With a muffled boom, a large number of highly resilient specialized rope nets shot out from around the tunnel entrance.
Elastic fabric in the middle of the nets quickly formed a buffer zone in the direction Silver Mirror and Swain Li had been thrown. The support Mecha Girls on both sides immediately pulled the nets tight, but even then, the elastic fabric still looked like it might be forced open. Fortunately, the second buffer zone had already been set up. With both layers of elastic fabric cushioning the impact, and the support Mecha Girls on either side using their immense strength to help offset the kinetic force from Silver Mirror and Swain Li's collision, their speed finally began to slow.
Absolute Shadow stood on a tall rock not far away, arms crossed, a cigarette between her lips.
The moment she saw Silver Mirror and Swain Li fall from midair, she waved her hand and ordered, "Rescue them!"
The healing Mecha Girls who had been standing by swarmed forward. They quickly found Silver Mirror and Swain Li, who had crashed into the grass and were completely dazed. Then they shifted into ambulance form. Whoever needed bandaging was bandaged, whoever needed a repair pod was tossed into one. The whole process flowed smoothly from start to finish.
Absolute Shadow watched Swain Li and Silver Mirror being rescued, but inwardly, she was a little speechless.
She had brought the logistics team and medical team to cover the entire danger zone around Wushe Cave to ensure Derek Su and Purple Lightning's safety.
In the end, Derek Su and Purple Lightning were perfectly fine, while Silver Mirror and Swain Li had flown out halfway instead.
If she saved them, this was not even within Stella Club's scope of operations. To put it bluntly, it was purely a waste of resources, not to mention that Swain Li and Silver Mirror were competitors. But if she did not save them, watching two lives smash into the retaining wall and turn into meat paste was not her style either. Besides, seeing that would be pretty disgusting.
So after weighing it over, Absolute Shadow still decided to save Silver Mirror and Swain Li. She would just charge them extra for the rescue afterward.
...
A quarter of an hour had passed since Silver Mirror and Swain Li were rescued.
Swain Li's body had fully recovered, but he was still mentally shaken, leaning against a tree trunk with a lingering look of fear.
Silver Mirror's injuries were more severe, and she was still inside the repair pod recovering.
Only then did Crown Club's logistics team and medical team finally arrive.
As for the medical team from the Xiangshan Advanced Race organizers, there was still no sign of them.
Before the race began, the Xiangshan Advanced Race organizers had already made it clear that there would be no official logistics or treatment teams. Everything would be handled by the clubs themselves. The same applied to later provincial-level tracks and national-level tracks. Clearly, as the level of the competition rose, the requirements for participating clubs became stricter and stricter. Without a qualified and efficient logistics team, a club could not even guarantee the basic safety of its own drivers and Mecha Girls.
"How did you get up here? How were you so fast?!"
Crown Club's logistics team stared at Absolute Shadow, who had already completed the entire rescue process, completely dumbfounded.
After receiving the message from the Xiangshan Advanced Race organizers, they had wasted no time locking onto the location and immediately taken a helicopter up the mountain.
That alone had delayed them by at least ten minutes, yet the logistics team led by Absolute Shadow had clearly arrived before them, at least ten minutes faster.
"How many people are on your team?" Absolute Shadow pinched out her cigarette, tossed it to the ground, and exhaled a smoke ring.
"Uh, a little over fifty, including logistics and medical staff," the Mecha Girl said blankly.
"Then there's your answer." Absolute Shadow curled her lip, privately thinking, Crown Club, huh? Is that all? Then she said casually, "Stella Club's logistics team has over five hundred people in total. We can cover every danger zone in Wushe Cave. To prevent any accidents involving our boss, we pre-positioned everyone in advance."
The Crown Club logistics Mecha Girl: "..."
Stella Club? It did not sound very famous.
With this kind of scale, could it be one of those world top 100 super clubs?
She would have to ask around properly once she got back.
"Right, pay up!" Absolute Shadow held a hand out to the Mecha Girl. "Your club's driver only had superficial injuries and a bad fright, so the treatment fee isn't expensive. Just 200,000. But your club's Mecha Girl was one step away from being recycled. We used quite a lot of resources to bring her back, so that price is a little higher. Five million. Also, since we're not part of your club, you'll have to compensate us with a 10% service disruption fee."
The Crown Club Mecha Girl watched Absolute Shadow counting everything out on her fingers, and her face turned green.
It would not even cost that much if they treated them themselves!
"You're robbing us!" she snapped, eyes wide with anger. "No matter how badly they were injured, it wouldn't cost that much! This is extortion!"
