The entire process, from Imperial Scale switching forms to the completion of the stat allocation, happened extremely quickly. It took no more than two breaths.
Up ahead, Richard Cheng was still immersed in the joy of having successfully overtaken them.
"So Derek Su really didn't mean anything by it. There was no need to predict his move at all!" he said, still a little shaken. "DL-02, you really came through. Derek Su nearly threw me off by staying calm and doing nothing. If you hadn't reminded me, I definitely would've wasted a lot of time."
DL-02 was speechless.
She felt Richard Cheng shouldn't be a pilot at all. He should join the circus and put on a red nose. He would probably achieve far greater things there than he ever would here.
Still, there was one thing she did agree with.
They had finally completed the overtake.
And from here on out, it would be smooth sailing!
But that thought had only just appeared when the situation suddenly changed.
Vroom, vroom, vroom!
DL-02 was the first to hear the engine roar and react. That sharp engine note was definitely not the sound of a combat-type Mecha Girl. It sounded more like a speed-type Mecha Girl. In other words, Imperial Scale's other form.
Her heart jolted, a chill running down her spine as she instinctively looked into the rearview mirror.
The pitch-black off-road vehicle had vanished. In its place was a low-slung, streamlined black sports car. Its blood-red headlights spread a crimson path ahead like blooming roses, even seeming ready to overshadow the Path of Glory that stretched across the entire road.
"She... she switched forms again?!" DL-02's eyes widened as she cried out in shock.
"What?!" Richard Cheng froze as well. He glanced at the rearview mirror and went still.
It made no sense. Wasn't it supposed to take a long time before she could switch forms again?
How long had it been? And she had already switched back to speed-type?
If Imperial Scale could freely switch between combat-type and speed-type, then she was basically an unbeatable bug on the track. But that wasn't what shocked Richard Cheng the most. What confused him even more was that Imperial Scale's speed had already surpassed DL-02's, and she was steadily, slowly closing the distance between them.
"Stop staring!"
DL-02's low growl snapped Richard Cheng back to his senses. "Block her!"
Richard Cheng reacted quickly enough. The instant he heard DL-02's voice, he yanked the control stick to the right, trying to cut off Derek Su's overtaking line.
But Derek Su seemed to have predicted it in advance. He had already driven Imperial Scale out of the way at the same time.
"Oh, getting nervous?"
Inside Imperial Scale's cockpit, Derek Su glanced at DL-02 up ahead on the left, the corner of his mouth curling up.
"Only thinking about blocking me now? Isn't that a little late?"
The track in the wilderness zone was so wide that he could overtake from anywhere he wanted.
But doing that would cost him some speed. And now that Imperial Scale had switched forms, although her stability and Impact Resistance were still excellent, she was no longer suited to charging into the Gobi Desert littered with tropical plants and broken rocks.
So he intended to have a proper contest with Richard Cheng-DL-02 right here on the track.
If Richard Cheng really had the skill to drive DL-02 and block him, then that would at least prove he had some technique.
The failure of his first interception left Richard Cheng in a foul mood. He admitted his driving skills weren't as good as Derek Su's, but surely he shouldn't be so far off that he couldn't even touch the edge, right? Yet while driving DL-02, he couldn't even manage to close in sideways on Imperial Scale. Derek Su beside him was like a master of tai chi, immediately slipping away the moment he approached.
"There isn't enough room to fight right now." DL-02 turned her head to check the distance between the cars and reminded him, "Imperial Scale isn't much faster than me. She can't pull off an overwhelming overtake. Once they're about level with us, ram them straight off the track!"
If Imperial Scale's current Impact Resistance and Stability were above hers, then Derek Su would not have chosen to dodge Richard Cheng's interception just now.
Since Derek Su dodged, that meant he had concerns.
"Force them to the edge of the track." DL-02 took a calm breath and gave the order again.
Richard Cheng immediately did as told, gradually moving closer to Imperial Scale and forcing her toward the right lane.
His obedient attitude gave DL-02 a little comfort.
Richard Cheng's skills might not be great, but at least he listened. As long as a pilot listened, he could still be considered a good pilot.
The truly hopeless ones were the pilots who were both bad and stubborn.
There was no saving those people.
...
"Master, they're planning to force us off the track."
On the other side, inside the cockpit, Imperial Scale observed DL-02's movements and gave her judgment.
Right now, DL-02 was like a giant python coiling in from the side, relying on her size and brute strength to strangle her and Derek Su.
"Doesn't matter." Derek Su stared at the track, focusing only on his own controls.
His calm gaze was like a deep pool, without the slightest ripple. "Let them come."
At a certain moment, the two Mecha Girls finally drew level.
DL-02, who had been biding her time, finally bared her fangs under Richard Cheng's control.
Richard Cheng slammed the control stick over.
The tires tilted sideways, and the body of the car pressed right under the force of inertia.
The immense pressure continued to bear down on the wheels, making them shriek sharply against the ground.
Pale tire smoke spat from DL-02's two front wheels.
Faint sparks could be seen flickering within it.
Her body charged toward Imperial Scale and Derek Su like a heavily armored knight in full battle gear.
"Here it comes!" From the corner of his eye, Derek Su shot a quick glance at the left window.
He turned the control stick to the right.
Then he pulled the handbrake, sending a command to Imperial Scale: lock the front wheels.
Screech!
The sound was even more scalp-numbing than the screech of DL-02's tires.
Imperial Scale's front wheels locked, while her rear wheels continued spinning wildly.
As a result, her front wheels became a moving cone tip, while the rear of the car, driven by the power from the rear wheels, rotated clockwise around that point. This did allow her to avoid DL-02's collision, but because the rear was swinging too fast, Imperial Scale's side was about to slam into DL-02's rear end.
Derek Su, of course, would never allow that to happen.
He released the handbrake and floored the accelerator.
Boom!
The locked front wheels instantly regained power.
Imperial Scale's rearward rotation sharply slowed, and her body gradually aligned parallel with DL-02's.
Control was restored. Imperial Scale's side was less than half a fist away from DL-02's rear end.
This was already the absolute limit of the maneuver. If the timing of releasing the handbrake and hitting the gas had been even 0.5 seconds off, the collision would have been unavoidable.
From a bird's-eye view, the moment DL-02 charged in, Imperial Scale drifted to the right. As both cars slid sideways at the same time, Imperial Scale seemed to come to an abrupt stop for an instant relative to DL-02.
And it was that brief stop that let DL-02 scrape past the front of Imperial Scale.
Through the front windshield, Derek Su and Imperial Scale could see the shock in DL-02's eyes and Richard Cheng's pale face.
They plunged headfirst into the wilderness beside the track, the front of the car smashing through a patch of cacti and rocks.
"Bye~"
Derek Su stuck his left hand out the window, raised his thumb, then flipped it downward.
With his right hand, he downshifted, hit the gas, and turned the control stick back.
He completed a dizzying series of maneuvers with one hand.
Imperial Scale, still in a drift, immediately straightened out and traced a smooth arc back onto the track.
By then, Richard Cheng and DL-02 had only just reacted and were turning around in the wilderness to return to the track.
After that back-and-forth, the time and distance they had lost were easy to imagine.
Catching up to Derek Su and Imperial Scale now was nothing but a pipe dream.
...
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