At the front section of the track.
Swain Li, driving Silver Mirror, had first overtaken Laiya An and Dawnbreak.
That last bend had been far too dangerous.
If Derek Su and Purple Lightning had not moved aside ahead of time, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
Even now, they still looked shaken.
Swain Li was just about to admire how magnanimous Derek Su had been, but before he could fully process that heart-stopping moment, the instant they entered the straight, Laiya An gave Dawnbreak permission to activate her special skill.
Once [Extreme Stance] was activated, Dawnbreak's steering would be locked, but she would gain explosive acceleration over time.
The acceleration boost would gradually drop from 98% to 33%. During that period, her impact resistance would increase greatly, and the driver's seat would be reinforced.
After the skill ended, the vehicle body would overload, reducing all attributes by 15%.
The effect of this special skill was extremely powerful, but it was not actually well suited for mountain races. So-called straight-line acceleration sections in mountain races were not entirely straight, after all, where would you find a perfectly flat mountain road? The track was full of slopes and gentle curves. Fortunately, Dawnbreak's locked steering under her special skill was not completely rigid. It was roughly comparable to Stella with a Cornering attribute below 10.
Minor adjustments were possible, but with Laiya An's still-immature driving skill, taking an obvious bend like a right-angle turn was out of the question.
Bzzzzzz!
A shrill birdsong rang out behind Silver Mirror.
Dawnbreak came roaring in, wrapped in blinding red light, trailing flames, sparks, and flashes of electricity as she charged forward at an incomprehensible speed.
The front of the car was already on fire, black smoke billowing and sparks flying everywhere. If she slammed into someone like that, most Mecha Girls would not be able to take it, and Silver Mirror definitely would not survive. So Swain Li did not even think twice. He immediately cleared the lane for Dawnbreak.
To Swain Li and Silver Mirror, that decision was rational and smart.
But in Dawnbreak's eyes, it was a sign that Swain Li and Silver Mirror had backed down.
"Hahahahaha! Your emperor has returned!"
The moment her special skill activated, Dawnbreak completely lost it.
Her red hair whipped wildly as she shook her head.
Laiya An, seated in the driver's position behind her, was left utterly speechless.
When Dawnbreak was not using her special skill, she was actually quite normal. Apart from when she ran into Derek Su, she usually spoke in a gentle, soft-spoken way. But the second her special skill came on, she immediately started acting deranged.
"Master, why aren't you saying anything?"
Noticing Laiya An's tense expression, Dawnbreak asked in confusion, "Were you born not liking to talk? This is our moment to shine. The championship is definitely ours. Come on, give me a smile."
Laiya An could not resist Dawnbreak's persistence.
She could only force the corners of her mouth up into a fake smile.
Under Extreme Stance, Dawnbreak quickly left Silver Mirror so far behind that she vanished from sight, then reached the Broken Moon Platform section before the skill ended.
The entire Broken Moon Platform was a jump section made up of two cliffs. The longest jump distance was three hundred meters, the two sides had a height difference, and a spectacular waterfall flowed between them.
With Dawnbreak's current speed, Laiya An did not hesitate at all. She went straight for the widest jump point.
There was no suspense.
Dawnbreak shot across with a whoosh.
In midair, she drew a beautiful crimson arc beside the waterfall.
A steady landing.
"Yahoo! This is what freedom smells like!"
After breaking through the waterfall mist, the headwind instantly felt even fresher, and Dawnbreak could not help cheering.
But immediately after that, her special skill ended.
"The champion of the Xiangshan Advanced Race is... uh... champion, come... uh..."
Dawnbreak's pretty face collapsed, and her whole body went limp. She sprawled across the control panel as if all her bones had vanished.
A one-minute debuff that lowered all attributes by 15% was no joke.
That minute was for Dawnbreak to adjust to the gap after the skill ended. At the same time, after one minute, her speed would also drop back to its normal level.
"Champion what?" Laiya An reached out and poked Dawnbreak on the butt, teasing, "Go on~"
Dawnbreak had already gone offline. She lay there like a dead dog, unable to hear Laiya An at all.
All she could manage in response were vague, muddled "ah-bah, ah-bah" noises.
