48 Hours a Day

Turning off the engine, he pulled the key out.

The group waiting at the finishing line were flabbergasted the moment they saw that Zhang Heng was the first to arrive.

Earlier, they were able to see the tattooed man’s Jaguar from far and had even prepared some beer upon his win. Although it was pointless to celebrate his victory over the Santana, they could not deny that he did defeat all the other seven drivers. Technically speaking, tonight’s race could be considered the modified car club’s competition.

No one expected that Zhang Heng and his Santana would clinch the podium in this race. All these rich brats who raced with their luxury cars just had their ass handed to them by a humble Santana, a car that would garner no more than 10,000 yuan in the second-hand car market. Even at such a bargain, it might need a long time before someone would actually buy it.

The capped girl opened her mouth so wide that a dragon fruit could fit into it. After a while, she asked skeptically, “Did he install NOS in his car?”

In recent years, NOS had been frequently used in racing movies, and almost everyone was familiar with it. Installed in tanks and fed into the engine, nitrous oxide would release oxygen and nitrogen when burned. The combustion of oxygen would increase the engine’s output, while the nitrogen would cool down the cylinders, all in all giving a massive boost to the car’s horsepower.

Fortunately, though, most who were present here were all car-buffs in their own right. After hearing her question, a man immediately shook his head and said, “Impossible. The Santana’s engine and exhaust system are not compatible with a NOS installation. He would have killed himself if he fixed it onto his car.”

But after explaining to the capped girl, the man also showed a look of confusion, “Could he have secretly swapped his engine before the race? But the exhaust pipe still looks the same...”

As they were racking their brains trying to figure out how Zhang Heng could win the race, the other drivers crossed the chequered flag one after the other. The tattooed man and his Jaguar came in second. No one paid attention to him anymore, though. The entire crowd had now turned their focus on Zhang Heng and his seasoned Volkswagen Santana that could.

Zhang Heng then opened the car door and looked at the group of people who seemed to be petrified by his victorious moment. “The Porsche 911’s driver is still at the construction site,” he said. “I think he crashed into something just now. Did you guys check on him?”

Immediately, the crowd composed themselves and realized that there was a missing car.

They were shocked when they heard that the Porsche 911 hit the wall. While they were racing, several drivers noticed that the Porsche 911 and the Santana had driven into the construction site together.

At that time, the club president and his members were sure that Zhang Heng would lose the race. To everyone’s surprise, the Santana was the first to emerge from the construction site. The Porsche 911, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen. A few even began to suspect that Zhang Heng must have used some dirty tricks in the construction site to eliminate the president.

Fortunately, when they found the Porsche 911, the president was safe and sound.

The president instantly regretted his decision to rush into the construction site with Zhang Heng since the obstacles would force him to slow down. After the Santana overtook him and he witnessed Zhang Heng’s impeccable driving skills, his morale dipped to zero. Thank goodness he wasn’t speeding when he crashed his car at the wall. The airbags that deployed on time had also saved him a great deal of injury.

He was physically fine, but the same couldn’t be said about his psychological state. When they found him, he was squatting down, looking extremely dejected.

The tattooed man checked the mildly wrecked Porsche 911 next to him and comforted, “It’s okay. Only the front is damaged.” “I’m not saddened by the fact that my car is damaged,” the young man shook his head. “I’m disappointed in myself. How could I lose to a Santana after I’ve raced here so many times.”

When he said it out loud, the other club members bowed their heads in shame as they fell into silence.

The outcome of tonight’s race had truly baffled everyone. Some still couldn’t believe that Zhang Heng actually won the race.

“Did that guy... cheat?” someone suggested, trying to find an acceptable excuse for the defeat. “How did he cheat?”

The club president lit himself a cigarette and said, “You guys just raced with him. His Santana is factory-stock. It wasn’t modified anyway. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have outrun him in the first half of the race.”

“Was he really that good of a driver?” the millennial asked, obviously still doubting the miraculous win.

He hadn’t paid much attention to Zhang Heng. He had been busy chasing down the Porsche 911 and the Jaguar from the very beginning, but he still ended up losing to them.

“Let’s not talk about his skills first. He is really the kind that’s... rare, you know...” The young man took in drag while trying to recall the unbelievable and unforgettable incident he had just witnessed.

An ordinary Santana had drifted all the way along the bumpy construction site to avoid various hazards. And the most unbelievable part was that its headlights weren’t even turned on.

‘What the f*ck was that?! I know drifting, but drifting in the darkness without light is something I have never seen before.’

It was no wonder that the club president was so stunned by Zhang Heng. Any right-thinking person who had witnessed the scene would indeed be left puzzled as well.

Zhang Heng had just singlehandedly changed his fate.

“It seems that this time, we have met ourselves a master.” The club president blew out a mouthful of smoke, a solemn expression adorning his face.

“So what should we do now?” All of them were looking at each other, trying to figure out what they should do next. In the end, the club president had to be the one to make the decision.

“I will admit defeat and give him the money first.”

After finishing the race, Zhang Heng got out from his Santana and walked over to the capped girl.

“You’ve got any water with you?”

“Yes, wait a minute.” The capped girl hurriedly searched the car behind her. She found a bottle of drinking water and passed it to Zhang Heng. “Thank you,” Zhang Heng took the mineral water and thanked her politely. After he confirmed that the bottle had been opened before, he proceeded to unscrew the cap and took two sips from it.

The girl stared at Zhang Heng, filled with questions and curiosity.

When she recalled how the two first met, she thought something must be wrong with this Zhang Heng. But now, it turned out that his Santana really outperformed a whole bunch of high-performance cars. The way she looked at Zhang Heng had changed completely.

Zhang Heng was indeed a mysterious man.

And she thought that Zhang Heng was way younger than her.

“Aren’t you worried?” the capped girl asked with concern.

“What should I be worried about?”

“Although you won the race, they have lots of people over there. What if they want to beat you up?”

Women were such a strange species. She herself was from the modified car club, but now that Zhang Heng had outperformed all the other drivers, she started to worry about his safety.

“Oh, it doesn’t matter. They can’t beat me anyway,” Zhang Heng chirped casually.