Chapter 301: Fatal Bend (I)

The low roar of the engines came from far and near, accompanied by the sharp grinding of the tires against the ground during the sudden braking, and the two modified sports cars were moving at a blistering speed on the sharp bends of the mountain road in the Italian Lombardy Steovi Pass.

The road, which has a vertical drop of more than 6,000 inches from the top of the slope to the foot of the slope, has 48 curves and an average gradient of 7.4%. To descend from the hillside, those who come down have only two options: either to cut off the Stelvio Mountain, or to zigzag in a zigzag pattern. One of the most difficult stages of the Giro d'Italia takes place in Monte Stelvio, and the average person driving up and down the road will feel seasick. However, these two sports cars are like ghosts speeding down the mountain road, and the driver's superb driving skills in the thrilling tail flick and turn on the ramp can no longer be simply described as miraculous.

The two sports cars chasing back and forth are in an extremely fierce race, the blue sports car in front of the first corner from the beginning of the steady pressure behind the rear car, seeing that the end is already in sight, but when passing the last dangerous ramp, the blue sports car drifted through the corner, the high-speed friction tires failed to grasp the road, the whole car rushed directly out of the road, rolling continuously on the hillside, and finally rolled down the valley when a cloud of orange blazing bright light, the body exploded.

……

Fear, trembling, nervousness, helplessness, crying, these negative emotions will always intensify again and again in Leo's recurring nightmares, and then drive his emotions to the brink of collapse throughout the night. Today, Leo once again dreamed of his brother's sports car rushing off the track 4 years ago, falling into the valley and exploding, every scene in the dream was imprinted in his mind very clearly, so that he grabbed the sheet tightly when he dreamed, tearing it alive and unconsciously.

The bright light of the explosion and the heart-rending pain of losing a loved one made Leo rush to sleep, looking at his palms that were whitened from his knuckles due to overexertion and the cold sweat on his back, Leo glanced up at the alarm clock placed at the bedside, he knew that he had to experience another painful sleepless night today. Every time Leo repeats that nightmare, it is accompanied by a long period of insomnia, so sleeping pills have become a must-have medicine in his home, and in the case of a small dose of medicine, even if he takes the medicine, the possibility of wanting to sleep again is very small.

Leo took out a small white medicine bottle from the bedside table, skillfully poured out two pills from it, stuffed it into his mouth, picked up the water cup placed aside, poured the potion water down, and finally sat on the edge of the bed dejectedly, waiting for the medicine to take effect.

……

Leo and his brother Mark are both professional drivers, and unlike those who compete in regular races, they are involved in underground racing, and the events are not pure racing, but more challenging and dangerous corners. With superb drifting skills, the two brothers Leo and Mark have always had the lowest odds among the drivers in this circle, and every time they can be invited to participate in the race, they are rich and valuable, so although the two brothers participate in extremely dangerous races, their income is also very objective.

The older brother Mark is better than Leo, and the two usually take turns to race, and the race at Stelvio Hill four years ago was supposed to be Leo's turn, but the money owner who participated in the big gamble behind the scenes specified that Mark would play. The competitive Mark readily promised that he had the upper hand in the race, but an accident occurred at the last moment, resulting in a car crash and death.

The accidental death of his brother put Leo's racing career into a trough, and the shadow of the tragedy lingered in Leo's heart, he made frequent mistakes in the field before, and gradually, no one was willing to pay to invite him to participate in the competition, and the beautiful model girlfriend who had been with him for many years also left him at this time and threw himself into the arms of a rival.

Physically and mentally exhausted, Leo immigrated to the United States from Europe. In his first days, he indulged in alcohol and lived a life of extravagance and debauchery almost every day, and he quickly squandered the considerable savings in his bank account. In the days that followed, he fell from heaven to hell, and after a period of living on the streets and living on government handouts, Leo finally breathed a sigh of relief from the loss of his loved ones, and decided to say goodbye to his career as a driver and return to becoming a normal person.

