Chapter 131: Free for the Taking
While Stella was lost in a moment of fantasy, occasionally flashing a sly, calculating smile at Imperial Scale, the auction continued.
All the Mecha Girls who hadn’t been successfully bid on earlier were brought back onto the floor together. Bidders in the auction seats could freely place offers starting from the reserve price. The goal was to increase the chances of each Mecha Girl being sold—some conglomerates and clubs had already seen their top picks taken by rivals, so this gave them a chance to go after their second-choice targets.
Any Mecha Girls still unsold after this round would have to wait for the next exhibition auction.
That said, most Mecha Girls found their destination within three exhibition rounds.
Cases like Imperial Scale and TB-21, who kept waiting, were exceedingly rare.
...
On the exhibition platform, TB-21 looked left and right but couldn’t find DL-01 anywhere. Panic surged through her—until her eyes met a cool, distant gaze from the bidding seats.
That cold, merciless woman was lounging back in her chair, legs crossed.
Those rose-colored eyes were filled with casual indifference.
Even from this distance, TB-21 could tell—Imperial Scale was looking straight at her.
“Damn it! When did the boss get auctioned off?! We promised we’d be each other’s angels!” TB-21 freaked out, like her mistress had already been married off while she, the dowry, was still stuck behind. Before bidding even began, she grabbed a functional Mecha Girl and dragged her aside for answers.
“What happened?! DL-01 already got sold?”
“Yeah.” The functional Mecha Girl nodded.
“How did that happen?”
“Uh, Auction Rule 177 was activated. The bidder was Derek Su, owner of the Stella Club. He put down an IOU for thirty million… Why do you ask?” The functional Mecha Girl looked at TB-21, puzzled.
What was she supposed to say?
That this Mecha Girl wanted to activate Rule 177 too?
“An IOU? That brutal?!” TB-21’s eyes went wide.
She bit her lip, wavering between money and her future. In the end, she pressed her palms together and pleaded, “Please activate Auction Rule 177 for me too!”
“You want to activate it as well?” The functional Mecha Girl froze.
What was going on today? Why was everyone suddenly invoking this obscure rule?
Were they really that desperate to get themselves auctioned off?
She was confused, but didn’t say anything. These were the Mecha Girls’ own choices—her job was just to run the auction.
She immediately announced TB-21’s activation of Auction Rule 177 to the bidders. TB-21’s base attributes were already solid, and once Rule 177 was in effect, the bidding atmosphere heated up even more.
What no one knew was that TB-21 had only one target in mind: Imperial Scale.
...
Following Imperial Scale’s instructions, Derek Su placed a casual bid.
He was a bit slow—he ended up being the twelfth person to meet with TB-21. When his turn finally came, he went in together with Imperial Scale.
“Waaah! Boss! I thought you didn’t want me anymore! Waaah!” The moment TB-21 saw Imperial Scale, tears of excitement burst from her eyes as she lunged forward like a feral dog pouncing on prey.
She was tall herself, a mature, commanding type, standing around 1.7 meters.
But compared to Imperial Scale, she still fell short.
Imperial Scale simply raised a hand and pressed two fingers precisely against TB-21’s forehead. No matter how hard TB-21 flailed, spinning her arms like a windmill, she couldn’t move an inch.
Imperial Scale: “Sit.”
“Okay.” TB-21 instantly snapped back to her seat and sat properly.
The corner of Derek Su’s mouth twitched as he took the seat opposite her.
Now he understood why Imperial Scale had insisted he bid on this Mecha Girl. The two of them clearly knew each other.
The only question was how much debt he was about to rack up with TB-21.
“So you’re DL-01’s master?”
TB-21 lifted her chin and sized Derek Su up. “The Magician? The King of Knox? You don’t look like you’ve got three heads or six arms. And yet the boss thinks so highly of you.”
Derek Su silently looked at the perfectly ordinary, two-armed TB-21 and said nothing.
Imperial Scale’s gaze turned sharp at his side. TB-21 caught it and immediately shut her mouth.
She forced a flattering smile and changed the subject. “Uh, anyway… we can talk about the price now, right?”
Derek Su nodded and got straight to the point. “What do you think makes you appealing to our club?”
TB-21: “???” Her smile froze.
Imperial Scale: “...”
Derek Su had already checked TB-21’s stats. As a high-performance Mecha Girl, she was genuinely impressive.
【Drifting: 79】
【Acceleration: 84】
【Cornering: 82】
【Boost Charge: 77】
【Stability: 76】
【Impact Resistance: 70】
【Endurance: 81】
A well-rounded Mecha Girl—solid across the board. A standard speed-type with reliable performance, just lacking a defining specialty.
