Chapter 446 - 290: Malicious Competition? (2)

Chapter 446: Chapter 290: Malicious Competition? (2)

"What’s wrong with you? Aren’t you on my side? Why do you want me to lose?"

"But there’s no way I can win the race," the driver said honestly. "A driver’s skill is important in racing, of course, but the hardware is what really matters most."

Benz said nonchalantly, "The race is just a race, and selling cars is a different business. I’m not betting that the Victory is the fastest. Just you wait and see."

"How weird," the driver muttered.

The race began shortly after, and the crowd started to get restless with excitement.

All sixteen cars lined up at the starting line according to their pole positions. There was no warm-up lap.

Compared to the fleet of lavishly designed Magic-guided Vehicles, the Victory’s unremarkable appearance drew laughter from the crowd.

It’s hard to say when cars and beautiful women became a standard pairing, but in this event, the starting signal was given by a stunning beauty. The wave of her flag officially began the race.

It was highly unprofessional, but very entertaining.

The flag waved, and all the cars instantly accelerated, surging forward from the starting line.

However, there was no roar of engines, as Magic Energy Engines are quite quiet.

The Dwarf announcer shouted with passion, "The race has officially begun! Slade Workshop is off to a great start, just as you’d expect from pole position! Luwen Workshop’s start isn’t looking as good, falling two car-lengths behind Slade Workshop."

"Oh! Za’an Workshop is in trouble! A small collision with Spencer Workshop’s vehicle has caused them to slow down! Sergio Workshop seizes the opportunity to surge into third place! The two cars that scraped are now in fourth and fifth, with Carlos Workshop temporarily in sixth..."

"They’re approaching the first corner. Will we see a change in the rankings here?"

"My goodness! The cars from Julio and Baldwin Workshop have crashed into each other! But luckily, they didn’t go off the track. The drivers managed to regain control. The racers behind them weren’t affected and have all passed them. They may have saved the cars, but now they’re in the last two places."

"Wait, no, they aren’t in the last two places. Behind them is the car from Zog-Benz Workshop, the Victory!"

"Despite a name full of fighting spirit, seemingly trying to prove to the world that a car without Magic can also achieve victory, it’s a shame that reality is cruel. Ideals alone aren’t enough. Their car looks like it’s just here for a tour."

The Dwarf announcer’s words made the entire audience laugh, except for Benz’s group of friends and family.

They were now in a strange state, caught between embarrassment and pride.

They were proud that a car made by one of their own was on the racetrack.

But its performance on the track made it hard for them to show that pride.

"Mom, is Dad’s car not good?" Benz’s child asked, confused.

A mother is a mother, always ready to turn any moment in life into a lesson.

She immediately launched into an inspirational little story. "Of course Dad’s car is great. He’s done the best he possibly can, and that’s worthy of praise. A person’s greatest enemy..."

The race continued fiercely, with every Magic-guided Vehicle competing with all its might.

Moving up even one position could mean selling several more cars.

Driven by profit, after a few laps, there had already been multiple scrapes and collisions on the track.

Thankfully, there were no major accidents. In the past, people had died on this track.

Not many serious accidents had happened in recent years, mainly because the cost of Magic-guided Vehicles was getting higher and higher. Even minor bumps and scrapes were painful enough; a total wreck was a devastating loss that could wipe out more than half a year’s profit.

As for the Victory.

It really did look like it was just here for a tour.

All the competition on the track seemed to have nothing to do with this car. It just drove steadily through every corner, trying its best to maintain speed, not even attempting to take the perfect racing line.

"This is too cruel! I can’t watch anymore!"

The Dwarf announcer said with feigned exaggeration, "Someone get the Victory off the track! It’s about to be lapped! Oh, wait, it has already been lapped."

The Slade Workshop car, still in first place, overtook the Victory, officially lapping it.

It had to be admitted that Slade Workshop truly had something to be proud of. As the race went on, its lead became more and more obvious.

The Victory wasn’t the only one lapped. By the time the race was nearly halfway through, five cars had already been lapped.

Even the car in second place had fallen ten seconds behind. As long as Slade Workshop didn’t make a colossal mistake in the second half, there was little hope for anyone to make a comeback.

