A fierce gale swept past.
The flags at the finish line were blown every which way.
The weather-beaten speed detector finally gave out. Stella's wake ripped it from its position, hurled it onto the track, and snapped it cleanly in two.
Only the display stubbornly remained lit, showing an instantaneous speed of 1,004 km/h.
In the end, Stella never quite managed to enter Overclocking.
She had crossed the finish line before the transformation was complete.
And even after crossing it, she showed no intention of slowing down.
Stella had been going so fast that Derek Su, her pilot, didn't even realize they had crossed the line. It wasn't until they had already entered the circular runoff track built beyond the finish to give Mecha Girls room to slow down, and were about to crash into the stands, that he finally snapped back to his senses.
He hurriedly yanked the control stick and sent Stella drifting through the curve.
"Stella, we already crossed the finish line!" he shouted.
Stella: "Paaaaaass!!"
"Stop trying to pass anyone. We already finished." Derek Su sighed helplessly and reached out to pinch Stella's butt.
Stella: "Passed! I passed Eternity! Awoooo!"
Derek Su: "..."
To keep Stella from getting herself hurt, he had no choice but to take her around the circular track another seven or eight times.
Only after Stella gradually calmed down did he guide her onto the recovery platform and bring her to a stop.
Inside the cockpit, Stella sat with her head lowered, her bangs hiding her eyes and leaving only her pale chin visible. Her chest rose and fell violently as heavy breaths escaped through her nose and mouth, somehow sounding strangely cute.
Derek Su wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and looked around.
Every flag around the finish line had been blown over, leaving the area in complete disarray. Smoke was still pouring from Stella's engine. Nearby, a group of staff members stood clutching fire extinguishers, looking terrified and clearly wanting to approach but not quite daring to.
Fortunately, the club's support crew arrived almost immediately and blasted Stella's chassis with dry-ice extinguishers.
The sudden spray of freezing cold dry ice hit her.
Stella, who had been sitting there with her head bowed in thought, suddenly looked up. Her large blue eyes darted left and right before she turned to look back at Derek Su.
Then she stared out the window and froze, her eyes radiating pure cluelessness.
"Huh?"
"Master, how did we end up on the recovery platform already?"
Derek Su: "..."
Good thing Stella had a quick-reacting pilot like him.
Otherwise, she wouldn't be sitting on the recovery platform right now. She'd be embedded in a wall.
"Master, how did we do? Did we beat Eternity and Lucy Luo?"
At Stella's question, Derek Su frowned slightly.
He was confused too.
According to Absolute Shadow, Lucy Luo had been thirty seconds ahead of them.
If that were true, then five short kilometers shouldn't have been enough for them to overtake Eternity and Lucy Luo.
But...
He glanced outside.
Lucy Luo and Eternity were standing beside the track, staring at the giant screen as though they had just seen something unbelievable.
Derek Su wanted to look at the screen too.
Unfortunately, they were facing away from it, so he couldn't see a thing.
[Mr. Su? Mr. Su, are you there?]
Absolute Shadow's voice came through the walkie-talkie.
"I'm here." Derek Su nodded and glanced at Stella, who had twisted around to face him.
She looked exactly like a student waiting for her college entrance exam results, her face tense as she kept rubbing her hands together and taking deep breaths.
[Mr. Su, aren't you curious about your and Stella's result?]
"Just tell us already." Derek Su looked away from Stella. "She's about to cry from nerves."
A soft laugh came through the radio.
[Seventeen seconds.]
The moment Stella heard that, the light vanished from her eyes.
She whimpered softly and lowered her head.
[Seventeen seconds faster than Eternity.]
Absolute Shadow continued.
Derek Su breathed a sigh of relief.
Just as he thought.
Absolute Shadow was really learning bad habits. She had even started deliberately keeping people in suspense.
She had nearly scared Stella to tears.
Stella, who had already been on the verge of crying, forcibly sucked the tears back in.
