DSMC Chapter 117

Yan Jiyun had thought he would be sitting there betting on horses to earn points, but just after figuring out how to place bets, the system immediately dragged him into a horse race.

He was a rider who had only just learned to ride leopards and tigers. He knew a little about riding horses, but actual horse racing… he truly didn’t.

The system was especially malicious. It even prepared racing clothes and a racehorse for him.

Yan Jiyun saw the racing outfit labeled with his name backstage and promptly changed into it.

The system had assigned him the identity of a rider, but didn’t assign him a specific horse. Instead, an NPC led him to the stable to choose one.

There were only three horses in the stable: a reddish-brown one, a brown one, and a gray one.

They all seemed to be purebred horses, but Yan Jiyun didn’t recognize any of them. After walking around, he chose the brown horse that snorted at him.

Yan Jiyun sized it up: “You look pretty decent.”

His reason for choosing it was simple: this horse had a lot of expression, while the other two didn’t even glance at him, acting quite arrogant.

The race was about to begin.

Yan Jiyun hadn’t expected that he himself would be one of the racers. But unfamiliar with the horse, could he even win?

That’s right. Yan Jiyun wasn’t very good at riding horses.

The last time he rode a horse was the last time, and those were all well-trained, gentle horses. Now he had to compete in a race. This was deadly.

The horse he held was called “Zhuifeng¹追风, meaning “chasing wind”. It is also a part of the four-character idiom 追风逐电 (zhuīfēngzhúdiàn), meaning “proceeding at a tremendous pace” or “getting on like a house on fire””. The name was decent.

He patted the horse’s head and said, “Zhuifeng, let me try riding you first. Don’t move around.”

When Yan Jiyun came over, he had seen the game rules posted next to the stable.

The system placed the information clues right in front of them, but whether they could survive to obtain them was another matter.

Horse Racing Game Rules:

1. There are three races in total, with a 10-minute interval between each race;
2. The three races are: speed race, obstacle race, and cross-country race;
3. Players must place in the top three in the speed race, top two in the obstacle race, and first place in the cross-country race;
4. Players cannot change horses during the game; violating this rule risks falling off the horse;
5. Various unexpected events may occur during the game. Players should be careful~

These were rules he was all too familiar with.

Right now, he needed to quickly build a good relationship with his temporary partner.

He led Zhuifeng out of the stable to test ride.

Fortunately, Zhuifeng behaved well and didn’t kick him or resist his approach.

Although Zhuifeng seemed quite dissatisfied with having a rider, Yan Jiyun still successfully mounted its back.

He rode around the waiting area, getting used to the feeling and finding his rhythm.

After running around the small field for a while, he started to get the hang of it.

A referee came over to confirm his starting order, and at this time, the other riders preparing to enter the race were warming up nearby.

Seeing Yan Jiyun’s unskilled riding, they began to mock him.

“Looks like a newbie showed up today?”

“Is it that one over there?”

“That’s right. Look at how he mounted the horse, it’s totally wrong. And he still wants to win?”

“Just here to make up the numbers. No way he’s winning.”

Yan Jiyun could clearly hear these NPCs talking behind his back.

How did playing a game and competing turn into something like a palace intrigue drama?

No matter how much the NPCs muttered, he needed to focus on building rapport with Zhuifeng.

Zhuifeng had a beautiful and strong build, a refined appearance, and soft fur.

The horse was well-fed and gentle. After a short test ride, Yan Jiyun could already get it to trot lightly without resistance. It was likely a well-trained racehorse.

Hopefully, its name matched its ability.

The name might be a bit cliché, but it was still better than his “Caramel.” Different species, different vibes. Just from the name, he could tell the style. Caramel was cute, while Zhuifeng was cool and stylish.

He wondered whether Qi Feng and Chu Mo had entered with him. Looking around, he didn’t see them anywhere on the racetrack.

At this point, it was clear. They hadn’t come in with him.

He remembered that the guide never said they would enter the same game after passing through the Horse Door. This was probably another trap by the system.

Either something went wrong during teleportation, or the guide did it on purpose. She only asked whether they wanted to teleport together, but never confirmed whether they would arrive at the same Zodiac Door. The system never missed a chance to trick players.

Given the game’s malicious nature, if they could enter the same game, it would probably turn into players fighting each other to the death. Instead, it became a single-player game, similar to the Rat Door. 

However, Qi Feng and Chu Mo had entered other gates and told him that only the Tiger Door was a true casino; the others were more like challenge-based games.

Yan Jiyun wondered whether entering different gates separately would save time, but splitting up required each person to clear their game. No one could guarantee they would obtain the information card and make it out alive.

