"Brother Su, it’s about time." Cen Haonan glanced at his watch and handed the camera to Alice, his expression undeniably solemn. "Alright!" Su Xuan shook the rain from his clothes and started walking toward his Charman King. "Hey!" Seeing Su Xuan about to get in his car, Cen Haonan quickly grabbed his arm. He pointed to the third rain shelter at the corner of the entrance to Autumn Maple Mountain and said, "Before the race, we have to go to that shelter to meet the referee and sign an agreement." "There’s a referee?" Su Xuan asked. "Of course," Cen Haonan replied. "It’s to prevent either side from backing out if they lose." Su Xuan had no choice but to follow Cen Haonan into the shelter. Upon entering, his eyes widened. The shelter surprisingly contained a portable LCD monitor and a drone about half a meter long and wide. Are they going to livestream the race? Besides the tech, there was a simple folding table with two agreements on it. Behind the table sat an old man who was yawning nonstop. This must be the referee. "Elder Li, thanks for coming out today. When can we sign the agreement?" Cen Haonan asked the old man with a warm smile. This old man was a neutral intermediary agreed upon by both sides, with no vested interests in either, making him completely trustworthy. "Both parties have to be present to sign," the old man said, lifting his eyelids to glance at the entrance. "Where’s that Fang Chao kid? What’s taking him so long?" Cen Haonan shrugged. "I have no idea." A couple of minutes later, Fang Chao finally arrived. "Sorry," he said, "I could’ve been on time, but I drank too much tea and couldn’t hold it. Had to find a spot to relieve myself." "Hurry up and sign!" The old man pushed the two agreements on the table toward Su Xuan and Fang Chao. Su Xuan picked up one of the agreements. As he reached for the pen on the table, Fang Chao’s hand shot out and snatched it first. He then glanced at Su Xuan with a smug look. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹✶𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲✶𝗻𝗲𝘁 See? The race hasn’t even officially started and you’ve already lost to me in speed. "There’s only one pen," the old man said, glancing at Su Xuan. "You’ll have to wait." "No need. I brought my own," Su Xuan said, reaching into his clothes and pulling out the royal pen worth one hundred million yuan. The moment he took it out, the somewhat dim rain shelter suddenly brightened. "Holy crap!" Fang Chao’s eyes bulged when he saw Su Xuan’s glittering golden pen with a huge diamond embedded in the tip. He had never seen such a luxurious pen in his life. This was a real eye-opener. But does a pen like that give you a luck boost? Will signing the race agreement with it guarantee a win? Of course not! Fang Chao shot Su Xuan a dismissive look, thinking he was just showing off with that pen. With a few quick strokes, Su Xuan signed the agreement and handed it to the old man. "Little Brother Su, can I have a look at your pen?" Cen Haonan asked, reaching out just as Su Xuan was about to put it away. The last time he’d eaten at Su Xuan’s place, he had overheard Su Xuan mention in passing that Caranda had given him a royal pen worth a hundred million... "Be my guest," Su Xuan said, placing the pen in Cen Haonan’s hand. Cen Haonan carefully stroked the body of the pen. "Little Brother Su, this must be that royal pen worth one hundred million, right?" "Yeah," Su Xuan confirmed. "Incredible! If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I’d never have believed a pen worth a hundred million actually existed!" Cen Haonan exclaimed. "The body is pure gold, so that’s not too expensive," Su Xuan explained. "It’s the diamond that’s valuable. It was cut from the world’s largest diamond, the Heart of Africa." "I see!" Cen Haonan nodded in sudden realization. Holy moly! A hundred-million-yuan pen? A royal one at that? And the diamond was cut from the world’s largest? How damn impressive is that? Fang Chao, who had been listening nearby, was completely dumbfounded. He forgot all about signing his agreement, his eyes glued to the pen like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world. It wasn’t just him; the old referee also perked up, squinting to get a better look at the pen. As Cen Haonan returned the pen and Su Xuan put it away, Fang Chao muttered to himself internally. What a master class in showing off. A true master! He then hurriedly signed his own agreement and handed it to the old man. "Alright, the agreements are signed!" the old man announced as he collected the documents. "If any accidents occur during the race, the participants are solely responsible. You cannot blame anyone else! And you must not object to my final ruling on the outcome! The race will officially begin in five minutes!" "Are there any race rules?" Su Xuan asked the referee. "What rules do you need?" the old man retorted. "First one to the finish line wins!" Su Xuan then turned and quietly asked Cen Haonan, "I forgot to ask, where’s the finish line?" The old man and Fang Chao almost fainted. Holy hell! You’ve already signed the agreement and you don’t even know where the finish line is? Are you just here for fun? Cen Haonan raised his hand. "My bad, my bad!" Then he explained to Su Xuan, "This race has three segments. The first is from the entrance of Autumn Maple Mountain all the way to the summit. The second is from the summit down to the foot of the mountain on the other side. Once you reach the base, there’s a five-kilometer stretch of flat asphalt road, which is the final segment leading to the finish line." "Simple enough. Got it," Su Xuan nodded. Next, Su Xuan left the shelter and got into his Charman King. Cen Haonan used the few minutes before the race to give the car a quick inspection. He even meticulously used his hands to pick out the small pebbles stuck in the tire treads. This alone showed how seriously he was taking this race. "Little Brother Su, our Charman King will have no problem on the mountain ascent and descent!" Cen Haonan said in a low, serious voice, standing outside the car window. "I’m just worried about that final five kilometers of asphalt. That road is very straight, with almost no turns! You have to build a lead in the earlier sections! Don’t let Fang Chao use his modified car’s speed to overtake you in the final five kilometers!" Su Xuan nodded from inside the car. "Wait for my good news, Brother Cen!" Cen Haonan nodded back. "I believe you’ll bring me good news, Little Brother Su!" Just then, Alice, with the camera hanging around her neck, got into the car with the two kids. They were holding a few small wild berries they had plucked from somewhere. Cen Haonan’s eyes widened. "They’re racing with you in the car?" "Brother Cen, I really had no choice," Su Xuan replied. "They beat me in a game on the way here. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn’t have let them join!" Cen Haonan’s mouth twitched. He said resignedly, "Then you must be safe! Drive... drive slowly..." "I will, I definitely will," Su Xuan assured him. The old referee stepped out of the tent, pulled the trigger of a small starter pistol, and the race officially began