driver of Lightwheel No. 1, has chosen to withdraw the charges and expressed his willingness to remain in Lightwheel...

This might be good news for Nimbus's financial situation...

The sun is just right.

At the base of Project Lightyear, all members of the Yunyi Racing Team gathered together.

Zhou Yun turned off the news on his phone, then sat down next to Han Ya and looked up to watch the video on the projector intently.

In the video, the warm sunlight shines inside the S-series headquarters building.

All the renowned retired racers from Xia Kingdom, who had been famous from the S1 era to S7, gathered together and stood behind the official spokesperson of the S-series.

"After combining assessments from all parties, we have determined that the existence of drifting is a rare and powerful boost for the S-series competition..."

"Although the system-driven approach has gradually standardized and streamlined mecha girl competitions, it has also gradually limited the creativity of both racers and mecha girls..."

"Among these assessments, the words of Mr. Jiang Wuyang, the founder of the system flow theory, left a deep impression on me..."

He said that his biggest dream in life is to see someone break through the path he laid out and not be limited by past experiences...

When the spokesperson arrived, Jiang Wuyang immediately expressed a different opinion.

“What I said at the time was: ‘The biggest regret of my life is developing the system flow, I really want to destroy it…’”

Jiang Xiyue and Ling Yu silently retorted to Jiang Wuyang, then pouted.

"Dad, your mouth is all crooked from smiling in the video!"

"Stop talking, keep watching..."

In the video, the official spokesperson for the S-series finished his lengthy introduction and then paused briefly at the end.

"I think Mr. Jiang Wuyang should personally read out the evaluation of the drifting style in the S-series, as well as the subsequent schedule..."

"As a pioneer who has been dedicated to developing cutting-edge racing technology, Mr. Jiang Wuyang is the most suitable person to tell this story."

Amidst enthusiastic applause from the other drivers, Jiang Wuyang slowly walked to the podium.

"Thank you to the S-Class World Mecha Girl Championship organizers, I am honored."

"Without further ado, I hereby announce..."

"The official evaluation decision of the S-series indicates that the application of drifting techniques in the S-series will be fully enabled without any restrictions!"

"The official team will also update the S-series competition rules as soon as possible and create a bonus system for drifting techniques to encourage drifting drivers to use it on the track."

"At the same time, after discussion and decision by the official S-series tournament organizing committee!"

"All provincial finals across the country have been postponed from July to August, giving players from various clubs the maximum time to develop their drifting techniques!"

"With this, I wish the Drift style all the best in Season 7..."

As the video neared its end, Zhou Yun glanced around at the team members, a smile spreading across his face.

What will the next World Championship be like?
I wonder if there will be another chance to compete against Ye Qing in a full 750km team race?

What will the drift flow eventually develop into?
He gently embraced Han Ya, who sensed Zhou Yun's excitement and smiled faintly.

"Zhou Yun, it's time to go home."

"Yes."

Zhou Yun turned off the projector.

"Everyone, pack your bags, we're going back to Jingyun."

The three little ones immediately jumped up excitedly.

"Go home!"

"I've had enough of ice cream!"

"I want to go back to Jingyun to soak in the spiritual pressure hot springs!"

Looking at the jubilant scene before him, Jiang Wuyang couldn't help but recall the Nimbus before the S3 era. This long-lost lively atmosphere made him feel much younger.

"Zhou Yun, you guys go ahead with your work. I have to go out for a bit and I probably won't be back until midnight."

Everything has begun, and it's time to see old friends I haven't seen in a long time.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xiyue quickly stood up, intending to go with her father, but was stopped by Ling Yu.

"Xiyue, let your father and mother talk alone."

"They haven't seen each other for almost ten years."

……

The evening sun and the early summer breeze complement each other perfectly, blowing across the picturesque Hundred-Mile Gallery.

Jiang Wuyang held a bouquet of flowers, looked around the field where he had last raced, and finally stopped at the tombstone in front of him.

The wind blew past his collar, and in a daze, he seemed to hear the voice of an old friend again.

"Isn't it old-fashioned?"

"What era are we living in? You still send flowers?"

"I don't know how to grow flowers, you know that. All the plants in my house are rotting... Hey, come here, I recently thought of a fun imprint combination..."

"How about combining [Swift Escape] with [Loren's Pendulum] to make Ling Yu jump left and right on the track?"

Jiang Wuyang gently wiped the dust off the tombstone and gave a silent, bitter laugh.

“If it were before, I would definitely think Ling Yu would explode, but I saw a kid actually jumping around on the track repeatedly.”

