In front of the television, Rudolf Symbol unconsciously tensed up.
She could not understand why Xingyun Liuge would do something like this.
Liuge was an intelligent horse girl. There was no way she did not understand the most basic laws of physics, was there?
Forget top-class horse girls—even an ordinary one knew what happened if you took a turn too fast.
And yet, Rudolf Symbol quickly recalled the scene from Liuge's race against her. Back then, Liuge had also attacked the bend at an absurd speed—far faster than what she was doing now.
Rudolf chose to trust her.
"Though the curvature of the turn is different, if it's her, then she definitely knows exactly what she's doing."
"Oh? Even though you guessed Little Xingyun's strategy wrong just a moment ago?" Maruzensky teased with a smile.
"Ahem." Rudolf could only clear her throat to hide the awkwardness.
Be reasonable here—who could possibly have guessed that Xingyun Liuge would master such a thoroughly unreasonable running style?
It was almost as if…
…she were trampling the laws of physics beneath her feet.
Tailwind Protection (Passive): Ignores the laws of physics.
And so, Xingyun Liuge charged into the turn at a speed visible to the naked eye—and glided through it with ease.
Sha Tin Racecourse instantly erupted.
"What the hell is going on? Is that horse girl a monster?!"
"Wah! Seeing a horse girl this incredible makes the ticket worth it even if I die today!"
"Eeee! Hehehe—hahaha! I told you before the race Xingyun Liuge would win!"
He knew he should restrain this joy. No matter how happy he was, he ought to endure it, suppress it, keep it down!
But the odds had been one to two point five—how was he supposed to restrain himself?
"Wah! I don't want to watch! I don't want to watch this!"
That, clearly, was the cry of a bettor who had not believed in Xingyun Liuge.
All one could say was: gamblers never prosper.
A whole panorama of human reactions unfolded in the stands. Out on the track, every horse girl had widened eyes and a face written all over with impossible.
None of them could understand it.
Why could Xingyun Liuge accelerate so lightly through the bend?
The commentator was beside himself with excitement.
"Xingyun Liuge accelerates through the turn! Like a free breeze, she races along the course with effortless grace—there isn't a single horse girl who can keep up with her! Three lengths, five lengths, and the gap is still widening! Can anyone reproduce the feat she just displayed? No—no, they cannot!"
How could they possibly?
One small mistake meant torn muscles, broken bones—or even death on the spot. Who in their right mind would gamble on being able to accelerate through a bend that way?
At this point, the fact that they had not already lost the will to compete and were only sweating buckets was impressive enough.
Xingyun Liuge's back was shrinking farther and farther into the distance, meaning the gap between her and the pack was still growing. Who could withstand that kind of pressure?
That was the terrifying strength of front-running.
That carefree figure out in front would make the horse girls behind her grow anxious almost automatically.
They would fear being flung too far back and instinctively want to chase down the leader. And once they gave in to that urge, their rhythm would be shattered, making it impossible to conserve stamina.
And without enough stamina in reserve, the only end awaiting them was defeat.
September Sea unconsciously bit down hard, glaring at the figure diminishing ahead of her as she thought bitterly:
Go on. Run. I refuse to believe you can repeat that stunt at the second turn.
Because the second turn was even sharper than the first, and even more likely to send a horse girl crashing into the rail if she failed to slow down in time. Every two or three years, some poor horse girl had an accident there.
September Sea—no, every horse girl who had managed to keep her head—placed her final hope on the stretch after the second turn.
They believed Liuge's way of running could not last. They believed she would be forced to slow down before the second turn and then sink back into mediocrity.
After running this hard for so long, there was no way she still had abundant stamina left, was there?
Just taking bends at speed like that burned through enormous amounts of energy. They were sure they only had to wait for Xingyun Liuge to falter. The instant she lost speed would be the instant they passed her.
"The race has entered its middle phase. Xingyun Liuge is far in front, but ahead of her lies the second turn—more dangerous even than the first. Countless horse girls have fallen there. Can she overcome this obstacle?"
