498: Copy the JD incident?

The race began, as expected.

Verstappen and Jennifer, having honed their teamwork over various races, were now flawlessly coordinating their positions.

This left Norris, who was in third place, firmly established as the leader of the second tier.

The two drivers from Wind and Thunder Racing Team had established a significant lead.

“Wow, you guys from Wind and Thunder are truly amazing!”

Hendry, sitting in his seat, exclaimed with a touch of exaggerated flair.

His demeanor made Ren Yi wonder if he was deliberately putting on a show to curry favor.

However, Hendry had only recently started to understand Wind and Thunder.

He had only watched the previous F1 races through videos.

This was his first time attending in person.

It’s important to note that, currently, all the race cars on the track, except for Wind and Thunder’s pure electric vehicle, use internal combustion engines.

When they step on the accelerator, the sound gets louder and louder.

In contrast, Wind and Thunder’s car, while incredibly fast, was very quiet, appearing quite bizarre.

Most people seeing it for the first time would indeed be startled.

Hendry was naturally no exception.

Furthermore, under normal circumstances, if one is too close, they risk being pulled in by the airflow generated by the race cars, which is extremely dangerous.

Originally, before Wind and Thunder entered F1, the maximum speed of most cars hovered around four kilometers per hour.

Audience seating could be set up about five meters from the track.

Although there was some risk, it was within a controllable range.

Now, with Wind and Thunder’s thor m14 increasing its top speed to supersonic levels, this distance has been extended to beyond ten meters.

The grandstand where Hendry and Ren Yi were currently seated was an example of this.

Yet, even so, Hendry and Ren Yi’s hair and clothes were still blown by the strong winds generated by the thor m14.

This was an experience they didn’t have when other cars passed by.

Combining these two factors, it was only natural for Hendry, watching the thor m14 race live for the first time, to have such an exaggerated reaction.

After witnessing the power of Fan Lei F1’s start, Hendry felt that Western cars were completely finished.

He genuinely believed this.

Thinking of this, Hendry bit his lip, seemingly having made a decision:

“Mr. Ren, actually, I have a suggestion…”

Ren Yi saw his suddenly serious expression and, not knowing what had happened, asked curiously:

“Go ahead.”

Anyway, listening wouldn't cost anything.

“I want to merge the Rolls-Royce brand into Wind and Thunder.”

Hendry looked at Ren Yi, sincerely speaking word by word in his broken Chinese.

“Nani?”

Ren Yi thought he had misheard, almost spilling the red wine in his hand.

Hendry was a bit embarrassed because he had put in a lot of effort just to say that Chinese sentence.

Now he had to repeat it?

However, for the future of his family business, he reluctantly said it again.

Although Rolls-Royce currently appears to be part of the BMW Group, the Hendry family still holds the initiative, and it has little to do with BMW.

After all, for most car manufacturers, the luxury car business primarily serves as a facade, used to enhance brand prestige and influence.

Making money is secondary.

An annual income of over a billion might be a very good business for an ordinary company.

But for a large corporation like BMW, they could easily earn it back by slightly reducing costs or introducing an inconspicuous small feature.

Of course, that was before.

Now that Wind and Thunder has emerged, BMW’s sales are declining day by day.

Ren Yi was surprised by this proposal, but it was only curiosity.

Because SAIC in China had acquired many foreign brands.

It indeed played a significant role in their expansion into overseas markets.

Ren Yi had also considered acquiring well-known overseas brands to enhance Wind and Thunder’s own influence.

This way, he wouldn’t have to bother building his own marketing and sales networks, and he could easily sell his cars.

It was both convenient and effortless.

However, he had previously considered that this brand could be Alfa.

They had a relatively close collaboration, and he had a slight fondness for Alfa’s CEO, President Mayila, and its management.

If nothing unexpected happened, he would send a merger and acquisition offer by the end of the year or next year.

After all, President Mayila herself had such intentions.

But now, Hendry, the CEO of Rolls-Royce, had unexpectedly made such a request himself.

They hadn’t even communicated before, had they?

Wasn't this a bit too sudden??

“Regardless, please consider it carefully, Mr. Ren. I believe Wind and Thunder has the technology, and we at Rolls-Royce have the brand and top-tier marketing experience. A strong alliance will surely sweep the global market.”

Hendry’s tone was full of sincerity, not like he was joking.

Ren Yi nodded slowly:

“Hmm, I will consider it carefully.”

In fact, as of now, Rolls-Royce no longer has any leading technology in car manufacturing.

What remains is the luxury car image they had built before.

If the technological gap continues to widen, its appeal to young people can be said to be gradually decreasing.

Currently, they can still attract some attention with their brand and so-called luxury, but it’s hard to say about the future.

However, as long as the price is right, Ren Yi would still consider it.

After all, Alfa’s brand power is still a bit weaker, and their parent company is Fiat, which might not let go, or might demand an exorbitant price.

While they were talking,

The F1 race was already nearing its end.

Jennifer and Verstappen were still in the top two positions.

