Disassembly is the first step before a machine girl is scrapped, separating the intelligent core from the body.
The intelligent core is like a machine girl's brain and heart. The scrapyard's job is to send the core to be melted down and reshaped into a pure intelligent core, then hand it over to the government. The machine girl's body wreckage is temporarily stored at the scrapyard. With that, the scrapping process is complete.
"They're in such a hurry to be scrapped? Starting disassembly before the scheduled time?"
Shane Summers closed the warehouse door and turned on the light.
The girl looked up, meeting Shane Summers's gaze for a moment before lowering her head again, her expression desolate.
"You're XC-99?" Shane Summers had a vague memory of this machine girl. She was one of the three machine girls Apex Club had acquired, one of the two eliminated. He couldn't recall why she was rejected; back then, he had just joined Apex Club as a regular mechanic, not yet qualified to deal with machine girl-related matters.
The girl didn't respond to Shane Summers or continue her disassembly. She just huddled there, lost in her thoughts.
Shane Summers shook his head and picked up the unmanned test records for the three cars from a nearby rack.
The machine girl on the left, numbered BQH-144, had her engine module explode during her debut, and one of her doors fell off—she didn't even finish the course. The one on the right, CK-72, was even more absurd: halfway through, her chassis cracked, and her brake pads scattered everywhere.
"No wonder they started disassembly early. No hope of becoming utility vehicles…" Shane Summers said helplessly.
Unlike mass-produced cars, machine girls were like humans—each one unique from birth. Even those of the same model with different numbers varied greatly in attributes. Moreover, they had a sense of shame and pride that surpassed humans.
"XC-99…" Shane Summers flipped to the third report, his only option.
This machine girl had completed her debut, but she crashed into every barrier on every turn, practically smashing her way to the finish line. To Shane's surprise, XC-99's speed wasn't slow—faster, even, than Jade-786, who had also completed the test course.
He put away XC-99's test record and turned his gaze to the girl.
A virtual panel appeared over her:
[Drift: 20 points]
[Acceleration: 90 points]
[Cornering: 7 points]
[Boost: 90 points]
[Stability: 75 points]
[Collision Resistance: 80 points]
[Endurance: 85 points]
[Special Ability - Emperor Engine: For 30 seconds, acceleration attribute increases by 0.5x, boost attribute doubles (if stability is below 80, engine blowout rate rises to 80%)]
[Evaluation: If you ignore the fact that she could get her driver killed, she's a monster on straight tracks.]
Shane Summers nodded, stroking his chin. His cheat ability's summary was spot-on.
Driving XC-99 was indeed life-threatening, but her strengths were glaringly obvious. Ignoring her uncontrollable cornering, XC-99 would command an astronomical auction price that Apex Club wouldn't even dare dream of. Plus, she had a hidden special ability—a ticket to becoming a world-class machine girl.
An ordinary driver, even knowing XC-99's attributes and secrets, would likely shy away for fear of their life.
But not him. He was the Emperor of the Track.
XC-99 might mean death for others, but for him, it'd be a missing arm or leg at worst.
"There's no other choice… Only five days until the Nosk Rally!"
Shane Summers clenched his fist, images flashing through his mind of him crossing the finish line time and again.
In that era, he was untouchable, an unrivaled superstar.
Even without his transmigration cheat abilities, he'd choose XC-99. But with those abilities, XC-99's potential was limitless.
"There's no car I, Shane Summers, can't tame… Not in my past life, and not in this one!"
He muttered to himself, walking toward the girl, his gaze growing brighter.
The girl looked up, seeing the man who had burst into the warehouse standing before her. Backlit, his features were unclear, but his face was sharp, his frame not particularly muscular but tall, with broad shoulders, blocking the howling wind from outside.
"Want to hit the track?"
"Huh?"
"Become my machine girl. Join me on the track." Shane Summers extended his hand.
XC-99 stared blankly at the hand offered to her, her small frame trembling uncontrollably.
She had dreamed countless times of someone reaching out to her like this, but now it was too late.
"I'm sorry…" Tears rolled down her cheeks. "I can't go on the track. I'll get you killed."
…
Speeding down the track and earning glory in race after race was every machine girl's dream.
They were born to compete.
But only machine girls who completed their debut race could join a racing club and be assigned a driver.
Each machine girl could only contract with one driver at a time, becoming their partner. Choosing a driver they mutually respected was crucial, as it determined their future achievements.
If their driver was irresponsible, they might be resold, stripped of modules, or even scrapped.
XC-99 was one of the machine girls who completed her debut.
Out of tens of thousands of machine girls in that debut, fewer than a thousand finished the 40-kilometer standard track. XC-99 was bought by Apex Club at a low price. Back then, she naively thought she'd be assigned a driver. Sure, her cornering was terrible, but she was crash-resistant. It wasn't until the test at Apex Club, when she finished the run and the silicone dummy onboard was in pieces, that reality hit.
She woke up and understood, branded as a "killer racecar."
Furious, Apex Club's boss, Kyle Zane, sent her to the scrapyard, and she accepted her fate.
She was fast and crash-resistant but couldn't corner. Whoever drove her would die.
She'd never make it to a proper track. No one would drive a ticking time bomb like her.
She had already decided to be scrapped, lingering only because of her attachment to this world.
In the days waiting for scrapping, she watched other machine girls soaring on the track on TV, tears streaming down her face. She longed to race like them, to compete in a real race, even if it meant retiring afterward.
But she had no driver. When she first arrived at the scrapyard, she had hoped someone might save her.
Over the past two days, she had calmed down. Even if someone wanted to save her, she'd still choose scrapping.
She couldn't let the driver who saved her die, could she? So, like BQH and CK, she prepared to extract her core early.
But then, at that moment.
A man burst in, his face full of determination, declaring he'd take her to the track!