Azur Lane Under the Stars

Page 613

Haiqi was somewhat puzzled.

Haitian explained, "No, because Essex modified her own car this time, so she has two chances to use nitrous oxide."

Ren Shuo suddenly said, "Oh! Hu Teng is starting to exert herself, and Cleveland is not to be outdone either. In the end, who among the three of them will be the final champion?"

"Come on! The market's open! Place your orders now!"

On the White Eagle side, Maryland, not long after, gathered his group of friends and started gambling.

"Isn't what you're doing wrong?"

Hu De, who was standing to the side, hesitated for a moment, but finally couldn't help but offer some advice.

“What’s wrong with that?” Maryland said dismissively.

“What I mean is, if you sneak in here, the commander will probably turn a blind eye, but you’re here with a megaphone, spreading the word…aren’t you afraid the commander will punish you?” Hood explained.

"Don't worry, the commander won't interfere," Maryland said confidently.

"If the commander doesn't take action, I will..."

Shangri-La walked over, adjusting her glasses as she did so, her face serious.

"Shangri-La, we're just gambling for fun, so please don't interfere. Besides, what business is it of yours? You're not the flagship or the secretary ship."

Maryland was completely unaware that something was wrong.

"But I'm the person in charge of this event. It seems you didn't listen to the oath before the competition at all... Gambling is prohibited, didn't you know that?"

"...There's such a saying?"

"The evidence is irrefutable, take him away."

With a wave of his hand, Shangri-La sent Binjiang and Kronstadt flanking one on each side, escorting a group of gamblers away.

"I'm innocent! I need a lawyer! Let me go to Washington!"

Maryland struggles.

"...I don't know this guy."

Sensing the "you dare to plead for her and I'll arrest you too" look in Shangri-La's eyes, Washington decisively chose to back down.

After a brief hiccup, the competitors finished the final bend, leaving only a long straightaway.

This is the last chance to change the rankings.

"Damn it, is it really this difficult to deal with?" Hu Teng scoffed, but the determination and seriousness in his eyes reached a new level.

"Wow, Cleveland's really going all out! Why are they pushing themselves so hard?"

Although Essex is currently in first place, it is still complaining a lot.

Since it's only one tire ahead, they're probably neck and neck.

"Well, Helena's already become a marriage ship, so I was thinking of trying to make a little effort..."

Cleveland pursed his lips, revealing a resolute expression.

This reward is my biggest chance!

We absolutely have to win.

This was the three people's final, shared thought.

"The second nitrous oxide tank has been activated, Essex has revealed its trump card!" Haiqi passionately commented.

"But Cleveland and Hutten are not to be outdone, both of them have a final nitro boost, so you could say that this difference is negligible." Haitian said calmly.

"But it seems like Hu Teng has some plans."

Ren Shuo noticed that Hu Teng was gradually moving towards the outside path, and even dropped from second to third place in order to do so.

"Hu Teng, this is..."

Bismarck was somewhat puzzled.

“Perhaps she has her own reasons,” Tirpitz said, uttering a pointless remark.

Frederick the Great, knowing Hutten's plan, couldn't help but laugh: "It seems that Hutten is really preparing to reveal his hand."

"Isn't this our trump card?" Bismarck exclaimed in surprise.

"Just wait and see, the final champion might be a surprise."

Frederick the Great chuckled softly, placing his hands lightly on his folded thighs, appearing very dignified.

"What is she thinking?" Cleveland and Essex were both wary.

The three of them have reached the limit of their straight-line acceleration; there's no way to improve it further, so they're just stuck on the same path.

Hu Teng, however, remained unusually calm, constantly estimating the final distance with his eyes.

It's getting closer, almost there!

When it came to the final five meters, Essex was about to give up, while Cleveland showed a look of surprise...

Because at this point, Cleveland had taken the lead, half a round ahead of Essex and a full round ahead of Hutten.

However, Hu Teng suddenly pressed a small button on the handlebars, then gripped the bike tightly, his hands also gripping the handlebars firmly, so much so that his handprints appeared on the handlebars.

"boom!"

A loud bang was followed by the sudden explosion of the nitrogen accelerator at the rear of the Huteng car.

It seemed to have undergone special modifications, preventing Hutten from losing his balance. Instead, he used the thrust generated by the explosion to accelerate once again, almost instantly overtaking Essex and reaching the same level as Cleveland!

"Varied?!"

Cleveland and Essex were both taken aback; could such a thing really happen?!

Hu Teng revealed a subtle smile. As expected of Ironblood Technology, it's really impressive.

He suddenly came up with this method during an exercise, using the instantaneous thrust generated by the explosion to suddenly increase his speed.

However, I put in a lot of effort to make the direction of this thrust controllable.

In retrospect, the result is quite good.

