There was no time to pay attention to Derek Su and Purple Lightning, who had already vanished without a trace. Next to enter the stage was Purple Lightning 2, Silver Mirror, and her driver, Swain Li!
Swain Li had been trying to perform perfect drifts the entire way. Although he was still stumbling through it, after passing through several proper corners, Silver Mirror's speed had gradually climbed. By the time they crossed one speed detection strip, Silver Mirror was already running at around 420 km/h.
In truth, performing a perfect drift through a corner was not especially difficult for a genius driver like him. The real challenge was on the straights. If his control slipped even slightly, he could slam headfirst into the cliff beside the track.
Every time he saw Silver Mirror about to hit the cliff, Swain Li's heart clenched. He could not help easing off the throttle he had originally floored, and once he did that, the perfect drift naturally failed.
He knew very well why this was happening.
His control over the track was not as good as Derek Su's.
He could not do what Derek Su did, judging with absolute precision from the moment the drift began exactly where a Mecha Girl at her limit would slide, where to start the drift, how much throttle to give, and how sharply to cut the control stick to make sure she would not crash into the mountain or flip off the track.
All of that required countless hours of track experience.
So the more Swain Li used perfect drifting, the more alarmed he became. He could not understand where Derek Su, who was about the same age as him, had gotten so much track experience.
He had practiced driving techniques since childhood and had long since become one of the best among his peers. It was not as if Derek Su could somehow use twenty-four hours as seventy-two hours.
Could it be...
Did this world really have superhumans who were born knowing everything?
No joke. Right now, the pressure Derek Su gave him felt even stronger than Ethan Yang, the Techmaster.
When he looked at Ethan Yang, he knew where Ethan Yang's limit was. When he looked in the mirror, he also knew where his own future endpoint lay.
But when he looked at Derek Su, he felt as if Derek Su were a bottomless pool. He simply could not see the man's limit.
That feeling made Swain Li extremely uncomfortable.
He shook his head, scattering his messy thoughts.
Gripping Silver Mirror's control stick tightly, he looked at the track with calm eyes. "I have to find a way to beat Derek Su and Purple Lightning, or I won't be able to sleep tonight!"
The scenery around them rushed backward at high speed, and Silver Mirror kept getting faster.
A left uphill bend appeared ahead.
He pulled the handbrake, cut the control stick left, released the handbrake, and gave it throttle.
The whole sequence flowed smoothly in one motion.
Silver Mirror's rear drew a beautiful arc through the corner, clearly showing Swain Li's solid fundamentals.
Just then, two Mecha Girls appeared at the end of the track.
"Hm? Is that... Cloud Leopard and Hurricane?"
Swain Li raised an eyebrow.
Although Silver Mirror's Acceleration had improved quite a bit through perfect drifting, she should not have caught up to Cloud Leopard and Hurricane this quickly.
Besides, one of those Mecha Girls was occupying the outer lane while the other occupied the inner lane, and they were driving side by side? How strangely intimate...
"What the hell are they doing? Since when did the drivers from VVC and SSC get so peaceful?" Swain Li muttered inwardly.
He did not have Derek Su's sharp judgment.
Even so, he immediately sensed that something was off.
Looking at the wide-open middle lane, he drove Silver Mirror closer while quietly staying on guard. ... "If I can't stop that freak Derek Su, don't tell me I can't stop you, you little Karami!"
Inside Cloud Leopard's cockpit, Justin Kim watched the silver Mecha Girl gradually approaching in the rearview mirror, his expression twisted.
Judging from Silver Mirror's appearance, her engine sound, and her speed, she had clearly copied Purple Lightning completely! Fine. As long as he stopped Silver Mirror and Swain Li, then rounding up, it was basically the same as stopping Purple Lightning!
That reasoning was somewhat like covering his ears and pretending nothing was wrong, but he did not care. Anything that eased the humiliation in his heart, even by a little, was good enough. Otherwise, he was genuinely afraid that after this race, he would shut himself away, and from then on, his head would spin and his legs would go weak whenever he saw Derek Su.
