Just past nine in the morning.
Blazing Wind entered deployment mode.
Her bright red body unfolded as the doors lifted upward.
Beto Ming carefully carried Vanessa and gently settled her into Blazing Wind's cockpit.
He kept watching his daughter's expression the entire time. To his surprise, she didn't lose control of her emotions. From beginning to end, she kept her small face tense and serious.
But once she was properly seated inside the cockpit, the flush spreading across her cheeks betrayed her true feelings.
She was happy. Excited. Blissfully so.
And yet, the closer one came to happiness,
the closer death could be.
"Daddy, Blazing Wind, Derek Su! Do I look like a driver?"
Vanessa Ming gripped the control stick with both hands, her expression solemn.
To her, driving was something sacred.
Especially now that she was driving Blazing Wind.
"My Vanessa definitely has the look of a top-tier driver." Beto Ming stroked his chin and nodded repeatedly.
"That's right! Vanessa is world-class material!" Blazing Wind chimed in.
"She does look the part," Derek Su praised. "Isn't this basically a mini version of The Magician?"
"Hehe~"
The praise finally broke through Vanessa's serious act. A sweet smile bloomed across her face. She rubbed her eyes, lips curving upward, though tears shimmered at the corners.
Derek Su and Beto Ming's expressions changed instantly.
They quickly signaled to Blazing Wind.
Blazing Wind immediately closed the doors.
The skill [Hyper-Core Synchronization] activated at once.
As several fiber-like strands connected with Vanessa, her attention shifted and her emotions gradually steadied.
"Blazing Wind, what are these?"
Vanessa held one of the mental link fibers. It felt warm and smooth, almost like holding Blazing Wind's finger. The strand gently slipped past her palm before attaching along her spine.
"These are mental connection fibers. With them, we become inseparable."
Blazing Wind watched Vanessa nervously through the rearview mirror.
When she heard the word "inseparable,"
Vanessa's eyes lit up even more.
As the cockpit reclined, Hyper-Core Synchronization fully engaged.
From behind came Vanessa's nervous, slightly panicked voice.
"B-Blazing Wind I… I can't see… Oh! I can see again!"
"Mm… this perspective is so strange. Dad has that much leg hair? No wonder he doesn't wear thermal pants in winter…"
"Derek Su still has eye gunk he didn't wash off!"
"Vanessa, how do you feel?" Blazing Wind asked, unable to hide the anticipation in her voice.
"It feels really good. So driving is actually this comfortable," Vanessa said softly.
Blazing Wind couldn't help but smile foolishly at her words.
But she quickly remembered what mattered most.
"How are your emotions feeling?"
"My emotions?" Vanessa sounded puzzled. "That's strange… they're really stable today."
In truth, the moment [Hyper-Core Synchronization] activated, the sharing had already begun.
Blazing Wind felt an overwhelming wave of weakness crash over her. For a brief instant, her body felt like it was about to collapse. She had no strength at all; even breathing required effort. Though the sensation lasted only a moment before being evenly distributed, she understood—
That was Vanessa's normal state.
Her body had always been like this.
Like a candle flickering in the wind.
And what emotions had Vanessa shared with her?
Joy. Happiness. Cherishing.
They surged over her in waves.
So there really was someone who felt this happy just because they could drive her.
Blazing Wind's nose stung, and she barely forced the tears back.
This was good.
The neural connection suppressed Vanessa's emotional fluctuations. And as the terminal of that connection, Blazing Wind functioned like a processor. While receiving Vanessa's emotions, she could regulate them.
She could even channel them entirely into herself,
improving her competitive state.
But this was Vanessa's first time driving her.
She didn't want Vanessa to see her bursting into tears.
"Blazing Wind! I suddenly have all these driving techniques and knowledge in my head! Do you know why?"
"I transmitted them to you," Blazing Wind explained.
At the same time, she received feedback from Vanessa.
Compared to Derek Su's vast, ocean-like racing experience and refined techniques, Vanessa's knowledge was much simpler and easier to process. It was broad and somewhat vague, mostly gathered from race recordings and livestreams.
Derek Su's was completely different.
His techniques were meticulously categorized. Just looking at the structure and summaries was enough to make her head spin.
And once Derek Su left the cockpit, those techniques disappeared from her mind like a removed hard drive. In the end, she could only retain a faint trace.
Receiving so much knowledge at once filled Vanessa with delight.
The knowledge told her how to start a Mecha Girl.
But she didn't dare try.
In her understanding, she wasn't meant to be on the track. If her emotions fluctuated too much, something would go wrong. If something went wrong, her father would be heartbroken. The people who liked and loved her—the uncles and aunts in the research lab, and now Blazing Wind—would be sad too.
So, to keep them from being sad,
even if living was painful, she was willing to grit her teeth and endure.
Even though her emotions were unusually steady today, even though her body felt stronger than usual, she still didn't dare.
"Vanessa, do you want to try driving me?" Blazing Wind asked gently.
"I-Is that okay?" Vanessa's eyes widened.
"Of course. Those connection lines are my ability. They let us share physical and mental strain. You can think of it this way—right now, you and I are one. I'm helping you bear your illness. So you can try driving me without worrying about anything going wrong."
Blazing Wind had expected Vanessa to feel happy.
Instead, sorrow and panic flowed back through the connection.
"Blazing Wind, I don't want you to bear my illness."
"I've endured it since I was five. I know how painful it is. Give it back to me. I don't want you to suffer with me…"
Blazing Wind fell silent for a moment.
She lifted her hand and wiped away the tears at the corner of her eye, then smiled.
"Vanessa, I'm a Mecha Girl. We don't die from falling over ten meters. We can punch a crater into the ground with one blow. Our physical abilities far surpass humans. Sometimes we even struggle to control our strength. Sharing a bit of your burden actually helps me improve my control. I should be thanking you."
"Really?"
Vanessa didn't doubt her.
Mecha Girls really were far stronger than humans. She had seen one pull a truck with one hand and smash a four-hundred-pound sandbag in a single punch.
Maybe she really could help Blazing Wind?
"Oh! I get it! Blazing Wind is too strong, so she needs weak little me to balance her out. That means we're the perfect combination, right?"
"Exactly." Blazing Wind nodded. "We're the perfect combination."
And…
Vanessa wasn't weak at all.
She was stronger than many people.
Those fragile shoulders carried pain and pressure most could never imagine.
" Blazing Wind, I'll try!"
The idea of being the perfect combination gave Vanessa courage.
Nervously, she followed the knowledge Blazing Wind had transmitted and issued commands.
With Blazing Wind's assistance, she awkwardly pressed the accelerator.
The engine responded with a gentle hum, no longer as fierce as before.
Derek Su and Beto Ming exchanged a glance and immediately pulled open the rolling shutter door.
A beam of sunlight streamed inside.
Blazing Wind slowly moved forward.
She and Vanessa were like toddlers taking their first steps, gradually stepping into the morning breeze.
…
Blazing Wind and Vanessa had both picked up a piece of sunshine.
And this time, they wouldn't have to return it to the sun at dusk.
...
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