Disassembly is the first step before a Mecha Girl enters the recycling process—separating the AI Core from the body.
For a Mecha Girl, the AI Core is both her brain and her heart. The recycling yard's job is to reforge the AI Core into a purified version, hand it over to the government, and leave the remaining body components at the facility. That completes her recycling cycle.
"Everyone's rushing to get recycled? Dismantling yourselves before the scheduled time?"
Derek Su closed the warehouse door and flipped on the lights.
The girl looked up and met his eyes for a moment before dropping her gaze again, her expression bleak.
"You're XC-99?" Derek Su remembered this unit. Among the three Mecha Girls that the Ascend Racing Club had purchased, she was one of those later rejected. He couldn't recall why—back then he had just joined the club as an ordinary mechanic, nowhere near qualified to handle anything related to Mecha Girls.
The girl didn't answer and didn't continue disassembling herself. She just curled up there, lost in her own thoughts.
Derek Su shook his head, grabbed the autonomous test logs of the three cars from a nearby shelf, and skimmed them.
The Mecha Girl on the left, serial number BQH-144, had her engine module explode during her debut run—one of her doors even fell off. She didn't make it anywhere near the finish line.
The one on the right, CK-72, was even worse—the chassis cracked halfway through, brake pads scattering across the track.
"No wonder they're being scrapped early. They're hopeless as functional units…" Derek Su sighed.
Mecha Girls were nothing like mass-produced vehicles. They were born unique, like humans. Even units of the same model with different serial numbers could vary enormously in their attributes. And they had pride and shame—often even more strongly than humans did.
"XC-99…" He flipped open the third report—his only remaining option.
This Mecha Girl had at least finished her debut run, but she hit every barrier on the track on her way to the finish line. She practically rammed her way across. Still, what surprised Derek Su was her speed—it wasn't slow at all. In fact, she was faster than Jade-786, who had completed the testing course cleanly.
He set aside XC-99's test record and looked back at the girl.
A virtual panel appeared:
[Drifting: 20 points]
[Acceleration: 90 points]
[Cornering: 7 points]
[Boost Charge: 90 points]
[Stability: 75 points]
[Impact Resistance: 80 points]
[Endurance: 85 points]
[Special Ability – Sovereign Engine: For 30 seconds, Acceleration increases by 0.5× and Boost Accumulation doubles. (If current Stability falls below 80, engine module blowout chance rises to 80%.)]
[Evaluation: If you overlook the fact that she can kill her driver, she's a straight-line monster.]
Derek Su rubbed his chin and nodded. The system's assessment was spot-on.
Driving XC-99 was indeed life-threatening, but her strengths were undeniable. If not for her uncontrollable cornering, the XC-99 would've been a Mecha Girl the Ascend Racing Club couldn't even dream of affording—especially since she had a hidden special ability. In this world, special abilities were practically the ticket to becoming a world-class Mecha Girl.
A normal driver, even knowing her stats and secrets, would turn tail for fear of dying.
But he wasn't normal. He was the Emperor of the Track.
Others might die behind XC-99's wheel. He'd at worst lose an arm or a leg.
"There's no other choice… The Knox Rally is only five days away!"
Derek Su clenched his fists, memories of countless finish-line victories surging in his mind.
Back then, he dominated the field—an unmatched superstar.
Even without his post-transmigration abilities, he still would've chosen XC-99. And now that he had those abilities, XC-99's potential was limitless.
"There isn't a single car I, Su, can't tame… not in my last life, and definitely not in this one."
Muttering to himself, he stepped toward the girl. His gaze grew brighter the closer he got.
She lifted her head, seeing the man who had suddenly barged into the warehouse now standing right before her. Backlit, his features were blurred, just sharp outlines visible. He wasn't muscular, but he was tall and broad-shouldered, blocking out the gusts from outside.
"Want to race?"
"Huh?"
"Become my Mecha Girl. Race with me." Derek Su extended his hand.
xc-99 stared blankly at that hand. Her small body trembled uncontrollably.
She had wished countless times for someone to reach out to her like this—but now it was too late.
"I'm sorry…" Tears slid down her cheeks. "I can't race. I'll get you killed."
...
Soaring down the track and earning glory race after race—that was every Mecha Girl's dream.
They were born for competition.
But only Mecha Girls who completed their debut run had the opportunity to enter a racing club and be assigned a pilot.
Each Mecha Girl could contract only one pilot at a time. After contracting, she became that pilot's partner. Choosing someone who recognized her and whom she could trust was vital, because that bond determined the height she could reach.
If the pilot she contracted was irresponsible, she could end up resold, stripped for modules, or even recycled.
XC-99 had been one of the Mecha Girls to finish the course in the previous batch.
Over ten thousand Mecha Girls competed in the debut race that year, but fewer than a thousand completed the 40-kilometer standard track. Afterwards, xc-99 was bought by the Ascend Racing Club at a low price. Back then, she naïvely believed she'd be assigned a driver. Her cornering was terrible, sure, but she had Impact Resistance.
Then came the test run. One lap—and the silicone dummy in the driver's seat was torn apart.
That was when she woke up. Understood everything. And was branded a "killer racer."
The enraged Ascend Racing Club owner—Kyle Zhang—sent her straight to the recycling yard. She accepted her fate.
She was fast, durable—but she couldn't turn. Any pilot who drove her would die.
She would never set tire on a proper racetrack. No one would willingly drive a live explosive like her.
She'd already decided to be recycled, though she still felt reluctant to leave this world behind.
During her wait, she watched Mecha Girls tearing through tracks on TV, her eyes filling with tears. How she wished she could be like them—racing freely, competing in a real tournament, even if retirement came right after.
But she had no pilot. When she first arrived at the recycling yard, she dared to hope someone might take her away.
But over the past two days, that hope faded. Even if someone came to save her, she would still have to return for recycling.
She couldn't let her rescuer die, could she? So, like BQH and CK, she prepared to separate her core early.
And at that exact moment—
A man had stormed in, eyes blazing with certainty, declaring that he would take her to the racetrack!