Still, it wasn’t like he gained nothing from the Tiger Door.

Although no players got an information card, including himself, he had figured out the most important element of the Tiger Door.

Other players could earn points in any game but never attracted the boss’s attention. But when he played High or Low, Ruan-ge noticed him. That meant winning ten rounds at the High or Low table would yield the most important information, and what he got from Ruan-ge definitely wasn’t an information card.

Ruan-ge’s identity was the casino boss, and what he was best at was dice. So the most important thing for him was dice. Therefore, the key to the Tiger Door was “dice”.

He guessed Qi Feng and Chu Mo had already figured this out, which was why they left immediately.

Veteran players were really cunning. Once they knew the truth, they didn’t tell him.

He had only just figured it out himself. Before, he was too busy running for his life to think. Now that he had calmed down, he noticed the key point. Otherwise, how could it be explained that Qi Feng earned over a million points without being targeted, while he, with just 100,000 points, was forced into a life-or-death gamble? Naturally, it was because either reaching 100,000 points or winning ten consecutive rounds triggered the condition to obtain information.

But what information did the dice represent?

Numbers?

A typical dice used for gambling has six faces, with six different digits. How could one determine what number it was trying to convey?

The referee was calling him to the race.

Yan Jiyun sat upright on the horse. He stopped trying to organize the information in his mind. For everything else, he would wait until he obtained the Horse Door’s information card.

Since the rules were written so clearly, it meant the process wouldn’t be easy.

The racetrack was bathed in bright sunlight, warm on the skin. But as he looked at the other riders, he saw flashes of reflected silver light.

Yan Jiyun: “…Holy shit!”

Why were they carrying weapons? Was this a race or a death match?

He knew it! The game had no good intentions. Such obvious information hints were actually a massive trap, waiting for players to fall into it.

Yan Jiyun had made no preparations at all. What was he supposed to do now?

The roster clearly listed his name “Yan Jiyun”. There was no way he could turn into a cat and jump onto a horse to compete.

He still had to complete the designated tasks to obtain the information card.

Damn it. The first race was about to start. Where was he supposed to find armor to protect himself? The lousy system had even deliberately disabled their props, clearly intending to use this stage to turn players into helpless lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

The referee was clearing staff who were walking around on the track.

This round was a 1200-meter speed race.

The race officially began.

Zhuifeng snorted loudly. It was gentle and didn’t reject Yan Jiyun, but it lacked patience, constantly pawing at the ground.

Yan Jiyun had only watched horse racing before, never participated. Now he was being forced into it.

The objective of this round was to place in the top three.

He comforted himself. He had ridden tigers and leopards before, was he really afraid of riding a horse?

The atmosphere around him grew tense. The NPCs who had mocked him earlier were right beside him, forcing him to be even more cautious.

He couldn’t just recklessly injure himself, even if he had bought a lot of wound ointment. The injuries on his back could only be temporarily stopped from bleeding and numbed in the game. They could only be fully healed after leaving the Peak Competition.

Yan Jiyun and Zhuifeng entered the starting gate, waiting for the start.

Bang!

All the gates opened automatically. Zhuifeng bolted forward on its own. Yan Jiyun leaned low, gripping the reins tightly.

It was his first time cooperating with Zhuifeng, so he could only apply what he knew from riding tigers and leopards.

Zhuifeng wasn’t like the rats. They could talk, and he could understand them. Zhuifeng was just a normal horse and couldn’t speak.

Speed racing was all about speed. All the horses sprinted forward with full force.

Yan Jiyun patted Zhuifeng and whispered while leaning low, “Zhuifeng, stay away from those people. They have weapons. They’ll either hurt you or me.”

He was just trying, unsure if the horse would understand, but it seemed to. Zhuifeng began deliberately keeping distance from the other horses.

This horse understood Chinese! Umazing²T/N: Yeah this is me asserting my creative liberty.! 

Yan Jiyun grew excited. If Zhuifeng could cooperate with him, that was even better.

“Overtake them!”

He pressed his legs against the horse’s sides, still gripping the reins tightly.

For a horse, 1200 meters counted as a mid-distance run. As they approached the first turn, Yan Jiyun felt another horse closing in on his right.

He saw the rider. He was wearing a blue-and-white outfit and carrying a dagger!

They hadn’t created enough distance yet. He already saw the flash of silver in the opponent’s hand. The dagger could strike at any moment.

What should he do?

“Zhuifeng, faster, faster!”

He was currently in fifth place, still short of the top three.

“Zhuifeng, overtake number 7 ahead! Pass from the side.”

Number 7 hadn’t drawn a weapon, so Yan Jiyun decided it was safer to pass him.

