Zhang Guochen waved to Lin Yifeng and the others with a smile.
But at that moment, a deafening cheer erupted from the crowd.
A very young boy, no more than fifteen years old, walked onto the stage. Because of his thin build, the clothes provided by Lin Yifeng and his team were even a bit loose, with half of his shoulder almost showing from the neckline.
Her hair was a mess, and she looked disheveled, as if no one had taken care of her for a long time.
This look is so similar to how Lin Yifeng looked when he first met Xu Qingyi and Xu Wanxia.
The child looked around timidly as soon as he stepped onto the stage, and then walked step by step toward the competition machine amidst cheers from the crowd.
Because he is so short, the staff need to give him two pillows to lean against his back, otherwise his short legs would not be able to reach the brake and accelerator of the machine.
The host on stage was also excitedly introducing the program to the audience.
"Our youngest competitor in this year's racing competition is only fifteen years old!"
"And we've all heard his legends."
"Broken multiple lap times on various maps in this competition, surpassing the previous record by a full seven and a half seconds!"
Upon hearing this, many viewers cheered.
Zhang Guochen, sitting on the stage, had a solemn expression.
Most of the machines used in this competition were the same ones Zhang Guochen had played at the Longteng Arcade. He held the map records for each machine, and they hadn't been broken by anyone else for almost half a year.
Zhang Guochen originally thought this record would stand for a long time, as he couldn't find any other route to optimize. However, he didn't expect that at the very beginning of the competition, Kid Bro broke his record in his first match.
And it surpassed his map record by a full seven seconds.
This puzzled Zhang Guochen. He tried for a long time afterward and found that he could only improve the original record by one or two seconds at most. He couldn't understand how the other party did it.
Although the preliminary rounds are not 1v1 duels, with eight people competing together, Zhang Guochen still wants to compete against this guy and see who can take first place in this competition.
From below the stage, Ye Wu saw Zhang Guochen's dark expression and sighed.
"Old Zhang is very serious."
"This kid is very capable."
"The main thing is that no one ran out of Lao Zhang's map, while the kid was spawned in the eight-player race."
"If he were like Lao Zhang, with one machine for each person, I reckon he could have swiped for several more seconds."
Zhao Youming and the others nodded in agreement.
On stage, many contestants realized that, like the other groups, this competition had two formidable opponents within the same group.
There's no need to worry about the top two results; now, we just need to compete for third or fourth place to advance.
If they can advance, then we can hope that someone else will be able to eliminate this dark horse that won the championship.
Lin Yifeng looked at the match in front of him and began to feel a little curious.
Unlike other racing games, such as Initial D, which was most commonly found in arcades in later generations, Dreaming of the Lighthouse Kingdom was more of a pure racing game.
While there are techniques like drifting, the traditional racing line is used more often.
A race consists of five laps, and the winner is the one who completes all five laps in the shortest time.
Apart from the eight players in this competition, no other players participated. It is a pure competitive racing game and one of the few 3D racing games.
An unknown young man broke Zhang Guochen's record.
Lin Yifeng was also looking forward to the little guy's performance.
After everyone on stage finished preparing and the referee confirmed that each contestant's machine was working properly, they also went to the terminal to begin the competition.
As the first-person perspective of the match was projected onto the big screen, the cheers from the audience grew louder and louder.
The competitors were all starting to lightly press the accelerator at the starting line, ready to pounce on the race at any moment.
Inside the stadium, the crowd roared with cheers.
As the countdown ended, eight race cars sped off the starting line, vying for the best starting line.
Inexperienced drivers often start by crashing into other cars, causing them to stray off their original path.
Experienced players like Zhang Guochen deliberately slowed down at the beginning.
On-site commentary is also the best preparation, explaining things to the audience.
"Contestant number four is very experienced."
"Racing cars from the Land of Dreams will skid during a collision."
"If you can make good use of this, it can be very effective when cornering, but at the start, proper avoidance is the most crucial thing."
"Huh?! There's more than just contestant number four!"
"Contestant number seven also dodged!"
"Behind number seven is our most anticipated contestant, number eight!"
As the screen switched, three people successfully avoided the first wave of competition when the competition began. Taking advantage of the gaps in the competition between other cars, they decisively broke out from the flanks and left everyone behind right from the start.
Seeing that Zhang Guochen and his two companions had widened the gap, the other contestants also gave up on continuing to play bumper cars and began to catch up.
Leading the way was Zhang Guochen, in a blue car.
And right behind him was a young man from the same competition.
The man gripped the steering wheel casually, occasionally glancing provocatively in Zhang Guochen's direction.
The machine next to this man is the kid.
Because he was looking for a route at the start, the kid was only in third place and showed no signs of attacking, simply following steadily behind the two.
With their first-mover advantage, the three players took a significant lead over many of the others right from the start.
As long as the three of them don't make any mistakes along the way, they are very likely to be in the top three.
Even the commentators were amazed.
"Calm down, too calm."
"After the three of them made their way out, they successfully gained a huge advantage."
"Now it depends on how the parking space battle goes, and who makes the first move."
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