"Well then, Mr. Derek Su, if there's nothing else, I won't take up any more of your time."
After sitting for a while, the WFC owner prepared to leave. Having finally cast off the heavy burden of the club, he felt much lighter. For him, merging the club into Stella Club was the best possible outcome—and the one that let him rest easy. Next, he would return home and take over the family business.
After drifting around outside for so many years and taking hit after hit, it was finally time to bow his head to the family.
"Take care," Derek Su nodded.
The owner smiled, put on his hat, and walked away. His departing figure looked a little lonely.
And so, aside from the functional Mecha Girls eavesdropping outside, only Derek Su and Purple Lightning remained in the reception hall.
"Purple Lightning?" Derek Su called.
"Y-Yes!!"
Purple Lightning immediately straightened up, chest out and posture stiff, her face full of nervous tension.
But the moment her eyes landed on Derek Su, she quickly looked away, unable to meet his gaze.
"Starting today, you're a Mecha Girl of this club." Derek Su slid the contract over to her with a smile. "Since Stella Club acquired WFC in its entirety, your contract has also transferred to Stella Club. Right now, you still owe a breach fee of 12 million. So what do you want to do? Pay it off and regain your freedom, or join Stella Club directly? If you join us, you won't have to repay it at all~"
Purple Lightning glanced at Derek Su.
The young owner of Stella Club wore a gentle smile, yet there was something sly about it.
Like a well-read, calm and calculating… fox.
"I… I…" Purple Lightning pressed her lips together, then gathered her courage and looked up at Derek Su seriously.
"Boss, you really didn't deliberately buy me over from BSC, did you?
There are too many coincidences. Buying me from Chloe Qin would've meant taking a loss!"
The moment the words "taking a loss" were spoken—
From the doorway of the side room beside the reception hall, Imperial Scale quietly poked out half her head, her cool gaze sweeping over Derek Su and Purple Lightning.
After silently issuing a warning with her eyes, she slowly withdrew again.
Derek Su instinctively wanted to touch his nose, but held himself back and gave an awkward laugh.
"Uh… you're overthinking it. It's not that complicated."
Purple Lightning: 0_0 Stare—!
Her gaze was extremely serious—so serious it felt like it could see straight through him. Derek Su's eyes unconsciously drifted to the right.
This time he couldn't hold it in.
Fine. Derek Su had another move ready.
He simply closed his eyes and said calmly:
"Here's the situation. Stella Club needs a logistics team. You know that during the Maratela Training Race we should've made the top three, but we were sabotaged by the logistics team from Giant Group and ended up missing the podium. Since then I've been keeping an eye on clubs willing to sell their logistics teams, and WFC happened to be one of them. You met that owner yourself—he was torn between freeing himself and keeping the club alive. In the end, he chose to sell it. Originally he intended to use you as a trump card for a desperate gamble in future races. But now it just happens to work out in my favor."
Derek Su finished telling this enormous lie with his eyes closed, completely calm and composed.
Still, he felt a little nervous inside.
The overall story was logically consistent, but if someone examined it carefully, there were definitely questionable parts.
For example, it made sense for WFC to keep a trump card.
But why choose Purple Lightning, who had a speed disadvantage?
And why had WFC never considered selling the club before buying Purple Lightning—yet suddenly decided to sell after spending money to acquire her?
But life was full of coincidences anyway.
Whatever Purple Lightning said next, he could always dismiss it with one word.
Fate.
Fate really was a mysterious thing~
Purple Lightning lowered her head and thought it over. Something felt slightly off, but the whole sequence of events also seemed to connect logically.
Still, suddenly joining Stella Club, and suddenly not needing to repay the breach fee—those two enormous surprises were difficult for someone like her, who had lived in hardship for so long, to process.
It wasn't that she thought Stella Club or Derek Su meant to harm her, nor was she deliberately acting coy.
It was more like a stress reaction—once bitten, twice shy.
"But…"
"No buts!"
Derek Su immediately launched a full assault.
With a wounded expression, he said gloomily:
"I see now, Purple Lightning. So you never wanted to join Stella Club in the first place. Sigh… I guess that's understandable. After all, Stella Club has only just been founded. We have no history, no impressive results. Our drivers are just me, Zane, and an underage girl. That lineup would be a complete joke out there. What's even more ridiculous is that we didn't even have a proper logistics team… well, now we do. But as the saying goes, if something won't stay in your hands, you might as well let it go."
Derek Su looked up at the chandelier at a perfect forty-five-degree angle, his eyes filled with melancholy.
"You should go. Pay the breach fee if you want, or don't if you don't. I wish you happiness."
At the door of the side room, Imperial Scale and Tunbao both poked their heads out, curiosity written all over their faces.
What kind of Mecha Girl could possibly reject an offer from Derek Su like this?
She must be quite a peculiar Mecha Girl.
Seeing Derek Su stand up as if he were about to leave, Purple Lightning hurriedly scrambled to her feet.
But she lost her balance, tripped over the leg of the coffee table, and fell forward onto the floor.
One hand grabbed Derek Su's hand, and the other clutched his pants.
Her nose stung, and tears burst out as she cried.
"Boss, I—I didn't mean that! I want to join Stella Club! I think about it every day—even in my dreams! I've been waiting to finish paying the breach fee so I could slam the contract in Chloe Qin's face and walk proudly into your club. I don't even hope to become your main Mecha Girl. As long as I can join the club, have a place here, and have a chance to prove myself, that's enough."
"But I'm afraid I'll cause trouble for you."
She hugged his leg like it was a lifeline, sobbing.
"What if I bring shame to Stella Club? What if I keep losing races? What if no matter how many resources you invest… I still don't improve? How could I face everyone's kindness then…?"
Derek Su looked quietly at Purple Lightning as she cried, her eyes red and swollen.
After a long moment, he gently patted her head and asked softly:
"Purple Lightning, do you want to get on the track?"
There were no comforting words.
No promises.
Just that calm question.
But to Purple Lightning, those words were like a sharp blade, cutting down every trace of self-doubt and self-pity in her heart.
"I do…"
"I want to get on the track."
She buried her head, her voice trembling as she cried out loudly:
"I want to get on the track!!"
"Good."
The gentle smile on Derek Su's face suddenly disappeared, replaced with a serious expression.
"New member of Stella Club—Purple Lightning. I understand how you feel."
"But if you don't let go…"
"…my pants are going to fall down."
Purple Lightning froze, hiccuping mid-sob.
She instinctively looked up and saw Derek Su with a dark expression, desperately pulling up his pants with both hands.
But the corner of his blue-striped boxer shorts was already sticking out…
...
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