Beyblade: You call this a four-wheel drive vehicle?

Chapter 157 Group Stage Draw

After the three of them had a conversation, a staff member came out of the association building and led the three into a meeting room in the building.

The three of them waited for a while, and then a greasy middle-aged man in his forties walked into the conference room with another bald middle-aged white man.

"Hello, three little friends." The middle-aged man who was in the lead said to Lin Che and the other two with a smile, but this smile made Lin Che feel a little physically uncomfortable.

"Chairman Xiao, please speak frankly if you have something to say. Everyone is very busy. Wang Jiajun and I took leave to come here." Gao Xiaoman was annoyed when she saw Zhongdeng, who had messed up the environment of the Shanghai Mini Racing Competition, so she interrupted him without mercy.

Chairman Xiao showed a hint of displeasure when he was interrupted, but when he thought that his political achievements still depended on last year's championship, he quickly suppressed his anger, came to the main seat in the conference room and sat down, saying: "Since Gao Xiaoman has something urgent to say, I will make it short."

Director Xiao was speaking when he played a video in the conference room. The content of the video was a scene of a huge fight between some combat racing cars. More than a dozen cars were fighting fiercely using steel needles and saw teeth as weapons. In the end, a strange-looking racing car with a three-pronged blade that popped out from the front of the car as a weapon won.

This video made Lin Che and the other two frown, and Director Xiao continued:
"First, let me introduce you. This is Dr. Robert, a mini racing expert from America. He is the coach I invited specifically for you for this national competition. The drivers he has coached have won many championships in interstate competitions in many states in America. He is an expert in the field of combat racing in North America. The car in the video is his masterpiece, the Poseidon."

"None of our three cars are combat cars, so what's the point of hiring such a coach?" Gao Xiaoman said, "Besides, combat cars are not allowed to participate in the national competition."

"No, no, no." Director Xiao shook his head and explained patiently, "Our Shanghai Mini Racing Association has carefully studied the rules of the national competition. There is no clear ban on combat parts in the rules. In addition, in the latest rules, in order to prepare for the national team selection, the restrictions on the motors and batteries of the racing cars have been completely lifted. Therefore, the combat racing cars are modified within the scope allowed by the rules."

"At the same time, I also took into account that you all have no experience in this area, so I invited Dr. Robert to help you complete the transformation of the racing car." Director Xiao said, "Of course, you don't have to bear the cost of this modification. The association will allocate funds specifically to upgrade your car."

Hearing this, Lin Che and the other two's faces suddenly darkened. What did Zhong Deng mean by this? Did he still think that Lin Che and the others were taking advantage of this matter?

If Lin Che really wanted to play combat racing, wouldn't it be better to just hand the car over to the master instead of letting this doctor who appeared from nowhere in America? What about the Poseidon? Just install a trident and pretend to be the Poseidon, right? In Lin Che's opinion, this thing can only be called Yuan Hua, and the BGM when it runs can only be "Yi Jian Mei".

Not to mention R's simple and crude attack technique that maximizes the cost-effectiveness of energy utilization, aren't the weapons created by the masters, whether it's an air cannon or an air knife, much cooler than this thing?

Lin Che could see that in China, as long as something like an X Association was born in most popular sports, this classic situation of laymen instructing experts would occur, and then the entire industry would be completely rotten. The most famous of these was a certain Pig Association.

"I'm sorry, I don't have the habit of letting others modify my car." Lin Che still maintained a little composure and refused.

Gao Xiaoman simply ignored Director Xiao, stood up and said to Lin Che and Wang Jiajun, "Let's go. I even took leave to come here. What a waste of time."

"Gao Xiaoman!" Director Xiao couldn't help but ask, "Don't you have any sense of honor for the competition area?"

"I'm the one participating in the national competition, you don't need to worry about it." Gao Xiaoman said.

"Do you really think that your modification skills are better than those of Dr. Robert, who is famous in North America? Your car must be modified today!" Seeing this, Director Xiao also planned to use his official skills to subdue the three people.

