Meisel had considered the possibility that Derek Su and Stella might catch up to him.
But once he learned that Derek Su's starting number was 27, he dismissed the idea entirely.
It was impossible. Thunder-01 wasn't slow, so how could Stella possibly be fast enough to make up a two-minute gap and still catch him?
Yet reality had just slapped him across the face.
They really had caught up!
Still, Meisel was the ace of the Demon King Club.
He was a man who called himself a Demon King. Aside from the few Techmasters in the club who were genuine Demon Kings, he was firmly in the ranks of future Demon Kings.
They were even planning to gather seven Techmasters and form an organization called "The Seven Deadly Sins." They were currently two members short. Meisel intended to become a Techmaster after the provincial race and claim the vacant position of Pride among the Seven Deadly Sins.
He quickly recovered from the panic of being on the verge of getting overtaken.
In fact, he was starting to feel excited.
Derek Su and Stella closing in on him gave him the perfect opportunity to show off Thunder-01's abilities!
Hearing about them was one thing. He was going to make Derek Su and Stella experience the oppressive presence of a Demon King firsthand!
"Thunder!"
"Understood!"
Thunder-01's eyes sharpened at Meisel's call.
She was certainly surprised that Stella had managed to erase a two-minute gap and catch up.
But this was as far as she would get.
The moment Stella came within roughly fifty meters, Thunder-01 activated her special skill.
BZZZT—!
A ring of electric sparks spread outward from Thunder-01, surging toward Stella and Derek Su like a wave.
Inside Stella's cockpit, Derek Su tightened his grip on the controls, his expression focused.
He had already studied Thunder-01's information.
The coverage of her special skill was enormous, and the first section of the Panlong Mountain Circuit wasn't particularly wide. Trying to evade it through clever maneuvering simply wasn't realistic.
If he couldn't avoid it, then he would take it head-on.
The magnetic storm would only disrupt the Mecha Girl's operating system.
For most drivers, that would be an enormous problem.
For him, however, that wasn't necessarily true.
The Magnetic Storm Electric Field quickly engulfed them.
Stella whimpered softly.
It felt as though someone had struck her forehead with a blunt object, leaving her entire body numb.
There was no actual pain, but she was extremely dizzy. Even more dizzy than when she had been spinning through the air during the jump earlier.
Fortunately, her Stability had already reached 95.
A Mecha Girl with average Stability would probably have blacked out on the spot and been reduced to incoherent babbling. Stella was still holding up fairly well.
The only problem was that the track information she received and transmitted to Derek Su had become completely scrambled.
When Derek Su received Stella's message telling him, "Obstacle ahead. Brake," he finally understood how Thunder-01's special skill worked.
The road ahead was completely clear.
It was an uphill straight meant for acceleration, with nothing in front of them except Thunder-01.
"So that's how it works. The special electric field disrupts a Mecha Girl's ability to receive and process track information, causing her to relay incorrect choices to the driver?"
Derek Su chuckled.
No wonder she was associated with the Demon King Club.
Against the drivers of this world, this skill was practically lethal.
Many drivers didn't actively judge track conditions themselves. They relied on their Mecha Girls. The Mecha Girl relayed information, and the driver chose what to do based on that information.
It was like answering a test question.
A skilled driver processed the information quickly and chose correctly. A poor driver reacted slowly and made mistakes.
Thunder-01 simply made every piece of information the Mecha Girl transmitted incorrect.
Naturally, no matter what choice the driver made, the Mecha Girl would ultimately carry out the wrong command.
"Stella, relax."
Derek Su ignored all the incorrect prompts and reached out to touch her butt, conveying his confidence as he soothed her.
"Rest for a while. You don't need to process the track information or send any of it to me. Leave the rest to me."
Stella nodded gently and handed complete control of her vehicle body over to Derek Su.
She knew how confused she was right now.
If she kept feeding Derek Su incorrect information, she would only interfere with the race.
Derek Su glanced at the dashboard.
Stella was currently traveling at 585 km/h.
In the past, Stella had always assisted him at speeds like this. Having a Mecha Girl process the information naturally made things faster.
This was the first time he had ever driven at such a speed entirely on his own.
The mountain road rushed toward him.
He felt no fear whatsoever.
A driver was ultimately alone behind the wheel. In the end, they could only rely on themselves, with perhaps a navigator sitting beside them at most.
Derek Su drove Stella freely through Thunder-01's Magnetic Storm Electric Field like a shark closing in on its prey.
Little by little, they drew closer to Thunder-01.
Aside from a slight wobble when the field first hit her, Stella remained perfectly steady.
Under Derek Su's control, the interference had no visible effect on her at all.
"How is that possible?!"
Meisel glanced at the rearview mirror in shock.
"Thunder, are you sure you activated your special skill?
"Why aren't Derek Su and Stella being affected?!"
Thunder-01 didn't know how to answer.
She was just as confused about why Stella could still drive normally.
After thinking for a moment, she said, "Master, my special skill targets Mecha Girls. If the opposing Mecha Girl uses her own special skill to counteract it, then naturally she won't be affected.
"The other possibility is that the Mecha Girl has already been affected, but the driver has completely ignored all the information she's transmitting and taken over every aspect of driving personally."
"So which is it?!"
Meisel grew increasingly agitated as Stella drew closer.
"Which one are they doing?!"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?!"
"No."
Thunder-01 stared at the silver blur in her rearview mirror, her eyes filled with confusion.
"I didn't detect any psychic energy fluctuations, so Stella hasn't activated her special skill. That means the second possibility is more likely.
"But an ordinary human brain simply can't handle that much information, so..."
"Don't fucking tell me Derek Su might be a Techmaster!"
Meisel screamed and pulled out a dark red Module.
"I wasn't planning to use this yet."
He gritted his teeth as he stared into the rearview mirror.
Anomalous Modules were an extremely unusual category of Modules.
Some could grant ordinary Mecha Girls special abilities, such as jumping from a standstill or producing a brief burst of acceleration similar to nitrous.
Others could enhance the special skills of top-tier Mecha Girls, or even mutate those skills into entirely different forms.
The priceless Anomalous Module in Meisel's hand possessed that very ability. It could mutate a special skill.
But its drawbacks were equally obvious.
Once installed, all of Thunder-01's stats would drop slightly.
Worse, the mutated special skill would consume several times more Endurance and Boost Charge, making repeated use virtually impossible.
But if he wanted to deal with Derek Su now, he had no other choice.
Meisel installed the Module on Thunder-01.
With bloodshot eyes, he glanced into the rearview mirror and sneered.
"There's a corner coming up. Use your special skill again there.
"I'll do everything I can to keep them boxed in until then!"
...
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