When she saw those three characters, Chloe Qin froze for a long time.
Then a surge of anger rushed straight to her head.
Outrageous!
Humiliation!
This was blatant humiliation!!
How dare she?
Just a mere Mecha Girl!
Even if the data analysis showed that using Purple Lightning properly was the key to winning on the Panlong Mountain Circuit, her pride would no longer allow her to lower herself and keep begging Purple Lightning.
This contract was already humiliating enough.
If Purple Lightning wouldn't sign it, then so be it.
Her face twitched stiffly. One of her mechanical arms slammed onto the table as she prepared to flip it over—but suddenly a sharp pain shot through her spine.
Her subconscious told her that acting like this was wrong. Instead of venting like a madwoman, she should be thinking about a solution.
The burning, needle-like pain in the back of her head and along her spine quickly forced her emotions back under control.
Chloe Qin took a deep breath and tossed the contract into the trash.
She had to defeat Derek Su on the Panlong Mountain Circuit.
Only by defeating Derek Su would there be any chance of curing her neurogenic paralysis.
Even though the mechanical arms were convenient, she had no intention of living the rest of her life like this—neither fully human nor fully machine.
She felt that she was gradually becoming less like Chloe Qin.
More like a cold machine.
The coffee on the table slowly went cold.
After thinking for a long time and calculating the resources currently available to her, a bold plan gradually took shape in her mind.
If this plan succeeded, Derek Su would have absolutely no chance of turning things around on the Panlong Mountain Circuit.
Even if it failed, it would still severely affect Derek Su's performance on the track.
If it weren't for the sake of victory,
she would never resort to such a dirty method.
"Since relying on myself won't work, then I'll borrow outside forces."
Chloe Qin muttered to herself, her eyes growing more resolute as she pulled out her phone and dialed a number.
...
"Hup! One, two… three!"
"One, two… three! Heyah!!"
Stella's face was bright red as she gritted her teeth, veins bulging on her forehead.
Tunbao stood nearby with her hands on her hips, glancing sideways at her.
"Tsk. Stella, are you trying to take a dump or something?"
Creak.
That was the sound of Stella grinding her teeth.
Ten ropes were currently tied around her waist, connected to a tire basket similar to Imperial Scale's, along with a mountain of tires behind it.
These tires were not only heavy, but dragging them also meant fighting the friction between rubber and asphalt.
Just fifty tires.
Stella had always been proud.
She would never bow her head.
"Maybe we should just forget it." Derek Su scratched his head helplessly. "Fifty tires might still be a bit too much for you. I think thirty would be enough."
Mecha Girls were truly fascinating beings.
They had human appearances, human skin, heartbeats, and body temperature.
Yet they possessed inhuman strength.
They could even improve their attributes through training. And this kind of training didn't require entering deployed mode—training in human form was actually more effective.
He had misunderstood this before, thinking that training Mecha Girls required their deployed mode.
It wasn't until the sponsor guy told him that the top clubs all trained their Mecha Girls with weighted exercises in human form.
No wonder Stella's attributes had been increasing so slowly—only gaining 0.1 at a time.
Turns out the method had been wrong all along.
"So Master also thinks I can't pull fifty tires?"
Stella lowered her eyes, shadows falling across her face beneath her bangs as she clenched her fists.
"In that case… I'll show Master my strength right now!"
At that moment, Stella's presence suddenly became intense.
Derek Su and Tunbao both held their breath.
Normally Stella's training had always looked relaxed, almost playful.
Was she finally getting serious?
Logically speaking, Stella was a top-tier Mecha Girl just like Imperial Scale. Having such powerful performance would make sense.
Tunbao secretly felt shocked.
It seemed she should treat Stella with a bit more respect in the future.
Who knew how much strength that small body might be hiding?
"Ha—!"
Stella shouted, suddenly raising her head and stepping forward. Her thigh bent as her waist and back drove her entire body forward.
Boom!
A wave of air burst outward from Stella.
The tire basket behind her shifted forward a step.
And then—
"Ahh~~"
Stella's stamina ran out, and she fell face-first onto the ground with a smack.
Derek Su: "..."
Tunbao: "..."
Imperial Scale ran past again, dragging fifty tires behind her.
She even deliberately circled Stella twice.
"Looks like fifty tires is still a bit too much," Derek Su sighed.
"The Pineapple King really is small fry. No one's going to respect that. As the Pineapple Guard, I'm the first to rebel~"
Tunbao spread her hands.
Derek Su's mouth twitched.
"Did you read the novel Stella bought?!"
"A little…" Tunbao said with an awkward grin, dark circles under her eyes.
...
"Waaah! Master, I can't drag fifty tires! I'm a useless Mecha Girl!"
Afternoon training ended.
At the dinner table, Stella was still brooding over her failure.
She hugged a large bowl and shoveled food into her mouth, stopping every now and then to complain to Derek Su beside her.
Across from her, Imperial Scale ate calmly, chewing slowly.
To reward the hardworking Mecha Girls in the club, Derek Su had ordered twenty pounds of premium pork ribs from the food stall next door.
After a fierce round of eating, only one rib remained on the plate.
"It's okay, it's okay. Just keep working hard. Add one tire each day. In a month you'll be able to drag fifty," Derek Su said with a smile.
"What about the rebel king?" Stella tugged at her Master's arm.
"Uh, the reb— I mean, Imperial Scale should add more too."
Derek Su wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"That means after a month Imperial Scale will still have three… four… fifty more tires than me? Waaaah…"
"Uh… haha."
Derek Su could only laugh awkwardly.
Stella turned her grief into appetite and reached her chopsticks toward the last rib.
But Imperial Scale's chopsticks touched it first.
The two Mecha Girls looked at each other.
Instantly, sparks seemed to flash between them.
Whoosh!
A gust of wind suddenly swept across the dining table.
Derek Su shivered.
Tunbao, Blazing Wind, and Lingwind froze.
For a moment, it felt like murderous intent filled a ten-meter radius.
Clack! Clack! Clack!
Two pairs of chopsticks clashed in a blur over the plate.
The poor rib bounced back and forth, weaving and dodging between the chopsticks.
Stella's gaze flicked between the rib and Imperial Scale's face, while pitiful whining sounds escaped her mouth.
Imperial Scale remained calm and silent.
In the end, Imperial Scale successfully grabbed the rib.
Stella's lips trembled.
She couldn't win at tire dragging.
She couldn't even win a rib.
Today was the Pineapple King's day of crushing defeat.
Her harem was in danger!
She lowered her head, hands resting on her knees, reflecting on today's humiliation like a defeated character on a post-battle results screen.
Then suddenly—
The rib appeared in her bowl.
Stella froze and looked up.
Imperial Scale had already put down her chopsticks and was elegantly wiping her mouth with a wet wipe.
As if sensing Stella's gaze, she narrowed her phoenix-like eyes slightly and glanced back, a faint smile curving at her lips.
As if saying:
"What this king gives you is yours."
...
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