Funnily enough, as Ling was browsing various posts, she came across an interesting one.
"Does Absolute Zero count as an Undefeated Triple Crown?"
The content was something she often saw: that her first debut race was a failure, so her Undefeated Triple Crown qualification should be revoked.
However, none of the replies below the post were serious; everyone just wanted to see the original poster in women's clothing.
Actually, strictly speaking, this was true. But, firstly, she didn't even run in that debut race; it was treated as an absence. Although this technically counted as a failure, the reason she couldn't run was due to the organizer. After all, they didn't even properly check if the starting gate was malfunctioning, which was quite a scandal. If it had escalated further, who knows how exaggerated the rumors might have become.
The subsequent handling was also simple: with the joint decision of the academy, the organizer, and herself, that debut race was deemed a [suspension]. It wasn't counted as a victory or a defeat. And since the requirement for an Undefeated Triple Crown was [no failures before the Kikka Sho], it was naturally still included.
Of course, this was only confirmed after she finished the Kikka Sho. By then, she had already shown enough talent and strength, and the organizer was unwilling to offend the association and the academy over something that could be resolved with a simple statement. So, it was handled quietly. Instead, some people with ulterior motives deliberately ignored this statement and kept saying her Undefeated Triple Crown was questionable.
Anyway, those people were basically dealt with by the Uma Musume who ran with her and their families.
Are you kidding? If someone with her strength doesn't count, then who would get the Undefeated Triple Crown?
No one would doubt that Ling, who could create such a large gap in her second debut race, would have lost that first debut race. It's worth noting that the overall evaluation of her opponents in her second debut race was even higher than in her first.
Although they seem innocent, that's just how Uma Musume are. Before and during a race, they are rivals, but after the race, they don't hide their admiration for the victor. Most Uma Musume treat the world with pure goodwill, and the few mischievous ones don't harbor true malice. This is why she loves Uma Musume so much that she can connect with Alice Digital.
So now, when she sees such posts, she just smiles and ignores them. Moreover, most people understand the specific situation, so they tacitly treat these outspoken individuals as clowns to tease.
But even so, some people still enjoy it, and Ling can't be bothered to care. She doesn't run for those people.
By the way, Ling occasionally sees her own strange fanfics in the posts and even replies to them with feigned seriousness. Of course, some content was too early for her, a terrestrial life form, to accept. After reading it, she casually reported it.
Also, she is currently at home.
After all, that private hospital had already signed confidentiality agreements, and the news had been immediately suppressed. In others' eyes, she had merely gone out at some unknown time and returned this morning.
Given the frequent rumors of her mysterious whereabouts, no one would suspect that something had happened to her.
Her injuries were mostly healed, but it would still take some time for a full recovery. So, she was currently browsing her phone and enjoying her rare leisure time.
Munch munch... gulp gulp... It would be even quieter without the two gluttonous individuals next to her, eating their fill. She looked with a regretful gaze at the two gray-maned creatures and the girl with an extremely strong maternal aura, constantly serving them food.
Super Creek, an Uma Musume secretly called Oguri Cap by Trainers, a woman full of maternal affection. As for why she's called Oguri Cap... what else could it be? Because she's so big.
Ling looked at her own front armor, a perfect streamlined shape conforming to aerodynamics.
Then she looked at the other person, a massive mountain range.
Can that size really run? Basically, anyone with a slightly less ideal figure would have this thought upon seeing her.
Although Oguri Cap's appetite is actually very large, it's quite small compared to the two gray-maned creatures. She is now full and once again playing the game of "mom constantly serving food to her children."
If it weren't for her stomach being a bit full from just eating, Ling wouldn't have had time to read strange fanfics here. She was ninety-nine percent sure she would have been hugged by the other party.
In fact, she also has the skill [Gluttony], an advanced form of [Nutritional Supplementation], which can replenish a significant amount of stamina. However, even with her standard appetite turning into Gluttony, she couldn't eat that much.
Funnily enough, the principle of this skill is to store the energy from food eaten normally in the body in some extremely unscientific way (because it's not converted into fat), and then directly convert it into usable stamina when needed. However, it's not without limits; after all, you can't just store a huge amount of energy and then accelerate non-stop throughout a race using only that energy.
Even if Ling can accelerate throughout a long-distance race, it's by relying on her super-high stamina and grit, obtained through continuous training, as well as a large number of blue skills.
So, although this skill can store a lot, the amount of stamina it can replenish at once is not that much.
So, Oguri Cap eats so much that her stored energy is already full, but the problem is she's still eating a lot. Where does all that energy go? And she doesn't get fat!
After all that, I haven't even explained the current situation.
Today, on her way back, Ling happened to run into the trio who were coming over. She also learned that they were going to her place (because she was an assistant, she had a key, as did Alice Digital, who was in charge of security monitoring), so they came together. She also made up for the big meal she owed them yesterday.
After sending a portion of food and a wristband that could monitor her vital signs to Alice Digital, she returned to the living room to find this scene.
Hmm? Why send Alice Digital that kind of wristband?
That goes without saying, it's to prevent her from dying of excitement in the monitoring room while watching the Uma Musume interact. As soon as she has even a slight problem, the entire house will sound an alarm, prompting everyone present to go rescue her.
And Alice Digital didn't stand on ceremony with her; she directly moved her room here and settled in. In her words, "If I miss an important scene because of travel time, that would be disrespectful to the adorable horses."
One can only say... it truly is her. At least in this regard, Ling, who also claims to love Uma Musume, admits she can't compare to her at all.
It's worth noting that she once had a simulated training session with Alice Digital. Even with her using Divine Speed, Alice Digital still chased for a distance based on her love, only slowing down later due to insufficient grit, which almost scared her to death.
It is said that after finishing her classic three-year races, she even went abroad to interact with Uma Musume all over the world, winning various championships while observing local Uma Musume. Later, she chose to return home and retire for a greater cause (her words) (actually, it was for novels and such).
And her Trainer, after her retirement, became her work's number one fan and also gave up the Trainer profession to become her responsible editor.
She's a very impressive person, in every sense of the word... PS: Originally, the plan was for other content, but given that many people said that a debut race failure doesn't count as an Undefeated Triple Crown, and although I explained it in the inter-posts, I felt many people might not have seen it, so I specifically wrote a chapter to briefly explain it. Although this situation wouldn't happen in reality, since it's a self-created novel, please bear with me ( ).