The people brought by Gu Fang were those he usually hung out with, and Cai Zhelong knew a bit about them.

These individuals also enjoyed cars, but it wasn't their primary interest. It was like Young Master Shi; he owned plenty of high-end cars, but his greatest passion was jade.

For wealthy young masters, few of them wouldn't own a car.

It was just that he never expected the few people following Gu Fang could actually tie up Long Cheng. Cai Zhelong was extremely clear about Long Cheng's skill; among this many people, Long Cheng could definitely rank near the top, having even won championships before.

Cai Zhelong's guess was correct; Long Cheng was indeed being entangled at this moment.

The main reason he was held back was that those youngsters were clinging to him as if their lives depended on it. He feared an accident, so he kept conceding, which allowed Gu Fang's Bugatti to pull far ahead.

“Bugatti first, the yellow Ferrari is held back by one car length, and the red Porsche is third!”

At the ten-kilometer mark, the reporter immediately relayed the latest situation. Second place was still Li Ya, but unfortunately, his skill couldn't match Long Cheng's, and his car was also slightly inferior to the Bugatti. He was starting to feel the strain.

Long Cheng’s Range Rover moved up one position to eighth, but sadly, the distance between him and the Bugatti had widened even further.

The highway portion was almost halfway over, and they were about to transition to the lower roads. If he fell too far behind on the highway, catching up on the winding roads below would be even harder.

Gritting his teeth, Long Cheng finally let loose.

He nudged the BMW sports car immediately behind him with his car's front end. The BMW swayed violently, nearly clipping the guardrail on the side. Thankfully, the driver reacted just in time, stabilizing the car, but they were left in the dust.

These people had been clinging to Long Cheng as if they were desperate. They had initially banked on Long Cheng being hesitant to make any aggressive moves. Now that Long Cheng was showing ferocity, these cars immediately backed off.

They were all still on the highway. Long Cheng adopting a reckless posture truly broke the entanglement.

Seizing the opportunity, he immediately slammed the accelerator and roared forward, quickly climbing from eighth to fourth. As they exited the highway, he finally spotted Li Ya's Ferrari, which had already moved into third place.

However, the cars behind were closing in tightly. Furthermore, Wang Chen’s Porsche and Huang Hai’s Hummer had also caught up, engaging and tying down the few cars behind him. This eased some of the pressure on Long Cheng to an extent.

“Bugatti first, the green Range Rover has risen to second…”

The reporter sent the latest news from the front. Many people at the service area were listening intently. Just by hearing the cars, they knew who was driving, and they understood that the real contenders for the top spot were these two.

Some people listened with palpable tension; they were the ones who had placed bets.

As long as there was street racing, gambling was inevitably involved, and these young masters were particularly inclined to bet. Almost everyone had placed wagers on this run.

Most of these people had arranged private bets with their friends; everyone gambled on their own chosen driver. No official betting pool was set up here. While there had been pools in the past, they were later banned. Once a pool existed, the fairness of the race was severely compromised; some people would do anything for profit, even hiring professional racers to stand in for them to win money.

Now, since it was just private, head-to-head betting, it didn't matter as much.

Before the start, Long Cheng and Gu Fang had placed a three-million-yuan bet each. This money was currently held by Cai Zhelong, to be claimed by the winner.

Others had bet even more. The gambling stakes just for this first leg had already exceeded ten million.

“Thirty kilometers already? These people are insane!”

After the sixth reporter delivered their update, Su Zhantao couldn't help but click his tongue. Only a few minutes had passed, and these reporters were almost reporting continuously.

“The roads are good this time, so the speeds are faster. It’s never this quick usually!” Yang Ling smiled. She usually didn’t participate but came for the excitement, and she was very familiar with the conditions of every route.

“At this pace, they should be coming back soon!” Zhang Yang nodded too. These guys were certainly driving aggressively. It was a pity there was no live broadcast, or they could have watched the action.

“The green Range Rover has caught up to the Bugatti! The two cars are leading, and the seven cars behind them are tailing closely, creating a gap of at least three hundred meters from the front pair!”

The reporter at the front relayed the latest news again. Cai Zhelong shook his head.

His intention in starting so many cars together—to create an advantage for Long Cheng—had failed. Long Cheng had his people, and Gu Fang had his people; now both sides were entangled.

Wang Chen, Li Ya, and Huang Hai were engaged in contests with Gu Fang’s group. They had to block their opponents while also trying to break free to support Long Cheng.

Unfortunately, the two lead cars were moving too fast. All they could manage was to keep the opposing drivers occupied; they had no way to close the distance to the front.

At the very front, they entered a long straightaway, and the Bugatti gradually regained the lead.

After all, the vehicles were different. No matter how well Long Cheng's Range Rover was modified, there was still a gap compared to the Bugatti. Long Cheng could leverage his skill on the corners, but his disadvantage became much more pronounced on a straight track.

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Long Cheng was in pursuit when he suddenly slammed on the brakes. It wasn't just him; the Bugatti in front also stopped dead.

