"Stella, the Echo Valley track is nothing but curves. Are you scared?" Derek Su pinched Stella's soft cheeks. The little girl had been treating high-energy nutrient solution like water day in and day out, and her face seemed to have gotten even rounder.
"Not scared at all~ With Master here, as long as I've got wheels, I can take any corner~" Stella blinked her big eyes, letting Derek Su knead her face into all kinds of strange shapes, completely unconcerned.
"What if I'm not here?" Derek Su asked.
"Mm… then I'd be a little scared, I guess." Stella said seriously. "After all, Master only taught Lingwind, not me."
Derek Su's fingers stiffened. "Didn't I have you train together with Lingwind yesterday? And weren't you the fastest one?"
"Lingwind has to learn techniques because her master isn't good enough, but my master is the most handsome and strongest master in the world!" Stella stuck out her tongue, hands on her hips, speaking righteously. "If I knew everything like Lingwind, Master would go teach other Mecha Girls and ignore me! So I'll stay a dumb Mecha Girl forever—then Master's attention will always be on me!"
What the hell kind of dumb Mecha Girl logic was that?
Derek Su couldn't help but laugh.
Lazy was lazy, yet she could dress it up with such a shameless excuse. Only Stella, that clever little imp, could come up with something like this.
He pinched her nose and said sternly, "Comrade Stella, today's mission is to overtake Mecha Girls No. 1 and No. 2!"
"Yes, sir! Leave it to me, Master!"
Stella straightened her face and saluted. The two high-fived, then entered deployment mode to prepare for the start.
...
At that moment, Racer No. 1 had already launched, and the No. 2 slot had entered its countdown. Hearing Derek Su and Stella's exchange, the Mecha Girl and driver at the No. 2 starting position couldn't help but look grim.
Derek Su and Stella were being far too arrogant.
The title of King of Knox Rally was indeed impressive.
But the Knox Rally and the Echo Valley training race were entirely different concepts. Although the latter wasn't an official competition, the training track had been built to the standards of the Silverstone advancement circuit, with a difficulty far higher than the Knox Rally.
"Bluebird, we've run the Echo Valley training race so many times already. You heard what they said—this is outright humiliation!" In the cockpit of the Mecha Girl Bluebird, the driver Siki clenched his fists, his eyes burning with fighting spirit.
"But Master, it doesn't seem like they were talking to us on purpose." Bluebird glanced at the rearview mirror, her body relaxed as she quietly waited for the countdown.
"Hmph! No matter what, we have to do our best to stop them from overtaking us. Even if our final time is longer than theirs, getting caught on the track would be far too embarrassing!"
"Emmm… don't worry, Master. Echo Valley doesn't have tracking helicopters filming the race. Even if we get overtaken, no one will see~"
"Bluebird, you—"
Siki was about to say more when the launch signal rang out in his ears.
Almost out of muscle memory, he activated Bluebird.
Perhaps it was because of his usual training, or perhaps because today he was facing the threat of Derek Su and Stella, but Siki felt his condition was excellent. Corners that had once felt tricky now flowed smoothly.
"Keep this up, and our result in today's Echo Valley training race won't be bad."
Siki's fighting spirit surged as he took a deep breath.
He guided Bluebird through another hairpin turn with a standard deceleration.
Much of the Echo Valley track was gravel.
If cornering speed wasn't reduced enough, the tires could easily slip during turns, risking a loss of control.
The conventional racer's mindset was to control speed to avoid losing control of the Mecha Girl. Maintaining decent speed while suppressing skidding within limits was already considered excellent—this was the original concept behind drifting. However, most racers, Siki included, only understood it on a surface level.
"Even the King of Knox can't just charge through Echo Valley's winding course, right?" Siki thought as he looked at the triple hairpin ahead.
"VROOOOM—!!!"
Suddenly, the roar of an engine tore through the curtain of rain behind them.
Siki and Bluebird froze and instinctively looked into the rearview mirror.
Two silver beams of light pierced through the rain and mountain mist like twin blades, stretching forward. Immediately after, Stella's highly recognizable front end burst into view, closing in at a terrifying speed.
Staring at those headlights, Siki's brow twitched violently, as if he were being locked onto by a ferocious beast.
"Master, they've caught up!" Bluebird cried urgently.