Lin Che laughed when he saw this. Zhong Deng might have offended the wrong person. Although Lin Che was not a dandy young man who relied on his family background to bully others, it was incredible that the young master of the Lin family could be bullied by a small chairman of the Shanghai Mini Racing Association.

So, Lin Che turned around and left, planning to complain to his grandfather after returning home that he was bullied in Shanghai. Before leaving, Lin Che did not forget to curse, "Chairman of the Mini Racing Association, do you know anything about mini racing? If you put a dog on the side of the track to follow the car, you can't catch up with it."

"Wait a minute!" At this time, Dr. Robert, who had been silent, suddenly spoke in English.

Lin Che and Gao Xiaoman both understood English. They turned around and looked at the man with frowns, intending to see what he had to say.

Dr. Robert saw the three people stop and snorted, "Are all Chinese kids so rude? I came all the way from America for Mr. Xiao's sincerity, but you little brats are really disappointing. As expected, there are no decent mini racers in this place."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Robert, I made you laugh." Seeing that the foreign guest he had invited back was dissatisfied, Director Xiao immediately apologized. At the same time, he sternly said to Lin Che and the other two, "Why don't you apologize to Dr. Robert quickly? He is an expert in mini racing cars in America."

"America's mini racing expert?" Lin Che sneered and said in English, "You are so good, but why didn't I see you lead your national team to win the Atlanta Cup held in your home stadium? Don't you want to?"

"Why didn't I see you on the coaching bench when your national team lost the championship to the German team at home?" Gao Xiaoman also mocked at this time.

According to the general routine, Lin Che should have taken out his own car to defeat the opponent at this time, but Lin Che did not want to do so. The performance of the Yuan Hua developed by this guy in the video was not even as good as the one that Kurosawa played at the beginning. This guy obviously came to China to cheat money. Competing with him was a pure waste of time.

"If you dare to walk out of this door, you will not get a penny of support from the association in this year's national competition!" said Director Xiao.

"You talk as if we're short of your coins." Lin Che shrugged, then walked out of the office with Gao Xiaoman and Wang Jiajun without looking back.

Not to mention Lin Che, Gao Xiaoman's father is also the owner of a software technology company in Shanghai. Even Wang Jiajun's family is middle class in Shanghai. It is impossible for them to sell their dignity as mini racing drivers for a few tens of thousands of dollars in funding.

After leaving the association, Gao Xiaoman bought three cups of hot milk tea at a nearby milk tea shop and gave each of them a cup. Then she sat on the curb and said after taking a sip of milk tea, "It looks like the three of us can only fight alone."

"It's okay. Thank you, Sister Xiaoman, for speaking for me just now. Otherwise, I really don't know how to refuse them." Wang Jiajun also said at this time.

"It's okay. I've been annoyed with that bald guy for a long time." Gao Xiaoman said carelessly, "But there is one thing that is quite troublesome. The bald guy probably won't provide us with a training ground. But it will be difficult for us to find a training ground that can match the intensity of the national competition for the time being. We can't just run in the Baby Cup." "This is a troublesome matter." Lin Che said. Compared to the competition funds, the lack of place to train is a bigger problem. For a competition of the level of the national competition, if you want the track to have a training effect, then it must at least have the scale and difficulty of the test track in his research institute in Neon. When Lin Che bought that set of automatically adjustable tracks, he felt a pain in his heart. Even if Lin Che was rich, he would not spend it this way to build a track like this for more than ten days of training.

"Why don't you come with me to the capital?" Lin Che said, but then he slapped his forehead and said, "I forgot you still have to go to school."

"There's no other way. Let's just do some simple daily training for now. We can only wait until the group stage draw is over and we have a holiday, and then we can go to the venue of the group stage to have formal training." Gao Xiaoman said helplessly.

There is a big difference between China's national competition and Japan's Super Cup. After all, there are more than one hundred players in all the competition areas combined. They can't be gathered together directly like the Super Cup. Therefore, China's competition system is divided into two stages: the group stage and the finals. Players over one hundred meters will be divided into 8 groups according to the principle of avoiding the same competition area. The competition will be held in different venues across the country. The top two in each group will advance, and then the qualified players will participate in a final to decide the winner.

