"Master, tell me—how was my butt-wiggle just now? Hehehe~"
"Very round and smooth, hehehe~"
Their identical mischievous laughter echoed inside the cockpit.
"Master! After all those turns, I've actually figured out a pattern!"
Stella kept her eyes on the road, never turning back. Derek Su couldn't see her face—only her rear.
Still, he could imagine her wearing a very serious expression.
"What pattern?"
Stella swayed her head proudly.
"A good butt-wiggle makes cornering no big deal~"
Derek Su: "…"
He really must be starving. Why did he ever expect serious insight from this silly girl?
"Master, well? Well? What do you think of my pattern?"
When Derek didn't answer right away, Stella pressed him relentlessly.
"Mm… the pattern you came up with is very… hmm, down-to-earth."
"Right?! Right?!" Stella happily wiggled her hips. "Oh-hoh~ I really am a genius Mecha Girl!"
Derek Su originally meant to knock her down a peg—she still had many turns ahead, and the chain of hairpin turns near the finish line would be a huge challenge for her.
But then he remembered: she was only this excited because she helped him vent his anger. Crushing her enthusiasm now wouldn't help. Raising a kid meant giving them positive reinforcement so they'd grow stronger.
So he nodded and smiled.
"That's right. You really are a genius Mecha Girl."
"Woooh~ Then this genius Mecha Girl wants a hamburger and ice cream!"
"Alright. After the race, I'll take you to get both."
...
Fueled by Derek Su's praise—and the motivation of hamburger and ice cream—Stella remained impressively stable.
Every turn afterward, easy or difficult, she passed cleanly. Less than a quarter of the race remained, and now a helicopter hovered overhead, following and filming them.
That level of coverage was normally reserved only for major-club seed racers.
"Master, it's so noisy! Can't you make that helicopter go away?!"
Stella grumbled, even trying to outrun it—but in open air, the helicopter was simply faster.
"That helicopter is here specifically to film us. Right now, a lot of people might be watching your performance~"
Derek tapped her back gently, coaxing her like a child.
"Oh? Really!?" Stella's rosy ears perked up; her voice shot higher. "W-well then… this Mecha Girl is very magnanimous. I'll let the helicopter follow us~"
She spoke casually, but her body instantly lowered into a serious, ready posture.
With so many people watching, she couldn't slip up—not on the remaining track. That would be too embarrassing.
Derek Su chuckled. He lifted his eyes toward the road ahead—
and suddenly saw two black sports-type Mecha Girls appear at the far end of the track, one left and one right, blocking almost the entire width.
"These two Mecha Girls…"
He frowned. He recognized them—they were from the SSC Club.
That club's racers and Mecha Girls were known for being dressed entirely in black.
Black racing suits, black vehicle wraps. The whole vibe said stay away.
But the Knox Rally used sequential starts. Even if they had started ahead, there was no reason they should be side-by-side blocking the road.
Even if, by chance, two racers from the same club had started one slot apart…
For the rear one to catch up, then deliberately run side-by-side to block the pursuer—
that was absolutely intentional.
A deliberate tactic to cage in the Mecha Girl behind them.
"Heh… racers in this world don't have much skill, but they sure know their dirty tricks."
A cold sharpness flashed through Derek Su's eyes. He despised this sort of coordinated track-blocking far more than illegal modifications.
In his previous life's rally races, things like this weren't unheard of either.
Most racers only had two options:
report it (useless in this world), or wait for a wider stretch of road to attempt an overtake.
Reporting wasn't viable here—rally racing in the Mecha Era had almost no moral restrictions.
Waiting for a wider section was nearly the same as giving up. These two black Mecha Girls weren't fast, but being stuck behind them meant bleeding time.
"Master! What's with those two Mecha Girls up ahead?! They're blocking the whole road! How are we supposed to get through?!"
Derek Su didn't respond.
He didn't slow down either.
His expression stayed cold as his fingers lightly tapped the control stick, silently calculating.
...
"Coach Chen, your SSC racers are playing dirty—why block someone's line like that?"
Ever since the Rift Hairpin, the Knox Rally's big screen had a dedicated split-screen showing Derek Su and Stella.
VVC coach Warren Wu glanced contemptuously at the SSC side.
Such a low-grade trick. And from a Fortune 500 club? They weren't even pretending to have dignity anymore.
"We don't really have a choice."
SSC coach Tanner Chen awkwardly rubbed his nose—after all, he was the one who had given the blocking order.
"You don't understand. Among our SSC entrants this time, one is the club owner's son. I've been given a mission—no matter what, that kid has to get first place. I was confident at first. His Mecha Girl and skills aren't weak, but… sigh~"
"You mean that kid, Miles Wang?"
"Yeah."
Warren Wu gave Tanner Chen a sympathetic look.
No coach from a club like SSC would issue such instructions unless he was truly cornered.
Even if tactics like this weren't forbidden on the track, the stain on their reputation was guaranteed.
Sure enough, the stands were already filled with spectators cursing.
By now, over fifty minutes had passed since the first Mecha Girl started.
Miles Wang, starting from position 4, had already finished and now sat in the SSC stands, arms crossed, staring at the big screen. Both he and his Mecha Girl looked sour.
Every time the cameras cut to a Mecha Girl, the bottom-right corner displayed real-time stats:
average speed, and their cornering speeds on difficult turns.
And right now, neither their average speed nor their cornering speeds were ranked first.
First place belonged to Stella and her pilot—Derek Su.
"Why?! Why are they that fast?!"
Miles Wang clenched his fists, grinding his teeth.
Moments earlier, the last Mecha Girl had started the race.
Aside from Derek Su and Stella, no one else could threaten his first place.
Yet now, two SSC racers had boxed in Derek Su and Stella.
The results of the race were practically decided.
And still, Miles Wang felt humiliated.
He had trained since age seven.
His first Mecha Girl—3 million at auction—had accompanied him through childhood.
His second Mecha Girl—8 million at age eighteen—was the Absolute Shadow beside him now.
On top of that, he had spent over 2 million on Modules for Absolute Shadow.
He should have dominated this race, leaving the runner-up half a minute—or even one or two minutes—behind.
Yet now, a wildcard driver and his wildcard Mecha Girl were rubbing him into the ground.
He refused to accept it.
"Completely suppress that Mecha Girl's track space."
Picking up his walkie-talkie, Miles Wang coldly instructed Tanner Chen:
"If necessary, have them find a way to push that Mecha Girl off the track.
They're not getting into the top 10."
He put down the walkie-talkie.
And that was only the first step of his strategy against the wildcard, Derek Su.
He had an entire combination of schemes waiting afterward.
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
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