Derek Su drove Purple Lightning straight toward Cloud Leopard and Hurricane.
He charged into the middle lane as if he had not noticed Miles Wang and Justin Kim's scheme at all.
"He fell for it!" Justin Kim stared intently at the rearview mirror, the corner of his mouth curling up.
Beside him, Miles Wang also showed a smug smile.
The Magician, oh, The Magician!
Ever since the Knox Rally, he had never been able to keep up with Derek Su. Whenever they met on the track, all he could do was eat Derek Su's exhaust. Later, Absolute Shadow had even left him. At first, he thought Absolute Shadow leaving was not a big deal, but after Derek Su drove her once, Absolute Shadow ran off to Stella Club.
How was that any different from mocking him, Miles Wang, for being useless?
How were the aces from the other clubs supposed to look at him now?
He did not even have the face to attend driver gatherings anymore.
Later, he heard that Absolute Shadow had gone to Mecha Island, applied for some business assets, and made quite a lot of money. He had spent nearly ten million to acquire Absolute Shadow. Though part of that was because Absolute Shadow had voluntarily lowered her price, when she joined Stella Club, Stella Club had not spent a single cent. He had even heard that Stella Club's medical team had been provided by Absolute Shadow for free.
Every time he thought about it, his heart twisted in pain.
It was like suddenly finding out your ex-wife had secretly been a female CEO, kept a pretty young boy on the side, and spent money on him every day, yet when she was with you, she would not spend a single coin.
He felt suffocated with resentment.
And today was the day he washed away that humiliation!
Seeing Purple Lightning draw closer and closer, with half her front already entering the "pocket formation" created by Cloud Leopard and Hurricane, Miles Wang and Justin Kim exchanged a glance and almost simultaneously drove their Mecha Girls inward.
Generally speaking, speed-type Mecha Girls had fairly average Impact Resistance and Stability.
If this pincer worked, Purple Lightning had a ninety percent chance of losing control.
Forcing Derek Su and Purple Lightning off the track would settle things once and for all. Even if they failed to knock them out completely, it would not matter. As long as the pincer succeeded once, Derek Su would become cautious and restrained while driving Purple Lightning, while they would be free to act as they pleased.
Miles Wang and Justin Kim pulled their handbrakes.
Screech!
White smoke from the tires grinding against the track almost swallowed their entire field of vision.
Hurricane and Cloud Leopard's rear ends swung outward while their fronts rammed toward the center at terrifying speed.
They had already calculated it. At this point, even if Derek Su reacted quickly, braking would be useless.
Inertia would still send Purple Lightning crashing into them, and that would count as a successful pincer.
However...
An even sharper, longer braking sound rang out.
As Cloud Leopard and Hurricane slid across the track in an inverted V shape, Miles Wang and Justin Kim saw a scene through their rearview mirrors that would shock them for the rest of their lives.
Purple Lightning was sliding too, but not sideways like them.
She was spinning in place as she slid, like a top.
Because of that, Purple Lightning, who should have braked and crashed into them, slowed down even faster. She remained at an infuriatingly close distance from the blockade formed by Cloud Leopard and Hurricane.
Just a little short.
But no matter what, they could not hit her!
"How is that possible?!" Justin Kim's mouth hung open wide enough to fit an ostrich egg.
"Holy shit, you can even do that?!" Miles Wang was also dumbfounded, his face pale.
Watching the high-speed spinning Purple Lightning, that purple phantom whirling wildly before him, he felt as if his own brain matter was spinning along with her.
The three Mecha Girls slid slower and slower.
The distance between them widened more and more.
The instant Purple Lightning broke free from the "pocket formation," her front swung to the right, her tires hovering on the razor's edge between losing and regaining grip.
Derek Su snapped the control stick back and floored the throttle.
Purple Lightning's front end swayed in a Z-shaped motion, then stopped spinning.
The rotational speed of all four wheels surged. The engine roared, and power returned in an instant.
She slipped lightly around Hurricane, like an agile fish, brushing past her and overtaking just like that.
Vroom! Vroom! Vroom!
The roar from Derek Su's throttle work while shifting gears grew louder with each burst, then gradually faded into the distance.
Only the lingering tire smoke remained, along with red leaves dancing all through the air.
And Justin Kim, Miles Wang, and their Mecha Girls, stopped on the track and staring blankly.
Everything seemed to have frozen. The track was terrifyingly quiet.
A while passed like that, until a cold wind blew through and Justin Kim sneezed. Only then did everyone come back to their senses.
"W-what was that just now?" Justin Kim raised his hand and slapped himself across the face.
He wondered if he had seen a hallucination.
That scene had just dealt a massive blow to his entire worldview.
"A Mecha Girl spinning at high speed in place. Not only did she not lose control, she even overtook us smoothly?"
Miles Wang stared at the dim yellow sky.
He felt as if everything he had learned since childhood about Mecha Girls and driving had been learned for nothing.
A certain sentence came to mind.
You're just a grassroots driver. What makes you think you can compare to our club's three generations of legacy?
He used to say that often, humiliating drivers without any background.
Now he only felt like a Joker.
He should not be racing here.
He should go back to Gotham.
As he thought about it, he could not help letting out a bleak chuckle.
"Ha... hahaha..."
His laughter grew louder and louder.
But there was no joy in it.
Only helplessness and sorrow.
Miles Wang knew that Derek Su was probably a driver he would never surpass in this lifetime.
Just the fact that he could make a Mecha Girl spin at high speed in place without losing control was enough.
That alone was enough!
However, sorrow could sometimes stack on top of itself.
Before he and Justin Kim could sigh for long, a roar similar to Purple Lightning's engine came from the far end of the track behind them, carried over by the wind.
...
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