Their Mistake, Her Rise - Chapter 146: Chapter 146

On the big screen, Zoe moved to the side and slid right under the race car, changing the chassis super fast.
In ten seconds, she swapped the chassis and fixed the car's problems. She crawled out from under the car and headed straight for the rear wing. With a few quick moves, she took it off and put it back together in a new way.
In less than thirty seconds, a brand-new race car was in front of everyone. The people who thought she'd mess up were left open-mouthed, totally shocked.
No one could believe what they were seeing.
"She's really fixing her car? And in just a few seconds, she's already done? I'm impressed by her calm."
"She's not doing a simple fix. Race cars add a rear wing for stability, but that makes the car slower because of more drag. The way she rebuilt it, she kept the car steady and made it faster too. She's a tuning genius."
"Who is she, really?"
The vibe in the crowd changed instantly.
Some of the experts were so shocked by Zoe's skill and speed that their eyes went wide, kind of numb from what they saw.
Meanwhile, Zoe had already jumped back in the car, pressed the gas, and in under a minute finished her tweaks and sped back onto the track.
As the engines roared, the crowd shouted in shock. Zoe was already a full lap behind—at this rate, she was basically in last place.
Since the race was on a circular track, even if she was a lap behind, she kept running into the leaders over and over.
The moment Zoe's car came back on the track, it was immediately swallowed up by the pack.
Her earlier moves definitely got people's attention, and her quick modding even impressed some pros.
But no one wanted to keep watching a rookie who was so far behind. Everyone's eyes were on the front runners—most likely, the winner would come from that group.
The folks kept talking.
"I thought that Clusia girl who talked big before would surprise us today, but all she did was show off her mod skills. What a joke."
"She'll definitely come in last. Sure, her mods look cool, but she's a whole lap behind."
"Daniel's gonna make her crawl under him. That'll be fun."
Daniel had wanted to team up with the other racers to take Zoe out so she couldn't finish. But Zoe had already dead last. No point wasting time on her now.
The Clusian racers who weren't racing stood quietly in the crowd. Someone muttered, "Looks like we're coming in last again, huh?"
"Yeah, should've seen it coming. Clusia always finishes last every year. Everyone's used to it now."
Henry said coldly, "We were targeted at. If Zoe hadn't reacted so fast and fixed her car, she'd be in real trouble."
He added, "That car would've definitely gone off the track and crashed."
Henry looked at the racetrack. He had already given up hope of Zoe winning—he just wanted all three racers to finish safely.
But the moment his eyes landed on Zoe's car, the always-calm Henry suddenly jumped up, shouting, "Oh my god, am I seeing this right?"
While everyone was talking and not paying attention, Zoe's car shot forward super fast, catching up the lap she lost and passing several cars ahead.
The other Clusia racers who saw this all jumped up and said, "Damn, that speed is crazy! Look, she's still speeding up!"
Every racer on this international track was a top-level pro, and they all pushed themselves to the max. Making up a full lap here was almost impossible.
But Zoe somehow caught up. And the wildest part was—
"She broke the lap record! 10.22 seconds—she just beat Fox's record!" someone in the crowd yelled, voice hoarse from excitement.
Right after, everyone in the stands seemed electrified. All eyes moved from the cars ahead and focused on Zoe's bright red racer.
Everyone stared in disbelief at that red car flying down the track like a wild stallion, totally unleashed.
"Damn." Even Henry, who never swears, couldn't help but do it. "She beat Fox's lap record. Fox's record was 11.01!"
"Is she Fox?"
As everyone's attention focused on Zoe, even top racers like Diana and Brady couldn't help but notice how insanely fast she was going.
Every time she finished a lap, the gap between her and the others got smaller. At this rate, she'd catch up really soon. The others were totally amazed.
They knew how fast their own cars could go—they were already pushing their limits. Now, they could only rely on skill to stay ahead.
But Zoe's speed was just out of this world. She wasn't just passing cars easily—she was catching up to the leaders with every lap.
If this kept going, things were about to get bad for Daniel. He never took any opponent lightly, and that was how he got into the top racers in the world.
So after Zoe kept talking big about winning first, Daniel got extra careful and secretly told someone to mess with her car before the race.
When he saw Zoe fall a few laps behind because of car trouble, Daniel felt pretty pleased with himself. He believed Zoe wasn't even worth his worry anymore, but then reality hit him hard.
As Zoe started closing the gap, Daniel finally started to panic. She was the real deal—she wasn't bluffing at all.
Anger and frustration took over Daniel. If he let Zoe threaten his spot—or, even worse, win the championship in Yaniston, on his home turf, with his arms tycoon dad watching—he'd never show his face again.
Even the guys at his dad's arms camp in Yaniston would look down on him.
Daniel couldn't handle that. He had a backup plan.
He had planned to use that plan on the three racers ahead of him. But now, Zoe was the biggest threat.
Daniel pulled his Bluetooth earpiece from his pocket, put it in his ear, and quickly connected with his two teammates on the track.
"Daniel!" the two racers called out together.
Daniel snapped, "Don't let Zoe catch up. Take her out before she does—whatever it takes."
"Yes, Daniel!"