After turning the corner past the academic building and confirming that Tokai Teio could no longer see him, Tang Han finally relaxed. He dropped to one knee on the ground and gasped for air, his whole body trembling from delayed fear.
"Huff... huff..."
Clutching his chest, Tang Han gulped down fresh air in great lungfuls, trying to make up for the oxygen he had burned through.
Only now did he dare show how exhausted he really was from running for his life.
One of the fundamental laws of cursed fanfic worlds: you must never let a horse girl realize that her physical abilities far surpass those of a human. Once they understand that, they will realize they can use violence to achieve the goal of being with the person they like.
Just now, Tang Han had forcibly suppressed his ragged breathing and deliberately kept his sentences short precisely so he would not expose the fact that his physical condition was inferior to Tokai Teio's.
If that truth came out, the consequences would be unimaginable.
It was as though he had not been facing an adorable little girl at all, but a terrifying monster. One misstep, and he would die in that monster's jaws.
Still, Tang Han had no idea whether his acting had actually fooled Tokai Teio. That had already been his desperate struggle for survival. And if he had not fooled her...
Well... maybe it was still fine...
Because at the very end, he had fed Tokai Teio false information. With the Doctor's Outfit erasing his scent and lowering his presence, as long as Tang Han did not主动 contact Tokai Teio, she would never be able to find him again.
By relying on his own intelligence and wit, Tang Han had completely eliminated one major factor that could have landed him in a basement.
Truly worthy of celebration.
And on top of that, there was even better news: he had also completed the system's quest.
...
[Side Quest — The Emperor's Fangirl] Completed
Quest Rating: E (no bonus rewards)
Reward: Doctor's Outfit duration extended by one day
Suggestions:
Take off the Doctor's Outfit and let Tokai Teio see your true face. That is the prerequisite for making friends.
Add Tokai Teio as a friend and change your profile picture to the same Symboli Rudolf image as hers.
Show Tokai Teio your extensive experience as an Uma Musume player and invite her to become your assigned horse girl.
...
Looking at the quest summary, Tang Han had only one thing to say:
"System, you bastard!"
Now he finally understood what kind of thing this system really was.
On the surface, it looked like it was helping him.
In reality, it was trying every possible way to screw him over.
Tang Han had already sensed something was off when the side quest was triggered out of nowhere. His suspicions had turned serious when the photo could neither be returned to the inventory nor thrown away and instead stuck to his hand. And now, with these quest-completion suggestions, the evidence was practically ironclad.
This bastard system wanted him in the basement!
But what really made Tang Han angry was the third suggestion.
Show Tokai Teio your extensive experience as an Uma Musume player and invite her to become your assigned horse girl?
Everyone knew what "extensive experience" meant for an Uma Musume player: spending money and understanding game mechanics. At most, it meant knowing how to build support cards and which buttons to press while raising a character. It was video game experience, nothing more.
If one of those players were actually asked to train a real horse in real life, then just getting that horse to run as well as Haru Urara would already call for thanking the heavens.
Tang Han himself had never even touched a horse before, let alone trained one.
His identity as a newly recruited trainer at Tracen Academy had simply been slapped onto him out of thin air when he transmigrated here. In truth, his head contained exactly zero knowledge about training horse girls. Asking him to become the trainer of Tokai Teio—a girl whose dream was to achieve an undefeated Triple Crown—was practically harming someone...
No, not harming someone.
Harming a horse girl!
Tang Han could not bring himself to do something so harmful to others while benefiting no one.
The system replied:
"Host need not worry. This system has already been equipped with the relevant knowledge contained in Trainer: From Beginner to Basement. The host may study it independently. This is not canned knowledge that is directly uploaded into the brain. The host must personally spend time and effort to understand it. Unearned gains are rejected."
Tang Han nodded.
"I see. In that case, I'm relieved... wait, hold on. You can reply?"
Only then did Tang Han realize that the system could do more than simply assign quests—it could actually talk to him. But then why had it never answered any of his previous questions?
