"Master, if you oversleep again for a provincial-level track, from now on you'll get up at six every morning and do one hundred burpees. I'll be watching you."
Eternity's cold voice made Lucy Luo shiver.
One hundred burpees?! The corner of her mouth twitched, fear flickering in her eyes as she laughed dryly. "All right, all right, I get it. I definitely won't be late next time... You know how it is. At my age, I'm supposed to get plenty of sleep. Not sleeping enough makes you ugly~"
Eternity ignored Lucy Luo's excuses.
She tilted her head slightly and said calmly, "You always carry that family photo with you, so I'm sure you haven't forgotten why you started. I just hope you'll work a little harder."
Lucy Luo's smile faded when she heard that, and she pressed her lips together.
"...How could I forget?"
She murmured to herself, her eyes filled with a complicated mix of loneliness, confusion, and sadness.
But she quickly pushed those emotions down, leaving only an unshakable will and firm resolve.
"I will become world-class!" She clenched her fists, as if speaking to Eternity, and as if speaking to herself.
"I'll find Tania! I want to ask her why she abandoned Mom when she was so sick, and why she didn't even come to the funeral in the end."
"Why did she just disappear without a word...? Does the world of Techmasters really have no need for family?"
Through the rearview mirror, Eternity saw the shimmer in Lucy Luo's eyes.
Guilt rose in her heart. She should not have brought up Lucy Luo's painful memories.
Even if she had meant to encourage Lucy Luo and give her a push, she had been too impatient.
Thinking about it carefully, Lucy Luo did not really have any major flaws aside from being a little lazy.
Lucy Luo's father was from the Hu District, and her mother was from the Russian District. Lucy Luo took her father's surname, Luo, while Tania followed her mother's side. With her incredible driving talent, Tania had been Lucy Luo's idol since childhood.
Three years ago, Tania fought her way through round after round, breaking out from among countless Techmasters to win the world-class championship and become a world-class driver. It should have been something worth celebrating.
Because of Tania, the GPC Club gradually grew from an obscure little club into a major Top 100 club.
And because of Tania's success, Lucy Luo's life became incredibly comfortable.
But that was not what Lucy Luo wanted.
Ever since Tania became world-class, she had grown busier and busier.
At first, they could still talk on the phone once in a while. Later, it became once a month. After that, there was no news from her for an entire year.
If the officials had not still been using Tania for promotion, with posters and banners everywhere and all kinds of polished staged photos hanging throughout the core cities, Lucy Luo would have thought something had happened to her.
Tania was on the Fashion Week posters.
She was dressed beautifully, clearly having joined the ranks of the global elite.
Tania was also in Technology Monthly, seemingly having made major contributions to scientific research as well.
But Lucy Luo only saw all of that as capital pushing an image. Maybe Tania had already lost herself in that world of luxury and glamour.
She no longer raced. She no longer chased glory on the track.
After becoming world-class, it was as if she had completely abandoned everything she had once loved.
Of course, everyone had their own choices.
Some people kept climbing toward the next peak after success, while others stayed where they were, trapped in the joy of what they had already achieved.
Lucy Luo only wanted to know one thing.
Did Tania still have this family in her heart?
And to reach Tania, Lucy Luo had to become a Techmaster. She had to become world-class.
She needed a chance to speak with Tania as an equal!
"Eternity, we were late to this race, but luckily it's individually timed. We still have a chance."
Once she entered driving mode, Lucy Luo's face turned solemn, her expression indifferent. She rarely used Eternity's special skill because its conditions were extremely strict, and it was very easy to interrupt through control. Once interrupted, the skill would be wasted. But for now, the road ahead should be clear. With her skill, as long as she controlled Eternity's speed, there should not be any collisions in the corners.
Her voice was calm. "Activate the skill directly. Let's end this quickly!"
"Yes," Eternity replied with a nod.
The next second, a faint glow lit up in her heterochromatic eyes.
Silver-white specks of light gradually appeared around her car body, and her speed grew faster and faster.
Countless points of light gathered toward her. Her body shone brighter and brighter, laying out a path of radiance ahead that overlapped with the route of the track. The instant the Path of Glory fully formed, a brilliant golden gate slowly opened in front of Eternity.
Six exhaust pipes spat crimson flames.
BOOM—!
Amid the thunderous roar of the engine, Eternity charged through the gate.
At that moment, she fully merged with the Path of Glory.
Her speed reached the extreme, almost impossible to catch with the naked eye.
...
Because the Mermaid Bay Advanced Race had such a long track, the varying skill levels of the drivers and performance of their Mecha Girls caused the initial mixed pack to gradually split into four groups.
Each group consisted of anywhere from a few to over a dozen Mecha Girls.
They clashed nonstop among themselves, fighting so fiercely that none of them could break away easily.
As for first and second place, they were no longer thinking about that.
Imperial Scale and DL-02 were far too fast. No one had any desire to challenge them. But at least third place was still worth fighting for. After all, the prize money was one million. Even after splitting it fifty-fifty with the club, that still left five hundred thousand, did it not? Even if they did not save it to buy Modules, it was enough for them to enjoy themselves for quite a while.
The slowest group of cars was traveling at around 400 km/h.
There were only five competitors in this group.
They were basically the bottom tier of the Mermaid Bay Advanced Race.
But that did not mean they were weak.
For example, one of them was a driver from a Top 300 club. He had already competed in the Mermaid Bay Advanced Race during the first half of the year and placed in the top ten. Back then, he had raced with his primary Mecha Girl. This time, he had only brought his secondary Mecha Girl out to see the world and experience the track, so he did not really care what ranking they ended up with.
With nothing to fight over and no urge to compete too hard, he could even flirt and joke around in the cockpit.
But just then, the entire road surface of the track suddenly lit up.
It looked as if rain had just fallen.
The starlight and Milky Way above were reflected on the damp-looking road.
The hazy glow was breathtakingly beautiful.
Yet for some reason, it also gave off a mysterious and dangerous feeling.
"What is this?"
The driver stared at the track, confused.
Could it be some little surprise arranged by the organizers?
"Master! I sense psychic energy fluctuations!" The Mecha Girl looked stunned, her eyes full of surprise. She looked around. There were psychic energy fluctuations, but she could not see any top-tier Mecha Girl using a special skill...
That made things a little confusing.
Surely the opponent could not have turned invisible, right?
"Are the psychic energy fluctuations coming from behind us?" the driver asked.
"No. They're coming from this glowing track."
The driver frowned, thinking over what his Mecha Girl had said.
This glowing path was spreading from behind them.
If this was the special skill of some top-tier Mecha Girl, then that meant the Mecha Girl was behind them.
A top-tier Mecha Girl running even slower than them? How was that possible? They had clearly fallen to the very back from the moment the race started...
Then the driver suddenly remembered something.
Someone had been late to today's Advanced Race.
That person was...
Right!
The ace of the GPC Top 100 Glory Peak Club, Lucy Luo, and the top-tier Mecha Girl, Eternity!
"So she came after all?"
The driver clicked his tongue inwardly.
To still be allowed to race after being that late, the GPC Club really did have plenty of influence. But what exactly was this Path of Glory? He could not understand the point of this special skill at all.
It could not be...
That as long as she drove on this road, she could accelerate without limit, could it?!
The thought popped into his mind.
But he quickly tossed it aside.
"How could it be that ridiculous? Now I'm just letting my imagination run wild."
The driver laughed at himself, ignored the Path of Glory, and continued enjoying the scenery along the way with his Mecha Girl, flirting and joking as they deepened their bond.
...
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