Overtaking across levels.
Shunzi was still leaning into the turn, completely unaware of the movement behind him. It wasn't until he entered the corner that a shadow darting out beside him startled him. He took a closer look and realized the other person had actually caught up.
A 600cc chasing a 1000cc? Damn, this guy was cheating.
Seeing Lin Yan's bike, Shunzi's heart skipped a beat. He had only completed five corners and the other person had already caught up?
As the bike exited the corner, Shunzi, using the straight connecting corners five and six, regained the lead with his bike's superior horsepower before the next turn.
Tough opponent! If he's not a top master, he's a cheater!
A thought flashed through Shunzi's mind. Having been a streamer for so long, he had some discerning ability. This guy was indeed not simple.
He pushed harder. No matter what, he couldn't lose easily this time. As a prominent streamer, it would be a disgrace to be beaten by a smaller displacement bike.
Lin Yan's overtake made Shunzi focus more, but his concentration was useless. At the entrance to corner six, when it was time to brake, Lin Yan closed the gap again by utilizing the late braking feature of his smaller displacement bike, and then overtook him using corner speed.
Shunzi's cornering was already quite smart, and his line was standard, a semi-competent defensive line. But to Lin Yan, it was full of flaws.
"Damn, so strong? This kid is probably cheating."
Lin Yan's maneuvers had clearly caused the viewers in the bullet comments to express doubt.
"Probably not. Look at his lines. Although I don't understand the details, I have a feeling I'm watching a proper race."
The bullet comments scrolled rapidly. Shunzi also noticed. He couldn't see Lin Yan clearly when he was behind, but when Lin Yan was in front, he could see Lin Yan's actions very clearly. The smooth entry into the corners was something he had never seen in any of his peers.
At this moment, urged by the bullet comments, Dezi also returned from the kitchen. He was holding a cup of coffee and looked quite relaxed. Dezi was a middle-aged man in his thirties, balding, and bore a striking resemblance to the character "San Dezi" from a certain TV drama, hence the nickname Dezi.
"Dezi, hurry up! This guy is amazing, he's already overtaken Shunzi."
"Quick, Dezi, and he did it with a 600cc bike! Awesome! He's got Shunzi so beat down he's about to kneel and call him daddy!"
"......"
The bullet comments urged him on frantically. Seeing what the bullet comments said, Dezi furrowed his brows, then looked at the screen. To his surprise, he realized that Shunzi, who was only second to him in skill, had been overtaken by a small-displacement bike.
How could the matchmaking system have a small displacement bike!
Dezi was puzzled. The game's matchmaking system was very similar to some domestic mobile games: it matched strength with strength. They had won several games in a row, so logically, their opponents should also be players who had won several games. Could this guy have won all those games with a small displacement bike?
It wasn't that they had never encountered small displacement bikes, but it was extremely rare. They might only encounter one in their matchmaking pool perhaps once a month.
Dezi sat down in his gaming chair. At this moment, he finally understood why the person who had raced him earlier had suddenly become so much better in the consecutive corners. It turned out the improvement wasn't his, but his partner's!
Switching to Shunzi's perspective, Dezi opened the screen recording software.
Shunzi's speed was incredibly fast, and he tried to overtake, but the distance was never quite enough. He would catch up just as he exited a corner, but the next corner would arrive immediately, forcing him to brake and slow down. With the rhythm of acceleration and deceleration, Lin Yan gradually pulled away.
"Shunzi, don't panic. Unless this guy can get more than a two-second lead, there's still a chance on the final straight before the start/finish line."
"That's right, Brother Shunzi. There's still half a straight at the start/finish line, there's still a chance."
"......"
Seeing Shunzi getting a bit anxious, some people in the bullet comments started to comfort him. Indeed, the start/finish line of this track had a small section of straight. The start and finish were in the middle of the straight. They had run half of it at the beginning, and they would need to run the other half at the end.
The audience understood this, and Shunzi certainly did. With his bike's horsepower, he could at least make up two seconds on that straight. The problem was that the opponent was already almost two seconds ahead. What use was that final straight!
Exiting corner nine, Lin Yan had already opened up a gap of more than two seconds over Shunzi. Then, at corner ten, he gained another 0.5 seconds, creating a three-second gap. Shunzi could barely see Lin Yan's taillights.
As everyone knows, the East Tooth Station track has two straights. Besides the finish line, there's another one connecting corner thirteen and corner fourteen. The reason Lin Yan was pushing so hard was for that section.
He braked hard and cut into corner eleven, then corner twelve, while Shunzi behind him was steadily being left further behind.
By the time both bikes reached the straight after corner thirteen, the distance between Lin Yan and Shunzi was nearly five seconds. After the straight, Shunzi had only closed the gap by three seconds, leaving a two-second interval.
"This kid is too fast! There's no chance now."
"Damn, I thought there was a chance on this straight, but there's still such a big difference."
If this long straight wasn't enough, then the half-straight before the finish line would be even less so. Shunzi had only made up less than two seconds.
"Yeehaw!"
Amidst Su Moqin's cheers, Lin Yan crossed the finish line again.
Lin Yan, on this side, was very relaxed. He was even eating the steak that Su Moqin had cut and handed to him while driving.
Hmm... this
Although Shunzi wasn't the absolute top-tier player in this game, he was considered one of the top streamers. Being beaten to this extent by a smaller displacement bike was practically unheard of on the entire internet, unless it was a professional racer. Professional racers using games for training wasn't uncommon these days.
The bullet comments were still discussing, while Shunzi was completely stunned. His gaze kept scanning Lin Yan's profile page, fixated on the record section.