CHAPTER 62: CHAPTER 56: GRAPPLING DUEL

Qin Miao felt very hesitant at this moment.

If we consider Qin Miao’s personality, he is more inclined to choose the former.

Because Qin Miao has a laid-back personality, compared to chasing high-risk, high-reward options, he prefers to steadily secure gains that are guaranteed.

But the ten Purple Lotteries for first place are so tempting, easily stirring the desires in Qin Miao’s heart.

At this moment, Qin Miao wished he could talk to Qimeng, ask her opinion and thoughts, let her give him some advice.

After just a few days of interaction, Qin Miao subconsciously felt that Qimeng’s advice was a referable answer for him.

But now, Qimeng couldn’t help him, the only one who could offer some advice to Qin Miao...

Qin Miao turned his head to look at the "burden" sitting in his passenger seat.

For some reason, seeing him, Qin Miao felt annoyed.

Damn it, without you, I wouldn’t need to refuel less, nor would I be forced by the woman behind to make a choice.

"Yu, now I have two options." Although it was noisy inside the car, especially in the GT3.

But after all, they weren’t driving professional race cars, nor had they undergone extreme lightweight modifications, so the car’s soundproofing wasn’t removed. Speaking a bit louder, you could still hear what the other person was saying.

Yu Jialiang asked with a somewhat peculiar voice, "What options?"

"The first option is more secure; I can steadily take second place, but I definitely can’t get first."

"The second option is more aggressive; I’m confident I can hold onto my first place position, but there’s also the risk of running out of gas mid-race. I don’t know what to choose now, can you make a choice for me to consider?"

Yu Jialiang pondered, although Qin Miao said he wanted him to make a decision for reference, Yu Jialiang knew Qin Miao really didn’t know what to do, wanting him to help in making the choice.

Just as he was about to say something, Qin Miao reached the entrance of T1. With a heavy foot on the brake, Yu Jialiang was tightly strapped by the seatbelt, choking back the words he was about to utter.

What Yu Jialiang didn’t notice was that Qin Miao’s braking point was somewhat awkward.

He neither braked at the braking point nor coasted about 100 meters before beginning to brake like in normal fuel-saving mode.

Instead, he started coasting around 30 to 40 meters and chose a late braking point, highlighting awkwardness and hesitation.

Once they exited T4, Yu Jialiang finally had a chance to breathe and said, "If it were me, with the ability, I’d definitely choose the latter. After all, taking second place or losing qualification doesn’t have much impact on us."

Yu Jialiang based this on his belief that Qin Miao and he were in the same circle, though they weren’t acquainted before attending this gathering.

Given that they were from the same circle, they naturally wouldn’t value the team contracts promised by the organizers, probably hiring more professional people than the engineers in your team.

This is an information disparity caused by information asymmetry.

However, at this moment, Qin Miao was really getting himself stuck on trivial details; long periods of intense driving caused adrenaline to surge, making it difficult for his mind to calmly weigh the two choices.

Now hearing Yu Jialiang’s words, Qin Miao immediately chose to live boldly, risking being left hungry if timid.

But while making this decision, Qin Miao still had concerns, knowing that the second option could possibly leave him empty-handed.

Yet Qin Miao quickly found an excuse for himself: the premise for obtaining all this is that he possesses a system.

Without the system, he wouldn’t be here in the first place.

So regardless of today’s final outcome, with the system in hand, Qin Miao would encounter many similar opportunities in the future, and there’s bound to be plenty of chances to get Purple Lotteries from system tasks.

If today Qin Miao runs out of gas mid-race and ends up not getting any position, it at most means losing this one chance.

Besides, with so many tracks, Qin Miao hasn’t familiarized himself with them, ten Purple Lotteries only meant staying at home for half a month after buying a simulator.

Once he realized all this, Qin Miao suddenly felt much more at ease.

However, Qin Miao knew that if he kept driving in a way that prevented the cars behind from closing the gap with him, the fuel in his car would not last the entire race.

So while saving fuel, Qin Miao tried to defend as much as possible.

Although he knew that the possibility of holding off the opponent was not very high, he still decided to give it a try.

After exiting T4, Qin Miao strengthened his belief; T5, T6, and T7 had no overtaking conditions, so Qin Miao simply continued running in a fuel-saving rhythm.

After these three turns, leveraging his advantage of better familiarity with the track and vehicle, Qin Miao didn’t allow Qin Yun to close the gap with him.

However, the stretch between T7 and T8 was a straightaway, and before entering T8, to save fuel, Qin Miao still gave himself a 50-meter coasting distance.

Those fifty meters allowed Qin Yun to close the gap by 0.2 seconds.

However, the next T8, T9, and T10 corners are quite extreme, even if Qin Miao continues in fuel-saving mode, blocking the line, Qimeng simply can’t overtake.

