"It may be yellow, but that’s what makes it the perfect sport car. Since you’re a noob who’ll be racing against professionals, it’s crucial you race in a bright car so they can see and avoid crashing into you if it comes to that." The man was still babbling without looking at her.
Suddenly, he realized she hadn’t said a word the entire time and paused, raising his eyes to look at her face.
Thinking she was plotting something, he sneered.
"My eyes are up here and whatever you’re thinking will not work. The boss himself asked you to race."
"Begging him to let you pay instead won’t work. So don’t waste your time and just get into the car, the race will be starting soon."
He then paused to speak with someone. "Hey, bring her gears."
A racing suit along with other things were brought.
Once she changed into the suit, put on the gloves and held her helmet in one hand, he proceeded to strap her in.
Then leaned forward to hand her her racing wire.
"Speak into this if you’re running into trouble. Because we have no cameras around the valley, this is also how we know when a racer crashes. So make sure to speak into it at least two times in one lap, okay?"
Kelsie hummed and wore the wire then the helmet.
As she felt the controls inside, Zoe peeked into the vet and frowned slightly.
"Shouldn’t there be a camera?"
"Sometime ago, some racers complained they didn’t like being watched during the race. We put the motion to debate and agreed we’d no longer use any."
Zoe bobbed her head in understanding.
"Team leader, I’m sorry you had to do this."
"You should also thank her. If she wasn’t here, you would be missing at least ten fingers." The man chipped in behind her.
Indeed. Given these people’s track record, she didn’t doubt a word.
Settling her eyes on Kelsie, she slowly felt the back of her head and advised, "The valley is quite dangerous. Unlike the other race courses scattered all over the country, the thugs here refused to let the government work on it properly."
"Because of that, it’s not a really smooth race. Furthermore, not every part has guardrails to keep cars from falling off the cliff."
"So you be careful and look ahead of you at all times. Slow down when you see a bump because one wrong move and down you go."
By this time, the rest of the racers were impatiently firing up their race cars.
Kelsie did the same, her eyes darting to the burly man one last time as she asked, "Your boss, will he be here until the end of the race?"
He nodded affirmatively.
"He’ll never miss a good race for anything."
Kelsie no longer said anything and inspected everything a second time.
"Remember, team leader, if you feel endangered, don’t think twice and opt out of the race. I’ll take care of myself..." Zoe was nervously reminding Kelsie again when the man pulled her away from the car.
"Enough of your whispering. The race is going to start in a few seconds."
As he spoke, a flag girl came out from the group, stood before the cars, raised her flag then waited.
The valley instantly quietened, the racers’ tension palpable as they pinned their eyes on her, not daring to breath.
The moment she brought it down...
Zoe quickly stepped backward and rushed to to pick up a walkie-talkie.
"Team leader, can you hear me?"
Inside the race car, Kelsie hummed.
"I’ll stay here and always listen to you when you talk."
"Okay." Kelsie mummed.
Then she glanced at the side view mirror.
To be honest, she knew there was something wrong somewhere.
First, they were in such a rush to take her money and all of a sudden, the money didn’t matter to them?
They gave her nothing to sign, so she obviously wasn’t being blindsided.
Was Zoe really their goal and this match was just a ploy? After all, just taking her would be nothing short of kidnapping.
That was the only meaningful reason to the race Kelsie could think of.
Hence, she stepped harder on the accelerator.
Behind her, the other racers glanced at each other in amusement and followed suit.
At this rate, they wouldn’t have to raise a finger before she runs herself off a cliff.
What they didn’t know was that while she was abroad, she often raced with her aunt’s husband who was a professional racer.
According to him, he liked to be prepared for challenging situations, so he often took her to very dangerous roads to race.
Her aunty was scared they’d get into an accident and die one of those days, so she made it a hobby to join them whenever they raced.
Compared to where she often beat those two adrenaline junkies, this road was as smooth as butter.
For the first lap, Kelsie came in fourth place.
Second lap, she came in second place.
This alerted the burly man.
As the third lap began, Zoe was beaming proudly.
"Team leader sure is impressive. I didn’t even know she was a racer. At this rate, she’ll come first place this time!"
The man listened to her blab in excitement before walking to a corner to make a call.
In the track, Kelsie was just about to race past the person in first place when they suddenly swerved to the right.
Naturally, she braked and swerved out of the way for those behind her. However, they also swerved into the same lane as her.
At this, she glanced at them through the rear view mirror in surprise.
They weren’t driving past her?
Just as she was about to grow suspicious, one of the cars pulled up beside her.
Naturally, her creased brows naturally relaxed and she took her eyes away.
If they really didn’t drive past her, she would’ve thought this wasn’t a race...
The thought had just formed in her head when the car by her side suddenly swerved towards her.
Promptly, she moved to the other race track, but the car behind her suddenly bumped into her.
This was the same lane as the person in first place. The car also seemed to be going slowly.
So when the car behind bumped into her, she mistakenly hit the car in front with her bumper.
By this time, she was already on the race track without a guardrail.
As all three cars closed in on her, it suddenly dawned on her.
A car behind her. Another before her and another by her side. It looked too much like a trap.
The realization had just dawned on her when the car beside her swerved to her side again.
It was at this moment that Zoe spoke up excitedly.
"Team leader, you’re in first place now, aren’t you?"
At the start of the racetrack, Zoe shifted her weight from one leg to the other as she awaited the positive response.
"Zoe, these racers... they’re trying to race me off the cliff."
Kelsie’s voice was abruptly drowned out by a screeching sound before it suddenly fell silent.
Zoe’s grip on the walkie-talkie tightened in fear, "T-team leader, stop the race!"
She parted her lips to speak again when a deafening crash suddenly swallowed the silence.