The sudden braking startled Xiao Hei, causing him to snatch his hand away from the female student beside him.
However, the next scene shocked him even more. Lin Yan, after overtaking the bald, dark-skinned racer on the straight less than half a kilometer before the starting line, executed a fluid lean, easily entering turn one. The H2's disadvantage in corners seemed to vanish in his hands.
Smooth, seamless, and effortless.
The ferocious liter-class sportbike was like a docile wild horse in Lin Yan's control, easily maneuvered and handled.
The moment the bike tilted, not only Xiao Hei but also the bald, dark-skinned racer were stunned.
The bald, dark-skinned racer was very close to Lin Yan. The track was relatively short, and the straight before the starting line wasn't long. After Lin Yan overtook him, they had already reached the entrance of turn one. He was right behind Lin Yan, clearly seeing the other's actions.
"Man and machine as one." The phrase flashed through the bald, dark-skinned racer's mind.
This phrase usually only appeared in mythical movies and TV shows, but Lin Yan's recent move could only be described by this term.
It was a cornering technique he had never seen before but had heard of in his own country. Lin Yan's cornering was extremely similar to that method, incredibly smooth. The bike's lean, including the knee-down, was a subconscious action, not deliberate.
What did it mean? Lin Yan's movements were by no means non-standard, but the posture of his actions was completely different from the riders he had seen. The bike tilted smoothly, his knees opened, and the action was as natural as eating with chopsticks, without any sense of deliberate effort. Yet, with such casual knee extension, he controlled the bike very smoothly and cornered at a very high speed.
His master had once told him that the biggest taboo in cornering was deliberateness. When someone deliberately scraped their knee in a corner, it meant they were not an exceptional rider.
Lin Yan's cornering was very similar to what his master described – habit, extreme habituation, and ultimate control over the bike. From that moment, the bald, dark-skinned racer was certain that Lin Yan's control over the bike had reached an extremely high level.
Soon, the bald, dark-skinned racer's guess was confirmed. In turn one, Lin Yan had already pulled away from him by a significant margin based on cornering speed alone. A significant margin, without professional instruments, but the bald, dark-skinned racer estimated it to be at least half a second.
Shaking off a BMW S1000RR by half a second in one corner with an H2, such skill was undeniable.
Beneath his helmet, the bald, dark-skinned racer's eyelids twitched. A thought identical to his younger brother Xiao Hei's appeared in his mind: this was a master, and an extremely formidable one at that.
To achieve this level in his early twenties was terrifying.
Quickly shifting and accelerating into turn two, the bald, dark-skinned racer, though still driving his race car, was no longer focused on it.
Damn it, I've kicked a steel plate!
"Ooh, Brother Lin is so amazing."
"Brother Fei, how many seconds do you think Brother Lin will leave this darkie behind by?"
Yan Xiaoqiang and Jiang Qiyan cheered, even striking up a conversation with Ren Fei. They usually wouldn't dare to do so because they didn't know Ren Fei, but they knew he was a GP rider.
In contrast, Xiao Hei's side was somewhat dispirited.
"What did you say? Ouch!"
Hearing his female companion's words, Xiao Hei was startled. However, his movement was too large, and he accidentally pulled at the wound on his lip, causing him to grimace in pain.
"What did you say? Who is Lin Shen?"
Enduring the pain in his mouth, Xiao Hei grabbed the woman's arm and urgently asked. Although his family was well-off in India, they occasionally watched races, but only occasionally. Moreover, since coming to China, he had been preoccupied with pleasure and women, neglecting even practice, let alone watching races. Therefore, he didn't know Lin Yan at all.
Of course, if he had known Lin Yan, he wouldn't have deliberately provoked Jiang Qiyan and the others yesterday. In the Chinese motorcycle community, let alone provoking them, no one even dared to challenge the LS27 Academy.
Among the younger generation in China, Jiang Qiyan and the newly admitted students of the academy were the most talented.
"Lin Shen is... he's a very powerful and famous rider here. Hey, you're hurting me!"
The woman cried out and pulled her hand away from Xiao Hei's wrist, where a clear red mark had appeared. Xiao Hei ignored it and pressed on.
"How powerful?"
The woman looked at Xiao Hei deeply, as if thinking that he wasn't like this when they first met. But finally, she said softly.
"Asia's number one!"
The four words came from the woman's mouth, but to Xiao Hei, they were like a thunderclap.
"Asia's number one? Nonsense, how is that possible?"
Xiao Hei instinctively disbelieved. How could it be such a coincidence that the first person they randomly picked was Asia's number one?
But at this moment, the woman took out her phone and showed Xiao Hei a video. This video was randomly found on a short video platform, a fan-edited compilation of a race, Lin Yan's race at the Os station.
Looking at the factory cars lined up like a long dragon on the screen, Xiao Hei didn't understand what it had to do with him.
However, the answer soon became clear. Rubbing his wrist, the woman pointed to a leading car on the track and said to Xiao Hei with some fear.
"If I heard correctly, the person they're talking about is very likely him."
Actually, the woman wasn't very sure at first. It wasn't until she saw Ren Fei, who had taken off his mask, that she was certain. She understood and loved motorcycles very much, otherwise, Xiao Hei wouldn't have taken advantage of her. She was also a fan of Lin Yan and had seen Ren Fei on TV.
"Bullshit, how could that be?"
Xiao Hei still didn't believe it. Although they came from India, he understood what a MotoGP rider represented. Only thirty people in the world could stand on that stage, comparable to F1 in four wheels. How could he have encountered such a top rider, even rarer than a fighter pilot?
Seeing Xiao Hei's stubbornness, the woman couldn't do anything and put away her phone, preparing to leave. She had stayed here initially to admire Xiao Hei's skills, but now that he had kicked a steel plate, she had to make a quick exit.
"Wait... wait!"
Just as the woman was about to put away her phone, Xiao Hei quickly grabbed her wrist and shouted twice.
"Ouch! It hurts! It hurts! Let go!"
Xiao Hei ignored the woman's struggles and held onto her arm tightly until the man in the video took off his helmet.