"Stella! Can you see her or not?!"
"Just a little more, just a little! Master, push harder!"
Derek Su's face darkened.
He used every ounce of strength he had to lift Stella by the hips.
After all his physical training, he was no longer a weakling.
But lifting Stella, who weighed a little over forty kilograms, with both hands and holding her up like a clean-and-jerk was still a bit much.
He was not a strongman.
"You two, hurry up!" Beneath Derek Su, Tunbao was gritting her teeth too.
She was holding up Derek Su, and Derek Su was holding up Stella. The weight of the two of them was no problem for her.
But that did not mean the tree could handle it!
Ever since earlier, she had faintly heard the branches creaking under the strain. If they snapped, all three of them would fall, and their butts would be wrecked.
"Stella, this is all because you're short!"
Tunbao lowered her voice and roared up at her.
"You short potato!"
"Okay, okay, stop arguing. Let's all try together this time. We're definitely going to see Crimson!" Stella said with a bright grin. "I'll count one, two, three. Tunbao, you and Master push me up together!"
Derek Su was speechless.
If the inpatient ward had not refused them entry, how could he, the great The Magician, possibly have resorted to something like this?
As for why he was not the one on top, with Stella and Tunbao below him, that was because they had already tried that position earlier, and he had already seen Crimson.
But Stella and Tunbao had not, and both Mecha Girls were clamoring to see her, so there was nothing he could do.
"One, two, three!" Stella raised her little fist from above and gave the command. "Heave!"
Following her rhythmic shout, Tunbao pushed Derek Su upward with all her might, while Derek Su flushed red and lifted Stella.
Working together really did help.
Stella, who had always been just a little short, finally got a clear look at the girl sitting against the hospital bed.
"Whoa, she's so pretty!"
She covered her mouth and gasped softly, her bright blue eyes sparkling.
Crimson had already turned on the TV, but from the corner of her eye, she saw an ahoge rise into view. Then came a delicate, fair little face with a bit of baby fat. The two Mecha Girls' eyes met. Stella looked delighted and friendly, while Crimson looked completely confused and stunned.
The next second, in Crimson's field of vision, the white-haired girl with the ahoge vanished with a whoosh.
"Ahhh!!"
Thud!
The sound of something crashing down came from the courtyard.
Crimson: "..."
She slowly got up. Her newly recovered body was still a little stiff.
Carefully, she moved the potted plants away from the windowsill and leaned out to look.
Down in the courtyard, the tree was already bent, with broken pieces of trunk scattered off to one side.
But the white-haired girl from a moment ago was nowhere to be seen.
"Hmmmm..."
She felt a little familiar.
Crimson thought about it for a long time but still could not figure out who Stella was.
"Maybe I remembered wrong."
She automatically filed Stella's behavior under "prank" and returned to her hospital bed to watch TV.
The digital TV here could replay previous news.
Absolute Shadow had told her to pay attention to Stella Club. In that case, all she had to do was follow the major competitions that had happened while she had been cut off from society. She would definitely find clues about Stella Club.
...
Meanwhile, in the courtyard.
Derek Su, Stella, and Tunbao were huddled in a corner.
Derek Su clutched his waist, his face dark. Tunbao and Stella were also rubbing their butts with miserable expressions.
"This is all your fault, shorty! You wasted the most time! You couldn't see anything for ages, and now it snapped!" Tunbao bared her teeth in pain. She had been at the very bottom, and when Derek Su and Stella fell, they had landed on her in a brutal combo attack.
"It's obviously because you're too heavy!" Stella pouted and rubbed the tender skin on her butt. It seemed to be starting to swell.
"Bullshit! I'm only fifty-two and a half kilograms!" Tunbao's eyes widened as she turned to glare at Stella. "Are you saying I'm fat? How dare you say that to a beautiful Mecha Girl? Do you have a death wish?!"
"I'm only a little over forty kilograms. That's more than ten kilograms lighter than you~" Stella said smugly. "Fat is fat. Stop making excuses... Master can lift me. Can he lift you?"
"Shorty, say that again!?" Tunbao clenched her fists and moved toward Stella step by step.
"Fine, I'll say it. You're fat, fatty leopard~ Bleh, bleh, bleh~" Stella made a face at Tunbao.
