Laiya An had naively assumed that the atmosphere inside Purple Lightning's cockpit would be solemn.
Reality proved otherwise.
Ever since the "magic circle of love," Purple Lightning had not said a word.
"Purple Lightning? Purple Lightning, how are you holding up?" After entering the Mixiangshan Circuit, Derek Su called out to her in concern.
Purple Lightning: "Aba, aba, aba..."
All right. It seemed Purple Lightning was seriously dizzy.
No wonder he felt that Purple Lightning had completely lost control of the vehicle. The mental pressure hit him all at once, and all kinds of track-related data streams started rushing wildly through his mind.
At that moment, he once again understood why Deployment Mode required the Mecha Girl and the pilot to drive together.
Normally, when the Mecha Girl was functioning properly, she would simplify and compile the various data streams from the track, then submit them to the pilot through the mental link.
But now that Purple Lightning was practically half-disconnected, he had to process those data streams himself.
Imagine acceleration, wind speed, tire temperature, engine RPM, and countless other pieces of information popping up in your mind every second, all of them different. For the human brain, that was an enormous burden.
Derek Su, however, felt surprisingly fine.
Thanks to his previous training, he could quickly extract the most important parts from the information streams. He was just a little slower than a Mecha Girl.
"It really is better to have a Mecha Girl handling this. Now I don't even dare to speed up." Derek Su shook his slightly swollen-feeling head.
He could still step on the accelerator and increase speed, but that would make the information streams he had to process even larger, which would affect his judgment. On top of that, visibility on the Mixiangshan Circuit was extremely poor right now. To maintain his high neural reflexes, he kept the speed at only around 470 km/h.
That speed also happened to be about the same as Dawnbreak beside him.
Thick fog blanketed the Mixiangshan Road. Visibility was extremely poor, and since it was night, even the headlights only provided a very narrow field of view.
Turns that could normally be seen from dozens of meters away could now only be barely made out within ten meters. This placed a severe test on the pilot's reaction speed.
To make it easier, one had to slow down.
Most pilots entering the Mixiangshan Circuit would reduce their speed.
But to Derek Su, this bit of fog was nothing.
He did not even need to activate Purple Lightning's special skill.
Vroom, vroom, vroom!
They passed through two consecutive turns.
Yet Dawnbreak's engine still clung to his ears like a shadow.
Derek Su tilted his head and glanced out the window, then could not help feeling surprised. After entering the Mixiangshan Circuit, Dawnbreak had shown no intention of slowing down at all.
Even after two consecutive turns, he and Purple Lightning still had not completely shaken off Laiya An and Dawnbreak. The two Mecha Girls maintained a gap of half a car length, and Dawnbreak was clearly moving slightly faster than Purple Lightning at the moment, gradually catching up.
"Interesting. That girl Laiya An is something else."
Derek Su was genuinely surprised.
Although the thick fog had no effect on him, that did not mean he was unaware of how difficult it was to race in this kind of environment.
The fact that Laiya An could drive Dawnbreak without slowing down was already impressive.
That she could still barely keep up after the turns was even more impressive.
He narrowed his eyes and vaguely saw that Laiya An was actually driving with her eyes closed!
"Holy crap! She's that fierce?"
"Ma... Master? What, what mammoth?" Purple Lightning's still-dazed voice came from ahead.
"Not a mammoth. I'm saying Laiya An driving with her eyes closed is pretty amazing."
Derek Su saw that Purple Lightning's empty gaze had finally regained focus, and knew his Mecha Girl was gradually recovering from her dizzy state. Sure enough, the information streams crashing into his mind were steadily decreasing. Clearly, Purple Lightning had taken control of the vehicle's data streams again.
"Master, I'm sorry!" Purple Lightning finally came back to herself as she looked at the fog all around them.
She must have been dizzy for quite a while. They had already reached the Mixiangshan Circuit, so did that mean Derek Su had been handling all the information streams by himself?
She glanced at the rearview mirror and saw that Derek Su looked as calm as ever. Only then did she breathe a small sigh of relief. Then she immediately apologized in a panic, "Master, my performance wasn't up to standard. I actually passed out. This was my failure! I-I think you should punish me after the race. That way, I'll remember it better."
"What does that have to do with your performance?" Derek Su waved his hand helplessly and smiled. "Anyone would get dizzy. You spun at least thirty times just now. If I hadn't gone through special training, even I might have gotten dizzy. And there's no need to talk about punishment. You've already done very well."
"Mm..." Purple Lightning bit her red lip.
Her strong sense of responsibility still left her deeply guilty.
She knew Derek Su's "anyone would get dizzy" was just him comforting her.
If it were Imperial Scale, Imperial Scale definitely would not have gotten dizzy.
What she had not figured out was that only she could perform that kind of spinning drift.
Only her powerful performance, created by the combination of her Drifting and Cornering attributes both being above 90, had allowed Derek Su to pull off that unbelievable maneuver earlier.
Suddenly, light emerged from the foggy darkness, like a lighthouse blooming over a sea shrouded in night.
Purple Lightning looked up.
She could vaguely see a large number of spectators standing at the observation point on the Mixiangshan Road.
"Master, Purple Lightning! Go!!"
A familiar shout rang out. It was Stella's voice!
Soon, Derek Su and Purple Lightning spotted Stella and Lingwind in the crowd.
Lingwind's face was flushed as she stood on tiptoe and waved toward them, clutching two empty bottles of pineapple-flavored nutrient solution.
Stella also stood on tiptoe, cupping her hands around her mouth like a megaphone. "Master, Purple Lightning! If you don't step on it, Dawnbreak is going to overtake you!!"
Purple Lightning and Dawnbreak were moving incredibly fast. Stella's words were still echoing in their ears when the two Mecha Girls shot past the observation point with a whoosh, speeding away under everyone's gaze.
Stella's words did not affect Derek Su much.
But for Purple Lightning, it was a different story.
She glanced at Dawnbreak beside her, now already level with them, and Stella's words grew louder and louder in her mind.
[Dawnbreak is going to overtake you~]
[Overtake you~]
[Over...]
No!
She absolutely could not be overtaken!
They could already see the light of victory. How could she let Dawnbreak overtake her here?
Dawnbreak was a top-tier Mecha Girl who had not even activated her special skill yet. Purple Lightning had to open up a large enough gap before Dawnbreak used that skill.
In that instant, she was no longer stuck on her earlier dizziness or mistake.
A determined fire burst to life in her amethyst-like eyes.
"Master! I'm going full speed ahead!!"
Derek Su froze. "You're not dizzy anymore?"
"I'm not dizzy anymore!"
"Good."
Seeing that Purple Lightning had recovered, Derek Su naturally wasted no words. He floored the accelerator and immediately sped up.
Roar!
An ear-splitting engine howl suddenly erupted, making Dawnbreak, who was racing beside them, shudder all over.
Then she watched as Purple Lightning dragged a purplish-red tail flame behind her and surged ahead with unstoppable momentum.
And the distance between them slowly but firmly began to widen.
"No way!?"
Dawnbreak was completely stunned.
"Girl, how the hell can you still speed up?!"
...
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