The Mischievous Shark

The jubilant crowds continued to enjoy the amusement park, which seemed to never stop.

Maria agreed to Ch'en Hui-chieh's request; she would help investigate the target in her spare time.

During this time, Ch'en Hui-chieh and her team could not stop working.

The main reason is that they are now certain that Ernesto is likely connected to several people involved in the bombing, and since they are being monitored, they need to act normally.

Only...

"Playing a normal person? That's a really strange request."

Wearing clothes that didn't hinder her movement, Lappland stood in the first row of the starting line and stretched her body slightly.

Nearby, FrostNova and Texas were making preparations.

After all, they won the first place in the first competition with an overwhelming number of finishers, so it was only natural that they would also take the lead in the second round of the triathlon.

This is a great spot; I don't have to worry about anyone getting in my way at the start.

Only...

"We may have attracted too much attention."

Texas glanced at the eager group behind her, her eyes slightly lowered.

From their previous conversation, they also learned that the so-called Summer Grand Prix was not entirely based on the contestants' rankings.

Many of them also include audience ratings.

Although the audience cannot decide who becomes the champion, they have the right to prevent certain people from becoming champions.

This is why many contestants fight during the competition in order to win the audience's favor.

If they can play a more exciting game than Texas, then the audience might not vote them for champion... and if the draft goes down, they'll still have a chance.

Of course, they won't let go of any opportunity to get a higher ranking.

"So what? If they dare to lay a hand on you... just beat them all down, won't that solve the problem?"

Lappland paid no attention to Texas's concerns. She looked back at the restless group behind her, and sarcastically extended her hand, giving everyone a thumbs-up.

The highly provocative act immediately ignited the entire venue, even prompting the host to speak up.

"Oh, look at our current number one... Hmm, Hunter Squad? What a strange name, but anyway, this team made up of beautiful girls looks very confident~"

"Yeah, yeah."

A loud cheer erupted from the crowd. The spectators seemed eager for a real battle and showed strong approval of Lappland's actions.

This caused their popularity to skyrocket.

"Don't attract too much unnecessary attention... Don't forget, your goal is the championship."

Texas glanced at the arrogant Lappland beside her, feeling somewhat helpless.

Ms. Maria agreed to Ch'en Hui-chieh's request, but this matter didn't concern them much... Maria simply told them to continue following the previous steps.

Their previous steps... were to win the championship and receive the generous reward.

It's not wise to attract too many other enemies... even if most of them don't even have a chance to fight them, there will always be a few who will slow them down.

"Don't worry, what are we afraid of together with the three of us?"

Lappland smiled, looking at FrostNova with a relaxed expression.

Over the past few days, FrostNova has gradually gotten used to the two noisy little ones, and she nodded in response to Lappland's question.

"I will definitely win..."

The wait wasn't long; soon the referees were in place.

The lively atmosphere subsided on its own, and everyone looked at each other with a hint of anticipation.

"On your marks!"

The referee, of standard build, stood before everyone and raised his signal musket.

After scanning all the competitors present with his sharp eyes, he took a deep breath.

"Preparation!"

Everyone tensed up. FrostNova emanated a chilling aura, and everyone around her was prepared.

Everyone knows that the most dangerous part of a triathlon is right from the start!

"Start!"

"Bang!"

As the signal flare fired, everyone moved their bodies like nimble cheetahs.

Those in the first row or near the first row felt a strong chill at that moment.

The chill came so suddenly that no one had time to react; their bodies froze instantly before they could adjust.

And those few breaths of stiffness resulted in a distance of a full ten body lengths!

"Well done!"

Having gained the upper hand from the start, Lappland excitedly praised FrostNova standing beside her.

Unfortunately, FrostNova was in no mood to respond at that moment.

Right around her, a swarm of flying objects was hurtling towards her at high speed!

Leave it to me.

Of the trio, Texas, who was lagging behind, remained calm and unperturbed upon seeing this scene.

She spoke, gesturing for the two to run first, and that she could catch up later.

After all, no matter what happens outside, winning first place is clearly more important to the three of them.

To win first place, you don't necessarily have to be the fastest...

It could also mean making everyone run slower than you and the others...