At the same time, inside Hurricane's cockpit, Miles Wang also craned his neck, his expression ugly.
"Damn it. Derek Su and Purple Lightning can spin-drift their way out of a pincer, but I refuse to believe someone from Crown Club can pull off that kind of move too!"
If every driver could do that "magic of love spin-around" nonsense, then he might as well quit driving Mecha Girls and go home to farm.
The aces of the two clubs reached the same thought once again.
Though neither side communicated at all, they once more formed a pocket formation with perfect tacit understanding. ... The roars of three Mecha Girl engines gradually wove together.
Swain Li drove Silver Mirror up behind Cloud Leopard and Hurricane.
He did not rashly overtake through the middle lane. Instead, he followed behind Cloud Leopard, watching the two Mecha Girls ahead with suspicion.
"What are these two doing?
They're leaving the middle lane wide open. Are they seriously giving me a path through?"
He observed them for a while. Seeing that Cloud Leopard and Hurricane made no other moves, he still decided to overtake directly through the middle.
Silver Mirror was already faster than Cloud Leopard and Hurricane. Being stuck here was seriously dragging down his race pace.
With that thought in mind, Swain Li cut the control stick left, moving from the outer lane into the middle lane while flooring the throttle.
Vroooom!
Silver Mirror's engine instantly let out an even sharper roar.
This time, Miles Wang and Justin Kim had learned their lesson. When they heard the engine roar, they did not act immediately.
Even though they believed Swain Li's driving skill was inferior to Derek Su's, they were being careful, then even more careful.
Because of that, Swain Li drove Silver Mirror up steadily and smoothly.
Just as the three Mecha Girls were about to line up side by side, Miles Wang and Justin Kim, both expressionless, suddenly curled their lips into wicked smiles. A cold flash burst through their eyes.
Miles Wang violently cut the control stick right, while Justin Kim cut the control stick left. Cloud Leopard and Hurricane's fronts swung hard toward the center.
Screech!
The piercing brake sound made Swain Li's scalp go numb.
His face changed drastically, his pupils shrinking as the hand gripping the control stick trembled.
"Fuck! Two sneaky old bastards!"
Now he finally understood why Hurricane and Cloud Leopard had been driving side by side while leaving such a huge middle lane open.
Miles Wang and Justin Kim, those two old bastards, had been baiting him the entire time!
Unfortunately, no matter how loudly he shouted, he could not stop Hurricane and Cloud Leopard from attacking him from both sides.
All he could do was slam on the brakes the moment he reacted.
Screech! Bang!
The world spun.
Unfortunately, he did not have Derek Su's almost supernatural technique, and Silver Mirror was not a Mecha Girl with both Cornering and Drifting performance above 90.
Even though he reacted quickly and stepped on the brake, inertia still carried Silver Mirror forward.
Cloud Leopard and Hurricane slammed into Silver Mirror from both sides.
"Ah!!"
The intense pain made Silver Mirror scream. Her vision went black, and she nearly fainted on the spot.
Her Impact Resistance and Stability were not especially high to begin with. After being hit from the left and right at the same time, she instantly lost balance and crashed headfirst toward the mountain wall beside the track.
Seeing this, Miles Wang and Justin Kim let out savage, delighted laughs.
Miles Wang said, "Heh heh heh! That's right, that's the feeling! Be destroyed, genius driver!"
Justin Kim shouted, "Cloud Leopard, charge! Smash Derek Su and Purple Lightning away! Smash them away! Hahahahaha!"
The gloom in his heart vanished in an instant, leaving clear skies for miles.
Justin Kim suddenly felt that his life had meaning again.
Meanwhile, Swain Li and Silver Mirror slid sideways into the rock wall and stalled.
Justin Kim even drove Cloud Leopard forward and rammed Silver Mirror's "corpse" twice.
Only when he saw the sly Miles Wang and Hurricane had already used the chance to pull away did he reluctantly give up on Silver Mirror, turn around, and drive Cloud Leopard back onto the track.
...
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