Chapter 114: The Flying Jump Kill
When was it that Derek Su and Stella became impossible to counter?
They had just tested it. Even at the instant of corner entry, that terrifying Derek Su could still rely on his absurd reflexes and driving skill to make a judgment within fractions of a second—dodging every possible risk.
In Stella’s eyes, Snowpeak was a monster, a final boss.
But in Leon Li’s eyes, wasn’t Derek Su the same?
The wind howled past his ears.
Snowpeak didn’t speak, yet the two of them were perfectly in sync.
Even from the rise and fall of the engine’s roar alone, he could feel Snowpeak’s response.
This girl was tough and quiet, yet sly and clever in her own way. They had traveled a long road together—long enough that the line between them had long since vanished.
In an extremely short span of time,
Leon Li found the answer he was looking for.
A single point.
A critical point!
The exact moment when Derek Su and Stella would be on the verge of losing control mid-corner.
At that point, Derek Su could only do one thing—focus entirely on guiding Stella through the turn.
If he dared do anything else, Stella would lose control.
That point wasn’t hard to find, because Stella’s speed was simply too high.
So high that once Snowpeak’s burst acceleration ended, the distance between them would be pulled open almost immediately.
Before that burst ended, Leon Li kept Snowpeak tucked into Stella’s low-pressure wake, quietly observing.
Even in a series of linked corners, a driver didn’t just pin the steering and floor the throttle, leaving everything else to the Mecha Girl.
That was how amateurs drove.
A skilled driver constantly adjusted the Mecha Girl’s body position with the control stick, fine-tuning the angle between the tires and the track.
At the same time, they coordinated braking and throttle to keep the Mecha Girl within a relatively stable speed range.
What looked like a monotonous, unchanging inertia was actually a patterned cycle.
Each cycle had to be initiated personally by the driver, and every successful cycle was like winding a spring—letting the Mecha Girl carry that momentum smoothly through the turn.
What Leon Li was searching for was the exact timing of each cycle transition when Derek Su was driving Stella.
He had such cycles as well. But Snowpeak and Stella had different attributes, so their cycle transition points were different.
Observation and learning were indispensable talents for any driver.
And this just happened to be what he excelled at.
“Found it!”
His eyes lit up as he mashed the throttle to the floor.
The leopard that had been coiled and waiting finally pounced, baring its claws.
At that exact moment, Derek Su was turning the control stick. After completing the previous deceleration cycle, he had been alternating throttle input to maintain Stella’s cornering speed and tire grip. Now, the moment had come to press it down fully. The handbrake was already in his grip—accelerate, continue through the turn.
And in Leon Li’s eyes, this was precisely the start of a new cycle.
Throttle down.
Stella hovered on the brink of losing control.
A chill surged up Derek Su’s spine.
His heart jolted as he flicked his eyes to the rearview mirror.
Snowpeak was already lunging in for the kill. Inside the cockpit, Leon Li’s eyes burned with obsession—and the joy of victory.
Not bad.
He’d actually found an opening like this.
Derek Su rarely admired anyone, but at this moment, he genuinely did admire Leon Li.
But…
“Still too young. Not enough experience.”
“You never know what tricks old monsters like us still have.”
At this moment, he and Stella had nowhere to dodge.
So they wouldn’t dodge.
Getting hit would cause loss of control. Trying to finesse it would also cause loss of control.
If the outcome was the same either way, then—
Go all out!
The control stick snapped over. The handbrake yanked up. The throttle was floored.
Tires ground against gravel, spraying crimson sparks.
Stella cried out as the car lurched toward the cliff.
But under Derek Su’s control, her rear twisted sharply, lining up directly with Snowpeak’s front.
A massive force slammed into them. Derek Su released the handbrake—like triggering another launch start.
Driven by the combined force of Snowpeak’s impact and Stella’s engine,
Stella shot off the cliff like a bird smashing free of its cage.
“Woohoo—rocket launch!” Derek Su whooped, sticking his right hand out the window and flashing a thumbs-up.
He knew Leon Li and Snowpeak could see it.
At this moment, he and Stella were already less than a hundred meters above the bottom of the Loren Volcano crater.
Here, the crater’s diameter had shrunk to roughly two hundred meters.
There was a height difference between the upper and lower circular tracks. Under normal circumstances, Stella couldn’t leap from the upper level to the lower one. While cornering, her nose ran parallel to the tangent of the curve—but to complete a jump, the car needed to be perpendicular to that tangent.
That was the safest angle, providing the greatest vertical clearance. However, the track was too narrow. Adjusting the nose to a perpendicular angle meant there wouldn’t be enough momentum.
But now, the collision from Leon Li and Snowpeak had made up for that lack of power.
The flying jump lasted no more than a blink.
By the time Leon Li and Snowpeak realized what had happened, Derek Su and Stella had already leapt down to the lower level.
Stella landed in perfect form—only her rear bumped against the volcano wall once, nothing serious.
“Waaah, Master… my butt really hurts…”
Stella was still caught up in the pain when she suddenly sensed something was off.
Where were Leon Li and Snowpeak?
Her butt had just been hit twice—just those two hits—and Leon Li and Snowpeak had somehow smashed themselves into… nothing?
She looked back, and only then did she come back to her senses.
In a daze, it seemed she had somehow pulled off a ridiculously high-difficulty flying jump?
“It’s fine, it doesn’t hurt anymore. Let me rub it for you~ hehehe…”
Derek Su smoothly placed his hand on Stella’s pert rear, sending reassurance through her and giving a gentle squeeze to help relax her muscles.
If the situation hadn’t been so urgent, he wouldn’t have made Stella pay the price of a bruised butt to pull off that jump.
But in that split second, his mind had discarded dozens of options, leaving only this one as the optimal solution.
The result?
Perfect.
Long live the butt!
...
“An unbelievable flying jump!”
Taimei was so excited she backhanded Kool across the face and shrieked, “Kool, am I dreaming?!”
Kool wasn’t one to take a loss. He immediately swung back and slapped her in return, then grabbed the microphone, leapt onto the desk, and roared at the camera, “Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby declare—this flying jump will be written into the history of the Silverstone Advanced Race!”
Taimei struggled to get back up, but Kool launched a flying kick and knocked her flat again.
A moment destined for the history books—and it would be reported by Kool alone!
Promotion and a raise were practically guaranteed!
The stands erupted.
They had all witnessed the brutal clash between Stella and Snowpeak.
Even without experiencing it firsthand, the danger alone was enough to make their skin crawl.
Purple Lightning was so overwhelmed she burst into tears.
Chloe and Howard Wang stared dumbfounded, mouths hanging open wide enough to stuff a bun inside.
This battle wasn’t just a collision between Mecha Girls—it was a contest of intellect between drivers.
And it ended with Derek Su and Stella using Leon Li and Snowpeak’s impact to leap across the volcanic crater.
A kill shot!
A true, absolute kill shot!
…
Inside the cockpit, watching Derek Su and Stella disappear into the distance, Leon Li and Snowpeak fell silent.
“Master, I’m sorry… I—”
Snowpeak turned to him, eyes red with worry, pitiful enough to tug at the heart.
Leon Li only smiled, gently patting her head.
“Silly girl. Why are you apologizing?”
“I didn’t do well. I held Master back…” Snowpeak lowered her head.
“The Magician really is hard to deal with—unbelievably so. That’s not your fault.”
“But…” Snowpeak bit her lip, hesitating.
When she looked up, she met Leon Li’s resolute gaze beneath his tousled bangs.
“Since we’ve been pushed to the brink, then…”
Light flared in his eyes.
“…we’ll go all out!!”
Author's Note
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