"Wow, you really should come and see for yourself, he's really awesome."

"Ling Yu... right now, I bet Ling Yu absolutely loves this feeling..."

As he laughed, he seemed to hear Aran's voice again.

"Uh huh huh~"

"I'm number one in Cainan Province now! How about we ask Chen Shuo to hire a chef? I want to eat seafood..."

"Wu Yang, hehe, it's okay. It's just that you're not a good match with the new mecha girl. Just play your support role well, and we'll definitely win the finals in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan!"

"Wu Yang, have you heard? There's a big organization sponsored by WMC that's going to integrate global events... Hey, look, isn't a world champion a good match for me?"

"Wu Yang, we won again! Hehe, that bastard behind us was trying to cause trouble, let's go and remove his spark plugs in the middle of the night!"

"Wu Yang, when will this awful racing environment be improved...?"

"Wu Yang, did you see that? Xi Yue is kicking my belly! She's definitely a little rascal."

Jiang Wuyang looked up and seemed to see a sunny and lovely figure standing in the sunlight, smiling and waving at him.

He first lowered his head, instinctively avoiding eye contact, but his hand involuntarily reached out.

Immediately afterwards, he grabbed a critical illness notice.

"It was discovered too late; the cancer cells had already spread to the lymphatic tissue..."

“This is not pneumonia, it is pleural effusion caused by NHL lymphoma. She also has fever and night sweats... It was discovered too late.”

"too late……"

"Wu Yang, look! I'm fine. Don't listen to that quack doctor's nonsense!"

"Look, I can even do a somersault!"

Jiang Wuyang looked up and saw only hair scattered on the ground. Aran's figure gradually faded and became blurred, leaving only a faint murmur in the dead of night.

"Wu Yang, I don't want to die."

At this moment, Jiang Wuyang could no longer hold back. He bit his fingers, and tears streamed down his face like a burst dam.

"Wu Yang..."

"Guanglun is just one game away from advancing. I want to win one game. I want to show Xiyue how her mom won the world championship!"

"I'm sorry, Wu Yang, this first season is all my fault..."

"Wu Yang, why are you crying? Your competition is the most important thing. When the time comes, you should win as many world championship trophies as possible. You'll get one, I'll get one, and Xi Yue will get another one... Hehe... Cough cough, cough cough cough..."

"Promise me, Wu Yang, don't let me delay the race or the car."

"Wu Yang, look at me. I want your promise."

"Promise me you'll bring the world championship trophy back! Promise me!"

Jiang Wuyang put down the flowers in his hand, squatted down on the ground, looked at the S3 World Championship trophy covered in dust, and repeated in a low voice.

"Aran, I promise you."

"One for you, one for me, and then Xiyue, one more..."

"Aran, I will definitely do it."

The evening breeze grew restless, blowing across the cemetery's stele forest as if in a cathartic outpouring, gently carrying a soul that shared a passion for racing to Jiang Wuyang's side.

Jiang Wuyang gently stroked the tombstone. A photo of that sunny, playful, and beautiful woman's life flashed before his eyes in an instant, finally flowing quietly into the evening breeze.

The air gradually quieted down, leaving only Aran's last words to him.

"Wu Yang, let's go quickly, don't let Xi Yue and Ling Yu see me looking like this... Oh, and take good care of them."

"Ah."

The tears gradually dried.

After so many years of struggle and searching, he finally found a way to keep his promise. He thought that after running away for so long, this meeting would be a heartening one.

But when faced with the tragedy of birth, aging, sickness, and death, humanity is often left with only confusion.

"Aran, I..."

In that instant, he had a thousand things he wanted to say, but a thousand nerves choked him up.

Although the world is vast, he, who has lived half his life, now doesn't know how to conduct himself.

As the evening breeze gradually subsided, he silently stood up, preparing to go back, when he suddenly heard a voice.

"Oh, I knew you'd be here."

Jiang Wuyang paused for a moment, then turned and saw Chen Shuo standing among the tombstones.

"Shuozi, you..."

"Shouldn't you be being interrogated and investigated?"

Chen Shuo smiled and waved his hand.

"Wu Yang, have you forgotten? I am Chen Shuo. It's basic for me to clear my name. This little problem is no challenge for me."

"Do you really think I've had the light wheel for all these years for nothing?"

He shrugged and slowly walked to Aran's tombstone.

"Aran, your husband has really pulled off a major job lately, almost killing the light wheel you left behind... Did this bastard tell you?"

