I'm in Teresin, dedicated to playing badly

To put it simply, a third of the way through the competition, Zhou had already pulled ahead of the second-place team by a large margin.

But that's not the most critical issue. The most critical issue is that, according to the running strategy designed for her by Shinji Kitahara, her real exertion should have occurred in the later stages...

Even after running for a while, Shinji Kitahara discovered...

For some reason, I seem to be in exceptionally good shape today, and I have more energy left than I expected.

If this were to erupt, let alone a large margin, it would be at least three large margins, which is a minimum of thirty horse lengths...

Fortunately, the situation that Shinji Kitahara was most worried about did not happen.

After running for a while, Te Zhou suddenly realized that there seemed to be no one behind him.

Especially after realizing that he had pulled more than a dozen horse lengths ahead of the second-place horse, Zhou immediately pretended to be exhausted and began to slow down quickly.

It's not that she doesn't want to be in the spotlight, it's just that the debut competition doesn't offer any rewards and isn't exactly a formal event.

Secondly, many female horses hope to perform well in their debut races to prove themselves and find trainers.

If she were to pull a horse thirty times in this situation, even if the horses behind her were actually quite talented and strong, they would probably have a hard time finding a trainer.

In addition, she knew that Mr. Shinji didn't like to show off, so she simply slowed down when there was a third of the race left, and won the race by a margin of six horse lengths without even breaking a sweat.

Although she tried her best to pretend to stall, it was her first time doing something like this.

Not to mention Shinji Kitahara and his trainers, even the horse girls watching could easily see that she was holding back—and by a lot.

However, no one said anything, since they all understood the situation during the debut competition.

Moreover, the strength and talent of the horse girls behind the special week are not bad either.

Immediately after the competition, a trainer approached them and asked if they would like to join their team. It would be a shame to let them go to waste because of something like this.

Then, something very strange happened.

As mentioned before, many trainers will be stationed at the debut battle to try and discover promising talents.

Therefore, those horse girls who perform well in their debut battles will naturally be approached by them, and the better they perform, the more trainers will come to recruit them.

Given Zhou's performance just now, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he caused a riot among the trainers in the entire arena, let alone a mob.

But what's really strange is that even though there were several trainers in front of the fourth place, the second place, who was pulled six horse lengths by Special Week, was surrounded by trainers.

But as the first place winner, and a particularly outstanding one at that, not a single trainer came to see him before the special week.

It's just weird.

What's even stranger is that after finishing the special week run, he happily waved to the audience.

Shinji Kitahara noticed that the other trainers' gazes towards him were gradually becoming more subtle.

It didn't seem like envy for his team having another genius; rather, it carried a sense of schadenfreude and pity.

But before Kitahara Shinji could think further, Kari Risa, who had been silent for a while, spoke up again.

"Kitahara-senpai, there's something I'd like to discuss with you."

Shinji Kitahara thought she wanted to talk about something special for the week, so he nodded.

but.......

After Kitahara Shinji agreed, Karizo suddenly leaned close to Kitahara Shinji's ear and whispered.

"Kitahara-senpai."

Have you ever heard of the existence of a 'black market'?

Chapter 170: I Know You're There

black market?

Upon hearing Galeriza mention this, Kitahara Shinji thought to himself, "I know this all too well."

Let alone being familiar with each other, Hisato Kazuya was sitting on the other side of him, and before Galerizho arrived, he had talked to him about his recent investigation into that 'buyer'.

But these are not the main points of the problem.

The key question is why Galerizho knew about the existence of the 'black market'.

Where did you hear that? Have you had any contact with her? Or is she even a member of the 'black market' herself?

Shinji Kitahara didn't know.

Fortunately, judging from Galerizho's current appearance, she probably doesn't know about his understanding of the black market.

After thinking for a moment, Shinji Kitahara pretended to be surprised, then answered in a low voice.

"I've heard about it before... but Trainer Garai, where did you hear this from?"

Seeing Kitahara Shinji's appearance, Kari Risa confirmed his suspicions and then used his mobile phone to communicate with Kitahara Shinji about the 'black market'.

After some time talking, Shinji Kitahara discovered that things were somewhat different from what he had imagined.

Although Galerizho knew about the black market, the specific information he knew was about the same as it had a few years ago.

Aside from the name, all she knew was that the black market seemed to be related to horse hunting.

They didn't even know the extent of the connection, let alone the existence of Hisato Kazuya, or that the black market might be full of fishhooks.

Of course, Shinji Kitahara couldn't possibly believe everything she said.

After all, Galerizho might be thinking the same thing as him, trying to test the other party's understanding of the black market by pretending to be stupid.

Then, after the intelligence exchange, Galerizho also stated that he was still investigating the black market.

If possible, I hope Shinji Kitahara can provide her with some assistance, such as having her join his team...

Is there any relationship between the two?

Shinji Kitahara looked completely bewildered.

But this wasn't the most perplexing issue for him; the real perplexing question was something else entirely.

"Miss Karai, may I ask why you are so eager to join my team?"

When she was first asked to join the team, Shinji Kitahara thought she was just a new employee looking for a team and happened to run into someone whose name she had heard of before, so she thought she should join.

But a month later, especially after talking with her, Shinji Kitahara discovered that Kareriza seemed to be simply interested in his team.

Not to mention joining other teams on her own initiative, even when several trainers who were leading teams heard of her reputation and tried to recruit her, she refused them all without hesitation.

but now......

Looking at Karizo, who was repeatedly trying to join his team, Shinji Kitahara really couldn't understand why she was so determined to join his team.

In response to Shinji Kitahara's question, Kiri Risa quickly gave his answer.