Zhuifeng sped up again.

“Good job, Zhuifeng!”

They were now in fourth place, less than half a body length behind third.

[Want to be Human] livestream channel: 

“Holy crap, betting just opened! I just bet on our Kitty Baby winning!”

“Ahhh, Kitty Baby, go, go, GO!” 

“He’s ridden leopards before! Horse speed is nothing compared to that. He’s adapting easily!”

“Damn, he passed third place!”

“I used to think horse racing was boring, never watched it live. Now I get it, I just hadn’t found the horse and rider I wanted to support. I’m betting on him for first!”

“Am I the only one worried he’ll get hurt? I saw another player do this race before, he made top three in the first round but got slashed in the thigh and punched in the head. He passed out from blood loss in the second round and got trampled to death.”

“It’s that brutal?”

“Are you blind? Someone already tried to stab our Kitty Baby just now!”

“Shit! Second place is making a move. Dodge it!”

Yan Jiyun twisted his body just in time to barely avoid the opponent’s dagger.

He had only wanted to surge past second place, but the opponent went straight for a killing blow. The dagger grazed his neck, clearly aiming to slice his carotid artery.

But he didn’t fear it, nor would he retreat.

Enemies ahead and behind, how to break this situation?

Yan Jiyun shouted, “Zhuifeng, faster! Give it everything! You’re the fastest horse I’ve ever ridden, you’re faster than a leopard, fiercer than a tiger! We can take first! We will take first!”

Motivated again, Zhuifeng accelerated once more!

All Yan Jiyun could hear now was the pounding of hooves, the roaring wind, and his own quickening breath. He was starting to love this feeling of speed.

The rider in first place also drew his weapon, a gun. Yan Jiyun saw it clearly; the man was preparing to shoot at him from behind.

The bullet could hit his chest or Zhuifeng.

They were partners now. Neither could fall.

Yan Jiyun leaned low and said, “Get close to first place.”

If it was a matter of life or death, then it certainly wouldn’t be his death.

Zhuifeng closed in on the leading horse. In a split second, Yan Jiyun reached out and snatched the gun from the rider’s hand.

The rider had only just begun to draw it, and now his hand was empty.

Yan Jiyun tightened his legs: “Zhuifeng, mission accomplished! Go!”

Zhuifeng was incredibly perceptive. Yan Jiyun felt it could go even faster.

Their goal was first place!

They overtook first place. Zhuifeng’s speed surged again.

They pulled ahead. One length— two lengths— three lengths— and crossed the finish line!

The entire audience stood up. Some shocked, some furious. No one had bet on this underestimated horse. Their money was all lost!

Who would’ve thought it was a dark horse? But it was too late to change bets.

Yan Jiyun didn’t care about the audience NPCs. What worried him more was the second round: the obstacle race.

If he turned into a cat, jumping obstacles wouldn’t be a problem. But doing it with Zhuifeng was different. They needed coordination. And Zhuifeng had to be skilled with obstacles. If it failed a jump, or if they were attacked mid-course, it would be disastrous.

They had to place in the top two in the obstacle race.

After finishing the 1200 meters, Yan Jiyun dismounted and found a spot on the grass to rest, keeping distance from other riders to avoid attacks.

However, those riders disappeared after losing.

The scene shifted before his eyes. It became the obstacle course.

Yan Jiyun patted Zhuifeng’s head and showered it with praise: “Zhuifeng, you’re incredible! You’re the strongest and most dazzling horse of them all. Not only are you good-looking, you can also take first place. Your speed is unbeatable. You’re the Rolls-Royce of the horse world, top-tier!”

Zhuifeng snorted in agreement, clearly pleased with the praise.

Taking advantage of its good mood, Yan Jiyun said, “But we’re about to face an even bigger challenge. See those obstacles ahead? That’s our next battlefield.”

Zhuifeng lifted its hooves and circled around him, as if showing off its abilities.

Yan Jiyun sat cross-legged to rest. Ten minutes wasn’t enough time to go check the participants’ list in the main hall.

After the first speed race, he was certain that Qi Feng and Chu Mo hadn’t entered the Horse Door.

Since they weren’t in the same Zodiac Door, he could transform into a cat more naturally if needed.

In critical moments, he wouldn’t have to worry about NPC reactions. That was his way to survive.

At the same time, he now understood something about the system’s hint when entering Angel City, it wanted players to “have fun.”

The twelve Zodiac Doors corresponded to different types of entertainment.

All of them were common leisure activities; some ordinary, some more expensive. As for the other doors, he hadn’t entered them yet, so he didn’t know what games they corresponded to.

