I'm in Teresin, dedicated to playing badly

The outfits I'll be wearing for the Ali Digital competition, the special week outfits and the Oguri Hat outfits for the finals, and the Ali Digital and Grasshopper outfits that I should be getting next week if all goes well...

The expenses incurred during team building activities for the trainers (split the bill), the drinks I brought back for those kids after each training session, and various other unavoidable daily expenses...

He had already used up his advance salary, and even the compensation from the Black Forest incident was barely enough to cover his expenses. With these additional costs, he only had enough money left to last another week at most.

So, even without the previous communication between Aili Digital and him, he was already planning to apply to the chairman for an advance on his salary.

Unexpectedly, a dark forest appeared out of nowhere, not only providing him with information about hunting horse girls, but also directly helping him secure a large sum of money.

And if you think about it carefully, it seems that ever since he joined Treson, although the Black Forest seems to be targeting him on the surface, they have actually been helping him all along.

At the beginning of the semester, they proactively helped him smear his reputation. Upon discovering he was short of money, they immediately had someone attack him to extract compensation. They even sent a simpleton, seemingly worried he wouldn't get the money, who also provided various pieces of information...

Later, seeing that Eclipse was in a bad mood because of the Black Forest attack, he even sent a sandbag for her to vent her frustrations on. And even during his most difficult financial period, he sacrificed the entire organization to get this box of money for him...

Although Shinji Kitahara knew this wasn't their intention, given the facts, it was difficult for him to harbor any ill will towards the Black Forest.

Especially after listening to the chairman's account, and learning that the entire Black Forest, including the people and the horse girls, had been completely fooled and hadn't even caused any real harm so far, he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for them.

That's a really bad situation.

However, despite his sympathy, he didn't think there was anything wrong with Treson's punishment of them.

After all, whether human or horse girl, adult or minor, the principle of bearing the consequences of one's actions remains unchanged. In fact, he even felt that the punishment imposed by Treson was a bit too lenient.

But that's not his concern; what he should be concerned about is what he should do next.

For example, how he plans to handle the situation in the Black Forest.

To be honest, although he was given the task directly, he still hasn't figured out how to proceed with the investigation.

It's not because he lacks experience in this area that he doesn't know how to do it.

On the contrary, over the years, he had tried to investigate the horse hunters more than once, especially the information about the forces behind them, and his experience in this regard was even richer than that of the URA's investigators.

But it was precisely because of his extensive experience that he understood all too well how difficult it was to investigate what was hidden behind the scenes.

Both he and the senior horsewoman had tried to get information out of the horsewoman hunters to find out who their backer was, but the answer they received was that they didn't know either.

Some people received anonymous phone calls, some received anonymous letters, and some even received pop-up messages while browsing the web...

The other party had never met them in person, and the methods of paying the deposit varied widely, including direct cash airdrops, anonymous transfers, and even prize-like distributions.

They did make some progress, and on several occasions they almost tracked down the 'buyer'.

Without exception, after they discovered this, before any further action could be taken, those 'buyers' would commit suicide.

Moreover, it was a very well-disguised suicide.

If it weren't for that experienced woman named Ma's expertise in this area, they might have been fooled.

—Wait a minute, speaking of which, why is she so experienced in this kind of thing?

However, even though those 'buyers' committed suicide, some traces will not disappear even after death.

Through those traces, Shinji Kitahara and the senior horse girl deduced the operational structure behind the horse girl hunters.

Horse hunters, brokers, and buyers.

Gone.

Yes, it's that simple.

The hunters are responsible for capturing the horses, the buyers are responsible for paying, and the brokerage market acts as a bridge between the two parties, collecting a commission.

But the most important part of it is the seemingly most ordinary 'intermediary market'.

Because both the horse hunters and the buyers were contacted unilaterally by them, they can be considered the culprits behind all of this.

They called themselves the 'black market,' but that senior horse girl searched through almost every black market in Japan and still couldn't find them.

