Chapter 114

Even with her icy-jade bone and jade-like skin constitution, Le Mulan felt as if her body was about to melt at that moment.

The power within her, driven by the medicinal force, erupted like molten lava, propelling her forward like a gust of wind.

The Purple Cloud High School, Purple Cloud Pharmaceutical, and the family behind her had all invested significant resources into this competition and the upcoming new technology promotion.

This made Le Mulan feel a weight she had never experienced before.

But she did not resent this weight.

Her family's care, her parents' investment, her brother's guidance—all of this had allowed her to live the life of a favored daughter since childhood.

Because after repeated tests, her genes and talents were deemed the best.

So she kept taking, kept receiving care, kept being treated with all kinds of favorable conditions...

And this had also left Le Mulan with a pent-up determination inside.

She wanted to let everyone in the family know, to let those siblings who had been weeded out understand.

She deserved this investment.

And with this breakthrough in body-tempering technology, in the physical competition where the company's battlefield had expanded, she finally had the chance to prove herself to the family and repay her parents.

Le Mulan's eyes were locked onto Yu Xinghan and Zhang Yu in the distance.

"I originally thought I could be second..."

With a soft whoosh, Le Mulan had already leaped past Bai Zhenzhen.

"This distance..." Still staring at Zhang Yu and Yu Xinghan, Le Mulan gritted her teeth inwardly. "Too hard to catch up... No, at least I have to try..."

Just then, Le Mulan was surprised to find a shadow appearing beside her.

"Someone caught up?"

"Who?"

"Song Hailong?"

But looking at the slender figure, Le Mulan knew it wasn't.

"Then... Bai Zhenzhen?"

Seeming not to expect that the figure she had just overtaken would catch up, a look of surprise flashed across Le Mulan's face.

"She can actually keep up?"

Meanwhile, on the other side, Bai Zhenzhen felt tearing pain in various parts of her body amidst the howling wind, while her internal organs were also under immense pressure.

Unlike Zhang Yu, who relied purely on deep excavation of his physical body, without needing much medicine, to explode with overloaded, super-ultimate physical strength.

Although Bai Zhenzhen had recently used her spiritual root to snag some of the tempering effects of the Red Marrow Mixed Origin Qi, she ultimately hadn't reached Zhang Yu's level.

So before the race started, she also stabbed herself with twelve needles in succession—this was the source of the pressure she felt in her internal organs.

But after accelerating together with Zhang Yu, as her blood circulation sped up and her muscles and tendons exerted their full force, she felt the scars on her body growing more and more painful.

So she didn't continue running at full speed; instead, she chose to maintain third place.

"Anyway, I can't catch Yu Xinghan. I'll leave that guy to Yuzi."

"I'll keep my body stable and avoid getting injured before the next stage..."

But just as Bai Zhenzhen was thinking this, Le Mulan caught up.

Bai Zhenzhen understood she could no longer hold back.

"Yuzi will defeat Yu Xinghan and take first place."

"I have to at least secure third, or else he'll laugh at me to death."

Bai Zhenzhen's entire body emitted wisps of hot steam. As her muscles and tendons strained fiercely, the scars on her body gradually turned crimson, as if turning into dragon claws that kept tearing at her flesh, causing a pain like flesh being ripped apart.

Sensing Bai Zhenzhen constantly trying to catch up, Le Mulan desperately accelerated to shake her off.

"How can I lose to this poor girl?"

"I need to let everyone in the family know that the money invested in me was not wasted."

Bai Zhenzhen was hot on the heels of Yue Mulan; their two figures swept across the track, the gales they stirred up colliding with each other, as if about to spark showers of fire and lightning.

"I'm going to make it into the Top Ten together with Yu Zi!"

The crimson scars on Bai Zhenzhen's body grew more and more bewitchingly bright, as if they were about to drip blood under her all-out acceleration, and the pain of flesh and blood seeming about to tear apart came relentlessly.

"Damn it... I should have saved the money for painkillers..."

A roar surged in her heart. Bai Zhenzhen mercilessly squeezed her ever-more-painful body, stubbornly holding out against Yue Mulan all the way until the last five hundred meters.

Roar!

Both of them roared inwardly; at this moment, only a single thought remained in their minds.

Surpass the other!

I must surpass the other!

The next moment, Bai Zhenzhen crossed over Yue Mulan's body under the latter's astonished gaze, reclaiming the third-place position.

But when Bai Zhenzhen looked ahead in excitement, she noticed that Zhang Yu ahead had slightly slowed his pace.

The two figures of Zhang Yu and Yu Xinghan, who had been neck and neck like bolts of lightning, had already settled the contest.

Swoosh!

In the end, Yu Xinghan was the first to cross the finish line.

Zhang Yu followed closely, coming to a stop with a pale face after crossing the line.

Bai Zhenzhen crossed third and immediately ran up to Zhang Yu with a worried expression: "What's wrong?"

Zhang Yu shook his head, signaling he was fine.

Feeling his own heart, Zhang Yu sensed that in the fierce contest with Yu Xinghan just now, as his body was repeatedly pushed to its limits, his heartbeat grew faster and faster, as if it were about to explode out of his chest. The heart's beating seemed unable to keep up with the demands Zhang Yu's body placed on it, unable to satisfy the commands of his will for the body to erupt.

But under such circumstances, under the pressure of this intense struggle, and with Zhang Yu continuing to squeeze himself madly, he could feel his heart, in that brief moment, break through the transformation that would have taken several days, shattering its own limits.

