Chapter 116: Not Wanting to Part

“Hey! Don’t tell me those people in the tunnel were arranged by you?”

Chloe Qin stiffly twisted her neck, her face dark as she stared at her fiancé.

“Th-that really is…” Howard Wang didn’t look any better himself.

Those people had been sent to intercept Derek Su and Stella—yet they’d been taken out instead by Leon Li and Snowpeak.

From what had just happened in the tunnel, it was obvious that Derek Su and Stella hadn’t been affected much at all.

“So what now? All your arrangements were a complete waste! From what I can see, your people were pretty useless.” Chloe Qin folded her arms and snorted coldly.

Howard Wang felt his face burning with embarrassment in front of his fiancée. He forced a smile. “Chloe, don’t be mad yet. Who could’ve guessed Derek Su and Stella wouldn’t catch up to Leon Li and Snowpeak? My setup isn’t finished—there’s still more coming!”

Chloe Qin had already lost confidence in her fiancé’s so-called plans.

For racers like Derek Su and Leon Li, throwing ordinary drivers onto the track to block them was completely pointless.

Her fiancé simply didn’t understand racing.

He had ideas, but his thinking couldn’t keep up. The money was wasted, and his face was swollen for nothing.

“Leon Li and Snowpeak are a problem too.”

Chloe Qin watched Snowpeak cut through the track, her expression grave.

She hadn’t paid any attention to Leon Li and Snowpeak before. But watching Derek Su and Leon Li clash like this set off alarm bells in her head. If she swapped places—whether with Blazing Wind or Viper—against Derek Su and Stella, would she really have a way to deal with Snowpeak’s brutal, beast-like driving style?

She thought it over for a long time. Her face grew paler, sweat beading on her forehead.

She realized there was nothing she could do against Snowpeak at all.

To beat Snowpeak, there were only two options: either suppress her head-on with comparable speed and equal or greater impact resistance, or completely crush her with overwhelming speed.

And on top of that, Snowpeak also had a special skill.

“Howard Wang, transfer thirty million to me later,” Chloe Qin said, turning to Howard Wang, a trace of panic flashing in her eyes.

Howard Wang, doting on his fiancée, didn’t hesitate. He pulled out a bank card and stuffed it into her hand.

“Fifty million in the account. Password’s your birthday.”

Chloe Qin took the card and glanced gratefully at Howard Wang.

She had figured out how to deal with Snowpeak and Stella.

It still meant messing with things on the track—but definitely not by casually hiring random drivers to block the road like Howard Wang had.

Dealing with Snowpeak and Stella required targeted measures. For example, the Mecha Girl used against Snowpeak didn’t need to be fast, but her impact resistance had to match Snowpeak’s—or even exceed it. Only by coordinating like that would there be a chance to force Snowpeak off the track. The same applied to Stella.

And naturally, that kind of targeted plan cost serious money.

“Top-tier Mecha Girls might be out of reach, but dealing with you? That I can manage.”

Staring at Snowpeak and Stella on the screen, Chloe Qin’s eyes turned vicious.

No one was going to stop her from placing in the top ten on the provincial circuit.

She would become a Techmaster—someone above the rest.

No matter the cost.

…

By now, Derek Su and Leon Li had already driven their respective Mecha Girls out of the tunnel.

After running into that slow-moving blockade inside the tunnel, Derek Su no longer rushed to overtake Leon Li.

He let Leon Li and Snowpeak clear the way, planning to make his move together with Stella once the race passed the halfway point.

The plan was neat and tidy, and Derek Su sat steady and confident.

But Stella couldn’t hold it in. Staring at Snowpeak’s taillights ahead, she fidgeted nonstop, restless and agitated.

She could clearly overtake them, yet Derek Su kept holding her back.

It felt like she was completely pinned down, unable to move no matter how much she struggled.

“Master, when are we going to overtake…”

“Master, the race is almost halfway over! If we don’t pass them now, it’ll be too late!”

“Master, please, let me overtake! I really want to overtake!”

“Master, if we lose to those two rotten eggs, I’ll get depression…”

Stella muttered nonstop, rambling endlessly like a broken record.

Derek Su laughed helplessly and couldn’t resist pinching Stella’s little butt. “What depression? Do you even know what depression is? Don’t just learn a word and start using it everywhere.”

“How could I not know?” Stella puffed out her cheeks, sulking. “Lumina got depression and then couldn’t race anymore. If I got it, I’d have to eat a thousand pineapples every day just to sleep. Otherwise I’d go crazy, start howling and biting people, and chew Master’s head like a pineapple…”

Derek Su shuddered at the mental image—it was straight out of a zombie movie.

He straightened up and glanced at Snowpeak and Leon Li ahead.

The race really was nearing its midpoint.

They needed to force Snowpeak to burn through all her Spatial Jumps as soon as possible.

“So… should we overtake a little?”

“Overtake!” Stella instantly lit up, eyes sparkling. “This king wants to overtake hard!”