It got to the point where, by the end of the race, the main point of interest had shifted from which workshop would win to just how many times Slade Workshop could lap the Victory.

It had already been lapped twice. The Slade Workshop car was now on its final lap, about three hundred meters behind the Victory up ahead.

"Can he do it? Can he do it? Oh, he’s getting closer, he’s about to catch up, it’s the corner right ahead! OHO! Slade Workshop did it! They’ve lapped the Victory a full three times! It’s unbelievable!"

As the Slade Workshop car surpassed the Victory for the third time, a massive cheer erupted from the stands.

According to the rules, when the lead car finished the race, the other vehicles only had to complete their current lap. But if you were lapped, then sorry, you were counted as not having finished.

This was for the sake of the viewing experience.

No audience would enjoy watching the slowest cars complete their remaining laps.

In the end, Slade Workshop took first place, nearly thirty seconds ahead of second. Looking back at the history of the event, it was a huge lead that would go down in the books.

And the Victory was, indeed, in last place. Although a few other cars hadn’t finished either, the Victory was the only one to be lapped three times.

The race ended. There was no awards ceremony, but the audience didn’t leave. The live promotions began immediately.

Each workshop would announce the price of their race car, what technology it used, its advantages, and what improvements had been made compared to last year’s model.

It was like a live product launch.

Of course, there usually weren’t any major improvements, but they had to scrape together some talking points about improvements anyway.

The point wasn’t whether there were real improvements, but making the buyers *feel* like there were.

With good salesmanship, you could increase your sales by a few cars during this segment.

Naturally, the first to take the stage was Slade Workshop.

Amidst the applause of the entire crowd, Boss Slade brought his beloved car to the front of the main stand and began his presentation.

The amount of time each workshop was allowed for their presentation was also based on their race ranking.

As the first-place winner, Slade Workshop had plenty of time.

The boss went into great detail about every aspect of the car: the design inspiration for its exterior, the precious materials used, the gemstone decorations added, and the rare Magical Beast hide used for the seats.

None of this was useful for racing, of course, but it was very useful for sales.

After covering the bells and whistles, he moved on to the core component: the engine. The brand-new Slade engine could go from zero to a hundred kilometers per hour in just nine seconds, with a top speed of 160 kilometers per hour.

These numbers might not sound impressive, but they represented the pinnacle of performance in this era.

After the full introduction came the most crucial part: the price.

Boss Slade built up the suspense before finally revealing in a secretive tone, "The price is... 59,998 Gold Coins!"

The moment he spoke, gasps of astonishment came from the audience.

It was actually cheaper than last year’s model. An upgrade, and a price drop.

Gasps or not, this was a price that no ordinary person could afford.

During the live ordering segment, a few placards were raised in the private boxes, indicating pre-orders. It was a bit like an auction.

In just a few minutes, they had already received twenty orders.

It might not seem like much, but it was the highest number of on-site sales for a car in nearly thirty years.

Boss Slade stepped down from the stage, pleased with himself, and didn’t forget to shoot a provocative glance at Benz.

The look meant, ’Now you owe me Twenty Gold Coins.’

A small sum was still money.

The other workshops took the stage one by one, but none of them managed to sell more than ten cars.

When it came to the last few finishers, they had pitiful sales of zero.

Until it was Benz’s turn.

He looked completely confident as he walked to the microphone.

He straightened his bow tie and said in a calm voice, "Price: 50 Gold Coins."

Then he walked off the stage. There was no other introduction.

The audience was dumbfounded. They had originally stayed to watch the spectacle, to see how the last-place finisher would rush through his car’s introduction in his short time slot, speaking at a frantic pace.

How could it just be one sentence? This wasn’t what they expected.

What was that one sentence again?

The price...

Gold Coins?

Gold Coins!

The audience finally processed it.

Someone, thinking Benz was joking, tentatively raised a placard. This was the first time a placard had ever been raised from outside the private boxes.

They were just doing it for fun. They figured Benz couldn’t possibly accept the order. What kind of car would sell for 50 Gold Coins?

However, under the astonished gazes of the entire crowd, Benz accepted the order.

After a moment of silence.

A dense forest of placards shot up from the stands.

The greatest advantage of a car without Magic: low cost and mass producibility. From this day forward, vehicles would no longer be just a rich man’s toy.