Neither of them heard a sound, but both spotted the abnormality behind them through their mirrors.

Long Cheng stopped his car and immediately looked back, his eyes wide with horror.

The seven cars that had been trailing in the second pack had all crashed into each other. Three cars were flipped on the outside, two were positioned backward in the middle of the road, one was twisted beyond recognition, and the most tragic one was split clean in half.

With just one glance, Long Cheng's heart rate skyrocketed. Among those seven cars, three were men who had followed him from Changjing.

Cold sweat immediately broke out on his forehead. It wasn't just him; Gu Fang was also stunned. Both stood there dumbfounded.

The cars from the third group behind them also caught up and pulled over to the side. Several women got out of their cars, screaming hysterically in fright.

There had been accidents in previous races; Long Cheng had experienced them and sustained serious injuries himself.

But those were individual incidents, or at most, two-car collisions. Although these young masters played hard at racing, they all understood that life was paramount. The safety measures on every car were no less rigorous than those on professional race cars.

Thus, over so many races, there had never been a major accident, let alone a fatality.

But this time was different. A seven-car pile-up was unprecedented for them. Out of only fifteen cars total, nearly half had collided.

“Help, help them! Hurry up and save them!”

Long Cheng suddenly shouted, jumped back into his car, and sped forward. Seeing this, Gu Fang, who was ahead, backed his car up toward the rear.

There were quite a few of his men among those seven overturned vehicles.

The people behind also reacted. They quickly got out of their cars to help. This was a massive accident, and they couldn't absolve themselves of responsibility.

…………

“What!” Zhang Yang suddenly yelled.

Almost simultaneously, both Zhang Yang’s and Cai Zhelong’s phones rang. Zhang Yang heard only one sentence before his expression drastically changed. He hung up and sprinted toward where his car was parked.

Cai Zhelong followed the same action, though he didn't forget to signal a few people to come with him.

“Zhang Yang, where are you going? What happened?” Su Zhantao called out anxiously. Yang Ling also looked puzzled.

The call to Zhang Yang was from Long Cheng. He only told Zhang Yang one thing: something had happened, something huge; several cars had crashed.

Long Cheng had called Zhang Yang only when he arrived at the scene and needed immediate medical assistance. He suddenly remembered Zhang Yang’s medical skills, while the others were either calling ambulances or rallying people from the service area to come help.

Unfortunately, the ambulance would take time to arrive; the location was too remote.

“Something happened! They crashed!”

Zhang Yang shouted this without turning back. He quickly reached his Mercedes sports car, got in, started the engine, and sped off.

His speed was not slow; his sub-three-second 100-meter acceleration was evident. With a drift, the car merged onto the highway, and in moments, he was gone from sight.

Su Zhantao stood gaping behind him. Zhang Yang's maneuver demonstrated his considerable skill. If Zhang Yang had participated earlier, his results would likely not have been inferior to those other racers.

More and more people from the service area rushed toward the parking lot; they had also received news of the accident up ahead.

“What are you waiting for? Hurry up and go over there!” Yang Ling pulled Su Zhantao along, and the two of them rushed toward the parking lot. After all, four of their group were competing, and they had just heard that a full seven cars were involved in the crash.

At this moment, they didn't know who had crashed. If they knew that everyone except Long Cheng was affected, they would have been even more frantic.

“Li Ya, Li Ya, are you alright!”

Long Cheng, with the help of others, had already managed to pull Li Ya from his vehicle. Li Ya was covered in blood, and next to him sat a woman who was completely unconscious.

“I, I’m okay, Wang, Wang Chen!”

Li Ya managed to utter a few words. His consciousness was still relatively clear, which counted as a small blessing in the misfortune.

His car was in the middle, and it was the car behind that had flipped him over. Their vehicles had all been modified, increasing safety measures significantly, not just power and speed.

They all knew what these cars were for; it was better to be safe than sorry, and 'sorry' had just arrived.

Li Ya’s condition gave Long Cheng a slight measure of relief. He quickly led people toward Wang Chen's car.

Wang Chen’s car was the most mangled—the Porsche had been cleaved into two halves, front and back. Seeing the wreckage, Long Cheng became even more worried.

There was only one person in the car. Wang Chen’s girlfriend had been too timid to join him, proving how wise she was now. Had she been in the car, her fate would be unknown.

The Porsche had been split from the rear section. Long Cheng immediately looked toward the driver's seat. Wang Chen was slumped inside, also covered in blood.

His condition was uncertain, but Long Cheng didn't see anything impaling his body, which was a small stroke of luck.

Prying open the door, Long Cheng checked Wang Chen's breathing and pulse, letting out a soft sigh of relief.

Wang Chen was alive. This was the best news for him; he had genuinely feared Wang Chen might have died instantly.

He carefully dragged Wang Chen out of the car. He proceeded with extreme caution. Just as he pulled Wang Chen clear, Zhang Yang, the first to arrive, reached the scene.