When Zane was dragged in, he was timid and obedient.
When he walked out, he strutted like he didn't recognize a single relative.
"Mr. Xavier, I told you—you can't keep me locked up. I've got a hundred ways to break out!" Zane announced smugly, planting himself in front of Xavier Young. Behind him, Lingwind had gone pale, tugging frantically at his sleeve, but no amount of tugging could shut his mouth.
"So?"
Xavier Young raised an eyebrow, letting out a cold snort. "You still owe me a million and a Mecha Girl. I've got a hundred ways to make you pay it back."
Zane turned and stared at Derek Su in disbelief. Derek Su only shrugged.
"Why didn't you tell me about the debt earlier? Actually—shouldn't you have taken care of my debts too?" He leaned in and muttered, "Kid, I've been teaching you priceless secret techniques. Don't get stingy over a little pocket change. I know you're loaded!"
Derek Su spread his hands. "First of all, you never asked. Second, paying your debt was part of the deal to get you out. Mr. Xavier wouldn't have released you otherwise."
The smugness on Zane's face slowly froze over. By the time he looked back at Xavier Young, all that remained was flattery and submission.
"Mr. Xavier, just now... I was only joking with you~"
Xavier Young: "Get out!"
...
Zane staggered out of the black market looking utterly defeated, heading back to his shop.
Derek Su and Stella followed behind him and Lingwind. With only fourteen days left before the Greenfield Advancement Race, Derek Su planned to stay in Tianyuan City. The airport was close by, which meant Stella could sleep in a bit before race day.
"Kid, I'm just a guy who sells high-energy nutrient solutions. Every now and then, I run a rally."
Zane pulled up the shop's rolling door. Inside, shelves were stocked with bottles of high-energy nutrient solution in all sorts of flavors. These solutions were made using a rare energy source—sodium fiber—split into three types: Sodium Fiber-α, Sodium Fiber-β, and Sodium Fiber-Ω.
The first type was used to replenish a Mecha Girl's Endurance. Sure, they could eat human food, but the energy was negligible.
The second type was for Techmasters—restoring psychic energy or letting a Mecha Girl fire off one more skill. It came with heavy side effects and generally couldn't be used more than once per day.
The third was extremely mysterious, strictly controlled by the government, and almost never available to the public.
"Wow! My favorite AD-Calcium flavor!" Stella bent over, eyes sparkling at the shelf.
Lingwind immediately grabbed a pack and handed it to her.
"You haven't paid yet." Derek Su pinched Stella's soft cheek.
"It's fine, drink as much as you want," Zane said, flipping on the lights. "A little nutrient solution won't bankrupt me."
Derek Su's eyelid twitched. Last he checked, this man was a million in debt—plus one Mecha Girl. And that didn't count as bankrupt?
Was this what people meant by too broke to care?
"You really have a way to increase my chances of becoming a Techmaster?" Derek Su asked.
"Kid, you think I'd lie to you?" Zane crossed his arms, posing like a master. "Back when Liang and I were preparing to get revenge on that Techmaster, we researched ways to become one ourselves. But Liang got impatient—he wanted him dead immediately. So we never verified the method. Theoretically, it should work."
Lingwind lowered her head, awkwardly twisting the hem of her clothes.
She still couldn't understand how her master could deceive people without blushing or missing a beat.
Derek Su believed maybe ten percent of what Zane said.
He figured Mr. Liang probably had researched it—after all, dealing with a Techmaster as a Techmaster was the easiest way. Being on equal footing meant the government had to treat the matter fairly. But Mr. Liang had probably failed in the end.
Derek Su had no intention of calling Zane out. Pretending to be curious, he asked, "So what's the process?"
"First, you need a strong physique to even qualify as a Techmaster." Zane took two quick steps forward, casually lifting Derek Su's shirt and inspecting his arms with disdain. "No arm strength, no core strength, not a shred of muscle. A scrawny weakling like you could never become a Techmaster!"
To add weight to his claim, Zane pulled a stack of photos from a drawer, spreading them out.
"As you can see, these are Techmasters. Some of them I took secretly!"
He pointed at several photos of female Techmasters training in a gym.
One of them was mid-deadlift, her round hips facing the camera—a shot that was both practiced and sleazy.
"You see? Techmasters take physical conditioning seriously. Women sculpt themselves with curves and power, men are all lean muscle—not necessarily huge, but every fiber is finely carved!"
"So?" Derek Su's mouth twitched.
"So starting today, you're training your body. There are five months until the Panlong Mountain Circuit opens. In those five months, you must place top 10 in at least three advanced tracks and get your body into shape."
"Just physical training?"
"Of course not!" Zane raised his chin with a snort. "If becoming a Techmaster were just about working out, they'd be everywhere! You also have to train neural reflexes, spiritual perception, and most importantly—"
"What's the most important step?"
Zane suddenly shut his mouth. He patted Derek Su's shoulder. "Kid, don't get ahead of yourself. Once you pass the earlier stages, I'll arrange the final step personally."
Derek Su found Zane thoroughly unreliable.
But physical training?
He agreed with that part.
Racers needed stamina—even in the era of Mecha Girls.
Their intelligence and power had increased the difficulty of tracks exponentially.
Take one of the national-level tracks, Death's Breath – Grivin Desert Circuit—4,000 kilometers long. Drivers had to pilot their Mecha Girls under brutal conditions for over ten hours. Without strong physical endurance, how could anyone endure that?
He would treat it as preparation for the future.
After returning, Zane behaved himself surprisingly well, not clamoring to buy back his original Mecha Girl, Broken Moon.
Just when Derek Su thought everything had finally calmed down...
Zane and Lingwind quietly ran their shop, chipping away at their debt to Mr. Xavier.
Derek Su trained with Stella every day for the Greenfield Advancement Race.
And then—
Zane's original Mecha Girl, Broken Moon, showed up at the shop with her new master.