Inside Silver Mirror's cockpit, Swain Li gripped the control stick and panted heavily. Blood ran down his forehead, staining his eyes crimson.
"Master, are you... are you all right?"
Silver Mirror had not suffered many injuries.
She had taken a serious hit when Cloud Leopard and Hurricane rammed into her, but just before they crashed into the rock wall, she gave up the cockpit's protection and stacked all her defensive power onto the body. As a result, Swain Li had been violently tossed around inside the cockpit.
It was not because she was selfish.
That was the absolute order Swain Li had just given her.
She and Swain Li had a Core Contract. Even though her first instinct was to protect Swain Li's life, she had no choice but to obey.
Fortunately, Swain Li only seemed to have surface injuries.
"I'm fine. Just scraped my forehead." Swain Li gritted his teeth, reached back to open the medical kit, took out a bandage, and quickly wrapped his bleeding forehead. Then he gripped the control stick again.
"Silver Mirror, can you still run?"
"I'm fine, but you..."
"As long as you can run." Swain Li ignored Silver Mirror's worried gaze and adjusted his crooked helmet. "We're continuing the race!"
He knew that even if they caught up, Cloud Leopard and Hurricane would definitely intercept them again. In that case, the best method was to push Silver Mirror's speed to the limit, then crush them with absolute speed and overtake before they could react. Otherwise, he could only use the terrain to make a jump.
He drove Silver Mirror back onto the track.
Swain Li's agitated emotions gradually settled down as well.
"Speaking of which, Cloud Leopard and Hurricane were blocking the road that tightly. How did Derek Su and Purple Lightning overtake them?" He frowned and thought for a long time, but still could not figure it out. He did not believe Cloud Leopard and Hurricane had voluntarily made way for Derek Su.
The track was like a battlefield. Besides, Derek Su and Justin Kim did not have that deep of a friendship.
"Looks like I'll have to watch the track footage after the race."
Swain Li temporarily buried the question in his heart.
He still did not know that the moment he watched that footage, his resolve would shatter. ... "This driver named Derek Su really has some skill. No wonder he's respectfully called The Magician. He deserves the title far more than that Track Queen Chloe Qin."
Inside the office of the Xiangshan Advanced Race organizers, the old man took off his reading glasses and looked away from the surveillance footage on his laptop.
The scene was still replaying in his mind. Derek Su driving Purple Lightning, using a spinning drift to rapidly bleed speed and avoid Cloud Leopard and Hurricane's pincer.
To be fair, he was almost eighty, and this was the first time he had ever seen driving technique that outrageous.
"Yes, it really is unbelievable." The assistant beside him also looked amazed. "But Derek Su's driving technique alone shouldn't be enough. It must also have something to do with Purple Lightning's performance as a Mecha Girl, right?"
"Correct." The old man nodded. "Purple Lightning is a cornering-specialized Mecha Girl. Only she can spin that easily without losing control. After Chloe Qin shelved her, she spent two years in underground races. Those two years of underground fighting also made her extremely tough. She looks fragile, but she's actually much more resilient than many Mecha Girls. Now that she's with Derek Su, she can be considered to have found a good home."
As the organizer of the Xiangshan Advanced Race, the old man counted as half an official.
Before the Advanced Race began, the officials would hand him some information on the contestants.
Originally, the files on Derek Su and Purple Lightning had not been that detailed, but he suddenly became interested, so he used his connections to gather more.
"Then do you think Derek Su and Purple Lightning can win this Advanced Race?" the assistant asked curiously.
"The championship..." The old man clasped his hands behind his back and frowned. "That's a little hard to say."
He pointed at Dawnbreak, who was racing at full speed on a larger screen, and Silver Mirror, who had restarted. "Dawnbreak still hasn't used her special skill, and Laiya An is also an extremely outstanding driver. They still have room to push harder. As for that kid..."
When it came to Swain Li, he did not quite know how to judge him.
In truth, he found Swain Li a little hard to read.
He had thought Swain Li was finished after being intercepted by Hurricane and Cloud Leopard.
Unexpectedly, Swain Li had his Mecha Girl concentrate all her defenses onto the frame to withstand the collision, and now he had returned to the track.
Considering that his Mecha Girl could copy Purple Lightning, that her Acceleration was gradually increasing, and adding in that ruthless streak of his...
It really was hard to say who would become champion.
"Hah! I really didn't expect the second-half Xiangshan Advanced Race to be this exciting." The old man shook his head and sighed, but his eyes were full of pleasant surprise.
The assistant used the remote to switch the feed.
The camera pulled farther back.
Dawnbreak could be seen speeding along the track, gradually approaching Mixiangshan Road.
At that moment, the sun was slanting westward. The mountain road was covered by dense forest, and the light was growing dimmer.
As they drew closer and closer to Mixiangshan Road, the mist in the mountains also thickened considerably.
"What's the visibility on Mixiangshan Road right now?" the old man asked the assistant beside him, narrowing his eyes.
"Maximum visibility is twelve meters. Minimum visibility is less than five meters," the assistant replied.
"Now that's interesting." The old man looked at the screen.
At first, only Dawnbreak's engine roar could be heard.
But before long, another Mecha Girl's engine sound began to weave into it.
At that moment, Purple Lightning and Derek Su still could not be seen on the surveillance feed.
However, both the old man and the assistant knew very well.
The Magician with unbelievable technique had already caught up with his Mecha Girl.
And Dawnbreak and Purple Lightning, these two Mecha Girls, might just decide who was better inside Mixiangshan Road.
...
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