Chapter 533: line with translation of chapter title

NO. 116: Here? Let's chat about horse racing

"Ah, still can't find it; could it have already gone down? Coffee… coffee…"

At noon, in front of the counter of Love and Peace Café, a purplish-red humanoid creature that looked like a hot costume was muttering to itself, and naturally attracted the owner's hostility:

"Abelute, if you're not helping, you can go sit over there."

"Huh? Help? Want me to brew a cup of coffee?" Evolto enthusiastically raised his hand; the purplish-red keratin wrapped around his black skin, forming that uncomfortable palm of his

Even in the initial alien invasion coalition forces that filled the universe, her appearance was still a rather shocking type

Thus she was called a snakeskin monster, dubbed the ultimate evolution that trades looks for strength

"You've been stripped of the right to touch the coffee machine; my Monitor No. 3 will keep watching its usage," the young owner rubbed his brow, "you can go greet customers with Longwo, or just honestly play your game"

"Are you tired of Gunpla models again?"

"No, no, no, I just got a bit interested; I rarely lose a match, and I'm still wondering whether to bother you to help me organize things again"

"Lost again? Won't you run into Dashenwei again like last time?" The owner turned his head in surprise—after all, that was the original model he helped build

Although it still used Gunpla parts, it was at least a proud work of his genius as a physicist

As for piloting skill, setting aside the machine… Although Abelute this bastard loves to play, always carefree, in the words of several Dongyan customers, he likes to flirt, often risking a crash, but that's just a risk

Really, few can truly grasp Evolto's playful heart and find his weakness

The player who shot him down last week with the ID Dashenwei was already quite special, and such special players surely don't show up that often, right?

Aren't there hardly any people from the Jiemon servers in the top hundred of that game's leaderboard?

"No, it's a guy called Golden's End," he said, plopping down at the counter in the guise of a customer come to chat with the owner, and he launched into that weird name, "The thing on the screen surely isn't Ghidorah, right?"

Golden's End is the title of the higher‑dimensional monster Ghidorah in Godzilla 3: The Planet Eater; Evolto, who arrived in this world, had still seen that work, and his verdict was that it was boring

Its portrayal of humans isn't interesting enough, its brushwork on monsters isn't slick, and aside from showing him a somewhat new evolutionary stage, it has no value

And as one of the people he dragged along to watch it, Manager Kirishima was equally resigned: "Are you saying a higher‑dimensional life‑form has mixed into the internet and you're playing Gundam battles? You're just a monster fan; people like you who use their real names online are the rare ones"

"But don't people always think my name is fake?"

"Those transmigrators are the exception; liking a guy like you is beyond comprehension!"

"Hahaha, that's exactly your shortcoming, Zhan Tu—you need to face your opponent squarely, even acknowledging his excellence."~

"Shut up, hurry and change back into human form to wash the cups—I need to get lunch ready"

"You're in a hurry?"

"It's you who should be anxious—go think about what rules to use to trade for me upgrading your model"

"Hmm, isn't my service covered in the agreement? Think about the pact we signed with the Heart of Terra—I won't consider devouring Earth, so you ought to help me out."~

"…I've heard that those who want to destroy or devour Earth have to line up—what number are you, Evolto?"

A brown‑haired youth suddenly walked into the room, saying, and placed the cup and plate on the manager's desk

"Is the outside cleaned up?" the manager asked him

"All done!" he laughed heartily, then turned to look at the alien who shared actual blood ties with him, finding it rather amusing

"I heard from a police friend that yesterday the cops busted a malicious transmuter hideout; those guys were aiming to directly invade Earth."~

"Monsters are popping up left and right, and all kinds of Ultramen are appearing in droves—even if you're there, it's hard to make a splash"

"……"

"Don't chat with him too much, Longwo—supervise him washing the bowls"

"Got it!"

"Wait a minute!"

"What?" Manager Kirishima turned back, somewhat impatient, looking at the one who had called him, now disguised as a middle‑aged man

"Have there been any customers who drank my coffee lately? Like in the past couple of weeks, emmm, or within the past month?"

After thinking about the humans he's seen so far, it's just a cup of especially nasty coffee—holding a grudge for a week or two, even a month, is about all that makes sense

Hearing this, Manager Kirishima's expression twisted:

"How could that be possible! Is your coffee even fit for customers to drink?!"

