Chapter 66 - 30: The Waves Subside

Chapter 66: Chapter 30: The Waves Subside

Wu Shi finally understood that the key to his Perception wasn’t forgetting, but control.

Before, he had always been a passive receiver.

Now that he understood this principle, he decoupled himself from all the race karts and parts stored there. Once he did, his mind felt clear and refreshed.

"We need to go back to Lonato."

Wu Shi hastily bid farewell to his old team and returned to the CRG Factory.

The karts and parts he had used in 2010 and 2011 were still there. He repeated the process, then pulled out one of his spare KZ2-class karts.

After some brief preparations, he got in and drove it out onto the track.

One lap. Two laps. Three laps.

His Perception slowly spread out, covering the bodywork, the chassis, and the engine. Once the general outline was established, it delved into the finer, internal details.

At that moment, the control element of his Perception elevated his mastery of the vehicle to a new level. If before he could only apply the throttle in increments of a percent, now he could do so in increments of a thousandth.

This control allowed him to use the vehicle to its absolute limit.

At that moment, Wu Shi felt like grabbing an accordion and proclaiming that nobody understood driving better than he did.

WHOOSH!

By the twentieth lap, everything was ready.

The kart entered the pit lane.

"New tires!"

The mechanics rushed over to help. The moment the tires were changed, before anyone could ask a question, Wu Shi was back on the track.

After a quick warm-up lap, he went for a flying lap on the second.

"What is he doing?"

"What’s gotten into him?"

Wu Shi training here on a race day drew a lot of attention.

Yet, just over forty seconds later, a unanimous silence fell over the crowd.

The kart flashed across the finish line, and an astonishing number appeared on the display.

42.998

After a moment of silence, someone suddenly spoke up. "What’s the lap record for KZ2?"

"45.987."

"And what was that time on the screen?"

"Oddio! How is that possible?!"

"My God, it has to be a mistake. The timer’s wrong!"

"Three seconds? How can the gap be that huge? Not even the KZ1 karts can post a time like that!"

Shocked murmurs rippled through the onlookers. Sid stared in a daze, and Rosa was completely at a loss.

As Wu Shi drove the kart back into the pit lane, Rosa was the first to snap out of it. "Get some people over here!" she yelled. "We need to inspect this kart!"

It was true. When a lap time was this abnormal, the first suspect was always the machinery.

Wu Shi climbed out of the kart. ’Perception, supplemented by control, is truly terrifying,’ he thought. ’It lets me push the machine to its absolute limits, to perform beyond 100%!’

To describe him now, "Martian" was no longer enough. You’d have to call him an alien.

He felt a profound sense of ease as he watched the crew carry the kart away.

The control also provided a crucial benefit: he could decouple during a crash. Otherwise, he couldn’t imagine the agony he would experience in a major accident.

The inspection of the kart took a full six hours. In the end, the team reached a single conclusion:

There was nothing wrong with the kart!

Rosa took out her phone and called Jos.

"That Wu Shi you mentioned... he’s back."

"What?"

It was noisy on Jos’s end, like he was at an awards ceremony.

"You’ll see when you get back."

...

Jos put his phone in his pocket. On the podium was Verstappen, who had just won the KF2 championship.

He breathed a sigh of relief. With Max’s talent and hard work, he should have won a championship long ago. To think he only managed to reach the top step of the podium again by avoiding a race with Wu Shi.

The KZ2 awards followed KF2. Lunloks’s foolish and reckless driving hadn’t won him the championship; instead, Zanetta Marko had taken the top spot with two consistent performances.

The team championship, which should have been theirs, was also lost thanks to Lunloks’s antics, causing the team principal to fly into a rage on the spot.

With the race over, the karting world was abuzz with news, and the most discussed topic was, naturally, Wu Shi.

First, there were the TV commentator’s highly controversial remarks, which had angered a large number of fans.

Second, Wu Shi’s withdrawal from the race lent a conspiratorial air to the commentator’s remarks. Westerners love a good conspiracy theory, so all sorts of claims began to circulate.

Subsequently, organizers like the FIA-CIK and WSK issued statements, confirming that all post-race inspections for the events Wu Shi had participated in were compliant with regulations.

The situation blew up to the point that Martina took three days off work to stay with Wu Shi, worried the media storm might affect him negatively and harm his mental well-being.

"It’s fine," Wu Shi said, casually tossing the newspaper onto the table. "This is nothing. The trolls on the forums hit harder than this."

"I’m glad you’re okay." Martina sighed in relief. "By the way, the Rafa Driver Academy has expressed interest in signing you."

"Really? That’s fantastic news!" Wu Shi was surprised. Getting into the Rafa Driver Academy was a ticket to the junior formula series.

"It’s still under negotiation. I’ll let you know when there’s definite news."

"Okay."

「Two weeks flew by.」

On March 15th, Wu Shi and his team members entered the Naples Salerno Circuit for the second round of the WSK Master Series, just as they always did.

The moment he appeared, a reporter ran over and shoved a long microphone in his face.

"Hey, Wu Shi! About your withdrawal from the last round—was it due to an injury, or something else?"

"I’m feeling fine," Wu Shi said, keeping his answer brief.

"What’s your take on the recent rumors?"

"What rumors?"

"You haven’t heard?"

"What should I have heard? As a driver, I believe my only job is to race well and perform at my best. I don’t need to pay attention to anything else."