"Shane Summers, I'm sorry, but you've been sacked by our Apex Club."
Slap—
A contract was thrown onto the table.
Shane Summers glanced at the contract, then at the yellow-haired guy across from him, raising an eyebrow.
The yellow-haired guy, named Kyle Zane, was the boss of Apex Club, with five racers and three machine girls under his command.
In front of him was a breach of contract document—stating that after training on April 1, 2024, he had engaged in forced molestation of the machine girl [Jade-786], severely violating the rules of interaction between humans and machine girls. As a result, he was now expelled from Apex Club. Being expelled also meant he would lose his status as [Jade-786]'s driver and his eligibility to participate in the Nosk Rally.
"Considering the good work you've done modifying machines for our club, especially how well you've trained [Jade-786], we'll let the breach penalty slide. Be grateful," Kyle Zane said with an arrogant smirk, tossing a pen in front of Shane Summers. "Hurry up, sign the contract, and get out!"
"Molestation?!" Shane Summers stood up, glaring coldly at Kyle Zane. "I was checking her engine module, and some physical contact was unavoidable. Just touching her back counts as molestation? If I'd moved my hand a bit lower, would she have laid an egg on the spot and popped out a Chery QQ?"
"Shane Summers! Watch your mouth," Kyle Zane snapped, sitting up straight with a frown, his tone impatient. "Jade is my machine girl now. Yesterday, I formed a soul bond contract with her. Insulting her is the same as insulting me!"
With that, Shane Summers finally saw the reason clearly.
The machine girl he'd spent a month meticulously modifying, even paying out of his own pocket to train, had been snatched by someone else.
And the hard-earned race qualification? Gone.
Kyle Zane's shameless actions had rendered all his efforts futile, including his plans for advancing in this world, which were now completely thrown into chaos.
That's right—Shane Summers wasn't from this world.
Just over a month ago, he arrived in this world that worshipped speed and passion. Machine girl rally racing was the main melody of entertainment and competitive sports here, its status equivalent to Hollywood, the World Cup, the Olympics, and other world-class industries combined on Earth. If you could make a name for yourself in this field, you'd become a superstar-like existence.
However, the rally races in this world were slightly different. The competitors on the track weren't ordinary cars but a group of special beings called machine girls. Outside of races, they were indistinguishable from human girls, but on the track, they transformed into intelligent mechanical vehicles driven by racers.
"Did Jade-786 agree to this willingly? You didn't coerce her?"
Shane Summers's mind conjured the image of the machine girl who usually obeyed his every word. He couldn't imagine her betraying him.
"Of course. In fact, Jade-786 came to me herself," Kyle Zane said, leaning back in his chair nonchalantly. "If you don't believe me, ask Jade-786 yourself."
He clapped his hands, and a tall, slender girl pushed open the door and walked in.
"Master, you called for me?"
Jade stood beside Kyle Zane, her demeanor respectful.
Shane Summers was very familiar with this humble expression—Jade had always been the same way in front of him. But now, she felt utterly unfamiliar to him. As his gaze settled on Jade-786, a translucent virtual panel gradually appeared over her.
[Drift: 66 points]
[Acceleration: 72 points]
[Cornering: 61 points]
[Boost: 55 points]
[Stability: 53 points]
[Collision Resistance: 51 points]
[Endurance: 60 points]
[Evaluation: This machine girl is barely at the passing line for standard track performance. Poor collision resistance and stability—she'll fall apart with a single hit!]
This information was visible only to him, one of the cheat abilities he gained upon arriving in this world.
His other cheat ability was strengthening a machine girl's attributes by earning MP points through races.
Jade-786's current stats were the result of swapping out numerous parts, like tires, frames, and batteries—components that didn't require modules. When he first took over Jade-786, her stats were so low she couldn't even complete a standard race. The other two machine girls at Apex Club were in even worse shape.
He had planned to take Jade-786 to a few small training races before next week's Nosk Rally to accumulate MP points and improve her attributes, particularly addressing her weak collision resistance. That way, they could aim for a good result at the Nosk Rally.
Now? Jade-786 had dumped him!
"Jade, tell Shane Summers. Was it your idea to come to me for the contract yesterday?" Kyle Zane asked, wrapping an arm around Jade's waist, his face smug.
Jade met Shane Summers's gaze and said indifferently, "Shane Summers has no racing experience, not even in training races. He's just a rookie racer. But Master is different—he's competed in the Nosk Rally several times. His lack of good results before was only because of inferior machine girls."
"Me, a rookie racer?" Shane Summers pointed at himself, laughing in rage.
In his previous life, he was a world-class racer. If not for someone tampering with his car in his final race, causing the brakes to fail and sending him off a cliff to his death, he'd be celebrating a championship victory in his villa right now.
"What's so funny? Impotent rage?" Kyle Zane sneered, crossing his legs and looking at Shane Summers with a strange expression. "Is Jade wrong? To rank in the Nosk Rally, you need both a high-quality machine girl and a skilled racer. You, Shane Summers, have never even raced once. You're not qualified! I gave you Jade-786 as a reward for your modification skills, but this is her choice now. You have no right to interfere!"
With that, he pushed the contract toward Shane Summers, signaling him to sign and leave.
Shane Summers looked at Kyle Zane and Jade-786 in silence for a moment, then picked up the pen and signed his name on the contract with a flourish.
"That's the spirit!" Kyle Zane said, picking up the contract with a smile. "Shane Summers, you're still young. There'll be plenty of opportunities in the future. You're pretty sensible, and I'd hate to lose talent like you. How about you stay on as a dedicated modifier for my Jade-786? Same salary."
Shane Summers didn't respond. After a moment, a cold chuckle escaped through gritted teeth in the office.
"Kyle Zane, do you know what a wall-ride overtake is? Do you know about drainage ditch cornering? Do you know about drifting?"
"…You know nothing."
He turned to Jade-786, his expression colder still. "Ungrateful thing. You really think I'd care about your fragile frame that falls apart at the slightest touch or your snail-like cornering?"
Jade-786's face went pale, her eyes wide with shock as she stared at Shane Summers.
In the month since Shane Summers took over, he had never driven her or conducted any tests. How did he know her weaknesses?
"Maybe he's just guessing…" she thought to herself, but a trace of unease lingered.
Could her decision yesterday have been a mistake?
No, impossible.
Shane Summers was a rookie who knew nothing but modifications.
When he first took her on, he didn't even know what modules or intelligent cores were.
Following a racer like Shane Summers on the track, she'd never achieve any glory and would just fade into obscurity.
Kyle Zane didn't understand what Shane Summers was talking about; he'd never heard those terms.
But he understood Shane Summers's claim that he knew nothing and his criticism of Jade-786.
Yesterday, he had driven Jade-786, and the experience was leagues better than the other machine girls in the club.
This only convinced him that Shane Summers was just barking in impotent rage, lashing out because he couldn't win Jade-786's favor.
"Shane Summers, you're not even a driver. Who do you think you are?" Kyle Zane slammed the table, pointing at Shane Summers. "I can compete in the Nosk Rally—can you? What machine girl would follow you? If you've got the guts, go contract a machine girl and make sure I don't see your taillights at next week's Nosk Rally. Then Jade-786 will naturally come back to you!"
"No need. Keep that junk car for yourself!"
Shane Summers turned, pushed open the door, and walked into the darkness.
His cold voice echoed in the office: "Kyle Zane, Jade-786, see you on the track."
---
T/N: I thought this novel was interesting. Changed character's name to english for me to easily undertand which character is talking.