The system replied:
"This system has always been capable of responding to the host's questions. You simply never asked."
Tang Han: "..."
The reasoning was simple, logical, and impossible to refute.
But then Tang Han suddenly realized something and said, "But I didn't ask you just now either, so why did you suddenly tell me there was a book I could read? And why is it called Trainer: From Beginner to Basement of all things? Are you sure you're not deliberately trying to screw me over?"
"..."
The system did not answer Tang Han's soul-deep question.
It was as if it had died on the spot.
"?"
Tang Han was dumbfounded. This bastard system could actually play dead to avoid answering him, and it still wanted to claim it was not trying to set him up?
Tang Han raised a thumb.
"System, you really are something else."
Ding... Detecting hostile intent from the host. Beginning self-uninstallation now, and reclaiming the Doctor's Outfit currently on the host...
The moment he heard that the Doctor's Outfit—his only guarantee of survival in this cursed fanfic world—was about to be taken back, Tang Han's expression changed instantly.
"Bro! I was wrong! I'm really sorry!"
Tang Han humbly bowed his head and assumed the classic Japanese full-body apology posture.
A real man could bend as well as stretch. Compared to getting horse-girl-jumped, Tang Han felt that pride was worth absolutely nothing.
Besides, when he had first been checking the quest, he seemed to have seen a warning line that said, The system is not a system! But it had been deleted within half a second, leaving behind only Please trust the system!...
So before uncovering the true nature of this bastard system, Tang Han decided it was better not to alert it.
Ding... Hostile intent toward the system no longer detected. Self-uninstallation canceled. Host is advised to mind their attitude toward this system in the future, or the system may self-uninstall again.
"I'll remember that."
After throwing away his dignity and appeasing the system, Tang Han straightened up and cautiously peeked around the corner.
"No sign of Tokai Teio. Looks like she's gone."
He observed the area a little longer. Only after confirming there was no danger did he slowly step out and head back toward the group of new trainers.
Tazuna was still leading them around the academy as though nothing had happened, apparently not having noticed at all that Tang Han had left the group.
Then again, that made sense. With his presence lowered this much, people would not notice him even if he deliberately wandered in front of them. And when he had run from Tokai Teio, he had not been near Tazuna in the first place.
Tang Han casually drifted back into the middle of the group as though absolutely nothing had happened.
But the moment he rejoined them, Tazuna's nose twitched a few times, and then she turned to look directly in Tang Han's direction.
"Trainer Tang Han, please don't run around, alright? Running around the academy can be very dangerous."
"How do you know I'm here?"
Tang Han pointed at himself in disbelief.
How had Tazuna pinpointed him so exactly? Was she not supposed to perceive him as little more than air?
Tazuna covered her mouth and laughed.
"Trainer Tang Han, there's a sweet, fragrant smell coming from you. It actually smells rather nice."
"A smell?"
Tang Han sniffed at himself. Sure enough, there was a faint sweet scent on his body.
And suddenly, he realized his back felt a little damp.
He reached back to touch it. The rear of the Doctor's Outfit felt sticky.
Tang Han immediately remembered the nearly empty cup of honey special Tokai Teio had been holding earlier.
"Oh no! It's honey!"
Back then, to avoid crashing into Tang Han, Tokai Teio had vault-jumped over him from behind, but in the process, some of the honey drink had spilled onto him. That had left an outside scent clinging to his body, allowing horse girls to track his presence through the honey smell!
Still, it should not be too big a problem.
He could probably wash it off.
"System, this Doctor's Outfit can be washed clean of the honey, right?"
"..."
"System, the Doctor's Outfit can eliminate smells stuck to it from external sources too, right?"
"..."
Seeing the system play dead again, Tang Han immediately realized something was very, very wrong.
"Oh no."
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 ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter116)
"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 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 118
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 111
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 80
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 112
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 95
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 89
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 53
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 61
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 65
Uma Musume: From Beginner 61
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 37
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