Chapter 152: Have you heard the story of the Divine Palace Journey?

Have you heard the story of the Divine Palace Journey?

In Star Alliance Year 595, a baby was sent out of the maternity ward of Shetai Hospital, and in the nursery there was a lively crying.

Then, something unbelievable happened!

All the babies in the nursery, together with the busy medical staff there, also heard that resounding horse neigh and the ensuing ethereal, divine tranquility that could calm all beings.

After that, the URA Association staff, who were not slow to act, led by the medical personnel, found the baby girl with extra horse ears and a horse tail.

They also notified her parents, who had already been visited in a dream by the gods.

After some negotiation, the baby's registered name became 【AirShakur】.

Air, derived from the Buddhist term 'emptiness'.

And Shakur comes from a certain musician's stage name.

Sky Divine Palace, a horse girl, or more precisely, a horse girl guided by the three goddesses, was thus registered.

Horse girls' names are usually not like humans'.

But the namers all hold some expectation in their hearts when naming them.

Hopeful of what kind of person she will grow into;

Anticipating what kind of victory she will achieve;

Wanting her to run like something.

Putting aside those namers who seem like netizens giving joking names, the name Sky Divine Palace is clearly of the more normal sort.

Like a musician, she is suave and independent; like the Buddhist concept of emptiness, she is pure, non‑existent, formless and traceless.

Then Sky Divine Palace achieved the expectation in a curved way.

She is data‑driven, logical, an extremely independent electronic‑tech athlete, and her skill in self‑programming far surpasses that of Ailisuzhi.

She is a professional!

The horse girls who can gather at Central Telesen each possess absolute skills; aside from running as their main job, every side hustle they take on is professional‑level.

There are even those like Golden City who make modeling work outshine their race results, making it hard to tell which is their main profession.

Considering that their racing careers are still those of students, running is probably just a side job (x).

However, only with such professionalism can one carve out a place in this land teeming with overachievers and dreamers.

Sky Divine Palace is one of them; she undoubtedly has talent and is willing to put it into practice.

Just as her laptop, from system to software, is homemade and she calls it 'Parcae'—the same thing mentioned before, which can provide training advice via data, simulate race results, and so on.

She also anonymously released part of 'Parcae' as 'Moirai' for free, truly pushing the horse‑girl industry forward.

At the center, several academic‑style trainers have been using that software.

Such a horse girl easily brings to mind a rigid, solitary programmer, but in fact Sky Divine Palace is somewhat of a social butterfly.

She is violent, crude, and fiercely independent—quite the opposite of her strengths; indeed, she may be energetic, and even her taste leans toward the delinquent street style.

She even has the hobby of making electronic music to pass the time between programming sessions.

She truly lives up to the name Sky Divine Palace.

Like a musician, she indeed secretly makes music, and also embodies the Buddhist emptiness of formlessness and tracelessness.

Parcae, Moirai—these are the names of the goddesses of fate.

She believes fate can also be calculated, aiming to transcend it, yet since some point she often hears a voice.

From very early on.

That voice gave her naming suggestions for the software, discusses computational logic with her, and even talks about current electronic music.

That is her own voice.

She trusts that voice, just as she trusts her own calculations.

She trusts that voice, just as she trusts her own calculations.

"Then last week, that voice disagreed with the order given by your trainer; did you choose the voice?"

"Of course, my software's calculations also find that voice completely trustworthy! Compared to that, the trainer's lies are not few."

"Cough cough cough..."

He glanced at the embarrassed colleague feigning a cough, then Aomo turned his head back: "It seems so; not hard to understand."

"Even if you were a thousand percent, there's still a misunderstanding, Miss Sky Divine Palace."

He spoke calmly, his chest‑nut eyes, deep as an ancient well, responding to the anger in her golden pupils: "Calculations are always based on past experience."

"Just like the divination of the Source Energy Fate System, don't you know? Many subjects there are essentially calculation, an ancient big data."

"Predicting the future is merely an extension of the past, a phantasm pieced together from fragments of experience. This phantasm is so real that they call its fragments the future and a whole segment fate."

"But that is still a phantasm. Just as a martial artist firmly trusts his combat instinct, when his instinct warns that the enemy cannot be challenged and there is no chance to win, should he then simply await death?"

Aomo asked her, his gaze—sharp at some point—directly fixed on Sky Divine Palace's amber eyes.

Like a blade cutting through her defenses.

It made her unconsciously avert her gaze, fall into silence, and also caused a nearby coworker, seeing Aomo's demeanor now utterly different from before, to swallow what he wanted to say and let him speak freely.

"If he awaits death, that too is a failure. Would he then, satisfied, think just as he saw in the future—that he died, proving his intuition reliable?"

