Inside Silver Mirror's cockpit.
Seeing that her Master's face was dark and his mood was poor, Silver Mirror quietly suggested, "Master, why don't we just ram Purple Lightning out of the way? That would solve everything at once."
"No." Swain Li shook his head. "Your Impact Resistance and Stability aren't high. Clashing with Purple Lightning would be too risky."
Besides, they had not reached a dead end yet. He only had to wait for a turn. He refused to believe Derek Su and Purple Lightning could still block him like an iron wall while taking a corner.
Silver Mirror pursed her lips when she heard that. She glanced at Purple Lightning's taillights, paused, then said, "Purple Lightning isn't a speed-type Mecha Girl. She's a skill-type. The thing about that kind of Mecha Girl is that their Impact Resistance and Stability usually aren't great, though their Endurance is decent. So..."
"Your Impact Resistance and Stability have dropped too." Swain Li still refused. "If there really isn't any other way, I'll consider your suggestion."
Since Swain Li was so firm, Silver Mirror could not say anything more.
Purple Lightning was only slightly faster than Dawnbreak, and Silver Mirror was being pinned in place by Purple Lightning. As a result, even with Purple Lightning and Silver Mirror together, they had not opened up much of a gap on Dawnbreak.
Once Dawnbreak and Laiya An realized this, they both breathed a sigh of relief.
There were three more hairpin turns. After that came the long straight acceleration section.
That would be their comeback point. Of course, that comeback would not last for long. At least Laiya An knew that very well.
Dawnbreak, however, treated that comeback point as her final trump card for winning the Xiangshan Advanced Race. So even though Purple Lightning and Silver Mirror were ahead of her now, she did not panic.
Just wait!
Hehehe~ The real show is still coming~
Looking at Silver Mirror's taillights ahead, Dawnbreak's lips curled into a wicked smile.
... At the same time, Purple Lightning and Silver Mirror up ahead reached the first corner of their standoff.
It was a Z-shaped hairpin turn. Both Purple Lightning and Silver Mirror were already moving at around 470 km/h. Taking a turn at this speed was extremely dangerous for most drivers. From the moment the turn entered their vision to the moment the Mecha Girl reached the entry point, there was only the blink of an eye. The wind howled outside the window, and even with the cockpit's powerful soundproofing, a sharp noise could still be heard, like steel wire scraping across glass.
Watching the scenery whip past him, Swain Li instinctively wanted to brake early.
Honestly, when he had relied on the navigation device and his instincts to take turns on Mixiangshan Road, his speed had not been slow either. But at least back then, he could not see the turns.
Now that he could see the turn, the cliff in the distance, and the jagged rock wall, fear rose in his heart instead.
So fast!
His heart was pounding wildly.
He swore this was the first time he had ever driven Silver Mirror this fast. It felt like he was stepping on the wind.
Was he really going to take the turn at this speed?
He and Silver Mirror had gone through many tracks together. He knew every feeling that came with driving Silver Mirror. But now, she felt unfamiliar to him.
The control stick in his hand no longer felt like a control stick. It felt like reins, reins tied to a fierce, unruly warhorse.
He looked at Purple Lightning racing ahead like lightning. To Derek Su, what he held in his hands must have been just as much of an untamable wild horse.
They were the same.
Derek Su was not braking. He had not stepped on the brakes at all.
The turn arrived in an instant.
"I'm not braking either!!" Swain Li roared through bloodshot eyes.
There was a certain kind of person who was born easy to overlook. Drop them into a crowd, and they would be the least noticeable one there. Even someone who had just spoken to them could forget them in the blink of an eye... No one did not want to become the star surrounded by everyone. No one did not want fame, to become the genius people spoke of.
He, Swain Li, had that talent, but no one cared.
No matter what achievements he gained, in other people's eyes, he was always the unremarkable one.
His first Mecha Girl had left him. At his lowest point, he met Silver Mirror.
Silver Mirror was just like him. She had gone through something similar. Although she was a top-tier Mecha Girl, she was always the one passed over at every exhibition auction.
An unremarkable driver and an unremarkable Mecha Girl. They noticed each other. They crawled out of the depths together. They formed a Core Contract.