"Tsk, tsk. What a little idiot~" Laiya An sighed helplessly.
But she was her own Mecha Girl, so of course she could only spoil her. To help Dawnbreak regain awareness faster, she immediately took over 20% of the information stream.
That was already her limit. Most ordinary drivers could not process a Mecha Girl's information stream. Their brain capacity simply was not enough.
According to the veteran driver and club owner, this was a talent ordinary people did not possess, and it might very well be the key to becoming a Techmaster. That was why Laiya An was determined to place in the top 10 on the provincial-level track. Her original goal had been the top three, but after getting thoroughly beaten down, she had lowered her expectations a little.
Not long after Laiya An drove Dawnbreak across the Broken Moon Platform, Swain Li arrived in Silver Mirror.
He had studied the Xiangshan Advanced Race before. His original plan had been to jump from around the 200-meter mark. It would cost some time, but it would be absolutely safe.
But now, even he could hardly make sense of Silver Mirror's speed, so he naturally chose the 300-meter jump distance.
Compared with Dawnbreak, that monster with her special skill activated, Silver Mirror seemed to struggle a little. After the jump, she landed right on the cliff, about ten meters in from the edge.
If her speed had been even a little slower, it would have been an accident for both Swain Li and her.
Fortunately, Swain Li had a strong grasp of speed and distance, so they landed safely enough.
...
"Where are Boss Su and Purple Lightning?"
At the observation point near the Broken Moon Platform, Tunbao watched Dawnbreak and Silver Mirror jump across one after the other, and she immediately panicked.
In her expectations, Derek Su and Purple Lightning should absolutely have been the first to jump across the Broken Moon Platform. Not only should they have crossed it first, they should have left Dawnbreak and Silver Mirror at least five minutes behind.
A trace of confusion also appeared in Imperial Scale's rose-red eyes, but she did not panic like Tunbao.
"Girl, do you think there's some kind of shady deal going on?! How could Boss Su possibly get overtaken by two nobodies like Dawnbreak and Silver Mirror?!" The more Tunbao thought about it, the more wrong it felt. One moment she was complaining to Imperial Scale, the next she was staring at the ground, anxiously pacing in circles. In the end, her gaze landed on a treehouse near the waterfall.
Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of that luxurious room was a white-haired old man with his hands clasped behind his back.
Her gaze gradually sharpened.
"There's definitely something going on! That old man doesn't look like a good person at all!"
Earlier, when she and Imperial Scale had arrived at the observation point, she had overheard people nearby discussing the old man in the treehouse.
Only later did she learn that the old man was actually the organizer of the Xiangshan Advanced Race.
In that case...
"You have to take good care of Boss Su from now on. Oh, and that smug brat Stella too. She likes the firmer kind of pineapple, and her stinky tofu has to be extra spicy. Lingwind loves lemon-flavored nutrient solution. I hid Absolute Shadow's rich-lady cigarettes under a floor brick in the basement. And that girl Blazing Wind, one time I saw her wearing black lace underwear. She told me not to tell anyone. Now you're the keeper of this secret, so you absolutely mustn't spread it around..." The more Tunbao spoke, the sadder she became, and sparkling tears were already gathering in her eyes.
Imperial Scale was silent for a moment. The corners of her mouth twitched. "What are you trying to do?!"
"If there's no fairness in this world, then..."
Tunbao gritted her teeth, dropped to one knee, and began gathering strength as she looked toward the treehouse, murmuring:
"Then I'll be the one to write fairness into it!!"
Although she was about to sacrifice herself, she was doing it for everyone in Stella Club.
She was a hero. She had no regrets!!!
Just as Tunbao was about to launch herself like a rocket, she was suddenly seized by a tremendous force.
Imperial Scale had lifted her by the chest strap.
Tunbao froze. She temporarily set aside her grand sense of justice and felt an ominous chill rise in her heart.
"Imperial Scale!" she wailed. "I was wrong! Don't pull! Something bad is going to happen!"
Snap!
The strap broke.
Tunbao was stunned.
Tunbao's pupils trembled.
Tunbao's pretty face flushed bright red as she crouched down on the spot to defend herself.
...
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