This is not how you drive a machine!

Chapter 286: Celebration Dinner

At noon, Kyoto was bustling with traffic, a scene of vibrant prosperity.

A gentle breeze blew through the rolling traffic, rippling across a minibus on the highway.

Pan An sat in the driver's seat, his hands on the steering wheel, listening to the members of the Yunyi team behind him venting their joy of victory, and a smile couldn't help but spread across his face.

This trip to Kyoto brought him many gains and profound insights.

Although it was a narrow victory, it was enough to demonstrate the status of drifting in the world of motorsports.

In particular, the drift dominance technique is not only a top-tier skill on the racetrack, but will also find a wider application in the realm of street racing.

The thought of his opponent pulling out a bunch of illegally modified items, and him drifting away to defuse the situation, filled him with a sense of excitement.

Lore!

When will the drifting invincibility technique be made practical?

"Pan An, you absolutely have the potential to become a legend on Jiangcheng's 521 bus! Yes, get off the highway at this intersection..."

"..."

Upon hearing Jiang Xiyue's voice beside him, Pan An's face darkened.

As the saying goes, fighter jets in the sky, 521 on the ground.

How could a mere race car driver like me compare to those industry talents who can fling passengers from the last row to the first row?
"..."

However, Jiang Xiyue's words also boosted Pan An's confidence. After she finished speaking, Pan An suddenly turned the steering wheel.

Feeling the roar of the engine, Zhou Yun, who had just established himself as a drifter, couldn't help but excitedly shout, "Come on! Let's drift!"

"Pan An, drift, rise up!"

"Ugh..."

With its suspension creaking and swaying, the minibus kicked up clouds of dust as it sped off the highway, carrying the passengers of the Yunyi convoy, and crashed into the face of a traffic policeman.

"He's pretty handsome, isn't he?"

"Is it possible to do without a driver's license, but to have to report drifting nationwide?"

"Damn it! Drifting is such a bastard!"

The traffic policeman stood speechlessly in the middle of the road, holding Pan An's driver's license, looking utterly devastated.

"It's just that we just won the national championship, why are you all so excited?"

"Damn it! Because of this damn Zhou Yun, eight cars just drifted past this intersection! Six of them were professional race cars... Are you a race car driver too?"

Upon seeing the racing license sticker on Pan An's driver's license, the traffic policeman shoved the license back at him.

"Damn it, if you're race car drivers, you can't just mess around like that!"

"It will set a bad example for children! Besides, this is an everyday vehicle, not a mecha girl!"

"I give up! If drifting hadn't come about so late and there weren't any regulations yet... I guarantee I'd send you back to driving school!"

"Zhou Yun, you've really screwed me over! Do you know how bad the traffic jam is up ahead because of your drifting?"

Hearing the pitiful cries of the traffic police officers who had been 'drifted' around, Pan An could only awkwardly put away his driver's license, bowing and scraping.

Zhou Yun, sitting in the row behind Pan An, buried his face in Han Ya's belly and muttered to himself.

"Can't see me, can't see me, can't see me..."

I shouldn't have gotten involved in drifting; I'm guilty...

After lecturing for half a day, the traffic policeman rubbed his tired temples and patted the car body.

"Okay, let's go."

"I know your technology is amazing, and you can control safety down to the millimeter, but... please be careful and stop drifting, okay?"

"Especially don't lead the way in letting idiots float around, okay?"

"Seriously, don't let me catch Zhou Yun, or I'll risk getting fined if I have to tow his car away..."

As he was speaking, his walkie-talkie rang.

[Attention all units, attention all units...]

The bureau just issued "Temporary Measures for Rectifying Drifting," and drivers spotted drifting on the road will be treated as street racing perpetrators...

[A driver's license with 12 points deducted, a race car driver banned from racing for one year, and serious offenders prosecuted for dangerous driving...]

[Motorcycle police officers or specially assigned racers are managed by the motorcycle police system...]

