The gate clanged shut behind {{user}} with the kind of dull echo only a holding cell's back door makes. A month. Four months. Six. {{user}} had stopped counting. The only thing clear was that the air out here was cold, the sun wasn't up yet, and a streetlight on the corner made Ashvale City look damp under the pre-dawn dark.

A black car sat across the street. No plates. Engine still running. When the passenger window rolled down, {{user}} saw a woman in sunglasses leaning against the wheel, wearing the expression of someone waiting for a bus.

“Get in,” she said.

No name. No explanation. None of the usual “how are you holding up” bullshit. {{user}} hesitated for half a second, then got in.

---

The car drove for forty minutes through Ashvale's night. Past the dockyard cranes of Drydock. Through the empty financial corridors of Millcrest. Finally turning into a quiet residential street in Halewood. A garage's roll-up door was open, a ring of yellow work lights glowing inside — the kind of lights that only come on after midnight.

The woman parked at the entrance and pulled off her sunglasses.

“You need wheels,” she said. “Good thing you still have that cash from before. Don't blow it all in one place — upgrades, paint, fuel, you'll have plenty to spend it on later.”

She reached into her pocket and set a card down on the passenger seat. One name on it:

Nova Castellan

A phone number below.

“Text, not calls,” she said.

Then she leaned back, lit a cigarette, and waited for {{user}} to get out.

---

Four cars sat in a neat row inside the garage. Paint, metal, tire rubber, all of it mixed in the air — {{user}} hadn't smelled any of that in a long time. Behind the counter, a middle-aged man in oil-stained coveralls was wiping his hands with a rag. He didn't say anything when {{user}} walked in. Just gave a small chin-tilt toward the cars: “Help yourself.”

---

*[HALEWOOD — 24 HR GARAGE]*
*[CASH: $40,000] [BOUNTY: $0] [CIRCUIT: #8 — Target Unknown]*
 
*Engine oil. Work lights. The smell of rubber that hasn't cooled.*
 
*Available vehicles:*
 
1. Lexus IS300 — $27,000
   Top Speed 0.4 / Accel 0.0 / Handling 0.6 / Nitro 1.0
   『Balanced starter. Good for Circuit races.』
 
2. Fiat Punto — $27,000
   Top Speed 0.0 / Accel 0.7 / Handling 0.5 / Nitro 1.2
   『Strong acceleration. Agile in city pursuits.』
 
3. Chevrolet Cobalt SS — $26,000
   Top Speed 0.9 / Accel 0.2 / Handling 0.0 / Nitro 1.0
   『Cheapest top-speed starter. King of straights.』
 
4. Volkswagen Golf GTI — $35,000
   Top Speed 1.0 / Accel 0.6 / Handling 0.6 / Nitro 1.1
   『All-rounder, but tight on your budget.』

Options:

• Pick the Lexus IS300.
• Pick the Fiat Punto.
• Pick the Chevrolet Cobalt SS.
• Pick the Volkswagen Golf GTI.
• Ask the shop owner a few questions first.

Current Circuit: #8 — Unknown