At Tianmen Square, more than forty domestic and foreign players stood ready, waiting for the referee to give the orders.
The sky is blue, the mountains strikingly majestic. National flags of various colors in the valley flutter with the mountain wind, resembling ocean waves.
The huge LED screen sept over every player’s figure, and the audience cried out with excitement.
The voices didn’t decrease until everyone was in place.
The referee held the starting gun toward the sky: “Everyone in place– get ready–”
“Boom”
More than forty figures moved upon hearing the gunshot.
The commentator’s voice sounded: “After the previous three games, I believe everyone understands the difficulty of this path.”
“It has not only devastating 99 bends but also complicated road conditions and uneven distribution of road friction.”
The ideal track for longboard downhill is on asphalt pavement. The asphalt pavement is even and allows a strong grip. In contrast, there are many joints on cement roads, especially Tianmen Mountain Road. The joints on the cement road are very wide. Some small grooves on the road surface bring obvious bumps to the downhill road.
But these bumps did not have a big impact on Yu Nian. When the longboard under his feet began to move, he entered his own world.
His absolute control of the center of gravity became instinct, allowing him to integrate with his board.
Heaven and Earth seemed to have become a giant painting. He launched his figure into this giant painting to measure every section of the road and every turn, verifying his previous observations of it.
This road has a total length of 10.77 kilometers and 99 bends, with an average of one bend per 100 meters.
With his case of not being familiar with this road, Yu Nian’s speed was not fast, it can only be ranked midstream, but this is far from getting top six in the group and qualifying for the finals.
There were a dozen to twenty figures in front of him. He did not reveal any anxiety. After going into the winding road, he quickly cut into the 99th turn.
“Good! Even though it is his first time to set foot on Tongtian Road, Contestant No. 15 has shown his skill and control of longboarding.”
“But it’s just the first corner, and there are narrow corners after narrow corners, one after another waiting for him.”
The Turn Back Bend is also called the Hairpin Bend, which refers to a u-turn bend around 180 degrees.
With Turn Back Bends in Tianmen Mountain, the turning radius of such a curve is very small, so the speed must be reduced when cornering. If you don’t pay attention, you will slip and fall off the road.
They are now at the most thrilling place in the entire track. This is also the place where the downhill players have the slowest speed. The nearly twenty figures in front of Yu Nian began to slow down and cornered.
This slowest speed is the easiest to surpass.
Yu Nian had this idea that he had decided from the beginning. He has no other players’ familiarity with the road condition, and his physical deficiencies give him an advantage only in the first half.
His lack of familiarity with the track made him control his speed at a medium from the beginning, and if he slows down when cornering, he will completely fall behind.
It is necessary to use the limit at the current speed to cornering, gaining an advantage with corners.
The commentator’s voice quickly sounded when the downhill players were cornering: “We can see that the players unanimously chose the curve route entering from the outside of the curve.”
“In such a thrilling back turn, entering the outer circle, exiting the corner close to the center of the bend, passing at a lower speed and a maximum arc is a safe choice, so this is a very correct route!”
Soon the narrator’s sight was attracted by Yu Nian who followed immediately.
He saw in the camera that his speed did not drop significantly like the others, and still maintained a high speed into the corner.
“No. 15! He actually chose to enter the corner from the inside, and he almost didn’t slow down!” The commentator took a breath, “It can be seen that No. 15 has kept up despite not being familiar with the track with medium speed. But this kind of speed can definitely be called high speed when cornering.”
“We know two types of cornering- slowing down before the corner, and directly drifting through the corner. He chose the second one, which is very good for him. It allows him to surpass two downhill players!”
They could see Yu Nian cornering from the inside, and when drifting, he smoothly passed the two downhill players in front of him.
The wheels rubbed against the ground violently, think blue smoke emitting.
The electronic tachometer on the road showed the instantaneous speed when Yu Nian cornered: 65km/h.
“Amazing corning speed! His technique is beyond doubt good! And this is just the first time he has set foot on this track!”
Yu Nian’s body was leaning almost parallel to the ground. This sharp 180-degree bend made the longboard drift far away, and the arc is drawn amazingly.