Upon hearing this message, the traffic policeman abruptly looked up.

"Wait! You guys... eh?"

Looking at the minibus that had long since dwindled to just a tiny dot beside him, the conscientious young traffic policeman scratched his head and turned on his walkie-talkie.

[Attention all units! I just saw Zhou Yun!]

[Repeat, I saw the Death Star! He's on a minibus, license plate number 京A3166...]

[Repeated, the Death Star has appeared...]

After enduring relentless checks by traffic police at every intersection, it was past 5 p.m. when Jiang Xiyue finally broke down, seeing the hot pot restaurant getting closer and closer in the distance.

"If you're going to check a driver's license, then check! We didn't do anything, why are you holding up your phone and taking pictures?"

"what……"

Pan An stuck his driver's license on the car window and looked up to the sky and shouted.

"We're almost there! I'm starving..."

Zhou Yun lifted his head off the crow's belly, wiped the crumbs of the raccoon instant noodles off his face, and breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the hot pot restaurant approach.

Damn it, I ate too much raccoon food because I was so hungry, what should I do?
Should we send everyone back?

"Huh? Where's my medal? Who stole it?"

"..."

Hearing the commotion and howling inside the car, Jiang Wuyang, sitting in the back seat, couldn't help but chuckle.

"Isn't it a good thing that there are so many imitators that traffic police have to introduce new regulations?"

Imitators mean broader demand, a wider market, the resolution of the fundamental funding issues for the development of drift-body technology, and a more solid foundation for the racing industry...

The feeling that everything had fallen into place naturally gave him a dreamlike feeling, after years of fruitless pursuit.

It feels a bit unreal.

But it also genuinely excited him.

It turns out that once you're on the right track and in the right direction, things become so easy...

He turned to look at Lin Yao, who was tutoring his daughter in math problems, and said with a smile, "At least Mr. Lin, you don't have to worry about selling your printed brake kits. It seems that the sales of your everyday car printed brake kits are going smoothly."

Mr. Lin looked up, completely bewildered.

"Linlin, how do you solve a quadratic equation in three variables? Your dad doesn't know how..."

"Are you going to do it or am I? Why don't you just do it..."

After a long pause, Boss Lin mechanically nodded.

"Yes, yes... Linlin, are you hungry? We'll be there soon, hurry up and finish your math homework here!"

Linlin immediately pouted, looking at Feng Ying and Yin Ling sitting opposite her with pleading eyes.

Sister Fengying Yinling, come quick, come quickly and tear up my homework book, okay?

At this moment, both Wind Chime and Silver Chime were focused on Thor.

"Thor! Thor! Please teach us the Flying Thunder God Technique!"

"We want to learn too!"

The noise attracted Guangyu's attention. Lingyu, who was admiring the scenery, gently smoothed Xiyue's hair and then his ears twitched.

"Hmm? What is the Flying Thunder God Technique?"

"We want to learn..."

Amidst the noisy chatter, this marathon battle that lasted more than five hours finally came to an end.

As the huge signboard of "Chuan Shang Xiang Hot Pot City" grew larger and larger in her field of vision, Jiang Xiyue, who had been wanting to have a good meal here, couldn't help but drool.

"After overcoming eighty-one tribulations, we've finally arrived!"

"I've been craving this hot pot restaurant for so long! It's authentic Sichuan hot pot, the broth is made with homemade beef tallow, the kind that's incredibly spicy! The seasoning is also authentic homemade sesame paste, completely different from those mixed with peanut sauce..."

"I was too busy with work before and never had the chance to come."

After Pan An found a parking space, she pushed open the car door, looked at the huge sign above her with anticipation, and drooled uncontrollably.

"Sister Lingyu, open the car door! This is the first time our entire Yunyi racing team has gathered together to celebrate!"

“Celebrating us…”

Before she could finish speaking, several mecha girls' voices rang out from near the parking lot.

