"I'm rich! I'm rich! Woo-hoo!"
Stella hopped along behind Derek Su, clutching two stacks of cash.
"It's only twenty thousand dollars," Derek Su sighed. "Look at you—completely losing it over pocket change."
"Twenty thousand is a lot!" Stella blinked her big eyes. "Master, do you know what my starting auction price was?"
"How much?"
"Five thousand."
Derek Su: "..."
Five thousand was what you'd pay for a low-end mecha girl.
No wonder a small club like Ascend could afford to buy Stella.
By his conservative estimate, if Stella had no defects, her real price should've been at least a thousand times higher.
"If this money were a reward for you, what would you buy?"
"A reward for me?" Stella rubbed her chin, her eyes gleaming with little calculations.
"Well, I'd definitely buy some powerful Modules! Oh—and a racing suit for Master. And a bunch of tasty food. Then I'd save the rest in my little stash… Hehehe…"
Stella counted on her fingers, budgeting as if she were planning an empire.
Derek Su glanced at his own beach shorts. Yeah… he really didn't look like a racer.
But Stella had twenty thousand, not two hundred thousand.; in the racing world, that amount didn't even register.
"Let's go check out the Module shop first."
"Wooah! Module!" Stella clenched her fists, her face glowing with excitement. "Master's getting me Module? I'm the happiest mecha girl in the world!"
Derek Su rubbed his nose. From what he remembered, Modules were ridiculously pricey.
Better not promise anything yet—no need to break the kid's heart later.
...
The Module shop sat along Jiangcheng's commercial street.
When they arrived, the place was already packed with racers and mecha girls browsing Modules.
With the Knox Rally coming up, the Module market was at its peak.
Modules came in six main types: engine, steering, nitrous, endurance, structural, and special.
They were essentially equipment for mecha girls, boosting specific attributes.
Grades were white, green, blue, purple, gold, and diamond—the higher the grade, the rarer and more expensive.
"Woooah!!!!"
The moment they stepped inside, Stella's eyes locked onto a purple-grade Module.
Shops in Jiangcheng didn't carry gold-grade Modules, and diamond-grade ones were unheard of. Even purple-grade Modules were rare—only five were displayed.
The one Stella was staring at was called [Azure Storm], a steering Module.
Its description said it moderately increased cornering at the cost of slightly lower stability and acceleration.
The price tag beneath it… made Derek Su's scalp crawl.
"Master, I feel like installing this Module would massively boost my cornering!"
Stella pressed her cheek to the glass, her eyes sparkling.
Of course it would boost her—it's eight hundred fifty thousand.
Their combined funds weren't even enough to touch a single digit on the price.
The Module wasn't even bigger than a baby's fist. Derek Su couldn't fathom how something so tiny could cost that much.
As his gaze lingered on [Azure Storm], a virtual panel popped up:
[Cornering: +20]
[Acceleration: -13]
[Stability: -8]
[Impact Resistance: -2]
[Boost Charge: +3]
Yep—those were the full stats.
"No wonder it's purple-grade. A +20 boost to cornering? For mecha girls weak in corners, this thing is practically a lifesaver."
A Module this strong tempted him too—but there was no way he could afford it.
"Master… it looks like we can't afford this Module…"
Stella had noticed the price as well. Her voice shrank as she lowered her head.
But she quickly perked back up, sticking out her tongue with a goofy smile.
"Master, I'll keep working hard and win us lots of money. Then we can buy anything we want!"
She looked around for alternatives.
But nothing in the store was going to be remotely affordable with only twenty thousand.
White-grade Modules were cheap, but their downsides were brutal.
For example, one called [White Owl] slightly boosted cornering but drastically reduced endurance. Who could survive that?
Derek Su couldn't stand seeing his mecha girl look so dejected. With a mysterious expression, he said:
"Stella, I know a way we can get that Module."
"What way?" Stella leaned in, eyes full of expectation.
"Ever heard of investing?" Derek Su grinned slyly.
"If the Module shop owner sees our potential, he might invest in us—and give us the Module for free!"
Stella's eyes narrowed, sparkling. "Whoa! As expected of Master! Such a genius idea!"
Derek Su: "Of course. Back in the day—"
"Master, what does investing mean?"
Derek Su: "…"
He gave her a simple explanation of investment.
"Master… we're not gonna get kicked out, right?" Stella asked nervously.
"No way! Who are we?" Derek Su pointed at himself, then at Stella.
"One's a future super racer, and the other is the future super racer's… mecha girl. That boss should practically hand us the whole shop!"
Truthfully, he wasn't sure.
But in his past life, investors came to him.
And Stella undeniably looked like a high-end mecha girl. Maybe they had a chance.
"Oh ho! Oh ho!"
Stella rubbed her chin, convinced.
So the two of them marched confidently to the shop owner.
Five minutes later—
They were escorted out of the Module shop.
"If you don't have money, leave! Stop wasting my time!"
The owner glared at them, completely impatient.
"Trying to get something for nothing in a Module shop? And Knox first place? If you two get Knox first place, I'll eat shit!"
"Boss, think carefully," Derek Su narrowed his eyes.
"Scamming people out of food and drink isn't right~ You won't get another chance like this!"
"Exactly! If you don't want to invest, fine—but no need to be so rough!" Stella puffed her cheeks and glared at the boss's retreating figure.
She tugged Derek Su's hand, saying sweetly,
"Master, only weak mecha girls need Module. With you and me together, we're super strong—we don't need any Module! And we're never coming back to this shop!"
"But your cornering really is weak…"
Stella stared blankly at Derek Su, head tilted, as imaginary smoke puffed from her ears.
Nearby racers and mecha girls were stunned.
"Whoa—people actually try stuff like this?!"
"Youngsters these days… bold as anything."
"Heh, if he actually pulled off getting an investment, I'd go chat up the boss too~"
Dragging Stella by the hand, Derek Su walked off.
What goes around comes around.
Once he won first place at the Knox Rally, that boss would be begging him for endorsements.
Then they'd see who was boss and who was the underling.
"Stella, forget the Module for now. We're training hard today—another practice race tomorrow."
"Got it, master!" Stella rebooted instantly, pumping her little fists with bright energy.
"Fighting! Fighting!!"
...
Not long after they left,
A short figure walked into the Module shop.
"Boss, how much for this one?"
He pointed at a blue-grade Module.
It was called [Hurricane]—slightly boosted cornering and Boost Charge, but also slightly reduced Acceleration, Stability, and Impact Resistance.
"Three hundred thousand." The boss was still fuming and didn't even raise his head.
The customer pursed his lips. "Can you lower it a bit…? It wasn't this expensive before…"
"Not a single coin less. That was then. Now there are more racers, production can't keep up, so prices go up!"
"If I don't use it, can I return it?"
"As long as you don't open the package, return it whenever. This is the only blue-grade steering Module left—if you don't want it, plenty of others do!"
"Alright then, I'll take it."
He didn't haggle anymore.
He paid, wrapped the [Hurricane] Module in cloth, tucked it under his arm, glanced at the race footage playing on the TV, then turned and walked out of the Module shop.
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
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