It took Swain Li a little while to figure out why Silver Mirror's engine had blown. It was because he had activated the special skill right at the start!
He remembered it clearly. Silver Mirror had said Stella's skill required high Stability. He had assumed the extra Stability from a module would be enough, but the engine had still blown?
Just how much Stability did the skill need?!
The Stability module he had installed on Silver Mirror was already one of the best purple-tier Stability modules available.
Fortunately, Silver Mirror wasn't unconscious for long. With the help of a healing-type Mecha Girl, she soon regained consciousness and canceled the cloning state. Once the clone was released, her vehicle body quickly returned to normal.
They could still continue the race.
But the time spent receiving treatment would still count toward their race time.
"Damn it. Now I finally understand why Stella has never used her special skill even once... It's not because Derek Su, that sneaky bastard, is good at holding back. The damn skill is practically unusable!"
Inside Silver Mirror's cockpit, Swain Li gripped the controls with a dark expression and drove her back onto the track.
After losing so much time, he could only start alongside Group 8.
"Master, who should we clone now?"
Silver Mirror was fairly calm by this point.
She had just cloned Stella, but because the special skill had failed to activate properly, it hadn't consumed much Endurance. Combined with the unusual nature of her own skill, she still had enough left to choose another target to clone.
They still had a chance.
Of course, not a chance to catch Derek Su.
What they still had was a chance to earn a good overall result on the Panlong Mountain Circuit. They were responsible for the first section, while Leon Li and Snowpeak would handle the second. At this point, there was no turning back. They absolutely couldn't mess up again.
Swain Li understood that perfectly. He looked around, searching for a suitable target.
His gaze eventually settled on a racer beside him and Silver Mirror.
One of ESW Club's aces.
Elton Chen.
Swain Li was pretty sure that was his name. His Mecha Girl was called Shay Guang.
A speed-type Mecha Girl.
He hadn't gathered much information on the pair, mainly because they usually kept a low profile and didn't seem to have achieved any particularly eye-catching results. Most of ESW Club's attention seemed to be drawn by its other ace, Richard Cheng, and the countless top-tier Mecha Girls under his command.
"But if he's an ace, he can't be that weak, right?"
Swain Li stared at Elton Chen and the striking Shay Guang as the thought crossed his mind.
Elton Chen also glanced at Swain Li and Silver Mirror, wondering what the racer who had blown his engine at the starting line was plotting.
"Them!" Swain Li made his decision. "Clone Shay Guang!"
Silver Mirror had no objections. She immediately activated her special skill and copied Shay Guang beside her.
Shay Guang's vehicle body was primarily black and dark red.
Elton Chen and Shay Guang could only watch in silence as Silver Mirror transformed into an identical silver version of Shay Guang.
Then Elton Chen remembered who Swain Li was.
He was that gloomy kid from the Xiangshan Advanced Race who had tried and failed to beat Derek Su, nearly getting himself and his Mecha Girl killed in the process.
And Silver Mirror's skill was cloning.
So now she had cloned Shay Guang?!
The corner of Elton Chen's mouth twitched.
He suddenly really wanted to curse.
Meanwhile, inside Silver Mirror's cockpit, Swain Li had already decided to go all in. He pulled out two packs of spicy strips.
"Master?" Silver Mirror turned her head, her lips trembling. "Do we really have to do this?"
"I didn't want to, but there's no other choice now. We're already two minutes behind. I need to unlock my full potential!"
As he spoke, he pulled a bottle of chili oil from his bag.
"But we could try something else..."
"This is the only thing that works!"
Swain Li poured chili oil over the spicy strips, followed by mustard sauce, then dumped the entire lot into his mouth and swallowed it down.
He still wasn't finished.
The final ingredient was a bottle of ice-cold Coke.
After gulping it down, he exhaled deeply, his eyes red.
"Almost there. I'm starting to feel it!"
"Master, I... I'm scared..."
"Don't be afraid, Silver Mirror." A cold smile appeared on Swain Li's swollen lips. "If it really comes to that, I won't make a mess inside you. I'll roll down the window and stick my butt outside... Besides, I'm wearing four layers of diapers today, and I've got plenty of activated-charcoal fragrance packs on me to break down the smell. It probably won't get that bad."
Silver Mirror fell silent.
If she and Swain Li weren't bound by a Core Contract, she would absolutely have called the police and reported him for Mecha Girl abuse!
...
The starting gun fired.
The five Mecha Girls of Group 8, along with Swain Li and Silver Mirror, launched at the same time.
Strangely enough, neither Elton Chen nor Swain Li took the lead.
The racer who shot to the front of Group 8 was another familiar face.
Miles Wang and Hurricane.
Now leading the group by a wide margin, Miles Wang couldn't help feeling rather pleased with himself.
After all, finishing first in your group meant you at least had a shot at becoming the provincial track champion.
His club might not be particularly strong, but everyone needed a dream, right?
His good mood didn't last long.
A dark shadow suddenly appeared behind him.
Miles Wang glanced at his rearview mirror and saw a Mecha Girl with a dark-red and black livery.
"Elton Chen and Shay Guang from ESW?!"
Miles Wang frowned as an ominous feeling rose in his chest.
His instincts were right.
As Shay Guang drew closer, his field of vision gradually began to darken.
At the same time, Hurricane seemed to be slowing down.
"Master, I can't see the road!"
Hurricane's panicked voice came from the front.
"What's going on? Is this Shay Guang's skill?"
Miles Wang narrowed his eyes, but the windshield looked as though someone had smeared it with black ink. The windows on either side were darkening as well, as if all the light around them were being absorbed and daylight itself were turning into night.
Behind Miles Wang and Hurricane, the corner of Elton Chen's mouth lifted.
He casually changed lanes and overtook them.
With Hurricane's vision restricted, she had no way to resist the pass at all.
This was Shay Guang's special skill.
When Shay Guang followed behind another Mecha Girl and rode her slipstream, she could steal that Mecha Girl's Acceleration while gradually robbing her of her vision.
The stolen Acceleration would last for a while before gradually dropping back to Shay Guang's original level. Meanwhile, the Mecha Girl whose Acceleration had been stolen would slow down. Once Shay Guang stopped riding her slipstream, her Acceleration would gradually recover.
The moment Shay Guang passed Hurricane, Miles Wang realized the world had become bright again.
His vision returned.
There hadn't been any Mecha Girls ahead of him before, but now Shay Guang's taillights were there, getting farther and farther away.
"Damn it! What kind of ridiculous skill is that?!"
As the other two racers on either side overtook him as well, Miles Wang's lips trembled with fury.
Hurricane was moving far too slowly now.
Shay Guang was obviously responsible.
But before he could even recover from the shock, another silver silhouette appeared behind him.
"Another Shay Guang?!"
Miles Wang stared at the rearview mirror in disbelief.
Then he quickly realized it was Silver Mirror, who had cloned Shay Guang.
"Holy shit! Don't tell me they're going to do it to us again!"
The moment the words left his mouth, the windshield went black.
Hurricane's speed on the dashboard dropped sharply once again.
The unmistakable roar of an engine came from beside them.
Silver Mirror passed them too.
When Miles Wang's vision finally returned, he looked ahead and realized there wasn't a single Mecha Girl left in front of him...
Silence.
Then the silence exploded.
"FUUUCK—!!!"
The furious, grief-stricken howl of SSC Club's ace echoed across Panlong Mountain.
...
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the treacherous Panlong Mountain Circuit, Derek Su and Stella had already encountered their first real danger.
...
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