Chapter 1615: NO.229: Believing in that abnormal desire

NO. 229: Believing in that abnormal desire.

Desire can be likened to a disease.

It can penetrate the viscera, pierce the marrow, and compared to the various illnesses that modern medical technology can overcome, it appears even more troublesome.

Although that desire seems like a heart ailment, it is actually not classified as a mental illness.

It is part of one's personality.

Although to most residents of other worlds it clearly manifests as sub‑health, an absolutely abnormal hobby and personality, in the Holy Terra Federation it is quite common.

So-called talent, so-called elite, so-called obsession often appear in various fields as a bound triangular posture.

It makes you unable to tell whether achievement or obsession came first; you can only see whether their path on the road collapses midway or climbs to the summit.

What distinguishes the two has never been good versus evil, but rationality or its absence.

When you are striving to climb and still retain rationality, you can maintain clear judgment, devise wise plans of action, and gather a winding path to the victory endpoint.

Yes, a winding path.

You should not think that merely having rational judgment and a wise execution plan will straight‑line you to the victory endpoint.

A renowned weasel‑family carnivore philosopher from another world once said: where there is holiness there is theft, where there are high mountains there are deep abysses, where heaven and earth differ greatly there are bloody storms, and a society formed by people gathering can be either a beautiful environment of shared weal and woe, or a miserable road where others are hell.

Many factors determine the difference between the two, and they often coexist in diverse ways within a large society, but on the horse girls' racecourse—a battlefield that has continued for a thousand years—the environment is thoroughly solidified.

Speaking of this, the slogan hanging on the student council wall must have come to mind for everyone.

One horse ahead, ten thousand horses lose their light.

On a racecourse where there is only one champion, friendship always takes a back seat.

Sometimes a horse girl will even throw out the words 'Going all out is respect, myriad schemes are sincerity' and launch a fierce attack on acquaintances and rivals.

The person concerned hasn't even worried, but the trainer can't help worrying whether the remark 'It's fine, I'm also giving it my all' is just empty talk—actually they're just hiding in blankets, toilets, and their father's arms, crying, then going off to stab little figurines……

The central school's ethos indeed gives most students a sound foundation of values, but don't expect high schoolers to have very broad minds.

They are merely underage kids; even if their hair grows wild, they still can't avoid throwing tantrums when they need to, and Aomo has been running around these past days because of the shifting moods of these four children.

Even the four adults aren't much better.

Setting aside Luna's gentle, lovable obedience that gives him extra stimulation and others' reactions, Sirius's high‑frequency chain of summons keeps adding chaos, Qianming seems to have found fun in teasing him after the theater, and the chain reactions sparked by her actions in the activity room are no less than Luna's.

Bairen even more so comes to him each day, actively trying to swap nasal patches to challenge himself; each time it lets the Aizhi who originally rushed straight to the lower seat continue to feel guilty, and even the most easy‑going sister Sang chooses to dive underwater.

In a sense, this is a good thing: it reduces the foul‑mouthed Suzi's allies, lowering the conflict level, yet it still does not hinder his puppet proficiency from rising in a straight line—ultimately he still has to step in himself, and the final means of handling it still requires the art of duplication to escape the predicament.

After such thrilling, stimulating days continue for over ten days, even an iron‑clad demon will end up being forged into iron by the horse girls.

Just short of becoming horseshoe‑style.

When it's time to resign oneself to fate, one should accept the fact that everyone is psychologically abnormal, then treat it as a selling point—once one takes on this setting, they'll feel they should have done so all along.

Desire, and the word 'desire' that can encompass everything, ought to be something that seems unrelated to each horse girl's spirit yet is actually closely connected.

And the demon knows in his heart…… guiding and grafting desire is also something he rarely shows but is indeed skilled at.

So, at the front desk of the second event's athlete passage in this classic competition, he is busy once again.

To Aizhi, who gained the blessings of three goddesses on the previous victor's stage and accumulated even more confidence from her initial victory, he offers encouragement.

