My Ultimate Sign-in System Made Me Invincible

Chapter 757: Liam Intends To Race

The morning sun sat low over the Persian Gulf, laying a sheet of gold across the calm water. The superyacht Mia cut through the gentle swell without a single shudder, leaving a long white foam behind her. Ahead, the sandy line of the Abu Dhabi coast was already rising out of the heat haze.

Up on the wide aft deck, the mood was slow and warm. A light breeze took the edge off the desert heat and fluttered the white sunshades overhead.

Near the teak railing, Yanxia stood on her tiptoes with her chest pressed against the wood. Her black hair whipped across her face in the wind, and her bright eyes followed every flying fish that skipped across the sea.

"Look, Papa! More fish with wings!" she yelled over the wind. She leaned out a little farther and pointed with both hands. "Can we catch one? Just one?"

Liam stood right beside her, holding the back of her yellow sundress so she couldn’t tip over.

"They’re too fast for you," Liam said with an easy smile. "Leave them in the water. Breakfast is coming up anyway."

Yanxia puffed out her cheeks, but she stayed where she was and kept watching the spray of the ocean fly off the hull.

Their vacation in space had ended weeks ago. They had gone back to Earth, spent some quiet days settling back into normal life, and now the long sea voyage was down to its last few hours.

Liam looked out across the water, and his thoughts went back over the past month.

Clone Three, the clone from the Dimensional Space, had been his stand-in on Earth while he was away working on the entropy gears. Once Liam came back, Clone Three handed everything back to him and returned to the Dimensional Space. Liam had given it all ten of the 1,000x comprehension boost cards right away. The clone was using them there now, working through the laws one by one, and every insight it gained came straight back to Liam’s one mind.

Whenever he had a free hour on the yacht, Liam opened The Complete Records of Abraxas and the Gods of the Grand Universe. There was so much in it that he had barely scratched the surface. He was taking it slowly, one piece at a time, so it wouldn’t crowd his thoughts.

Matt, on the other hand, had spent the last three weeks logging into Eternal Realms every spare moment he had. He had tracked down dozens of old NPCs in back alleys and small villages and thrown coin after coin at them, hoping to trigger a secret quest. All he got was stale bread and bad directions.

"Hey, Liam," Matt called from the shaded table, leaning back in a deck chair with sunglasses on his nose. "You still haven’t told us what you’re doing today."

Liam turned around from the railing, still holding on to Yanxia’s dress. "I told you. I’m going to the race."

"No, you said on Elise’s livestream that there were some things you wanted to try out," Matt said, pointing at him. "Those were your exact words. Half the internet thinks you bought the whole circuit. The other half thinks you’re going to land a space shuttle on the main straight during the podium ceremony. Stacy thinks you’re going to test some new anti-gravity camera."

"I never said that," Stacy said from a sunbed without looking up from her book. "I said it was probably a business meeting with the track owners."

"Either way, he’s hiding something," Matt said. "Come on, Liam. Are you buying an engine maker? Starting a flying car league? Just tell us."

Alex opened one eye from under a straw hat on the sofa. "Give it a rest, Matt. He’ll show us when we get there."

Harper leaned his arms on the back of his chair and took a sip of his juice. "It’s race day, Liam. We’re an hour out from the marina. You can drop the act now."

Liam picked Yanxia up and rested her on his hip. She wrapped one arm around his neck and went straight for his sunglasses. Liam dodged her fingers, walked over to the table, and pulled out a chair.

"I’m driving in the race today," Liam said.

The whole deck went quiet. Matt froze with his glass halfway to his mouth, and Alex pushed his straw hat off his face to stare.

"What did you just say?" Matt asked with a flat voice.

"I’m driving in the race," Liam repeated.

"Like, in the actual Grand Prix?" Alex asked, sitting up. "The season final? Against the real drivers?"

"Yes," Liam said.

"You’re not joking," Harper said, watching his face. "You’re serious."

"Completely," Liam said.

"How does that even happen?" Matt said, setting his glass down hard on the table. "You can’t just walk onto a grid! People spend years in the junior series and tens of millions of dollars just to pray for a seat! You don’t even have a super license!"

"The Bellemere office handled the paperwork weeks ago," Liam said. "The team had an open seat for the last race. They reached out through the office, and the FIA cleared it. I told them I wanted to see how far the engineering in this sport goes, and I wanted to drive one myself."

"Which team?" Harper asked, leaning in.

"Halden Racing," Liam said. "Their second driver left after a contract dispute last month. They asked, and I said yes."

Matt grabbed his head with both hands. "You’re driving a real F1 car. At Yas Marina. In front of the whole planet."

"That’s the plan," Liam said with a smile.

"This is insane," Alex said, a huge grin spreading across his face. "Do you even know how to drive one of those things? The neck strain alone knocks people out."

"I’ll manage," Liam said.

"Manage?" Matt jumped to his feet and started pacing. "He says he’ll manage! We have Paddock Club passes, and Liam is going to be on the track! Elise, did you hear this?"

Elise poked her head out from the bridge door with a camera in her hand. "I heard! I’m already asking the team if I can film in the garage! Don’t crash, Liam. I don’t want to explain that to the news!"

"I won’t crash," Liam said with a soft laugh.

***

An hour later, the deep rumble of Mia’s engines slowed as she entered the main channel of Yas Marina.

The water in the marina was flat as glass, and it was packed with hundreds of yachts tied up along the docks. Huge superyachts flew flags from dozens of countries, their decks crowded with people in linen shirts and designer sunglasses. Above the water, the curved lattice roof of the Yas Hotel arched right over the race track, bright in the midday sun.