It's not that the black market is completely unrestricted. In this world where gods truly exist, even in the black market, very few people dare to touch anything related to horse girls, let alone something as absolutely taboo as horse girl hunting.

As for URA and Treson, because they had little contact with horse hunting, they had less information than he had, and even now they still believed that the 'buyer' was the root of all evil.

This is enough to show that this matter is not simple.

Furthermore, according to Shinji Kitahara and his senior, Uma Musume, this situation is very likely due to the presence of people in the 'black market' within URA and Treisen.

Therefore, he did not choose to share information with the chairman and Tsuna, nor did he ever tell URA about the situation, because even if they were not involved, they might still have eavesdroppers.

However, despite the seemingly dire situation, Shinji Kitahara was not worried at all.

The more well those people hide, the more it represents their fear of being exposed to the light of day.

Moreover, if their power is truly great, then no matter how they try to hide it, it's impossible for them to leave no trace.

The fact that he and his senior, Ma Niang, haven't been able to find out about it yet precisely shows that the other party's numbers are not large, and their power and influence are not significant, so they can only operate in this way.

Therefore, although it would be troublesome to investigate, this group is not that threatening.

Every time he thought about this, Shinji Kitahara couldn't help but feel a sense of doubt.

So what exactly are the three goddesses doing?

Logically speaking, aren't gods supposed to be all-knowing and all-powerful?

At worst, you could find a few people who wouldn't even dare to show their faces and punish them with divine retribution, right?

If they can't even do this, how dare they call themselves goddesses? They might as well be called three pieces of trash...

Shinji Kitahara was lost in thought and didn't notice the solar eclipse behind him, which seemed to be reaching out to stop something.

However, Shinji Kitahara didn't dwell on the matter for long, since he couldn't possibly have any connection with the three goddesses.

Given their disgraceful behavior so far, even if there were a real connection, Shinji Kitahara felt that relying on Eclipse and himself was better than relying on them.

With that thought in mind, Shinji Kitahara returned to the vicinity of his dormitory.

He was about to put the box of money away before heading off to investigate the Black Forest when he noticed a somewhat familiar red-haired horse girl loitering in front of his dormitory.

She stood in front of Shinji Kitahara's dormitory, looking very conflicted.

One moment he raises his arm as if he wants to knock on the door, the next he sighs and lowers it, then he turns around as if he wants to leave, but after taking only a few steps he turns back.

After spotting the horse girl, Shinji Kitahara slowly stopped, his expression gradually becoming subtle.

Why is she here...?

The woman who appeared in front of him was also an acquaintance of his, and a very close one at that.

Yes, that's the 'test subject' who suffered at the hands of evil while researching nursing techniques.

Or rather, the victim.

He actually knew a long time ago that the other party was in the Tressen headquarters, and a month had passed, and his name had been pinned to the top of the Tressen forum so many times, the other party would know.

The problem is, he never expected her to come looking for him.

The reason is simple: Alice rejected him so much after being pinched once, and as his test subject at the time, she had endured almost two months of continuous torture.

After the experiment ended, she never spoke a word to him again. Occasionally, when they bumped into each other on the street, a clear look of fear would appear in her eyes. Even when she tried to approach him, he would refuse to let her in.

And to be honest, because he had messed with her before, Shinji Kitahara didn't really want to meet her, because he always felt it would be very awkward.

So, after thinking about it, he started backing away with the box in his arms, wanting to wait for her to leave before going back.

But he had only taken a step back when Eclipse behind him took a step forward and, under Shinji Kitahara's gaze, walked step by step to the red-haired horse girl's side and greeted her.

"Long time no see, Naichah."

Are you looking for that idiot over there?

Chapter 77: The Vanishing Move

Excellent qualities is the name of the red-haired horse girl who was persecuted by Shinji Kitahara.

Because of the similar pronunciation of the name, it is usually called "Nei-cha", just like Shinji Kitahara is used to calling Kusakami Hibi "Miss Kusakami".