But one thing was certain: no matter what kind of “entertainment” it was, it was infused with the game’s deadly style. If it could kill players, it absolutely wouldn’t let them survive.

After resting for a bit, doing mental preparation, and reviewing the gameplay, the broadcast reminded him that it was time for the next race.

This obstacle course was nothing like the standard ones seen in regular sports competitions.

In a standard obstacle race, riders and horses enter in sequence and start only after the referee signals.

But now, their starting setup was basically the same as before, except the field was wider and the obstacles were more numerous.

Obstacle racing depended on the coordination between rider and horse. But he and Zhuifeng barely had any rapport. Speed racing was manageable, but obstacle racing sounded terrifying. If he fell during a jump, he could easily break his neck.

He took a deep breath and encouraged Zhuifeng again: “Zhuifeng, remember, you’re the fastest and strongest horse in the world. Let’s work together and take first place again!”

“We haven’t been partners for long. When we approach obstacles, trust your own judgment. Can you understand?”

Zhuifeng responded with another snort.

Yan Jiyun patted its neck. “Good boy. You’re the smartest animal I’ve ever seen, no question.”

At a time like this, there was no such thing as too much encouragement.

There were many rules in obstacle racing, but the current setup resembled a hurdle race. Each rider and horse had their own lane.

However, the lanes were only for the start. They didn’t prevent riders from interfering with others afterward.

No time to worry about that!

As soon as the referee rang the bell, all riders and horses rushed forward. It looked no different from a speed race.

But this time, there were even more participants, with 30 horses in total.

It was Yan Jiyun’s first time in such an event. As a cat, he could control his jumps perfectly, but with a horse, it was different. He could only hope Zhuifeng would perform well.

The first obstacle was right ahead.

At the moment, their ranking wasn’t prominent. They were still among the trailing group. Other riders easily cleared the first hurdle.

The first obstacle was the lowest standard, not very high. Zhuifeng cleared it easily. Yan Jiyun rose slightly off the saddle, bending forward so he wouldn’t get jolted on landing.

They landed steadily.

After clearing the first obstacle, they charged toward the second.

On flat ground, Zhuifeng could reach high speeds, but obstacles required precise timing for jumps. As the rider, Yan Jiyun needed to coordinate with it.

The second obstacle approached!

They barely cleared it. Yan Jiyun patted Zhuifeng’s neck lightly: “Nice job, Zhuifeng!”

He feared Zhuifeng might lack confidence, so he kept encouraging it. And he knew it responded well to that.

Yan Jiyun had clearly underestimated the power of encouragement. Zhuifeng accelerated, and when it cleared the third obstacle, it even overtook the rider ahead. Their ranking improved again.

Next was the third obstacle. In standard competitions, rider and horse must work together to clear 12 obstacles.

Some obstacles here were clearly irregular, like piles of uneven stones, making them much harder.

Yan Jiyun felt worried, but Zhuifeng, fueled by encouragement, showed no fear and leapt again.

After the previous two obstacles, they had built some coordination. Yan Jiyun simply imagined where he would jump if he were a cat, and synchronized with Zhuifeng at that moment. They could align perfectly.

Crash!

The leading rider collided with the fourth obstacle! 

There was no choice of obstacle height here. The first three were likely the lowest; as they progressed, the height increased and the designs became more bizarre. From stone piles, to stacked bricks, even ancient anti-cavalry barriers.

The fourth obstacle required them to jump over two widely spaced fences with a stream in between.

No wonder accidents happened here. WIth one miscalculation, it would be disastrous!

The first rider mistimed the jump and failed. His horse seemed to have injured its leg.

The second rider cleared it.

The third rider failed as well.

This was an extremely difficult obstacle.

Yan Jiyun imagined being that fallen horse, on how painful it must be. With four limbs, an injured leg would be unbearable.

And now, he and Zhuifeng were charging toward the fourth obstacle!

He had no time to care about others. He tightened his grip on the reins and pressed his legs slightly against Zhuifeng.

It wasn’t exactly a signal. But if he were a cat, this was about the point he would jump. Zhuifeng seemed to understand. They could synchronize.

They were approaching the obstacle.

Both were ready. Yan Jiyun lifted himself slightly, eyes locked on the difficult barrier, gripping the reins tightly, and said softly, “Zhuifeng, jump!”

Zhuifeng’s powerful legs launched into the jump!

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  追风, meaning “chasing wind”. It is also a part of the four-character idiom 追风逐电 (zhuīfēngzhúdiàn), meaning “proceeding at a tremendous pace” or “getting on like a house on fire”
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  T/N: Yeah this is me asserting my creative liberty.