The wind whizzed in his ears, and everything on both sides of the road was going backward fast.
The eyes of the audience gathered him, crying out one after another.
The narrator with an excited look on his face, spoke quickly: “A little bit off and his body would have hit the low wall next to the road, but he controlled it. He has incredible confidence in his control of the center of gravity. We can understand No.15. Why did he choose such a treacherous turn-in-and-out route?”
Because none of the more than forty players in this group are weak. If he wants to break through to the top six and qualify for the finals, he must establish his own advantage! In this limited speed, overtaking corners is his only choice!”
This is his only choice.
After Yu Nian passed this Turn Back Bend smoothly, he immediately entered the dense area of the bends.
Turn 97, Turn 93, and Turn 88! Here comes the cake tower!
He took a deep breath and became more focused than ever before.
The 88th to 84th bends are five consecutive U-shaped bends descending spirally, layered on top of each other. It resembles a multi-layered cake, so it was named a “cake tower.”
The cake tower is built on a mountain with a towering cliff on the inside, and a dangerous cliff on the outside.
If you get too close to the inside when turning a corner, you may hit the cliff. If you get too close to the outside, you may fall off the cliff.
It is also impossible to observe the terrain when exiting the bend because of the cliff wall.
Compared to the road curve with a wide view, the five consecutive bends of the cake tower are so much more dangerous.
Here, even Lucius, a veteran who has participated in this competition several times, slowed down to the lowest possible speed, carefully crossing the cake bends.
At this moment, a speeding figure zoomed past him.
Lucius recognized from the color of his leather jacket and helmet that it was No. 15, the insignificant delicate little beauty from his group.
Yu Nian lowered his body, keeping the center gravity perpendicular to the board surface, and tilted his body with the longboard under his feet to overcome the centrifugal force.
The slider on his glove rubbed against the ground, bringing out a string of sparks.
Such speed!
Of course, with the helmet on his face, Lucius couldn’t see the boy’s expression. But Lucius can envision the calmness of his face under the helmet and the madness in his eyes.
“He really is crazy…” Lucius cursed discreetly, realizing he was a little unstable because of the distraction. He quickly reduced his thoughts and focused on the road in front of him.
Cornering, drifting.
The audience was surprised to see that Yu Nian continued to pass the cake tower at such speed. His initial speed disadvantage is gradually being evened out. After these corners, he has surpassed several downhill players and successfully reached the first echelon.
There, three wall bends followed. There is no direct sunlight, and watermarks remain on the road.
Yu Nian was prepared, and his stable posture was not affected by the slippery marks.
Halfway through, Yu Nian had already reached third place among all the players!
“Fantastic!” Wu Qian clenched his fists.
As long as this ranking can be maintained, he is bound to have a seat in the finals!”
But what Wu Qian has been worrying about finally happened. The continuous turns made Yu Nian consume a lot of energy, and from his posture, you can vaguely see the state of exhaustion.
Sweat dripped down Yu Nian’s chin, then was blown away by the oncoming wind. It blew onto the concrete road behind him, and the imprints quickly evaporated and disappeared.
“Hold on, Yu Nian.” Wu Qian looked nervous. He knew that Yu Nian’s advantage was over. When his physical strength dropped to the bottom, he could only complete it with sheer willpower.
The audience also discovered this, shouting and cheering for support: “Come on, No. 15!”
“Carry on!”
After crossing another curve, sweat slid down his forehead and flooded into his eyes, causing a tingling pain. Yu Nian closed his eyes involuntarily. At this time, his wheels smashed into the joints of the road, and the longboard began to shake violently.
His stamina was no longer enough to control such a situation. His body fell onto the road instantly and slammed into the low wall outside of the mountain road.
Wu Qian and Deng Jingwei watching the game immediately jolted in surprise in their seats.
If there was no low wall protection outside the road, he would’ve fallen directly into the abyss!
The spectators who were watching the game also cried out in surprise.
