Chapter 79: Double Champion? Just Look at His Legs!

"Born to run! Who let him take the lead like this!"

"Which class is this guy from? Who let him lead? What a dirty heart!"

"Our class has already been sick from his pace! He started with a hundred-meter sprint—intentionally sabotaging, right?"

"Who is this guy? Can he even run?"

"Fuck you, how dare you talk like that?" Liu Yang retorted loudly, "So what if he's from Class Three? How does running bother you?"

"Have some common sense! It's clearly your class breaking the rules! Referee, we're filing a protest!"

"Three PE students can't keep up with one Olympiad kid—can you even run? Give up, go home, crawl back into your mom's arms and suck her milk!"

Li Hua pulled Liu Yang back, face flushed with embarrassment.

"Bro, bro, calm down, we're gonna get a yellow card if you keep this up."

Sports monitor! Are you trying to force the school to install soundproofing domes over the track?

Li Qingrong was stunned; she returned to the spectator stands. Standing on a slightly higher spot, she gazed down at the four-hundred-meter red track, her eyes half-lidded.

Jiang Nian was still leading, having already completed three laps. He kept accelerating, making several competitors vomit and drop out right on the track.

In long-distance running, it's nearly impossible for anyone to lead from start to finish; most follow others, then gradually overtake in the middle, finishing with a final sprint in the last lap.

But facing Jiang Nian's almost monstrous stamina, he kept pushing forward, cutting through the wind and widening the gap. The second-place runner suffered terribly—follow him? The wind resistance would slowly drag them further behind.

Don't follow? The bastard runs too fast—it's unbearable to keep up.

The second-place runner, unwilling to break the wind, gritted his teeth and followed. The third-place runner thought the same—normal people don't run into the wind! Follow! Absolutely follow!

And so on down the line—the entire long-distance team's rhythm was thrown off by Jiang Nian.

After half the race, many were vomiting, cramping, or just giving up entirely, running at their own pace.

Only a few PE students still held on tightly, three of them rotating to break the wind and chase Jiang Nian. But their early energy had been drained—they simply couldn't wear him down.

Jiang Nian, half a lap ahead, saw them catching up again and simply accelerated once more.

The PE student leading the makeshift trio was still head-down charging when he looked up—and saw Jiang Nian surge ahead. His mindset shattered instantly.

"Fuck! Are you playing Yasuo? What a dirty heart!"

Follow? What else can you do?

Don't follow, and you lose—three laps left. By the time the gap widens, overtaking will be impossible. You accelerate, he accelerates; hold steady too long, and you're done.

"Holy shit, has Brother Nian already lapped them nearly halfway?" Li Hua stared in shock, turning to Ma Guojun. "If he laps them fully and keeps going, he's guaranteed to win."

"Definitely. Look at how guilty he looked last time—that incident at No. 2 High, I don't think it was fake," Ma Guojun adjusted his glasses, utterly confident.

Zhang Ningzhi watched nervously and asked.

"Beibei, how many laps left?"

"Jiang Nian has about two laps left—he's running alongside Yu Tongjie," Yao Bei Bei also thought this was insane. This guy wasn't just dirty-hearted—he was terrifyingly strong.

On the track, Yu Tongjie felt like he was dying.

His chest burned like fire, sending constant waves of agony to his brain. Every two steps, the thought flashed: "Just stop."

Like a demon, it kept tempting him.

But he knew—if he quit, all his effort would be wasted. Everyone in his class would remember Jiang Nian… and also remember the guy who gave up.

He opened his eyes—and suddenly saw Jiang Nian ahead of him.

Huh? He fell behind!

His mind was a fog—he couldn't make sense of anything. One thought dominated: at least keep up with Jiang Nian. If he lost, let everyone lose together.

Stay close! Absolutely don't fall back!

Spectator stands, elevated.

From Li Qingrong's viewpoint, Jiang Nian had lapped everyone by one and a half laps—and caught up to last-place Yu Tongjie.

Facing a classmate he'd once clashed with, Jiang Nian slowed his pace. He gave up the chance to break the record, set aside past grudges, and helped Yu Tongjie break the wind.

He really.

On the track, Jiang Nian was baffled—why was Yu Tongjie glued to him?

He tried to pull away, but the guy stuck too tightly.

People have limits. Jiang Nian wasn't some superhuman. He decided to conserve some energy, waiting until the final lap to unleash his full power.

When Jiang Nian finally exploded into his final sprint, the spectator stands erupted in cheers again!

He won!!

Zhang Ningzhi's face glowed with excitement as she gripped Yao Bei Bei's arm tightly. Her grip visibly sank deeper—Yao Bei Bei was literally pinned in place.

"Wait, baby, you've been hiding this whole time?"

No wonder Jiang Nian wanted imported mineral water—holy shit! If I'd known it was this big, who wouldn't want to drink it!

At the moment he crossed the finish line, Yu Tongjie was stunned—how was it over already?

Sports monitor Liu Yang was still watching him, shouting loudly.

"Yu Tongjie! You've got one more lap—don't stop!"

In that instant, Yu Tongjie, still jogging at a dazed pace, felt the world go dark. Jiang Nian hadn't fallen behind—he'd lapped him! He was nearly dead, and now he had to run another full lap!

Jiang Nian stopped and took the mineral water from Zhang Ningzhi's hand.

His breath hadn't steadied yet, his face still flushed; he looked down—and saw the bottle was unopened.

He instantly felt disappointed. Shit. Even the champion isn't worthy of drinking imported mineral water?

