"Wait quietly." Imperial Scale pressed a hand down on Tunbao's head.
Tunbao clutched her chest with a pitiful look and pouted. "I know. I won't run off."
After getting Tunbao under control, Imperial Scale turned her gaze back to the track.
The Xiangshan Advanced Race was an official competition. Although its supervision was not as strict as a provincial-level track, there was absolutely no way there would be any shady dealings.
Besides, the provincial advancement races were events that every Mecha Girl and driver paid attention to.
Even the largest conglomerates would have a hard time interfering. If they really dared to reach in with dirty hands, they would be making enemies of Mecha Island and the Human Federation.
What kind of conglomerate would have that kind of nerve?
So there could not be any shady dealings.
There had to be a reason Derek Su and Purple Lightning had fallen behind.
As Derek Su's Mecha Girl, what she needed to do right now was wait calmly and avoid causing trouble.
Still, just to be safe, she immediately took out her phone and sent Absolute Shadow a message, telling her to arrange the medical team and logistics team so they could be ready to move at any time.
...
Meanwhile, inside the treehouse.
Patrick Wang was not sure if it was his imagination, but he had just felt a cold, eerie presence sweep toward him.
As a Techmaster, his perception was terrifyingly sharp. He immediately looked in the direction the presence had come from. It was the observation point, packed with spectators. But when he focused carefully, he could no longer sense anything. Everything had gone calm.
"Strange. Is my treehouse that conspicuous?" Patrick Wang scratched his head.
The assistant beside him could not help feeling speechless when he heard Wang muttering to himself.
Do you really have no idea how conspicuous it is?
Everyone else is at the observation point, but you went and set yourself up right in front of the waterfall, on top of a thousand-year-old tree. You even built a huge villa in the tree. Anyone who didn't know better would think you were some kind of High Elf.
And this treehouse had not even existed before. It had only been completed in the second half of the year. It was about as flashy as it could get.
"By the way, have the track inspection results for Mixiangshan Road come in?" Patrick Wang asked, still watching the track without turning around.
The assistant nodded. "They're in."
"Tell me. What's the situation?"
The assistant said, "According to the full-course detection system on the Mixiangshan track, there were no issues with Derek Su and Purple Lightning or Laiya An and Dawnbreak. However, signal fluctuations were detected from Swain Li and Silver Mirror. We suspect it's one of the common zero-latency motion-sensing navigators available on the market."
"Tsk, tsk. So Derek Su and Laiya An really didn't cheat? Did those two break the record?" Patrick Wang was secretly amazed.
The Mixiangshan track record had only just been broken in the first half of the year. How long had it been since then? And now Dawnbreak and Purple Lightning had broken it again.
"How many seconds did they beat it by?" he asked.
The assistant glanced at the laptop in his hands and swallowed. "A full one minute and seventeen seconds."
"Hiss!" Patrick Wang froze, then turned around with a stunned expression. "That ridiculous?!"
As soon as he said that, a faint smile appeared on his face again. He clapped his hands and said, "Not bad. Looks like this year's provincial-level Panlong Mountain Circuit is going to be another fierce battle."
"Yes, exactly." The assistant nodded repeatedly, then suddenly remembered something and hurriedly asked, "Swain Li and Silver Mirror are obviously cheating. Should we suspend them from the race?"
At the mention of Swain Li and Silver Mirror, Patrick Wang's expression darkened.
He gave a cold snort. "Suspend them? Why suspend them? Let them keep running. Once they reach the finish line, then we'll revoke their award eligibility. If he wins first place, he'll have to watch the championship get handed to someone else. If he gets third place, he'll have to watch the top three slip right out of his hands. If he gets into the top ten, heh... then he'll have to watch his Xiangshan Advanced Race result get voided. Only after gaining something and then losing it will the lesson truly sink in. That's the only way opportunists like him will remember it."
"As expected of Wang. You really see things clearly!"
The assistant quickly offered his flattery, inwardly sighing that age really did bring experience.
Just then, the roar of an engine suddenly echoed from the track.
Both the assistant and Wang froze for a moment.
They looked toward the far end of the Broken Moon Platform and saw a streak of purple light racing toward them. Its speed was not much slower than Silver Mirror's when she had passed through earlier.
"That kid Derek Su is here?" Patrick Wang praised. "Purple Lightning seems even faster now. They had an unexpected emergency stop halfway through, and they still caught up this quickly? The younger generation really is formidable."
Purple Lightning's current speed was indeed terrifyingly fast.
That was because Derek Su had used straight-line drifting several more times along the way. Purple Lightning's acceleration was now locked at 103.
She was only one corner away from activating her special skill.
"Purple Lightning, how do you feel right now?"
Inside the cockpit, Derek Su had been observing Purple Lightning's condition the entire time.
Purple Lightning's impact resistance was now 11, and her stability was 21. Those were extremely dangerous numbers.
With only 11 impact resistance, one bump would be enough to make Purple Lightning lose control immediately. Her endurance would be emptied, and she would lose the ability to keep racing. She might even fail to protect the driver in the cockpit before blacking out completely. As for 21 stability, it could only ensure that no cracks appeared on Purple Lightning's body.
But Derek Su was confident that from now until the finish line, Purple Lightning would not collide even once.
"I feel pretty good," Purple Lightning said lightly.
With her stability reduced, her body definitely hurt. It was like a weak person forcing themselves to keep walking.
But compared with the pain she had endured fighting those Mecha Girls in the Duel Arena, this was nothing.
"We're about to make the jump. Not long after that comes Wushe Cave..."
"I know," Purple Lightning said calmly. "Wushe Cave is our chance."
"Exactly." The corner of Derek Su's mouth lifted.
He drove Purple Lightning through the fierce wind, charging toward the Broken Moon Platform.
Crack!
The instant they crossed the speed measurement strip, an astonishing number appeared on the speed display: [579 km/h]
The spectators at the observation point were all shocked when they saw that number.
The speed was simply absurd, yet none of them knew Derek Su had not even gone full throttle.
"Whoosh!"
Almost in the blink of an eye, Purple Lightning flew from one end of the Broken Moon Platform to the other, trailing tire smoke behind her.
Landing was a serious test of a Mecha Girl's stability. Fortunately, Derek Su adjusted Purple Lightning's landing posture to absolute perfection. The moment she touched down, her wheels turned right, and the entire car immediately slid sideways. Following that inertia, he spun into another drift, bleeding off force while rapidly approaching the first corner after the Broken Moon Platform. The instant they reached the turn-in point, Purple Lightning's front end straightened at the same time. Everything was so smooth it was as if the entrance of the corner had been deliberately aligned with Purple Lightning's nose.
With the throttle fully opened, Purple Lightning vanished from everyone's sight amid the roar of the engine, leaving no trace behind.
The entire observation point fell silent, including the treehouse beside the waterfall.
Only the waterfall could be heard, crashing down in torrents.
After quite a while, Tunbao finally snapped out of her shock. She stammered as she asked Imperial Scale beside her,
"I-I-Imperial Scale, that was Boss Su and Purple Lightning just now, right? And that spinning-top thing after they landed..."
Tunbao did not know how to describe it. In the end, she could only slap her thigh and raise a thumb.
"That move was freaking insane. Damn, I've never seen anything like it!"
"No need to doubt it." The corner of Imperial Scale's mouth curved slightly. "That was Purple Lightning."
She gazed toward the end of the Broken Moon Platform.
The tire smoke there had yet to disperse, and a burning heat seemed to rise in her heart.
So this was "Father." A captivating man so powerful she could not see through him at all.
...
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