"Seventeen seconds faster? Really?!"
[Really.]
[You and Mr. Su took first place in the first section of Panlong Mountain.]
Even Absolute Shadow couldn't hide the excitement in her voice.
It hadn't been easy.
Eternity's performance was absurd, her special skill was absurd, and she had even managed to overclock after getting clipped by a boulder.
Defeating an opponent that ridiculous was no small accomplishment.
"Woohoo! I knew it! I-I knew it!!"
Stella was so excited she could barely speak coherently. She didn't even know what she wanted to say.
She simply stared at Derek Su, abruptly canceled her deployed mode, and ignored the entire circle of support Mecha Girls standing around them.
Then she jumped straight into Derek Su's arms and wrapped both arms around his neck.
"Smack, smack, smack..."
She showered him with kisses.
Derek Su lost count of how many times Stella planted one on him.
All he knew was that his entire face smelled like fruit-scented windshield washer fluid.
"Ladies and gentlemen, although many competitors still haven't reached the finish line for the first section of the Panlong Mountain Circuit, I believe there's no one left who can surpass Derek Su and Stella's current result.
One hour, thirty-seven minutes flat. This is the fastest time ever recorded in the thirty years since the Panlong Mountain Circuit opened."
Kool Kenny raised one hand.
The camera switched to Stella, who was furiously planting hickeys all over Derek Su while he closed his eyes and silently endured it.
Kool Kenny drew a deep breath and announced at the top of his lungs:
"Derek Su and Stella have broken the thirty-year record for the fastest time on the first section of the Panlong Mountain Circuit!"
"We're witnessing history!"
The stands erupted.
Cheers and applause thundered from both the starting area and the finish line.
Tunbao howled as he grabbed Lingwind in a hug, squashing Lingwind's face out of shape. Imperial Scale stared at the giant screen, her gaze fixed on Derek Su as the corner of her mouth lifted slightly. In prison, Julian Ziliang watched the television and rubbed at his eyes with satisfaction.
At the finish line of the Knox Rally, Vanessa Ming and Blazing Wind didn't even go collect their trophies. Instead, the two of them huddled around a phone, grinning stupidly as they watched Stella smother Derek Su with kisses.
Chloe Qin's face had gone deathly pale, while the competitors preparing for the second section wore all kinds of expressions.
The second section of Panlong Mountain hadn't even started yet, and they had already been hit with a crushing blow.
One hour and thirty-seven minutes for the first section.
With a time like that, as long as they didn't crash on the second section, they could practically drive a Semi-trailer-type Mecha Girl so slowly that she had to bump and scrape her way down the mountain and still comfortably make the top ten.
Which meant securing the Sodium Fiber-Ω serum.
In the preparation area for the second section, Purple Lightning stared toward Derek Su and Stella with determination in her eyes.
"Stella has completed her mission." She took a deep breath and clenched her fists. "Now it's my turn."
"You can do it, Purple Lightning."
She quietly encouraged herself.
...
While everyone's attention was focused on Derek Su and Stella, Eternity stood beside the finish line staring at the result on the giant screen, her face pale.
"I'm sorry, Master. I promised I'd take you to victory, but in the end..."
She didn't dare look Lucy Luo in the eyes.
She knew how desperately Lucy Luo wanted this victory.
She also knew how important a provincial-level circuit was to her.
Lucy Luo must be devastated.
The mountain air was cold and silent.
Even the chirping of insects gradually faded away.
Only the wind remained.
Then a small hand suddenly came to rest on Eternity's head.
She froze for a moment before looking up.
There wasn't a trace of blame in the girl's eyes.
"Eternity, let's go watch the race from the stands."
Lucy Luo pulled Eternity to her feet and smiled.
"I had the support team prepare your favorite cucumber-flavored potato chips."
Eternity looked at Lucy Luo for a moment.
Then she smiled too.
"Okay."
...
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