Chapter 99: Humiliation, Once Again
Stella’s Impact Resistance was 80, with her Modules already removed.
Blazing Wind’s Impact Resistance was 72—an eight-point gap compared to Stella.
For Mecha Girls, even a single point of difference was an insurmountable divide.
An eight-point disparity meant that if Blazing Wind collided with Stella, she wouldn’t gain the slightest advantage.
It was true that high-speed collisions in racing always carried the risk of losing control.
But compared to the fragile race cars of Derek’s previous life, Mecha Girls were far more durable. As long as they didn’t smash straight into guardrails or plunge off cliffs, collisions were considered normal competitive exchanges. And the higher a Mecha Girl’s Impact Resistance, the more dominant she would be in such clashes.
Impact Resistance represented a Mecha Girl’s toughness, striking power, and structural hardness.
Stability, on the other hand, determined how easily she lost control and how long it took to recover once she did.
Stella’s Stability was 75.
Blazing Wind’s was 68.
On such a wide-open track, Derek Su could already foresee the outcome for Blazing Wind and Chloe Qin.
“Guess you just didn’t get paired with a good driver.”
Derek Su offered a silent apology as he prepared to have Stella brush against Chloe Qin’s machine—
Only for Chloe Qin to ram Blazing Wind into him first.
Derek Su: “...”
He had always been extremely confident in racing.
But today, for the first time, he felt a hint of inferiority.
Because a woman had appeared who was even more confident than he was—so confident it bordered on arrogance.
Colliding head-on with another Mecha Girl without knowing her specs was a pure gamble.
Most drivers who attempted something like this did so only after extensive preparation: gathering opponent data before the race, studying past footage, reviewing collision records, and using those to estimate the opponent’s Impact Resistance.
Even then, it was still risky.
Because Modules were an uncontrollable variable.
Derek Su dared to attack Chloe Qin only because he could see straight through Blazing Wind’s limits at a glance.
But Chloe Qin and Blazing Wind didn’t know that!
Stella was stunned when she saw Blazing Wind charge over.
She stared blankly, her small mouth forming an “O,” shock slowly turning into pity.
“Hit them! Ram them aside!”
Chloe Qin’s frantic shouting echoed through Blazing Wind’s cockpit.
Blazing Wind was actually quite confident in her own Impact Resistance. Whispering a silent apology, she twisted her nose and slammed into Stella with a loud clang. The two Mecha Girls collided head-on, wheels skidding out of control as harsh screeching filled the air.
She had thought this would knock Derek Su and Stella away.
But the instant Blazing Wind struck Stella—
Chloe Qin felt as though she had driven straight into a solid wall.
In past races, whenever she rammed other Mecha Girls, she would shove them aside with ease. She would then watch them lose control, skid off the track, or even crash into the guardrails and flip over.
Every time, she felt grateful that she had decisively abandoned Purple Lightning and contracted Blazing Wind, a Mecha Girl with outstanding overall performance.
If Purple Lightning were here, she would’ve been bounced away along with her opponent during the collision.
“Break through already!!”
Chloe Qin gritted her teeth and yanked Blazing Wind’s control stick hard to the left.
Boom—!
The two Mecha Girls collided again.
Stella merely swayed slightly, not deviating from her racing line at all.
Blazing Wind, the one who initiated the impact, rebounded like a sword striking solid rock.
The collision itself wasn’t severe. It only caused Blazing Wind to skid and drift off-line slightly.
But her speed dropped for real—so much so that the wild drivers behind were starting to close in on Chloe Qin and Blazing Wind.
“Ladies and gentlemen! What are we witnessing?!”
Geniei’s amplified voice boomed overhead.
At some point, the center-parted reporter had boarded an airship and positioned himself above the racers. Microphone in hand, he stared at Stella and Blazing Wind at the front of the pack, his face flushed with excitement as saliva flew from his mouth.
“Just now, our cameras captured an intense clash!”
“The attacking side was our Track Queen, Chloe Qin, and her Mecha Girl, Blazing Wind! Defending were the King of Knox—Derek Su, known as the Magician—and his Mecha Girl, Stella!”
“But the result was completely unexpected! Miss Chloe Qin failed to show the dominance of a Track Queen. Her proactive attack was effortlessly repelled by Stella under the Magician’s control!”
“So will our Track Queen continue her offensive to reclaim her dignity?”
“Let’s wait and see!”
At this moment, Blazing Wind had already fallen more than ten meters behind Stella.
Inside the cockpit, Chloe Qin lowered her head, her bangs covering her eyes.
Only her tightly pressed red lips and pale complexion were visible.
That damn announcer’s repeated cries of “Track Queen” felt like a red-hot blade carving into her pride over and over again.
“Master, we shouldn’t keep attacking.”
Blazing Wind turned her head, worry written all over her face.
“From that collision, it’s clear that Stella’s Impact Resistance and speed both surpass mine. This track is their home ground—we won’t gain anything here. But on tracks with more corners, they definitely won’t be our match.”
Blazing Wind tried to reason with her, appealing to both logic and emotion.
She hoped Chloe Qin would stop now—pressing on would only invite more humiliation.
But Chloe Qin suddenly straightened up, leaned forward, and swung her right hand in a wide arc.
Smack.
A crisp slap landed across Blazing Wind’s face.
Blazing Wind stared at Chloe Qin in a daze.
As a Mecha Girl, human strength didn’t cause much physical pain—after all, it wasn’t like smashing a control lever.
But Mecha Girls had pride.
And being slapped still carried humiliation.
“Useless!”
From beneath Chloe Qin’s bangs, a pair of bloodshot eyes glared out. Her voice was hoarse, her face flushed, her eyes burning with fury.
“Where’s your honor? Your fighting spirit? One collision and you’re already backing down?”
“Blazing Wind, following me, you haven’t learned even a shred of the pride an ace should have.”
Blazing Wind lowered her head in silence and turned her gaze back to the track, saying nothing.
No matter what happened for the rest of the race, she probably wouldn’t speak another word.
After venting her anger, Chloe Qin floored the accelerator.
Her speed surged again, quickly shaking off the wild drivers behind her.
At the same time, Blazing Wind closed the distance to Stella once more.
“I am the Track Queen!”
She stared fiercely at Stella’s taillights ahead, her hands tightening around the control stick.
“I will never allow anyone to step on my head!”
It felt like she was back in that race again—Caio Yang and Comet right in front of her.
Back then, she had stared at their taillights the same way, raging helplessly inside Purple Lightning’s cockpit.
So powerless.
So desperate.
That gap of barely a dozen meters felt like an unbridgeable chasm.
Even when she exhausted everything to overtake, the other side only wore an indifferent, unconcerned expression.
Then, in the very next second, they would pull even farther ahead.
Impossible to surpass…
That suffocating feeling returned once more.
Chloe Qin swore she would never again allow anyone to trample over her.
She would never experience humiliation again.
Instead, she would become the Track Queen who made others taste humiliation.
That was why she abandoned Purple Lightning, the source of her shame.
That was why she chose to become a Techmaster—to stand above everyone else in this world.
For that goal, she would stop at nothing.
She reached back, pressed her hand against Blazing Wind’s lower back, and pulled out Blazing Wind’s golden Module.
Roar—!
The engine howled.
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