"I knew you wouldn't dare say it, damn it."

"Wu Yang, A Ran worked so hard to support the Light Wheel back then, don't you feel you've let A Ran down?" Hearing this, Jiang Wu Yang was speechless.

"Go to hell, Shuozi!"

"If that's your opinion, then we need to have a serious discussion about who really destroyed the light wheel."

Chen Shuo retorted with a sarcastic remark.

"No matter what you say, how big can I make the light wheel? Do you have that kind of ability?"

“Jiang Wuyang, Aran dreams of having Guanglun build a headquarters building, but it was me who made it happen.”

"That's true. It's not your work, so you don't even care if you ruin it, right?"

He pointed to Aran's tombstone and asked sarcastically.

"Just tell me, how can you face your wife? Huh?"

"You didn't even get to see Aran one last time because you were focused on the competition. How could you face her like that?"

"You really have the nerve to come see her."

Hearing Chen Shuo's tone, Jiang Wuyang was instantly enraged and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"what!"

"Chen Shuo, are you really something? Talking to me like that? Who was it that begged me to keep playing back then?"

"Besides, how dare you even show your face here?"

"When you were using Xiyue's racing license to force me to make a choice, when you were leading Guanglun down a crooked path, did you ever think about how Aran was supporting Guanglun?"

"When you fired all your old teammates, when you forced the race car driver off the track, did you ever think that you were ruining Aran's dream?"

"Look at the light wheel logo designed by Aran, aren't you ashamed, Chen Shuo?"

He grew angrier and angrier, so he grabbed Chen Shuo by the collar, looked him straight in the eye, and loudly asked the question he had wanted to ask for many years.

"Are you even human, Chen Shuo?"

Chen Shuo held Jiang Wuyang's hand and smiled faintly.

"Wu Yang, survive first, then we'll move on..."

Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Wuyang punched him squarely in the face.

"Survival my ass! Development my ass!"

"Go to hell! You're going in the wrong direction. The more you do, the more reactionary you become, do you even realize that?"

Before Jiang Wuyang could finish speaking, Chen Shuo punched him back.

"Screw you, Jiang Wuyang! You think you're right, but will the market give you a chance? Will other clubs give you a chance?"

"Do you even know that you almost destroyed the Nimbus in a moment of impulsiveness back then?!"

"Damn it, I haven't had a good night's sleep in six years because of the Light Wheel!"

As he spoke, Chen Shuo punched Jiang Wuyang squarely on the shoulder.

"Do you think I'd use Xi Yue to force you to submit? It's just that you're such a stubborn mule, you won't budge no matter what I say, and you'll only back down when I try to reason with you!"

Bang!
He grabbed Jiang Wuyang, who was about to fall, and pulled him back, then delivered another punch.

"Hey, how old are you anyway? Huh? Why are you still acting like a child who never grew up, daydreaming all the time..."

As he spoke, he kicked Jiang Wuyang to the ground.

"Do you know that back then, the local racing scene in the Kyoto area wanted to..."

Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Wuyang grabbed his foot and threw him to the ground.

He then sat on Chen Shuo and began punching him repeatedly.

"How dare you mention Xi Yue?"

"Go to hell! I've wanted to beat you up for ages! Do you think I'm made of clay?"

His eyes were bloodshot, and his veins surged like the engine of a race car. At this moment, he no longer wanted to argue about right and wrong, cause and effect. He just wanted to punch him, punch after punch.

"Wu Yang, you son of a bitch..."

At this moment, Chen Shuo's blood boiled, and he grabbed Jiang Wuyang's collar and slammed his head against it.

He didn't care about CCTV-12's social and legal programs, or about manners, self-respect, and self-love.

At this moment, they both seemed to have returned to their youth, to an era when video games were scarce, and to vent their passion with their fists.

"Fuck you..."

"Oh!"

"Oh!"

"Boom..."

The two of them kept punching each other, venting all the dissatisfaction and resentment they had accumulated over the past ten years.

They fought until the sun set, until they were completely exhausted.

The flowers in front of the grave were completely scattered, and even the world championship trophy was overturned on the ground.

The two men lay on the ground, their voices hoarse and their faces bruised and swollen. In the end, they couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Chen Shuo breathed deeply into the scorching air, his fingers trembling. He shook his head slightly, a feeling of indescribable exhilaration welling up inside him.

"Haha...cough, cough..."

"Wu Yang, I've wanted to beat you up for ages, haha..."

"How many days are you locked up for fighting?"

