F1: Starting with a Simulator Master

Chapter 142 Inhuman and Depraved

It was 1:15 a.m. local time in Saudi Arabia.

Jeddah Coastal Circuit, Ferrari Team Official Reception Area.

The air was thick with the smell of alcohol, and the deafening shouts of Italian mixed with the roar of electronic subwoofers nearly shattered the reinforced glass of the reception area.

The mechanics and engineers who stayed behind in the team were now soaked in champagne and some unknown beverage, their red team uniforms, which originally symbolized Ferrari's nobility, were sticky and clinging to their bodies. Not one of them was clean.

This victory came too suddenly and was too much of a relief for the long-dormant Prancing Horse team.

In the corner, Luo Xiu was deeply tucked into a leather sofa, with top-of-the-line noise-canceling earplugs in his ears.

His racing fireproof suit had long been replaced, and a loose black quick-drying T-shirt covered the bruises on his back.

On this night of revelry where everyone's adrenaline was soaring to its limit, the protagonist who personally broke through the Red Bull dynasty's blockade was like a block of ice that could not be melted into a champagne glass.

The surge of passion that had been burning within me just hours when I roared the national anthem on the podium had now completely cooled down.

On the iPad in his hand, a dense array of lap time telemetry curves were displayed.

Even though the race had ended several hours ago, the continuous heavy braking at 5G and the centrifugal force from high-speed cornering still seemed to linger in his nervous system.

Luo Xiu closed his eyes, and as the mental palace in his mind operated, he challenged this track again and again.

He needs to take advantage of the lingering pain in his body to greedily savor and digest the chassis feedback of the Ferrari SF-24 under every extreme corner, as well as the tactile sensation of the tires just before their grip collapses, until it becomes muscle memory that grows into his own body.

Just a few meters away, the Prancing Horse team was celebrating with champagne.

Luo Xiu, huddled in the corner of the sofa, felt that it was too noisy outside.

Compared to those boring social interactions, the clear telemetry curves in his hands made him feel excited and at ease.

The heavy soundproof door to the reception area creaked open, and the dry, cold wind characteristic of a desert midnight, mixed with the extremely expensive aroma of Cuban cigars, quietly seeped in.

Xu Zihao appeared.

In this raucous party where everyone looked like they'd been fished out of a champagne barrel, the executive vice president of the Xu Group and Luo Xiu's independent agent seemed somewhat out of place.

Despite having just finished several hours of intense negotiations, his signature haute couture suit was still perfectly wrinkle-free, and his priceless Patek Philippe watch was precisely positioned at the one-third mark of his shirt cuff.

Beneath his meticulously combed hair always hung a polite, standard, but distant business smile.

Like a block of metal ice that cannot be melted by alcohol, he walked straight through the noisy sofa area and sat down next to Luo Xiu.

Xu Zihang, who had previously disappeared after sneaking into the party, immediately came over when he saw his second brother appear.

"Brother, that drone show in the sky just now, could it really be from our company—"

He swallowed hard, his voice filled with utter shock at the awe-inspiring spectacle, "How much money must have gone into that?!"

"Let me correct you. It's not burning money, it's GG."

Xu Zihao didn't even look at his younger brother, who always seemed so naive and unsophisticated.

He pulled a spotless folding phone from the inside pocket of his suit, and his slender fingers swiped across the screen to create a 3D facial model that originally belonged to Verstappen.

"A month ago, on behalf of the Xu Group, I sponsored this championship celebration flight show for F1 free of charge."

Xu Zihao's tone carried a hint of smugness, "We'll handle everything, including equipment maintenance and air freight logistics. Whoever takes first place tonight will have their face automatically pieced together by this sky full of matrix displays."

Click.

Xu Zihao turned off his phone and tossed it onto the coffee table.

"In the past hour and a half, three royal foundations in the Middle East, together with two venture capital firms, have bought out this drone performance technology. Just considering the royal orders alone, the schedule is already pushed back to the third quarter of 2027."

"In other words, this performance was a complete failure. We not only recouped our ten million euro sponsorship fee from Luo Xiu, but it also became a relatively successful long-term business project. I have already informed the domestic authorities that it won't be difficult to process this order, and several factories are already arranging production and preparing to expand their capacity."

"The only problem is that the model for our drone show this time happens to be Luo Xiu! It's practically a perfect business loop!"

As if he had settled the last score, Xu Zihao turned his head and looked at Luo Xiu, who had been sitting on the sofa without saying a word.

"Don't worry, as your agent, I will settle the cost of using your face with the group in full this time."

Xu Zihang, who had been excited, felt a chill run down his spine as he listened.

The sponsor of this sky full of drones is the second brother, who represents the Xu Group in terms of funding and effort.

And now, the one who has to collect fees for Luo Xiuyan is Luo Xiu's second brother, who is also Luo Xiu's manager.

They used money from the group's public account to generate massive traffic, and then legally and compliantly pocketed it from their contracted drivers.

Isn't this just spouting benevolence and morality while transferring money from one hand to the other?

This is absolutely outrageous!

Watching his brother orchestrate and manipulate events behind the scenes, Xu Zihang, who had already reached for his phone screen to show off his screenshot of his live stream surpassing one million viewers, couldn't bring himself to do it.

He had just run over, full of joy, intending to boast to Luo Xiu about how he had used mystical magic to become the best off-field assist in this match.

Compared to my second brother's well-planned multinational capital scheme, my own million-plus livestream viewership seems to be only good enough for the kids' table!

The huge psychological gap left Xu Zihang feeling extremely depressed.

He shoved his phone back into his pocket, muttering something irritatingly.

"It's only because you bunch of unscrupulous businessmen have such thick skin. When those tens of thousands of drones, all with flashing lights hanging from them, swarming down from the sky, I thought—some powder keg in the Middle East had just airdropped bombs!"

Originally, this was just a casual complaint, tinged with sourness, after failing to gain recognition.

But unexpectedly, Xu Zihao did not retort.

The second prince of the Xu Group picked up the whiskey on the marble table, his deep gaze reflecting a serious and ambitious light through the ice.

"Silly boy, isn't it true? The world of capitalism in this era is inherently a war."

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