After demonstrating his skills in modifying cars, Leo was successfully hired by an auto repair shop, where he met Jim, a cleaner.

Jim was a black man from a slum background, he was not able to make a career in the athletic world with good physical fitness like other poor black people, and his family situation with four siblings could not support him to receive a good education, just like many young black people in the slums, he began to run for a living early.

The repair shop where Leo works, ostensibly repairing cars, is actually an underground factory for modified cars. Here, there are only two kinds of people who enjoy superior status, one is a tuner mechanic like Leo, and the other is a driver who competes in underground racing. Although Jim is just a cleaner, his ambition is to become an underground racer.

Every time Leo was modifying the car, if he met Jim in charge of cleaning up, Jim would babble and describe his ideals to Leo, how thrilling and interesting the underground racing was, how glorious the winner was, endless dollars and endless beauties... All that Jim longed for was precisely the life that Leo was tired of.

More often than not, Leo just quietly acts as a listener, and hearing some interesting anecdotes about various underground car races from Jim every day has become a hobby after work, and perhaps in his bones, he has not forgotten that he was once a good race car driver, but he never revealed any information in front of Jim.

This peaceful life eventually came to a head, Jim didn't come to work for several days in a row, Leo inquired and learned that Jim's father had been in a car accident, injured his spine, and finally paralyzed in a high position, and the burden of supporting the family suddenly fell on Jim alone, and working as a cleaner in the factory could no longer satisfy Jim's desperate desire to make more money, so he chose to quit.

Leo went to visit Jim once, and for a long time after that, he didn't hear anything about Jim. Until one day, Leo suddenly received a call from the police station, Jim was arrested by the police for stealing, but fortunately, his crime was not particularly serious, and he could be released on bail after being held for a while. Jim doesn't have any other friends, so he turns to Leo for help.

Leo spent a sum of money to save Jim, and saw that Jim, who was desperate, was forced by life and reluctantly embarked on the road of crime, he felt very entangled in his heart, especially Jim's helpless eyes made him feel sympathy. If there is no better way out, Jim will have to continue his criminal career, and a long prison sentence awaits him in the future.

After thinking about it for two days, Leo solemnly asks Jim out, he reveals his identity to Jim, and finally asks Jim if he wants to learn to drive a race car.

Leo's sudden offer didn't overjoyed Jim, and even though he was down now, he was willing to do whatever it would make him to do, let alone become a race car driver, which was the life he dreamed of.

But the problem is that Jim simply doesn't believe that Leo, who has been with him for so long, is a great racer, and that he excels in the most difficult ramp races.

To prove it to Jim, Leo told Jim to buckle up and hold on to the handlebars, and he drove through 8 one-way bends without slowing down on Chicago's most famous Lombard Street. After doing all this, Leo's car had not yet stopped, and Jim, who was sitting on the side, couldn't wait to pull the car door and jump down, leaning over and throwing up on the side of the street, and he was directly stunned by Leo's large-angle drift in the car.

Despite a little hardship, after Leo showed off his superb downhill drifting skills, Jim was completely impressed by his amazing skills, and then willingly began to receive his training.

Due to the limited conditions, Leo found Jim to train in a car that was scrapped in the tuning factory, but even so, Jim improved by leaps and bounds under his rigorous training, and in a small downhill race, he drove a car that Leo had assembled from the scrap heap, Jim won his first championship, and Leo made a lot of money by betting on Jim.

As more and more races were won, Jim began to make a name for himself in the circle of underground racers, and he lived the life he wanted, but slowly alienated himself from Leo, who gave him it all. Victory after victory overwhelmed Jim's mind, and his confidence swelled to think that everything he had achieved was due to his own efforts, and after his success, he no longer received Leo's training as diligently as before.

Leo was disappointed by Jim's change, and he slowly cut off contact with Jim while Jim deliberately distanced himself from him. The only thing that comforts Leo is that he has succeeded in changing Jim's fate, even though it gives him a sense of loss.

――――

"Fatal Bend" is an American horror movie, and here it is just the same name, and that film has no connection to the plot here

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