During the final sprint, Ren Yi and Hendry stood up, clapping and cheering.

However, the car factory owners and executives in the surrounding grandstands were not focused on the race.

Actually, who won the championship wasn’t important to them; getting Ren Yi to agree to a collaboration was the true purpose of their trip.

Their gazes were fixed on Ren Yi and Hendry, watching them converse happily, and they were all anxious, wanting to know how their business discussions were progressing.

Would it affect them?

After the race, these people, disregarding etiquette, rushed over and surrounded Ren Yi, making it impossible for him to move.

…

On the other side.

Austin’s Japanese-style street.

Brian watched the person in the Toyota Supra GRMN enter the adult establishment, then followed him inside.

A white staff member in a kimono immediately approached him:

“Konnichiwa, sir, what service would you like?”

Brian didn’t stand on ceremony, taking out a small booklet with “FBI” printed on it, pretending it was an ID:

“FBI business, please cooperate.”

The other party was a redneck born and raised in Texas, who had never seen such a high-class item, and was immediately intimidated.

Anyway, he just felt that this thing was awesome from the movies, and he couldn’t afford to offend them.

He didn’t have time to think why the logo on the ID from such an awesome place was just a regular print, considering FBI IDs usually have a metal badge.

Normally, the most he saw were Black police officers, and he would ignore them completely.

The FBI was too distant, too mysterious.

The staff member was immediately frightened, bowing and nodding repeatedly:

“Yes, yes, sir, I don’t know what you…”

“Those Japanese people who just came in, I suspect they are spies exchanging stolen national secrets inside, so please help me open the door.”

Brian said with a straight face.

“Ah, this… Is it that serious?”

The staff member was a bit troubled, wondering why these spies had to choose this particular establishment, and on his shift no less?

However, he had no choice but to obediently lead Brian to the room where Oguri Shun and the other two were.

Brian saw the staff member indicate that the three had entered three separate rooms, so he unhesitatingly decided to find Oguri Shun, who looked like the boss.

“This one.”

The staff member pointed to the innermost room.

“Be careful, just gently pull the door open, I’ll handle the rest.”

Brian instructed.

The reason for opening the door gently was, of course, because he didn’t have the strength to kick it open.

If he failed, wouldn’t he lose face completely?

“Okay.”

The staff member didn’t understand why, but still complied.

Brian was very satisfied when he saw a small gap in the door.

“Hmm, good, thank you for your contribution to the country. I’ll take it from here. You can go now, and remember, don’t call the police, because this is a secret mission.”

He sent the staff member away, confirmed that no one was around, then took a deep breath and rushed in.

“Don’t move, FBI! Everyone on the ground!”

Brian held his pistol, shining his flashlight around, and quickly spotted his target.

At this moment, Oguri Shun, wearing only a pair of underwear, revealing his scrawny body, was frozen in place.

His expression was one of terror.

Beneath him was a plump white woman, with Japanese decorations in her hair, her kimono half-removed.

“Officer, officer, I didn’t do anything! We were just practicing judo, yes, just practicing judo.”

Oguri Shun explained in a panicked, flustered tone.

He thought the other party was there to bust prostitution.

“Judo?”

Brian found it hilarious and almost burst out laughing.

But he held it in.

“We now suspect you are colluding with Chinese enterprises, attempting to steal our national secrets, and are therefore launching an investigation into you.”

Brian’s statement was full of holes.

Actually, he had thought a lot about it before, but when it came to this moment, his mind was a blur, and he had no idea what he was saying.

Initially, Brian wanted to emulate the “honey trap” tactic used by USA’s police a few years ago against Mr. Liu, the CEO of JD in China.

After Mr. Liu was arrested and then released, the so-called cryptocurrency and graphics card price surge appeared.

And JD, where Mr. Liu worked, was USA’s largest distributor of graphics cards in China.

Entry-level graphics cards directly rose from one hundred and fifty dollars to two hundred dollars, while high-end graphics cards almost tripled in price.

Brian suspected there was something fishy going on.

Now that he had caught this Japanese corporate executive, he wanted to see if he could extract some leverage.

After all, the other party was driving a top-tier supercar from Honda that hadn’t even been officially released yet.

His status must be extraordinary.

Oguri Shun was also experiencing this kind of situation for the first time.

In his decades of life, he was actually caught by the FBI in the United States.

He was extremely flustered.

He didn’t seem to have done anything wrong, had he?

Wasn’t he just playing around in an adult establishment?

Didn’t they say that the United States government doesn’t care about such things?

Moreover, he had specifically checked the relevant permits of this establishment when he entered, and it was legal and compliant.

Oguri Shun hadn’t really heard what Brian had said, his mind was filled with thoughts of his reputation being ruined, and his naked photos appearing on tomorrow’s headlines and trending topics.

“Tell me your name, gender, age… occupation.”

Originally, only basic information was needed, but Brian thought about it and added “occupation” to help him make a judgment and proceed with the next step of his plan.

…