Chapter 112: Victory and Defeat
Even with her Ice-Skinned and Jade-Boned physique, Le Mulan felt as if her body were about to melt.
Spurred on by the alchemical enhancer, the power within her erupted like molten lava, sending her figure surging forward like a gale.
Purple Cloud High School, Purple Cloud Pharmaceuticals, and the family that backed her had all invested massive resources into this competition and the subsequent promotion of their new technology.
This placed a heavy burden on Le Mulan, one she had never felt before.
But she did not resent this burden.
The care of her family, the investment from her parents, the guidance of her brother—all this had allowed her to live the life of a chosen one since childhood.
Because repeated tests had deemed her genes and her talent to be the most outstanding.
Thus, she constantly received, constantly benefited from special care, and was constantly showered with favorable conditions.
Yet this had also left Le Mulan with something to prove.
She wanted everyone in the family, all the siblings who had been passed over, to understand.
She was worthy of this investment.
And now, with this breakthrough in body tempering technology extending the corporate battlefield to the athletics meet, she finally had a chance to prove herself to her family and repay her parents.
Le Mulan’s eyes were fixed on the distant figures of Yu Xinghan and Zhang Yu.
I thought I could at least get second…
With a soft whoosh, Le Mulan shot past Bai Zhenzhen.
This distance… she thought, gritting her teeth as she kept her eyes on Zhang Yu and Yu Xinghan. It’s too far… No, I have to at least try…
Just then, Le Mulan was surprised to see a shadow appear at her side.
Someone’s caught up?
Who?
Song Hailong?
But looking at the slender figure, Le Mulan knew it wasn’t him.
Then… Bai Zhenzhen?
A flicker of surprise crossed Le Mulan’s face; she hadn’t expected the person she just passed to catch up so quickly.
She can actually keep up?
Meanwhile, amidst the gale, Bai Zhenzhen felt waves of tearing pain from multiple parts of her body, and her internal organs were under immense pressure.
Unlike Zhang Yu, who could push his body beyond its limits and into overload through sheer physical mastery without relying on enhancers.
Although Bai Zhenzhen had managed to absorb some of the training effects of the Crimson Marrow Primordial Qi through her spiritual root, she was ultimately not at Zhang Yu’s level.
That was why she had given herself twelve injections before the race, which was the source of the pressure on her organs.
But as she accelerated alongside Zhang Yu, the quickening of her circulation and the full exertion of her muscles made the scars on her body throb with ever-increasing pain.
So instead of continuing at her maximum pace, she had chosen to hold her position in third.
I can’t catch Yu Xinghan anyway. I’ll leave him to Yu-boy.
I need to conserve my strength. Can’t get injured before the next round…
But just as she was thinking this, Le Mulan caught up to her.
Bai Zhenzhen knew she could no longer afford to hold back.
Yu-boy is going to beat Yu Xinghan and take first.
I have to at least hold onto third, or he’ll laugh me to death.
Wisps of steam began to rise from Bai Zhenzhen’s body as her muscles strained, and the scars across her skin turned a deep crimson, looking like dragon claws tearing at her flesh and causing an agonizing, ripping pain.
Sensing Bai Zhenzhen right on her heels, Le Mulan accelerated desperately, trying to shake her.
How can I lose to this pauper?
I’ll show everyone in the family that their investment in me wasn’t a waste.
Bai Zhenzhen doggedly pursued Le Mulan, their two figures sweeping down the track, kicking up colliding gales that seemed about to strike sparks.
I’m getting into the Ten Greats with Yu-boy!
The crimson scars on Bai Zhenzhen’s body grew more lurid, as if they would start to bleed from the force of her acceleration, and the agony of tearing flesh intensified.
Damn it… I knew I shouldn’t have skimped on the painkillers…
With a silent roar, Bai Zhenzhen pushed her increasingly tormented body to its limits, managing to keep pace with Le Mulan down to the final five hundred meters.
Hah!
A roar echoed in both their minds, their thoughts narrowing to a single point.
Surpass her!
I will surpass her!
The next moment, to Le Mulan’s shock, Bai Zhenzhen surged past her, reclaiming third place.
But when an excited Bai Zhenzhen looked ahead, she saw that Zhang Yu’s pace had slackened slightly.
The contest between Zhang Yu and Yu Xinghan, who had been running neck and neck like twin bolts of lightning, was already over.
Swoosh!
In the end, Yu Xinghan was the first to cross the finish line.
Zhang Yu followed close behind, stopping, pale-faced, after he crossed.
Bai Zhenzhen crossed the finish line third and ran to Zhang Yu with a look of concern. “What’s wrong?”
Zhang Yu shook his head, signaling that he was fine.
Zhang Yu focused on his heart. During the desperate struggle against Yu Xinghan, his body had been pushed to its limits again and again, and he had felt his heart beating faster and faster, as if it were about to burst from his chest.
His heartbeat could no longer keep up with the demands he placed on his body; it couldn’t fulfill his will’s command for another burst of power.
But under these conditions, under the pressure of the fierce contest and his own frantic exertion, he could feel that his heart, in that short span of time, had completed a transformation that should have taken days, shattering its own limits.
The price, however, was the strain and consumption of his heart muscle, which caused him to fall behind Yu Xinghan in the final sprint.
