Chapter 112: Oppressive Pressure
“Master, something feels off today…”
Stella frowned, her face full of confusion.
Derek laughed. “What feels off?”
“I’m way too fast today. It’s unbelievably fast!”
The straight stretch before entering the crater blurred the surroundings into twisted afterimages. Stella could clearly hear the car tearing through the air, the roaring wind screaming past her ears… This kind of speed was something she had never experienced before.
“Did you do something to me?”
She wore a dazed, slightly silly expression.
Derek couldn’t help laughing at how dumbfounded she looked. He gave her bouncy butt a playful slap and teased, “That’s right. I’m messing with you right now—and now you’re even faster.”
Stella blushed, puffed out her cheeks, and shot a glare at Derek through the rearview mirror.
“Bad guy! If you keep slapping my butt, I’m going to wear anti-slapping pineapple pants!”
Derek: “…”
Starting Grid—
Leon Li and Snowpeak, who had started behind Stella, both looked grim.
When Stella had blasted off just now, it felt as if a tornado had swept across the track. A heavy, oppressive pressure crashed toward them head-on—something they had never felt back during the underground races.
Could half a month really be enough for a Mecha Girl to improve this much?
Was it because of a Module?
He didn’t believe it was due to the driver’s skill.
What kind of driver improvement could directly boost a Mecha Girl’s speed like that? That was just absurd.
“Master, Stella’s speed…”
For the first time, worry appeared on Snowpeak’s usually unflappable face.
She was afraid Leon Li wouldn’t be able to complete Ethan Yang’s task and would be punished.
Stella’s burst of speed was simply terrifying. From the starting point to the crater, she had practically covered the distance in the blink of an eye. Once she entered the volcano’s circular track, her taillights were already completely gone.
“I know.” Leon Li pulled out the last handful of goji berries, stuffed them into his mouth, and chewed. The surprise and anxiety in his eyes quickly faded.
“Snowpeak, deploy. Prepare to launch. The pressure today is huge—we can’t afford to be careless.”
“Got it!!”
…
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is absolutely shocking!!”
“The Magician and Stella are unleashing speeds beyond imagination!”
Taimei locked the camera onto Stella.
On-screen, only a silver streak flashed past.
The camera struggled to even capture Stella’s full body, barely keeping up by constantly switching between surveillance feeds. Most shots shook for an instant before leaving nothing but a disappearing taillight and volcanic ash swirling across the track.
“The maximum diameter of the Loren Crater is about 700 meters. One lap of the circular track is roughly 2.2 kilometers. From the crater rim to the volcano’s base, there are a total of 84 laps. It’s been less than ten minutes, and The Magician has already completed one-third of the Loren Grand Vortex!”
Kool Kenny was so excited his face flushed red, spit flying as he spoke.
“This is this year’s strongest dark horse—our provincial-level championship favorite, The Magician!
Now, let’s take a look at the speed of The Magician and Stella!”
As he finished speaking, the big screen began compiling speed data from each corner.
After the system calculated the average, a number appeared—one that left everyone stunned.
407 km/h.
The moment that number appeared, the entire grandstand fell silent. Drivers and Mecha Girls waiting at the starting gate were just as dumbstruck.
If it were only straight-line acceleration, that would be one thing.
Plenty of Mecha Girls present could hit 407 km/h on a straight.
But what was the Loren Grand Vortex?
It was a continuous series of circular turns.
Individually, those turns weren’t as difficult as hairpins.
But chaining so many together placed extreme demands on both the Mecha Girl’s and the driver’s cornering control. For ninety percent of the Mecha Girls here, 407 km/h on corners was outright loss-of-control speed. Many of them couldn’t even reach much more than 300 km/h on a straight, let alone through turns.
Some drivers immediately cursed and wanted to withdraw.
Their Mecha Girls had to coax them pitifully for ages just to stop them from quitting.
Even so, the data was devastating. Morale collapsed. All the pre-race preparations and pep talks were rendered completely meaningless.
“Truly worthy of an idol… That speed is completely out of reach!” Laiya An watched Stella streak across the screen, hands covering her flushed cheeks as she swayed back and forth. Beside her, Dawnbreak’s face was dark, teeth clenched so hard they seemed ready to shatter.
“So what if it’s 407 km/h?!” She kicked a stone pillar nearby and roared,
“With my skill activated, I can hit 600 on a straight! Just wait and see!!”
“Um, Dawnbreak, you can’t use your skill today.” Laiya An poked her Mecha Girl’s waist. “The Silverstone Advanced Race is all corners. If you activate it, you’ll crash like an idiot…”
Dawnbreak: “Shut up!!”
…
“The Magician and Stella are that fast? Impossible!”
Chloe Qin ground her teeth.
She didn’t want to admit it, but she knew the truth.
Even if Blazing Wind grew two more wheels, it still couldn’t achieve that kind of cornering speed on Silverstone.
She had always thought Stella was only strong in straight-line acceleration.
Now it was clear her cornering, impact resistance, and stability were all outstanding as well.
But how had such a high-performance Mecha Girl never shown up at any auction before?
She distinctly remembered attending every major exhibition and auction.
Her opponent had grown so strong she could only look up to them now. Forget defeating Derek Su fair and square on the track—there was simply no chance.
She turned to her fiancé, her expression anxious.
“Where are the people you arranged? Don’t let this fall apart.”
“Relax.” Howard Wang smirked. “I bribed plenty of racers for exactly this scenario. What good is Derek Su’s speed? Some of them start ahead of him. The faster he goes, the more likely he is to run into them. Just watch—he’ll be easy to handle.”
“That’s good.” Chloe Qin let out a breath of relief. She stared coldly at the screen, where Derek Su and Stella were receiving nonstop close-ups.
She trusted her fiancé’s methods and efficiency completely.
All that was left was to enjoy the show.
…
Amid the thunderous cheers around her,
Purple Lightning’s eyes sparkled as she followed Derek Su and Stella’s retreating figures.
As she silently wished them well, her heart overflowed with longing.
Stella was like another, perfect version of herself from a parallel world.
She had everything Purple Lightning lacked—extreme speed, a driver who cherished his Mecha Girl, incomparable talent…
She didn’t dare wish to be as perfect as Stella.
If she could just have even a tiny piece of what Stella had—
even scraps—she would be completely satisfied.
…
Ten minutes earlier, at the track entrance—
Leon Li and Snowpeak finally entered the starting countdown.
The Crown Club’s chief stared calmly at the track ahead, expressionless.
Then the starting gun fired.
Boom—!
Snowpeak’s pitch-black body swept the sand and dust off the track.
As the crater drew closer, Leon Li secured his helmet and gripped the control stick.
“Snowpeak, activate special skill!”
Buzz—!
A strange, teeth-grating, muffled sound rang out.
Snowpeak’s body was swallowed by silver-gray spatial turbulence. She dissolved into countless points of light, vanishing from her original position—only to reappear impossibly at the fourth-layer circular bend of Loren Volcano in the next instant.
Crimson flames blasted from her rear exhaust ports as her speed surged violently.
Leon Li wrenched the controls with all his strength, teeth clenched, cold sweat forming on his forehead.
Just as she was about to smash into the volcanic wall, Snowpeak snapped into a tail-swing drift. Even though Leon Li had calculated the entry and braking points as precisely as possible in that brief moment, the rear still scraped the wall. For an ordinary Mecha Girl, that would have meant serious damage—but for Snowpeak, whose impact resistance was exceptional, it was nothing at all.
Her current speed: 419 km/h!
Blade sharpened, target locked—
Derek Su and Stella, already halfway up Loren Volcano.
Author's Note
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