Jiang Wuyang wiped the blood from his head, looked at the fiery clouds at the horizon, and couldn't help but laugh as he listened to Chen Shuo's words.

"What, you want to sue me?"

As he spoke, he pulled a cigarette case out of his pocket.

"Haha, cough cough... my lighter... damn it! You've smashed my lighter to pieces..."

Chen Shuo silently propped himself up.

"Didn't Aran tell you to quit smoking a long time ago? Why are you still smoking in front of her?"

Jiang Wuyang retorted without even thinking.

"She even advised us not to fight..."

At this point, he suddenly froze.

The shackles that had been lurking in his mind for years, indescribable and intangible, suddenly vanished without a trace. This ease of shedding those shackles felt both familiar and strange to him.

He struggled to sit up, threw the cigarette pack at Chen Shuo's face, looked at A Ran's tombstone, and murmured softly.

"Okay, I won't smoke anymore, I'll never smoke again."

"Shuozi, what exactly do you want from me?"

Chen Shuo laughed as he watched the engine, which had been stuck in place for many years, finally catch fire.

Jiang Wuyang is not the only one trapped in old ways who needs to start over.

So he propped himself up.

"I need to rebuild the light wheel, and I need you."

These words left Jiang Wuyang speechless as he lay back down on the ground.

"Is that how you're trying to persuade me?"

Chen Shuo gave a wry smile and stretched out his hand.

"As I said before, if you want to change the way you play and reshape the racing environment, you will inevitably offend a group of vested interests. They will either make you comply or ruin your reputation. If you want to protect the Yunyi Racing Team, the challenges outside the track will be no small feat."

"These people from Kyoto are just the beginning. Are you really ready?"

"You are no longer young, Wu Yang."

Jiang Wuyang took Chen Shuo's hand and turned to look at A Ran's tombstone.

Now, this is no longer as simple as the agreement with Aran.

"Yeah, I'm old."

"However, Xiyue is still young and has a long racing career ahead of her. I won't let her live in such a terrible environment."

As soon as he finished speaking, a book was shoved into Jiang Wuyang's hands, accompanied by Chen Shuo's voice.

"Then you'll need this."

"This was done in the early stages of Light Wheel's development, so that you could make it to the World Championship..."

At this point, he couldn't help but chuckle softly to himself.

"It's kind of like study notes, and there's also a list of books on related topics. The environment in Cainan Province is different from Kyoto, and the people's way of thinking is different too. It's more like the martial arts world there, um..."

"In short, your approach is correct. Don't jump straight into it. Start with a localized part of Cainan Province and work on improving the S-series results... Anyway, there are some suggestions in this, you can take a look."

After Chen Shuo finished speaking, Jiang Wuyang nodded solemnly.

"What, you're selling a book of brilliant strategies? Haha, thanks, Shuozi."

"Chen Shuo, rebuilding the Light Wheel must have been difficult, with so much debt..."

Before Jiang Wuyang could finish speaking, Chen Shuo interrupted the conversation with a smile.

"Ha, the one who can kill me, Chen Shuo, hasn't been born yet. Just wait until I take you down in the national competition."

Such inflated words made Jiang Wuyang burst out laughing.

"Haha, aren't you afraid the wind will make you bite your tongue?"

As he spoke, he straightened the flowers and trophies in front of Aran's tombstone, then turned around.

"Then I'll see you at the national tournament. See you later."

The golden-red sunlight spreads across the scenic landscape of the Hundred-Mile Gallery, crossing dense forests and plains, and ripples across the cemetery's stele forest, creating a grid-like pattern resembling piano keys.

The evening breeze swept by, scattering all of Lightwheel's past before the tombstone of its founder.

Two people who had already passed the age of forty walked in opposite directions along Aran's tombstone, heading towards their respective destinies.

However, just as Jiang Wuyang had walked a short distance, Chen Shuo's voice rang out behind him.

"Today, only the remnants of the body remain, facing the glorious years, embracing freedom amidst the wind and rain..."

Jiang Wuyang turned around and responded to Chen Shuo with a smile.

"Having spent a lifetime struggling with uncertainty, I'm confident I can change the future, but who can actually do that..."

As the sun gradually dipped below the clouds, Chen Shuo knew it was getting late, so he made a final attempt to persuade the other party to stay.

"You've really gone off on a tangent... Aren't you really going back to the Light Wheel?"

Jiang Wuyang shook his head, turned around, and waved his hand.

"It's getting late, Xiyue must be getting impatient. See you later."

"Okay, see you later."

Both of them knew that their friendship was over.

(End of this chapter)