——

On the other side, Aomo Lindun, who bore a grudge that exceeded extraterrestrial life‑forms' expectations, was lost in thought

Back when both sides were still in the GBN game world, he had seized the chance to instantly kill Evolto, while Bourbon and his crew had already settled the settlement screen for the big bun; thus, during the rare downtime when he could finally talk with the two, he simply got up to speed on the situation

First of all, naturally, were the few texts he'd received—Qi had taken his old model to be scanned…… He was angry only because his stuff had been touched; as for the account linkage and the goop being used, that was actually nothing

After all, GBN isn't GBD (the AR showdown of scanned goop), so damage in the game doesn't destroy the goop itself, and thus there's no such thing as "destroying the model"

As for the possible stir caused by an old account being logged in… three years ago, there wasn't a single old friend left in the GBN game world

Aomo had always been a bit of a nostalgic, but a squad with just him holding on for half a year was already the limit

He didn't expect to hold an empty lot alone and then stage a crossing‑over drama; when it was time to say goodbye, he just said goodbye

As for this machine's past records… they were merely a top‑ten finish in the server‑wide selection and a top‑six in the team match

Not winning the championship, or even making the top three, was already the limit of what a hobbyist player could achieve

Moreover, the Barbatos Gundam is a Gunpla frame with high appearance rate in GBN and high usage as a modification base—or, to put it bluntly——

——it's just like Bourbon's Strike Freedom, the 'common face' of GBN

Qi's chosen Ebian are even more special than those two, and Evolto's original machine is truly the fresh‑looking protagonist

So Aomo couldn't be bothered to consider it

Considering the possibility that the machine, together with his past accounts, might be recognized

And the Demon's registration name from his chuunibyo days now also comes with a bunch of high‑sounding titles

"Golden's End 1," "Golden's End 2," and so on—these aren't necessarily imitating Aomo; they're more likely just a continuation of his chuunibyo phase

After all, a higher‑dimensional Ghidorah has plenty of beast‑fighting potential, right?

A little brat full of admiration for strength will just love this kind of strong, glittering image that also has a bit of a dragon cancer trigger point.

Then, in less than a few days, they'll set an even cooler monster's name and avatar as their own, with enthusiasm no less than that of a hardcore otaku switching paper‑girlfriend wallpapers.

In short, to sum up.

Bringing up the old model and old account was never the point, although Aomo had indeed abandoned the game for several years; I don't know if the game really installed some kind of electronic AI ghost, but even if it did, an electronic ghost shouldn't take the form of a horse girl.

No reason.

Although Miss Xintiao Qian had been living day and night with two horse girls for over a month, she still hadn't even begun to imprint the horse girl into her subconscious.

Given that the person involved hasn't set any impression, even if gbn had some hidden settings, it shouldn't be designed in the form of a horse girl—after all, just because it's a border‑district server doesn't mean it would be designed as a horse girl, right?

... Think about subway stations, buses, trams, and airport banners—maybe it's not impossible...

But no matter which possibility, just the name "electronic ghost horse girl" that Qian uttered was enough to make him alert at that moment.

You should know that half an hour earlier he was chatting with the Desert Heroine Miss about the horse girl that ought to have existed but didn't appear.

And at that time he inevitably thought of the commission from Bayeer Turkey.

The latter's connection is somewhat tenuous, given that the Desert Heroine Miss's anxiety has lasted years, not just a passing feeling, and the racehorse spirit that Bayeer Turkey sought only turned into a horse girl a few days earlier.

Although there is also a possibility that it serves as a catalyst for anxiety, it is merely one of his speculations.

Given the difficulty of proof, the investigation there stalled directly, until Miss Xintiao Qian's testimony appeared:

"ceti, ceti, the Observer's information, entwined, are you the Observer's afov?"

"Watch out for adisc."

"Shift right, be wary of drite."

If the first three one‑sided statements merely gave Aomo some ideas, while those that are clearly astronomical terms made him frown as he recalled the miscellaneous books he'd read, then the fourth statement is the most direct proof.

"They've found me, the Observer has arrived, afov, tell him 'thanks' for me, rooftop."

Rooftop…

Rooftop!

The rooftop of the new world, the persona formed from a racehorse spirit—he still couldn't prove whether it was the one known by the Desert Heroine, but he had already been able to contact Bayeer Turkey.

New clues, the other party had tried to make active contact, and it also served as Aomo's self‑verification.

The horse girl spirit of the new world—she is indeed still alive, and even possesses some unimaginable power!

Yet this lead is also hard to act on, since they left no contact information; on the contrary, the saying "they've been found" and Qian's description of their disappearance look like the GM patched them as a bug.

So does that still count as being alive?

If we are to investigate based on the existing information, from what angle should we proceed…

"Master."

"Huh?" Aomo, still lost in thought, heard Bopang's call.

After Qian finished describing the electronic ghost, Aomo also told them about the racehorse spirit; although it involved the commission, this was also work in the horse girl's domain.

There's little risk, and it could serve as a topic for collective brainstorming.

"Qianming senior sister suggested she could help you contact someone who knows about racehorse spirits from another world," Bopang pointed at his phone, "but the other party might be busy with other matters."

"Information about racehorse spirits from another world?" Aomo frowned, then immediately understood.

"Thank her for me; this isn't urgent—I'll first go find someone who isn't busy."

He had someone in mind.

Someone who's so idle over summer break they could tama go look for work.