The moment his speed dropped, the intense pain, both internal and external, returned to torment Zhao Yuan. He knew this was a sign that the residual medicinal power wasn't dissipating fast enough. He wanted to speed up, but his body's exhaustion had reached a critical point. He simply couldn't go any faster. Just managing to keep running without stopping was already his absolute limit.
This situation, where slowing down caused pain but speeding up was impossible due to a lack of strength, was beyond tormenting. Even someone with Zhao Yuan's strong willpower was driven to the brink of madness. But even so, he clenched his jaw and kept running, running for his life. No matter how slow his pace became, he persisted, absolutely refusing to stop.
Before he knew it, a warm current of energy rose from his Dantian and spread rapidly throughout his entire body. The appearance of this energy not only alleviated the pain but also injected a new wave of strength into his utterly exhausted body.
'What's going on?'
The change occurring in his body greatly surprised Zhao Yuan. He quickly found the answerâit was the medicinal power he had absorbed earlier, finally starting to take effect!
With the help of the medicinal power, Zhao Yuan's running speed began to pick up again. Although his breathing was still as labored as a broken-down bellows, his feet became light, and his speed continued to climb, and climb again!
This scene, which defied all common sense, played out before the students on the field, shocking them to the core.
"What the fuck? No way, the kid is sprinting again?"
"Wasn't he about to collapse from exhaustion just now? How is he able to start running fast again? Where did he get the strength?"
"His speed right now is even faster than before! Hiss... I'm not seeing things, am I? He's still accelerating! My God, he's running at a hundred-meter-dash pace! Can his body even handle that? Does he have a death wish?"
"His breathing is still a mess, and his running form is completely chaotic, but how can he keep running without stopping? And he's constantly accelerating, again and again? This is just illogical! Does anyone know where he came from? How come I've never heard of a guy like this at our school before?"
The people who had previously looked down on Zhao Yuan and mocked him were now, in this moment, completely stunned by his astonishing performance.
However, Zhao Yuan was oblivious to all of this.
At this moment, his mind was a complete blank. The only thought was to run, to run without stopping!
Five laps... Ten laps... Fifteen laps...
Zhao Yuan's lap count grew higher and higher. Toward the end, his pace slowed considerably, and his steps became much more staggered, but still he ran, never stopping for a single moment. Through this intense exertion, the unabsorbed medicinal power in his body flowed out with his sweat. So, although his speed had dropped, he was no longer tormented by the internal and external pain. On the contrary, as the medicinal power from his Dantian suffused his entire body, a sense of comfort that was difficult to describe in words washed over him.
The corners of Zhao Yuan's mouth curled up, revealing a faint smile.
Someone noticed this and cried out in surprise, "Look, the kid is actually smiling! He's already gasping for breath and drenched in sweat, how can he still manage to smile?"
"He's enjoying the process of running." The brawny guy, Ah Peng, who had mocked Zhao Yuan earlier, now looked at him with a gaze full of admiration.
A long-distance running coach from the Sports Academy had appeared on the track at some point. After staring at the ceaselessly running Zhao Yuan for a good while, he grabbed a student and asked, "How many meters has that guy run?"
"How many meters?" The student was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and replied, "I don't know the exact distance, but it has to be at least ten thousand meters by now, right?"
"How long did it take him?" the coach asked again.
"So far, he's been running for thirty minutes," Ah Peng chimed in. "I happened to glance at the time on my phone right when he started, so I remember it clearly."
The coach's expression changed dramatically, and he gasped in astonishment, "Ten thousand meters in thirty minutesâthat's the time of a National First-Class Athlete! And he's run even farther than ten thousand meters. Plus, he's wearing sandals, which are terrible for running. His breathing rhythm, his stride, and his energy distribution are all problematic too. But even with all that, he still managed to pull off a time like this. If he were to put on a pair of running shoes and undergo systematic training to correct his bad habits, what level could his performance reach? Could he qualify as a National Master Athlete? Or even break the national record? Or maybe... the Asian record?"
As soon as these words were spoken, all the students on the field were deeply shocked.
Being a National First-Class Athlete was one thing, but the talk of breaking the national and even Asian records was enough to scare the daylights out of them.
In an instant, the way people looked at Zhao Yuan changed. The earlier mockery, disdain, and ridicule all vanished, replaced by deep admiration and awe.
They were all utterly won overâwon over by Zhao Yuan's desperate running, his never-give-up spirit, and his terrifying results!
The "goddesses" from the physical education and arts departments also had a new kind of light in their eyes as they looked at Zhao Yuan. His performance today had been deeply seared into their minds, and it was certain they wouldn't be able to forget it for a long, long time.
"Does anyone know what department that guy is from?" the coach asked urgently after his initial shock. He was a promising seedling, and the coach was eager to take him under his wing and nurture his talent. The university games were about to start; maybe this kid was a dark horse who could crush the competition, win a Gold Token for the Sports Academy, and in one fell swoop, reverse the school's embarrassing long-standing lack of results in long-distance running.
"No idea."
"Never seen him before."
"The kid looks really unfamiliar. Don't know what department he's in."
Everyone shook their heads in unison.
Of course they didn't know. Zhao Yuan wasn't even a student at their school, so how could they possibly recognize him? Even at West Hua Medical University, he had always kept a low profile. Aside from the people in his own class, very few knew him, let alone students from a different university.
The coach was disappointed, but he quickly smiled again. "No matter, I'll just go ask him myself. He's already started to slow down, so he's bound to stop any second." As he spoke, he started walking toward Zhao Yuan.
Just as he predicted, Zhao Yuan slowed his pace and came to a stop. However, Zhao Yuan didn't cool down with a slow walk. Instead, after bending over to catch his breath a couple of times, he walked toward the horizontal bar on the side of the track.
"What's he doing? Don't tell me he's going to use the horizontal bar?" Ah Peng said, his jaw dropping in astonishment.
A person next to him curled his lip and said, "No way. Are you kidding? That ten-thousand-plus-meter run just now must have completely drained his stamina. How could he possibly have any energy left for the horizontal bar? It's not that I'm looking down on him, but it'd be a miracle if he could even pull himself up on that bar right now!"
The words had barely left his mouth when Zhao Yuan leaped up, grabbed the bar with both hands, and with a powerful push, swung his body up and around the bar in a hip circle.
The expression on the face of the person who had just spoken so dismissively became absolutely priceless.