The draw is scheduled for next week.

During this period, Lin Che simply stayed in Shanghai. Although Lin Che could return to Beijing to train with Huo Yuesheng and the others, this would be somewhat disloyal.'

So, during this period of time, Lin Che just waited for Gao Xiaoman and Wang Jiajun to run two laps on the track in the model shop after school every day, and only did simple maintenance at other times.

A week later, Lin Che and the other two were sitting in front of the TV in the hotel, watching the online live draw for the national competition. Gao Xiaoman was standing by and briefly introducing Lin Che to the talented drivers from other regions in China.

In Group A of the group stage held in Beijing, Chen Xiaohu was lucky to be on the list, thus avoiding the fatigue of traveling. And according to Gao Xiaoman, the strength of this group was not particularly strong. Except for Su Ye, the champion of the Hunan Province selection competition, the strength of other drivers in his group was very average. Among the other people in the group, only three participated in the national competition last year, and their results were very average.

In Group B of the group stage held in Shanghai, Chen Hewang's name appeared on the list. This group has many good players and can be regarded as the group of death. Three of the top 20 players in last year's national competition were in this group. However, with the performance of Scorpio and Chen Hewang's current strength, he should have no problem making it out of this group.

In Group C held in Chang'an, Lin Che saw his name.

"Chang'an? It sounds good." Lin Che was quite satisfied that he was assigned to this thousand-year-old capital for the preliminaries.

"There are quite a few talented players in your group, including Xie Gang from Guangdong, Wang Linchuan from Qilu, and Li Jialiang from Heilongjiang. They were all ranked well last year, and Xie Gang was fifth last year." Gao Xiaoman said, "However, you have won the Grand Slam in Neon for the whole year, so it should be no problem for you to qualify for the group stage."

"Xie Gang? What a strange name." Lin Che said curiously. Compared with the other people in the same group, this person's name was somewhat confusing.

"Well, he also has a pair of twin sisters, one is called Xie Peng and the other is called Xie He." Gao Xiaoman said.

Lin Che: ...

The parents of this family must be very accomplished in mahjong. At the same time, Lin Che also remembered that this name was not the name of another player of the Chinese national team besides Chen Hewang in the original book?
Lin Che didn't have time to think about it, as the list of Group D held in Yangcheng had been released. There was no one in this group that Lin Che knew, but Xie He's name did appear among them.

Then came Group E held in Shudu. As soon as the group list came out, Wang Jiajun on the side took a breath of cold air.

The reason is simple. While Gao Xiaoman appeared on the group list, another name was also particularly eye-catching - Huo Yuesheng was also in this group.

A few minutes later, Lin Che's phone rang. Lin Che picked it up and saw that it was a call from Huo Yuesheng.

"Hello!" After Lin Che picked up the phone, Huo Yuesheng's cold voice came from the other end of the phone, but there was a bit of anxiety in Huo Yuesheng's voice on the other end of the phone.

"Ache, is Gao Xiaoman with you?" Huo Yuesheng asked.

"Yes, she is watching the draw with me." Lin Che said.

"I know. Tell her that I will give her a hard time in the group stage!" Huo Yuesheng was full of confidence on the other end of the phone. "I will pay back double for all the humiliation I suffered last year!"

"No, you called me just to tell me this?" Lin Che felt that this guy was a little sick. "Can't you just call her and tell her?"

"Is it a call from that idiot Huo Yuesheng?" Gao Xiaoman asked after glancing at Lin Che.

Lin Che nodded.

"Oh, I blocked him, but he guessed that I should be next to you now, so he called you." Gao Xiaoman said.

After hearing Gao Xiaoman's voice, Huo Yuesheng on the other end of the phone started chattering as if a bomb had exploded: "Damn it! Gao Xiaoman, just wait! The first place in the group stage must be mine! You'd better be careful or you won't even make it out of the group stage! Ah Che! Let Gao Xiaoman answer the phone!"

Gao Xiaoman took the phone from Lin Che's hand, hung up and shook her head.

"It's always the same few sentences back and forth. What's there to say?"

(End of this chapter)