"Living constantly in the past‑woven phantasm makes one passive and complacent, for the accumulated 'data' is so vast that one imagines they've seen all futures."

"Retreating toward that future, falling into stagnation, also makes one's envisioned future come true, which again proves the reliability of data, trapping him in an endless loop of past experience."

"This process is called aging."

"Lying in the comfort zone, one becomes ever more stubborn, refuses to advance, refuses to grow, calculations grow ever more accurate, and people grow ever more weary……"

Saying this, Aomo paused again, looking at Sky Divine Palace, who had turned her head toward the simmering pot.

He raised his hand; a bright‑silver index finger woven of magic moved slightly as he did, pushing back Sky Divine Palace's stubborn cheek.

He met her unsurprised angry gaze.

As if competing like children, Kongzhong Shen Gong tried to turn its face away, using the neck strength of a horse girl to resist the mage's hand that was merely a single index finger.

"I don't advise you to do these confrontations that could cause cervical abnormalities; I'm not lacking in magic power, and this conflict is unnecessary, since we both know. You don't firmly trust calculations, or rather, you don't believe the original calculation results are the future, so you signed up for the Jidong Derby, right?"

"……" The stubborn turned head stopped, and that terrifying index finger, covered in overlapping carapace and scale armor, also dissolved into scattered points of light and disappeared.

"The Jidong Derby, the 'misfortune' that lurks there—every horse girl standing on the Saichang should have the determination to challenge fate, and never fear that curse woven from somewhere unknown."

"And you, you lack no will to doubt illusions, yet you firmly believe that voice?" Aomo said calmly, he had already straightened his back, his lofty gaze like a judge scrutinizing a criminal, "Or is it that voice urging you to come, and you have no intention of challenging the curse?"

If that's the case, then that so-called voice, the fishing line is still pulled pretty long.

"…That voice wants me to challenge the Derby, but when facing the 'misfortune' it also warns me to retreat."

After a few seconds of silence, under the wide-eyed stare of Yan Hui Er, Kongzhong Shen Gong's voice sounded somewhat timid, even shedding its rough self-appellation.

Denying that voice is like denying herself; that rough, hot-tempered horse girl seemed to instantly turn into a child.

This perhaps also proves that the voice has been sounding since childhood.

"But you crossed the finish line without hesitation, uh… so, although we cannot doubt that the voice is completely trustworthy, at least you are not entirely in agreement with it."

"Yes…" Kongzhong Shen Gong said, lowering her head.

If this is the so-called 'ghost,' is it perhaps too gentle?

Who advises people to brake? On the contrary, at this moment Kongzhong Shen Gong's own desire for victory has gained the upper hand.

Aomo instinctively wanted to raise his hand to rub his chin; the slight roughness made him consider changing his razor.

Could it be that this is just like boiling a frog in warm water, a devil's trick to lure one into decadence?

This kind of seamless cooperation sounds more reliable than the voices of those 'friends' at Chazuo, with little chance for negative energy to build up.

Aomo glanced at Zhouri Ningjing's contact information, but after thinking, perhaps he should contact Chengtian Bai Ren instead.

After all, the Jidong Derby is over; it's time to round people up and get them to work.

"Looking at your attitude, you probably haven't regretted your choice either; since you haven't, things are much easier—congratulations on not letting your fighting spirit gather dust, and then, Mr. Yan."

"Ah, oh, Mr. Lin Dun, you said."

"You?"

"No need to be so formal, nor to use honorifics—you're a senior, right?" Aomo felt a mix of laughter and tears, not quite understanding how his own therapeutic process had shocked this trainer who had never made Kongzhong Shen Gong yield.

"From now on, it's your time to communicate with Miss Kongzhong; you've also heard what was just said. Those who need to let go of past notions won't be just one person—you two need a renewed exchange of data and will."

As Aomo said that, he picked up his utensils again, but still didn't forget to greet: "Right, Miss Kongzhong."

"…You can call me by my name, don't be so motherly." Kongzhong Shen Gong, seemingly back to her senses, even got a bit of goosebumps.

"You're the second person to evaluate me like that, then, Shen Gong—although this voice is arguably harmless, I still suggest you get checked out, don't misunderstand; I myself went for a psychiatric checkup this month."

"Old man I see you really need a checkup."

"You've got good eyes." Aomo wasn't annoyed; instead, he gave a subtle smile and then waved at that colleague.

"Well, you guys chat."

Once again muting Morisen's voice in the light screen, Aomo's demeanor became serious and solemn, as if about to step into a holy battle.

Look, I've eaten all the vegetables you fished out.

Let you know why I came alone!