The smartest course of action would, of course, be to ease off gradually, preserve stamina, and save her remaining strength for a final breakaway or a chase in the closing stretch. If Liuge's finishing speed was strong enough, then perhaps she really could lead from start to finish.
But Xingyun Liuge did not slow down.
Maintaining the high speed she had carried all the way here, she entered the bend.
A proud smile appeared on her lovely face.
Right now, she was a breeze soaring through the heavens.
No—right now, she was even more unreasonable than the wind.
The wind still had to obey physics. It was influenced by pressure gradients and friction.
She was not.
That was the confidence Janna, the Storm's Fury, had given her.
Swinging her arms, Xingyun Liuge tore forward wrapped in the gale.
What was a mere horse girl to her? Today, she intended to grind physics itself underfoot!
That said, to avoid shocking everyone so badly they fainted on the spot, Xingyun Liuge chose a slightly more considerate way of running.
Pretending to be affected by centrifugal force, she drifted from the inner lane all the way out toward the extreme outside, ending up with barely half a meter between herself and the railing—so close that countless people sucked in a breath for her.
Of course, even more people were hoping she would crash into it.
Not because they wished her harm, exactly—but because they wished even more fervently for her to lose all her advantage and be overtaken by the others.
To those people's hopes, Xingyun Liuge had only one answer:
Crush their delusions.
Gamblers never prosper.
At that moment, panic spread through the pack.
Every horse girl knew that if she wanted to get through the bend safely, then she had to slow down. Otherwise, the odds of an accident were enormous.
But if they slowed down, then they would fall even farther behind Xingyun Liuge.
By the time Xingyun Liuge exited the second bend, she had pulled more than ten lengths clear of the second-place runner, World Conquest.
And the pack had only just begun to enter the turn.
Once you added together the time lost to decelerating, cornering, and accelerating again, Xingyun Liuge would probably gain fifteen lengths, maybe even twenty on them.
How could that not inspire fear? How could that not inspire panic?
Every horse girl was thinking the same thing:
What matters is the timing of the reacceleration!
But if everyone was thinking that, then a new problem arose at once. The track narrowed ahead, and if they all tried to speed up together, they would end up jammed together in a clump, with no one able to break free.
"Damn it! Is this stretch really this long?!" Realizing the turmoil in the pack, September Sea chose to make her move early. She had no intention of getting trapped inside the group.
Once she was boxed in, it was all over.
Resolve and courage were good things. Grasping the right moment to accelerate was also a good thing. And so September Sea managed to burst clear before the pack collapsed into chaos, boldly launching a challenge toward Xingyun Liuge.
September Sea clenched her teeth and chased after Liuge's back with all her might.
She ran so hard her flat chest heaved visibly.
So hard that her lungs burned.
So hard that her mouth began to fill with the taste of iron.
But…
It was too far.
The Xingyun Liuge ahead of her was simply too far away.
So far that it left her with the powerless feeling that no matter what she did, the distance between them would never close.
"That should be about enough. The finishing stretch here is awfully short."
With that, Xingyun Liuge eased her pace—and crossed the line.
She had not even had her fill of the race yet. Why was it already over?
At the same time, she could not help feeling there was something seriously wrong with how this finish line was set up.
The course was not very wide, and it lay so close to the grandstand. What if two horse girls came charging in neck and neck? Faced with that tidal wave of cheers, shouts, and encouragement, they would inevitably throw everything they had into one last desperate acceleration. And if they smashed into the railing because of it, then what?
That was not just dangerous—it was absurdly dangerous.
"Thinking about this sort of thing even after winning the race… I really am the most compassionate horse girl in the world. Honestly, how could anyone ever want to run me into tears? Too much. It's just too much!"
That last line, of course, was meant specifically for the belatedly arriving September Sea.
First place: Xingyun Liuge — 1:52.00
Second place: September Sea — 1:57.01
Who was stronger and who was weaker—
one glance was enough.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( Ending )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter108)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 99
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 95
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 99
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 92
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 47
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 44
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 43
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