Out of T10, Qin Miao takes advantage of an earlier throttle timing during the acceleration phase.

But Qimeng also uses that 0.2-second advantage to prevent Qin Miao from widening the gap too much.

Entering T11, Qin Miao brakes early as usual, Qimeng brakes normally, the distance between the two cars shortens by 0.2 seconds again, and the gap is now only 0.2 seconds.

At this corner, Qimeng slightly eases off the throttle because she’s planning to make a move on the back straight.

Since she wants to make a move, the 0.2-second gap with Qin Miao isn’t enough for her to gain more relative speed in the slipstream zone.

So, to avoid acting without thorough preparation, Qimeng slightly delays her throttle application during the acceleration phase of the corner to create more acceleration space for herself.

It’s safe to say that if Qin Miao simply drives normally, Qimeng can effortlessly take down the hundred-plus pounds burdened opponent on the back straight.

But the system-certified 75-point defensive capability isn’t given for nothing.

Qin Miao surely knows what the opponent is thinking, so after passing the apex of T13, besides immediately applying a bit of throttle to adjust the car’s head, he gives no throttle afterward, allowing the car to glide through the corner by its own inertia.

When the front car takes the corner without using the throttle, no matter how little throttle the back car uses, the relative distance between the two cars will quickly shorten.

Qimeng catches up tightly again, and with only a 0.2-second gap between the two cars, another collision is inevitable.

Fortunately, it’s a low-speed corner, both cars aren’t fast, Qimeng just lightly taps Qin Miao’s rear without causing instability in both cars’ postures.

But this collision does cause Qimeng to instinctively ease off the throttle.

As for Qin Miao, after the collision, his car’s head is straightened, and he immediately accelerates with full throttle.

After this little maneuver, the two again open the distance to nearly a second.

Normally, even if Qin Miao had more passengers, with less than a lap remaining, Qimeng definitely cannot pose any threat to Qin Miao.

But Qin Miao is low on fuel, so don’t be fooled by his gleeful throttling on the back straight; his acceleration isn’t fast, he’s shifting gears early, and prior to entering T14, he coasts for over 130 meters.

This directly allows Qimeng to regain 0.3 seconds of the over 1-second gap between Qin Miao and herself on this straight.

Luckily, Qimeng can’t exert pressure on Qin Miao momentarily, allowing Qin Miao to handle T14, T15, and T16 without issue.

However, entering the main straight, Qimeng is less than 0.5 seconds behind Qin Miao, catching his slipstream.

No matter how much Qin Miao conserves fuel, his fuel gauge has already bottomed out, and the current power is merely due to some reserve left in the tank, the exact amount of which most aren’t aware.

Although Qin Miao knows this car well, all he can do is control it as if manipulating his own hands.

Just like you couldn’t know the exact length of your palm or arm bone, Qin Miao has no knowledge of the remaining fuel in this car’s tank.

But he still feels that if he maintains the fuel-saving mode, he can finish the race.

However, at this moment, Qin Miao doesn’t want to give up first place so easily, with only one lap left, and the woman behind, despite having slightly inferior driving skills compared to himself, he might well defend this lap.

On the main straight, Qin Miao continues shifting early; this ensures reduced fuel consumption but inevitably affects acceleration.

As a result, the two racing cars gradually close in, but the rate isn’t fast.

Nevertheless, upon noticing the back car’s gradual approach, Qin Miao opts to move toward the right.

By doing so, he aims to block the rear car’s slipstream while preemptively blocking the inside line.

In Shanghai, T1 and T2.T3 are right turns, and blocking the inside line now allows Qin Miao to gain a huge advantage upon entry.

Qimeng follows behind Qin Miao to change lanes; as long as she hasn’t extracted enough of Qin Miao’s slipstream, gaining sufficient relative speed, she’s not ready to pull out prematurely.

Though due to Qin Miao’s sudden shift, Qimeng fails to catch his slipstream for about half a second.

Nevertheless, Qimeng still closes the gap from 0.5 seconds to 0.2 seconds between the two cars.

The cars are at the last quarter of the main straight’s end.

Qimeng lacks the terrifying car control ability of Qin Miao; Qin Miao has the guts to pull out when the gap between the cars is just 0.1 seconds, but she doesn’t, so when the gap is 0.2 seconds, she pulls to the outside line.

With the inside line securely blocked by Qin Miao, she can only opt for the outside line, relying on absolute speed advantage to crush Qin Miao.

But with the inside line completely blocked, Qin Miao isn’t flustered, as he feels Qimeng’s attack was already doomed once she pulled to the outside line.

Because the remaining track length isn’t sufficient for her to overtake him despite having a relative speed advantage.

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