Zhang Ningzhi noticed Jiang Nian staring at the bottle and blushed instantly. It was a secret only the two of them knew—but she hadn't done it.

Imported mineral water was just too insane.

She planned to play dead.

Jiang Nian uncapped the bottle and rinsed his mouth. Qian Bao came bounding over, showing him the photos she'd taken. Zhang Ningzhi stood beside them, suddenly feeling quietly downcast.

Li Qingrong came at the end and took away his fabric number. As class monitor, she knew about Jiang Nian's leave request.

"You're leaving right away?"

"Yeah, I got leave." Jiang Nian wiped sweat from his brow.

Hearing this, Li Qingrong paused, unsure what to say. She fell silent for several seconds, frozen like a glitch, staring at Jiang Nian, who grew uneasy.

Wait, how come the double champion is checking his legs?

Still holding a grudge?

Li Qingrong's pink lips parted, uttering a sentence as plain as they come.

"Stay safe."

Jiang Nian: "???? Class monitor, how do you know I'm going to the reservoir to fish?"

He'd meant it as a joke, but saw Li Qingrong's pupils dilate slightly. Her gaze sharpened, and she slowly furrowed her brow, as if weighing what to say.

"No, I was just kidding," Jiang Nian said, embarrassed.

Li Qingrong hummed, sensing his discomfort. She lowered her eyes for a second, then smiled faintly—a tiny, almost imperceptible curve of her lips.

The sports field buzzed with noise; the starting gun fired sharply, freezing the scene in an instant.

Vivid as an oil painting.

Jiang Nian went home, took a shower, and headed straight for the county bus station.

The sky darkened gradually as he walked through the streets, arriving at the dimly lit, shabby bus station—no ticket needed for short trips to the countryside.

You only needed to sit on the red-and-blue plastic chairs in the waiting hall and wait for the ticket seller to bellow the destination.

The usual format was: "Anyone going to xxx?"

Xxx was the final stop.

His and Xu Qianqian's hometown was the same village: Xiaolongtan Village, at the end of the bus route. A village neither poor nor particularly developed.

Upstream was Longtou Village, downstream was Longwei and Longdong Village.

Don't ask me what Longdong is.

I don't know.

After waiting about half an hour, the last old-style bus to Xiaolongtan Village finally arrived. It was already somewhat dark; he glanced at his phone.

Zhang Ningzhi had messaged him, asking why he wasn't attending evening self-study.

"I'm home, something came up."

"Oh oh, the class is watching a movie," Zhang Ningzhi replied without pause, sending another image: "【Movie Screen】."

"What movie?" He stood to catch the bus and asked casually.

"The Chorus."

Jiang Nian pulled up his mask before even nearing the dusty bus—his body reacted faster than his mind could process. Honestly, home had a powerful pull!

Ugh!

He found a seat, settled in, and put on his newly bought Bluetooth earphones.

Once connected, he replied to Zhang Ningzhi's message.

"You watch it—you won't shed little pearls, right?"

"No way!"

Jiang Nian glanced at it and smiled, then put his phone away.

The conversation ended with mutual silence.

Outside the window, the night of the county; inside the earphones, NetEase Cloud Music's random playlist. A vinyl stream cost just one cent to activate, but he'd never activated it.

An unknown singer's cover of "Rewind" drifted slowly: 【The place you promised should be joyful, but you gave me emptiness. On holidays, I sit alone, unable to find anyone to accompany me to the sea.】

Jiang Nian watched the lights flash past the window as the bus pulled farther from the county, growing increasingly desolate. It entered the mountains fully, traveling along the quiet road beneath the night.

Out of nowhere, he thought of Li Qingrong from the afternoon.

Strange.

But her legs really were white—slippery, slippery.

He arrived at Xiaolongtan Village at 7:40 p. m., texted his parents to say he was safe. His cousin from the same clan had been waiting long ago, ready to ride his motorcycle to take him home.

"Bro, can you slow down?" Jiang Nian couldn't hold it anymore—the night wind whipped at him. "Did Great-Grandma haunt you? Do you have to drop someone off tonight?"

"Don't you dare drop me off! I haven't even surpassed * yet!"

His cousin was tall, average-looking, only six years older than Jiang Nian. He'd been married five or six years, had a child right on the line—common in the countryside.

Have kids early, have many; parents help raise them; the couple then head south to Guangdong to work.

Work like hell, live safely, grow old, return home to help raise grandchildren. If sick, rely on medical insurance and drag it out at the hospital; if destitute, turn to civil affairs—they're all arranged clearly.

Not just teachers' lives were predictable from the start; rural life was the same.

"Nian, you've studied so many years—why do you still talk so crudely?" His cousin Jiang Shuisheng slowed the bike, baffled by his younger brother.

"What the hell, you're complaining about my language?" Jiang Nian was done. "I'm just trying to adapt to local customs—loosen up a bit. What's wrong with talking crude?"

"Neither your sister-in-law nor I talk like that. Your words are as crude as running naked," Jiang Shuisheng chuckled.

Soon, he dropped Jiang Nian off in front of an old house. He pleaded again, urging Jiang Nian to stay at his place, but couldn't persuade him.

Vroom-vroom-vroom! The motorcycle's throttle roared.

His cousin made a phone gesture. "Call me if you need anything."

"ojbk!"

Cousin: "."

Once the motorcycle vanished, darkness and silence returned.

Jiang Nian turned on his phone's flashlight, unlocked the gate with his key, and stepped into the courtyard. He didn't bother asking his cousin about water or electricity—family politics didn't interest him.

After checking once, the water and electricity were both normal.

Soon, lights came on across the first and second floors of the three-story building.