The moment Mia slipped past the breakwater, everything on the water changed.

Vroom!

The high scream of a support race car tearing around the circuit echoed across the marina and rattled the glass on the yacht’s upper deck.

Then came the shouts.

"It’s Mia!" someone yelled from the deck of a neighboring yacht.

"He’s here! Liam is here!"

Within seconds, hundreds of people on the yachts around them rushed to their railings with phones and cameras pointed straight at Mia. People in the yacht-access lounges along the marina’s edge started shouting and waving and holding up their drinks.

Beyond the water and the catch fencing, the grandstands rose like steel cliffs. Every seat was full. Tens of thousands of fans sat shoulder to shoulder under the white canopies, wearing team caps and waving banners. The noise of sixty thousand people rolled across the water in one long, heavy roar.

Yanxia clamped both hands over her ears and buried her face in Liam’s shoulder. "Papa, it’s too loud! The cars sound like angry hornets!"

Liam patted her back and lifted her higher in his arms. "It gets loud near a racetrack. We’ll be inside soon."

Mia slid into her reserved berth along the marina wall, a short walk from the paddock entrance. The deckhands threw the mooring lines to the dockworkers below, and the gangway lowered with a steady hiss.

The hospitality staff came to take his friends up to their suite above the pit lane. Liam carried Yanxia down the ramp with two Bellemere security guards following close behind.

***

The Halden Racing garage sat near the middle of the pit lane.

When Liam walked in through the back doors, the noise of the pit lane dropped away. In its place came the clatter of air guns and wrenches and the low chatter of radio headsets. Along the side walls, racks of tires sat wrapped in heating blankets, and the air smelled of warm rubber.

In the center of the bay, the car sat up on its stands.

It was low and mean, painted matte slate gray with sharp red accents on the front wing and sidepods. Under the bright ceiling lights, every edge of its wings and floor looked sharp enough to cut.

The moment Liam walked in, the mechanics around the car froze.

One of them stopped with an air gun halfway to a wheel. Two technicians at the monitors straightened up at once. They tried hard to look relaxed, but their hands kept fidgeting with their tools. Everyone in the room knew exactly who had just walked through the door.

An older man with gray at his temples and a headset around his neck came forward from the tool chests. He wore a gray team polo with the Halden logo on the chest, and his tag read "Pete Collins - Chief Race Engineer."

"Mr. Scott," Pete said, wiping his palm on his pants before offering his hand. "Welcome to Halden. We’re honored to have you with us."

"Just Liam is fine," Liam said, shaking his hand. "Thank you for having me on such short notice. I appreciate the team making room."

"Of course," Pete said, clearing his throat. "We’ve finished the seat fitting from the scans your office sent over. The pedals, the steering column, and the harness are all set to your size."

Liam walked over to the car. He didn’t look at it like a rich man looking at a toy. He studied the tight gaps between the body panels, and the suspension arms at the front with real interest.

"The front wing looks steep," Liam said, pointing near the left tire. "Are you running more wing for the last sector?"

Pete blinked, surprised he had spotted it so fast. "Yes. The long straights in the middle of the lap want less wing, but the slow corners around the hotel eat the rear tires if we take too much off. We’re trying to keep the rear stable under braking."

"And the brake balance?" Liam asked. "Does it move much on its own in the slow corners?"

"A little," Pete said, stepping closer and pointing at the steering wheel. "You can change it with this dial here. I’ll walk you through the rest of the wheel before the race."

"Got it," Liam said. He rested a hand on the edge of the cockpit. "The work on this car is amazing. Your team did a great job."

Pete let out a short breath, and his shoulders finally relaxed. A small smile crossed his face. "Thank you. The crew worked all night to get it ready for you."

***

The rest of the afternoon went by in briefings. Pete walked Liam through the steering wheel, the radio calls, and the race plan, and Liam listened to every word. Outside, the sun sank lower over the marina, and the circuit’s floodlights started to come on one by one.

When it was time, a young assistant came out of the side office with a white and gray racing suit, boots, and gloves. Behind her, a technician carried a matte black helmet with a dark gold visor.

Liam looked down at Yanxia, who had spent the whole afternoon watching the mechanics with wide, curious eyes.

"You’re going to sit up in the suite with Stacy and the others, okay?" Liam said, kneeling down to her level. "They have juice and snacks, and you can watch the cars from the big glass balcony."

Yanxia held on to his arm for a second. "Are you going to drive that noisy gray box, Papa?"

"I am," Liam said.

"Don’t lose," she said seriously, pointing a small finger at him. "And drive fast."

Liam laughed softly. "I’ll try."

He handed her to one of the Bellemere guards, who took her out the back toward the elevator.

"I know you probably don’t need any of this," Pete said, holding out the HANS device. "But the FIA does."

"No problem." Liam took the suit into the driver room at the back of the garage. He changed quickly, pulled on the fireproof layer first and then the suit, and zipped it up to his throat. He slipped on the thin racing boots and pulled the fireproof balaclava over his head.

When he came back out, the team had already lowered the car off its stands. The mechanics were gathered around the monitors, watching the clock for the pit lane to open.

Liam picked up the helmet from the workbench and slid it down over his head until the padding pressed snug against his jaw.

Click!

He tightened the chin strap, and Pete clipped the HANS device onto his shoulders and fixed it to the helmet. Then Liam pulled on his gloves and fastened the cuffs around his wrists.

Through the gold visor, the bright garage lights softened into a calm amber glow. Liam walked to the car and climbed into the cockpit.