Bringing someone like her into the club actually fit the Stella Club’s style quite well.
But Derek Su’s mindset had changed. He wasn’t just filling slots anymore.
With Imperial Scale as a powerful reinforcement, plus Stella and the reserve Purple Lightning, he intended to expand the Stella Club, strengthen it, and reclaim its former glory.
TB-21 glanced at Imperial Scale’s expression and thought to herself—no wonder Imperial Scale chose this man. His perspective really was on a different level. He flipped the table the moment he walked in. And yet Imperial Scale stood there with her arms crossed, expressionless, looking indifferent while feeling like a guillotine hanging overhead.
“Well… I think my performance speaks for itself. More importantly, I’m reliable, hardworking, and I can endure anything. Whatever tasks the boss assigns, I’ll get them done properly.”
TB-21 forced out a dry laugh, nearly grinding her teeth as she spoke.
She swore she’d squeeze Derek Su for everything he was worth later.
“Hm… The Stella Club was just established. We really do need someone to handle miscellaneous work,” Derek Su said, stroking his chin as he nodded.
TB-21’s face instantly turned green.
Miscellaneous work?
What?!
She was a high-performance Mecha Girl worth tens of millions—and she was being sent to do errands?!
“However,” Derek Su continued, “until you find a suitable pilot, I’ll teach you techniques. You can participate in training races under the club’s name. As for official competitions, applying in advance for unmanned operation should also be possible, right?” He looked toward Imperial Scale.
Imperial Scale nodded. “It is.”
In official competitions, Mecha Girls and drivers were generally required to participate together.
However, if a Mecha Girl belonged to a club but hadn’t been assigned a driver, she could apply for unmanned operation.
This was extremely rare. Most people believed Mecha Girls performed worse without a driver’s support—mainly because newly acquired Mecha Girls were often complete beginners, while drivers might already have experience on multiple tracks with other Mecha Girls.
Then there was the special group known as Techmasters.
Their abilities could amplify a Mecha Girl’s performance and influence races in terrifying ways.
But in Derek Su’s view, setting aside Techmasters, as long as a Mecha Girl studied techniques properly with him, having an ordinary driver wasn’t strictly necessary.
Of course, if he later encountered a suitable and talented driver, one could always be assigned to TB-21.
Sometimes track conditions became so complex that tough situations were unavoidable. In moments like that, two minds working together were always better than one.
Just like him and Stella.
Stella’s main role was to stimulate his brain into overdrive—using her rear end.
“You’re not planning to contract me?” TB-21’s eyes widened, anger simmering beneath the surface.
This was too much! First she was reduced to running errands, and now she wasn’t even getting a contract?!
“I’m not,” Derek Su said seriously. “You’re a speed-type Mecha Girl with excellent performance, but there’s no room for you to fully shine under me. Racing resources are limited, and for speed events, I can only compete with Stella. On top of that, I don’t have the time or energy right now to train another speed-type backup Mecha Girl.”
He knew this might make TB-21 refuse, but he preferred to be straightforward.
Bringing her in ambiguously without contracting her would just be stringing her along.
TB-21 puffed out her cheeks. If this were anyone else, she’d have already chased them out screaming.
But this was Imperial Scale’s driver—and she wanted to stay close to Imperial Scale…
“Then you’d better teach me seriously. And if you ever find a talented driver, you have to assign them to me immediately!”
After hesitating for a moment, TB-21 finally gave in.
She’d just treat it as being bought by the club as a backup Mecha Girl. That kind of thing was fairly common.
And she could still learn techniques from Derek Su. Until she had a driver, she’d just race unmanned.
But if that was the case, the price definitely couldn’t be cheap.
A cold glint flashed in TB-21’s eyes as she said, “As for the price—the boss went for thirty million. I won’t ask for much. Ten million will do.”
Derek Su thought to himself—ten million for a Mecha Girl with this level of performance was an absolute steal.
He was just about to nod—
when Imperial Scale beside him cleared her throat.
TB-21 shuddered and immediately changed her tune. “Uh, well… ten million might not show enough sincerity. How about five million?”
Derek Su: “???”
Imperial Scale: “Ahem.”
“Ah—uh—well, five million doesn’t really seem sincere either…” TB-21 was on the verge of tears, twisting her fingers in front of her chest before blurting out in defeat, “I—I don’t need any money! I just want to go to your club and learn techniques! That’s it—boss, let’s sign the contract right now! Waaah…”
TB-21 had a strong feeling that if she didn’t lock this down immediately, Imperial Scale might actually make her pay instead.
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