The Race (2)

I wasn't that much of a fool, blinded by the thought that something extreme such as a street race could surely help me. I knew how reckless I was the moment I stepped on the accelerator.

I knew this wasn't a safe option. I knew there was gonna be a risk. But most importantly, it was a "street" race, not a professional race.

There was no safety procedure. No insurance. No rules. It was just the driver and their skill.

Thus, telling a greenie like me that I would get by without a scratch was akin to telling people that Hell had frozen over. And it wasn't like I was playing it safe either.

But, what had I got to lose?

Other than this life which I held no value on, I had nothing to hold me back. Nothing to keep me on my feet.

So, if this could be a relief for me to finally be freed of this hollowness I had been engulfed in, to return back to the starting point where I settled in pain and haunted by the past memories, I readily bet my soul on it.

...

There was a reason why many people were especially interested in this specific street race. In fact, others had a fairly good track and the bet was quite high as well. But still, many would prefer to challenge this one and the only reason was none other than the location of the race.

I glanced at the road ahead. Passed the connecting bridge would be Belle Apres residency. This was an area where the upperclass of the capital invested their money for holiday villas.

The location was great and the dense greenery was a great addition for the residence who would like to relax and be away from the hubbub of the downtown capital. It was a much needed change for the busy citizens from a city view to a natural landscape.

However, it wasn't the lavish residency that attracted these car racers. It was the challenging track. The complex road filled with consecutive hairpins.

It was the Belle Apres track or otherwise known as The Belle's trail.

Belle Apres residency was a hill-based villa. The road in this area was infamous for its narrow turns and the chicane midpoint. However, albeit the difficulty of the track, many car racers still joined in, for the sake of proving themselves as the most skilled driver who had conquered the Belle Apres.

Honestly, I didn't know what came over me to choose this specific street race. Perhaps it could be because of its safety measure since it hadn't been discovered yet despite being categorized as illegal.

Other point could be because it was at the top of the list and the site's activity made me feel more assured at the existence of the race. I didn't quite understand this type of illegal race anyway so I measured it according to the statistics.

As for the rest, perhaps it was due to Li Fei's memory. Although her family was not as rich as the Lu family, they could still afford a villa in Belle Apres residence and her grandparents were the ones who lived there. So, more or less I had the big picture of the landscape.

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel when I saw an alluring woman with a furry white coat walked to the front of the starting line with a cloth in her hand.

I didn't really hear what she said at the beginning but she was pointing at us before finally counting down. When the cloth finally went down, my mind instantly blanked out.

All I knew was I had floored the gas and the car zoomed forward in a high speed, faster than I had imagined. I was a little taken aback by the speed as my body had subconsciously tensed up. However, I didn't plan to slow down at all.

I could slowly feel the tension building up in my body and this...

This was only the beginning.

Currently, the road was still a straight line and everyone had rushed forward without restrain. Two cars were already ahead of me while the other two were speeding up from behind. I glanced at the rear view mirror and discovered that the cars behind were trying to bypass mine.

Despite that, I didn't bother to block them and just put all my attention on my driving instead.

As I looked on emotionlessly at the black car ahead, I reflexively stomped on the gas pedal again and the car charged up, gradually inching closer to the cars at the front.

However, all of the sudden, I saw the Mustang slowing down. With my speed, my car instantly took over it and now I was racing with the black car side by side.

Not even two minutes later, the man pulled down his window. I blinked expressionlessly as I wound down mine as well.

The man's arrogant attitude as he put his elbow on the window sill immediately entered my sight.

He smirked before shouting at me, "You gotta slow down, little girl, or you're gonna hit the fence soon."

I raised an eyebrow at him which without me realizing it had equaled the man's arrogance. He grinned mischievously at that.

He thought I didn't know which should've been correct if I was Airi. But Li Fei had spent most of her holiday from childhood 'till she was a young adult in her grandparents villa.

So, I was more than clear what lied ahead of me. Both cars sped up the remaining distance before suddenly my head went into alert and my adrenaline took over. I reflexively switched gears, stepped on the gas pedal, and spun the steering wheel fiercely.

A high-pitch noise resounded in the air and with it, a beautiful drift finished off the first curve of The Belle's hair pin.

Two cars, one black and the other white, remained side by side as the drivers lunged forward at the same speed whilst trying to overtake one another at the same time.

After all the racers disappeared from the main highway, the perilous mountain race had officially commenced.