It’s like when muscles break their limits during exercise, Zhang Yu thought. They need to recover and regrow to become stronger.
My heart may have achieved a breakthrough under this pressure, but it won’t get stronger from nothing. It needs time and resources to repair and grow before it will be stronger than it was…
At that moment, Zhang Yu felt an extreme hunger wracking his body.
He needed vast amounts of food and nutrients to replenish what he had expended during the race, but more than that, his heart, having just broken through, was crying out for sustenance, expressing its desire for nutrients to grow stronger.
Breaking a limit is just that.
Zhang Yu thought, touching his chest, True growth requires a foundation of matter and energy. For my heart to grow stronger, it now needs massive amounts of nutrients and food.
Then I’ll use the Crimson Marrow Primordial Qi to accelerate digestion and growth.
Level-ten Crimson Marrow Primordial Qi granted Zhang Yu a powerful metabolism and digestive system, which was one of the reasons his physical strength had been able to increase so dramatically.
Elsewhere, Yu Xinghan shot Zhang Yu a cold glance. Did he slow down at the end because the drug wore off? Or was it the side effects?
Although he knew the other boy must have taken some kind of potent drug to keep up, being matched by a student from Songyang High School—especially the very one whose position as a Golden Core disciple he had taken—left a sour taste in Yu Xinghan’s mouth.
It seems I was a bit too careless.
For the next round, perhaps I’ll take something as well.
But when the surrounding cameras focused on him, his smile immediately returned.
“Everyone, remember to look out for the Immortal Resonance Group’s demonic muscle surgery next month…”
After leaving the arena, Yu Xinghan took a call from Li Xuelian.
Li Xuelian was the daughter of True Person Starfire, making her Yu Xinghan’s nominal senior sister.
“How is the competition going?” Li Xuelian asked.
Hearing her question, Yu Xinghan reported his results. “I’ve taken first in all three rounds so far.”
“Once I win the final round, it’ll be sealed.”
“Don’t worry, senior sister. I won’t let there be any problems with the Immortal Resonance contract.”
“Who else could possibly take first place overall in this athletics meet but me?”
…
In the stands.
Le Jingchen’s expression was grim; Le Mulan hadn’t even made the top three, finishing in fourth place.
In contrast, that Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had somehow used unknown technology and potent drugs to squeeze their way into the top three.
Zhang Yu, in particular, had even run neck and neck with Yu Xinghan for a time.
While this had much to do with Yu Xinghan deliberately falling back, it was still enough to draw massive attention, completely stealing Le Mulan’s spotlight.
“Songyang High School…”
A cold light flashed in Le Jingchen’s eyes at the thought of Purple Cloud High School being upstaged by Songyang High.
The next moment, his phone vibrated with a series of incoming messages.
Le Jingchen’s eyes scanned the screen.
Zhou Chechen of the Zhou family and Lan Ling of the Lan family both said Songyang High had no technological breakthrough?
And they said this Zhang Yu… is a dog of Zhang Pianpian from White Dragon High?
A thought struck Le Jingchen. White Dragon High School… Immortal Resonance Group? Is this some move by Immortal Resonance?
He whipped his head toward the large screen. If Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen are also using Immortal Resonance Group’s technology, doesn’t that mean five of the top ten are backed by Immortal Resonance?
Le Jingchen could already see it: after the athletics meet, the technology behind Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen would be revealed, and White Dragon High and the Immortal Resonance Group would emerge as the biggest winners.
…
After the third event, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen immediately headed for the buffet area.
“Zhen,” Zhang Yu said as they walked, his face pale, “I need to eat a lot, then circulate my cultivation technique to digest it and speed up my heart’s recovery. That way, I can unleash my body’s power more perfectly in the next round and defeat Yu Xinghan.”
Bai Zhenzhen frowned. “Even if you take first in the next round, will that be enough to win overall?”
The four events of the athletics meet were weighted as follows: physical strength, fifty points; agility, seventy-five points; speed, seventy-five points; and the final strength round, one hundred and fifty points.
Bai Zhenzhen figured that since Yu Xinghan had won the first three rounds, even if Zhang Yu got a perfect one hundred and fifty points in the fourth, he still couldn’t catch up.
“So I don’t just need to take first place, I have to open up a huge lead over him in the strength competition.”
“Yu Xinghan has a perfect two hundred points from the first three rounds combined, while I have one hundred and ninety-one.”
Zhang Yu said gravely, “The points are awarded based on performance. If I take first and get the full one hundred and fifty points, the better I perform compared to Yu Xinghan in the strength competition, the lower his score will be.”
“To beat him, I have to keep his score below one hundred and forty-one. In other words… I need to outperform him by more than nine points.”
Hearing this, Bai Zhenzhen understood just how difficult that would be.
“Outperforming that freak Yu Xinghan by more than nine points in a one-hundred-and-fifty-point event? Is that even possible?”
“Possible or not, I have to try,” Zhang Yu said.
“Besides, to allow the competitors who just went all out to rest and recover their stamina, there’s an hour-and-a-half break before the next round. We can get a lot done in that time.”
And so, upon reaching the buffet area, Bai Zhenzhen brought plate after plate of food to Zhang Yu and watched as he wolfed it all down.