Knowing so much about Purple Lightning from a year ago—and clearly being a regular bettor—the old man had to be a frequent face in the underground black market.
Once Purple Lightning won its bout, his mood brightened instantly. Derek took the opportunity to ask where the owner of the Foxfire Club, Xavier Young, might be.
"You're looking for Boss Xavier?"
The old man gave Derek a strange look, his eyes gradually filling with disdain. He must have thought this kid wanted to enter the underground Mecha Girl races.
What a waste of a perfectly good Mecha Girl.
"Head inward. The brightest, cleanest place is the Foxfire Club. Boss Xavier's here today—the one wearing glasses."
With that, the old man walked off, clearly unwilling to associate with Derek.
Derek and Stella followed his directions into the deepest part of the market.
They almost didn't recognize the FoxClub when they saw it.
Its entire architectural style clashed with the surrounding chaos and grungy punk aesthetic.
A bright lobby, full-length glass windows, spotless beige tiles...
It was like a pristine flower blooming in the mud.
A group of drivers and Mecha Girls clustered at the entrance, gathered around a stern-faced middle-aged man with glasses. Beside him sat a Mecha Girl in a wheelchair—quiet, expressionless—until Derek and Stella drew close. Only then did her gaze shift, her hand lightly tugging the man's sleeve.
Xavier Young spotted the two standing outside the crowd and frowned. "You here for the underground races?"
He asked only because Stella showed no signs of modification.
Every other Mecha Girl here bore at least some evidence of being illegally modded. Deployment mode left cracks and abnormal noises across the chassis; once retracted, the scars lingered across hands, faces, backs—injuries no treatment could erase. The more elaborate the mods, the heavier the scarring.
He was the only bespectacled man here, and coupled with his tone, Derek was sure this was the man he was looking for.
He stepped forward with Stella. "Hello, Boss Xavier. I wanted to ask about Zane 'Old Debt' Larkin. How much does he owe you?"
"What's your relationship with him?" Xavier looked Derek up and down, expression flat.
"A… friend of a friend, I guess. Mainly, I need to ask him something." Derek answered, half-true and half-invented.
"Heh. Zane 'Old Debt' Larkin having friends? That's rare." Xavier shook his head.
The surrounding drivers and Mecha Girls all let out disdainful laughs.
So the guy really was infamous around here. Derek felt the situation growing more complicated.
If Zane owed too much, there was no way he could spend that kind of money to bail him out. At best, he would find out Mr. Liang's whereabouts, smooth things over a little, and make sure Zane didn't get beaten to death.
"What did he do?"
"His primary Mecha Girl wanted a purple Module he couldn't afford. She terminated their contract and left with someone else. To get her back, he kept bringing his secondary Mecha Girl to race here. But the idiot had no skill. Kept losing. Losing until he was one step away from selling that secondary Mecha Girl to me, so I banned him from entering."
Xavier snorted. "Should've ended there. But that stubborn fool didn't give up—went to my buddy's turf to gamble more. I was afraid he'd lose his secondary Mecha Girl too, so I had my guys haul him in and lock him up. Needed to cool off."
Derek and Stella exchanged a silent glance.
No wonder everyone here knew Zane 'Old Debt' Larkin.
It took real talent to be this much of a disaster as a pilot.
"He owes me one million. Plus a Mecha Girl," Xavier continued. "You can see him whenever you want, but don't even think about bailing him out. A pilot without responsibility or dignity deserves to stay locked up."
Derek figured Zane had no friends other than Mr. Liang, and his family clearly wasn't reachable. With Xavier being the kingpin around here, calling the authorities wouldn't do anything. If left alone, Zane might really spend the rest of his life in that room.
Either way, they should meet him first.
Xavier turned out far easier to talk to than Derek had imagined—not at all the vicious gang boss stereotype.
When Derek said he wanted to see Zane, Xavier simply nodded and gestured for him to follow.
Derek couldn't help noticing the Mecha Girl in the wheelchair following silently behind Xavier. He wondered why a Mecha Girl would need such a thing—especially when their healing systems were so advanced. Stella could punch holes into concrete; other Mecha Girls weren't far behind.
Spotting his look, Stella tiptoed closer and whispered: "Master, this might be a cognitive-mechanical psychological disorder. For a Mecha Girl, it's terrifying. Counseling works—treating physical injuries doesn't."
"…Cyber Depression?"
The term popped into Derek's mind, and he struggled to imagine what she must have gone through.
Ahead of them, Xavier paused slightly, clearly having overheard.
"Kid, you know the Panlong Mountain Circuit?"
"I know it." Derek nodded.
"Before entering it, any competitor who passed the Knox Rally must choose three of five advanced tracks for evaluation. Pass that evaluation, and you earn the right to race Panlong Mountain."
Derek and Stella perked up—they'd just finished the Knox Rally, and this was exactly the information they needed.
"One of those advanced tracks is filled with ramps. When you race on it, your chassis is constantly lifting off the ground. It tests how well the Mecha Girl and driver handle the landing. The hardest part is the finish line."
He turned, looking at Derek, Stella, and his own Mecha Girl. The dim yellow overhead light reflected in his eyes.
"To reach the finish line… you have to fly across a river."
"Fly?" Derek raised a brow.
"No bridge. No track. You cross by speed alone. And you choose your own crossing point." Xavier continued walking, his low voice echoing in the corridor. "The river varies in width. The widest point—250 meters—is at the end of the track. The farther you go upstream, the narrower it becomes, but you lose time. Difficulty drops. I chose a point around 150 meters. Misjudged the slope and my speed. My Mecha Girl, Lumina, and I slammed straight into the far bank."
His tone barely shifted, as if the incident had happened to someone else.
A chill ran down Derek's spine. Stella tightened her grip on his hand.
In his past life, that kind of crash would have been fatal—enough to make even the King of Hell shake his head.
But in this world, even if they survived, the moment of impact must have been agony.
Xavier stopped in front of a door, looking down at Lumina. His eyes reddened slightly.
"Lumina gave up almost all her self-protection to keep me alive. When we hit the dam, her whole front chassis shattered. She held on through the pain, relying on willpower alone until the crash ended and we started to fall. Only then did she retract. She recovered afterward… but she's never been able to drive again."
Lumina bowed her head, covering her face with trembling hands. Soft sobs leaked through her fingers.
Every time she stepped onto a track, the memory of that collision resurfaced—fear overwhelming her, binding her like chains and stopping her in place.
Fortunately, Xavier never abandoned her. He spent everything—time, effort, patience—trying to help her overcome her fear. But progress was always slow. Lumina often felt guilty. Xavier should have had a brighter future. Money wasn't an issue; he could have acquired another well-built Mecha Girl and continued his climb toward Panlong Mountain. Instead, they were stuck here in the underground market.
Derek opened his mouth to speak.
Xavier tossed him a set of keys, then turned and pushed Lumina away.
Their overlapping shadows stretched long under the lights.
"Zane 'Old Debt' Larkin's inside. Finish your business and come out quick. You'll catch one of our underground races."
Derek tightened his grip on the keys.
He finally understood why Xavier looked down on Zane so much.
…
(40 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / GhostParser