"Master, it's okay. We can still catch up."
As Derek Su silently settled himself, Purple Lightning's gentle voice sounded from ahead. Her voice was very distinctive. It was not Stella's soft, adorable tone, nor Imperial Scale's magnetic, teasing mature voice. It was crisp and delicate, like a handful of mountain spring water poured into one's ears, cool and refreshing.
"Why are you comforting me now?" Derek Su froze for a moment, then smiled helplessly.
Had his expression just now looked so bad that even Purple Lightning thought he could not keep it together?
His expression had indeed been unpleasant, but not because he had lost his composure. It was because Purple Lightning had almost been hurt.
Admittedly, on the racetracks of this world, any desperate, reckless move was tacitly allowed. In fact, the audience would even praise people who charged straight toward danger and walked the line between life and death. Take Swain Li and Silver Mirror just now. They had taken the turn at extreme speed despite not having Purple Lightning's Cornering and Drifting performance, and they had lost control the instant they exited the bend. If Swain Li had not pulled Silver Mirror back, they would definitely have flown off the cliff, driver and vehicle together, and they would have hit Purple Lightning on the way out, injuring her too.
As a top-tier racer, Derek Su would never do something like that without full confidence.
It was not that he lacked the courage to take risks. A calculated gamble was bravery. Recklessly gambling with your life was irresponsibility.
In his previous life, he had driven a pile of steel. He had also been an orphan, so he only needed to be responsible for himself. That was still manageable.
But this life was different. He was driving a Mecha Girl, a living being with emotions, flesh, and blood.
He also had everyone in the club. His life was now connected to too many people, which meant he could no longer treat it as lightly as he had in his previous life.
He had never lost the edge of a racer. There was simply a heavy responsibility on his shoulders now.
"Master, I know you had me dodge Silver Mirror and emergency stop at the side of the road just now because you didn't want me to get hurt..." Purple Lightning said softly. "If my Stability and Impact Resistance were about the same as Stella's, you wouldn't have needed to dodge just now, and it wouldn't have affected our current result."
Derek Su floored the accelerator, bringing Purple Lightning's speed back up.
He said lightly, "No one is perfect, Purple Lightning. You can't always look only at your flaws and ignore your strengths. You see Stella's excellent Acceleration, but do you know I wouldn't dare delay my braking point that much while taking a turn in Stella? You see Imperial Scale's indestructibility, but you don't know that Imperial Scale wins because she is steady, and also loses because she is steady. Right now, it's very hard for her to push speed to the absolute limit. But you're different..."
Purple Lightning raised her head. Through the rearview mirror, she could see Derek Su's calm eyes.
His steady voice echoed beside her ears.
"A phoenix must pass through burning flames to be reborn. That is the power of a miracle... If we're talking about who can create miracles in desperate situations, then you are second to none."
The light in Purple Lightning's eyes trembled. Derek Su's reflected face gradually blurred.
Back then, after her first race loss, Chloe Qin had looked at her with disappointment.
Later, failure after failure gradually smashed her confidence to pieces. When she needed her driver's encouragement most, Chloe Qin used vicious words and a contract to crush her dignity underfoot.
No one remembered that stormy night, or the girl curled up on the freezing street, choking on rain and tears until she retched.
She had stumbled around the entrance of the recycling yard, rain dripping down her disheveled gray hair, dragging her feet like a walking corpse.
No one would remember the roaring and bloodshed in the arena either, or the figure licking her wounds in a dark room, watering down even an empty bottle of nutrient solution because she did not dare waste a single drop.
Loneliness and despair were always with her. Standing in the sunlight, melting into the shadows.
She stared up at the incandescent light overhead, yet there was not a trace of light in her eyes.
Not every Mecha Girl could win glory on the racetrack, and not everyone could be chosen by a driver who would stay with them for life.
Sometimes, even the most beautiful beginning was only a pretty cover for the suffering that came later.
Not everyone was qualified to be loved.
If she had to summarize herself in one word, she could give the answer precisely.
Trash.
Did trash have the right to hold a miracle in its hands?
"Deep breath!"
Derek Su's calm voice startled Purple Lightning awake.
Inside the cockpit, starlight-like radiance flickered all around.
This was the sign that Overclocking was about to begin. If an ordinary driver saw this, they would definitely be overjoyed.
But Derek Su remained completely calm.
"Adjust your emotions. We don't need you to Overclock just to beat Dawnbreak and Silver Mirror."
A Mecha Girl's Overclocking was an eruption of potential, but Derek Su believed emotional value would be gradually consumed.
Some powerful feeling might be building inside Purple Lightning, but it would be better to hold it in and save it for a true eruption later.
"Trust me. I can take you to victory without Overclocking."
Derek Su's firm voice gave his words even more weight.
"Okay!" Purple Lightning took a deep breath and gradually calmed down.
Because of the earlier delay, she could no longer see Dawnbreak and Silver Mirror's taillights.
But at this moment, there was not the slightest panic in her heart. If this had been before, she would definitely have fallen into self-pity.
Now, however, there was only conviction and calm inside her.
She trusted Derek Su more than she trusted herself.
If she felt lost, then she would entrust her whole self to the man in the cockpit behind her.
After passing two hairpin turns in a row, they entered the continuous straight acceleration section before Broken Moon Platform.
At last, the swaying taillights of Dawnbreak and Silver Mirror appeared at the far end of their vision.
At that moment, a continuous, piercing cry rang out, like thousands of birds singing fiercely at the same time.
At the edge of his vision, Derek Su saw a burst of crimson light erupt, like a burning meteor. Then it vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving only that strange engine howl growing farther and farther away.
"Dawnbreak activated her skill."
He immediately made the judgment, but he did not panic at all.
Laiya An only had so many trump cards.
Her earlier blind driving had been unexpected, but once Dawnbreak used her special skill, it was equivalent to going all in.
As for Silver Mirror's special skill, he already understood it thoroughly. It looked almost unsolvable, but judging by that previous turn, Silver Mirror's Acceleration was already showing signs of slipping out of Swain Li's control.
The upper limits of both Silver Mirror and Dawnbreak were already clearly visible.
But what about him and Purple Lightning?
In this life, the racers around him had given him the nickname The Magician, thanks to all the dazzling racing techniques he had shown, techniques this world had never seen before.
But in his previous life, aside from the official nickname Track Emperor, the other racers had also given him an unofficial nickname.
Boundless.
...
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