Tunbao was furious. She lunged forward, pinned Stella to the ground, and bit her on the forehead. Her voice came out muffled as she said, "Call me fat again and I'll bite you to death! Mmmph..." Stella refused to back down. She locked both arms around Tunbao's neck and, without even looking, opened her mouth and bit whatever was closest. Tunbao howled, pounding the ground wildly with her other hand. "What the hell? Where are you biting, shorty?!"
Article 1 of the Mecha Girl Management Regulations.
When Mecha Girls fight, pilots must keep a safe distance.
Because to Mecha Girls, something that was only play-fighting could be life-threatening to humans.
So even though Derek Su really wanted to go up and break them apart with his strong, masculine, delicate body, in the end, he chose to stand off to the side and shout.
"Stop! You two, stop fighting!"
Just as Derek Su was at a complete loss, a voice sounded behind him.
"Boss Su, what are you... doing here?"
Hearing that familiar voice, Derek Su's heart skipped a beat.
He turned his head mechanically.
Sure enough, it was Absolute Shadow.
Crap!
He had gone through all kinds of trouble to find out which treatment center Crimson was staying in, then brought Stella here without telling Absolute Shadow.
Later, when he realized there was no way to get inside, he had called Tunbao over to help.
Mainly because Tunbao's personality made her unlikely to overthink things. As long as he gave her any random excuse, she would help.
And so, the three of them had climbed up the tree by the window, which led to everything that happened afterward.
In other words, this entire visit to see Crimson had been carried out behind Absolute Shadow's back.
If Absolute Shadow found out he had come to visit Crimson, then connected it to everything that had happened before, wouldn't his and Stella's whole plan be exposed? By then, Absolute Shadow would definitely feel like she had been used. How could she not be angry?
"Ahahaha!" Derek Su scratched his head and looked up at the sky, his mind spinning rapidly as he forced a smile. "Well, the weather's perfect for taking Mecha Girls out for a walk, isn't it? I saw Stella and Tunbao were getting along pretty well, so I brought them out to see the world. Wow, look at this place. This medical center is huge. Birds singing, flowers blooming, and the medical Mecha Girls here are pretty too. Really nice..."
Absolute Shadow glanced at Stella and Tunbao, who were still fighting fiercely behind Derek Su, and helplessly pressed a hand to her forehead. "Are you sure Stella and Tunbao's relationship has completely recovered?"
The smile on Derek Su's face froze.
A long, awkward silence followed.
...
After Absolute Shadow punched each of them once, Tunbao and Stella finally stopped, each with two bumps on her head.
After a proper conversation, everything was finally laid out.
"Sorry, Absolute Shadow. This really was my fault." Derek Su scratched his head and admitted it honestly. "I didn't give you enough trust as the club manager. But don't worry. From now on, if anything comes up, I'll definitely tell you directly."
Absolute Shadow had long since stopped caring about it.
She covered her mouth and smiled. "I'm not a core Mecha Girl, after all. I completely understand. Just teach me more techniques in the future."
"No problem!" Derek Su said with a serious face.
He would make sure Absolute Shadow learned the techniques properly, and he would not hold anything back. Just the fact that Absolute Shadow had rescued Crimson was enough for him to be grateful to her for the rest of his life.
"How is Crimson doing now?"
"She's doing fine." Absolute Shadow instinctively reached for a cigar, only to come up empty again. She smiled apologetically. "Sorry. Habit... Right now, Crimson is worried about Julian Ziliang, but there's definitely nothing she can do. If Julian Ziliang is going to be saved, it will ultimately depend on you, Boss Su."
Meeting Derek Su's gaze, Absolute Shadow's expression became solemn.
"Boss Su, you absolutely must win the provincial-level track championship. That gives you the highest chance of becoming a Techmaster. And as long as you become a Techmaster, you can use Julian Ziliang's status as your master to have him released."
"Originally, that would not have been quite enough. But after the Sharp Peak Black Market incident, Ethan Yang has already fallen."
There was one more thing Absolute Shadow did not say.
The reason she was so confident was also connected to the Techmasters' Alliance having part of its power reduced.
On the surface, it seemed as if Eden had not done much.
She had only rescued a few Mecha Girls from the black market, Mecha Girls no one cared about.
But in reality, she had been like a file.
She had scraped a deep cut into the Techmasters' Alliance.
...
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