In the past, Swain Li had seen his lack of presence as a curse.
Now, he saw it as an exceptional talent.
He enjoyed the biting mockery of those so-called star racers, and he enjoyed the pleasure of trampling them underfoot even more.
He understood that he had merely been venting his anger. He had merely been taking revenge.
But at this moment, he did not have a single thought of revenge. He was simply competing with Derek Su as a driver.
He wanted to prove himself. They were both human, and they were around the same age. He would not be worse than Derek Su.
And not only would he not be worse than Derek Su, he was going to overtake him in the turn.
"Aaah! Come on! Turn!"
He floored the accelerator.
The instant they entered the turn, his body was almost completely pressed toward the side closest to the apex. The hard door dug painfully into his shoulder.
His face was pale. The hand gripping the control stick was so tense that his knuckles turned bluish-white. Both he and Silver Mirror were doing everything they could to control the vehicle and avoid losing control.
Every second felt like a year.
And at that moment, they finally heard the sound of braking ahead.
Screech!
Derek Su briefly pulled the handbrake, then released it.
With Purple Lightning's Cornering and Drifting both above 90, he did not need to be nervous at all. The vehicle was almost impossible to lose control of. In an instant, she corrected her front end out of the drift. His vision blurred for a moment, and they were already steadily at the exit point.
All he had to do was hit the accelerator, and Purple Lightning would roar forward.
She could even complete a perfect drift.
She was basically a baby car for cornering.
Pulling off a perfect drift in Purple Lightning was clearly far easier than doing it with other Mecha Girls.
He really had no idea how Chloe Qin used to drive her.
However...
Roar!
From the rear side, an engine howl sliced through the air like a blade.
Cold sweat broke out across Derek Su's back.
The sound was close. Getting closer and closer.
In the rearview mirror, only half of Silver Mirror's body could be seen.
She was charging toward Purple Lightning like an out-of-control bull.
"Holy crap, young people have no sense of sportsmanship!"
Derek Su's scalp went numb.
Purple Lightning was slower than Silver Mirror right now. Accelerating would not let him dodge. Since that was the case, there was only one option.
Brake.
Doing this would cost him a lot of speed, but compared to Purple Lightning's safety, winning or losing on the track suddenly mattered a lot less.
He really had not expected Swain Li and Silver Mirror behind him to whip out of the turn like a lash at even higher speed the moment they exited.
Did they have a death wish?
He slammed the brake. White smoke from the tires scraping against the track almost swallowed everything around them. Purple Lightning's speed dropped sharply, and under Derek Su's control, she slid toward the outside of the turn.
There was no other choice.
Silver Mirror had been flung out from the inside lane. To make sure Purple Lightning was not hit, he had to move aside in the direction Silver Mirror was charging.
Time seemed to stop at that moment.
Derek Su could clearly hear his own breathing and Purple Lightning's.
And his heartbeat, pounding like a war drum.
Screech!
Purple Lightning slid in an arc across the track and finally stopped at the edge of the cliff. Silver Mirror, flung out of the turn, came within less than a fist's distance of hitting Purple Lightning. Fortunately, Swain Li pulled the out-of-control Silver Mirror back just in time. After her rear swayed violently, Silver Mirror returned to the track and sped away in a cloud of dust.
"Damn it, are young people this crazy now?"
Derek Su cursed under his breath as he let out a sigh of relief.
If they had collided just now, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
Silver Mirror would definitely have kept losing control and flown straight off the cliff. Purple Lightning's limited Impact Resistance and Stability would not have held up either. In the end, she most likely would have exhausted her Endurance and failed to finish the race, or even been forced out of Deployment.
He was still shaken when...
Whoosh.
Laiya An and Dawnbreak also shot past.
He restarted Purple Lightning, guided her steadily back to the center of the track, took a deep breath, and his gaze gradually darkened.
He had been a little careless this time.
He had not expected the young man to be inexperienced, yes, but also so willing to risk his life.
Since that was the case...
"I was planning to get along with you properly."
Derek Su looked at the track ahead and tightened his grip on the control stick, muttering to himself, "But since you don't respect your senior... I won't be polite either!"
...
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