MG - Chapter 387: Are You Trying to Kill Me? (Patreon)

"Bao Bao, we're back!!"

Stella had not even stepped through the club entrance before she raised her voice at full volume.

Holding up a shopping bag, she shouted, "We bought your favorite diapers!!!"

"AAAAAAAAAH!!!"

The moment Stella finished speaking, Tunbao's mortified scream exploded from the living room.

Then Derek Su watched a Mecha Girl whose face had turned as red as a monkey's butt smash through the club's huge floor-to-ceiling window and charge outside.

Her thighs were clamped together, her calves trembled, smoke practically rose from her head, her ears had gone purple-red, and her pale-pink hair was standing on end.

It was, of course, Tunbao.

"Stella! Wh-why did you have to shout that so loud?!"

Tunbao was about to explode from humiliation.

Having to run to the bathroom every three minutes was already miserable enough. She had finally forced herself to accept the strange looks from the club's support and healing-type Mecha Girls.

But now even Imperial Scale was looking at her strangely.

How was she supposed to endure that?!

One of the things Tunbao cared about most was how Imperial Scale saw her!

"Hehe. I was just letting you know your precious package arrived. Didn't you say you needed it urgently?" Stella clasped her hands behind her back and stuck out her tongue, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

"Give it to me!" Tunbao stretched out one hand angrily.

Stella, however, decided to make things difficult.

"W-well, if you call me Great King, I'll give it to you."

"Stella, don't push your luck!!"

"So? Are you going to say it or not~?"

"Damn it..."

Tunbao ground her teeth.

Her stomach had finally started feeling a little better after she had spent the entire morning emptying it, but now it seemed ready to rebel again.

She clutched her stomach and desperately endured the churning inside.

In her current condition, every single fart was absolutely, positively not to be trusted.

Seeing how miserable Tunbao looked, Derek Su was about to step in and smooth things over.

Tunbao was proud, stubborn, and painfully tsundere. Getting her to call Stella "Great King" to her face should have been almost impossible.

And yet...

"G-Great King..."

Tunbao turned her face away, legs pressed tightly together, one hand over her stomach.

With an extremely unnatural expression, she muttered the two words in a tiny voice.

"Ohohohoho!" Stella was delighted. "Didn't hear you. Louder!"

Maybe Tunbao figured she had already said it once and had nothing left to lose.

She bared her teeth and roared, "GREAT KING—!!!"

Then, while Stella was distracted, Tunbao lunged forward, snatched the shopping bag from her hands, smashed straight through one of the club's walls with a boom, and sprinted toward the bathroom.

Derek Su stared blankly after her.

Then he suddenly sensed murderous intent beside him.

Under the parasol tree stood a Mecha Girl from the logistics department, broom in hand.

Her head was lowered.

The hand gripping the broom trembled.

Crack!

The broom snapped in half.

"The wall! FUCK, I HAVE TO FIX THE WALL AGAIN!!"

She unleashed the furious scream of an exhausted worker.

"AAAAH—!!"

...

After the provincial-level track came the national-level Advanced Races.

The national-level events changed with the seasons. Winter was approaching, so this quarter's race would take place on the Lorenz Great Snow Mountain, a course known as both the Crown of Extreme Cold and the Extreme Path of Wind and Snow.

The participation rules were also much less restrictive in terms of timing. A national-level Advanced Race could be held every month as long as more than ten competitors entered.

However, the final result was not determined only by how a competitor performed in that particular race.

Their result was also compared against the average performance of all competitors from previous years.

If they failed to clear the championship cutoff, then even finishing first would not make them champion.

It worked somewhat like an entrance-exam cutoff score. You first had to clear the line before you even qualified to compete for the championship.

Competitors could enter the national-level Advanced Race every month to improve their result, but each reward could only be claimed once per year.

If a competitor held a place on the leaderboard, meaning the top ten, then each year they could claim the corresponding leaderboard reward from that national-level Advanced Race.

That reward system constantly pushed competitors to challenge stronger versions of themselves.

Those already near the top did everything they could to defend their records.

Those behind them gave everything they had to surpass the people ahead and claim better leaderboard rewards.

Then the cycle repeated.

"Don't tell me Eden came up with this competition system..."

Derek Su clicked his tongue as he read through the national-level Advanced Race rules.

Before learning the truth behind racing, he might have found the system strange, even needlessly complicated.

But now he knew where racers ultimately ended up.

They became warriors.

Mecha pilots.

With that in mind, he had to admire Eden's methods.

Layer after layer of incentives and selection made the whole system more elaborate than an emperor choosing imperial consorts.

But it undeniably worked.

With the smallest carrot, Eden could keep the fastest donkeys running and continuously filter out the warriors best suited for the front lines.

"My next job is to become a Techmaster as soon as possible."

Derek Su muttered to himself as he organized the documents on his computer.

Once he became a Techmaster, he would have psychic energy, the system's ability to add points, and the powerful skills of every Mecha Girl under his command.

Wouldn't he be able to smash the national-level Advanced Race records one after another?

By then, the Techmasters would probably hate him to death...

[Knock knock knock—]

"Master! Hurry! People from the Crown Club are here to cause trouble!"

Stella's panicked shout came from outside the door.

"If you don't come now, they're going to tear the Stella Club apart!"

Derek Su froze.

What the hell?!

He sprang out of his chair in a single motion.

The Crown Club was currently the Stella Club's number-one enemy.

Crimson and Leon Li had both warned him repeatedly to be careful of Ethan Yang.

Derek Su had thought he might get at least a couple quiet days after returning.

He never expected the Crown Club to come knocking so quickly.

He wanted to see where they had found the nerve.

Were they seriously trying to smash up his club in broad daylight?!

Derek Su straightened his clothes and stormed downstairs behind Stella.

A Mecha Girl stood in the center of the lobby with an ashen expression.

She was surrounded three layers deep by Stella Club support and healing-type Mecha Girls.

Imperial Scale stood at the very front, her gaze cold and indifferent. Purple Lightning and Lingwind flanked her from behind like two bodyguards.

Outside the crowd, Absolute Shadow rubbed her temples, looking utterly helpless.

"Master, it's her!"

Stella pointed dramatically at the surrounded Mecha Girl.

"She's the one trying to overthrow your rule!!"

Derek Su: "..."

What the hell?

What kind of ridiculous books had Stella been reading lately?

Still, why had the Crown Club sent only one Mecha Girl?

No.

He could not think like that.

A Mecha Girl's combat power was terrifying.

Even one could cause enormous destruction, so he had to take the situation seriously.

"You're here to smash up my club?!"

Derek Su pushed through the crowd and stopped directly in front of the Crown Club Mecha Girl.

He was a full head taller than her.

His combat ability might not amount to much, but his presence was absolutely imposing.

He practically loomed over her.

Then...

Derek Su watched the Mecha Girl's face grow redder and redder.

Her cheeks puffed up.

Huge tears burst from her eyes.

And then she started bawling.

"I-I only came here to deliver a challenge letter! I haven't done anything, and your club surrounded me with this huge crowd of Mecha Girls!

"Is that really necessary?! Are you trying to beat me to death?!

"Waaah! You're bullying me! I want to go back to Mecha Island! Waaah! ╥﹏╥"