Chapter 1344

NO. 248: Someone ought to bear the burden and move forward.

Jiemen Racecourse, 1:14 PM.

With only half an hour left before the race, the clamor in the spectator stands could not be contained; on the high platform at the far end of the open-air stands stood some special spectators who shared the same anticipation as everyone else.

For example, this one with a foot on the stone block beside the fence, leaning sideways and raising a hand to eyebrow level, is a black-haired horse girl.

The cool breeze of the autumn rain swayed her white meteor, also shaking the red cord tying her ponytail at the back of her head; in the eyes of the person behind her, it seemed as if sensing an inner ripple, and she spoke:

"What are you thinking about?"

"The current Saichang is really huge."

Recently I've been doing closed-door secret training, missing many past race scenes as a former ace; now returning to the battlefield, I only feel unfamiliar.

"The short-distance horse championship at the end of September will from now on be recorded in the junior high department's history books," from the black-red mist appearing in the empty space nearby walked out the demon who had dispelled the black special card from between his fingers, "Since that day, all G-level races have completed reform and field reconstruction; now you can only see familiar fields in some OP-level races."

After he finished speaking, he nodded toward the light-star person beside him who insisted even more on wearing a three-piece suit.

The latter also nodded in reply: "Are you done with everything?"

The preparations everyone needed had already been formed in the telepathy channel, while the preparations requiring face-to-face questioning obviously lay in variables outside everyone.

——In this alert operation involving several government departments cooperating with each other, there is not only the chance for everyone to trip each other up, but also the chance to use 'outsiders' as a test case.

In less than three hours, Aomo had already answered fifty-four phone calls back and forth, living like a customer service operator.

This is something even Renlong couldn't manage; only our mixed human and non-human authority organ could have so many Category: Term.

"It's impossible to finish being busy; even if a fight really broke out, I could still receive communication alerts inside a monster's body."

Aomo said, displaying that row of call-rejection indicators on his own terminal.

"Only when I feel the persons in charge are mostly stable do I toss all the rest into the trash."

After saying that, he turned his gaze toward Gechengwangpai, whose eyes were not here and whose thoughts were also largely not here.

"Any other thoughts about this venue?"

"7400m, it still feels a bit short."

"Is that so?" Lipiya said lightly from the other side.

Likewise, scanning from a high vantage point, his focus always lands on those obscure yet concentrated security points.

He indeed had thoughts on another field, but simply did not speak them.

"For third-year horse girls, maybe that's the case, but many second-year trainees only complain, thinking this length is excessively unreasonable."

"But if they want to challenge third-year level, then this is only natural." Gechengwangpai said lightly, after all, they themselves had come through this way in the past.

The Arima Memorial, which allows participation in both the second and third years of a career and values fan numbers and prize money more than seniority or résumé, is an ultimate traffic showdown where seniors and juniors often face off.

From the year's traffic, the top sixteen most searched are selected, and then from them a yearly traffic star is chosen—said to be so, but the actual decider is still each one's own strength.

Speed, strategy, luck—the three tenets of horse racing steadily appear in every race, and among them, the seniority gap between second and third years often sees reversals.

Although usually speaking, horse racing is very cruel, a horse girl trained for nearly three years to near completion has higher base stats than a second-year one, and will inevitably dominate regardless.

But that is usually the case.

Normally there shouldn't be a second-year career horse girl who can surge into the top twenty traffic under high-intensity competition, but once one appears——

——then it is definitely capable of breaking common sense.

The former Ludaofu was like that, the former Narita Bai Ren was likewise, and even the Dream Journey miss of the Expedition Support Committee not long ago was the same.

Although in that past, Gechengwangpai was somewhat suppressed by Ludaofu Xiangzheng, yet in fact they pressed down even more of the third-year seniors, and thus they truly do not regard the gap in experience and basic training as an insurmountable natural moat.

"Whether it's common sense or an obstacle, boring things ought to be surpassed."

"Whether then or now, the words spoken are the same."

The girl once aspired to become such an ace, and indeed she etched that posture into the spectators' memories.

This also became the reason for the demon's momentary dazed silence.

"...... Indeed."

Amid the noisy background, Aomo glanced at Lipiya, who seemed more like Gechengwangpai's trainer than Sai Luo, and withdrew his gaze from that unfluctuating eye contact.

"By the way, worth mentioning: the long distance of the Dream Cup probably has to go straight to twenty thousand."

"That's not very challenging, is it? It's firing up!" The girl raised her palm in a fist salute, her deep, resonant voice showing full strength.

"But tomorrow's first race should be a short distance, with the limit probably around M."

Aomo said again.

"Although it's short, it's still the short distance under the Dream Cup specifications, already exceeding the standard limit of long-distance races."

"Like that… that should work!"

Without doubting the truth of Aomo's message, Gechengwangpai relaxedly shook her head, then turned her head toward Aomo, whose height had recovered to 1.84 meters, and chuckled: "How are Qianming and Ludaofu's preparations?"

"Also Bai Ren and Tianlangxing."

"'Asking 'and also' like that isn't very polite, seeming like an afterthought and showing little respect for others.' Although he didn't get along well with Tianlangxing, as a trainer Aomo had to point this out."

"As fellow participants in the Dream Cup, if one's vision isn't broad enough, it's easy to be caught off guard by a sudden dark horse."

"Huh? You have that much confidence in Bai Ren?"

"A dark horse isn't about hair color, but… ah, wait a moment."

Even such a nonsensical remark was handled effortlessly by Aomo, who glanced at the light screen lit up by a new message, and immediately the black-red mist beside him undulated.

When that black-red mist traced an elliptical outline wide enough for one person to pass through, he reached in and pulled out a leather-clad male who shouted "Oh oh oh" in surprise.

"Oh!" He had been struggling since being pulled, and after emerging from the mist he didn't forget to pat off the residue on his clothes; the black-haired, brown-eyed East Asian-faced O50 old man saw everyone and exhaled.

"I never even thought I'd walk the dark arc."

"I know, you want to walk the dark ring." Aomo said gloomily.

He released his grip, then clapped his hands as if shaking off dust.

"A full 136 minutes, you almost missed the opening."

What opening? Haven't we even seen them start fighting yet?

Looking left and right, the crowd was sparse; looking down, the startled Red Kai suddenly realized: "Could it be the competition's opening? Down there, is that the little girl you brought?"

Only someone who could say this would be describing Mr. Kai, who usually wanders outside the star system, his information being a lump, yet he alone believes in Aomo's beyond-normal possibility.

It wouldn't be surprising if one of his subordinates suddenly turned out to be a horse girl capable of entering the Arima Memorial.

Unfortunately, Aomo wasn't moved by this trust.

"You're overthinking," he said unpleasantly, "I still don't have any subordinates capable of entering the Arima Memorial yet."

On the other hand, those who could enter the Dream Cup suddenly increased by four, and their mental states almost collapsed.

"None?" He then glanced at Kai in the arena, then at Lipiya, then at Gechengwangpai, asking, "Are you that ace?"

The pun on "ACE" made Gechengwangpai instinctively glance at the ring on his middle finger, then he nodded firmly: "Hmm, Aisi is here too."

Immediately after, a deep male voice suddenly rang out in the clearing: "Hello."

"Do you want to stay here for small talk?" Aomo said unhappily, "If you're so idle, you might as well go help Sai Luo and Jie De."

"Sai Luo and Jie De?" Kai belatedly realized, "Right, what are they doing? There's no response even in their telepathy."

"They're busy, busy being interviewed."

"Huh?"

"Luzhas needing a grand stage is correct, but their ultimate goal is still revenge, revenge against all of you, so please don't forget this."