The next day.
Outside the Stella Club, Derek Su and Vanessa prepared to head in separate directions.
Vanessa had a massive team of bodyguards and logistics personnel accompanying her, along with Beto Ming. Every possible precaution had been taken.
"Derek Su, you have to win the championship!"
Before climbing into the luxury van, Vanessa held out her little finger with a solemn expression.
"Come on. Pinky promise!"
Derek Su chuckled at her youthful face and hooked his little finger around hers.
"All right! When we meet again tonight, you'll be the Knox Rally champion, and I'll be the Panlong Mountain Circuit champion!"
Vanessa nodded seriously.
"Derek Su, Blazing Wind and I will finish our race as quickly as we can, then come cheer you on."
"You can cheer for me, but no dangerous maneuvers." Derek Su pinched her cheek and warned, "Otherwise, you'll be writing another two-thousand-word self-criticism!"
Vanessa's face went pale.
Yesterday's two thousand words had nearly made her hand fall off.
She retreated into the car, hurriedly shut the door, and raised the privacy window.
Beto Ming waved with a smile before getting in as well.
Derek Su watched Vanessa's convoy depart and breathed a sigh of relief.
Then he turned toward Stella, Purple Lightning, and the other Mecha Girls of the Stella Club.
"All right, Vanessa has already gone into battle. Now it's our turn!
"Panlong Mountain, let's go!"
Stella and Tunbao raised their fists and shouted, "Yeah! Fighting!"
Imperial Scale smiled faintly, and even Purple Lightning joined in with a quiet cheer.
"Mr. Su, please choose your transportation." Absolute Shadow approached him in a crisp suit and spoke in her usual businesslike manner. "We have a helicopter, a private jet, and a vertical-takeoff medium fighter jet. Which would you prefer?"
"The fighter jet, obviously!" Derek Su answered without hesitation.
It was fast, looked impressive, and most importantly, he had never ridden in one before.
Granted, Tanner Chen had spent half an hour throwing up in the bathroom after his flight.
But Derek Su believed that people's physical constitutions simply could not be compared. It was perfectly normal for someone as frail as Tanner Chen to be unable to handle it.
But who was Derek Su?
He was the Champion King!
"Would you like to take motion-sickness medication first?" Absolute Shadow asked thoughtfully.
Derek Su scoffed and pointed at himself.
"Me? The Magician? You think I need that?"
...
Half an hour later, at the foot of Panlong Mountain, a sleek silver vertical-takeoff medium fighter jet descended onto the landing pad.
The nearby competitors and Mecha Girls moved aside and watched from a distance, speculating about who might emerge from it.
After all, arriving at a race aboard a fighter jet was completely unprecedented.
A while later, the hatch opened.
A staggering figure slowly appeared.
Derek Su descended the steps sideways like a crab, his face deathly pale. Stella and Purple Lightning supported him by the arms, and every few steps, he had to stop and recover.
Otherwise, he feared everything he had eaten that morning would come back up.
He had been careless.
Even his heart seemed to be trembling.
No wonder vertical-takeoff fighter jets were reserved for the Mecha Girls of the Armed Forces Department.
They were not designed for the human body to endure.
Perhaps only Mecha Girls and Techmasters could ride one without getting airsick.
The jet was certainly fast, but that speed came at the cost of nearly all passenger comfort.
The closest comparison would be a roller coaster combined with a pirate ship ride, sped up more than tenfold.
However, the moment Derek Su looked toward the track ahead, he instinctively held his breath.
Even his dizziness seemed to ease.
Mountain ranges stretched into the distance, one towering ridge behind another.
Sunlight poured through gaps in the clouds like rays of divine light.
Amid the immense peaks, a winding mountain track appeared and disappeared from view as it spiraled upward. It wrapped around the mountains like a belt before vanishing into the clouds and mist above.
"Magnificent! So this is Panlong Mountain!"
Derek Su's foggy mind cleared instantly.
The moment he saw the Panlong Mountain Circuit, the instincts of a top driver awakened within him.
One glance was enough to tell him that this was an elite circuit, exceptionally difficult, highly varied, and incredibly dangerous.
But that was exactly why it deserved his excitement and his full effort.
He had already studied numerous sections and recordings of Panlong Mountain over the past month.
But watching footage was nothing like standing before the mountain itself.
Now he finally understood the name. The gray track winding around the mountain looked exactly like a coiled dragon.
"Whoa, it's so high!" Stella exclaimed repeatedly as she pointed toward the summit hidden from view.
Purple Lightning stared at the towering majesty of Panlong Mountain with her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide.
"What's there to make such a fuss about?" Tunbao curled her lip disdainfully. "It's only a racetrack. Put me on it, and I'd handle it easily."
Derek Su turned toward her with a smile.
"Then how about you and I race the first stage?"
"What?" Tunbao froze, then leaned forward, cupped a hand around her ear, and narrowed her eyes. "The wind is really strong today. I didn't hear you clearly... Oh, my stomach suddenly hurts. It might be that time of the month. Anyway, Boss Su, Stella, you two race well. I need to use the bathroom... Ahahaha."
Tunbao fled toward the spectator stands.
Imperial Scale and Absolute Shadow pretended not to see anything.
Lingwind, worried that the scatterbrained Tunbao might get lost, hurried after her.
"Mr. Su, the rest is up to you, Stella, and Purple Lightning." Hearing the staff announce that the area was being cleared, Absolute Shadow continued, "Imperial Scale and I will cheer for you from the stands. Don't forget to draw your starting position!"
Derek Su naturally would not forget something so important.
He immediately took Stella and Purple Lightning to join the line for the draw.
Competitors from other national regions had rarely appeared in the previous Advancement Races.
But at a major international event like the provincial Advancement Race, competitors came from many different regions and spoke a wide variety of languages.
There were still two hours before the race.
The draw moved quickly, and Derek Su soon received his starting position.
Number 27.
It was a fairly good position. At least he would not be sweeping the road for everyone behind him.
Stella had eagerly tried to draw first, but Derek Su stopped her and let another competitor go ahead.
That competitor drew number three.
He was probably sitting somewhere with his face buried in his hands by now.
"The Magician?"
A voice with an unfamiliar accent sounded beside him.
Derek Su turned, his gaze sharpening.
He recognized the man who had called out to him, or rather, he knew who he was.
Meisel, the Demon King Club (DKC)'s rising ace.
At the moment, Meisel wore a warm, friendly smile. He seemed completely different from the arrogant, ruthless man described in the intelligence reports.
As Derek Su considered this, Meisel approached with Thunder-01.
Even amid the noisy crowd, his voice came through clearly.
"Did you know? Demon Kings...
"Specialize in killing Magicians."
Holding his starting number, Meisel brushed past Derek Su and whistled.
"See you on the track~"
His starting position was number 19.
...
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