The organizer's office for the Xiangshan Advanced Race.
A gray haired old man was looking over the participant list with a slight frown.
If Derek Su and Stella were here, they would recognize him at once. This old man was also the organizer of The Blade Path Training Race. Today, however, he was dressed very formally, in a suit and dress pants, his graying hair slicked back neatly. He looked meticulous from head to toe, nothing like the casually dressed old man they had seen at the finish line of The Blade Path last time.
"Old Wang, do you have any objections to the race arrangements?" the assistant beside him asked cautiously. "If there aren't any, we'll go prepare to start the race. The contestants are all waiting."
"Don't rush." The old man waved his hand. "Put numbers 17, 23, 51, 54, and 66 in the same starting group."
"Huh?" The assistant froze.
It took him a long moment to react. "Wouldn't that be against the rules?"
"What rules?" The old man rolled his eyes. "I'm the organizer. I represent the Human Federation's authority to interpret the entire Xiangshan Advanced Race. My rules are the rules. Go handle it."
"Ah, yes, sir!" The assistant had no choice.
He could only leave with the old man's instructions.
Watching the assistant walk away, the old man gave a soft snort. Then he walked to the window and looked at the red leaves drifting in the wind outside, muttering, "There aren't many racers from big clubs in the second half of this year's Advanced Race... But since it's an Advanced Race, it has to be intense. It has to give people something to talk about."
Rules existed to be broken.
If a race always followed the rules exactly, the entire atmosphere would only become more and more rigid, until it was lifeless.
Just like the alliance formed by today's Techmasters.
"A stagnant pool..."
He sighed and gently shook his head.
...
At the starting line.
Derek Su stared at the racers around him, completely baffled.
To his left were Laiya An and Dawnbreak, starting number 23. To his right were Miles Wang, who looked thoroughly displeased, and his Mecha Girl Hurricane, starting number 51. To Laiya An's left were Justin Kim and Cloud Leopard, starting number 54. On the far right were Swain Li and his Mecha Girl Silver Mirror, starting number 17.
As for Derek Su and Purple Lightning, their starting number was 66.
Originally, he should have been one of the last few racers to start.
Both the starting position and the number had been comfortable.
But now...
He had been moved up to the third starting group.
The numbers of the racers starting with him were a complete mess.
At first, he thought everyone's numbers had been shuffled. After asking around, he found out that only their group had been rearranged. All the other racers were lined up in order.
"What the hell are the organizers doing? Did they put us together on purpose?" Miles Wang, standing nearby with a dark expression, had already started complaining. "I protest! This is malicious tampering with the rules!"
Ever since Miles Wang found out that Absolute Shadow had joined Stella Club, he had felt as though he had swallowed a dead fly. Later, after asking around, he discovered that Absolute Shadow actually had a massive business empire under her control. The dead fly in his mouth instantly turned into ten thousand live flies, crawling through his mouth and stomach.
That was why he now looked miserable every time he saw Derek Su.
"Hmph. The strong never complain about their environment!" Laiya An pursed her lips, then turned to Derek Su with a lovestruck expression, circling around him and Purple Lightning. "Ahaha, getting to race in the Xiangshan Advanced Race together with my idol is a blessing I must have earned over eight lifetimes. Well done, organizers!"
Dawnbreak clicked her tongue.
Her current mood was about the same as Miles Wang's.
Justin Kim looked fairly calm. The moment he learned Derek Su would be joining the Xiangshan Advanced Race, his goal had already changed from first place to the top three. As for the plain, forgettable guy beside him, he did not take him seriously at all.
"A Mecha Girl wearing a mask to compete? Heh, what a cheap act."
Cloud Leopard glanced at Silver Mirror from the corner of her eye and curled her lip in disdain.
The organizers had clearly put the five of them together on purpose.
Aside from Stella Club, the clubs the other four racers belonged to were all famous, respected names.
However, the organizers seemed to have misjudged the strength of this Crown Club racer.
Cloud Leopard had absolutely no impression of him.
Clearly, Crown Club had dragged him out just to fill a slot.
As for Crown Club's ace pair, Leon Li and Snowpeak, they had already qualified for the provincial track. Crown Club's strategy was probably to keep Leon Li and Snowpeak hidden for two months, avoid exposing them in any races, and save their trump card for the provincial track.
Swain Li and Silver Mirror stood silently at the edge of the starting line. He was sitting on the guardrail, with the cliff right behind him.
Compared to the other racers and their fierce, polished presence, he and Silver Mirror looked almost like part of the background.
"Silver Mirror, they're all looking down on us."
Beneath the shadow of Swain Li's bangs, his gloomy eyes gleamed coldly. The expression on his face was strange.
It was hard to tell whether it was anger, pleasure, excitement, or all three at once.
The more he faced that kind of contemptuous gaze, the more he liked it. The more his blood boiled.
He loved watching the people who looked at him that way slowly become shocked and incredulous, then suffer a crushing defeat.
He and Silver Mirror had done that many times before.
"No, Master. There is one person who isn't looking down on us." Silver Mirror's indifferent voice sounded from behind the mask.
Swain Li raised his head, and his gray eyes met Derek Su's.
In that instant, his shoulders trembled on instinct.
What kind of gaze was that?
There was no contempt, no smugness, and no cynical amusement.
A genius pilot who had become famous at a young age, who held the titles King of Knox and The Magician, and who had barely ever lost.
Someone like him should have had his nose in the air.
Yet what brewed in those eyes was a heavy, solemn authority.
Those were the words that formed in Swain Li's mind.
In his eyes, Derek Su seemed to be clad in armor, standing before a throne with both hands resting on a sword, an army of thousands behind him.
He was an emperor about to wage war.
"So that's it. So that's how it is?"
Swain Li froze, then suddenly began laughing in a manic way.
"Interesting! How interesting!"
"So... he thinks of himself as an emperor! Hahahahaha!"
Taking a deep breath, he lowered his head again.
The cold light in his eyes reflected Derek Su's figure.
"Good."
The sun was sinking in the west, and the rumble of engines came from the distance.
The first group of racers had already started.
Swain Li withdrew his gaze and slipped back into the shadows.
He murmured to himself, "Then I..."
"Am the assassin!"
...
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