"Purple Lightning, look what we found!" The moment another car appeared in view, Derek Su whistled and announced dramatically, "Other contestants!
"All we have to do is sneak up on them, whack them over the head with a club, and after a little cooking, they'll have seven times the protein of a caterpillar!"
Purple Lightning covered her mouth and giggled at Derek Su's ridiculous description.
In truth, she had been extremely nervous when they caught up with the other contestants. It meant another fierce battle was about to begin.
She had only been able to deal with Viper because Viper had no special skill and Chloe Qin was completely useless. The other contestants were a different story.
But after hearing Derek Su say that, all her nervousness disappeared.
"I didn't know you had such a talent for comedy, Master."
"Of course." Derek Su chuckled. "Stop spending all your free time at the club wiping tables and sweeping floors. Go hang out with Tunbao and Stella more often. I picked up my sense of humor from them."
"Okay." Purple Lightning nodded earnestly.
If she could win the championship this time, she would definitely go find Stella to hang out every day.
Before, she had always felt too embarrassed to stand beside Stella and Imperial Scale...
Of course, she still couldn't neglect the cleaning, especially Derek Su's office.
She always told the support Mecha Girls the same thing.
Derek Su's office had to be cleaned by her personally.
As they talked, Purple Lightning relied on her overwhelming speed advantage to quickly catch up with Ice Soul.
Derek Su turned his head and glanced at Ice Soul.
He couldn't remember seeing any information about this Mecha Girl.
Her pilot was a blond, middle-aged man. When he noticed Derek Su looking over, he even smiled and waved.
Was he really that friendly?
The other side showed no intention of blocking them either.
Derek Su easily piloted Purple Lightning past them.
Looking at the striking Ice Soul in the rearview mirror, a faint sense of caution rose in his heart.
As the saying went, the dog that bites doesn't bark. It might be a little rude to put it that way, but anyone capable of competing on a provincial-level track was no pushover.
They had already been through a fierce battle.
Anyone who could still keep pace with the main group definitely wasn't simple.
At the very least, Ice Soul had been able to withstand Black Fortress's shockwave.
...
Derek Su and Purple Lightning continued charging forward and soon caught up with Leon Li and Snowpeak.
The two Mecha Girls raced side by side for a moment without any confrontation. Each stayed in her own lane and left the other alone.
Without Ethan Yang's strict orders hanging over him, Leon Li had no particular hostility toward Derek Su.
Their gazes briefly met before Derek Su overtook him and surged ahead, accelerating faster and faster.
Five hundred meters ahead and slightly to the side, a dazzling blaze of fire shone brightly.
There was no need to guess. It had to be Dawnbreak, piloted by Laiya An.
"Dawnbreak activated her skill this early?" Derek Su was a little surprised.
He had thought Laiya An would save Dawnbreak's skill for later.
"Maybe it's to guard against Black Fortress's special skill," Purple Lightning guessed.
By now, Dawnbreak had gradually pulled ahead of Black Fortress, while Derek Su and Purple Lightning were steadily closing the gap as well.
At the same time, the landmark for Flying Dragon Cliff had come into view. It was a massive basalt stele.
Even from a distance, they could clearly see the three huge characters [Flying Dragon Cliff] written across it in sweeping calligraphy.
Seeing that marker meant Flying Dragon Cliff was only two hundred meters away.
The ramp was less than three hundred meters ahead!
For Mecha Girls traveling at high speed, two hundred meters passed in the blink of an eye.
And in that very instant,
Black Fortress activated her skill.
BOOM—!
The ground trembled violently. With Black Fortress at the center, the track cracked apart inch by inch.
A shockwave carrying shattered rocks surged outward like a tidal wave.
But it wasn't over.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—!
A second shockwave followed immediately after the first.
Then came an even more violent third wave.
Dust blotted out the sky, making it seem as though the end of the world had arrived.
Inside Black Fortress's cockpit, Meister burst into crazed laughter.
Amid this earth-shattering chaos, only HB-model Mecha Girls could remain completely steady.
Kool Kenny, who had been following the race from the helicopter, immediately switched the broadcast to the scene.
The area within a hundred meters of Flying Dragon Cliff had been completely swallowed by the dust and sand thrown up by the shockwaves.
"Ladies and gentlemen, just as I predicted, a brutal confrontation was bound to happen before Flying Dragon Cliff." An excited smile spread across Kool Kenny's face. "But there's no need to worry. Our track has been reinforced. Black Fortress's shockwaves will only damage the top layer of the track. As long as the other contestants can withstand all three shockwaves, their driving afterward won't be affected... The question is, how many contestants will actually make it across Flying Dragon Cliff?"
