Chapter 101: Eternity-01
Stella was exceptionally smart.
The instant Derek Su finished speaking, she understood that he meant for the car body to lower its stance—not for her to crouch inside the cockpit. Still, out of instinct, she lowered herself as well, her rounded little rear sticking up as the chassis dropped at the same time. The entire vehicle pressed itself flat against the road, as if fully prone.
Her front end had a standard streamlined shape. With the sudden braking, it became like a launch ramp jammed directly in front of Blazing Wind and Chloe Qin.
At that kind of speed, Blazing Wind had no time to react, and Chloe Qin’s neural reflexes were even slower.
As Derek Su and Stella slammed on the brakes—
They crashed straight into them!
Boom—!
A heavy, muffled impact rang out.
It was the sound of tires slamming into Stella’s front end.
This time, Blazing Wind didn’t suffer much damage.
Her entire body was simply flung upward, as if she’d hit a launch ramp and been sent flying.
At the same moment, Derek Su stepped hard on the accelerator and pushed the control stick to the limit.
Without sparing Blazing Wind or Chloe Qin even a glance, he skimmed past Blazing Wind’s undercarriage.
Stella’s body snapped back into position, her tires regaining grip.
Vroooom—!
The engine roared.
A streak of silver light shot along the 1,200-meter bridge toward the finish line.
Chloe Qin and Blazing Wind could only stare blankly as Stella’s taillights grew farther and farther away.
“What… just happened?”
Chloe Qin’s mind was a complete mess.
Everything had occurred in the blink of an eye.
Before she could understand anything, she and Blazing Wind had already been sent flying.
But flight always has its peak.
They couldn’t stay in the air forever—eventually, they had to fall.
Just like Chloe Qin couldn’t remain the lofty Queen of the Track forever.
It was time for her to—
Fall from the throne!
At a certain moment, the sensation of weightlessness snapped Chloe Qin back to her senses.
Her instincts as a racer made her quickly adjust Blazing Wind’s landing posture.
But it was useless.
When Derek Su had swept them away with Stella, the car body had been tilted outward, toward the edge of the bridge.
Which meant that Chloe Qin and Blazing Wind’s landing point wasn’t the bridge deck—
It was the surging river below.
For Derek Su and Stella, 1,200 meters passed in an instant.
By the time he finished a drifting maneuver and brought Stella to a stop at the recovery platform—
A huge splash echoed from beneath the bridge.
That was the sound of Blazing Wind and Chloe Qin hitting the water.
From a height of ten meters, with the water acting as a buffer, neither Chloe Qin nor Blazing Wind would be in mortal danger.
Derek Su stared coldly at the river’s surface.
He didn’t know Chloe Qin.
He only hoped the icy river water would clear her head a little.
...
“Stella, does your head hurt?”
Derek Su bent down, stretched out his arm, and gently patted Stella’s small head.
Being able to pull off a series of maneuvers that looked like something straight out of an action movie was entirely thanks to Stella’s outstanding Impact Resistance and Stability.
It could be said that Stella was the biggest contributor today.
Otherwise, even with his skills, swapping to another Mecha Girl would’ve made it very hard to get out unscathed.
“Huh? Master, are you questioning the strength of this Super Crash-Resistant King?”
Stella turned her head, flicked her bangs aside to reveal her smooth, fair forehead, and said smugly,
“My head is the hardest part of my body. Just shoveling a Mecha Girl away like that couldn’t possibly hurt me… That said, Master, that move was awesome! Next time we run into bad guys who like poking my butt, let’s use this again!”
Seeing that Stella was indeed fine, Derek Su finally relaxed.
Damage to the vehicle body would be reflected synchronously on the Mecha Girl’s body.
For example, Stella’s rear—where she’d been hit—now looked a little swollen, like it had just been smacked.
Watching her smug expression, he couldn’t help but laugh.
“If you’re so crash-resistant, why does your butt still hurt?”
“Ugh…” Stella’s face turned red. She covered her rear awkwardly and muttered,
“The flesh there is softer… When I got that massage before, Master knew that already…”
...
“Congratulations to both of you for winning this Blade Path championship.”
The track official walked up to Derek Su and Stella carrying the prize money.
When he shook Derek Su’s hand, his face was full of admiration.
“Honestly, I never imagined you’d deal with an opponent clinging to your back like that. Just the scene where you shove Blazing Wind away is already worthy of being selected as one of this year’s Top Ten Racing Highlights. No wonder everyone calls you the Magician—your driving skill is simply unbelievable.”
The official was an elderly man well past sixty, with a kindly expression.
Being praised so enthusiastically by someone like that left Derek Su a little embarrassed.
Stella, on the other hand, felt absolutely no such restraint. Hugging the prize money, she stepped forward, planted one hand on her hip, and said proudly,
“Of course! Just look at who my master is! By the way, Grandpa, don’t you have anything to say to me?”
The old man stared at Stella for a long moment before finally replying awkwardly,
“Uh… you’re also very impressive. Cute, too. Very powerful. And your driver’s pineapple helmet is quite… distinctive.”
Stella puffed out her cheeks in displeasure.
It was obvious this old man was just brushing her off.
“My technique really isn’t anything special,” Derek Su said with a doting smile as he rubbed Stella’s head.
“The main reason is that Stella’s performance is rock-solid. Without her, my outcome today probably wouldn’t have been very good. Forget winning the championship—I might’ve even been rammed off the bridge by someone else’s Mecha Girl.”
“Hmph~” Stella lifted her chin proudly and glanced at the old man.
See that?
She, Pineapple King, was an indispensable part of Pineapple Grand King!
“Is that so?” The old man’s gaze toward Stella finally carried a bit more appreciation.
He’d originally thought that everything he’d seen today was supported entirely by Derek Su’s driving skill.
After all, whether it was the continuous predictive blocking or spinning the car around to shovel an opponent away, those weren’t maneuvers a Mecha Girl could perform on her own.
None in history ever had.
“If you have time, you can try challenging the Blade Path track record,” the old man continued.
“The current fastest record holder is a Mecha Girl called Eternity-01, with a total time of 11 minutes and 17 seconds.”
After handing over the prize money, the old man pointed toward the statue at the center of the podium.
It depicted a snow-white luxury racing machine, with a tall, slender girl wearing a cold expression standing beside it.
Clearly, it showed the Mecha Girl and her deployed humanoid form.
“That’s Eternity-01?” Derek Su was stunned.
A 100-kilometer course completed in 11 minutes and 17 seconds—how fast was that? At least 550 kilometers per hour.
“That’s right. And she completed the entire run in autonomous mode. With a driver’s assistance, she might have been even faster.”
The old man clasped his hands behind his back, gazing at Eternity-01’s statue with emotion.
“She’s the fastest Mecha Girl I’ve ever seen. Simply… simply like a blade cutting through time itself.”
“If you can break the record, you’ll receive another two million in prize money, and I’ll have your statue erected here as well.”
The old man chuckled, then turned and walked away with his hands behind his back, bodyguards following him.
“Oh, right!” He suddenly stopped and turned his head.
“Eternity-01 and her driver will also be participating in the provincial Panlong Mountain Circuit. If you plan on racing there this year, you might run into them.”
With that, he left, his words carrying a mix of anticipation and faint schadenfreude.
“Eternity-01?”
Stella stared at the statue, clenching her fists as battle intent surged in her eyes.
“I, the Invincible Acceleration King—Pineapple King—the world’s cutest Mecha Girl—Stella, will defeat you! Whooo!!”
Derek Su: “...”
Great. The Invincible Crash-Resistant King had picked up yet another title.
Comments (0)
Please login or sign up to post a comment.