Section Thirty-One: Drag Racing

  It's hard to say whether it's already night in front of us or what, the sky is gloomy and dark all the time. If it were Harbin, Zhao Zhong believed that such a sky would soon brighten up. When the real rain clouds or snow clouds arrived overhead, there was actually not much impurity inside, and the cloud layer's transmittance was higher.

  But this is the Gobi Desert, and Zhao Zhong knew he couldn't force it.

  From the beginning, Zhao Zhong felt that the wind direction seemed to be a bit off. Although it had no effect on the car yet, the occasional gusts of wind blowing over the snow piles by the side of the road still made him dare not to be careless.

  Reduce speed? At least not for now, when you can run, run a bit more. Nothing can instantly capsize a Jeep with anti-skid chains in strong winds. This requires a process, and Zhao Zhong also believes he has the technology and strength to reverse this process.

  Zhao Zhong started driving at the age of 16, which was a result of his begging to his parents. Although he could only drive on the road at night, speeding along the roads in the suburbs of Harbin City in his small car, he couldn't forget that feeling.

  Harbin is located in the northern part of our motherland, and every winter it becomes a frozen world, but Zhao Zhong's wheels under his feet have never slowed down with the arrival of winter.

  Affected by the car racing sport, Zhao Zhong's parents were both car enthusiasts. Although they themselves had no chance to enter the world of car racing, their support for Zhao Zhong's hobby was more like a kind of indulgence. When Zhao Zhong's driving skills surpassed those of his parents after more than a month, they stopped accompanying him every night.

  Racing has no absolute safety, since his driving skills are not as good as Zhao Zhong's, then he can't protect the child even if he is in the co-pilot seat. Since he can't protect the child, he can't drag the child down either. Zhao Zhong's parents' thoughts are simple yet kind, which also gives Zhao Zhong more opportunities to drive alone.

  Zhao Zhong always drove at midnight, and it was always on the outskirts of the city. He rarely encountered any customers. Even if he were to encounter some "unlucky" customers who caught him, because he looked extremely similar to his father and held his father's driver's license, he wasn't afraid that the night patrol would discover that he was still underage.

  Although Zhao Zhong had never been caught by the police, he soon drew attention to himself as he sped back and forth on several major roads in the suburbs.

  These people are not bad eggs, but they are also owls that roam in the dark night, their name is called street racing.

  "Look, big brother, it's that taxi."

  Several cars stopped at the side of the road, a group of men and women gathered around the bonfire stomping their feet. Harbin is located near 45 degrees north latitude, with a relatively long winter season, starting from November, snowflakes begin to fall from the sky, and the ground also begins to show signs of freezing.

  A red taxi came speeding over with a screeching "squeak!" sound, starting from the end of the road. Although the car was driving a bit shaky, it always stayed on the middle axis of the road, soon surpassing several people standing there, and sped away with a loud whoosh.

  "Hei Zi, are you mistaken? Is this speed worth our attention? I'm afraid he's driving drunk with some guests in a hurry! The passengers on his car are really suffering."

  The mocking laughter from the side made Hei Zi's face turn red with anger, and he looked at a young man standing beside him with his waist straight and wearing only a suit vest, who said: "Big brother, what do you think?"

  Shao Jie has been the big brother of this group of street racing enthusiasts for a year and a half. With his handsome appearance and strong physique, Shao Jie not only wins the favor of girls but also receives attention from boys. This is not just because of his driving skills, but also evident from the fact that he can wear short-sleeves in near-zero temperatures as if it's nothing out of the ordinary.

  "Hei Zi is right, look at what kind of road surface he drove out such a speed."

  Taking two steps forward, Shao Jie scraped the pointed toe of his leather shoes on the ground with force, "Whoosh!" A few ice particles splashed up.

  "What? The road surface has started to freeze! I said why is the weather so cold?! No way, I'm going to get in the car and turn on the heater."

  It started with a girl, and several girls couldn't stand the cold weather, so they found an excuse to get into a car. Compared to those men wearing thick down jackets, in order to show off their slender figures, the girls were not dressed warmly enough, and one of them was even wearing only a leather skirt.

  Although it was invisible under the lip gloss at night, their lips were all frozen purple.

  Not only did the group of street racers not expect the road to have started freezing, but Zhao Zhong in the car also didn't expect the weather to suddenly turn cold. It was his first time encountering icy road conditions, and while 16-year-old Zhao Zhong couldn't say he wasn't worried, he mostly felt thrilled.

  "Squeak!"

  The car started to slide sideways again. Zhao Zhong was not unfamiliar with the situation of a car sliding sideways, but in the past he had only let the car move forward in a slide on rainy days. This was his first time encountering a slide on an icy surface. Not daring to be careless, he constantly changed the accelerator and brakes, hoping to find a driving method that could overcome or utilize the slide on the ice.

  "Big brother, look at his speed getting faster."

  When Zhao Zhong's car turned back again, Hei Zi excitedly showed Shao Jie the stopwatch and speedometer in his hand, which clearly displayed a speed of 110 km/h, obviously much faster than the previous speed of less than 100 km/h.

  However, Hei Zi did not wait for Xiao Jie's response. Xiao Jie and several other street racers next to him were all agape, staring at the red taxi swaying down the road, unable to utter a word.

  "What kind of driving is this?!"

  I don't know what's going on, but just as I turned around, a red taxi rushed past in front of my eyes, and Hei Zi also shouted loudly.

  The red car was not moving forward with a shaking motion like it did the first time, but instead was drawing an extremely strange trajectory on the road surface, using the car's drift to advance at high speed. It only appeared to be shaking from a distance, but up close, that was absolutely an unbelievable driving skill.

  That night, Shao Jie and the others didn't wait for Hong to return. Because he hadn't expected the temperature to drop so quickly, Zhao Zhong, who was also lightly dressed, went home early to rest. Anyway, he had already roughly grasped the method of accelerating sideways on the ice surface, and the real test would have to wait until the weather got even colder!