Yet the price was that the heart muscle was worn down and consumed during this contest, causing him to fall behind Yu Xinghan in the final sprint.

Zhang Yu thought to himself: "It's like muscles that break their limits after training—they need to regrow and recover to become stronger."

"Although my heart has achieved a breakthrough under this pressure, it won't become stronger out of thin air. It needs time and resources to repair and grow before it becomes stronger than before..."

At this moment, Zhang Yu felt an extreme hunger throughout his body.

He needed a large amount of food and nutrition to replenish the consumption from the just-concluded race, and moreover, his heart, which had just completed its breakthrough, was crying out eagerly, emitting a desire for nutrients and a wish to become stronger.

"Breaking the limit is just breaking the limit."

Zhang Yu thought as he touched his chest: "True growth cannot be separated from a foundation of matter and energy. If my heart wants to become stronger, it now needs plenty of nutrition and food."

"Then, combined with the Crimson Marrow Primal Qi, accelerate digestion and growth."

The original text is watching!

Level-10 Crimson Marrow Primal Qi gave Zhang Yu a powerful metabolism and digestive ability; this is one of the reasons his physical strength could skyrocket.

On the other side, Yu Xinghan coldly swept a glance at Zhang Yu and thought to himself: "The slowdown at the end—was it because the drug effects wore off? Or due to side effects?"

Although he understood in his heart that the other party must have taken some kind of potent drug to keep up with him, the fact that a student from Songyang High School could match him, especially the one who had taken his Golden Core disciple spot, stirred a strong displeasure in Yu Xinghan's heart.

"Looks like I was a bit too careless."

"Next match, I'll take some drugs too."

But when the surrounding cameras focused on him, Yu Xinghan immediately smiled: "Everyone, remember to pay attention to the Imitation Phantom-Muscle Surgery from Xianyun Group next month..."

After leaving the arena, Yu Xinghan answered a call from Li Xuelian.

Li Xuelian was none other than the daughter of Xinghuo Zhenren, and nominally Yu Xinghan's senior fellow apprentice.

Li Xuelian asked: "How did the competition go?"

Hearing Li Xuelian's inquiry, Yu Xinghan reported his results: "I took first in the first three rounds."

"If I can take first in the last round, there won't be any problem."

"Don't worry, Senior Sister. I won't let the Xianyun contract run into any issues."

"Who else could be the overall first place in this sports competition besides me?"

In the audience stands.

Le Jingchen's expression was somewhat ugly, only because Le Mulan hadn't even made the top three, ranking only fourth.

On the other hand, that Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, using some technique and potent drugs, had actually squeezed into the top three.

In particular, that Zhang Yu had even kept pace with Yu Xinghan for a period of time.

Although it had a lot to do with Yu Xinghan's deliberate slowing down, it was enough to draw the attention of countless people and completely steal Le Mulan's thunder.

"Songyang High School..."

Thinking that Ziyun High School had been upstaged by Songyang High School, a cold glint flashed in Le Jingchen's eyes.

The next moment, with a vibration from his phone, a stream of messages came in.

Le Jingchen's gaze swept across the phone screen, and he thought to himself: "Zhou Chechen from the Zhou family and Lan Ling from the Lan family both say that Songyang High School hasn't made any technological breakthroughs?"

"And they say this Zhang Yu... is the dog of White Dragon Zhang Pianpian?"

Le Jingchen's heart stirred: "Is it White Dragon High School... the Xianyun Group? A little trick by the Xianyun Group?"

He suddenly turned his head toward the big screen and thought: "If this Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen are also using Xianyun Group's technology, then wouldn't five of those in the top ten be people invested in by the Xianyun Group?"

Le Jingchen seemed to already see the scene after the sports competition ended: with the technology behind Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen being exposed, White Dragon and the Xianyun Group would become the biggest winners.

After the third event ended, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen immediately rushed to the buffet area.

Zhang Yu, his face pale, said as he walked: "Azhen, I need to eat a lot, then circulate my energy to digest it and speed up strengthening my heart. That way, in the next round, I can definitely bring out my physical strength more perfectly and defeat Yu Xinghan."

Bai Zhenzhen frowned and said: "Even if you take first place in the next round, that still won't be enough for overall first place, right?"

The four events of the sports competition: Physical Strength worth 50 points, Agility worth 75 points, Speed worth 75 points, and the final Strength event worth 150 points.

Bai Zhenzhen felt that with Yu Xinghan taking first place in all three previous events, even if Zhang Yu scored 150 points in the fourth event, he wouldn't be able to catch up.

"So I not only need to take first place, I also need to widen the gap with him in the Strength event."

"Yu Xinghan currently has a perfect score of 200 points from the first three events combined, while I have 191 points."

Zhang Yu said solemnly: "Scoring is based on the athlete's performance. If I take first place and get 150 points, then the more I outperform Yu Xinghan in the Strength competition in the next round, the lower his score will be."

"To beat him, I need to push him below 141 points—or rather, lead him by more than 9 points."

Hearing this, Bai Zhenzhen felt an immense difficulty.

"In a competition worth 150 points total, leading that freak Yu Xinghan by more than 9 points? Is that possible?"

Zhang Yu said: "Whether it's possible or not, I have to try."

"Besides, to give the athletes who just went all out ample rest and recovery of stamina and energy, there's a 1.5-hour break before the next round. In that hour and a half, we can do a lot."

So after arriving at the buffet area, Bai Zhenzhen brought plate after plate of food for Zhang Yu, watching him wolf it all down.