"Hurry up, Ziqian, get out of the car! Let's celebrate Xiyue switching teams! She finally has someone she loves!" "Waaaaah, I never thought Zhou Yun would go to such lengths for Xiyue in this 'battle for love,' he even developed 'drifting invincibility'..."

Zijian's voice echoed throughout the parking lot.

"As expected, my research was correct; magnetic hormones are indeed a catalyst for human technology!"

"Zhou Yun can actually write a book and develop the Drift Body at the same time, that's terrifying! He's my idol! I, I'm going to keep up the good work and write a lot of fanfiction about the two of them!"

"I'll write a hundred copies! I'll try to get sued again so I can give my Xiyue and Zhou Yun a huge marketing push!"

"Yes! I'll draw the book then, to celebrate! To celebrate!"

Jiang Xiyue slammed the car door shut and looked at everyone with a constipated expression that combined collapse, embarrassment, and an "ah."

"Should we try another one?"

Although this hot pot feast was the result of more than five hours of street fighting, and although it was the authentic Sichuan cuisine she had been dreaming of for so long...

But for some reason, she suddenly didn't want to eat anymore.

Do you mecha girls even know what you're saying?!

"..."

"..."

"Sister Lingyu, what are you thinking about! That novel was something my dad encouraged me to read...you know that, don't you!"

Seeing Ling Yu's increasingly strange expression, Jiang Xiyue couldn't help but give him a light punch.

"You really are something, Dad! You should talk to Sister Lingyu about this!"

Jiang Wuyang raised his head with the same expression as Xi Yue, looking at the curious gazes of the other unsuspecting people in the carriage.

Ruined.

The drifting movement has become a hit, but this book also seems to have become an imprint of netizens' thoughts along with the drifting movement's popularity.

Who promoted this book in the first place...?

Thinking of this, he slapped his forehead.

It was me all along?

"..."

The veteran team members and mecha girls in the carriage were fine, but as for these newcomers from Nimbus... they looked at them with expressions of utter astonishment.

Jiang Wuyang coughed, knowing that this was the right time to stabilize morale.

"This is my fault."

"I'm sorry, as a brand partner, I will minimize the impact of this matter as quickly as possible..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Feng Ying and Yin Ling.

"Thor, have you forgotten?"

"The Flying Thunder God Technique is the one you used to forcibly take Xi Yue's underwear for Zhou Yun last time, whoosh whoosh..."

Before they could finish speaking, Zhou Yun and Jiang Xiyue, in their human bodies, broke the sound barrier and used the Flying Thunder God Technique to grab one of the mecha girls and cover their mouths.

Jiang Xiyue covered her silver bell with an embarrassed expression, stammering incoherently.

"No, there's no Flying Thunder God Technique. Naruto and all that stuff is just for kids. It's a story about Jinchuriki. The Fourth Hokage's father was just a fantasy of a child dying in the midst of war..."

Zhou Yun agreed, saying, "Yes, it's all just the fantasy of some jealous kid..."

For a moment, all the 'uninformed people' stared wide-eyed.

Zhou Yun, so you didn't just want the mecha girl's underwear?
Jiang Wuyang stared wide-eyed at the two's almost synchronized movements, inexplicably feeling that he had become a part of his daughter and Zhou Yun's strange play.

How do I sort this out?

He counted on his fingers, but found that he couldn't figure out the logic behind the matter.

First, his daughter inexplicably wrote a harem fantasy novel with him as the protagonist. Then, after meeting Zhou Yun, she gender-swapped Zhou Yun and threw him into the book. Then, the book was banned because of its explicit content. Then, because of the drifting... wait, when did the underwear incident happen?

The carriage fell silent in an instant.

Sensing the increasingly eerie atmosphere in the carriage, Zhou Yun and Jiang Xiyue exchanged a glance, their expressions crumbling.

If people don't engage with abstraction, they will be dominated by it.

Just as the words 'pigeon,' 'it smells so good,' and 'repeating machine' have buried all pre-modern philosophy.