She was utterly baffled. Being caught by Derek Su and Stella was expected, but she thought it would at least take a third of the track. How long had it been since they started? Fifty kilometers?
"At this speed…" Siki's face went pale, his pupils shrinking to pinpoints. "The road is wet right now. Are they really going to take those consecutive hairpins at this speed?"
What kind of madness was this?!
He had watched footage of Derek Su and Stella in the Knox Rally.
He knew Derek Su's cornering technique was extremely strange.
That magic-like handling was awe-inspiring, and many racers privately nicknamed him "The Magician." Even so, the showmanship in the Knox Rally paled in comparison to the sheer insanity unfolding now.
Watching the Mecha Girl rapidly closing in behind them, Siki felt as though a sword were hanging at his waist, inching ever closer.
An inexplicable fear welled up in both him and Bluebird.
The track was wide enough for four Mecha Girls to run side by side, yet he instinctively guided Bluebird to the side, making room for Derek Su and Stella.
The moment he yielded, a streak of silver light flashed past them, overtaking them in an instant.
...
"Master, they actually made way for us! So well-behaved, so polite! After we get off the track, I'll treat them to some pineapple!" Stella glanced at the Mecha Girl falling behind in the rearview mirror. She was delighted, yet also a little puzzled. She had raced in plenty of competitions before, but this was the first time she'd seen something like this.
Derek Su, however, understood perfectly.
It was like professional drivers racing street racers in his past life—the speed and presence of the professionals naturally made the others back down. What was happening now was proof of Stella's growth.
Without realizing it, she had already begun to develop a sense of authority of her own.
...
Mountain mist reduced visibility on the track.
At the triple hairpin, spectators could only judge the Mecha Girls' positions by their headlights. They had expected Bluebird's blue body to appear, but as the engine's roar drew closer, they saw that it was a silver Mecha Girl instead.
Wind and rain were parted by her streamlined body, forming pale ribbons along her sides like wings spreading backward.
Someone instinctively raised a camera and captured the moment.
"Isn't that Racer No. 3? How did they get here before No. 2?"
"My god, they're that fast? They already overtook No. 2?"
"Damn it, taking the triple hairpin at that speed—are they insane?!"
Many spectators sensed the danger and hurriedly retreated from the observation point. If a Mecha Girl lost control in the turn, the Mecha Girl and driver might survive—but if the spectators got hit, they'd be gone for good.
Everyone thought Derek Su would slam the brakes the instant he entered the corner.
But in reality, Stella's brake lights only flickered for a split second.
"Ready, Stella? The exciting part's coming!" Derek Su curled his lips into a smile, looking at the track ahead without a trace of fear—only absolute confidence, even though this was his first time on this circuit.
"Woohoo!"
Hearing Stella's cheer, he knew she was ready.
Then—
At the instant of entry, he yanked the control lever, cutting in at an almost perfect angle. Stella's nose barely shifted as the body whipped outward in a sweeping arc, like a pendulum.
"Screeech—!"
Because of the wet surface, tire grip was far worse than usual. One side of Stella's body lifted uncontrollably, yet it stayed right at the critical threshold, dancing wildly on the edge of a rollover.
The spectators near the corner stared in shock.
Even those splashed by water thrown up by Stella hadn't reacted yet.
Then they witnessed something even more insane.
As Stella cut into the second hairpin, her body swung like a pendulum once more, nearly tipping over, before charging into the third hairpin and swinging back with the same arc yet again.
After three consecutive pendulum swings, Stella's body slammed back into alignment with a loud bang. White smoke burst from beneath the tires as she roared away amid the thunder of the engine.
Only after Stella and Derek Su had completely vanished from sight—and Bluebird began to crawl through the corner—did the crowd realize they could breathe again. They'd been holding it in for far too long, faces flushed red.
"Why didn't his Mecha Girl flip?"
"His control over the Mecha Girl's body is way too precise. Did he start practicing driving from the womb?"
The spectator who had accidentally snapped a photo of Stella pulled out their phone for comparison and cried out, "I know who they are! First place in the recent Knox Rally, the holder of the fastest record—Derek Su–Stella! And Derek Su is even called 'The Magician'!"
The Magician…
People couldn't help but savor the title.
On a rainy day, pulling off tricks like that through three consecutive hairpins—if that wasn't a magician, what was?
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
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