Eden frowned as she accepted the lead box.
The distinctive shape of the metal component immediately gave her a bad feeling.
Her underground base did indeed have surveillance coverage of the entire Panlong Mountain Circuit. She hadn't missed a single one of Derek Su's spectacular maneuvers throughout the race, and she was still glad that the [New King Project] had chosen Derek Su as its core.
But there were limits to what she could see from here.
She had noticed the falling rocks on the track, but she didn't know what had caused them. She had only sensed that something was wrong.
Now that Patrick Wang had brought this strange component to her, it only reinforced her suspicions.
"Everyone, step back. I need to open the lead box."
She needed to confirm something.
If this metal component really was what she suspected, then they were in serious trouble.
"Well..." Patrick Wang exchanged a glance with his assistant. "Governor, this component emits intense radiation. You..."
"It's fine. At my level, this amount of radiation won't affect me."
Hearing that, Patrick Wang nodded and led his assistant farther away.
Eden opened the lead box and removed the component.
The instant she sensed the radioactive material on it, her expression changed.
Without another word, she gripped the component, turned around, and headed straight into the laboratory next door.
Patrick Wang could swear that although he hadn't met Eden face-to-face many times, this was the first time he had ever seen such a grim expression on the Governor of Mecha Island.
What exactly had happened?
His own anxiety immediately surged.
...
Five minutes later, Eden emerged from the laboratory with a dark expression.
Her voice was urgent.
"Quick! Contact Panlong Mountain. Tell every contestant to stop racing immediately!"
Patrick Wang froze.
He stood there dumbfounded, unsure how to respond.
This was the annual provincial competition.
The prestige and importance of the Panlong Mountain Circuit were comparable to the college entrance examination.
How could they simply suspend it without warning?!
Eden had no time to explain.
She pulled out her communicator and called the Armed Forces Department.
She intended to send Mecha Girls from the Armed Forces Department directly to Panlong Mountain and forcibly halt the race.
If she went through the provincial competition organizers instead, those Techmasters would waste ages voting and arguing, then demand explanations for everything. It would only cost precious time.
Direct intervention would be faster.
But...
[Beep... beep... beep...]
Only a busy signal came through the communicator.
The call wouldn't connect!
Eden was just about to try another number when Patrick Wang's trembling voice reached her ears.
"Governor, look..."
Eden raised her eyes.
Patrick Wang was staring blankly past her, pointing behind her.
She turned around.
A chill swept through her entire body.
Every screen in the monitoring room had gone black.
The signal...
had been completely cut off.
...
Panlong Mountain.
The race was still underway.
Kool Kenny was commentating with his usual enthusiasm.
After Derek Su drove Purple Lightning to the front, Dawnbreak and Snowpeak had started fighting each other again. Meanwhile, Purple Lightning was rapidly closing the distance to Ghost, but there was nothing especially noteworthy to comment on for the moment.
"Ladies and gentlemen... Hello?"
His microphone suddenly went silent.
At the same time, the speakers around the spectator stands emitted a piercing electromagnetic screech.
The entire audience jumped in fright, covering their ears and cursing in discomfort.
"What's going on?"
Kool Kenny frowned and tapped the microphone.
When electronic equipment stopped working, the universal solution was to hit it a few times.
To his relief, the method actually worked. After two taps, the microphone came back to life.
He apologized to the audience, dismissed the incident as a minor glitch, and resumed his commentary.
At exactly the same time, every instrument used by the rescue and logistics teams malfunctioned for an instant.
But it lasted less than a second.
The equipment quickly returned to normal, so there was almost no impact.
On the Stella Club rescue team's helicopter, Imperial Scale frowned after listening to the report from the Mecha Girl piloting the aircraft.
"That was probably some kind of geomagnetic disturbance, right?"
"Who knows? It shouldn't cause any problems, though."
The functional Mecha Girls continued discussing it among themselves.
Imperial Scale picked up the radio and immediately contacted Derek Su on the track.
"Master, can you hear me?"
"Yeah."
Inside Purple Lightning's cockpit, Derek Su had already filled her skill gauge.
He was maintaining high speed while holding it right at the threshold for activating her active skill.
At the far edge of his vision, he could occasionally glimpse Ghost flickering in and out of sight.
"What's wrong, Imperial Scale? Something happen?"
"No." Imperial Scale pursed her lips. "It's just... please be careful."
Derek Su had no idea why Imperial Scale had suddenly decided to check on him, but the concern still warmed his heart.
He smiled.
"Don't worry. You trust my driving skills, don't you?"
After speaking with Derek Su, Imperial Scale contacted Stella, Absolute Shadow, and the other Mecha Girls from the club one after another.
Only after confirming that she could reach everyone and that they were all safe did she relax slightly.
Even then, an uneasy feeling lingered in her heart.
"I hope I'm imagining things."
She pressed her right hand against her chest and took a deep breath.
A gust of wind swept past, carrying cool droplets of water onto her face.
Imperial Scale looked up.
It was raining.
The weather on Panlong Mountain changed constantly. It could be perfectly sunny before a race and turn cloudy midway through. There was nothing unusual about that.
Even so, she couldn't shake the unease in her heart.
She stared silently at Panlong Mountain as it gradually disappeared behind a curtain of rain.
Then she turned to the functional Mecha Girl beside her.
"Notify all logistics and medical teams. Split into three groups. One group follows Boss Su and Purple Lightning, one patrols the summit, and the last covers both the summit and the foot of the mountain. Everyone stays ready to respond at any moment."
...
As the rain intensified, countless plants bent beneath the falling droplets, while the track rapidly turned muddy.
The sudden autumn downpour caused considerable trouble for the contestants.
The second downhill section of Panlong Mountain became even more difficult to navigate.
Somewhere high on the mountain, atop a large rock, the rain seemed to be blocked by something.
Several patches of the rock remained completely dry.
Looking closely, one could see that some raindrops suddenly stopped in midair just before reaching the surface.
A functional Mecha Girl from the race organizers happened to pass by on patrol.
She stared at the strange sight in confusion.
Scratching her head, she approached out of curiosity.
Suddenly...
Her pupils contracted sharply.
Only after getting closer did she realize that the areas where the raindrops hung motionless in the air seemed to trace the outlines of several humanoid figures.
She took half a step back and pulled out her radio, about to report the anomaly.
SWISH—!
A dark blue blade shot out from the cold air.
It appeared without warning and moved like lightning.
There was no time to react.
In the blink of an eye, it pierced straight through her neck.
Clatter.
The radio fell to the ground.
The Mecha Girl struggled violently, but more blades tore through the air.
One after another, they plunged into her body until the light in her eyes faded completely.
The blades withdrew.
The Mecha Girl collapsed to the ground.
Reflected in her wide, lifeless eyes was a group of strange figures flickering in and out of view.
They wore silver masks shaped like goat heads.
Their backs were hunched, and they moved in complete silence, their bodies covered in mechanical armor resembling exoskeletons.
With every step, their forms gradually faded into the curtain of rain until it seemed as though they no longer existed at all.
Only the raindrops suspended in midair betrayed their presence.
And step by step, they were advancing toward the center of Panlong Mountain.
...
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