A staff member walked over and whispered something in Kool Kenny's ear.
Kool Kenny froze for a moment, covered the microphone, and spoke quietly with the staff member.
After a while, he raised the microphone again, his expression filled with sorrow.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you that Chloe Qin, a contestant from the BSC Club, has lost her qualification to continue the race due to an unexpected incident. I would also like to remind everyone that AI technology is still far from mature. Please do not recklessly undergo AI modifications."
"Contestant Chloe Qin has left us forever.
"Please accept our deepest condolences."
There was not even a moment to mourn Chloe Qin's death.
Within the dust churned up by the shockwaves, a crimson glow suddenly flashed, accompanied by the deafening sound of rocks being smashed apart.
The sorrow vanished from Kool Kenny's eyes in an instant, replaced by excitement as he shouted,
"Ladies and gentlemen, something's happening!
"Which contestant will be the first to break through the shockwaves?!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Dawnbreak tore through the cloud of dust.
Her entire body was wreathed in flames. Although she had smashed through countless rocks along the way, her vehicle body remained completely pristine.
The shockwaves had slowed her down earlier, while Black Fortress gained explosive acceleration within them. Now Dawnbreak instantly surged alongside Black Fortress and even slammed viciously into her.
The terrifying impact nearly knocked Black Fortress off the track.
At the same time, Dawnbreak charged onto the ramp.
Like a crimson meteor, she soared toward the far side of Flying Dragon Cliff.
Inside Black Fortress's cockpit, Meister's expression darkened.
He truly hadn't expected something like this to happen right before the jump.
"She's obviously a speed-type Mecha Girl. How can she have that kind of Impact Resistance and collision power? That's insane!"
Meister couldn't understand it at all.
Still, he could accept Dawnbreak overtaking him. There were other contestants behind her.
Derek Su and Purple Lightning were catching up, while Leon Li and Snowpeak were a little farther back.
Stopping those contestants would be good enough.
Just as he had that thought, Black Fortress suddenly spoke in a grave voice.
"Master, I'm detecting psychic energy fluctuations! Two of them."
Meister himself couldn't sense psychic energy fluctuations.
But as one of the club's aces, he had plenty of experience, and he had already noticed that something was wrong.
The dust around Black Fortress had begun to thin, leaving only the shockwaves rippling outward in widening circles.
Then he looked toward the waterfall beside Flying Dragon Cliff.
With a hum, a silver spatial portal suddenly opened above it.
Snowpeak burst from the spatial tunnel and landed on a rocky platform less than five meters long beside the waterfall. Despite how narrow it was, she touched down perfectly, then used the explosive acceleration granted by her skill to launch herself toward the far side of Flying Dragon Cliff.
A question mark practically appeared over Meister's head.
He couldn't understand how Leon Li had managed to control Snowpeak's Spatial Leap precisely enough to land on that rock.
The club had analyzed Leon Li and Snowpeak before. Snowpeak's special skill, Spatial Leap, had some directional control, but the distance of the spatial jump was inherently imprecise. There was no way it should have been accurate enough for this.
Had they simply gotten unbelievably lucky?
He had no time to think about it.
A flash of purple light appeared on his right.
A phantom trailing a dazzling wake tore straight through all three shockwaves.
Her purple body, forged from starlight, passed through the dust and shockwaves as though they didn't exist.
Yet she didn't head straight for the jump across Flying Dragon Cliff.
Instead, she tilted her chassis sideways and raced like a gecko toward the higher cliff on the right side of Flying Dragon Cliff.
Every rock and obstacle in her path was completely ignored!
It was Derek Su and Purple Lightning.
Two question marks practically appeared over Meister's head.
WTF?! They're cheating!
His calm mind allowed him to temporarily accept the fact that Purple Lightning and Snowpeak had overtaken him. As a proper ace, he needed to stay calm in the face of any unexpected situation and find a way through it.
What he needed to do now was raise Black Fortress's speed and complete the jump across Flying Dragon Cliff.
After landing, he would still have a chance to catch the others on the next section of the track. He hadn't even installed Black Fortress's speed Modules yet!
That was another trump card.
But just as he accelerated Black Fortress up the ramp and the vehicle left the ground...
WHOOSH—!!!
A pale wind suddenly swept across the entirety of Flying Dragon Cliff.
In an instant, it was as though a frozen kingdom had descended.
Frost covered the windows. The temperature inside the vehicle plummeted, and Black Fortress's speed dropped to its absolute minimum.
And they were already in midair.
Meister: "???"
"We're screwed."
He slapped his thigh.
Damn it! How is there still another sneaky bastard here?!
...
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