Turn 4, Turn 5… Turn 10.
Purple Lightning's speed kept rising steadily.
By the time she passed the tenth turn, the speed detector showed 300 km/h.
Compared to the first-place Cloud Leopard, that speed was still nothing remarkable.
But now that seven racers had already started, Purple Lightning's ranking had shifted several times before settling firmly in third place.
As her speed continued increasing, the gap between her and the current second place—White Feather - Jean Yunzhao - 356 km/h—was steadily shrinking.
Purple Lightning felt her spirits soar when she saw her current standing.
But Derek Su also noticed something else.
Purple Lightning's Stability and Impact Resistance were dropping.
There was no such thing as an invincible skill.
Every Mecha Girl's special ability came with restrictions and flaws.
For Purple Lightning, the greatest limitation of her skill was exactly this reduction in Stability and Impact Resistance.
Stability represented how stable the Mecha Girl's body was. The lower the Stability, the more likely malfunctions would occur.
For example, when Stella activated the Sovereign Engine, insufficient Stability could cause an engine blowout.
What would happen to Purple Lightning under similar conditions was unclear, but deliberately lowering Stability just to stack acceleration was definitely dangerous.
For Purple Lightning, once Stability dropped below a certain level, things might already become extremely risky.
That was why the moment Stability reached zero, the special skill would immediately trigger a performance burst.
Afterward, Stability would recover, pulling Purple Lightning back from the brink of danger.
Originally, engine blowouts were extremely rare in this world.
They usually only happened on special terrain like snow slopes or sand slopes.
But with the growing popularity of launch starts and drifting techniques, drivers were making more reckless mistakes.
As a result, Mecha Girls had begun experiencing blowouts more frequently.
The clearest sign was when Derek Su browsed racing forums at night.
Posts like "What should I do if my Mecha Girl blows an engine during launch start?" were appearing more and more often.
Every time he saw one, he couldn't help but smile slightly.
Quietly taking credit in his heart.
But now, seeing Purple Lightning's Stability and Impact Resistance drop to 31 and 32, he couldn't help feeling worried.
If they kept dropping…
something bad might happen.
"Purple Lightning, do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?" he asked instinctively.
"No!"
Purple Lightning's excited voice came from the front.
"Master, I've never felt this good before! This is the first time I've ever gone this fast… I really feel like I'm finally becoming Purple Lightning!"
Derek Su couldn't help laughing.
This girl really was a bit silly.
But could the drop in Stability and Impact Resistance really have no effect?
He wasn't sure.
So he focused even more on sensing Purple Lightning's vehicle condition.
...
At the very front of the Rona Bay track, Cloud Leopard and Justin Kim continued to dominate the race.
They were speeding ahead like the wind.
With their solid performance and the excellent modules provided by Caio Yang, they were steadily widening the gap with second place.
When they passed the 32nd speed detector, Justin Kim glanced at the board.
His eyes widened in surprise.
Purple Lightning's average speed had already climbed past 300 km/h.
"Cloud Leopard, something's wrong. Why is Purple Lightning's speed slowly increasing? She started out like a snail."
"What's wrong with that?"
Cloud Leopard glanced at her own 401 km/h average speed and said casually,
"Even if she speeds up now, it won't matter. We've already finished half the track. In the same amount of time, they've probably only covered a third. How are they supposed to compete with us? Relax. First place is guaranteed today."
Justin Kim pressed his lips together.
A bad feeling had already started forming in his chest.
Derek Su had said he would make him lose gracefully.
Which meant Derek Su planned to beat him.
Could it be he was deliberately holding back earlier?
Driving slowly at the start, then suddenly accelerating later to overtake?
The more Justin Kim thought about it, the more possible it seemed.
After all, Derek Su didn't look like the kind of person who made empty claims.
Justin Kim suddenly felt a cold breeze in his pants.
Right now, Cloud Leopard wanted that championship badly.
Which meant if they lost it…
she would explode.
...
As time passed, the race reached the halfway point.
Purple Lightning's Acceleration had climbed to 87.
Her instantaneous speed had already surpassed Cloud Leopard, reaching 412 km/h.
However, her average race speed was still behind.
At the same time, Purple Lightning's Stability and Impact Resistance had dropped to 11 and 12.
Back when Stella's Cornering stat was only 7, she couldn't even steer properly.
Clearly, once a stat dropped to around 10, it became a serious flaw.
Now that Purple Lightning had two attributes at that level, what would happen?
Derek Su had asked Purple Lightning many times.
"Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"
Every time, she smiled and said no.
But through the rearview mirror, Derek Su could clearly see her face growing paler and her lower lip tightly bitten.
She was definitely enduring something.
Derek Su narrowed his eyes and guided Purple Lightning through the next corner.
At the moment the rear swung out of the apex—
Stability dropped to 10.
At the same time, the purple light band along Purple Lightning's spine was nearly full.
But the next second—
the entire car body suddenly shook violently.
Purple Lightning let out a painful cry.
"Purple Lightning, what's wrong?" Derek Su asked sharply.
That shaking definitely wasn't caused by hitting anything.
He was extremely sensitive to the car's condition.
The feeling just now was like the body had nearly fallen apart—
and only barely held together.
"Master… I'm fine…"
Purple Lightning tilted her head slightly, forcing out a weak smile.
But Derek Su's pupils suddenly shrank.
He saw cracks on Purple Lightning's pale cheek.
Was she about to shatter?
Was the penalty from reduced Stability really this severe?
Combined with only 11 Impact Resistance…
There was no doubt about it.
Right now, whether Purple Lightning hit something on the track—
or was hit by another Mecha Girl—
she would instantly break down.
This wasn't racing.
This was risking her life.
With Purple Lightning's current Stability, using her skill was basically suicide.
Only now did Derek Su understand why Dazzling Dance had the Condition A requirement of reaching +50 Acceleration.
That condition was the safest method.
Relying purely on lowering Stability to activate the skill was extremely dangerous.
Which meant that in the future, if he wanted to fully unleash Purple Lightning's potential,
he shouldn't add points to speed.
He needed to increase Stability and Impact Resistance.
Only then could Purple Lightning safely activate her special ability.
"Purple Lightning, pull over to the safety area and stop," Derek Su said seriously.
He couldn't let her continue racing.
If Stability and Impact Resistance kept dropping,
Purple Lightning might fall apart before Dazzling Dance's active skill even activated.
"Master… why?"
Purple Lightning's eyes filled with panic.
"I'm sorry… did I do something wrong? I'll fix it. I really will try my best…"
As she spoke, tears rolled down her cheeks.
She looked up at the rearview mirror, meeting Derek Su's serious gaze.
She knew he could see her.
Her eyes turned red.
Her lips trembled as she begged quietly.
"Master… please… no matter what, let me finish the race, okay? I'm really fine. I don't feel anything wrong…"
Crack.
Purple Lightning froze.
Her eyes went blank.
In the rearview mirror—
a new crack had appeared on her right cheek.
It extended from her jaw down toward her neck.
Like a hideous centipede crawling across her skin.
...
If you'd like to support my work and unlock advanced chapters, you can follow me on p-@-treon.
p-@-treon/GhostParser (40 Chapters Ahead)
You can also follow as a free member to read a few advanced chapters.