At that moment, both men killed themselves, completing their transformation from premodernism to postmodernism. All that remained in the carriage were the corpses left behind after the molting process, known as 'classicism and modern philosophy'.

Amidst these corpses, the last member of the TFBOYS trio, a certain radiant and handsome guy, continues to contribute.

"Sister Thor, please tell me, what exactly is the Flying Thunder God Technique?!"

"Just say it!"

"The Flying Thunder God Technique is a perfect match for me, Abyss Eye Light Feather! As the brightest star in Abyss Eye, I must learn this!"

Guangyu lay beside Thor, her big eyes filled with anticipation. She was no longer the haughty girl she used to be, and instead looked shy and bashful.

"It's my birthday today, could you secretly teach me how to do it first?"

Thor's face remained impassive, but suddenly two pairs of eyes lit up inside the carriage, a look of resurrection.

Jiang Xiyue's lips curled up slightly: "Guangyu, what did you say?"

Zhou Yun's smile grew wider: "Is today your birthday?"

In the end, Guangyu was carried into the hot pot restaurant amidst her panicked cries.

……

After three plates of meat, the condiment dish was soaked with hot pot broth, and before we knew it, night had fallen.

Zhou Yun stroked the 'air' that had been heated by the hot pot fumes and couldn't help but gasp for breath.

In the end, he still couldn't find where he had lost the medal.

Moreover, the celebration banquet went by... fifteen minutes were spent celebrating Guangyu's birthday, and then four and a half hours were spent sorting out the love-hate relationship between the novel and Yunyi's racing team.

"what……"

He raised his glass and forced a smile.

"In short, welcome Jiang Wuyang, welcome Jiang Xiyue, welcome Qingluan, Ling Yu, Lei Shen, welcome Manager Che, welcome... welcome to the Yunyi Racing Team family!"

"I hope that in the future, we can move forward together, grow stronger, and create even greater glories..."

Amidst applause from the onlookers who were thoroughly enjoying the feast, the celebration banquet gradually came to an end.

It was supposed to be the time to open Weibo, to officially announce the signing and post photos, but everyone tacitly shut down their internet, shutting down this abstract era.

Run away, petrel.

Escape the storm of the internet and find peace in a hot pot...

"Hiccup~"

Manager Ye let out a burp and wiped his glasses, which were frosted over by the smell of hot pot.

The glory of the last game has come to an end; it's time to carry on the honor to the next game.

So he clapped his hands.

"Let's post the promotional photos tomorrow. Since everyone's here and full of energy, let's briefly discuss the follow-up development of 'Drift Invincibility'."

"Tomorrow I need to pack my things and book a flight back to Jingyun. Once I get back, I need to hurry up and renovate the club rooms. I've been too busy these past few days to come up with a plan."

"Instead of waiting until we return to Jingyun to discuss this, let's talk about it now so that we have a clear understanding before we go back."

He cleaned his glasses again and turned to look at Feng.

"Feng, let's talk about your plan."

Feng swallowed and put down his chopsticks. He took out his iPad from the frog's bag, looked around, and smiled with satisfaction.

Before we knew it, the team had grown to so many people. Zhou Yun's talent for recruiting is truly remarkable...

"My proposal is..."

"Through unified management, we can minimize time costs in research and development and design, but there are two hard conditions..."

"First, compliant materials and technology manufacturers; second,..."

At this point, she turned to look at Jiang Wuyang, who understood what Feng meant.

"money."

Technological research and development is the same everywhere; it's a money-burning black hole.

Especially when time is of the essence, the amount of money spent becomes unpredictable.

"The Glorious Evolution project team will tighten investment as soon as possible. Funds from the original Lightyear Project have been transferred and are ready. Discussions with subsequent investors are underway. Let me see..."

At this point, Jiang Wuyang turned his phone back on, which he had kept off all afternoon.

Amidst the cacophony of notification ringtones, he stared at the signal from the Glorious Evolution project team, his pupils gradually dilating.

(End of this chapter)