"Master, that corner before Wushe Cave…"
Under Derek Su's driving, Purple Lightning had used her special skill to shoot straight through the Wushe Cave section.
It had been quite a while since Gutter-Run Cornering, and they had even cleared the Wushe Cave section, but she was still a little dazed.
The main thing she couldn't understand was how they had gone through that downhill corner before entering Wushe Cave at such high speed without losing control and getting thrown off the track.
"Do you remember that crack when we entered the turn?" Derek Su's lips curved upward.
Gutter-Run Cornering. In his previous life, it had been a classic among classics, a maneuver even professional racers struggled to pull off.
After all, not every track had a drainage ditch, and not every drainage ditch was suitable for this kind of cornering. Some ditches were too wide. If the tires sank in, the chassis would get stuck too. That was not Gutter-Run Cornering. That was a suicide-style breakdown in a drainage ditch.
"I remember!" Purple Lightning said, thinking back. "At the time, I thought I'd blown a tire because one side of my wheels sank down. I was panicking, but then, whoosh, in the blink of an eye, we were already at the bottom of the slope!"
"Exactly. You felt the wheels sink because I deliberately drove them into the drainage ditch." Derek Su's eyes glittered with the sly look of an old fox. "That's called Gutter-Run Cornering. Watch closely and learn well. I don't teach this to just anyone."
"But why does a drainage ditch help with cornering?" Purple Lightning's eyes were full of confusion.
To help Purple Lightning fully understand the essence of Gutter-Run Cornering, Derek Su gave her a rigorous physics lesson while he drove. Purple Lightning went from completely baffled to vaguely understanding, and by the time they reached the finish line, her face was filled with admiration.
"Got it now?"
He disengaged expanded mode.
Derek Su smugly ruffled Purple Lightning's hair.
"Now you understand why Gutter-Run Cornering works, right?"
"I do!" Purple Lightning blinked her big eyes and nodded. "Master, you're amazing! I have no idea how your brain works. I never would've thought of such a strange yet effective way to take a corner!"
Derek Su felt secretly delighted after being praised by his own Mecha Girl.
In truth, he would not have thought of it either. The shoulders of those who came before him were simply too high and broad, and once he stood on them, everything became clear.
But as the saying went, a master could only lead you through the door. Cultivation depended on the individual.
He still wanted to test how much of his experience Purple Lightning had absorbed.
So he asked, "Then explain the principle behind Gutter-Run Cornering to me."
"Um…" Purple Lightning's pretty face flushed. She thought for a long while, fingers twisting together, then stammered, "According to Newton's Second Law… No. 4 rebar mixed with No. 78 concrete, uh, um, can make even more delicious spaghetti!"
Derek Su: "Huh?"
The two walked side by side toward the podium.
By now, all the competitors had already started.
The big screen at the finish line displayed every competitor's average speed. Although Purple Lightning's starting speed at the beginning of the race had been nothing special, her average speed was now the fastest by far.
In second place was the steady and reliable Dawnbreak.
Behind her were Hurricane and Cloud Leopard, still neck and neck. These two Mecha Girls had yet to reach the finish line, and their average speeds were still locked together. One moment Cloud Leopard was ahead, and the next moment Hurricane took the lead.
What surprised Derek Su was that Swain Li and Silver Mirror's result was gradually slipping toward the bottom.
The other competitors were steadily overtaking him.
Only after dropping into the thirties did he barely manage to stabilize.
"What's going on with Swain Li and Silver Mirror?" Derek Su frowned. Since Swain Li's Mecha Girl, Silver Mirror, had copied Purple Lightning's skill, she should not be that weak even if she had not used it.
Then a possibility suddenly occurred to him.
Could that guy have actually used it?
And then fallen apart because her Stability and Impact Resistance were too low?
Before long, Laiya An and Dawnbreak reached the finish line, which also cleared up Derek Su's doubts.
"Idol! I've got good news and bad news!" Laiya An dragged a bewildered Dawnbreak over to Derek Su and Purple Lightning, grinning brightly.
Before Derek Su could ask, she went on by herself. "The good news is, Swain Li and Silver Mirror ran into trouble halfway through, but your Stella Club's support team happened to save them. Otherwise, those two might've had to say goodbye to this world."
Just as he thought.
Derek Su silently admired Swain Li's courage.
Did he really think Purple Lightning's special skill could be used so casually?
That extreme speed, paired with Impact Resistance and Stability so fragile they could shatter at a touch, was not something just anyone could handle. Take the leap over Broken Moon Platform, for example. Most Mecha Girls would take an impact when they landed, but Purple Lightning was different. Thanks to Derek Su's precise calculations, most of the landing impact had been absorbed, which was why Purple Lightning had not been hurt.
"So what's the bad news?" Derek Su asked.
"The bad news is…" Laiya An pouted and said pitifully, "I still wasn't your match in this race. Congratulations, you've caught my attention. Starting today, you're my imaginary enemy!"
With that, she pulled out a small notebook and handed it to Derek Su.
"Imaginary Enemy Teacher, give me an autograph!"
The corner of Derek Su's mouth twitched.
This girl's personality really was unpredictable.
He had just picked up the pen and finished signing for Laiya An when Dawnbreak let out a pig-slaughtering scream beside him.
"Aaaaaah! My first place! My first place in the Xiangshan Advanced Race! Aaaaaah! Laiya, you lied to me! Waaah… Didn't you say I was way ahead? Waaah…"
Dawnbreak knelt on the ground, looked up at the sky, and cried at the top of her lungs, her heart full of grievance.
When she rushed out of Wushe Cave, she had even decided what pose she would use later while holding the trophy for the photo.
But the instant she crossed the finish line, she saw Derek Su and Purple Lightning walking down from the car retrieval platform.
Did they have any idea how devastated she had felt at that moment?
"In the end, I'm just too weak…"
Dawnbreak sniffled and pouted. "Master, I'm not worthy of being your Mecha Girl anymore. Let's terminate the contract when we get back. You should switch to one with better performance."
She had given it everything and still failed to win the race.
Dawnbreak blamed it all on herself.
"What are you talking about?" Laiya An's face turned serious. She flicked Dawnbreak on the forehead and scolded her, "Didn't you say before that you'd never leave me, and that you'd live and die with me? Why are you changing your mind now?"
"I'm not…" Dawnbreak covered her forehead, then suddenly threw herself into Laiya An's arms and burst into tears. "Waaah, Laiya… I've completely embarrassed myself! Waaah…"
Laiya An hugged Dawnbreak, her eyes narrowing into a relieved smile. "There, there. Don't cry. You already did really well. We'll go after the championship again next time."
Shame led to courage.
All this time, Dawnbreak's journey had been too smooth, which had made her very proud. It was about time she took a few blows and tasted some hardship. It was not that she needed to become timid. She just needed to learn to respect those stronger than herself. Only by first respecting an opponent's strength could she humbly learn their techniques and experience. Otherwise, she would forever be trampled under their feet, reduced to ashes after cremation, with only her mouth still stubbornly talking tough.
"Idol, one day, Dawnbreak and I will surpass you!"
Laiya An watched Derek Su and Purple Lightning's backs.
Her eyes burned with an unshakable fighting spirit.
...
If you'd like to support my work and unlock advanced chapters, you can follow me on p-@-treon.
p-@-treon/GhostParser (40 Chapters Ahead)
You can also follow as a free member to read a few advanced chapters.