"Because I think you are the best trainer here, and your team is the best team here, so I want to join them to learn."

Upon hearing her answer, Shinji Kitahara's eye twitched, and he was about to say something.

But Karazori didn't give him a chance to speak and spoke again directly.

"There's no need to deny it, Kitahara-senpai. Although it may be somewhat rude of me, I did investigate some things about you out of curiosity, and I've been following your horse girls ever since they started competing..."

"Moreover, the performance of the horse lady under your name just now is also very strong evidence."

"Or, if you're going to say that's just a coincidence, then I remember you just said that one of your horse girls will be participating in the competition later."

"If this happens twice in a row, then you can't really call it a coincidence, can you?"

As the words fell, and with the end of the special week's debut battle for the horse girls, the new round of horse girls participating in the debut battle began to slowly appear on stage.

The brown-haired horse girl with the familiar, faint, polite smile on her face was, of course, Grasshopper.

Just like in Special Week, as soon as he stepped onto the field, Kusakabe Hibi immediately began searching for Kitahara Shinji in the stands.

After confirming his location and that he was still watching him, Kusakabe blinked and his smile widened.

However, when her gaze swept over Karai Sari next to Kitahara Shinji, a strange emotion flashed in her eyes.

Then it's just the familiar process.

Ready, enter the gate, and then, with the gate opening, the competition officially begins.

However, unlike in Special Week, Ms. Grass did not perform too outrageously in her debut competition.

Although his running speed and other abilities are excellent, he did not demonstrate the almost dominant level of strength that Zhou possessed.

He took the lead, maintained it, and then accelerated at the last moment, ultimately winning the race by seven horse lengths.

Although it is still a very good result, compared to the previous special week, this gap is at least reasonable in the eyes of others.

And most importantly, Grasshopper didn't seem particularly tired after the race.

But at least on the racetrack, in the eyes of the spectators, rookies, and even regular trainers, she did her best.

However, in the eyes of others, such as Shinji Kitahara and Sari Karasawa, Kusakabe's victory was even more impressive than the one in Special Week.

Because of her victory in that special week, even though she realized something was wrong halfway through.

However, due to her initial aggressive approach and subsequent lackluster acting, even though it was clear that she meant well, and that there was no need to take the debut competition so seriously.

However, an awkward atmosphere still permeated the arena, and even Zhou's own expression was not very natural.

On the other hand, after winning, Grasshopper not only did not put her opponent in an awkward position like Special Week, but also slightly eased the awkward atmosphere on the field caused by Special Week.

Moreover, it wasn't just after the match; even during the match, Ms. Cao's performance was actually quite outstanding, though most people wouldn't notice.

Although Ms. Kusa did not openly reveal the terrifying strength that Special Week possessed.

But to those who know their stuff, this match was purely her showing off her skills.

Or to put it more bluntly, from beginning to end, because of his deliberate restraint, the physical qualities that Grasshopper displayed could only be considered average even among this group of opponents of varying skill levels.

The problem is that, while maintaining this level of effort, she managed to pull ahead of the second-place finisher by a whopping seven horse lengths using various techniques.

To use a game analogy, Zhou is like an overpowered monster with super high stats; he almost instantly kills the opponent with a single deliberate punch at the start of the game.

Then I realized that this seemed a bit inappropriate, so I stood there and let the other person hit me for a while, and then took them down with a light attack.

As for Grasshopper, he removes all his equipment. Although it looks like he's fighting back and forth with his opponent, he actually deliberately reduces his damage and slowly grinds the opponent down with various maneuvers.

Then, after the victory, the same bizarre scene that had occurred before also happened on the grass.

She clearly won, and won quite normally and beautifully, but not a single trainer tried to recruit her.

What's different from the special week is that, after the game, when Grasshopper looked up...

Just then, Galeriza moved closer to Kitahara Shinji, wanting to take advantage of Kusa-san's victory to reiterate her desire to join the team. She unconsciously moved a little closer to him, and they looked somewhat intimate.

Then, upon seeing this scene, Ms. Cao's expression remained smiling, but her eyes narrowed slightly, and a strange feeling gradually emanated from her.

The horses and trainers who were originally around her felt a chill run down their spines and all moved away, creating a vacuum around her.

Because the two little ones' matches have already ended, but Galerizho still shows no sign of giving up.

Shinji Kitahara was afraid that if she continued talking, he might actually fall for her, so he used the excuse of going to see the two little ones to leave.

After leaving and confirming that Galerizo hadn't followed, Shinji Kitahara breathed a slight sigh of relief and then went to the team's activity room, where he found the two who were resting after the match.

Because the debut competition was just a competition similar to a driver's license test, there was no stage for the winner.

So after the competition, Special Week and Grasshopper went straight back to the activity room.

Moreover, since everyone else was still training on the field, the activity room was just the two of them while Shinji Kitahara was in the audience.

When there are outsiders around, the subtle atmosphere between the two of them becomes more subdued.

But when only the two of them were left in the activity room, even Silent Suzuka was gone.

Even though Shinji Kitahara's previous actions had some effect, the atmosphere in the activity room during his absence could not be described as tense.

However, the moment Kitahara Shinji opened the door, the tense atmosphere vanished without a trace.

Upon seeing his arrival, its two tails began to wag, and even its ears started to twitch, appearing quite cheerful.

After the usual congratulations and praise, Shinji Kitahara asked them what reward they wanted.

After all, the debut competition was held in a very simple manner.

But after this debut race, it means they have officially become professional racehorse girls and can start participating in official races from next year, which is something to celebrate.

"It's fine to go out to eat. I have some money in my pocket now, so taking you two out for a nice meal is no problem at all."

Zhou's eyes lit up when he heard that they could go out to eat.