Absolute Shadow fell silent for a moment. Then, with a sharp click of her high heel, she crushed the cigarette butt that had not yet gone out.
With a flick of her hand, she pulled out an iron hammer from who knew where, its head as large as a water tank, and aimed it at Swain Li's head with a cold smile.
"Fine. If you don't want to pay, that works too. We don't need the money. But we can't just let it end like this after healing them, can we? In that case, I'll just beat them back into critical condition... Also, I should mention that I'm one of the external deputy chiefs of Mecha Island's Joint Faction. I have the authority to disable the Mecha Girl Restriction Regulations~ If I hit a little too hard and accidentally kill someone... tsk, tsk~"
She did not continue. A red glint simply flashed through her eyes.
At the same time, an electronic voice came from her AI Core: "Mecha Girl Restriction Regulation No. 1 deactivated."
The Crown Club support Mecha Girls were collectively stunned.
"Ma'am, we were wrong!"
They hurriedly bowed and apologized, nodding and scraping as their attitudes made a complete one-eighty.
Some members of Mecha Island's Mecha Girl management had the authority to disable restriction regulations. Otherwise, they would have no initiative when facing human management. This was a self-protection measure for Mecha Island. However, that did not mean those management members could slaughter humans at will, since they were still bound by the joint laws of Mecha Island and the Human Federation.
But even knowing Absolute Shadow would not kill Swain Li, this scene was scary enough.
If she did not kill him, then beating him into a vegetative state would be fine, right?
Treating psychological and neurological damage would cost far more than five or six million.
Seeing that she had achieved her goal, Absolute Shadow gave a cold snort and reactivated the restriction regulations. All that remained was to wait for these Mecha Girls to obediently hand over the money.
And so, Crown Club's logistics team, who had only just arrived on the mountain, immediately turned around and went back down to get the money before they had even settled in. They even left behind a dozen or so logistics Mecha Girls as temporary collateral.
"Um, thank you for saving me and Silver Mirror."
Absolute Shadow heard the voice, turned to look at the mushroom-haired driver, and said indifferently, "No need to thank me. It was just a coincidence. Besides, you're paying for it. It wasn't free."
Thinking back to how he had almost crashed into Purple Lightning during the race, Swain Li felt even guiltier.
What was true breadth of character? This was it.
Derek Su not only had the strength to win a championship, he had the bearing of a champion. Even the logistics team under his club had this kind of presence...
Swain Li's emotions were tangled as he looked at the calm Absolute Shadow, unsure what to say.
He finally understood why Derek Su had that commanding aura about him.
It was not an act. It was something that came naturally.
"Master, I'm all better now."
Silver Mirror stepped out of the healing Mecha Girl's repair pod and immediately walked up to Swain Li.
After surviving a brush with death, the way she looked at Swain Li carried something difficult to describe.
"Let's continue the race."
Swain Li froze. "But your body and endurance..."
"I've recovered a little. Finishing the race slowly won't be a problem. It's just that getting a good result will be hard now." Silver Mirror lowered her head a little, looking dejected.
But she quickly looked back at Swain Li, her tone firm. "Master, no matter whether you win or lose, you really want to finish this race, don't you? After all..."
"This is the first time you've ever taken something this seriously. As your Mecha Girl, how could I ruin the mood?"
"We should finish what we started."
Swain Li fell silent when he heard that.
He truly did want to finish the race.
If he had gained anything from this race, it was not information on Derek Su and Purple Lightning.
It was the respect that a competitor, a driver, deserved.
"Alright!" He nodded heavily. "Let's finish this race!"
...
Silver Mirror and Swain Li thanked Absolute Shadow again and again for saving them.
Then the two walked back onto the track side by side.
By this time, Cloud Leopard and Hurricane had long since overtaken them while fighting each other.
Even competitors from the fourth round had passed them. They would not even make the top ten in the advancement race.
Absolute Shadow pulled another cigarette from the pack and stared after their backs in a daze.
She lit it and took one drag, only to choke so hard that tears and snot streamed down her face, and she could not help cursing.
A thick mustard flavor shot straight into her skull.
She pinched the cigarette and looked at it, only to see crooked little words written on the shaft: Smoking is harmful to your health.
There was even a little grimacing face after it.
The corner of Absolute Shadow's mouth twitched. She checked the rest of the cigarettes and found that every single one had been swapped.
Only the first few she had smoked earlier were normal.
Add to that the fact that, some time ago, a certain Mecha Girl had said something about limiting how much she smoked...
The mastermind instantly surfaced in her mind.
"Tunbao!"
Absolute Shadow clenched her fists, gnashing her teeth.
...
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