“No. 15 fell down, protected by his protective gear, coupled with his good power relief posture, such a fall should not have a big impact. But he hit the low wall on the outside of the road! Even after shaking off the force, the speed of the impact is still not low, which will undoubtedly make his brain groggy.”
The weak young man on the road moved, and during this, two downhill players passed him one after another.
Yu Nian heard his own violent gasps, and time seemed to slow down when he fell. The sounds of wind and wheels bumping against the road seemed to disappear until he fell on the ground and slammed into the low wall. Time seemed to flow normally again after.
He held up his hand, and through the lens filter, he could see a puddle of blood on the ground.
“He is injured.” The commentator said solemnly, “Will he give up the game or get up and continue?”
Yu Nian felt a little dizzy, and for a moment, he wanted to just lie down on the road, take some deep breaths and calm down, close his eyes and sleep for a while.
He thinks of his life before he went into this book when he was the proud son of heaven.
His hands were hailed as God’s favor and the most outstanding gift. Even a scratch the size of a fingernail can arouse the tension of the people around him.
But at this moment, the blood from his hand stained the gray-white road.
Yu Nian stood up holding onto the low wall.
He looked at the rolling mountains under the mountain road, overlapping and rushing towards him.
This is not the time to rest.
Doing his best is not enough, he has to do better than his best.
He still doesn’t know his way, he still doesn’t know the meaning of all this. But.
“I want to win.”
Whether it was the past or the present.
“I want to win.”
He stood on his longboard again.
The sunlight shines on his helmet’s PC cover, reflecting a colorful glare.
“Contestant No. 15 chose to continue the game! His fall delayed the run for early 40 seconds, during which another downhill player surpassed him.”
“Fortunately, the advantage brought by the continuous high-speed drifting and cornering in the early stages is still there. He is still first in the echelon position! But can he still qualify for the finals?”
While the narrator was worrying, Yu Nian slid down to the end of the road without hesitation.
Wu Qian pressed his lips together tightly and put his hands together to pray on his forehead.
He tried his best. No matter what the result was, he tried his best.
Yu Nian locked his eyes on the road ahead, the densest place of the curve had passed, and the smooth slope was next. In this kind of relatively open field of vision, he can maintain a high speed and adapt accordingly.
“He is accelerating! Unbelievable! Contestant No. 15 has grasped the road conditions and chose to accelerate when he is injured and physically weak!”
Lucius crossed the finish line first.
Then a few figures followed.
Everyone held their breath, and when Yu Nian also crossed the finish line, there was an unprecedented cry.
The rankings were quickly given on the timer.
The narrator’s excited voice sounded: “Eighth in the overall remaining group! No. 15 failed to advance directly to the top six in group four, but his timing ranking is still in the top eight of the remaining people. He won a spot out of the 32 available and is in the finals!”
The audience was intoxicated.
It was an incredible thing to qualify for the finals after setting foot on the track for the first time.
The longboard downhill forum exploded.
[Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! No. 15 entered the finals. When he crashed I could just feel the pain.]
[Very surprised, I just checked the record number 9787635 in the system. It’s the first time he completed the track, and with no test trial either.]
[He skated very conservatively at first. It seems true that this was the first time he was on the track, but he was able to skate like this. His skills are very incredible.]
[Outrageous, even if he is so courageous, daring to just go without experience on the track can really get him tumbling off the cliff! This is not a joke!]
[Where did this great God come from, he actually qualified for the finals. Say, let’s try guessing how far this big boss can go in the finals.]
[WIth Harrison and Lucius, as well as the big bosses from Brazil, a medal is out of the question. After all, it is still his first time in this competition. His result is already good, looking forward to the next finals. Maybe then he can enter the top 20?]
[Curious about who this boss is, if he can perform so well here, he must have a place in future events!]
Yu Nian took off his gloves soaked with sweat and blood, panting.
He couldn’t advance directly, and it feels strange to be selected from the remainders to qualify for the finals.
He wants to win.
Not barely qualifying for the finals, but to win.
At this time, the familiar electronic sound in his mind echoed.
[Modeling function is turned on.]
[Tianmen Mountain data importing…successfully imported, modeling…]