Chapter 90

Chengtian Bairen, 22 battles 13 wins, winning the Asahi Cup, Satsuki Sho, Jidong Derby, Kikuka Sho, and Arima Kinen's Triple Crown horse girl.

Called surpassing the previous generation, with brilliant results, she should also not be far from retirement.

At the same time, she is also the student council vice president who knows how to slack off the most, unable to find anyone all day, so affairs often need her older sister Pipa Chenguang to help clean up.

This is a lone-wolf type athlete with a very small social circle, strong yet aloof; besides indulging in running, there's probably nothing she particularly cares about.

One who would say on news channels: 'I have nothing that needs to be specially said to others. Just run, defeat enemies, and win— that's enough.' horse girl, even the tail that most horse girls pay attention to she neither minds nor maintains, completely an unfeeling athlete machine.

Her existence is like the common second-in-command character in sports works— namely, the cheerful and enthusiastic first's sidekick, the kind of aloof yet powerful second that exists.

— Aomo's past definition of her was like this.

After all, public information only concerns what's in front of people; to delve into personal privacy and cultivation secrets would reveal a blank.

At this moment, Aomo naturally realizes that the aspect the other party cares about obviously still needs to be added.

"Shadow"

Once a dark thing that bound Chengtian Bairen and was defeated again in battle, it now lingers behind her, also letting Aomo more clearly sense that familiarity.

Furthermore, based on this, a more precise definition is reached.

Negative energy, or rather—the fluctuation of the dark side of the heart.

"Negative energy monsters are monsters born from that darkness attaching to a substance; they are called evil due to their obvious aggressiveness, for the very things that compose and drive them are those dark emotions."

In the brightly lit training hall, a certain trainer seemed not to appear, as if very at ease with this meeting, but considering how many horse girls she's responsible for, maybe she just couldn't spare the time.

It was guessed that Chengtian Bairen directly contacted the other party remotely to have them contact Aomo on his behalf, and just now, for the former lacking relevant knowledge, he briefly introduced the obscure term he proposed.

"... You mean they're negative energy monsters?"

As for Chengtian Bairen, rather than being unsurprised, he seems more inclined to be indifferent.

"Of course," Aomo slightly expanded the topic, "many people's impression of monsters is those extremely destructive giant beasts, but actually the scope of monsters is very broad, just like in Jidong legends where people can turn into evil spirits or become demons."

"These evil spirits and demons can also be defined as monsters."

This line of argument, given Chengtian Bairen's consistent style, should also be ignored as usual, directly asking her the real point she cares about— why Aomo can affect her shadows, but she momentarily froze due to Aomo's words and asked:

"Can horse girls also turn into monsters?"

"Not impossible."

At that moment, Aomo thought of Dali Alabo.

When that goddess released a bit of her aura, the fierce contour she displayed in that instant could truly be called a 'monster'.

After that, he also recalled the many race data he had looked up when collecting horse girl information.

Those horse girls pushed to the forefront every year in G1 races, giving their all on the Saichang, many are also directly called 'monsters'.

For a young maiden, the label 'monster' may be somewhat excessive, but when truly witnessing such aura, even those who originally had objections cannot help but acknowledge that evaluation.

The weight on their shoulders, an unparalleled desire for victory, and an extreme competitive spirit together forge the Saichang bearing of a G1-level horse girl; those who strive for this dream are naturally not yet monsters, but excessive obsession will always give them a chance to come infinitely close to that realm.

Like this mass of Hei'an beneath your feet, it could well become a deep, accumulated shadow, just as the shadow that once enveloped the mansion's racetrack.

"Mansion monsters..." picking up Aomo's words, Narita Shiroto gazed at the Hei'an beneath his feet with a complex look.

She had personally experienced such truly profound Hei'an.

That was not a Hei'an she could tame; even the hegemon who later emerged victorious could not succeed, and could only regretfully choose to trample it.

After all, destruction is always easier than containment.

Even good opera has said as much, that if left unattended, it might one day reach that state.

Aomo nodded in understanding: "So you keep choosing to smash it again and again."

"I can smash them, but they always reunite."

"The human heart always has dark corners where they can sneak in and nest, but people can resist them, even lock them deep inside." Aomo said.

"Is that what you did in the Celestial Gate City?" Narita Shiroto asked.

Aomo remained silent, merely pulling out the card case from his pocket.

The opened card case tilted slightly, allowing Narita Shiroto to see the two monster cards still trembling.

But even before the card case was opened, Narita Shiroto more directly felt the shadow's constriction; that fear, mixed with the pressure of the two cards, swept over her, leaving her completely frozen in place.

As for the initial doubt, the answer has already been revealed in the most profound way.

"This is the same path."

Reclosing the card case and slipping it into his pocket, Aomo looked at the expression on the other's face—heart still has leftover season—and could somewhat guess that the shadow was connected to her, and the impact of the monster cards was perhaps a bit excessive.

However, merely freezing in place without showing fear proves she is still resisting, indicating quite strong mental fortitude.

Even when embodied as a monster and one with the Hei'an, what Aomo felt was a kind of positive killing intent and madness, plus a neutral-layer coldness; as for fear... that is too distant a negative emotion for him to imagine.

So he actually rather admired Narita Shiroto, and at this moment he suddenly had a whimsical idea, pulling out a small dark-red object from his pocket.

It is the amulet he obtained from Dari Arabian.

Originally intended to save Ailisuzhi some air-conditioning cost, but after thinking it wasn't necessary, he kept it in his pocket; now Aomo took it, walked a few steps closer, and held it before Narita Shiroto's eyes.

Being a divine gift to the horse girl, does it perhaps have some more unique effect on her?

When he thought that, the conclusion already presented itself before his eyes.

The amulet emitted a clear blue light, and Aomo saw the somewhat scattered golden child regain its divine light; its master, apparently surprised by the distance at that moment, immediately stepped back half a step:

"How..." "It seems this thing's effect on the horse girl is indeed greater than on humans."

The sigh directly drowned out Narita Shiroto's surprise; Aomo stroked his chin, gazing at the amulet in his hand, then toward the shadows beside Narita Shiroto's feet—which had slightly begun to regroup as the card case closed—now, under the orange light emitted by the amulet, showed an even more listless state.

After thinking, he directly threw it toward Narita Shiroto.

"Here you go; it can to some extent suppress your shadow, normally it's nothing, but if you feel it's about to lose control, you can hold it in your hand."

"This looks quite valuable..." "It's something that costs 5 yen each; if you really feel indebted, you might lend a hand during my horse-girl training."

Saying this, Aomo's expression became subtle: "I hear you're still quite idle."

Hearing this, Narita Shiroto, realizing that his reputation for not working had reached the other's ears, showed a rare hint of embarrassment on his face:

「…How about after the derby? I've been pretty busy these past few days... I'm really busy。」

The promise to do special training for Caoshangfei isn't over yet, but she also tasted the bitter fruit of saying such things after slacking off all year,

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Thinking this might be a rare sight of embarrassment, Aomo strained to hold back a smile:

「No problem, then let's do it after the derby。」