At the scene of the competition, not only Lance's friends were present, but also Dayton's close friends who he often hung out with.
They were all stunned when they saw Lance, who exuded an extraordinary aura, not far away.
"Kid, you actually managed to challenge Lance."
"That's right, did you guys think I was just fooling around?"
Dayton proudly raised his chin.
The others chuckled.
Someone was curious and asked, "How did you manage to get Mr. Mercer to agree to the challenge?"
"Yeah, tell us, how did you strike up a conversation with Mr. Mercer?"
Others chimed in.
Dayton looked at their gossiping eyes and knew exactly what they were thinking. He pretended to be mysterious and said, "That's a secret, don't ask. Just watch me later. I will definitely defeat Lance. You guys better cheer for me then!"
"That's a given. We came here to support you, after all."
Although the others were reluctant that they couldn't get any gossip out of Dayton, they still responded to him with smiles.
On the other side, Eula approached Lance as well.
She looked at the casually dressed man, who seemed a bit more relaxed than usual, and her eyes shimmered as she said softly, "I never expected you to agree to this kind of competition. You never used to play these kinds of games."
"People change," Lance responded calmly, and then he noticed that Deanna seemed to be returning unhappily.
He immediately went up to her, took her hand, and asked, "What's wrong? Who made you unhappy?"
Deanna had actually noticed Eula beside them, but she pretended not to see and talked about how her friends had shown affection in front of her earlier.
"If you were present just now, I would have shown PDA with you to her."
She spoke with frustration at the end.
Seeing her playful appearance, Lance couldn't help but find her adorable.
But in Eula's eyes, she seemed overly pretentious. She couldn't help but sarcastically say, "Miss Deanna, you seem different in character now, compared to before."
"I'm different in character. What does it have to do with you?"
Deanna responded indifferently.
Implicitly, she seemed to be asking Eula who she was and what her identity was to meddle in her affairs.
Eula naturally understood what Deanna meant. If it weren't for Lance being present, she would have shown her displeasure directly. "I was just expressing my surprise. It seems that Miss Deanna has misunderstood me."
Who knew that Deanna only responded with an "oh" and didn't intend to pay any attention to her.
But it wasn't surprising that Deanna acted this way.
After all, everyone has their own temper.
Eula had repeatedly provoked her in front of Lance and even fantasized about her fiance. It would be strange if she had a good attitude.
Eula was infuriated by Deanna's attitude.
But in front of Lance, she couldn't reveal her true feelings. Otherwise, the already fragile relationship between her and Lance would become even more strained.
Later that evening, at exactly eight o'clock, the competition officially began.
"Welcome everyone to witness tonight's competition between Mr. Poole and Mr. Mercer. This is truly a rare sight!"
Who knows where Dayton found the host from, but he stood at the starting point and spoke excitedly.
Behind him were two sleek race cars-one red and one black.
The air was filled with rhythmically explosive music that wasn't too loud but perfectly set the atmosphere.
Deanna looked at it all and couldn't help but whisper to Lance next to her, "Dayton really knows how to handle things. He has turned this small competition into such a grand event."
"He has been playing these games for so many years. If he can't handle something like this well, then all those years would have been wasted," Lance replied calmly.
Deanna thought about it and realized that he was right.
At this moment, the host continued, "Now let's welcome our protagonists for tonight-the challenger, Mr. Poole, and the challenged, Mr. Mercer!"
With these words, screams and applause erupted from the crowd.
At the same time, two spotlights shone on Lance and Dayton respectively.
Upon seeing this, Dayton arrogantly made a provocative gesture towards Lance that was just within limits.
This gesture caused another wave of excitement from the crowd.
"You have to suppress his momentum!"
Deanna saw Dayton's gesture and murmured to Lance.
Lance raised an eyebrow but didn't immediately respond. Instead, he opened his arms and said in a low voice, "As we're about to embark on this journey, as a family member, shouldn't there be some expression of support?"
Although others couldn't hear what Lance said clearly, they saw his gesture and once again erupted into cheers.
"Hug him! Hug him!"
"Kiss him! Kiss him!"
No one knew who started it first, but the crowd unified their chant.
Kissing was impossible, but hugging was acceptable.
Deanna generously embraced Lance and didn't forget to encourage him in his ear, "Good luck. If you win, there will be a reward for you!"
"What kind of reward?"
Lance looked down at the woman in his arms.
However, at this moment, Deanna teased him by withholding the answer. She pushed him away with a smile and said teasingly, "You'll find out when you win!"