"Master, there are two Mecha Girls up ahead... semi-trailer-types. They're blocking the entire road."
Derek Su had already spotted the situation ahead before Stella warned him.
On the winding, rugged mountain road, two semi-trailer-type Mecha Girls were driving side by side at an extremely slow speed.
So slow that it almost seemed as though they were deliberately waiting for someone.
And who they were waiting for hardly needed to be said.
"This feels kind of familiar..." Derek Su narrowed his eyes.
Back at the Knox Rally, Miles Wang had sent his racers to deliberately block Derek Su on the track. After that, however, the SSC Club ace had behaved himself and never tried another dirty trick.
Derek Su hadn't expected to run into the same kind of thing at a provincial race.
Thinking about it, though, it wasn't all that surprising. Only ten racers in the entire provincial race would ultimately receive the Sodium Fiber-Ω serum and prize money. Everyone else was effectively there to make up the numbers, serving as stepping stones for the winners. So why wouldn't some racers accept a job on the side and make a little extra money? They weren't going to finish in the top ten anyway.
Someone was clearly targeting him.
Derek Su quickly ran through the hostile parties that came to mind.
Was it the Crown Club? Or Chloe Qin?
Both had the means to buy off other racers.
But that could wait. The immediate problem was getting past the blockade in front of him.
Having racers deliberately block the track was a simple and dirty tactic, but there was no denying that it worked.
Most racers could only grit their teeth and endure it.
And when the ones blocking the road were two semi-trailer-type Mecha Girls, there was even less they could do.
But Derek Su was different.
He was the Track Emperor.
He had seen just about everything a racetrack could throw at him. This was nothing he couldn't handle.
Derek Su calmly brought Stella closer to the two semi-trailer-type Mecha Girls, riding their slipstream while observing the surroundings.
The drivers of the two semi-trailer-type Mecha Girls noticed Derek Su and Stella through their rearview mirrors.
From their perspective, however, Derek Su's lack of progress made it look as though he had run out of options.
Watching the scene on the big screen from the stands, Chloe Qin smiled.
"Derek Su, Derek Su. There's no tunnel here for you to pull off another wall-riding overtake... Let's see how you get through this blockade today!"
The first section of the Panlong Mountain Circuit was narrow and rugged, with either rock walls or sheer cliffs lining the road. If Derek Su tried to force his way through, a speed-type Mecha Girl like Stella had no chance of overpowering two combat-oriented semi-trailer-type Mecha Girls.
There were wider stretches of track, of course, but by the time Derek Su and Stella reached one and found a chance to pass, they would already have fallen far too far behind.
Chloe Qin had gone over the situation countless times.
If she were the one facing this blockade, she would have no choice but to accept defeat.
Just as she became convinced that Derek Su had exhausted every option, Stella, who had been making no progress on the screen, suddenly moved.
She began weaving behind the two semi-trailer-type Mecha Girls, swaying from side to side in an S-shaped pattern like a snake.
Chloe Qin froze, then pointed at the screen and sneered at Viper beside her.
"What's that supposed to be? A circus act? Does he seriously think wiggling around like that will let him pass?! Hahaha!"
The words had barely left her mouth.
SCREECH—!
The piercing sound of tires echoed from the screen.
Chloe Qin saw Viper's pupils contract.
Goosebumps immediately rose across her own skin as well.
On the track, Stella's zigzagging grew wider and wider. Her chassis gradually began lifting off the ground, and at the most extreme point, it looked as though she might roll over at any moment.
Yet with Derek Su's extraordinary control, he somehow managed to pull Stella back every time she reached the verge of losing control.
"W-what the hell is that?!"
Chloe Qin's eyes widened.
She was certain that even the second-generation AI Core based on Derek Su's driving skills could never help her drive Viper like that.
This wasn't a driving technique any normal human could master. Even some Techmasters might not be able to pull it off after activating their skills.
This was practically sorcery!
Watching Stella sway from side to side, Chloe Qin finally realized what Derek Su seemed to be planning.
"He wants to drive on two wheels and squeeze through the gap between them!"
Viper paused when she heard Chloe Qin spit out the words through clenched teeth.
Driving on two wheels.
Now that was an unusual phrase.
On the track, the drivers of the two combat-type Mecha Girls had clearly figured out Derek Su's apparent plan as well.
They immediately steered their Mecha Girls closer together, closing the half-car-width gap between them until only a tiny sliver remained.
They didn't dare move any closer. If two semi-trailer-type Mecha Girls got caught on each other, the consequences could be disastrous.
But there was no chance Derek Su and Stella could pass through the tiny gap that remained.
Inside Stella's cockpit, however, Derek Su smiled when he saw what they had done.
"Tsk. Deception is part of racing. They fell for it again."
By moving toward the center, the two semi-trailer-type Mecha Girls had opened up Derek Su's view on both sides.
There was a cliff on the left and a rock wall on the right.
Either side would be an extremely dangerous place for Derek Su and Stella to attempt an overtake.
If they passed on the left, they could be rammed off the cliff.
If they passed on the right, they could be smashed into the rock wall.
To get past the two semi-trailer-type Mecha Girls without taking any damage, the only apparent option was to fly right over them.
Anyone could easily come to that conclusion.
Chloe Qin had reached the same one. So while Derek Su's outrageous maneuver had surprised her, she wasn't worried.
Even driving on two wheels wouldn't help him.
Derek Su understood that better than anyone.
He had never intended to pass on the left, the right, or through the middle.
All he wanted was a clearer view of the rock wall on the right.
At the speed Stella was traveling, everything in his vision had become a blur of light and shadow.
But when Derek Su focused, the entire world seemed to slow in response to his will.
More precisely, the blurred visual information reaching his eyes was being reconstructed inside his brain at a speed ordinary people could scarcely comprehend, creating the illusion of bullet time.
Then Derek Su spotted a section of rock wall slanting diagonally upward.
Among the countless fragments of information flashing past him, that section immediately became the sole focus of his attention.
"Stella, prepare for takeoff~"
Before Stella could answer, or rather, without even giving her time to answer, Derek Su yanked the controls sharply to the right.
SCREECH!
The grinding of tires against the road drowned out the roar of the engine.
Dust erupted into the air as Stella, her chassis already tilted, shot toward the rock wall beside them.
The spectators in the stands didn't possess Derek Su's extraordinary perception.
All they could see was the sheer rock wall rushing past at terrifying speed.
To them, Derek Su and Stella were attempting a suicidal collision.
"Derek Su is finished!"
Chloe Qin's eyes widened as she gripped the armrest tightly, a vicious smile spreading across her face.
Beside her, Viper closed her eyes, unable to watch what she thought would be a gruesome crash.
Inside the helicopter heading toward the summit of Panlong Mountain, Purple Lightning and Imperial Scale suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of dread and instinctively looked toward the racetrack.
In a treatment center ward and inside the prison, Crimson and Mr. Liang, who were watching the race, both turned pale as their hearts seemed to skip a beat.
At their current speed, crashing into that wall could only end one way.
Both racer and Mecha Girl would be killed.
And yet...
Derek Su still thought they weren't going fast enough!
ROAR—!
He slammed the accelerator all the way to the floor.
...
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