CHAPTER 76: CHAPTER 66: SHOWDOWN ON THE TRACK (PART 2)

The starting gun was just raised, and the first runners were already in ready position. At the sound of the gun, wisps of white smoke rose. Scattered cheers erupted from the grounds.

"The first leg looks pretty evenly matched," the first runners on both sides, whether in size or speed, seemed to be on the same level. It’s only that Zhang Fangxiao’s group’s first runner took off slightly faster, thus leading by a body length.

"How much time did that leg take?" Lu Xun suddenly asked. Ren Minghang only then stopped his watch, looking awkwardly at the time showing; he had just... spaced out.

The military uniform that looked like a black bat’s wings was tied around Xia You’s waist, her slender legs swinging in the loose pants. Compared to Zhang Fangxiao, who had a tense expression on her face, Xia You looked very casual. Her long hair was even blacker under the sunlight, and when the wind blew, a faint scent of shampoo wafted through the air.

"Li Xi, do you have a hair band?" Xia You had just finished asking when Li Xi gestured helplessly—Li Xi had short hair. Xia You also realized she had asked the wrong person, irritated with herself for rushing out the door that morning and not tying her hair properly.

"She still has the mood for it, look how much more nervous you are than she is," Lu Xun couldn’t help but tease Ren Minghang. Indeed, Ren Minghang seemed a bit out of it; Lu Xun had never seen him so vacant and dazed, even years ago when he was Ren Minghang’s instructor. Lu Xun shook his head.

From the second leg, it was clear that Zhang Fangxiao’s dormitory was significantly stronger. The one body length handicap from the first leg had turned into a gap of thirty to forty meters by the end of the second leg.

"With this thirty to forty meters gap, I can pull her another thirty to forty meters," Zhang Fangxiao started her run, her sense of rhythm was good, and everything went smoothly during the baton exchange.

Xia You was left behind in the blink of an eye. Zhang Fangxiao was running ahead, her long legs moving swiftly, and the sound of rushing wind filled her ears, with only a hundred meters left for the baton pass.

The cheers on the sports field quieted down. Zhang Fangxiao felt something was off.

Li Xi was also looking ahead; Xia You’s speed... at the start, Xia You had nothing special, like a gentle drizzle. For the first three hundred meters, she kept a lag of about thirty meters behind Zhang Fangxiao, biting closely at her heels.

It was only in the last hundred meters that her step frequency suddenly changed. The pace at which her feet hit the ground became faster and faster; in the blink of an eye, all you could see was a white blur of her legs.

Forty meters became thirty, then twenty. Running faster and faster, like a runaway train, or a stream turned into a raging waterfall.

There was nothing in Xia You’s eyes but sunlight and moving shadows. No Zhang Fangxiao, no baton; just blue sky, white clouds, and a gentle breeze on her face.

Zhang Fangxiao didn’t dare look back, but the sound of running near her ear and her roommate’s cheers didn’t require her to look back to know what was happening behind her. At this moment, she felt like prey chased by a predator, as if Xia You’s steps were already stomping down on her heel.

"Her name is Xia You, isn’t it? In the last hundred meters, she actually ran at a speed matching that of male students, no, even faster than the male students. I remember, just two days ago, she was desperately trying to beat a twelve-second hundred meters," Lu Xun rubbed his chin, pondering. For a normal person, such a dramatic improvement could only be due to two factors: one is performance-enhancing drugs, and the other is her exceptional explosive power.

"Faster, even faster," Ren Minghang’s hands clutching the stopwatch had become redundant; his eyes stayed fixed on Xia You.

"Minghang, you..." Lu Xun raised his voice.

"Xia You." Li Xi exclaimed, she was already poised to start her run, right at the final curve where she was supposed to take the baton from Xia You. Li Xi, who started to jog, heard a thud of something heavy hitting the ground behind her.

Xia You had fallen to the ground, and Zhang Fangxiao had already run ahead, passing the baton to the fourth runner. Li Xi turned back and saw Xia You had fallen on the track.

Blood immediately sprang from her fair chin, and a few strands of black hair fell to the ground.

Struggling, Xia You propped herself up on her arm, from which blood was seeping out extensively. The muddy yellow ground quickly turned red.

Her face hidden beneath her long hair, her pained expression unseen, "here," she said in a lowered voice, her arm still bleeding profusely.