Abby chuckled: "A temporary team? Lucian, what should we call our team?"
Rover pondered for a moment: "How about 'Rover's Fiancé Lucian Team'?"
Jianxin quickly interjected: "No, no, it should be 'Jianxin's Master Lucian Team'."
Abby: "..."
"That name is way too long. Let me, Abby, lend you a hand—how about just calling it 'Team Abby'?"
Rover sighed: "But Abby isn't even in this team. What's the point of naming it after you?"
Lucian: "...How about 'Team Yeah Yeah Yeah'?"
Rover nodded slightly: "I think that works."
Jianxin smiled: "Whatever Master wants is fine."
Taoqi: "...I have no objections."
Meanwhile, Lingyan excitedly said: "With General Jiyan and Uncle Wen joining, maybe we can challenge the record..."
Then he shook his head: "No, no, a temporary team with no practice in coordination... breaking the record would still be pretty hard, right?"
Lucian, curious, asked: "This race has records?"
Lingyan nodded and explained: "Yes, ten years ago, a relay team set the fastest record, and it still hasn't been broken."
"Since then, whenever the Riverside Games are held, breaking the record has become the biggest highlight of the relay race."
"To set a record, the team must have trained together for a long time."
"Our hastily assembled team probably can't replicate that."
Jiyan comforted him: "Don't lose heart. Where there's a will, there's a way."
"Temporary teams have their own advantages. The team that set the record back then was also a hastily assembled one."
Ganquan exclaimed in surprise: "So General Jiyan knows about that match too!"
Jiyan smiled faintly: "Yes, that match... was very exciting."
His eyes seemed nostalgic.
"Alright, in that case, let's decide our running order."
Taoqi volunteered: "I'll take the first leg. Theoretically, the first leg should be the simplest—just hand off to the second runner."
Jianxin added: "I've worked closely with Director Taoqi on the frontlines, and I also know Rover. Let me take the second leg."
Rover nodded slightly: "Then I'll be third, and Lucian fourth."
The relay order was settled. Meanwhile, Jiyan's team also finalized their order: "Then let's all adjust our condition and head to our respective relay zones."
"Once the race starts, we can communicate via comms."
Upon arriving at the relay zone, each participant was assigned a Gulpuff.
The other fourth-leg runners were horrified to discover that Intelligence Officer Lucian was actually communicating with his Gulpuff!
Was it terrifying? Yes, it was terrifying.
Thanks to his Language Mastery talent, he had already figured out his assigned Gulpuff's preferences and successfully bribed it. Now, the Gulpuff was brimming with fighting spirit.
Too bad they couldn't use their own Echoes—otherwise, with his Great Sage's Cloak, winning would be a foregone conclusion.
Within minutes, Rover's third-leg Gulpuff surged forward, with the other teams' Gulpuffs hot on its heels, nearly neck-and-neck.
The moment the Gulpuff crossed the line, Lucian's Gulpuff burst out, its mind fixated on one thing: Eating a Hoartoise after winning the championship!
Rover shouted over the comms: "Lucian, it's up to you now!"
Lucian watched the excited Gulpuff charging ahead and smirked: "This one's in the bag!"
The final leg wasn't long. Jiyan's Gulpuff was close behind, while the others lagged further back.
The two leading Gulpuffs raced fiercely, neither willing to concede.
But just before the finish line, Lucian heard his Gulpuff suddenly speak: "Overtake... overtake..."
Yet, this voice didn't sound like the one he had conversed with earlier.
Lucian, standing on the shore, was shocked: "You have a second personality?!"
Would this second personality even like Hoartoise?
Rover, over the comms, also heard the voice: "Who was that just now?"
Before Lucian could answer, the Gulpuff emitted more fragmented, barely intelligible sounds.
"What's going on?"
Before Lucian could voice his confusion, Jiyan suddenly shouted: "The Gulpuffs are acting strange—be careful!"
With that, all the Gulpuffs broke free from their riders' control and charged toward the shore, attempting to attack the spectators.
Lucian raised an eyebrow, drew his Yamato, and rushed forward. Compared to the Gulpuffs, human safety was far more important.
The Yamato flashed through the air, effortlessly cutting down all the Gulpuffs.
The others quickly gathered around. Rover anxiously checked Lucian's arms up and down: "Lucian, are you hurt?"
Lucian shook his head slightly. A few Common-class Tacet Discords like these couldn't possibly harm him.
Uncle Wen sighed: "I'm really sorry. We were so close to the finish line, and then this happened."
Jiyan said gravely: "Thankfully, Mr. Lucian reacted quickly, or the spectators might have been injured."
Taoqi exhaled in relief: "As long as everyone's safe."
Jiyan, watching the panicked crowd, asked: "Lucian, did you notice anything unusual before the Gulpuffs went berserk?"
Lucian recalled: "I think I heard something about 'overtaking'?"
Rover nodded: "We all heard it too, along with some fragmented, unclear words."
Jiyan's expression darkened: "Uncle Wen, evacuate the audience first. Send them back to Jinzhou in batches."
But Uncle Wen hesitated. The Riverside Games hadn't been held for years, and he didn't want to end it so abruptly.
He sighed: "Many teams haven't even raced yet... It took so much effort to organize this year's Games. Ending it like this would ruin everyone's mood."
Then he speculated: "Could those voices have just been the audience cheering?"
Jiyan shook his head: "When they invited me to join earlier, I also heard similar voices near the racecourse."
Lucian mused: "So it wasn't the Gulpuffs making those sounds?"
"I thought the Gulpuff had developed multiple personality disorder..."
Rover facepalmed: "I have to say, your imagination is impressive. How could a Gulpuff even develop multiple personality disorder?"
Jiyan sighed: "If that were the case, it wouldn't be a problem. When I heard the voices near the racecourse, I already asked the research institute to pull monitoring data from the entire waterway."
Hearing this, Uncle Wen grew serious: "I see. I thought the Gulpuffs were just startled."
Jiyan shook his head, his expression grave as if recalling something: "There's likely more to this."