Chapter 8 How Did You Do It?
Hank and the others had often followed Harvey to play here and naturally was highly skilled at choosing horses.
When they saw the horse Harvey had chosen, they immediately nodded and praised him, "Harvey is really awesome. The brown and yellow horse has the most explosive power here and is best suited to races of shorter distances. Harvey will win for sure!"
Harvey looked at Atlas smugly, "Hey, it's your turn!"
Atlas wanted to hit Harvey hard so he wouldn't be so arrogant and suddenly smiled and said to Zoee, "Zoee, just pick one for me."
"Ah... let me choose? I don't know how!" Zoee said in surprise, pointing at her cute little nose.
"It's okay. You just pick a horse!" Atlas said confidently.
"Okay!" Zoee was so motivated by Atlas' confidence that she actually agreed to Atlas.
Seeing that Atlas had let Zoee choose the horse for him, those classmates had a mocking smile on their faces.
"It looks like Kept Man A can't pick a horse at all. But he's got the wrong guy. Zoee is no better than him!"
"Haha, Kept Man A is going to lose. Let's wait and see what happens!" Hank had a smug grin on his face.
Zoee walked over to the horses and looked around. All the horses looked the same to her, and she didn't know which one to choose.
The middle-aged woman frowned and said, "This kid is too careless to let that little girl choose the horse for him. I don't think that little girl knows anything about horses!"
"I reckon this kid knows he's going to lose, so he just came up with a way to please the girl."
"This boy is romantic!" The man shook his head and laughed, but looked at Atlas with contempt. Zoee saw a rather large and sturdy red horse, "Just you. You're so big, so you should run fast!"
Harvey and the men burst into laughter as Zoee asked the staff to bring the horse she had chosen to the crowd.
Harvey looked greedily at Zoee's breasts and smiled, "Zoee, so you still have me in your heart. If you wanted me to win, you could have just said so. You don't have to pick a useless horse for him!"
"A useless horse?" Zoee looked at the red horse in confusion, "How can a horse this big and strong be a useless horse?"
"Have you ever seen a pig that runs fast?" Harvey let out a loud laugh, and his laugh was full of mockery.
Hank and the others also started to make fun of Zoee, "Yeah, pigs are fat and strong. Zoee, why don't you pick a pig for Atlas!"
"But that's a perfect match for Kept Man A!"
"Haha! Yes, a perfect match!"
The middle-aged couple shook their heads, "This little girl is a complete amateur! That kid is going to lose!"
Zoee listened to their explanations and instantly understood her mistake. She looked sadly at Atlas and said with a resigned look on her face, "I'm sorry, Atlas. I've chosen a useless horse for you!" Atlas rubbed Zoee's head and laughed lightly, "Don't listen to them. You've picked a great horse. I'll beat them!"
"And then they'll know whose horse is the loser."
"Really?" Zoee's eyes lit up, "You didn't say that on purpose to comfort me, did you?"
Atlas laughed, "Just wait and see!"
Atlas took the red horse and stood side by side with Harvey, "Shall we begin?"
"Since you're so eager to lose, we can skip the following steps and just start the race!" Harvey said arrogantly. "Then let's get started!" Atlas said blandly.
The two men took to the track. The referee gave the word and Harvey took the lead on his brown and yellow horse.
"Yes!" Hank and the others applauded, and Harvey's riding was indeed superb.
Atlas, however, was in no hurry at all and let the date horse beneath him move forward slowly, step by step.
"Kept Man A can't even ride. Harvey wins for sure!" Hank gloated.
Zoee's hands were clasped together in anxiety, "Why isn't Atlas going? He's not racing. He's walking!"
The middle-aged couple were also bewildered, not understanding what Atlas was doing. Even if he lost, the least he could do was to try his best and lose with dignity!
"What a coward this kid is! No wonder people call him kept man!" The woman said with a look of contempt.
In the blink of an eye, Harvey was three-quarters of the way through the race. He was about to reach the finish line, but Atlas was still riding his red horse, ambling. "Atlas, come on!" Zoee shouted urgently.
"Okay!" Atlas agreed and pull the rein. The red horse neighed and sprang forward.
Harvey heard the commotion and glanced back, then sneered in triumph, "This punk is just now starting to catch up with me. It's too late. You'll lose!"
Atlas suddenly whistled loudly with two fingers.
"Here it is. It's almost there. Victory is mine!" Harvey, who was about to reach the finish line, suddenly noticed that his horse was not moving.
"Go!"
No matter how hard Harvey drove, or even whipped, the horse simply fell to the ground and wouldn't move another step.
"How strange! Why isn't Harvey moving?" Someone asked in confusion.
Hank laughed smugly, "Harvey must have stopped on purpose to laugh at Atlas. Don't worry!"
Harvey cursed at the moment, "Go on. What's wrong with this stupid horse!"
"Come on!"
As Atlas was about to catch up, someone noticed something was wrong, "What's going on? Atlas is about to catch up. Why isn't Harvey moving?" Hank also sensed something was off and shouted, "Harvey, Atlas is catching up!"
Hank thought Harvey had gotten careless for a moment!
Looking at Atlas, who was getting closer and closer, Harvey cried, "I want to go, but this horse won't move!"
If it had been a race instead of a horse race, Harvey would have run to the finish line.
The middle-aged couple also looked curious. The woman wondered, "What's going on? I think something's wrong with that boy's horse."
The man next to her nodded, "It was that whistle just now. If I'm right, that would have been a command for the brown horse!"
"No wonder that boy chose a useless horse and still looked confident. I didn't think he could do that!" The man looked at Atlas with interest.
The woman said coldly, "Humph, that's cheating!"
"Animal language is also a real skill!" The man laughed.
Harvey watched as Atlas caught up with him, then slowly surpassed him to the finish line.
"Yay!" Zoee's face flushed with excitement.
When Atlas reached the finish line, Harvey's horse suddenly listened to him again, making Harvey very angry.
Atlas went back to Zoee, who said excitedly, "Atlas, you were great!"
After saying that, Zoee whispered, "How did you do that?"
Atlas said quietly, "I learned to communicate with horses. That horse listens to me."
"I see!" Zoee looked at Atlas adoringly.
"You lost!" Atlas said indifferently as he saw Harvey return to the outside of the field. Harvey grimaced and grunted, "You cheated. This game doesn't count!"