Stella and Eternity entered the maintenance station one after the other to change tires.
At this point, the race clock for both of them was paused.
As the drivers, Derek Su and Lucy Luo were given about two minutes of rest.
There wasn't much they could do in that time, but it was enough to let their tightly wound minds relax a little.
"Hey, Magician, let's get acquainted!"
Derek Su was in the middle of drinking water when a crisp voice suddenly rang out from across the lane—it was Eternity's driver, Lucy Luo.
He put down the bottle and looked over to see Lucy Luo half leaning out of Eternity's cockpit window, her long golden hair hanging in a wild mess. If she had a pale face and blood-red eyes to go with it, she could've easily cosplayed a zombie from Train to Busan.
But Lucy Luo was actually very pretty.
Compared to the almost flawless Mecha Girls, she had an extra touch of natural vitality that belonged uniquely to humans.
"Hello." Derek Su nodded at the oddly styled Lucy Luo.
He had a good impression of her.
Not because she was good-looking, but because she raced cleanly—she didn't rely on dirty tricks on the track.
Derek Su appreciated drivers who were "civilized."
His own rule was simple: if no one messed with him, he wouldn't mess with them.
As long as Lucy Luo and Eternity didn't cause him trouble, he wouldn't deliberately block them either.
On the track, everything should be decided by the Mecha Girls' speed and the drivers' skill.
"Magician, ever thought about joining our GPC Club? We'll give you full resources, plus pretty girls to give you massages~ Or if you want me to do it myself, that's fine too~"
Lucy Luo wore a roguish grin and deliberately tossed Derek Su a flirtatious wink.
The corner of Derek Su's mouth twitched.
Were kids these days all this forward?
He played along and shot back, "Why don't you join our Stella Club instead? We've got professional bath scrubbers—guaranteed to make your scalp go numb from how good it feels!"
"Sure~"
To Derek Su's surprise, Lucy Luo agreed without hesitation.
Smiling brightly, she said, "You're planning to run the provincial-level track, right? Panlong Mountain, first section. Beat me and Eternity there, and I'll quit GPC on the spot and join your club."
Derek Su raised an eyebrow. "You said it yourself."
"Mhm, I keep my word~"
With a mischievous laugh, Lucy Luo withdrew back into the cockpit.
Derek Su didn't take it seriously. He assumed she was just joking.
He did have confidence in building up the Stella Club, but as things stood, Stella Club was nowhere near comparable to GPC, which ranked among the top two hundred.
"Tire change complete!"
A crew member raised a ready sign.
Lucy Luo and Eternity had entered the maintenance station a bit later, so their tire change took slightly longer than Derek Su and Stella's.
"Then we'll be heading out first."
Derek Su waved casually and put his helmet back on.
The second stage still had more than two hundred kilometers left.
He and Stella needed to use their speed and cornering advantage to reduce the pressure for the final two stages.
...
In less than a minute, the maintenance station had vanished from sight.
Visibility in the desert at night was poor. From the rearview mirror, Eternity couldn't be seen at all.
However, the sound of her engine could still be heard, indicating that Eternity had already started up and was following behind at a steady distance.
"Master, something feels wrong…" Stella's troubled voice came from the front.
Derek Su froze for a moment and quickly asked, "What's wrong?"
"My feet feel uncomfortable…"
For Stella, her feet were her tires.
Discomfort in her feet meant something was wrong with the tires.
Derek Su's brow furrowed. He suddenly stepped on the brakes, and Stella's body immediately lost stability. He quickly adjusted the control lever and downshifted, but still couldn't recover control.
The section they were on was now entirely loose, dry sand.
On this kind of terrain, speed dropped drastically. The wheels would sink into the sand, requiring greater driving force just to keep moving, and actions like turning or braking could easily cause slipping.
Because of this, the maintenance station had specially prepared HT tires.
These tires had good elasticity, fine tread patterns, stronger grip, and soft sidewalls. They provided better power transfer on desert terrain. As the tread wore down, they would gradually become smooth tires—commonly called "bald tires"—which were ideal for sand.
Since there was still some distance before fully entering the sandy section, bald tires hadn't been used directly.
But now, the tires' grip was clearly abnormal.
Derek Su didn't recklessly continue driving Stella forward.
He guided Stella to the side of the track and stopped, then immediately got out to check.
The moment he saw the tires, his expression darkened.
The material was wrong—the sidewalls were far too hard.
The tires installed by the maintenance station weren't HT tires at all.
Other than looking similar, they had nothing in common with real HT tires.
Derek Su returned to the cockpit with a grim face.
During tire changes, drivers weren't required to get out of the car, and without actually running them, it was impossible to notice the issue.
The situation was obvious now—someone had deliberately tampered with Stella's tires.
Who could it be? Lucy Luo?
He didn't think a top-200 club like GPC would need to resort to something like this.
"Master… what's wrong?" Stella turned her head back, looking at Derek Su timidly.
"We're going back to the maintenance station," Derek Su said in a low voice.
"Huh? Why?" Stella froze, her eyes immediately reddening. She stammered, "Master, I—I'm just a little uncomfortable. It's not that I can't run. I—"
"It's not your fault. We're going back. The tires are the problem—we need to change them."
Derek Su forced a relaxed smile and patted Stella's rear.
"Mm… okay." Stella nodded, looking utterly wronged.
She knew turning back for a tire change would cost a lot of time, but she wouldn't go against Derek Su's decision.
Usually, she could fool around with him however she liked, but during a race, Derek Su was the boss—whatever he said, she followed.
Derek Su moved the control lever and turned Stella around.
At that moment, Eternity came roaring past in a cloud of sand.
Lucy Luo glanced in surprise at Derek Su and Stella heading the opposite way, but didn't say anything, continuing forward with Eternity.
This was a race, not a break for chatting.
...
Derek Su brought Stella back to the maintenance station.
When the staff saw them return, their expressions turned strange.
They tried to look surprised, but none of them were actors. Whether it was shock or confusion, it all came across as exaggerated.
One look was enough for Derek Su to know something was wrong.
"I need an explanation," he said coldly. "Why weren't HT tires installed on Stella?"
One of the workers pretended to inspect the tires, then put on a panicked expression.
"Oh! Mr. Su, we're terribly sorry. We installed the wrong tires on your Mecha Girl. We'll change them immediately!"
They moved quickly. In less than half a minute, the replacement tires were brought over.
Derek Su stepped forward to inspect them.
This time, they were undeniably HT tires.
"But how are you going to make up for the race time I lost?" Derek Su said flatly. "Who's in charge of race logistics? Have your supervisor come talk to me."
"Mr. Su, please rest assured. The moment we discovered the tire mix-up, we already notified the organizers to pause your race timer."
A man in a suit walked out from the adjacent workshop, bowing apologetically with a look of regret.
"I'm Manager Zhang, responsible for logistics for this event on behalf of Giant Tech."
Manager Zhang extended his right hand, but Derek Su kept a cold expression and didn't move.
Zhang didn't seem bothered. He withdrew his hand and smiled politely.
"Giant Tech sincerely regrets the loss you've suffered. The employees who installed the wrong tires will all be dismissed, and we're also willing to compensate you for your losses… How does one million sound?"
...
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