Stella Club
"Boss, I'm sorry. We still haven't found anything."
Absolute Shadow stood before Derek Su, looking apologetic.
"There's nothing to apologize for. This isn't your fault." Derek Su waved it off, though he still felt a pang of disappointment.
He had asked his sponsor and Absolute Shadow long ago to help find Mr. Liang, but it had led nowhere.
The only clue he had now was that Mr. Liang's situation was connected to Ethan Yang, the owner of the Crown Club.
His sponsor's financial conglomerate was powerful, but the one backing the Crown Club was no pushover either.
Absolute Shadow had some authority within the Human Alliance, but Ethan Yang was a Techmaster, protected by an organization called the [Techmasters' Alliance].
Absolute Shadow's investigation had essentially stalled because of interference from the [Techmasters' Alliance].
And it wasn't as if he could just storm into the Crown Club and arrest Ethan Yang.
To deal with Ethan Yang, he first had to become a Techmaster himself. Once he stood on equal footing with Ethan Yang, the protection over Ethan Yang's head would be as good as gone.
"Techmasters really do have a lot of power," he sighed helplessly.
"They do." Absolute Shadow nodded, then reassured him, "But don't worry, Boss. I've looked into what happened back then. After Crimson was sentenced to be sent back to the Recycling Yard, Mr. Liang's case could at most be considered an attempted assault on a Techmaster. He won't be sentenced to death. Besides, Mr. Liang has his friends helping him, so he should be doing all right for now. Once you become a Techmaster, you can confront Ethan Yang then."
Derek Su pressed his lips together.
Even if the food and treatment in prison were decent, there was no way he was "doing all right." Losing his freedom, forced to watch his enemy walk free...
Mr. Liang must be suffering inside.
Then he had to make absolutely sure he secured the qualification to become a Techmaster on the provincial-level track. There could be no mistakes.
As Stella Club developed and his status rose, he had more or less figured out what the qualifications for becoming a Techmaster actually involved.
The top ten racers on the Panlong Mountain Circuit were all eligible to receive Awakening Serums. The champion would receive three in total, while the runner-up and third-place finisher would receive two and one respectively. Supposedly, the Awakening Serums given to the top three were the highly refined Sodium Fiber-Ω type, and the organizers would also arrange dedicated Awakening Chambers for them. Those ranked fourth through tenth would only receive the most ordinary Awakening Serums.
That meant becoming the champion of the Panlong Mountain Circuit naturally gave him the best chance of becoming a Techmaster.
With luck, the first Awakening Serum would be enough for him to awaken as a Techmaster.
Then he could save the second and third for Mr. Liang and Zane.
If all of them succeeded in awakening, the club would have three Techmasters. At that point, Ethan Yang would be nothing!
Derek Su propped his chin on one hand and could not help imagining that future.
"Oh, right, Boss." Absolute Shadow took out a bank card and pushed it toward Derek Su. "This is the medical fee we collected from the Crown Club. I added a little to round it up, so it's six million in total... Also, another ten million was transferred into the club's account earlier. I had someone investigate it and found that the suspicious transfer actually came from Swain Li. Did you make some kind of deal with him?"
Derek Su stared at the bank card on the table, stunned and confused.
"Medical fee? What medical fee...?"
"During yesterday's race, our logistics team rescued Swain Li and Silver Mirror in the Wushe Cave tunnel area. It cost us some resources, so naturally, we charged them for it," Absolute Shadow explained patiently.
Derek Su was dumbfounded.
So Absolute Shadow had already charged them?
The hand signal she made during the award ceremony had not been telling him to ask for money, but telling him she had already gotten the money? And then... he had extorted another ten million from Swain Li!?
"Uh..." He scratched his head and chose his words carefully. "Would you believe me if I said this ten million was also for medical fees? At the time, I thought you were telling me to ask Swain Li for the medical fee, so I made him pay ten million."
Absolute Shadow: ⊙ω⊙???
Seeing Absolute Shadow frozen in place, Derek Su asked carefully, "Um... do you think I'm a little too ruthless?"
Absolute Shadow shook her head and sighed.
"No. I just feel like I'm not qualified enough... I didn't expect the Crown Club and Swain Li to be so willing to pay. I asked for too little."
Derek Su: "Uh..."
"How do you plan to use this money?"
Absolute Shadow took out her little notebook.
With such a large sum injected into the club, she thought Derek Su must have some sort of plan.
But in reality, Stella Club did not have many places that needed money. Absolute Shadow and his sponsor had basically covered everything already.
Derek Su thought for a while, then suddenly remembered that he still owed Imperial Scale a thirty-million IOU. Although Imperial Scale had never set a deadline for repayment, he definitely needed to be conscious of it.
If he paid the money back earlier, it would not be awkward when he later brought up signing a Core Contract with Imperial Scale. He would have more confidence that way.
"Give all of this money to Imperial Scale. The prize money from the previous races all went into the club's funds, and I still haven't given Imperial Scale a single cent of the thirty million from her auction..." Derek Su felt a little embarrassed just talking about it. If it were any other pilot, his Mecha Girl would have rebelled long ago. Only Imperial Scale was emotionally stable enough, and on top of that, she did not seem to care much about the matter.
Maybe Imperial Scale did not care much about money?
Derek Su was really confused about that.
Because Imperial Scale never asked him for money.
But after every race, Imperial Scale would count the prize money once. Those contradictory habits made even him, her pilot, unable to figure her out. ... Convenience store.
The shop owner's face was pale, and sweat covered his forehead.
He truly had no idea what he had done wrong.
Why was the Mecha Girl in front of him looking at him like that?
Standing before him was the tall Imperial Scale.
Her rose-red eyes looked down at him from above.
Those eyes were filled with coldness and killing intent.
Between them sat a shopping bag containing daily necessities, along with the chili oil and mustard that Stella had specifically bought. At that moment, Stella stood beside Imperial Scale, looking equally baffled.
She had no idea what was going on either.
Everything had been perfectly fine while they were shopping.
So why did Imperial Scale look like she had seen the person who killed her father the moment they reached the checkout?
"W-what exactly do you two want?!" the shop owner asked in panic.
Imperial Scale: Stare~
After less than ten seconds of eye contact, the supermarket owner broke down. His legs went weak, and he dropped to his knees, lips trembling.
"If you don't want to pay, then don't! You can have all of this for free! It's all yours!"
As he spoke, he scooped all the money out of the cash register and pushed it in front of Imperial Scale.
He treated it as paying money to avoid disaster. He did not even consider calling the police.
There were indeed regulations restricting Mecha Girls, but the killing intent in this one's eyes was far too terrifying. He could not afford to provoke her. There was no way he could.
Imperial Scale lowered her gaze and looked at the money the owner had pushed over. Her slender white fingers slowly lifted, then pinched a one-dollar bill from the pile.
She spoke indifferently. "You're one dollar short."
With that, she picked up the plastic bag.
Then she pulled Stella, who was still standing there in a daze, and turned to leave.
...
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