And to Suzi, who had slightly lost to two second‑run players last time, whose experience and steadiness make the situation look calm at first glance but who actually hasn't spared much criticism of the guinea pig, he promises absolute information this time and natural encouragement that will not be lacking.

As for Bourbon, there are no extra words.

Aomo had intended to start with an encouraging remark, but the other party directly turned his raised‑arms hug gesture into a helpless forehead‑rub; by contrast, Chazuo, who had initially ended up last and muttered obscure self‑withdrawal, has already been receiving Aomo's counseling and talk therapy quite often in the previous days.

Moreover, they barely managed to squeeze out time, going together at midnight to climb the mountain as she wished, brewing coffee before dawn, and making an appointment for free time after the next race.

No need for many words; the black‑haired, black‑clad horse girl, who looks stern and cold but isn't particularly tall and actually seems rather cute, has already taken the initiative to speak.

She says she will use this victory as seasoning for the next mountain‑climbing coffee.

It's a very serious remark; as a trainer, there's really no reason not to respond with equal seriousness.

Then, after leaving the changing room, he looks down the corridor at the trainers, who are noticeably more numerous than last time.

And the spot where Isamari, who didn't compete again but had her quota taken by another horse girl, is located.

At a glance this time there are over a dozen trainers—practically everyone who could appear has shown up, even the trainer of the Senlinbaoxue student is no exception—but the place is empty as can be, making one imagine how lonely the horse girl named Named Lightning must be.

However, wherein Aomo differs from other trainers lies in his mind simultaneously holding two trains of thought.

One is a lament over the relationship between the horse girls and their trainers.

Two is a deliberate and suspicious silence about this scene.

Having replaced the horse girl that the Light‑Chasing Club deliberately designed to tease and stir up, who ultimately flooded the field and obstructed many competitors, drawing everyone's ire, Named Lightning naturally bears a suspicious hue in the eyes of people like them.

Although Isamari's yielding of her position was quite reasonable—she had fallen into a fan‑versus‑fan public‑relations war after her previous performance, her follower count plummeted to the point that Named Lightning snatched her slot—this still does not prevent Aomo from glancing subtly at the substitute's out‑of‑place treatment.

Indeed, you could also say this is a kind of 'newcomer performance'.

Because even the Gaoyue Prize that time did not have so many trainers accompanying.

The reason there are so many people now is obviously the impact of the Gaoyue Prize loss, plus Aomo's vague mention in post‑race interviews of the reason for accompanying the passage.

And as a group attempting to break into the Jidong Derby, that horse girl's trainer failing to keep up with everyone's decisive premise is not blameworthy.

But it's quite conspicuous, isn't it?

Even being conspicuous to this degree, on the contrary, makes people suspect that they are providing cover for some other horse girl and trainer.

However, one cannot expect to see through everything by just glancing twice in this passage, after all the combination being used as a gun may also lack awareness of being used as a gun.

Even signs of lack of confidence or unnatural demeanor are absent.

At a glance he sees only confidence—different manifestations of confidence.

Some are full of fighting spirit, some have relaxed expressions, some return greetings, and some outright throw down a challenge to him, seemingly feeling that the Gaoyue Prize champion's trainer's gaze is seriously lacking in punch.

Should one say he is noticeably sharper than last time, or that he himself is overly suspicious?

Aomo himself isn't quite sure either, but he also doesn't really care.

Top‑tier horse girls always have their own pride in their hearts, while trainers often have pride in the horse girls they have overcome.

Before the Gaoyue Prize, he would still have his subordinates, the horse girls, be wary of Senlinbaoxue, because she was the most dangerous in the information he had gathered.

After the Gaoyue Prize, he, who continued to gather information, no longer repeated the data that was handed to the girls in real time every day.

He would no longer emphasize that the horse girl, who indeed appeared more ferocious and more tempered after the previous battle.

This time, his genuine conviction.

The champion will only be decided under his hand.

In front of those four girls, no matter how clever and flawless the small moves, they are meaningless.

Because the limitation of those clever tricks is also precisely what makes the opponent's excellence exceed the ordinary.