Similar to Zhou, Youyu also used to live in the countryside and his family was not well-off.

But unlike Special Zhou, Excellent Quality doesn't have such a big appetite, and is known for being obedient, sensible, and well-behaved.

She has excellent academic performance, is skilled in cooking and housework, has a friendly and helpful personality, and is very popular with the local elderly and aunties. She is the quintessential "other people's child".

Even so, these small but excellent qualities also have their own troubles.

That is, she seems to have some inexplicable connection with the number 'three'.

She was always third in overall grades at school, third in the horse-riding group at the school sports meet, and even a few times, at the urging of her friends, she bought some raffle trinkets, only to find three third prizes inside...

Generally speaking, people only remember the first place, occasionally remember the second place, and rarely pay attention to the third place.

But if you're always third, and always third, then it's a different story.

Because of her good personality and comprehensive skills, Necha is popular not only in the village but also at school. Both horse girls and humans like her very much, so naturally they pay attention to her situation.

But as they kept a close eye on things, they gradually noticed something unusual about the situation.

Third, third, and still third.

In any project with internal involvement and rankings, the third place is always marked with the words "Excellent Qualities".

At first, everyone found it strange, but gradually, as time went by, the concept of "third place in excellent qualities" has actually evolved into common sense.

It's like if you ask a local what the world's highest peak is, they'll say Mount Everest.

If you ask about the second highest number, most of them wouldn't know.

Then if you ask the third highest scorer, they will answer without hesitation, "It's Necha."

'Friendship first, competition second, Neta third...'

'The first place in this exam is XX, the second place is OO, and so on...'

"Ah, I won! It's the prize money..."

This isn't a malicious nickname. In fact, consistently achieving third place is already considered very impressive by most people, and the widespread use of this nickname reflects the affection people have for her.

The problem is, Miss Necha doesn't want third place; she wants first place, and she's put in a lot of effort for it.

But perhaps it was due to talent, or perhaps it was due to luck, but no matter how hard she tried, she always firmly held onto the third place.

Later on, she herself began to accept this premise and started to doubt whether she would always be third place in her life.

It was at this time that Shinji Kitahara arrived at the village where she lived.

Simply hang three carrots in front of your door according to the standard and offer the corresponding sacrifices, and any wish will be granted.

Of course, this is all predicated on the fact that it's related to Uma Musume.

That's what her friends told her.

At first, the girl with excellent qualities didn't pay much attention to what they said. After all, there were always some strange rumors circulating among girls of that age, such as the seven unbelievable things in the school.

But these things were later proven to be either the product of their own fears or stories made up by adults to prevent them from doing anything foolish. The precocious Miss Necha knew all this very well.

And three...

But as more and more examples appeared around her, even after a girl named Ma Niang, who had always had a leg problem and had been unable to be cured at the hospital, recovered, Miss Necha wavered.

She didn't actually know the specifics of the rumor, nor did she know what offerings were to be made. She heard it was something like inviting him and the horse girl beside him to have a meal.

Thinking that there was no harm in trying, she hung three carrots in front of the door as requested.

Then, Shinji Kitahara appeared as promised.

"What's your business?"

"I...want to be number one."

What is this requirement?

Shinji Kitahara was somewhat helpless and surprised, but it wasn't entirely unexpected.

For some reason, back then, many people seemed to regard him as a wish-granting machine, making all sorts of strange requests. Compared to that, becoming number one was just average.

Especially after communicating for a while, Shinji Kitahara recognized Nachi and understood the meaning of Nachi's request even more.

Despite his understanding, Shinji Kitahara still refused Ms. Nachi's request.

It wasn't that he didn't want to help her, but rather that he genuinely didn't know how.

It's true that he can solve Ma Niang's problem, but Miss Necha's three moves are already at the conceptual level, which is really not something a mere mortal like him can solve.

Although he did not agree to help Nechika solve the problem, Kitahara Shinji did not break off contact with her afterwards.