"So, you're now willing to use this kind of 'trick'?"

Lappland smiled upon seeing Texas's decision.

Texas, however, remained completely calm.

"This is allowed by the rules."

"Okay, okay, it's allowed by the rules~"

Lappland shrugged, not arguing much with Texas, and decisively continued on her way with FrostNova.

Texas, on the other hand, suddenly turned and steadied herself after running for a distance.

Before her, the Swarm angry competitors formed a surging tide, trying to drown her...

"Then let's go..."

Texas took a deep breath and gripped the two baseball bats tightly.

Then...

A chaotic battle suddenly erupted!

Is she alright?

With Texas blocking their way, FrostNova and the others pulled far ahead of the other contestants.

Although she knew that the two girls had studied with Maria and were therefore quite powerful, FrostNova still couldn't help but ask with concern.

"Don't worry, if she can't even do this right, she won't have the face to see Ms. Maria."

Lappland, however, had complete confidence in Texas. After laughing twice, she continued running.

After about five or six minutes of running, Texas slowly caught up with the team.

"How is it?" Lappland glanced back.

The closest teams were already fifty or sixty meters away from them.

At this distance, barring any unforeseen circumstances, it's virtually impossible for them to be caught!

"It's all taken care of."

Texas looked relaxed, and even her breathing was perfectly normal.

She turned her head and glanced at FrostNova beside her.

FrostNova reacted instantly.

She raised her hands, and a surge of cold air instantly filled the ground, causing frost to form.

"Wow, the Hunter Squad has pulled out another ruthless move! A large area of ice has appeared on the competition field. Can the other teams handle it?!"

"Damn it!"

A burly man shouted, gritting his teeth, trying to break through the ice in one breath.

Unfortunately, their shoes were just ordinary running shoes, and they could easily slip and fall on the ice.

The fall of one person will cause more people in the line to slow down.

In an instant, the gap between the entire teams widened considerably!

This elicited even louder cheers from the crowd.

Even the host couldn't help but speak up.

"That's amazing... In just a few minutes, the Hunter Squad has already demonstrated their incredible warlock abilities. It will be much harder for other teams to catch up..."

As the host was speaking, his eyes suddenly glanced at the back of the line, and then his eyes lit up.

"Oh? There seems to be some problem at the back of the teams... Let me see... Oh, it's the Gray Feather Team and the Pineapple Pizza Team, they're about to take a shortcut!"

"Huh?" A questioning female voice rang out from the broadcast, "Taking a shortcut... is that allowed?"

"The competition rules discourage it, but we haven't implemented any similar penalties... So, taking shortcuts is discouraged, but allowed by the rules. I just don't know what our audience thinks..."

As the host spoke, he deliberately steered the conversation toward the audience members.

The audience's voices, however, were quite unified at this moment.

"Permission! Permission!"

"Oh! It seems our audience has tolerated this shortcut. The last time we saw something like this was several years ago... It seems our Hunter Squad has indeed put a lot of pressure on the other teams. If this continues, the competition will lose its appeal... After all, it's a competition, and excitement is the most important thing."

The host's voice rang out, but the words he uttered stunned the three Texas.

"You can do that?"

Lappland was somewhat dissatisfied.

"If this is possible... then why should we just run obediently? Why not just go around the rooftops?"

"We probably can't do it."

Texas pondered for a moment, then silently shook her head.

She roughly understood the rules of the game.

"It's less of a competition and more of a large-scale performance show."

"The audience's preferences are very important... Only with the support of the audience can we do things that don't conform to the rules... The host just deliberately asked the audience for their opinions. If the audience had said no, those people probably wouldn't have won any prizes."

"So... just because we're first, we can't take shortcuts?"

Lappland was still somewhat dissatisfied.

But Texas continued calmly, "It's probably like this... They wanted to see us clash and fight each other because we initially created so much distance that it was unlikely anyone else could catch us by normal means, so they were allowed to take the shortcut."

"But it probably won't be permanent. By the time they catch up with us, they'll have to come out through the shortcut..."

Texas had barely finished speaking when, not far behind them, a huge bear-man smashed through a nearby fence and aggressively caught up with them!

"It's not that easy!"

The burly bear-man roared and kept running towards the girls.