"He crossed the finish line! I never expected Hu Teng to have this method at the last minute! It's absolutely amazing!"

Haiqi's face flushed with excitement as he pounded the table repeatedly: "The final result was unexpected and quite obvious. Essex came in third, but the first place was very suspenseful. Cleveland and Hutten crossed the finish line almost at the same time!"

"Yes, it was a really exciting match, and Hu Teng, this dark horse, was quite unexpected." Hai Tian clapped his hands in praise.

"Now the final result is just waiting for the referees to repeatedly review the video. Please wait a moment," Ren Shuo concluded.

At the finish line, after crossing the line, Hu Teng immediately released the wrecked car. Instead of flipping over with it, he gracefully rolled in mid-air before slamming the car to the ground in a heroic manner.

The ground even showed some cracks due to the momentary loss of force.

"Wow, Hu Teng, you're really amazing! I never knew you had this trick up your sleeve."

Cleveland and Essex joined in, expressing their sincere admiration.

"You flatter me. It was just a sudden idea, so I thought I'd give it a try, and I didn't expect it to actually work," Hu Teng said.

"Well, I've withdrawn from the competition, but I don't know who among you two is actually number one."

Essex stretched, loosening his body which was a little stiff from the long ride.

Cleveland glanced enviously at Essex's figure without even realizing it. Damn it, he was really envious.

Although not as good as Essex, Hutten himself is very talented, so there's no reason to be envious.

"Do either of you know who's number one?"

Essex was curious.

"Honestly, the difference is so small, it's really hard to tell the difference," Cleveland shook his head and said with a wry smile.

Hu Teng also said, "I was a little unsure at that moment, after all, it's unrealistic to both stabilize the car body and estimate the distance visually."

"Essex, it's such a shame, I feel like you were just a little short."

The other contestants also crossed the finish line one after another, and the other Essex-class ship girls ran over to chat with Essex.

So, the contestants gathered in twos and threes, took off their helmets, and looked at the results on the big screen.

The long wait is always agonizing, but the final result always arrives unexpectedly.

"The results are in!"

"who!"

"Wow, congratulations, Hu Teng!"

"Sister Hu Teng! You're amazing!"

The audience gasped in surprise, while the girls on the Ironblood side cheered and jumped for joy, creating quite a commotion.

"What a pity."

The White Eagles, on the other hand, were somewhat disappointed.

On the court, Cleveland breathed a sigh of relief, his whole body relaxing as if he had let go of something.

"Really, you won, and you lost fair and square," Cleveland remarked. "I really didn't expect that final method."

Honestly, that method is based on self-confidence—confidence that you can come within a tiny margin in the end. Otherwise, even if you were given that device, it wouldn't be of any use.

Hu Teng smiled, a rare sight for him: "You flatter me."

"Is the champion going to treat everyone to dinner?"

Kariyong leaned over and greeted her familiarly.

“…Okay.” Hu Teng turned his head away, somewhat unsure how to handle this overly familiar person.

"It's settled then! How about a barbecue place in the port area tonight! And then we'll go to Eugen's tavern for drinks!" Kariyong suggested.

"I have no objection."

"can."

Everyone responded enthusiastically.

Other small groups also started getting together for meals and drinks; after the competition, it was time to relax.

"Congratulations, Hutten." Baltimore also came over, but the flag he was holding was nowhere to be seen.

"Thank you," Hu Teng replied.

"Let's take a short break. The awards ceremony and acceptance speeches are coming up soon..."

After giving a few more instructions, Baltimore hurriedly left; she still had other work to complete.

In the referee's room, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and slumped back in their chairs.

"It's finally over. No, I need to take a proper vacation after this event. It was really too tiring."

Da Feng lay flat on the table, her face completely flat.

Unlike the tired faces of the others, Da Feng looked radiant and full of energy.

"You say you're working hard? Give me a break! How many hours have you skipped? And you just went to steal chickens. You have the nerve to complain about working hard?"

Atago looked indignant.

"Being able to slack off and still get things done is my skill, you can't do that~"

Da Feng laughed so hard her body trembled, her breasts heaving.

Putting aside the fact that these two inexplicably matched up again, Prince Eugen casually fiddled with the mechanical pencil in front of him.

"Seriously, I really didn't expect it. It turned out to be Hu Teng in the end."

"So that's why they're considered a dark horse." The company tidied up the papers on the table, doing the cleanup work.

As for Shinano... she's already asleep.

"Seriously...looks like they're coming over for drinks tonight, are you coming?"

"I'm happy to come over, but please refrain from drinking. If all else fails, I can have a cup of coffee," the company said.

"Will I have enough energy to play with the Commander tonight after drinking coffee?" Prinz Eugen gave Enterprise a suggestive look.

The company did not respond. She knew that when it came to driving, ten of her were no match for one Eugen.