“Alright!” Derek Su slammed the accelerator down.

Vrooom—!

A fierce surge pressed him back into Stella’s soft driver’s seat.

The roughly five-meter gap between Stella and Snowpeak vanished in an instant under full acceleration.

With a flick of the control stick, Stella pulled right alongside Snowpeak.

Leaning one hand against the window, Derek Su glanced sideways at the expressionless Leon Li and grinned.
“Mr. Leon, you’ve been eating my exhaust for so long—now it’s your turn!”

Ahead was a bend hidden behind a mountain wall, with no view of what lay beyond.

As the race entered the latter half, the terrain grew more complex and the turns sharper.

For Derek Su, the upcoming sections were his and Stella’s home turf. Pulling away would be effortless.

“Don’t even think about passing!” Leon Li snorted coldly.

Snowpeak had never been faster than Stella in her current state. Now was the time to suppress her momentum.

He activated Spatial Jump, cutting straight through the mountain wall.

Derek Su curled his lip, thinking the guy really couldn’t take a hit.

But immediately afterward, a violent series of crashes erupted from behind the mountain wall.

It sounded like a massive pileup on a highway.

“Something’s wrong!” Derek Su narrowed his eyes and slammed the brakes.

He took the mountain-wall turn with extreme caution. Before he’d even cleared half the bend, he saw shattered guardrails beyond the wall. Mecha Girls lay scattered across the track, knocked unconscious—some had likely already fallen off the cliff. Up ahead, Leon Li and Snowpeak had already blasted away with explosive acceleration, leaving behind choking white smoke. Only Snowpeak’s blood-red taillights flickered faintly within it.

“Damn—!”

Derek Su sucked in a sharp breath at the devastation around him.

In the stands, Chloe Qin rolled her eyes at Howard Wang, who looked painfully awkward.

Stella stood there blankly, completely stunned.

Seeing her Mecha Girl’s dazed expression, Derek Su pinched her butt again.
“Good thing I didn’t overtake earlier. Otherwise you’d have knocked your head crooked.”

“Wuwu… Master, I was wrong,” Stella hugged her head in apology, then protested, “But even if I’d been clearing the way, I would’ve just crashed these Mecha Girls aside anyway!”

Derek Su’s mouth twitched. “Would your head hurt?”

“Uh… probably a lot?”

“Then that’s that! You’re already kind of dumb—crash more and you’ll get even dumber!”

“Wuu… QAQ”

After that, Stella never urged Derek Su again.

But Derek Su dropped his earlier restraint and began hounding Leon Li and Snowpeak relentlessly.

When only a quarter of the race remained, Leon Li finally used his last Spatial Frog Jump.

The ninth jump traversed only ten meters, granting a two-second burst of acceleration.

It was no longer enough to threaten Derek Su and Stella.

Watching Stella’s taillights pull farther away, Leon Li let out a bitter smile.

“Snowpeak, we did our best.”

“Master…” Snowpeak looked at Leon Li through the rearview mirror, worry in her voice. “When we go back… will the boss scold us?”

“The mission failed. That’s unavoidable. Even without leaking intel ahead of time, we still couldn’t outrun Derek Su and Stella.”

“Then, Master… will the boss make me leave you?” Snowpeak’s voice trembled.

She had been purchased by the Crown Club. Even though she had a contract with Leon Li, strictly speaking, she wasn’t his Mecha Girl. He only held the right to drive her.

“I don’t know.” Leon Li drove on in silence, the wind blowing in through the window feeling ice-cold.

In his eyes, Ethan Yang was an arrogant, harsh man. Only drivers who brought him value were treated well.

Those who didn’t were eliminated.

After returning, he’d probably assign Snowpeak a better driver, right?

“Master…”

Snowpeak fell silent.

Leon Li looked up and saw her shoulders trembling faintly.

“Snowpeak, you…”

Snowpeak turned around, tears welling in her eyes.

The vehicle lost its core control and slowly came to a stop by the roadside.

“I don’t want to be separated from you!”

Her broken cry was torn apart by the wind.

That usually expressionless face was now filled with grievance and fear.

Snowpeak—the Mecha Girl who feared nothing on the track, the boss that countless Mecha Girls dreaded.

Yet now her eyes were filled with uncontrollable terror.

Leon Li opened his mouth, his throat tightening as if gripped by icy fingers, making it hard to breathe.

He didn’t want to part with Snowpeak either.

But the club’s rules were there in black and white.

Ethan Yang was a Techmaster. His authority was absolute.

If Ethan Yang insisted on taking Snowpeak back, then…

A pale blue crystal appeared in Snowpeak’s hands as she held it out toward Leon Li.

Leon Li froze, staring at her in disbelief.

“Master, please sign with me—a Core Contract!”

Snowpeak pressed her lips together stubbornly. Tears shimmered in her reddened eyes, but her gaze was unwavering.

A powerful surge of emotion slammed into Leon Li’s soul, sending shivers through his entire body.

He lowered his head, lips trembling.
“…Alright.”